Thursday, 17 April 2014

Comic Books - for all?

I love comic books.  I have done since my Dad used to bring home issues of Victor, Battle,  Roy of The Rovers and 2000ad to help teach my brother and me to read.

These comics then, in no short time, led to the introduction of the US titles which had, in 1982, started to be reprinted in fortnightly issues - Thor, X-Men, Spider-Man, alongside toy tie-ins such as Transformers and Zoids.

The love of comic books, just as with Role Playing Games, is still with me.  They've come a long way since then, with the surge of popularity due to the (pretty amazing on the whole) cinema franchises from both Marvel and DC.

When I started reading comics, the stories were about the heroes taking on the villain and (on the whole) beating them, rescuing the girl, who would then fall for them.  Of course, there were love triangles, and messy separations, unrequited love and spurned lovers, but it was all good, wholesome fun (even though this was the 80's and even into the 90's, the Comics Code Authority was still a powerful body, telling the Big 2 what they could and couldn't publish).

This series of frames, taken from West Coast Avengers, is pretty much par for the course of comic book romances at the time:

Hawkeye & Mockingbird, West Coast Avengers Vol2, issue 91 (1993) Artwork by David Ross & Tim Dzon

Admittedly,  there were no social networks or internet forums on which fans could express their pleasure (or displeasure) at the characters hooking up, but from reading the letters pages, it's pretty obvious the readership on the whole rooted for Clint & Bobbi's love story...

Now, advance to this year...

One of my favourite series of the last few years has been YOUNG AVENGERS. Relaunched in January of 2013 with a new creative team of Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie, the title ran for 15 issues, in which the creative team told one of the best stories I've read in a good long while.

Essentially, the title looks at what happens when Young Avengers start to grow up - opposed by 'Adult' enemies, the group come to terms with their own nature, resulting in the redemption of several of the heroes along the way.  

Central to the story is a romance.  Sensitively handled, with humour and affection, the lovers split, then realise that they're stronger together.  The two in question?  Hulking and Wiccan.

Two boys.

Two gay boys.

To the readers of YA this isn't as much of a shock as it sounds, as the two characters have been 'outed' for as long as the title has been around - their relationship was established in Volume 1.

Volume two sees Teddy (Hulking) and Billy (Wiccan) separate, as Teddy mistakenly thinks that Billy would be better off without him (hell, when haven't any of us ever not thought that about our partners?).  But, eventually, they come back together, in what is one of the most touching and romantic issues I've ever read.

Here's one of the final scenes:

Hulking & Wiccan, Young Avengers, Volume 2, Issue 15 (2014), Written by Kieron Gillen, Drawn by Jamie McKelvie

The story, which handles the relationships of all the characters in a mature, sensitive and honest way, has just been awarded a GLAAD Media Award for Best Comic Book which I think is well deserved, and heartily congratulate both Kieron and Jamie for their hard work.

But then I made the mistake of reading the Facebook comments against the announcement of the award on Comicbook Resources Facebook page:

Now, that's pretty tame compared to some of the comments that were left... 

And for that I was ashamed to be part of a community that still harboured homophobia.  

I highlighted this to the creators, through Twitter what they thought of the comments - here's their reply:

And you know what? I completely agree. They are doing something right.  They didn't set out to sensationalise the story through the characters sexuality - it was just something that was there, that was dealt with just like any other relationship, be it straight, bi or gay.

And for that they should be applauded.  

However, there's a good wedge of vocal 'fans' of comic books who seem to think that unless the relationship is between a man and (more often than not, anatomically impossible) woman, it's 'sick' or 'perverted'. 

It's these same morons I'm sure that have been posting rape threats to Janelle Asselin for having the cheek to criticise the cover to the new Teen Titans comic book, again on Comicbook Resources (as it happens, I agree with her on this cover - the cheesecake depiction of Wonder Girl seems massively out of place compared against the other characters AND the previous TT story lines).

Both of these incidents are, to me, unacceptable.  I feel that as a man, who loves comics, I need to apologise for the brain dead, neanderthal actions of my fellow comic book fans, who seem to be stuck in the past, where being sexist or homophobic is somehow acceptable (hint: IT'S NOT) or cool (DEFINITELY NOT).

I've challenged the comments on the CBR facebook page, as have others I will say.  But even one sexist or homophobic comment is too many.

Comics should be for all - not the just the few. 


Sunday, 6 April 2014

A Foray to Warhammer World...

Today, through an invitation from the Eldar painter extraordinaire  Nigel Bartlett, I went to a friendly club tournament at Games Workshop's Warhammer World venue in Nottingham.

I've not attended a tournament, event or even just played  at Warhammer World since 2010.  I've been there as a stop off for lunch a few times, but not to play.

Previously, when I worked in Nottingham, Warhammer World was almost a second home; as it was round the corner from my office I ate in Bugmans Bar on most lunches, and was an active member of the First Company Veterans (1CV) club, helping to organise and run many successful tournaments over the course of about five years.  I made a lot of good friends in my time there, but, as with many things, my time there was all too brief and when I changed jobs, my time at Warhammer World was over.

So going back for a couple of friendly games was a nice plan, one I looked forward to.

But I digress....

Warhammer World, Sunday, April 6, 2014

After meeting the rest of the team in the carpark, I was handed a rather fetching Polo Shirt with the WS10 logo emblazoned on the breast, and my name on the back!

My army was:
HQ 
Chief Librarian Tigurius,                  
Elites   
6 Sternguard Veterans; 3× combi-melta &heavy flamer, Veteran Sergeant with plasma pistol & power fist,
6 Assault Terminators; 3× 2 lightning claws; 3× thunder hammer and storm shield,
Troops           
10 Tactical Marines ; meltagun; missile launcher (frag missiles; krak missiles, Space Marine Sergeant; power fist; bolt pistol,
10 Tactical Marines; flamer; missile launcher (frag missiles; krak missiles).
Space Marine Sergeant; boltgun; bolt pistol,
6 Scouts; 5× sniper rifle; missile launcher (frag missiles; krak missiles); Sergeant Telion
Fast Attack  
Stormtalon Gunship; twin-linked assault cannon; Typhoon missile launcher;
6 Assault Marines; bolt pistols; plasma pistol; chainswords; Veteran Sergeant; bolt pistol; thunder hammer;
Heavy Support  
3 Devastator Centurions; twin-linked lascannon; 2× grav-cannon and grav-amp; 3× missile launcher (frag missiles; krak missiles);
Stalker; Icarus stormcannon array; searchlight; smoke launchers; extra armour. Vehicle (Tank).

And looked like this:

As it turned out, due to a few issues, I only got the one game in - against Tau...

Tau aren't an army I've faced for a god while, so were a bit of an unknown quantity to me - I'd forgotten how nasty they could be, with their marker lights and plasma weapons all over the place....!

Still, I put up a valiant fight, and did my best.  However, when the dice rolls are against you, no matter how well you plan it just won't work...

Things I learned from my game:
1) Tigurius is incredibly fragile.  As he doesn't have 'Eternal Warrior' as a special rule, nor an invulnerable save, he's prone to dropping like a stone on the first occasion he's shot at. Which he did...
2) Centurions scare people! No matter that I don't particularly care for the miniature, just their presence on the table scared my opponent into using them as target practice for pretty much the whole game - leaving my other squads free to move and grab the objectives early on (the fact that once they were destroyed it was open season on the rest of the army is moot...).
3) Stalkers aren't that bad, when you realise that Skyfire can be used against skimmers as well as flyers....
4) Riptides are hard - bloody hard, to get rid of.

Even though I lost 9vps to 3, I had a great game, and between Ade (my opponent and another member of the WS10 gamers club) and myself we didn't stop laughing throughout the entire game.

It was worth the trip, and the neverousness I felt at the idea of going was replaced by more good memories.

Thanks guys - I had a great time!

My first ever fan fiction!

  My First foray into fan fiction - a Battletech short story!  I've been wanting to write short stories for a while, but never really go...