Adam Lambert, assassin?
Sep. 11th, 2010 04:02 amJennifer Smith's "Fantastic Fangirls: Comics and Culture", has a piece on Daken Akihiro, For Your Entertainment, comparing Daken to Adam Lambert:
My new appreciation for Daken stems directly from my realization that he is the Adam Lambert of comics. Though maybe not always progressive, or always appropriate (or, frankly, always deserving of attention), Daken challenges fans’ expectations and makes them uncomfortable in a good way. In their quest to buy everything X-Men-related, or Dark Reign-related, or Wolverine-related, conservative fanboys have been confronted with a book starring a man who is actively seducing Bullseye, flirting with male H.A.M.M.E.R. employees, and accusing Ben Grimm and Johnny Storm of a gay affair. And this man is the son of Wolverine, Marvel’s very portrait of gruff hyper-masculinity. Daken has gone from cliched to subversive, and I largely credit Marjorie Liu — author of X-Men tie-in novel Dark Mirror, which is subversive itself in its use of a gender-swapping plot device — with the transition.Nice to know I'm not the only fangirl who's appreciating Daken! Now, I agree with her about the "depraved bisexual type", but Daken - so far at least - seems to be more than a vehicle for shock appeal. Like her, I'm curious to see where this will lead.
And with regard to the canonical Daken/Bullseye kiss, I was amused to see Bullseye's journal entry on the subject. (The second item on the page.) No more teams!
Another commentary on the kiss says, "That’s Bullseye there, dressed as Hawkeye (if you’re not reading Dark Reign/Siege, don’t ask). Bullseye, with the ability to turn anything into a deadly weapon. Apart from his tongue, it seems."
Links:
- Neil Gaiman's script for Doctor Who - omitted food dialogue
- The appearance (or non-appearance!) of the original TARDIS.
- Stolen Van Gogh painting - have they questioned Eroica? Neil Caffrey?
- I have a very tiny hear of heights. It usually doesn't bother me, except at the top of very, very high escalators. But I'm a little freaked by stairs where you can see between the steps. So these shairways make me shudder, except for the rather splendid bookcase one. There's another set here.
- Loved this Dave Hill photography site.
- I just discovered, via a book
maaseru has, that Marlon Brando was bisexual. How cool is that? There are some people on that list I'd like to look up, too.
- And on the list above, I saw another of my favourite actors: Jeremy Brett. It's funny how so many of my favourite celebrities and historical figures turn out to be bi, even when I originally had no idea. A certain personality type, perhaps?
- Why does so much contemporary/modern architecture look to be either too square or simply nonsensical?
Well. It was bound to come up in the media as soon as we learned that Fox was showing an interest in Torchwood. I hear Fox is notoriously homophobic. I haven't watched produced at Fox, as far as I know, since Firefly. Maybe this is not a coincidence.
Anyway, So
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So
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I'd like to think he wouldn't.
And tell me again why anyone thinks it's a good idea to make Torchwood in the States?
Musing about bisexuals in books...
Feb. 19th, 2010 09:58 pmOut of curiosity, I was browsing the Wikipedia site Fictional Bisexuals and I wasn't very happy with what I saw. I was hoping to be steered to novels with bisexual characters; it didn't work. In fact, it seems the venue for bi characters is almost exclusively comic books and soap operas, with the occasional TV comedy (specifically, Nip/Tuck and Will and Grace thrown in). Otherwise, there is a smattering of villains. Not much. Shouldn't Velvet Goldmine be mentioned? Torchwood is a wonderful exception, where not only are characters bi, they also aren't marginalized, bit characters, or villains. Then there are other books where the 'bisexual' characters are transgendered, hermaphrodites or otherwise intersexed.
Perhaps the trick is that the person has to be explicitly bisexual in the source - does that mean the word "bisexual" must be used in the dialogue? In that case, Captain Jack Harkness shouldn't be there, since he's only ever described as "omnisexual" - and Ianto describes himself as straight, albeit in love with Jack. The novels listed are mostly vampire books, especially Anne Rice novels.
Not very impressive. I'd add Aral Vorkosigan (from the Lois McMaster Bujold novels) and Bridgett Logan (from Greg Rucka's Atticus Kodiak series)... For the sake of everyone's sanity, I won't even mention Lymond here. Who else? The Elizabeth Lynn novels? Tanya Huff, Diane Duane, Heinlein, Marion Zimmer-Bradley - ? Not to mention erotic novels. How can there be so few bi people in books when there are so many of us in real life, and in history?
There are lists like this one which are useful, but not quite what I was looking for.
Okay, I know, I shouldn't be hung up on a label. But I find it frustrating that when I look up a list of GLBT characters, though the title or headline includes "bisexual", the characters on the list are all (or almost all) gay or Lesbian.
How invisible can bisexuality be?
My Faith in Frankie...
Jun. 23rd, 2009 09:47 pmI read another Mike Carey story today: My Faith in Frankie, about a seventeen-year old girl named Frankie, who has her own private god, named Jeriven, who gives her a charmed life. But Jeriven wants to protect her from boys, and Frankie doesn't want to be protected from them. With some help from her best friend Kay, Frankie sets out to discover sex... but her chosen dreamboat, Dean, turns out to be a demon from hell with a plot to bring her (and Jeriven) down.
I enjoyed the whole thing, but the part that had me crowing in joy was the ending. ( At the end of the story... )
I enjoyed the whole thing, but the part that had me crowing in joy was the ending. ( At the end of the story... )