Tansy Rayner Roberts's Blog, page 23

Unmagical Boy Story Part 12 – 6AM, The Best Hangover Breakfast in the City

New episode update!

“Unmagical Boy Story” is a 13-part sequel to “Fake Geek Girl,” and is original to this podcast.

One magical university, divided between the Colleges of the Real and Unreal. One pub. One indie band. A lot of drunk witches on a Friday night. One shattered friendship, due to be repaired. One Practical Mythology paper which really has to be finished by Monday… Oh, and trolls. Let’s see who survives Friday night drinks!

Part 12 – 6AM, The Best Hangover Breakfast in the City – in which there is raisin toast, a surprising revelation, and a new Kraken song to add to your playlist.

Catch up on previous episodes here!

Part 1 – 7PM, Little Black Dress Alert

Part 2 – 8PM, Friday Night Cover Charge: Two Drinks

Part 3 – 9PM I Hate That Song So Much Right Now

Part 4 – 10PM The Band Takes a Break

Part 5 – 11PM Second Set Contains New Material (Don’t Feed the Trolls)

Part 6 – 12 Midnight – After Party

Part 7 – 1AM: Regrettable Things You Shouldn’t Have Said

Part 8 – 2AM – Ill-advised Hook Up

Part 9 – 3AM – Clearing the Air

Part 10 – 4AM, Second Wind

Part 11 – 5AM, Crash Space

Sheep Might Fly has its own Twitter account: @sheepmightfly

and its own Tumblr account: Sheep Might Fly

Follow along for updates, previews and other Sheep Might Fly specific chatter!

Master list of Sheep Might Fly serials.

Support Tansy & Sheep Might Fly at Patreon.

Galactic Suburbia Episode 152 Show Notes

New episode to download or stream!

In which Alisa & Tansy are left unsupervised to read feedback, give you the lowdown on the Brangelina break up and discuss how Hillary Clinton and Harley Quinn both have to put up with the same ridiculous gender double standards.

Relevant links:

Garth Nix on Aboriginal stories

The Cost of Building the Death Star

Brangelina is Dead, Long Live Angelina (on Jolie’s handling of the media narrative built around her and her family)

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!

Sheep Might Fly: Unmagical Boy Story Part 11

New episode update!

“Unmagical Boy Story” is a 13-part sequel to “Fake Geek Girl,” and is original to this podcast.

One magical university, divided between the Colleges of the Real and Unreal. One pub. One indie band. A lot of drunk witches on a Friday night. One shattered friendship, due to be repaired. One Practical Mythology paper which really has to be finished by Monday… Oh, and trolls. Let’s see who survives Friday night drinks!

Part 11 – 5AM, Crash Space

Catch up on previous episodes here!

Part 1 – 7PM, Little Black Dress Alert

Part 2 – 8PM, Friday Night Cover Charge: Two Drinks

Part 3 – 9PM I Hate That Song So Much Right Now

Part 4 – 10PM The Band Takes a Break

Part 5 – 11PM Second Set Contains New Material (Don’t Feed the Trolls)

Part 6 – 12 Midnight – After Party

Part 7 – 1AM: Regrettable Things You Shouldn’t Have Said

Part 8 – 2AM – Ill-advised Hook Up

Part 9 – 3AM – Clearing the Air

Part 10 – 4AM, Second Wind

Sheep Might Fly has its own Twitter account: @sheepmightfly

and its own Tumblr account: Sheep Might Fly

Follow along for updates, previews and other Sheep Might Fly specific chatter!

Master list of Sheep Might Fly serials.

Support Tansy & Sheep Might Fly at Patreon.

Justice League #1 (May 1987)

Previously on the JLI Reread: Justice League The Story So Far.

THE PACKAGING: I own Justice League: A New Beginning, a trade collection of the first 6 issues of the 1987- run billed simply as Justice League, plus issue #7 where it was rebranded as Justice League International. The collection comes with a handy essay by editor Andrew Helfer on the behind the scenes shenanigans that led to this reboot of Justice League and provides all kinds of insight into the new book’s format, creative team and general philosophy.

THE CREATIVE TEAM: Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis writing (specifically Giffen plotting and DeMatteis writing dialogue), with DC newbie Kevin Maguire and his characteriffic faces taking on pencil duties. Issue #1 is inked by Terry Austin & lettered by Bob Lappan.

THE PITCH: Coming out of the perceived failure of “Justice League Detroit,” this book was supposed to bring back the glory years of the Justice League, but it ran into some serious problems right from the start: the book’s cast of characters were supposed to be decided based on the big Legends comic event which hadn’t been written yet, and several of the Obviously We Want Them candidates such as Superman and Wonder Woman were off limits because of creative changes happening in their solo books. (This is a theme, we’ll come back to it) Helfer, Giffen and the team they assembled had to plan a book that would work with a rotating, possibly random, maybe-we-won’t-know-until-the-last-minute collection of superheroes, and so they decided the following:

1) why not make this the story about what superheroes do when they’re off duty?

2) yeah if we’re doing that it should probably be funny

3) everything is Maxwell Lord’s fault. (*Invents Maxwell Lord*)

While Legends was ostensibly the launchpad for this title, it was the slightly less recent Crisis that really affected which characters were chosen; this version of the Justice League picked up several dangling threads from that comics event, providing a home and a chance at development for many characters who had been created or massively redesigned for Crisis and then cast adrift in the sea of ‘not currently appearing in any comic.’

THE TEAM: In issue 1, the newly reassembled Justice League of America includes Batman, Black Canary, Martian Manhunter, Blue Beetle, Mister Miracle (with his pal Oberon), Captain Marvel, Dr Fate and Green Lantern (Guy Gardner). We also get introduced to mysterious CEO of Innovative Concepts, Maxwell Lord. Dr Light (Kimiyo Hoshi) is recruited for this new League, but as we learn, the official team had no idea this had happened.

THE STORY: The new League assemble in the high tech headquarters set in their old cave (let’s hope they’ve updated the tech since the late 60’s), and start picking fights with each other immediately. Dr Light is caught up in a hostage situation at the United Nations, and alerts the Justice League to the emergency. Wondering why she even has a communicator, the team race into action and end the siege. The mystery bomber is mysteriously shot when no one is looking. By the end of the issue, we learn that Maxwell Lord, who has been doodling his plans for the new Justice League, was behind it all, though he never provided the bomber a firing pin. Oh, that rascally Max!

THE CHARACTERS: This issue makes so much more sense after reading Helfer’s essay in the trade! Some of these characters will be integral to this version of the League (Blue Beetle, you’re hooome!) and others, I’m not sure why they turned up (Captain Marvel, why are you even). So far the format of the comic is very much “let’s throw in as many character conflicts in as possible and see who wants to punch each other by the end”. Guy Gardner dominates this issue, which is appropriate considering that he will be the most League-significant Green Lantern for nearly a decade. Also, he’s the one that everyone wants to punch.

Guy is a divisive character, mostly because he is a horrible, no good human being. He is sexist, racist, arrogant, rude. But having a complete asshole in the team is so much more realistic than having everyone be nice to each other. Guy is a very credible example of what happens when a terrible person gets superpowers. Like Dwight from the Office, we hate him, and the characters in the show hate him, and everyone has to put up with his bullshit, and then suddenly years later you turn around and realise he’s the most complex character in the ensemble. Guy is important to the story, and his very unlikeability is key to the format of this comic.

Speaking of unlikeable assholes: Batman is also one. He waltzes into the comic expecting everyone to bow and scrape and listen to his growly orders because he’s the goddamn Batman, but he has terrible people management skills. The whole thing plays out a lot like that whole sub-genre of Teen Wolf fanfic about how Derek fails as an alpha, and has to learn not to treat the pack like crap.

J’onn J’onnz the Martian Manhunter, AKA the Team Dad, is grieving his last team, and gets a few genuinely poignant moments marking the transition from tragedy to comedy. This is important because he is going to be the heart of this team, and will often make a serious face when everyone around him is cracking wise.

Black Canary is cranky. I love that she is written as kind of an asshole here too – she has a chip on her shoulder and is not above using her status as a member of the ‘real’ (ie version before the previous version) Justice League to remind everyone of their place in the pecking order.

Dr Fate brings nothing to the party, and Captain Marvel gets to join in on some of the bickering. Mister Miracle is the one of the extra bodies who is going to stick around, but his grumpy little person sidekick Oberon is even more important. They’re still settling in and are yet to make an impression, which is also true for (my beloved) Blue Beetle, whose biggest contribution to this issue is the Bug, his flying vehicle.

Kimiyo Hoshi/Dr Light is one of the standout characters in this issue, getting a real plot and some mystery, plus providing us with yet another example of a Justice League team that starts out with more than one woman in the lineup. We don’t get to see her in costume, except on the cover! Her powers are pretty ace.

THE COMEDY: Yeah, it’s not actually that funny. Some of this is because the humour has dated, but also because, despite the whole ‘Bwahaha’ reputation of this era of the Justice League, it isn’t trying for overt slapstick — there’s a lot of banter, highly weighted towards sarcasm, and a lot of angry characterisation. All of these things work, but it’s more dramedy than sitcom. J.M DeMatteis is doing similar things with this comic than he was with Justice League Detroit, only now he’s not actively trying to rip our hearts out, and the art is better.

THE ART: Kevin Maguire’s faces make this comic. His style is so expressive and animated, even — and I can’t stress this enough — when he drawing women. He’s not afraid to make his characters ugly (see: Guy Gardner) or goofy, and he sets the tone for an entirely different kind of superhero book. He also does some great filmic layouts, taking shots from odd angles and generally making this look like a movie. His Black Canary is a revelation, because for once, the focus is on her face, not her hair+boobs+legs. Having a female character pull as many twisty faces as the blokes is pretty great — and she looks completely different to Kimiyo in every respect, not just hair colour!

THE KITCHEN SINK: Already, the stories are revolving around the characters, our characters. The two main narrative lines of this issue are: 1) Guy Gardner thinks he can get away with declaring himself leader of the Justice League, and this is supremely annoying to everyone but especially Batman; 2) Maxwell Lord knows that he is going to end up leader of the Justice League, and is manipulating everyone to a point where they take that for granted.

Wow, he’s basically gaslighting the entire League. Something to think about.

A moment of silence for Black Canary’s costume, the worst costume that ever costumed. This is the first of many attempts to get Dinah out of those (embarrassing but iconic) fishnets and into something that an actual martial artist would wear. It’s… well. It’s sweet when people in the 1980’s think it’s a good time to make decisions about clothes.

BONUS CHARACTER HISTORY: Mister Miracle, Oberon & Big Barda!

Scott Free was an alien refugee and circus escape artist who had his own comic (and multiple spin offs) in the 1970’s, created by Jack Kirby.

Born on the planet New Genesys to its ruler Highfather, Scott was part of an heir exchange program with Orion, son of the galactic despot Darkseid on Apokolips to guarantee peace between their planets. Raised in creepy Granny Goodness’ creepy orphanage, Scott rebelled against his totalitarian surroundings, and was trained in secret as a revolutionary.

Eventually, Scott escaped and fled to Earth (escape is kind of his thing), where he was trained in the aforementioned circus and took on the identity of escape artist Mr Miracle. Back on his home planets/s, intergalactic war started up again, thanks to Scott breaking the original contract.

In the circus, Scott befriended Oberon, a cranky wisecracking little person, and was reunited with his true love, Big Barda, the equally rebellious former heir to Granny Goodness’s Battalion of Female Furies.

Words can not describe how amazing Big Barda is.

In the original comics run of Mister Miracle and other “Fourth World” titles from 1971-1980, Scott married Barda, and with Oberon at their side, toured the world in the circus while battling the various forces of Darkseid sent against them. Within a year and a half of Scott (and later Barda) being reintroduced to DC continuity here in Justice League International, Mister Miracle was relaunched as a title that ran for three years, following a now-retired Scott and Barda through their adventures living in the suburbs, with the inevitable humorous results of alien warriors and circus folk trying to act like mundanes.

BONUS BONUS CHARACTER HISTORY: Dr Light

Not to be confused by the male supervillain with the same codename, Kimiyo Hoshi was a character created for Crisis on Infinite Earths (see: Justice League, the story so far).

An expert Japanese astronomer (later revealed to be a medical doctor and proficient in many other Sciences Of Convenience), Dr Hoshi becomes obsessed with the cosmic phenomenon leading to the Crisis disaster, and is shot by a “Devastating Beam of Energy” which grants her the superpower of “Photonics” as well as the previously-used codename Dr Light.

She is set up as an antagonist, but realises the error of her ways upon the death of Supergirl, and is inspired to help Superman in his battle against the Anti-Monitor.

Except of course, that in the wake of the Crisis, when all continuities were rewritten, Supergirl never existed, so Dr Light’s own backstory was changed to reflect this: she was now inspired by the vague “Other Heroes™“

Her arrival here in Justice League is the first anyone has seen her since Crisis, and she will later go on to be a vital, long-standing member of Justice League Europe.

Patreon Party Day 5: Glitter and Postcards and Other Tangible Magics

Here we are on the very last day of my Patreon Party! And to my absolute astonishment, since last night and a couple of very large pledges (you know who you are!!!), our tally has rocketed up to $283 per month! That’s only 17 away from unlocking the Inky Valkyrie Book Club!!! Can we make this happen today? I DON’T KNOW, LET’S FIND OUT!

Huge thanks to everyone for helping out so far, not just for the pledges (which are marvellous and humbling and splendiferous) but also for the retweeting and sharing across social media. I appreciate you all for feeling as invested in this thing as I am.

Also, I have a whole bunch of glitter art to make, which is good news for my school holiday plans, and bad news for my husband. Don’t worry, honey, we’ll do the glitter bombing while you’re out at work, that’s totally almost like it never happened, right?

THE GLITTER REPORT

I love to make art and to craft, but in the chaotic time crunch that is writing, parenting and running a small business (cough, at least two small businesses), this is the thing that gets sacrificed. I haven’t even been quilting over the last year and a half, more likely to pick up an iPad or my phone when watching TV in the evening, instead of a bag of fabrics.

But lately, I’ve been getting that feeling again, like I want to be making things.

Part of the reason that I included Act of Glitter in my Patreon rewards, apart from wanting tangible gifts at the higher level, and my children are complete art fiends, is because it’s an excuse, a justification to get messy with paint and glue and collage and whatever I have around the house. (My house has so many craft supplies stashed into various corners, it’s embarrassing)

I also have a mixed media project which has been bubbling away beneath the surface, wanting to be free! It involves collage and fabric and ink drawing and silhouettes and snarky fairy tale micro-stories and photography, and… yes. Time to get out the glue gun and start making.

I’ve been working on a new postcard design for my $5 and above patrons, because sending postcards is not only something that makes me happy, but also an aesthetic that is important to my project! (It’s called Postcards from a Practical Kingdom) Paper correspondence is getting increasingly rarer these days, and that just makes me want to take up a quill and ink and start posting letters via owl… like they did in the good old days, right? (I barely remember)

Here are a few pics from my last photo shoot/collage session. It’s all still a work in progress, but I’m getting closer to feeling like I’ve actually got started.

(Hmm, needs more glitter)

Now, BOOK PRIZES!

via GIPHY

There are 2 copies of each book, one going to one of those who entered the context on my blog, and one drawn from my entire list of Patreon supporters — all using elaborate random number systems because my children aren’t here to pull things out of hats.

DAY ONE: Bounty (e-arc)

Winners: Mieneke, Megan Hungerford

DAY TWO: The Demon Girl’s Song by Susan Jane Bigelow (e-arc)

Winners: Nikki Murray, Rivqa Rafael

DAY THREE: Letters to Tiptree (print edition)

Winners: Kerry Dustin, Tasha Turner Lenhoff

DAY FOUR: Love & Romanpunk (print edition)

Winners: Faith, Melina Dahms

DAY FOUR: Love & Romanpunk (e-edition)

Winners: Ju, Sidsel Pedersen

DAY FIVE: ALL PATREON SUPPORTERS ARE WINNERS!

As a special thank you for the great response to my Patreon Party this week, I will be handing an extra ebook prize for all Patreon supporters at the end of the weekend – my snarky and scandalous non-fiction title 50 Roman Mistresses from Fablecroft.

Thank you everyone for playing, and for your support! Winners from the blog contest, please send me your email address and/or postal address for print books. {tansyrr at gmail dot com}

If you want another chance at a book prize, check out the Goodreads Giveaway for upcoming release Bounty – they don’t even make you answer trivia questions or anything!!!

Patreon Party Day 4

Today it’s time to talk about the podcast! I’ve had so much fun making Sheep Might Fly this year — the idea of committing to a weekly podcast without other people talking was pretty daunting, but what tipped me over the edge is that I have spent the last 11 years honing my reading skills, and this year my youngest started reading her own chapter books. What was I going to do with myself when no one in the house needs my funny voices, and my dramatic renditions of favourite stories? (Luckily she DOES still like me to read to her, but it’s only a matter of time before I get eye-rolling and rejection)

Writing Musketeer Space the way I did, a chapter a week, only served to cement my love for the serial, whether we’re talking about 1960’s Doctor Who, 1980’s comics, or the latest epic 40 chapter Winterhawk fanfic. I wanted to keep writing serials, but not every novel can be written one chapter a week.

So — novelettes and novellas! I knew I wanted to write more Fake Geek Girl stories, I was bouncing to get to write the Castle Charming series, and then there was my dragon circus story (you haven’t seen that yet, it’s coming out in an anthology next month) which was crying out for sequels. I was already writing stories in chapters (it’s a thing I do, I don’t even know why, but it makes me happy) and writing directly for the podcast gives me that swoopy, brave writer feeling, without actually crushing me under the weight of too many deadlines.

So far, I have completed three Sheep Might Fly serials:

Fake Geek Girl

Glass Slipper Scandal

Julia Agrippina’s Secret Family Bestiary

After Unmagical Boy Story is finished in the next couple of weeks, I will be podcasting my most popular & celebrated story from the Love and Romanpunk collection: The Patrician. Then we move on to Dance, Princes, Dance, the sequel to Glass Slipper Scandal which people have been tweet-demanding from me ever since the ebook was published. It’s coming, I promise!

I was planning to offer up a sneak peek of Dance, Princes, Dance as a bonus extra this week, but I’ve only written 300 words, and they’re not ready for anyone’s eyes! (also, I totally have 2 chapters of Unmagical Boy to finish writing) I can tell you this: the story continues the adventures of the young protagonists of Glass Slipper: Kai, Teddy and Ziyi, but it also follows up the backstory hinted at for the Sarge. What does he have against fairy godmothers, anyway? Oh, and as the title suggests, where Glass Slipper Scandal riffed off Cinderella, this one is my 12 Dancing Princesses story… but instead it’s princes who are lured into a secret dancing den that ruins their shoes.

Which brings us to our $10 reward level of the Patreon: Naming Rights, the Drunk Faerie Edition! When the Patreon revolved around Musketeer Space, I was surprised at how many people were happy to pay top dollar for the rights to name a spaceship in the novel. Who knew that was even a thing? But it was fun to find ways to weave their suggestions into the story, and it gave Musketeer Space an interactive feel that was very creatively satisfying. So I have returned the $10 level to its rightful honour of Naming Stuff, and will change up the nameable things depending on which story is next in the line up.

Currently, those at the $10 level can name a cocktail in a skeevy fairy nightclub for Dance, Princes Dance, but ONLY IF THEY SUPPORT AT THAT LEVEL ON OR BEFORE 30 SEPTEMBER 2016. Yes, there’s a limit, because stories gotta be written. So if naming a fairy cocktail sounds like your kind of thing, get in now!

via GIPHY

Future stories will of course bring up different nameable things, and different deadlines. I’ll keep you all posted…

TODAY’S PATREON SUPPORTERS EXCLUSIVE is a sneak peek at next week’s Justice League International Reread — supporters will be able to read the first review as soon as I upload it, which will either be 10 minutes from now, or after I teach a writing workshop at my daughter’s school if I run out of time this morning…

TODAY’S BOOK GIVEAWAY is… Love and Romanpunk! this collection is one of my proudest works, a 4 x story suite telling the tale of an alternate history where the Caesars were monsters (like, literal monsters), and their daughters were superheroes. Since I am featuring the L&R stories in the podcast, it seemed appropriate to give them out as prizes, and Alisa of Twelfth Planet Press has generously donated two hard copies & two e-copies. My Patreon supporters are automatically entered into one draw… to enter the other, comment on this post with your favourite historical character OR your favourite mythical monster. Or list both, then tell me which of them would win in a death match.

Patreon Party Day 3

Big excitement overnight! We got several new pledges, taking us up and over the $250 goal line! That means I will be creating a non-fiction e-title each year (essays, criticism, history, honestly I don’t know, it’s a mystery, we get to find out together) which every single Patreon supporter will receive as part of their rewards package.

GOAL ACHIEVED!

In other news, I announced my new blogging project, a re-read of the classic comics title/era/lifestyle-choice Justice League International! My intro essay providing The Story So Far of Justice League’s history as a super team between 1960-1987 is here. I also have an essay on the One Girl In The Justice League myth coming out in the Book Smugglers almanac soon, and am working on another one right now for Uncanny about how the upcoming Justice League movie really shouldn’t be trying to copy Marvel’s business model… I JUST HAVE A LOT OF JUSTICE LEAGUE FEELINGS RIGHT NOW, OKAY?

Now that we have achieved the non fiction goal, the next one to look towards is the Inky Valkyrie Book Club! I have fielded some questions about this one, so now is a good time to talk about it… mostly because I am really, bouncingly excited about the idea of doing this project. Only $45 to go…

The Inky Valkyrie Book Club is intended to be a public forum, open for all to read and/or participate in the discussion, on my blog. While the higher (ie I can afford to post things to them) supporters will receive membership cards, anyone who wants to consider themselves an Inky Valkyrie will be more than welcome!

The idea behind the book club is for me to curate an interesting reading list (I would announce the books 2-3 months in advance so everyone had a chance to get them and read them) and then to moderate a fun, interesting discussion every month. I’m particularly interested in mixing up recent, not-so-recent and classic releases, in celebrating the novella and the graphic novel (a good book club doesn’t expect you to get through a mighty tome every single time, though the occasional tome is worth the effort), in mixing up favourite and not-discovered-yet authors, and of course, because it’s me curating the books, there will be lots of female authors and protagonists. I’d also like to read further afield and challenge my own diversity balance, which means I’ll be hunting for works published in a variety of places, by authors with a mix cultural backgrounds. While criticism is a huge part of book-response, I will be hunting for books I think I that I will genuinely enjoy as well as finding lots to talk about in them, because life is too short to read bad books.

If the Inky Valkyrie Book Club sounds like something you want to take part in, there are several ways to help make this happen: support my Patreon, raise your current support to Patreon, OR (and this is the big one), help to signal boost the campaign this week, across your favourite flavour of social media. Sending people over to check out the rewards, goals and other goodies is the biggest way you can help push us toward a glowing, ink-stained, valkyrie future.

BOOK GIVEAWAYS!

Don’t forget to enter the previous book giveaways:

DAY ONE – Bounty

DAY TWO – The Demon Girl’s Song

I’ll be drawing all of these on Friday, on the final day of the Patreon party!

Today’s book giveaway is the Alfie-winning non-fiction title that everyone has been talking about, the extraordinary and wonderful Letters to Tiptree! The very generous Alisa Krasnostein over at Twelfth Planet Press has not only donated copies as prizes, but these are PRINT COPIES that have to be posted and everything.

There are 2 copies up for grabs, one to be chosen at random from my Patreon supporters (as of 9am AEST on Friday morning which is Thursday for some of you!) and one from the commenters to this post. Say anything you like, even just your name, but if you want to enter the party spirit, tell us which author you would be most likely to write a letter to, which Tiptree book is your favourite, or whether you have ever belonged to a book club!

Justice League: The Story So Far

My new blogging project is… (drum roll) a complete re-read of Justice League International, starting in 1987, continuing to roll onwards even after the massive creative team change-up in 1992, all the way through to 1996 when the four-series narrative chaos was brought to a screeching halt and rebooted again for an era that everyone else adores and I refer to (literally, it’s a category in my filing cabinet) as Nasty Modern JLA’s.

1987-1996 is the One True Justice League, as far as I am concerned. These are the comics I cut my teeth on in my teens, while waiting for Australian indie titles to put out just one more issue. But, as I explained to my children recently, back in those days we didn’t have Wikipedia. I had to find my way through a maze of continuity references, 30-year-old backstory, and so on.

I started seriously reading comics a few months after the Death of Superman in 1992, and collected madly in both directions, hunting back issues in bag&board boxes, in second hand book shops, and in cellophane-wrapped parcels hidden in back corners of newsagencies. Collecting was a Thing I Did for most of the 90’s, even after I had given up on reading the new issues (because my favourite characters weren’t in it any more, I blame you, Grant Morrison). Any opportunity to travel to distant climes such as Launceston or Burnie were met with excitement because they had second hand book shops I had not yet picked clean in the hopes of finding that one KooeyKooeyKooey issue!

Ahem. Then eBay came along and ruined the hunt for everyone…

I DIGRESS!

I’m starting on the One True Justice League Reread next week (though Patreon supporters will totally get an early sneak peek) but before I get started, I thought I’d better catch you all up on What You Missed between the launch of Original Blend Justice League in 1960, and Maxwell Lord getting a bright idea in 1987. Nearly 30 years of comics in under 2000 words? I CAN TOTALLY WRITE THAT!

JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE STORY SO FAR

My reread of Justice League will begin in 1987, when the comic transformed from a classic superhero team-up adventure squad to… well, a sitcom/character drama about the lives, loves and hapless moneymaking adventures of a superhero squad with an inferiority complex. The most iconic characters of this era included Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Fire, Ice, and Guy Gardner. What do you mean you’ve never heard of them???

Here is what happened to the Justice League for the first 30 years of its existence, before the really good stuff started…

THE SIXTIES IN A SECRET CAVE

The original Justice League team-up happened in classic Silver Age title The Brave & The Bold, when they fought off the brilliant alien invader Starro the Conqueror: a space starfish who mind-controls his victims by creating mini starfish that glomp onto your face. The newly formed JLA soon got their own title for those adventures that were simply too big for one of them to handle. They moved into a secret cave, and aquired a jive-talking teenager/human pet called Snapper Carr, who served as the audience identification character SAID NO KID EVER.

Our original line-up of heroes includes: The Flash (Barry Allen), Aquaman (Arthur Curry), Wonder Woman (Diana Prince), Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), and Martian Manhunter (J’onn J’onnz). Technically Superman and Batman were also in the gang, but they had a habit of mysteriously not answering the call to adventure, meaning that the Justice League was defined from the start as ‘superheroes with nothing better to do.’

Later additions to this Silver Age team included Green Arrow (Oliver Queen), Hawkman (Carter Hall? Katar… oh I’m not even going there) and The Atom (Ray Palmer). Guest stars included Zatanna, Red Tornado, Hawkgirl and The Elongated Man.

This era of Justice League battled all kinds of classic villains including Despero, Doctor Light, The Royal Flush Gang and Queen Bee. Notably, they often teamed up with their alt universe other halves, the Justice Society of Earth 2.

Black Canary of the Justice Society eventually emigrated to Earth 1 after the death of her husband. She joined the Justice League and started dating Green Arrow.

THE SEVENTIES IN A SATELLITE

In 1970, after Snapper Carr revealed the location of the secret cave to the Joker, the JLA moved its headquarters to a satellite orbiting the earth. They were able to teleport from there to any crisis centre, and the much expanded team took turns on regular monitor duty, ready to assemble a team at a moment’s notice.

The Justice League now included a massive list of names, though the comics themselves rotated around the cast, mixing up teams of different combinations of powers and personalities for each story. This meant a wide and varied number of female characters in the mix instead of the “traditional” format of super blokes plus one girl.

Our heroes of this era include: Superman, Batman, Black Canary (Dinah Lance),The Flash (Barry Allen), Aquaman (Arthur Curry), Wonder Woman (Diana Prince), Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), Martian Manhunter (J’onn J’onnz), Green Arrow (Oliver Queen), Hawkman and Hawkwoman, Zatanna, Red Tornado, The Elongated Man (Ralph Dibny), Firestorm (Ronnie Raymond & Martin Stein) and others. The Justice League often teamed up with or borrowed members from the Justice Society, All-Star Squadron, and Infinity Inc.

Wonder Woman’s return to the Justice League occurred after a series of heroic ‘labours’ to prove her worth, after she lost her powers and reinvented herself as a Mrs Peel style martial artist/secret agent for a few years. Black Canary learned a bizarre truth about her secret origin: she was actually Dinah Laurel Lance, daughter of original Black Canary Dinah Drake Lance, and the dead “husband” she remembered was actually her Dad. This explained why she had suddenly acquired a super sonic canary cry, and also why she was hot for Green Arrow. (and yet, it raised so many more questions…)

“I forgot I had a girlfriend in my solo title… this is the TEAM book so it’s not cheating, right?”

Storylines that affected the more prominent Justice Leaguers in their own books were carried over into the team; though unsurprisingly, the ones who got the most character development in the team book were usually those without a solo title of their own. Relationships and friendships that were built on in the team book were often ignored in solo titles, and vice versa.

I have a particular fondness for the endless pining that Barry Allen and Zatanna had for each other (or was it one-sided? I don’t even remember) after the death of his wife Iris. There was also a running joke that Green Arrow and Hawkman were always arguing about politics, because Green Arrow was “liberal” and Hawkman “conservative”.

The Twelve Labors of Wonder Woman is totally worth reading as a trade edition, as it spotlights each of the main characters in turn, even if the premise (that she has to earn back her spot in the League despite the whole team insisting she’s more than welcome) is dodgy.

Justice League: Welcome back, Wondy!

Wonder Woman: Oh noes, I have been gone so long, they won’t even remember who I am, I must totally prove myself, oh goddess this is HARD.

Justice League: What flavour of Back On The Team Cake do you want us to bake for you?

Wonder Woman: I DON’T DESERVE CAKE!

If even Wonder Woman has imposter syndrome, the rest of us are screwed.

CRISIS POINT!

Still one of the biggest and most iconic crossover comics events of all time, Crisis of Infinite Earths (1985-86) was designed to do away with the complicated multiverse that had allowed DC creators so much freedom in telling alt universe storylines with a whole lot of handwavery.

The idea was that a cosmic disaster would cause the other universes to be compressed into a single version of Earth, warping reality forever and allowing them to nail down a single, coherent continuity.

(Pause for manic laughter)

The event was a massacre. Various key characters were killed during the story itself – with Earth One’s Barry Allen’s Flash and Supergirl the most famous casualties. (Huntress of Earth Two, Helena Wayne the adult daughter of a much older Batman and Catwoman, also died in this event, which will be relevant later… ditto for Dove, younger brother of Hawk) Other characters had their backstories massively retooled to fit the new timeline, all to “fix” perceived problems.

Many beloved characters, especially those who had been based in Earth 2 reality, slipped through the cracks and vanished, only to be brought back years or decades later, sometimes as wildly different versions of themselves.

Did it make the DC Universe less complicated? What do you think?

One of the biggest and most outrageous (seriously I still get cross about this) revisions of DC “history” was that the origin of the Justice League was changed so that Black Canary, not Wonder Woman, was the token girl in their origin story. This was because (seriously I can’t type this without becoming ENRAGED) the new post-Crisis backstory for Wonder Woman required her to be reset to a young, naive ‘just off the island’ version of herself (PUNCH WALLS), so she obviously couldn’t have been around long enough to have been with the team since the beginning.

(Deep breaths)

Also they pretended that Starro the Conqueror was not involved in their first adventure together, which is offensive on so many levels.

note: this cover was used only months before Wonder Woman was erased from the origin story of the Justice League

JUSTICE LEAGUE DETROIT

Most of the regular line-up of Justice League members had ditched the team for their busy lives by 1985 (pre-Crisis, but only just). This in-universe excuse was a thinly veiled cover for the publisher’s desire to rebrand Justice League as a teen book to copy the success of some of their bestselling titles like Teen Titans.

The Justice League Satellite was destroyed in the Earth/Mars war, and Aquaman gave a fierce speech to the United Nations criticising the absent members of the Justice League. His argument was that if the League was a full time organisation instead of made up of “dilettantes” like Superman and Batman, they might have had a better chance against alien invasion. Yes, he literally used the word dilettantes. That is all you need to know about 80’s Aquaman.

Aquaman, the Martian Manhunter, Zatanna and Elongated Man (with his civilian wife Sue) were the only ones willing to commit to full time Justice Leagueing, and they launched the biggest reboot of the Justice League to date. They acquired a hip, modern and totally groovy squad of the Eighties-est Eighties kids ever to Eighties, and moved to a headquarters in Detroit. After Aquaman took his judgy face elsewhere, the Martian Manhunter took over as leader, a role he would occupy with various versions of the Justice League for many years to come.

But really, this version of the League is all about the new kids.

VIXEN (Mari Jiwe McCabe) – an African superhero who was originally slated to be the first black female DC superhero to have her own title in the 70’s, but was sidelined after a behind-the-scenes disaster referred to as the DC Implosion (in which 20 existing and 10 impending titles were cancelled all at once). Vixen is a supermodel with magical/supernatural animal-based powers, and the only one of the newbies who is considered a grown up, even though they all look about 30.

VIBE (Paco Ramone) – a teenager with vibration/shockwave powers. Vibe is a Hispanic graffiti artist who uses his vibration powers to keep the local gangs on their best behaviour. He volunteers to be a superhero when he finds out the Justice League have moved into his neighbourhood! (Note: an Earth Prime version of Vibe is named Cisco Ramon, a name that will be familiar to current viewers of the Flash TV series)

GYPSY (Cindy Reynolds) – a runaway teen street-thief with powers of illusion, who forms a close father-daughter relationship with J’onn. It’s never quite clear whether she is of Romany descent (her birth family appear to be super white and suburban) or if she is a massive honking great example of cultural appropriation. She joins the team by sneaking into their headquarters & pwning them with her mysterious powers of camouflage that later writers entirely failed to remember how to use effectively.

STEEL (Hank Heywood III) – the boring one, I’m sorry, it’s true. Teen cyborg with super speed and strength, a legacy who is the grandson of the original Steel, a character from a 1970’s World War II comic. He provides the headquarters, the funding, and their built-in support guy, Dale Gunn (who brings their team’s number of black characters up to 2!).

It’s easy to make fun of Justice League Detroit, largely because COME ON, THEY HAVE A CHARACTER CALLED VIBE, and its attempts at diversity and teen-appeal are kinda clumsy in places — rife with unfortunate racial stereotypes. On the other hand… it is actually a culturally diverse team, especially when you consider that Aquaman, Zatanna and the Martian Manhunter are of non-American/non-human origin. Eight members, and only 2 of them are American white dudes. That happens very rarely in any super team today, let alone in the 1980’s.

When Justice League Detroit go out, it’s with one hell of a bang. Aquaman disbands the League on presidential order (as part of the Legends storyline, in which superheroes are declared public menaces). Vibe and Steel are then murdered by robots created by long-term Justice League villain Professor Ivo. The death of these boys emotionally guts what is left of the team — the issue devoted to Vibe’s death is especially painful, as it shows him proving to a kid that a Hispanic superhero can be just as awesome and inspiring as Superman (AKA “the white guy”) only for him then to be murdered in the street. Steel’s grandfather has to take him off life support after musing on the nature and responsibility of creating a cyborg teenager in the first place. Gypsy only survives because Ivo has a shred of conscience about murdering a teenage girl; Vixen survives because she’s a hardcore badass.

Yes. You heard that right. They killed off two young male characters on a super team, specifically to create devastating emotional fallout. The women survive.

By the close of the Death of the Justice League of America storyline, J’onn J’onzz and Vixen were the only members still on their feet. (Gypsy was returned to her loving/abusive family) The Justice League had never been this dark, or despondent.

It was 1987 and things were about to get AWESOME. I hope. Unless I remember wrong. Please let me not be remembering wrong! I need some cheering up after being genuinely knocked around by the death of Vibe.

Come back next week for my review of Justice League #1 (1987), launching the Great Justice League International Reread, AKA The One True Justice League, AKA Power Girl’s Cat Is The Best Superhero.

Patreon Party Day 2: Free Fiction

I’m excited to have gathered some new Patreon supporters already, and to see our tally creeping closer to that next milestone… but today is the day for fiction giveaways!

First, an exclusive Patreon-only short story — you’ll be able to read it only if you log into my page as a supporter! “Ray Guns For Ladies” is one of the shortest stories I’ve written in years, and it’s about expressing your femininity via nail art and ray gun design in outer space. I swear I wrote it before the Jamberry obsession hit! (I was actually inspired after a Twitter conversation months ago about being able to match your lipstick to your ray gun)

Then there’s Bounty, my new collection, coming soon but currently available in e-arc… Tehani has posted a GoodReads giveaway for the book, or you can go into a much smaller pool of entrants by commenting on my blog post from yesterday.

But today’s new prize draw is for an e-arc of The Demon Girl’s Song by Susan Jane Bigelow! I’ve become aware of Susan’s work published by The Book Smugglers, as she has been writing superhero novels for them all year, but this is a fantasy book and it looks great!

She wanted adventure, she got a demon and a dying world. More than anything, Andin dal Rovi wants to escape her small town life, helping her father in the store, watching her younger brother prepare to take the place at University she’d longed for. Instead of escape, she gets a thousand-year-old demon stuck in her head, and she loses everything – her home, her family and her country. In the quest to regain her identity, she finds herself racing against time to uncover the secrets of her world – and save it from utter annihilation.”

Comment in this post recommending a recent favourite book or author to go into the draw to win Susan’s about-to-be-published new fantasy novel!

Sheep Might Fly: Unmagical Boy Story Part 10

New episode is up!

Part 10 – 4AM, Second Wind

The flatmates rally around to deal with Holly’s latest evil ex, Chauvelin has his long-awaited crisis, and Viola embraces her inner gorgon.

Catch up on previous episodes here!

Part 1 – 7PM, Little Black Dress Alert

Part 2 – 8PM, Friday Night Cover Charge: Two Drinks

Part 3 – 9PM I Hate That Song So Much Right Now

Part 4 – 10PM The Band Takes a Break

Part 5 – 11PM Second Set Contains New Material (Don’t Feed the Trolls)

Part 6 – 12 Midnight – After Party

Part 7 – 1AM: Regrettable Things You Shouldn’t Have Said

Part 8 – 2AM – Ill-advised Hook Up

Part 9 – 3AM – Clearing the Air

Sheep Might Fly has its own Twitter account: @sheepmightfly

and its own Tumblr account: Sheep Might Fly

Follow along for updates, previews and other Sheep Might Fly specific chatter!

Master list of Sheep Might Fly serials.

Support Tansy & Sheep Might Fly at Patreon.