The Sorceress’ New Clothes – Zatanna’s new outfit doesn’t “etiuq krow"

Serinda Swan as Zatanna on Smallville's 

8th season episode, Hexed.

I’m feeling a little whiny today. So what shall I complain about?  How about DC Comic's superheroing sorceress, Zatanna?  


Is anyone else finding the new costume for DC’s new series by writer Paul Dini and artist Stephane Roux a bit of a mash-up?

I know it's Zatanna we're talking about here but this uniform is missing the mark slightly. Zatanna is far from the first superheroine to have a costume wholly inappropriate for crime fighting or supernatural menace slaying, but her original outfit does at least match up with her stage origins.

Carmine Infantino's original Zatanna.

Zatanna followed in the footsteps of her famous father, stage magician (and actual wizard) Zatarra.  As an old-school (read that as, non-stripping) burlesque magician she wore a somewhat tarted up version of her father’s top hat and tuxedo jacket crossed with the sort of stockings and tights she might have worn as his assistant growing up. 

Zatanna’s stage magician look belies her actual supernatural talent. She's a hero who hides in plain site, couching her inherited magical abilities power in stagecraft and misdirection. And as drawn by the brilliant designer of Carmine Infantino, her costume looks like a million bucks. (Though one could be forgiven for assuming she was just there to sell cigarettes, gum or a tray full off shooters.)

Our backward’s talking sorceress’ first appearances in the sixties were in a number of DC titles as she teamed with various DC heroes in search of her father, who had disappeared mysteriously. The early team-ups were featured as a back-up stories in various DC titles (including turns with Hawkman, The Atom, Batman, Green Lantern and even the Elongated Man). Eventually her quest me tit’s end in the pages of the Justice League of America. It was a gentle precursor to today’s multi-title, event crossovers.

It took all of Zatanna’s wits and power combined with those of the entire Justice League to free her wayward father from the magical dimension he as imprisoned in. DC recently reprinted the entire quest in JLA: Zatanna’s Search. This edition has a cover by Brian Bolland, who definitely sold Zatanna’s dressy duds with typical Bolland aplomb.

When Zatanna eventually joined the Justice League in the eighties, no less than the master himself, George Perez, designed a new costume for her new, more heroic role in the DC universe. The cape and the wide sleeves kept an element of her “nothing up my sleeves” magic while the skintight purple and white bathing suit and billowing cape lent the ensemble the necessary dose of four-colour superheroics. And I even dig the fab earrings. Zatanna always does things with style.

After a spin in the original Books of Magic mini-series and guest appearances in a variety of titles, Zatanna took centre stage as one of Grant Morrison’s Seven Soldiers of Victory, with fantastic artwork by Ryan Sook. Though Sook took Zatanna’s costume to a slightly more sexual extreme, he still sold it as a stage costume. One got the feeling that it was like Zatanna putting on a character and if a little leg showing helped distract her opponents, all the better.

Let’s be honest. Zatanna isn’t a hero who’s going to get into a bare-knuckle barroom brawl. She fights magic with magic. So with high-kicks out of the picture stiletto heels are just fine, thank you very much.

And now, DC has announced a new Zatanna ongoing series by Dini and Roux. I find this an exciting prospect and gobbled the yummy preview art they’ve released at DC Universe the Source -- Zatanna Strikes Out on her Own.

 But there are a few little things about Zatanna’s look that aren’t working for me just yet.

In trying to make Zatanna’s costume more his own, Roux dresses Zatanna -- the most put-together fashion-wise hero in the DCU -- in a bit of a mish-mash of mismatched items. It’s as if she’d stolen pieces willy-nilly from the window of a vintage shop.

Part of it is a pet peeve of mine. I have with artists who are so used to drawing muscular men that when they clothe someone in a suit they have no idea how to fit it around the human body.  Truthfully, it bugs me all the more because I share this fault in my own art.

I should first say that Stephane Roux is hell of an artist. His characters are rendered with verve and loads of personality. His acting is extremely believable and his layouts are quirky but clear.  And let’s face it, his Zatanna has exactly the kind of likeable, fun personality a character would need to be a successful stage performer and mystical buckler of swashes.

But Z’s costume is just… a little off. But why?

I think part of it may be that Roux has dispensed with the tails, effectively turning the tailcoat into a bolero jacket. In short, Z was an entertainer before, now she’s Julie, our cruise director.

That alone may not have bothered me except Roux has replaced the tails with a cape, I suppose to add an element of superheroic derring-do to the proceedings. 

But this is not just any cape. This cape has tuxedo-like tails at the bottom. Um, if he missed the tails so very much why add them here?  

It’s exactly the kind of detail an artist hits on to make a costume more “his own”.  But in this case, the effect feels a little forced and equally fails as both a superhero element and as a magicians cape for me.

Now on to the vest. But is it a vest or a wide belt?  In his effort to showcase Zatann’s ample bosom, Roux has drawn a vest that doesn’t fit her body in any way gravity would allow.  

Again, this isn’t entirely Roux's fault. Other artists have done the same thing and I’ve rarely felt it works. It looks silly to me.  It’s such a simple thing to redraw the angle of the vest to go up instead of across. It would feel more realistic and in no way would interfere with the appreciation of Z’s boobs.

Roux has followed tradition  kept the fishnets and dancewear covering her bottom and I can’t really blame him for the hooker boots. Again, past artists have tried the same thing. I came across another Brian Bolland version of our resident, backwards talking, "ssertsim fo cigam" that features the thigh-high boots and the same trick with the vest. I must confess Bolland makes it work. So perhaps I’m being too hard on poor Stephane.

But there is one other, little thing.  Does it bother anyone else that Z's top hat doesn't sit on her head correctly?

It floats two inches above her in most panels. Perhaps the rabbits she hides inside keep pushing it up.

Sigh... On the other hand.

Truthfully, after studying the art to write up this rant, Roux’s version of Zatanna is growing on me every time I look at it.

Trading the tails for a cape-with-tails seems silly but overall,Roux's layouts look bombastic and playful.  He’s adding a lot of charm to Zatanna's face and is playing around with the new characters, who are all well-defined and fun looking. Check out this line-up of fabulous characters!

Now that my curmudgeonly fanboy complaints are all out in the open, the many good elements of Roux’s artwork are shining forward in sharp relief.

And now I can’t wait to see the book, dang it!

Darn. Serinda Swann is making me eat 

my words about Zatanna's thigh highs.

But the classic look still 

rocks the house.

srevaeB pU! 

Re-Evaluating Lois Lane

For years now, comics have been quite notorious for handling female characters in very limited ways.   

They’re most often used as an object of romantic desire or frustration, a fan-boy’s big-boobed, big butted pin-up girl dream, a damsel in distress, sidekick, or a female heroic reflection/copy of the main character created more for marketing and copyright protection than for characterization. Comic women have also been used as torture and murder victims to sufficiently motivate the male protagonist on his mission of righteousness.

But more and more, we’re starting to see female characters that are, in many cases, even richer than their male counterparts. For every ridiculous Marvel Divas series, we can at least look to Batwoman and Manhunter over at DC, Ms. Marvel over at Marvel Comics and pretty much every damn female character Gail Simone and Greg Rucka have ever written.

Fan lightning rod Gail Simone’s current run on Wonder Woman is galvanizing new discussion and support of Wonder Woman among readers and fans. 

But what of that other grand dame of the comic world, the original girl reporter, Lois Lane?

A few years, I was working on comic book character entries for a project that hasn’t materialized. I tried to sum up Lois Lane for comic book insiders and out alike thusly:

LOIS LANE

Created by: Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster

First Appearance: Action Comics #1, DC Comics, 1938.

Notable Appearances: 137 issues of her own DC Comics title from 1958 to 1974.

Alias/Nicknames: Snoop, Superman’s Girlfriend, Mrs. Clark Kent.

Powers: Lois’ main power was a highly developed nose for news, a tendency to get into dangerous situations only Superman could get her out of, and a complete inability to recognize the man she loved whenever he donned bifocals.  The modern version was trained as a girl in hand-to-hand combat, firearms and knife fighting by her soldier father and is a notoriously bad speller.

Comments:  Inspired by the snappy, hard-working, girl reporter archetype prevalent in thoroughly modern movies of the thirties and visually based on the future Mrs. Jerry Siegel, Lois Lane was created to be a perfect foil for Superman. Lois was Siegel and Shuster’s revenge on all the glamorous girls who had ignored them in High School.  Despite being smart and independent, Lois couldn’t see that everything she ever wanted in a man was typing away at the desk next to her in the form of nebbish rival reporter, Clark Kent.  Over the course of the forties and fifties, Lois’ role was reduced to plotting elaborate schemes to prove Clark Kent and Superman were one and the same, and fantasizing about married life as Mrs. Superman. In the 70’s, new attitudes toward women helped Lois develop as an individual in her own right and she finally married her Man of Steel in 1996.  The feisty character has finally matured into a fully developed character devoted to, and independent from, her super husband. 

It’s a solid enough overview but there’s so much more to the character that I had to leave out. Lois’ character was created over almost eighty years ago but the initial, essential ingredients of her character have remained relatively consistent.  A tough, nonsense reporter with a highly developed sense of justice and intense competitive drive.


Sure, she was wish fulfillment for the male creators and their male readers … every shy, awkward male in existence wanted to believe someone as dynamic and beautiful as Lois would love them if she could see the superman they really were on the inside. I lucked into that very situation with my own wife so it can be done boys!

But Seigel and Shuster were also smart enough to make Lois a force all on her own, much like the fast-talking, driven female character they saw on the silver screen of the thirties. I suspect in those years she resonated with her female readership as well.

Over the years as Superman went from anti-authoritarian shit-disturber to defender of the status quo, Lois also became a sort of Lucille Ball of the comics. Trying to uncover Superman's identity and force him to overcome his true weakness -- emotional commitment. 

The stories always placed blame for Lois' embarrassing comeuppances on her inquisitiveness and often, on her "femaleness" itself! But the truth of the matter was, like so many intelligent, independent women before her, Lois Lane's Kryptonian boyfriend was a dick.

Blackmailing dick.

Cruel prankster dick.

Married, cheating dick.

Or just your everyday, gaslighting, anything 

to humiliate my loved ones kind of dick. 

Why the Popemobile? Couldn't you just put her 

on a pedestal like the rest of us, Superdick?

(Images coutesy of www.superdickery.com)

Some of the best discussions on what makes iconic, female characters work has been happening these last few weeks over at Kelly Thompson's new She Has No Head! column at Comicbookresources.com.  Her post, Giving Lois a Second Look, For the First Time and the ensuing comments are one of the best discussions regarding the quintessential lady journalist I've ever read.

Thompson starts by admitting she think much of Lois until she read Mindy Newell’s pre-Crisis Lois Lane miniseries When It Rains, God Is Crying. Newell attempted to portray a strong, skilled reporter who is so affected by the story she’s working on (missing children) that she begins to push away her friends and colleagues. 

This series portrayed a Lois who had seen a lot but seems to have been caught at a particularly vulnerable point emotionally. Lois’ sense that she’s discovering a horrifying problem problem too late to make a real difference makes her work all the harder to break the story and find some resolution to a problem she ultimately can never solve. With gorgeous Grey Morrow art (and sadly, lackluster coloring), this is a comic tale with intensely personal stakes.

 

The timing of Newell’s mini-series was unfortunate. It came right before John Byrne’s famous reboot of the entire Superman franchise when all Man of Steel decisions had to pass through him.  But it still stands as a testament to what a writer can do when they take the essential elements of a character and make a real effort to reflect them realistically. You don't have to like this Lois. But you can definitely admire and recognize her.

But the real fun begins, as always, in the comments section below the post. This party turned into a lively, passionate discussion of Lois Lane, both pro and con.

Even more impressive, people also managed to be relatively respectful and articulate even when things took on a personal, somewhat defensive tinge.  I love when restraint, insight and a real exchange of ideas rule the day. When things devolve into mudslinging I click away pretty quickly.

Some posters revealed they too have never liked Lois nor believed Superman would find her attractive but a posting from Blackjak countered that idea.

“…it comes down, yet again, to needing to have a good writer attached to the book that she’s in. A writer who knows how to portray her well and write scenes that actually involve her as a character rather than as a supporting actor with the same amount (or less) “screentime” as Perry White or Jimmy Olsen…”

Poster Rene agreed, insisting, “Lois is so iconic that it’s too easy for her to become uninteresting, more of a symbol than a person.”  For Rene, Clark Kent, small town boy, can’t help but be attracted to “cosmopolitan, cynical, passionate, worldy”  Lois because “she challenges him”. He adds, “Either from Kansas or Krypton, Superman springs from the world of the past; Lois Lane is a woman for today.”

Thompson agreed with Rene and adds her own level to his theory....

“Lois is also incredibly human...so she would not only represent the modern, cosmopolitan, progressive life he is seeking when he leaves Smallville, but she is also human and helps him tie himself to his humanity...”

Micheal P then lamented, “The thing with Lois is, there as many different versions of her as there are of Superman… As a result, she can be all over the map, while also remaining frustratingly similar and flawed in a number of versions (again, just like Superman).”

One interesting conceit of Newell’s Lois was discussed at length. The intriguing and perfectly logical idea that Lois knows Clark is Superman and plays along, even when it costs her personally and causes unneeded frustration.

This makes compete sense to me.  Lois is a sharpie and I too find it hard to believe she’s got such huge blinders on regarding Clark and Superman. The idea that she’s laying along adds an intriguing level to the proceedings. And at the time of Newell’s mini-series, Clark and Lois were broken and he was seeing old flame Lana Lang, his co-anchor on the news. The fact that Lois can barely tolerate his nudge and winking approach to his secret ID adds emotional fuel to the fire.

On the other hand, driven people sometimes see only what they want to see, right?  Poster Omar KArindu, with the power of SUPER-hypocrisy!  reminded everyone that Jerry Siegel did plan on Lois uncovering Superman’s identity early on (in the infamous K-Metal From Krypton story that would have first introduced Kryptonite if DC Comics had published it. The idea eventually made its debut on the popular Superman radio show.)

Poster Dean (and one of the most passionate Superman boosters involved in the discussion) points to the first season of the Superman television show as an example of how effective that approach can be.

“Watch "Night of Terror" from the first season of ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN sometime. It is pretty apparent in that story Lois knows exactly who Clark really is. Apparently, that was a convention from the radio show… “

“…The double identity business became a simple metaphor under Weisinger for Lois' desire for commitment from her boyfriend and Superman's reluctance to give it. Lois saw past the glasses, but Clark lied to her anyway. Her belief was that if only she could catch him, then he would change and marry her. I don't know about you, but I know actual human beings that think an awful lot like that.”

Points like this led to numerous deviations from the main topic, like whether Clark’s glasses had become an insulting comic idea or were still a valid part of the Superman mythos.  

As a sometime cartoonist myself, I suspect originally it was to create a clear visual distinction between Superman and Clark. Superman had tights, a cape and a spit curl. Clark had a suit, tie and glasses.  It was a common trope in films, comic strips and stage comedies of the time to have someone mousy (male or female) remove their glasses and revealing a somehow more attractive version of themselves.

So many of these simple questions start out with simple answers but when a character is published for over eighty years, even simple questions grow more complicated with each passing year.

Other fun tangents included:

-The reasons the Atom can divorce Jean Loring while Superman can’t divorce Lois.

- Superman, a super-evolved being from a super-evolved planet, is stuck on Earth with less evolved people and therefore has few appropriate potential life-mates. 

-The idea that in serialized entertainment like Superman comics married couples are only interesting when there is conflict in the marriage. I agree with that statement but Zor-El of Argo suggest that the only conflicts on such soap operas are affairs and that “happily married couples are boring to those of us watching from the outside.”  I disagree with that idea along with the next poster ChrisM.

“The examples Zor-El cites (televised soap operas) may indeed go dip mainly in that limited well, but the truth is even a successful marriage is dynamic and fluid. As different life issues and challenges arise the couple must adapt anew and sometimes that pulls them a little apart and other times they band together.  Chris suggests professional competition and examples awkward relations with in-laws as two possible romantic obstacles.”

I think it would be more accurate to suggest that most writers aren’t interested in portraying that sort of relationship, preferring instead to continually use the soap opera tropes Zor El cites. It’s just too much work to explore real characters when you can ramp up the drama instantly with betrayal.

-Superman digs Lois because she’s a better reporter. Poster Dean scored again, explaining:

“However, (as Mark Waid once pointed out in a podcast with Marv Wolfman) none of that really translates to your chosen profession. Typing really fast does not help your prose. Being able to lift a tank does not help you convince a source to go on record.”

“It is just in this one context, there is someone better than you are: Lois Lane.  As mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent, you reach up for the first time in your life and she rejects you.  To me, it is an inversion of the Luthor story. Luthor sees someone above him and feels hate. Superman sees someone above him and feels love.”

I’ve gone on enough. Suffice it to say, I was delighted to find myself re-evaluating my thoughts regarding Lois Lane numerous times as I read through this article and the forum.  Check it out for yourself at Giving Lois Lane a Second Look, For The First Time.

I’ll let poster ChrisM have the last word on the topic. Though Chris professes to never have especially liked Lois Lane, he nonetheless sums up the entire conversation nicely:

“I'm agnostic as to whether it was a good idea to marry her and Clark. But that's all water under the bridge; she exists; they're married; and any reasonably talented creative writer *should* be able to tell interesting stories about her in that context. I've seen it happen, so excuses to the contrary are unconvincing.”

Here, here!  Long live Lois Lane!

(And thank you, Kelly)

Next up, Kelly can't stay away from the icons.  A quick peek at Wonder Woman!

Beavers Up! 

What Are Artists Worth?

Over at CosmicBookNews, comic writer  Mike Luoma has been writing a column called Making It Up, about his experiences creating comics on his own and with artist collaborators.  A few weeks ago he wrote Shut Up and Put Out Yer Comic Book! -- a call to arms giving nutshell basics to creating a comic and getting it out there.

Due to the limited space, the column delivered pretty broad but generally helpful advice... Talk to the artist in your own voice being one prime example.

Writing dialogue, you write in the voices of your characters. That's a given. But your descriptions of each panel should be in YOUR voice. Your panel descriptions are one-way conversations with your artist, whoever they will be. Talk to them, and do your best to describe everything they need to see to tell the story. If you have to give away the ending so that the art is correct in the first panel, do it. Don't surprise your artist. And always remember you are describing static action, not movement. Movement is implied between the frames...

Mike posted a link to his post over at LinkedIn, a business networking site that is finding more comic book people signing on. The response to the LinkedIn was furious focused primarily on one sentence, which has since been removed from the original post.

Basically, Mike was saying that unless it's a true (and by that I mean, pre-negotiated and agreed upon) partnership or collaboration, you should assume you'll be paying your artist. Mike suggested $50 as a fair figure.  Since I knew the article was not an in-depth how to guide, I understood that to mean Mike was just trying to say, be fair to your artist. But reaction was swift as artists took issue with Mike insisting upon such a low page rate.

Soon, the chat exploded into a lengthy exchange discussing everything from status of the artist, work for hire, context and being up front in all business dealings. I commend all the contributors to the talk for being able (eventually) to move past their initial, emotional responses and move on to passionate debate and civil discussion.

I had planned to provide an overview of the discussion but Mike himself has gone further, providing a blow by blow account of the debate for your enjoyment, with extensive quotes.

You can read it all at Making It Up! - Part 13 - What's An Artist Worth?.

All the points are well worth considering if you're thinking of putting out a comic book.  My takeaway? Be up front and honest in all dealings, realistic in your expections, and save the raging passion for the work not for negotiations.

And waht the hey.  Check out some of Mike's work... Panthea Obscura, Red Hot and Lady Fight: Escalation.

As for how to find artists, writer Liz Argall has  afew suggestionsover at her blog post, How to find a comics artist part 1.

For another persepctive on artists working for free, read these the three articles by Mark Evanier, Unfinanced Entrepreneurs (part one starts here).

Beavers Up! 

Art Inaction Comics - And lo, there came a Supervisor!

I thought I'd post a comic I did years ago for your enjoyment.

I put out a mini-comic called Art Inaction under my pen name Pinc to give away at my birthday party.  It featured pastiches of original old comic characters (based on familiar archetypes) spouting philosophical/artistic discourse uniquely suited to their art styles as a counterpoint to the action.  Smashed together in a week it was one of the most satisfying things I've ever done.

I enjoyed it so much  I did a few more (learning to check my spelling somewhere along the way) and eventually printed this story below in "Your Comic Here", a sample comic I put together for Ricter Web Printing, who were eager to help comic artists print their wares.

Presenting the inaugural adventure of... Supervisor!

Beavers Up!