Dora Reads is the book blog of a Bookish Rebel, supporting the Diversity Movement, bringing you Queer views and mental health advocacy, slipping in a lot of non-bookish content, and spreading reading to the goddamn world! :)
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Film Trailers There's an awesome new trailer for Logan!
In case you're not aware, Logan is about Wolverine as an old man, in an X-men universe slightly adjacent to the one we've been somewhat dealing with (damn you multiple timelines!)
As with all things in comics, sometimes it's best to just go with it.
And, in this new trailer, we get more of the awesome X-23, the cute kid/little violent trained killer that Wolverine has to look after.
Since Comics Wrap-Up took a break over Christmas, this week's edition is a catch-up of my comics reading and all related stuff in the last couple of weeks :)
Film Trailers Here's an extended Batman TV spot for you all :)
(This film looks hilarious!)
Single Issues I read a butt-load of short and preview comics to help prop up my Goodreads challenge total, so I'll just give you my three top picks.
(Trust me, these three are the ones worth mentioning!)
Heart of a Corpse: An Undead Engagement #1 (UK - US) and Bloody Dreadful #1 (UK - US) are two comics by creator Justin Sane.
Both are fairly interesting, creepily executed, tales of Victorian Gothic horror. Heart of a Corpse actually plays out like a silent movie in silhouette - and was really moody and cool. :)
I enjoyed both, and they def. came as a pleasant surprise.
Loki: Agent of Asgard #1 (UK - US) is the start of the whole Loki-as-a-teen series.
(Fangirling note:
Loki is one of the most difficult Marvel characters to define because s/he spends periods of time as a child, a teenager, a woman, a man, and two people. In honesty, I've probably missed something out.
Just trust me. In this period of time, Loki = reincarnated teenager. Thor = adult. That's as basic as it's gonna get, so let's leave it there.
You can't sweat the small stuff in comics. Your brain will explode. #TrueStory.)
This is the first part of Loki: Agent of Asgard Vol 1 (UK - US) and is pretty awesome. I really want to read the full volume soon for more sassy Loki awesomeness!
Webcomics
Over Christmas, I also read webcomic Princess Princess by Kay O'Neill
This is about two princesses who are faffing around a magical kingdom, challenging gender norms, and falling in love with each other.
One of the princesses is black - so there's a strong person of colour (PoC) lead too 😄
Princess Princess: Ever After (to give it it's fancy in-print title) is also available in printed format (UK - US.)
For anyone who doesn't know, 'Women in Refrigerators' or 'fridging' is a phrase that was invented by comics artist Gail Simone for unnecessary acts of violence against women in comic books - often used as a plot device to motivate the male hero.
The origin of the phrase was an infamous storyline where the Green Lantern finds his girlfriend murdered and stuffed in his fridge by a super-villain - apparently just to make him angry.
Valente's book plans to give a voice to fridged women - and it looks incredibly poignant, and undoubtedly awesome.
I loved the Spider-Man: Homecoming trailer! Looks like soooo much fun!
He's such a dork (and the dorkiness is awesome!)
I'm totally looking into getting one of those unlimited card-thingies for my local cinema, because even though they seem like a large amount of money as outlay, the price of cinema tickets just keeps going up - and I can't afford an average of £10.00 per trip.
And a quick public service announcement from yours truly that: although this does, indeed, look awesome, it would likely be just as awesome - and probably more so - without the ethnicity-erasure of the Asian characters.
Other Stuff Soooo... Frank Cho and Milo Manara acted like immature douches. Again. (Frank Cho is a relatively prominent comic-book artist; he acts like a douche a lot.)
Basically, superheroines should not be subjected to pornographic sketches as a 'special gift' for 'fighting censorship' in front of a room full of people.
But Frank Cho, overall, can display all the nuances of a schoolboy writing 'boobies' on a calculator; see examples (NSFW):
(and yes, his official Twitter is 'apesandbabes')
...because, of course, the most edible part of the woman (and therefore the one the crocodile will grab while eyeing her a*s) is in fact the underwear. There are so many... vitamins... I guess?
Yes, this man draws for Marvel & DC. Yes, this is pretty exemplary of his style. No, he does not draw only for 18+, erotic, and/or Mature comics.
Frank Cho is employed on mainstream comics - the ones teenagers, and even some kids, read. He thinks this is an acceptable way to depict women.
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On the plus side, you can see the highlights from Marvel's 'Women of Marvel' New York Comic Con panel here:
Uber-short Doctor Strange trailer for you my dear nerdlets:
Graphic Novels
This week I read Who Killed Kurt Cobain? - The Story of Boddah (UK - US) by Nicolas Otero.
This is pretty dark, very graphic, mightily weird, and could probably do with being sealed in a child-proof 'Trigger Warning' box to ensure readers are suitably prepared... but for all that, I really liked it!
I quite enjoyed this dose of m/m-yaoi manga, but I did have some issues with it - little things like relationships which start with a punch to the face not being a great example.
The references to self-harm and suicide being a part of emo culture seemed a little too flippant/treated too lightly/over-simplifying for my liking.
That said - I totally binged on it, so it must be doing something right!
Marvel made a Doctor Strange trailer that makes 2 different trailers! One when it's played forwards, and one when it's reversed.
It's called 'Strange's Time' (yes, the trailer has it's own title, but to be fair, whoever made it is probably pretty chuffed with themselves right now.)
Here it is played forwards:
Annnnd here it is in reverse:
And just because I like your robot, dear nerdlets, here's the new TV spot for Doctor Strange too:
TV Trailers
Dudes, the next series of DC's Legends of Tomorrow looks EPIC!!!!
As a reminder: this is the series which totally shouldn't work but does - a ragtag spinoff with minor characters from CW's DC pantheon, along with him-off-Dr-Who (otherwise known as Arthur Darvill, here playing Rip Hunter,) and a flying time machine.
We also have one of the only LGBTQ+ superheroes to ever make it on screen(and still be LGBTQ+ - Harley Quinn, Mystique, Loki, et al. had that part of their identity erased when transferred to screen)- the amazing and beautiful Sara Lance, aka the White (formerly the Black) Canary.
Yes, my dearest nerdlets, this looks pretty damned cool:
Graphic Novels
This week I read and reviewed Ghoul Scouts: Night of the Unliving Undead (UK - US.)
This is a fun and zombie-filled kids/all-ages graphic novel, which I enjoyed a helluva lot more than I thought I would!
Even for us unlucky folks who may very well never make it to the holiest of nerd-pilgrimage sites which isSan Diego Comic Con (SDCC,)(dude, it's expensive!) this uber-celebration of geekery is important for all of us who love the nerdy-stuffs!
And, due to the magic of the interwebs (particularly YouTube) we can share in the goodies that are the interviews, announcements, and reveals of the event.
(And there's loads of them! Yay!)
This week's wrap-up is a look at some of the awesome things coming out SDCC - not all of it though, because, dude, I'm human!
So here are my picks of the fresh vids and news of SDCC, as well as the usuals from my week faffing around the medium of comics.
Film Trailers
Second Doctor Strange trailer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!
(Still can't get over Benedict Cumberbatch & that accent though.
Like when Martin Freeman was putting on a Yank accent in Captain America: Civil War.
Reckon they'll end up in a movie together? With their awkward American accents and everything... lol!)
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This teaser-type-trailer for Suicide Squad was actually released last week - but I only saw it this week, so it counts under this week's wrap-up. Because I said so. ;)
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The trailer many people were waiting for was for Wonder Woman:
I have to ask though... is that supposed to be WW1 or WW2? Because there are parts that kind of look like both to me...
Anyway, this looks like it could be pretty cool... or not. Let's hope for cool ;)
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There was also footage released of the upcoming Justice League movie.
I'm really not sure about this one... for several reasons that it would take too long to go into here but which start with Ben Affleck and the Batman costume, and move through various niggling points from there.
But what you gonna do? DC man, DC.
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And last but not least, we have the character-focussed Suicide Squad trailers which've been released over the past week, featuring Deadshot, Harley Quinn, and The Joker:
DEADSHOT
HARLEY
THE JOKER
TV Trailers
I love this trailer for Legion. Legion is an X-men character who really hasn't been explored all that much - but has so much potential.
I'm glad FX have decided to pick this up. (Though of course, I still mourn the loss of the 'Marvel's Agent Carter' series.)
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There are SPOILERS for the most recent series of Gotham in this next vid - a show-reel of the craziness we went through last series, and a glimpse of the next series to come.
If you don't watch Gotham then why the hell not?! Seriously. Go think about your life choices ;) (and then watch it.)
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There are also SPOILERS for the previous series of Arrow in this next vid:
Much as it pains me to say this - and it does pain me, of all the DC series this is one of my faves, and I'd even put it ahead of some Marvel properties (Gasp!) - I think this series has more than run its course.
I may be wrong - and lord knows I'd be happy to be - but it feels like we've actually come to not one but two natural endings over the course of the last 4 series, and now we're trying to reinvigorate something which maybe should've just been let be. #JustSaying
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Annnnnddd this vid has SPOILERS for the previous season of The Flash:
Fans: Barry, don't do the thing.
Characters: Barry, why did you even TRY to do the thing?
The forces of good storytelling: Barry, please don't do the thing, please!
Everyone: FOR GOD'S SAKE BARRY, DON'T DO THE THING.
Barry: ...Guys? ...I did the thing...
Hopefully they can fix this, and not make it too irritating while they're doing it *buries fangirling head in hands* - we live in hope.
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Some SPOILERS in this vid too, for the previous series of DC's Legends of Tomorrow:
Oh my gosh, this looks like it's going to be so GOOD! :)
One of my favourite things about Legends is that it's essentially the dregs of a bunch of DC shows cobbled together. It really shouldn't work. BUT GOD IT DOES.
*Brief interlude for me to hop about like the insane fangirl that I am*
Seriously, whoever decided to take a chance on this wacky beauty of a show - well done!
Other Stuff
I found this interview with G Willow Wilson (Ms. Marvel writer) uber-interesting - check it out:
This includes a discussion of Millar's repertoire with regards to people of colour (PoC) and female characters, as well as his track-record when it comes to inclusions of rape in storylines.
There are some very interesting points made. I don't agree with all of them, but, then, when do I ever?
I certainly understand the trepidation over Millar's potential plans with this latest character, but also think that Millar has a reputation as a boundary-pusher. No, I don't always agree with his decisions (no way, no how!) but do I think we need boundary-pushers in comics? Hell yes!
Likewise, though, we need people like Stephanie Tran to question the decisions those boundary-pushers make, and explore the repercussions of the representations they decide to portray.
So yes, I understand the trepidation and worry about what Millar may or may not do with a black female Kick-Ass, but personally I reserve judgement until we've had a chance to see what Millar actually comes up with.
Never say I don't provide you guys with variety. :)
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UK people can see a documentary - we Brits do love a good docky-wocky ;) - on 'Britain's Favourite Superhero' on Channel 4 @ 7.30pm on Saturday, 30th July.
It features Stan Lee. You have to love Stan Lee. It's the rules.
