Tansy Rayner Roberts's Blog, page 17

Sheep Might Fly: Last of the Romanpunks Part III

Seb only met up with his ex-girlfriend on the airship full of obsessed Roman cosplayers to be polite… and now he has bitten off more than he can chew. Monsters! Swords! Banter!

Catch up on previous episodes:

PART I.

PART II

“Last of the Romanpunks” was originally published in my short story collection Love & Romanpunk (Twelfth Planet Press).

The entire collection is now available in podcast form!

Check out:

Julia Agrippina’s Secret Family Bestiary/

Lamia Victoriana/

The Patrician

Sheep Might Fly is a Patreon-supported project! Thanks to all my patrons who pledge between $1 and $20 a month to make this podcast happen. If you enjoy my work please consider pledging your support.

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Published on March 20, 2017 03:30

Justice League International #21 Apokolips Wow!

THE CREATIVE TEAM: Keith Giffen (Plot & Breakdowns), J.M. DeMatteis (Script), Ty Templeton (Pencils), Joe Rubenstein (Inks), Gene D’Angelo (Colors), Andy Helfer (Editor)

JUSTICE LEAGUE ROLL CALL: Finally all reunited! J’onn Jonzz the Martian Manhunter, Big Barda, Rocket Red (Dmitri) , Green Lantern (G’nort), Green Lantern (Guy Gardner), Fire (Beatriz DaCosta), Ice (Tora Olafsdotter), Blue Beetle (Ted Kord), Booster Gold, Hawkman and Hawkwoman, with Oberon as civilian support. Barely there: Captain Atom. Obviously on holiday somewhere: Maxwell Lord Still not appearing in this comic did he go on hiatus to appear in a movie or what: Mister Miracle (Scott Free).

GUEST STARS: Lobo, Lord Manga Khan, Granny Goodness, Darkseid, some other Apokolips randos. L-Ron and his robot pal K-Dik

THE STORY: The Earth half of the the League are shocked to find they have been dragged through space to team up with their Space-dwelling half, and they have to fight space minions. A lot of space minions. Barda leads the charge to free her beloved husband from the bad guys.

Lord Manga, meanwhile, ditches his robot body (!), assumes a gaseous form (!!) and sneaks out of his captivity to re-kidnap Scott Free.

While the heroes are battling on, Oberon climbs through a tunnel or two, is unexpectedly reunited with evil overlord Darkseid, who shares his pretentious taste in literature.

Darkseid, who wants nothing to do with Scott Free having been humiliated by his escapology antics once too often, returns the goods to Barda on condition that absolutely everyone vacates the facility. Lobo is about to argue, but non-corporeal Manga Khan pays him off and sends him packing.

Darkseid goes off to have a word with the way-to-ambitious Granny Goodness and her pals, and the Justice League returns home, world-weary and underwhelmed.

THE CHARACTERS: Everyone gets their moments in this action-packed comic, despite there being way too many members of the League now they’re all back together.

Fire and Ice are probably the least well served, script-wise, though it was nice to see some powerful visuals depicting Ice’s mighty powers and how they can be utilised in battle.

Batman, still pretending he never left, gets in some deadpan snark. Rocket Red gets to show off his snazzy new armour. Hawkman is a grump. Barda kicks ass.

It’s Oberon, though, who gets the understated hero moment of the comic, with his skills of geniality and practicality coming to the fore.

THE COMEDY: Despite this being one of the most anti-climactic resolutions to an epic storyline of all time, this is actually a pretty great issue at the grass roots level. It’s pacy and punchy, full of quips and banter, with a lovely collapse of ‘we’re getting too old for this shit’ at the end as the heroes throw their hands up in despair at the universe.

Blue Beetle gets some especially good material, and is getting the hang of bouncing his jokes off Booster.

J’onn, I’m pleased to say, gets in an Oreo joke at the end, as they all choose their particular brand of de-stressing technique. And Captain Atom is always at his best when he is left out of everything, and has to plaintively protest being the only grown up in the room.

THE ART: Templeton is doing a creditable job with all the space hijinks and character work, though he isn’t doing anything to mitigate the boobalicious outfits worn by Fire and Ice.

THE KITCHEN SINK: Yeah there are way too many characters in this comic now.

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Published on March 14, 2017 13:37

Sheep Might Fly: Last of the Romanpunks Part II

Listen to Episode II now!

Seb only met up with his ex-girlfriend on the airship full of obsessed Roman cosplayers to be polite… and now he has bitten off more than he can chew. Monsters! Swords! Banter!

Catch up on last week’s episode.

“Last of the Romanpunks” was originally published in my short story collection Love & Romanpunk (Twelfth Planet Press).

The entire collection is now available in podcast form!

Check out:

Julia Agrippina’s Secret Family Bestiary/

Lamia Victoriana/

The Patrician

Sheep Might Fly is a Patreon-supported project! Thanks to all my patrons who pledge between $1 and $20 a month to make this podcast happen. If you enjoy my work please consider pledging your support.

View more on Tansy Rayner Roberts's website »

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Published on March 13, 2017 03:54

Galactic Suburbia Episode 161

In which we are seven years old! Get yourself some delicious cake and settle down to our International Women’s Day episode. Download or stream it right now.

What’s New on the Internet?

Post-mortem on the first Octavia Butler book club hosted by Twelfth Planet Press! We had such a great time talking about Wild Seed.

Next up: Fledgling on April 2 2017.

Aurealis Awards shortlist is out.

Locus Recommended Reading List

CULTURE CONSUMED: REPEAT THE TITLE OF YOUR CULTURE

Alisa: Ken Liu; Women of Letters; The Arrival; Canberry; Courtney Milan – Trade Me & Hold Me.

Alex: Because You’ll Never Meet Me, and Nowhere Near You, Leah Thomas; more Bujold; Cooked (Netflix, 4 parts)

Tansy: Younger, Hidden Figures, shout out for Kickstarter campaign for new card game featuring the art of Tania Walker: The Lady & the Tiger.

Please send feedback to us at galacticsuburbia@gmail.com, follow us on Twitter at @galacticsuburbs, check out Galactic Suburbia Podcast on Facebook, support us at Patreon and don’t forget to leave a review on iTunes if you love us!

TELL US ABOUT YOUR CAKE! IF YOU ATE CAKE WITH THIS PODCAST, WE WANT TO HEAR ABOUT IT.

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Published on March 13, 2017 03:47

Sheep Might Fly: Last of the Romanpunks Part I

Part I of a new serial! Check it out here, for download and streaming.

“Last of the Romanpunks” was first published in my short story collection Love & Romanpunk (Twelfth Planet Press).

The entire collection is now available in podcast form! (Or at least it will be once this one is up)

Check out:

Julia Agrippina’s Secret Family Bestiary

Lamia Victoriana

The Patrician

Sheep Might Fly is a Patreon-supported project! Thanks to all my patrons who pledge between $1 and $20 a month to make this podcast happen. If you enjoy my work please consider pledging your support.

View more on Tansy Rayner Roberts's website »

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Published on March 06, 2017 03:16

Justice League International #20: If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Apokolips!

THE CREATIVE TEAM: Keith Giffen (Plot & Breakdowns), J.M. DeMatteis (Script), Ty Templeton (Pencils), Joe Rubenstein (Inks), Gene D’Angelo (Colors), Andy Helfer (Editor)

JUSTICE LEAGUE ROLL CALL: In Space: J’onn Jonzz the Martian Manhunter, Big Barda, Rocket Red (Dmitri) , Green Lantern (G’nort). On Earth: Green Lantern (Guy Gardner), Fire (Beatriz DaCosta, formerly Green Flame), Ice (Tora Olafsdotter, formerly Ice Maiden), Blue Beetle (Ted Kord), Booster Gold, Hawkman and Hawkwoman. Blink & you’ll miss him: Captain Atom. Still not appearing in this comic did he go on hiatus to appear in a movie or what: Mister Miracle (Scott Free).

GUEST STARS: Lord Manga Khan, L-Ron, Granny Goodness, Lobo.

THE STORY: After many issues of only getting a page or two to develop their subplot, Big Barda’s team finally get almost a whole issue to themselves. Having arrived on the space opera hellhole that is Apokolips, they kit Dmitri out in a brand new, advanced technology version of a Rocket Red mecha suit (convenient) and run around trying to find Barda’s husband.

Meanwhile, Lord Manga tries to open negotiations to trade Mister Miracle for boom tube tech with the Apokolips government, but in the absence of space tyrant Darkseid, he has to deal with Granny Goodness (surely a prototype for Futurama’s Mom) and Dr Virmin Vundabar who is a space nazi scientist I guess? Anyway, they kidnap him and Scott because that’s a thing they do.

Barda and her space friends team up with the local resistance to try to Scott from Granny Goodness’ orphanage. They inadvertently help Manga escape Granny’s clutches.

Back on the homestead, Guy Gardner and Lobo are locked in an intense arm wrestling match, while Blue Beetle calls out Hawkman for being a dick, constantly comparing this Justice League to the classic team. They are interrupted by Barda, who boom tubes home and grabs them all to help her in her quest.

THE CHARACTERS: As ever when Manga Khan is around, he gets the most lines. Almost like the creators of this title really adore him or something. Barda also gets lots to do, back on her old stomping ground and happily doing a whole bunch of stomping. More than anything, though, this is Granny Goodness’ issue: she’s a great scene-chewing villain and she loves the spotlight.

I think the best character development though is with Beetle — his exchange with Hawkman is really great and makes him feel thoroughly like the Ted Kord I am attached to. Loyalty is big with him!

THE COMEDY: Plenty of fun dialogue and slapstick considering this is such a big action issue. I like how much of the humour revolves around Barda being genuinely terrifying.

THE ART: Ty Templeton has done a pretty good job of slotting into Maguire’s book — I had to check to make sure this was where he started, so it wasn’t super obvious. Having said that, I could have done without the fact that the only exchange between women in this comic is a conversation between Fire and Hawkwoman’s butts, because he’d rather show them from behind than present their faces.

Also, Fire and Hawkwoman’s butts are talking about Hawkman’s Republicanism, so they don’t even pass the Bechdel Test.

On the other hand, his Granny Goodness is fierce and amazing. So it’s only the young women who get turned into sexy lamps?

THE KITCHEN SINK: Finally the team are reunited! It feels like forever. In fact, it’s been so long that it isn’t even the same team any more. SPACE FIGHT TIME!

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Published on February 28, 2017 12:45

Sheep Might Fly: Dance, Princes, Dance Part 14

Final episode of our new Castle Charming serial! Part 14 – Pitch Perfect.

Thank you so much for following along with this serial. If reading words on the page is more your speed, the ebook of Dance, Princes, Dance will be released for general sale in April. To get a super early release copy in March, pledge $1 to my Patreon campaign now!

Everyone’s back where they’re supposed to be – we won, right?

Previous episodes of Dance, Princes, Dance:

Part 1: Armour Up

Part 2: The ‘Team’ in Steam

Part 3: Look at My Shoes

Part 4: Satin and Roses

Part 5: Front Page Shoes

Part 6: Let Nothing You Dismay

Part 7: Old Soldiers

Part 8: Bluebells & Clover

Part 9: Calling Mr Foxglove

Part 10: Dancing With the Stars

Part 11: Kiss Chase

Part 12: Drink Me

13: Truth or Dare

For more Castle Charming hijinks, check out the previous adventures of the Royals and the Hounds in Glass Slipper Scandal – podcast edition, or Glass Slipper Scandal – the ebook.

Claim your free copy of Fake Geek Girl here at Instafreebie!

Check out Tansy’s latest short story at Uncanny Magazine: “Some Cupids Kill With Arrows.”

Sheep Might Fly is a Patreon-supported project! Thanks to all my patrons who pledge between $1 and $20 a month to make this podcast happen. If you enjoy my work please consider pledging your support.

View more on Tansy Rayner Roberts's website »

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Published on February 27, 2017 03:13

Justice League International #19: No More Mr Nice Guy

THE CREATIVE TEAM: Keith Giffen (Plot & Breakdowns), J.M. DeMatteis (Script), Kevin Maguire (Pencils), Joe Rubenstein (Inks), Gene D’Angelo (Colors), Andy Helfer (Editor)

CROSSOVER ALERT: Not much of one, but there’s a vague mention of Captain Atom’s nemesis Major Force which makes no sense if you don’t have that background. (I did not understand this reference until I researched Captain Atom for his Bonus Character History feature in this blog series)

JUSTICE LEAGUE ROLL CALL: In space (barely more than a cameo) — J’onn Jonzz the Martian Manhunter, Big Barda, Rocket Red (Dmitri) & Green Lantern (G’nort). Still damsell’d: Mister Miracle (Scott Free). On Earth, Batman is pretending he never quit, playing leader to a newly rebranded team including Green Lantern (Guy Gardner), Fire (Beatriz DaCosta, formerly Green Flame), Ice (Tora Olafsdotter, formerly Ice Maiden), Blue Beetle (Ted Kord) and Booster Gold. Oberon & Maxwell Lord in civilian support. New members: Hawkman and Hawkwoman.

GUEST STARS: Superman being kind of a dick. Someone who may or may not know Wally West.

THE STORY: In the immortal words of Willow from Buffy, “I think this line’s mostly filler.” We are promised a grand smackdown between Lobo and a newly refurious Guy Gardner from the cover, and we definitely get that. The rest of the issue, not counting a 2 page peek at our spacefaring branch of the JLI as they approach the dread planet of Apokolips, consists of a half-hearted membership drive. Clearly the Earth half of the team has written the others off as gone forever.

Superman turns them down with the polite air of a man who gets a lot of invitations to parties he’s never going to attend. An offpage Black Canary makes it official that she’s not coming back to the team. Booster and Beetle can’t even find Wally West, the current Flash. Captain Atom is seriously worried that Max Lord is going to offer a spot to Major Force, which isn’t outside the realms of possibility as Lobo has also received a golden ticket.

Finally Batman scores a ‘yes’ – Hawkman is very angry at the idea of a superhero team that knows how to laugh, but Hawkwoman is all for it, and drags him along with her. Meanwhile, Green Flame and Ice Maiden go in for a little brand renovation of their own, renaming themselves Fire and Ice.

THE CHARACTERS: The big character change here is that Guy Gardner, having had Lobo land on his head, is back to his charming old asshole self and not a moment too soon. He doesn’t make sense if he’s not being offensive and violent. He and Lobo pound on each other in an epic city-smashing battle, only for Booster to bring it to an end with his forcefields, worried that the League will have to pay for the damages.

some fascinating body language here

Fire and Ice get a scene each, though weirdly we don’t see either of them discussing or announcing their name change — Oberon tells us about it later. Ice is concerned that the sweet man she got to know over the last several issues (mostly while neither of them were not appearing in the comic) now appears angry and troubled. Guy makes it clear to her that this version of himself is going to harass and disrespect her in a truly consisten manner going forward.

Then there’s Fire’s odd character scene with Lobo, which is her usual blend of sassy flirtation and surprising intellectual. Yes, she wears a fire-themed swimsuit as her work outfit, but she can also discuss Jack Kerouac! She has depth!

Lobo is absolutely the most sympathetic character in this comic, which is ironic considering he’s here to kill them all. Bemused by the slapstick shenanigans around him, he pretends to be a friend of Big Barda so he can wait for the space crew to return and wipe them all out at once.

Speaking of character development, Batman is totally pretending he still goes to this school, visiting his old friends and shaming them into not having time for the team he QUIT.

The heart of the issue is Oberon, keeping everyone running and reassembling the new version of the team. His sadness at Black Canary’s rejection is melancholy and sweet.

THE COMEDY: The battle between Guy and Lobo is both great and funny – Guy is at his best when he has someone equally morally reprehensible to fight, so Lobo is a perfect partner. I also really enjoyed the Beetle and Booster teamwork in this issue, with extra brownie points for Booster teasing Guy while suspending him in a forcefield bubble.

Shayera (Hawkwoman) is also a breath of fresh air, though her husband is terrible as always. Batman shows some serious twinkle in this scene — the point where he urges Hawkman to lighten up because he’s “positively grim” is pure Batman comedy gold.

Literally the only point of Hawkman is Hawkwoman and Batman making fun of him.

THE ART: The battle again is the highlight here, though I really loved how Fire was drawn in her scene with Lobo. Kevin Maguire’s take on Shayera (out of uniform) is great too.

THE KITCHEN SINK: Dmitri’s Rocket Red armour has been trashed, though weirdly we’re still not allowed to see his face. Poor pumpkin. Oh and after a LOT of build up, we’re finally getting the New Gods crossover that has been hinted at all year — our Space JLI are at Apokolips now, time to get their man back.

BONUS CHARACTER HISTORY: Hawkman & Hawkwoman

Okay, you thought you’d heard convoluted backstories before? That was nothing!

Our story begins in 1940, with Carter Hall as a reincarnated Egyptian prince with the power to fly thanks to a magical metal. He appeared in Flash Comics (yes, the Flash with the wartime metal hat) and soon joined the Justice Society.

Not only did Carter fight crime as the winged Hawkman, he also had a romance going with Shiera Sanders AKA Hawkgirl, herself a reincarnation of his Ancient Egyptian girlfriend.

Like many superheroes of the era, Hawkman went out of fashion in the 50’s and returned in 1961 when editor Julius Schwartz of DC Comics started a project to revive the genre, commissioning new versions of old classics.

Created by Gardner Fox and Joe Kubert, this new version of Hawkman and Hawkgirl (Hawkwoman, from 1981 onwards) were Katar and Shayera Hol, space cops from the planet Thanagar who fought crime on Earth with their winged costumes, and soon joined the Justice League of America. The conflict between the two versions of the character was easily explained because of the DC Multiverse, which filed all the “past” Golden Age characters in Earth 2 and kept the newer versions in Earth 1.

Hawkgirl was actually the first superhero to break the ‘twelve members only’ JLA which had previously limited the number of women who could be admitted to the ranks of the JLA. Zatanna soon followed her, leading to a period in the 70’s where the JLA had 4-5 female superheroes active in its ranks. Hawkman was often paired with Green Arrow in Justice League because they had this “hilarious” dynamic where Hawkman was conservative and Green Arrow liberal, which I think means that Hawkman complained about Green Arrow’s hair being too long, and also he would have voted for Trump.

This Silver Age version of Hawkman and Hawkwoman continued through to Crisis of Infinite Earths when they, like everyone else, had their backstories rewritten to fit the new reality with the multiverse squooshed into a single universe. The Hawkspouses suffered badly from this rewrite, with writers trying too hard to make sense of all their alternative versions. Katar Hol and his partner (cop partner, not wife partner) Shayera were now new immigrants to Earth, as distinct from Carter and Shiera Hall of the Golden Age Justice Society from long ago. A completely different Hawkman, Fel Andar, was established as the one who was around in the 80’s.

Everything was moderately confusing until Zero Hour, a mini-series in the mid-90’s which inflicted some extra complicated backstory rewrites on some characters, and in particular, attempted to combine all the past Hawkmen into the same character, who was also possibly a god. (During this process, Shiera/Shayera was killed and/or absorbed, let’s not forget this was the era that inspired the phrase women in refrigerators) In the late 90’s series, Hawkworld, the Hawkmen were established as all separate dudes again. There was also a lot of stuff about multiple reincarnations, let’s just not.

A new Hawkgirl, Kendra Saunders, was established in the late 90’s. When she committed suicide, the Golden Age Hawkgirl Shiera took over her body, though in the process she lost most of her memories, so she’s basically Kendra with hawk powers. This didn’t stop Hawkman from creepily stalking her and insisting she was destined to be his bride. Eventually Shiera moved on, leaving Kendra in charge of the Hawkgirl destiny.

The New 52 universe reboot included Kendra Saunders as Hawkgirl in Earth2, with Katar and Shayera in Earth 1 in Savage Hawkman. They kill Shayera off too. I don’t want to talk about it.

A version of Hawkgirl more closely connected to Shayera Hol Space Cop, was established in the Justice League and JLU animated universe — without Katar around to weigh her down, she’s a bright, cranky, complex and occasionally traitorous superheroine with a fantastic mace. She has an on again, off again romance with John Stewart’s Green Lantern, who also has a thing with Vixen. Shayera and John have a kid in a future timeline in the Batman Beyond animated series, and also in a Batman Beyond/JLU crossover episode, where John meets said kid (Warhawk).

In the fantastic wartime girls-only series Bombshells, Hawkgirl and Vixen are girlfriends which is just so, so great. Hawkgirl has a jetpack.

In the Flash and Legends of Tomorrow, shows belonging to the CW’s “Arrowverse,” Hawkgirl is Kendra Saunders, and is forced to spend a lot of time with a creepy stalker version of Kater/Hawkman who keeps insisting they are destined to love each other across all the incarnations, why do people think that’s a romantic scenario? She probably likes Ray Palmer better, and who could blame her? He’s played by Brandon Routh.

No one likes you, Hawkman.

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Published on February 21, 2017 03:16

Sheep Might Fly: Dance, Princes, Dance: Part 13

Penultimate episode of our new Castle Charming serial!

Part 13: Truth or Dare

We’re so close to the end and I’m celebrating by sharing the fabulous cover art (by the even more fabulous Katy Shuttleworth!) that will feature on the ebook of this very story. To get a super early release copy in March, pledge $1 to my Patreon campaign now! (The ebook of Dance, Princes, Dance will go on general sale in April for those who don’t mind waiiiiiiting to get it)

Truth is the only currency that will help our heroes, their friends and their stray princes escape the the sinister fairy dance. Time to spill all their secrets, starting with the really juicy ones!

Previous episodes of Dance, Princes, Dance:

Part 1: Armour Up

Part 2: The ‘Team’ in Steam

Part 3: Look at My Shoes

Part 4: Satin and Roses

Part 5: Front Page Shoes

Part 6: Let Nothing You Dismay

Part 7: Old Soldiers

Part 8: Bluebells & Clover

Part 9: Calling Mr Foxglove

Part 10: Dancing With the Stars

Part 11: Kiss Chase

Part 12: Drink Me

For more Castle Charming hijinks, check out the previous adventures of the Royals and the Hounds in Glass Slipper Scandal – podcast edition, or Glass Slipper Scandal – the ebook.

Claim your free copy of Fake Geek Girl here at Instafreebie!

Check out Tansy’s latest short story at Uncanny Magazine: “Some Cupids Kill With Arrows.”

Sheep Might Fly is a Patreon-supported project! Thanks to all my patrons who pledge between $1 and $20 a month to make this podcast happen. If you enjoy my work please consider pledging your support.

View more on Tansy Rayner Roberts's website »

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Published on February 19, 2017 03:02

Sheep Might Fly: Dance Princes Dance Part 12

New episode of our new Castle Charming serial! Part 12: Drink Me

Weighing wishes, downing skeevy magical cocktails and (hopefully) rescuing princes. Well. Two out of three isn’t bad…

Previous episodes of Dance, Princes, Dance:

Part 1: Armour Up

Part 2: The ‘Team’ in Steam

Part 3: Look at My Shoes

Part 4: Satin and Roses

Part 5: Front Page Shoes

Part 6: Let Nothing You Dismay

Part 7: Old Soldiers

Part 8: Bluebells & Clover

Part 9: Calling Mr Foxglove

Part 10: Dancing With the Stars

Part 11: Kiss Chase

For more Castle Charming hijinks, check out the previous adventures of the Royals and the Hounds in Glass Slipper Scandal – podcast edition, or Glass Slipper Scandal – the ebook.

Claim your free copy of Fake Geek Girl here at Instafreebie!

Check out Tansy’s latest short story at Uncanny Magazine: “Some Cupids Kill With Arrows.”

Sheep Might Fly is a Patreon-supported project! Thanks to all my patrons who pledge between $1 and $20 a month to make this podcast happen. If you enjoy my work please consider pledging your support.

View more on Tansy Rayner Roberts's website »

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Published on February 13, 2017 03:59