Leave Your Spandex At the Door #127

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LEAVE YOUR SPANDEX AT THE DOOR UPDATED ON MONDAYS

This is Leave Your Spandex @t the Door number 127. Fully recovered and relaxed after our Lisbon Holidays, bringing you the juiciest most filling edition yet!

Vote for Panel of the Week
• More Marvel iPod sightings
• Yoshitaka Amano Interview
• Dr Horrible’s Sing-a-long Blog trailer
• A Flavour of Lisbon
• Avengers Vs The Couch
• Itsy Bitsy Spider
• Iron-Man: The Escapist
• Marvel Heroes Vs Giant-Sized Suppositories from Outer Space
• Superheroine Slap-Fest
• JLA Sexual Identity Crisis
• Be Like Felix Faust
• Anti-Galactus Design Specifics
• I’d Buy You a Galaxy…
• Scalped #17 Dead Mothers Conclusion Excerpt
• The God Mobile
• Bruce Banner’s Tailor
• Big Super-boys Don’t Cry
• Lesbian Proselytizing

For daily updates and even more reviews, videos and commentary, keep checking the LYS@D daily blog. and subscribe to the RSS feed.

This week in comics…

Vote for Panel of the Week

Last voting was hiding some surprises. I had no doubt AXM’s crowning Kitty moment would win the voting, but I never expectedit would be such a close call between that and the return of Stephanie Brown/Spoiler, while others like Zur Enn Arrh and Archangel were left way behind!

This week, back to our funny fair, with panels from May and June 2008:

Panel AHulk Kick – Marvel Adventures Hulk #12 (Marvel Comics)

Panel B
John (Lennon) the Skrull & the Sword of Excalibur – Captain Britain & the MI-13 (Marvel Comics)

Panel C
Warren Worthington III – Poor Little Rich Mutant – X-Men: First Class #12 (Marvel Comics)

Panel D
Too Hot To Handle – Ghost Rider #23 (Marvel Comics)

Panel E
Spot the Cross-Dressing Aquaman in the Background – Super-Friends #3 (DC Comics)

Young A i Vengers

A sequel to our i-conspiracy theories about Marvel’s promotion deal with Apple, after the first incident in February’s X-Factor.

The iPhone strikes again in May, in the pages of Young Avengers Presents #5:


Buy an iPhone, all the hip Marvel Teen Super-Heroes are using them!

Another iJunkie Marvel writer (Kevin Grevioux here), or the second of many more product placements to come? Well, it does seem a bit very deliberate a panel to me, if you dig what I dig (and dig it you should)…

Marvel certainly isn’t adverse to them as we’ve seen in the past and recent issues: from cars, to Lost and the Army and even ‘Colbert for President’. Just ask Rich Johnston…

Dr Horrible’s Sing-a-long Blog


Teaser from Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog on Vimeo.

Joss Whedon. NPH. Comics Sci-fi / Musical? For free online? (legally!)

:D

Don’t forget to watch the first episodes online from this Wednesday!

Itsy Bitsy Spider


Source: Giant Size Astonishing X-Men #1 (Marvel Comics)

Gente da Minha Terra – Mariza, Concerto Em Lisboa

Freshly arrived from my Lisbon holidays. Photos and updates to follow.

For now, the wonderful Mariza, the modern voice of Fado (the traditional original Portuguese music expressing the longing feeling of Saudade) from her historic concert on the steps of the Tower of Belem:

É meu e vosso este fado (This Fado is both yours and mine)
destino que nos amarra (The destiny that unites us)
por mais que seja negado (No matter how much it is denied)
às cordas de uma guitarra (By the strings of a guitar)

Sempre que se ouve um gemido (Whenever one hears a lament)
duma guitarra a cantar (Of a guitar’s song)
fica-se logo perdido (One is instantly lost)
com vontade de chorar (With a longing to weep)

Ó genta da minha terra (Oh people of my land)
agora é que eu percebi (It is now that I have perceived)
esta tristeza que trago (This sadness which I carry)
foi de vós que a recebi (Was from you that I received)

E pareceria ternura (It would seem a kindness)
se eu me deixasse embalar (If I left myself be soothed)
era maior a amargura (The greater the anguish)
menos triste o meu cantar (The less sorrowful my song)

Ó genta da minha terra (Oh people of my land)

Ó genta da minha terra (Oh people of my land)
agora é que eu percebi (It is now that I have perceived)
esta tristeza que trago (This sadness which I carry)
foi de vós que a recebi (Was from you that I received)

Avengers Vs The Couch


Source: Marvel Adventures Avengers #24
(Marvel Comics)



Yoshitaka Amano Interview

My latest Newsarama interview is online today. I talked with Yoshitaka Amano about his newest book release: Mateki the Magic Flute, an adaptation of the famous opera, published in the U.S. by Radical Books.

Newsarama: The story of the Magic Flute is a famous one. Why is this story important and special to you to adapt to a graphic novel?

Yoshitaka Amano: The story itself is so well known, I don’t think I need to repeat it here. What actually attracted me most is the music Mozart wrote. Even though I knew the story from the accompanied texts, just listening to music gave me an inspiration of making it more like a ballet sequence, without words but the movements of images.

NRAMA: Which characters in the story were the most fun to adapt?

YA: I enjoyed creating The Queen of the Night. In the music, she felt like something out of this world, shapeless and mysterious. It reminded me of some Japanese “Nou” characters that appear from the world beyond this life. (Editor’s Note: Nou or Noh 能 is a significant form of classic Japanese drama surviving from the 14th century)

NRAMA: Which sequence gave you the hardest time conceiving and illustrating?

YA: I didn’t have any particular difficulty in creating images, but when I think of it as an actual animation, I’d like to make it into a very dynamic work and that might be challenging.

Read the rest of it on Newsarama.

Marvel Super-Heroes vs Giant-Sized Suppositories from Outer Space

Source: Giant-Sized Astonishing X-Men #1 (Marvel Comics)

The Return of MJ Watson Parker

So, in case you missed, it Mary Jane returned to the pages of Amazing Spider-Man last month, albeit for a meaty two-issue stint. MJ was revealed as the mysterious girlfriend of the big name Hollywood star that Peter Parker / paparazzi was stalking for the DB.

Peter of course never actually sees MJ, through a series of coincidences. When he does save the life of her new boyfriend from the manic stalker Paper Doll, MJ is hiding in the mansion’s Panic Room, watching the fight through the monitors, and talking to Spidey through the house’s intercom. Perhaps the most emotionally charged Spider-Man story we’ve read in years:

The issue closes with a sneaky teaser, as the girl who was revealed as the superhero Jackpot’s civilian identity (who in turn bears a striking resemblance to MJ) catches up with MJ at the airport… for an autograph?


Keep them coming, guys!

Source: Amazing Spider-Man #561 (Marvel Comics)

The Hits Keep On Coming

Just because Stephanie is back, that doesn’t mean DC is now taking a positive approach to their female characters. The scales need to be balanced, don’t you agree, Huntress?


What was that? Could you repeat, please?


…and yes, they’re all from the same issue!

With all those hits, no wonder she turned out the way she did…

Source: Huntress Year One #2 (DC Comics)

and similarly, Marvel’s reply:

Source: Amazing Spider-Man #561 (Marvel Comics)

Iron Man: The Escapist

Iron Man’s greatest feat: putting his armour on and launching out from underneath a moving limousine through a trap floor tile!

Yes, that snapping sound is the fans’ collective suspension of disbelief…

Source: Marvel Adventures Iron Man #13

The same month, over at Iron Man #27, Stark has trouble exiting unnoticed from his own compound.

Talk about a man drawn to extremes!

JLA: Sexual Identity Crisis

This panel is too juicy not to feature on its own outside the voting ballot.

Reiterating:

The JLA go up against Felix Faust (the girly magician in a gown who likes using finger-puppets to control the JLA) with the most absurd of plans to evade his mind-control: they show up dressed as each other to fool him! That of course means the obvious Batman-as-Superman, Green Lantern-as-Flash, etc, but also: Aquaman dressed as Wonder-Woman! The artist made sure to hide him behind everyone else, but LYSAD is here to uncover his shame! Talking to fish is one thing, but doing that in a strapless top and thong? Hoo-boy!


Anti-Galactus Design Specifics


Reed’s Giant Japanese Toy: the Anti-Galactus suit.

Source: Fantastic Four #557 (Marvel Comics)



Scalped #17: Dead Mothers Conclusion

One of the most heart-wrenching sequences this month: the 5-page conclusion from the Scalped storyline ‘Dead Mothers’. Dash Bad Horse finally comes to terms with the death of his estranged mother. Jason Aaron and R.M. Guera.


Source: Scalped #17 (Vertigo/DC Comics)

The God-Mobile


They’re onto something… The God-cave, the God-o-rang, the God-Shark-repellant…

Source: The Incredible Hercules #117 (Marvel Comics)

I’d Buy You a Galaxy

Mr Fantastic redifines splurging on an anniversary gift … on a cosmic scale

Source: Fantastic Four #557 (Marvel Comics)



Lesbian Proselytizing

Lesbians are the new Mormons

Source: Ultimate Fantastic Four #54 (Marvel Comics)

Big Super-Boys Don’t Cry

Mommy, the evil Super-Bully threw my taxi cabs around… :(

Source: Mighty Avengers #14 (Marvel Comics)

Don’t Run With Scissors

Now this is an item clearly omitted from the luxurious ‘JLA Trophy Room’ toy/collectibles line: Felix Faust’s Super-Friends Finger Puppets!

Now your kids (hey, and you) can be like a maniacal cackling DC Super-villain!


Just buy Super-Friends #3 (it’s a fun read), cut out the centerfold (or you know, cheat, save your comic and print the jpeg above), paste it onto cardboard, cut around the dotted lines, staple the rings together, and voila:

Source: Super-Friends #3 (DC Comics)

Exclusive Footage: Bruce Banner’s Tailor

Purple is the new Black

Source: Marvel Adventures Avengers #24 (Marvel Comics)

That’s a wrap for today! I’m waiting your comments and feedback through email to Manolis@gmail.com or through the site’s comments feature

If you self-publish your own comics or represent an Indy comics company, add me to your press release list, and I will run your news in this space every week.

Manolis Vamvounis

ah, the good old Dr Manolis, the original comics Greek. He's been at this for sometime. he was there when the Comics Nexus was founded, he even gave it its name, he even used to run it for a couple of years. he's been writing about comics, geeking out incessantly and interviewing busier people than himself for over ten years now and has no intention of stopping anytime soon.