Democrat Power!!

The US Senate currently has 60 Democratic Senators. There are 100 Senators total. This gives the Democrats the majority.
In order to pass legislation through the Senate, 51 Senators have to approve it. This is the rule as stated in the Constitution. However, ever since the last election Republicans in the Senate have been using their power of filibuster . This means that instead of the traditional 51 votes, a bill must receive 60 votes to be passed.

Hmmm...60. Why does that sound familiar? Oh, yeah! There are 60 Democratic Senators in the Senate! Well, as long as the Democrats stick together, legislation could very easily still get passed.

The new development now, however, is Republic Senators saying that "we" should be aiming for 80 votes to pass Health Care Reform Legislation. Wait a minute, 80? So first the Republicans raised the number of votes from 51 to 60 and now they want to hike it up to 80? Can there be any clearer sign the Republicans have NO desire to pass Health Care Reform?

Democratic Senators hear this:
Stop trying to make this bi-partisan!! The American people voted for a Democratic Majority is both Houses and a Democratic President for a reason!! Use your power and don't apologize for it. Do what you were elected to do.

Spider-Woman: Agent of SWORD Motion Comic

Marvel Comics released their first motion comic this past Wednesday. The star is Spider-Woman. This may not be a character that a lot of people outside of comics know, but I think that she was a good choice.

I think that this format will draw in non-comic book readers. Hey, my boyfriend, Jason watched it and liked it. And he doesn't like comics at all.

The Spider-Woman motion comics is available from i-Tunes for 99 cents, so go get it!

Check out the preview here!

New Jay-Z

So this is out of my usual foray, but I still wanted to talk about it.

Jay-Z's first single for his new record was titled "D.O.A (Death of Auto-Tune) which included the following lyrics:
"Your colors too bright, your voice too light"

D.O.A (Death of Auto-Tune) Video

Now, I'm not a huge rap fan, but I respect Jay-Z. He raps some of my favorite rap songs. I agree with him about this auto-tune phase. I can't even bear to listen to half the stuff that gets played on the radio. Now let's play a guessing game:
Who recently made an album done entirely using auto-tune?
Which rapper is known for his bold fashion statements, usually involving bright colors?
Which rapper has a fairly light voice when compared to someone like Jay-Z?

The answer to all three is...Kanye West!!

Now I don't know if Kanye made any type of response to Jay-Z's song. I'll have to look into that.

I'm bringing this all up because I just watched the video for Jay-z next single titled "Run this Town." This song features Rihanna and...wait for it...
Kanye West!!!

Run This Town Video

Doesn't this seem a little weird?!
It could all boil down to the fact that Kanye sells records and Jay-Z wants to sell records.
What do you think?

Good Girl Art vs. Bad Girl Art

As I was attempting to explain these two concepts to a friend of mine, I found that I might not understand them as much as I had thought. So I started investigating these topics. Here's what I found:

Good Girl Art "is found in drawings or paintings which feature a strong emphasis on attractive women no matter what the subject or situation. GGA was most commonly featured in comic books, pulp magazines and crime fiction." (wikipedia.org) It is called "Good Girl Art" not because the girls/women in the pictures are good, but because the artist draws beautiful or sexy women "good". The women in the pictures may by villains or heroes.

Here are some artist that I consider "Good Girl Artists."

However, Bad Girl Art is different. The "Bad" does refer to the character of the woman depicted. So Bad Girl Art is pictures of "bad girls", but Good Girl Art may depict good or bad girls. So, I guess in a sense that BGA is a sub-genre of GGA.

I've always been draw to the GGA artists, which is strange, because I could care less about how sexy a woman is. People who have seen my own attempts to draw comic book characters would probably say that I am a GG artist. I don't think I'm a BG artist though. Maybe I'll post some of my own art and let you guys decide. But before that let's look at some artists that I consider GGA. I'll add another post later showing some BG characters.div>

Good Girl Artists

Jim Lee

Terry Dodson
Adam Hughes

Matt Baker

Character Spotlight: Tigra

I was introduced to Tigra in West Coast Avengers during the '80s. (Yes, it was WCA before it became AWC) I fell in love with her immediately. She was unabashedly sexy, confident, and kicked ass. I think that as a young gay boy, I was drawn to these traits. Or maybe is just wanted to wear her black bikini. But really, I think it was the fact that Greer (Tigra) could turn back to her normal human state and blend in if she wanted to, but she very rarely did. She preferred to stand out and revelled in her differences. Looking back on that now, I think that Tigra made a big impression on me. It was ok to be different, if fact it was purr-ferred.

Somewhere along the line, she got mired in yet another storyline involving her "cat" side taking over. Check out her Wikipedia entry if you don't believe me. I loved everything that John Byrne did with WCA, except his treatment of Tigra. Her appearance grew more and more cat-like, as did her behavior. She was slowly becoming a pale imitation of Wolverine or Wolfsbane.
Hank Pym shrinks her to the size of a house cat and then lets her run around the compound killing small animals to eat! Not attractive, honey. The final insult was when Hank finally catches her, he places her inside his lab and then leaves! To deal with "more pressing Avengers' business"!

I was sad when she finally left to hang out with the Aborigines in Australia, but at least then she was left alone.

Her appearances since then have been sporadic. She had a lackluster mini-series by Christina Z and Mike Deodato. Tigra was also a part of the Avengers: Initiative, now the Avengers Resistance. Recently, I have noticed that Tigra has been receiving some attention in the Marvel Adventures imprint. She's been on covers for both Marvel Adventures Super-Heroes and M.A. Avengers. She most recently became a member of the M.A. Avengers. I'm glad that she is not stuck in limbo, but I still wish she had more of an presence.

Upcoming Books: The Torch #1 (of 8)

This upcoming book, The Torch, by Mike Carey & Alex Ross is piquing my interest. I've been interested in the original Human Torch, Jim Hammond, ever since Scarlet Witch revived him back in Avengers West Coast #50 from 1989. The Scarlet Witch had recently gone crazy for the first time! or was that the second? (I'll have to re-read my AWC.) Anyway, she wanted to prove that the Vision, recently disassembled & reassembled sans emotions, was really who he said he was. And not constructed out of the Human Torch's spare parts. All of this ends with Jim Hammond joining the AWC for a while. For a more detailed description, click here.

For this new mini-series, the Torch is buried (again) and the Mad Thinker is involved (again). Mike Carey (X-Men Legacy) is writing with assists from Alex Ross. Patrick Berkenkotter (?) is doing interiors with Alex Ross on covers. And I have to say, I think the cover for #1 (picture left) is stunning. Everytime that I think I'm over Ross' art, he comes out with something else.

So what do you think, retread of old material? A comeback for the first Marvel super-hero? Another example of Alex Ross living in the past? Let me know what you think and I'll let you know what I decide.

Cry for Justice

Justice League: Cry for Justice

by: James Robinson & Mauro Cascioli

I debated picking up this book. I knew that I would probably pick it up in trade if not in issues, but I gave in and decided to give it a try.

I'm so glad that I did. Robinson so deftly crafted this story that I could feel the tension at the JLA Satellite. He was able to create a feeling that something big was happening, but without resorting to a big brawl between heroes. (Which I think we've seen too much of lately.) Robinson focused on the friendship between Hal and Ollie which is legendary, but new to me.

This issue then moves on into introducing and setting up the rest of the team. These little vignettes were the perfect introduction to these characters who might not be known to all.

In addition to the story, the art was amazing. It has a painted look, but I don't think that it is. Also the additional material in the back was great.

Overall, this was a solid beginning to a mini with a lot of promise.