Happy National Coming Out Day

The whole world just recently celebrated #NationalComingOutDay, on October 11, 2018.

Whether you knew about this, in support of this or just plain indifferent to the whole thing, we all have to understand that the coming out process is not for everyone and that it all depends on the individual concerned and who they come out to.

And it’s because of this, I did a little re-read on this graphic novel that was released in December 28, 2016 and it’s called, “Love is Love”.

This is a comic book anthology compiled for the benefit of the survivors of the Orlando shooting on June 12, 2016. On that fateful night, a 29 year-old security guard named Omar Mateen, killed 49 people and left 53 wounded in a terrorist attack at a gay nightclub called Pulse. He was shot and killed after a 3-hour standoff.

There are indeed no words for that act.

But many artists, writers, inkers, directors and fellow Creatives had a lot to say about how this tragedy affected us all and how Love is truly Love, no matter how you look at it. No matter from whatever corner of the world we live in.

Director Patty Jenkins provided the Introduction and the entire anthology was the brainchild of Marc Andreyko and featured the works and words of who's who like actor Matt Bomer; Green Lantern artist, Ivan Reis; my favorite Buffy writer, Christopher Golden; X-men and current Justice League artist, Jim Lee; Marvel and Image Comics writer, Mark Millar; Wonder Woman writer, Gail Simone; Thriller novelist, Brad Meltzer and more.

With Wonder Woman herself on the cover and holding up the rainbow flag, the entries ranged from single paged stories to two-paged reflections on how the tragedy has affected everyone. One page showed Batman telling Nightwing how the victims were heroes and that they were not so different from the two of them, as some had to create identities to protect who they are and that those who hid their true selves actually found strength in what they had to conceal. It was simple but effectively written by Golden Globe and People’s Choice Award winning actor, Matt Bomer.

Marc Guggenheim (ARROW, LEGENDS of TOMORROW, GREEN LANTERN, PERCY JACKSON) also had a single page entry showing Batman at the scene of the crime and how the cops deduced that if the World’s Greatest Detective could not solve how the crime came about, then no one can.

Ivan Reis’ panel was a single paged black and white sketch depicting the Earth members of the Green Lantern Corps standing proud and showing solidarity with the colors of the rainbow shining outward from behind them. Batwoman, who will be the major focus of this fall’s CW crossover between Flash, Arrow and Supergirl was also in a panel comforting a kid who lost his mother in the shooting. She told him that the best thing she did as a costumed hero was to be true to herself. She acknowledged the grieving kid’s pain and that his own mother was equally brave to live her life in truth. She added that because of that, she was a hero herself and that her bravery will live in him.

These are the kinds of stories you will be reading in this 144-paged anthology, the proceeds of which will go to the victims, survivors and families of the affected tragedy through an organization called Equality Florida.

Say what you want about being gay, about being in the closet, about how hard or easy it is to find that one person to connect with and eventually share you life with. You would soon come to realize that the process is the same for everyone. We all want the same thing. We want the same feeling of joy. We want the same thrill of being in love and free from the pain of heartbreak when we fall out of love.

We all want the same things. We just want different ways to package it.

My love is not dependent on your approval. And yours doesn't require my vote either. All our journeys are different. We all just to accept that and allow everyone to live and accept their own reality.

We all may not be engineers, physicists, teachers, Olympic athletes  or coaches but we all can at least agree on one thing when we see it.

And that is, Love Is Love.

Period!

Let’s make it so!

Justice League #5- The New 52

            If you’ve been following my previous Justice League New 52 entries, then you know the new Big Bad that has finally come to town, but should you not want to and have yet to read it, then just go to the first entry. But if you don’t mind the spoilage then I thank you for reading on.

So with the arrival of the Big Bad by way of Darkseid in the last issue, our heroes, just by looking at the cover by Jim Lee are all in readiness and awaiting the fray. As you can see it is, it’s a group shot and Vic Stone, aka. Cyborg seems to be on the road to fully embrace his new path as part of the “League”. The league as we know it has yet to be officially formed as our fallen heroes have yet to deal with their initial defeat and are reeling from the arrival of a foe that none of them have ever encountered. I guess, Geoff Johns wanted a big event to be the catalyst that would bring our heroes together. And you don’t get any better than Darkseid.

But the issue opens with almost all our heroes all down for the count save for Flash. In his recovery, he witnesses Darkseids Omega beams (coming from his eyes), take down two government aircrafts. So, it’s not a match.

 By this time, the Man of Steel comes around and is ready for some action but Flash, after seeing what Darkseid did, knew better & scuttles him out just before Darkseid sends out two more beams to take them out. Here the running pair, find 
out for the first time what we already knew (prior to the New 52) which is, that Darkseid's eye beams can follow you around till it makes contact.


Flash & Supes split up in the hopes of evading it, but only Flash got the idea of diverting the beam to a group of Darkseid's creatures before Superman himself got hit by the beams and gets carried out by the winged creatures to the tower that rose up from the sea in Issue 3.

By this time, Hal has taken upon himself to be "the hero" by engaging Darkseid directly, hitting him with a “green mace” and shielding himself with a green shield after Darkseid retaliates. To Lantern’s surprise, and ours, he hardly flinches, as Hal’s constructs have no effect on the huge and menacing interloper. In addition to that, Darkseid probably regarding our Green Lantern as a pesky and troublesome gnat, grabs him and breaks his arm! (okay, Shock #2) In just a few panels and with the damage that he has wrought so far, Darkseid is proving to be much of the daunting villain of this issue as he doesn’t talk much and simply lets his might do all the talking. After dispensing with the “pesky” Lantern, he simply turns around and walks away, pretty much the stance of a confident and all encompassing villain.

 At this point the action tapers down and I find myself surprised (yes, again), as Batman does something that is something considered out of character, and that he reaches out to Hal, telling him that charging this otherworldly foe is not doing the “bright” thing and he wonders out loud what propels Hal to do what he does as he feels that they are similar. In a gasp-worthy moment, Batman tells him who he is, how his parents were murdered as he takes his mask & cape off. But instead of marveling out loud at the revelation, and probably a result of him being too ensconced in his life of a bubble in Coast City, Hal Jordan remarks that he doesn’t know who Bruce Wayne is. Yes, the brag-mouth doesn’t know the “enigma”.

Bruce feels that they are alike & what is going on is bigger than any one of them. He adds that its time for them to be a team and then goes off.

  

 Lantern then rounds up the rest of the heroes and decide to follow Darkseid into the city while keeping out of sight. Of course, another banter-set, courtesy of Hal & Barry ensues as the remaining heroes decide to distract Darkseid while buying Bruce some time in his reconnaissance mission. The Lantern and Flash exchange clearly follwing Hal's Battle cry of "We Got This" shows us readers the ease and the candor between these two friends, as it has always been them two who have gotten along even prior to the New 52. Batman, or in this case, Bruce Wayne for his part allowed himself to be taken by the winged creatures and finds himself entering another portal and sees another city, one that can be mistaken for a refinery of an oil plant, or a big giant industrial furnace of a city, replete with pipes, smoke, burning pits of fire, but, for a change, more winged creatures.

So care to take a guess where they are exactly? ;)

            Well, like you I am equally guessing and getting antsy for Issue #6.

Justice League #4- The New 52

Throw a King into the mix, via Aquaman certainly uppes the ante in anyone’s books and thus leaves room for a little more focus on the remaining member of the group who has yet to fully embrace his evolution and journey to become a new man. That new man is Victor Stone whom we all know as Cyborg and who at the start of this issue finds him deep in the Red Room at Star Labs undergoing a painful transformation, or more aptly, the grafting and replacing of the metal Prometheum with his damaged tissue from the previous issues.

And just when the metallic winged hounds of Darkseid penetrates Star Labs does he get first hand of his transformation as his hand automatically goes into defense mode and blasts one creature away, blowing it to bits. But by the end of the panel, we see that it is not only the monster that is blown away, but also the traces of a bond between father and son as Dr. Stone can only call out to his transformed cyborg of a son, Vic, as he breaks away in rage, and in disappointment at what his father has done to him and at the monster that he has become.

Back at Metropolis, the newly acquainted heroes are having mixed reactions at having met a new super being in their midst and with the revelation at that, that these creatures set some kind of device and tore open a hole in the water that eventually ushered more creatures out from it. He assumes that the land-based heroes before him have gathered to fight them but does not see a leader in their midst.

This is where the lines get snappish and acerbic once more as each hero quips a line (or two) that reveals further much of their persona; or like Hal Jordan who blurted out that he thought Aquaman, was a sketch on Conan O Brien (insert LOL #1), gives them ample smart-aleck highlights under the klieg lights of a building catastrophe. Batman, for his part, has his line of asserting leadership as he alludes that Aquaman was not looking at him when he was looking for a leader. Aquaman assumes leadership status as he is the rightful heir to the throne of Atlantis.

Of course, this doesn’t bode well with our Lantern, who apart from having issues with taking orders, doesn’t appreciate Batman, another wananabe super-hero giving out orders and bossing people around. With that said, he goads the Sea King to prove his worth to which Aquaman does via his telepathic connection with various aquatic lifeforms. Yes, it does shut Hal up. But I don’t know about you but Hal is getting more cocky by the issue. Heck if he keeps it up, he could give Guy Gardner a serious run for his money.

Vic Stone, aka. Cyborg, unaware of the chaos around Chicago stumbles outside and manages to help a woman who was being attacked by the winged creatures and somehow assimilates information from them and showed him how Darkseid was conquering one world after another by harvesting and processing organic materials and turning them into the creatures that have just attacked Chicago, Metropolis and other cities around the world. Lucky for him, and for us readers, his self defending and pro-active armor traces the signal being emanated by these creatures and transports him via a portal to Metropolis to join our heroes in the fray against them; just in time to warn them of who is behind the attacks and how he goes from world to world and is coming to Earth. And on cue, the Big Bad of the issue makes a grand and disastrous entrance for all the world to see.

     All in all, I am loving the elements of the storyline so far and how each and every piece of the puzzle is being fitted to complete the big picture. But like in the past issues, there were still some room for unwarranted but much welcomed humor to dispel the seriousness of the storyline like Batman laughing after Hal inadvertently admits that what he does is solely to impress people especially, Wonder Woman.  But Hal doesn’t really readily say it just for honesty’s sake, his hand was just absentmindedly touching Wondy’s golden lasso, which makes one tell the truth. (insert LOL #2)

      Now to break off from the funnies, one line that struck me in this issue was what Superman said to Flash as he flew off to divert attacks being made by government choppers on them. Supes said, “You seem to be someone who wants to do the right thing, but the same can’t always be said for everyone in positions of authority.”

         This observation about people in power holds much truth for me as we all know that too much of it corrupts even those with the best intentions. Of course, unless you have the heart of Mother Teresa or you’re a strong willed leader who knows what he wants to accomplish and sticks by the means to doing so, then at least that alone grants the exemption to this notion. But unless people in government, without the need to say about ours, do certainly acknowledge and know their responsibility and accountability are to the people, then, there will always be a cycle of repeat offenders. There will be be some who think that they can go above the law, much less rewrite it. Good thing there are heroes in their world. How about ours? How many heroes have we got?

And how many heroes will be left standing after Darkseid's arrival? Time to check out the next issue.

Justice League #1 - The New 52

When I first got wind of the Retcon that DC comics was going to do and it consisted of 52 titles, I had to admit that I shook my head both in disbelief and in bewilderment. Everything was doing well for me, for both as an outsider and a reader, so what was the change in the DC Universe for. But then again we’re not Geoff Johns or part of the DC management and no amount of internet protests would swing vote in my favour and also for those who felt the same way as I did.

But nonetheless, I was still excited and anxious of the surprises that the stories would have for me. I know my favorite, Green Lantern was not exactly a major casualty of the reset-storyline but more of re-numbering wherein the issue once more goes back to #1 and continues the flow of events following their most recent crisis of which I love, and that was War of the Green Lanterns.

So I only most recently decided to catch up with our favorite Justice League over the Holidays, having heard good things about it. Plus I also got curious after seeing the official picture of the newly re-formed and re-drawn Justice League. What stood out was obviously the absence of Superman’s Red Underwear and he was wearing an all-blue “tights” with more detail and a mechanical chiselled look. Like Green Lantern and Batman’s boots, the drawings were more contoured and had a modern look to them. No doubt this was part of the re-marketing of the DC Universe to the newer generation. And with that I forged on ahead.

Issue #1 of which I was able to get the variant cover instead by David Finch and not the Jim Lee original as my source ran out of stock, began with a narration that began 5 years ago when Superheroes were not called as such and they were viewed as a threat by the public and equally hunted down by the government, in spite of the heroes’ best intention to help and curtail crime. Such was the scene we witness at the beginning of the issue and set in Gotham City with our Batman in one of the building rooftops and in pursuit of a mysteriously cloaked figure. In the chase that ensued the figure turns out to be a humanoid of some kind that later was dispatched easily by an arriving Hal Jordan, aka. Green Lantern who like the populace viewed Batman’s existence as a myth and got the “surprise” that the Batman was real and flesh and blood.

They team up and chase the figure down the sewers which had already changed and developed mechanical wings and legs to which Hal quips and referenced the creature as a “Transformer.” See, what I mean? Definitely a ploy to bring new and younger audiences into the DC fold. What I liked was the antagonistic attitude between Hal and Bruce and the development of that dynamic playing out when Hal freaked out after finding out that Batman can’t fly, has no super strength and merely was a guy in a Bat costume. LOL! That reaction was priceless! 2 more “priceless” interactions for me between Hal and Bats were when Bruce casually slips off Hal’s ring and examines it and deduces that the ring doesn’t have any buttons and most probably works on concentration. Puzzled, Hal asks how was Batman able to do that to which our Caped Crusader smirks under his cowl and smartly replies, “You weren’t concentrating”. LOL! (Yes!)

And some things never change in spite of the resetting of the DC Universe, Hal is still as cocky, Batman is still thorough in his research. After the creature blows itself up and attaches a mechanical box to the wall, Bruce says that the box is indeed alien tech to which Hal references Superman and that all of this is somehow connected to that “Alien in Metropolis”. With that said the pair fly off to Metropolis in a bright green jet amidst Batman’s mild protest afterwards because of the lack of anonymity flying into the city. Hal effortlessly quips, “You can’t fly. So how else were we going to get there? Talk in a Deep Voice?” LOL! (again)

Now Hal’s cockiness doesn’t stop there as he safely encloses Batman into a green box while he goes into a Lexcorp building as his ring is a “magnet for extraterrestrials”. But the search finds him instead as Supes comes rushing out of the building in a haze of red and blue for he “doesn’t do easy”. In this last panel we see the new Superman minus the red underwear with the same semi high collar and with the cape sewn into the costume. Like Hal and Bats his boots are more chiselled with equally the same recessed detail drawn into it and with raised piping at the center of the boots and with equal red piping at the edge of his sleeves. This is obviously a new Superman greeting new and old readers and sets up the next event billed in Issue #2 as Batman Vs. Superman.

And with these dynamics to play on, add into the mix the development and history of Vic Stone as his journey to being Cyborg comes into play and the Justice League members slowly come to meet one hero after another and find that their goals are not at all disimilar and perhaps unlikely as it is in their line of work, working together may just be the breakthrough they need to find out the meaning of this new threat or slogan as the robot creatures cry out just before detonating oneself. What was the battle cry? It was....For Darkseid!

 So whatcha waiting for? Get Issue #2! Now!