Art of the Day: Titans

Artwork: Titans #8 variant cover by Taurin Clarke

Art of the Day: Starfire (Titans)

Artwork: Starfire by Vashti Harrison

I haven't watched the Titans TV series yet. I've heard a lot of mixed reviews (mostly leaning towards bad) about this show. It did stay on for four seasons before it was cancelled. Anyway, I was looking for something new (or new to me) to watch and I thought about watching Titans. I'll probably start watching it sometime this week and then I guess I'll see how close to the truth those reviews were. Who knows maybe it'll surprise me and turn out to be good. Or it will live up to those bad reviews and be absolutely horrible. Again, I guess I'll see.

If any of you have watched the show, what did you think of it?

Art of the Day: Teen Titans

Artwork: Teen Titans by Gabriel Picolo

This looks like a fun random day of the Teen Titans just sitting around doing absolutely nothing. That is except for doing something fun and ridiculous such as Cyborg and Beast Boy doing the static electricity lightbulb trick. And Raven is reading as usual while Starfire seems to be cheering on Cyborg and Beast Boy. The only one missing is Robin, he's probably back in Gotham. And he's also the only one who doesn't live full-time at Titans Tower.

Art of the Day: Teen Titans

Artwork: Teen Titans by Gabriel Picolo

Art of the Day: Starfire (Titans)

Artwork: Starfire by The Fuzzy Aya

Anna Diop

It's your yearly reminder that plaid never goes out of style, it's seasonless. I love this dress that actress Anna Diop wore in these photos. It's like a modern take on Little House on the Prairie especially with the way her hair is styled.

Diop currently stars as Starfire the Tamaran Princess on the Titans TV series on the DC Universe streaming service. I haven't seen the show because I don't have DCU but the first season is available on DVD/Blu-ray and the second will be out in March. I'm going to make sure I get the first season soon, I really want to watch it.

Photography: Marcus Ezell (2018)

Art of the Day: Starfire (Titans)

Artwork: Starfire by slickslack

Art of the Day: Starfire

Artwork: Starfire by Gabriel Picolo

Characters Reading: Teen Titans (Teen Titans Go!)

I love watching Teen Titans Go!, the show has so many amazingly random and wacky episodes such as when Robin was trying to teach the Titans about real estate. But one of my favorite episodes is "Books" and in that episode Raven gave each of the Titans a book to read as a way to alleviate their boredom.

Starfire read a book about pelicans, Robin read The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin, Cyborg read The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi and Beast Boy read The Return of the Invisible Man. I was surprised that the writer included real book titles in this episode well all except for the book Beast Boy was reading. It's actually not a published book but the reworked title from the 1940s movie The Invisible Man Returns.

(Teen Titans Go! season 1 episode 27 "Books")

Fandom is Supposed to be Fun not Toxic

Why is the world so toxic? And it's not like you can escape into fandom because even that's teeming with toxicity. Last month, some racist fans had targeted actress Anna Diop because she was cast as Starfire in the upcoming DC Comics Titans TV series. They harassed her to the point she finally disabled the comments to her Instagram account.

A similar harassment incident happened to actress Kelly Marie Tran who stars as Rose Tico in the Star Wars movie. She recently wrote an essay for the New York Times describing how that harassment made her feel and that she is no longer going let herself feel like she doesn't belong.

It's horrible how much hatred and entitlement these so-called fans have and how they don't care that they are harassing someone. Many of these "fans" seem to think that diversity is ruining their fandom and want to "push back" by spreading their hatred in their way to "fix" things.

What they don't seem to understand is that they don't own fandom and their hatred is not going do anything except make themselves miserable. Which is why they try to pass it on to others but fans, actors, artists, writers, creators, etc. are not putting up with their negativity and toxicity. We are standing up against it including doing the one thing that angers these fans the most, we are enjoying fandom and making it fun for others to be a part of.

I don't want anyone to think they can't criticize something because there is nothing wrong with giving your opinion. However, my issue is when the criticism is steeped in racism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, etc. because then it's not about sharing your opinion but promoting hatred. 

I feel like fandom should be a fun source of entertainment and not this unfortunate toxic environment that cause some fans to feel like they don't belong. Which is absurd because fandom is for everyone.

Art of the Day: Teen Titans

Artwork: Teen Titans by Pharan

Art of the Day: Teen Titans

Artwork: Teen Titans by rossdraws

Christmas Art of the Day: Teen Titans

Artwork: Titans Christmas by Gretlusky

Art of the Day: Teen Titans

Art of the Day: Teen Titans by KidNotorious

Fashion Meets Comics: Starfire

Starfire is a character who I feel owns her sexuality. She's confident and loves showing off her body in formfitting clothes. This quote from Raven in the Teen Titans issue #15 "if she [Starfire] could walk around naked, I think she would", pretty much sums up this Tamaranean Princess.

She has a carefree/bohemian approach to life but don't let the cheerful smile fool you because she's smart, tough and an imposing fighter. She knows what she wants and nothing is going to stop her from getting it.

Below are three dresses in Starfire's signature color that don't shy away from the sex appeal.

Toy Corner: Teen Titans Go! Action Figure Set

Teen Titans Go! 2 Inch 6-Pack Action Figure Set    $19.99


Toys are not just for kids, with a little creative thinking, these little action figures could easily look great as home décor especially with how cute and colorful they are.

You could stack Robin, Raven, Cyborg, Starfire, Beastboy and Silkie together or separately on a bookcase/shelf. Or, if you have an entry way, you could place them on a side table in a cute tray. You could even use them as a nontraditional table center piece.

However, if there happens to be a little kid in your life who loves watching Teen Titans Go! animated series and would absolutely love this set then I guess they could even make great toys.

Art of the Day: Teen Titans Go!

Artwork: Teen Titans by andrahilde

Art of the Day: Teen Titans: A Christmas Story

Artwork: Teen Titans: A Christmas Story by jodi-seer

This is based on the poster for the holiday classic movie "A Christmas Story".

Book Review: Red Hood and the Outlaws vol #2 (New 52)

Book: Red Hood and the Outlaws volume #2: The Starfire (issues #0, 8-14) by Scott Lobdell with illustrations by Kenneth Rocafort (issues #8-11), Timothy Green II (Issues #12 & 13), Pascal Alixe (issue #14) and Pasqual Ferry, Ig Guara and Brett Booth (issue #0)

Edition: Read the single print issues

Rating: 1 star

Review:

Wow, I can't believe how mind numbingly awful both the writing, story and artwork was for these issues. I thought the series would have improved but there was absolutely nothing good about this except for the author made an attempt to correct the poorly written portrayal of Starfire that was presented in the first volume. Those changes to her personality (but not her costume) were the only good thing about this but not enough to have kept me as a reader.

The bad writing and the awful character portrayals were two of the main reasons why I dropped this series. Starfire was an improvement but Jason and Roy continued to be written as useless annoying jerks.

Issue #8 found the team heading back to Gotham City to stop Suzie Su, a criminal that Red Hood knows from holding the Gotham General's Children's Ward hostage. She did all of that to bait Red Hood so she could take her revenge against him for severely injuring her. Near the end of the story was a slight tie-in to the Night of Owls storyline but the next issue was the actual tie-in. A flashback scene with Tim "Drake" and Jason was also shown near the end of this story.

Issue #9 had the team trying to save Mr. Freeze from the Owls' Talon assassin, I find it hard to believe that the deadly Mr. Freeze would need these bumbling idiots to save him. Batgirl showed up near the end of this story.

Issues #10-13 took the trio (and Jason's date) out to space where they joined the fight to save Starfire's home planet from an invasion and save her older sister. The Joker is shown near the end of this story.

Issue #0 told Jason Todd's origin story, the New 52 version changed a little bit but in the end he was still taken in by Bruce Wayne to be trained to become the new Robin and thus killed by the Joker later to return back to life from the Lazarus pit.

The last issue number 14 had the team (and Jason's date) returning back to Earth when their space ship was approached by Superman wanting to speak with Starfire. To avoid him they were teleported to Earth but it didn't take him long to find them. The requisite fight between the four happened before they actually talked. The Joker has another appearance at the end of this story for another clichéd scene that has Jason's date being put in harms way just to further the story.

This was such a generic and ridiculous group of stories. And I can't believe there were three different artists for the main story and each of their artwork was terrible. I am very glad I dropped this series because I found nothing worth reading from it and even Starfire's newly written portrayal couldn't save this.

Book Review: Red Hood and the Outlaws vol #1 (New 52)

Book: Red Hood and the Outlaws volume #1: Redemption (issues #1-7) by Scott Lobdell with illustrations by Kenneth Rocafort

Edition: I'm reading the single issues

Rating: 1 star

Review:

What was this crap? I felt like I missed something when I was reading this. The writing was atrocious, the artwork wasn't good, the characters were awful and it was sexist. The story made no sense, Red Hood (Jason Todd) was supposed to be avenging the death of his mentor, who was this being who taught him how to be an assassin. The characters were all out of character. So, in the New 52 the characters are either dreary and angry or stupid and the three in these seven issues fall into the stupid category. I had read the first issue a while back but I was so annoyed by the way Starfire was portrayed I didn't feel like reading anymore. So, now I decide to give it another read and boy the first issue and the other six issues are some of the worst I have read in a while in the New 52.

Poor Starfire, she's nothing more than a warrior sex toy for Jason and Roy (and apparently any other guy) to pass around. Scott Lobdell had mentioned in a interview that he wrote Starfire as being sexually liberated. Her sexuality isn't even her own, it's used as fan service. It's really disgusting because both Jason and Roy know that she is suffering from some type of memory loss but that doesn't stop them from treating her like their personal toy. Is that how you treat a member of the team? DC Comics seems to have it in their heads that Starfire's only real purpose is to be eye candy for this book. Just look at that poor excuse for a costume that Rocafort designed for her.

When she wasn't posing in that skimpy costume she was posing in skimpy bikinis. There was an awful scene where the artist had her posing on the beach while a little boy took pictures of her so he could post them online. That's really disgusting.

I guess Lobdell didn't think Starfire needed a personality (since she didn't have one), she was written as an emotionless pin-up girl. He had the opportunity to showcase her as a smart, tough, kick-butt girl who is not only a Princess but also a hero. What was presented was nothing short of lazy writing and poor illustrations.

The guys were not written any better. The Jason in this book was like a weird amalgamation of pre-New 52 Jason and Dick Grayson personalities and characteristics. It's like he had a split personality sometimes he act like crazy old Jason and other times he was shown as a poorly written Dick Grayson wannabe. Pre-New 52, Jason may have been a little crazy but he was more interesting and smarter than this watered down poorly written version could ever be. So now Jason is some kind of hero and why does it seem like everyone knows who he is.

Now for Roy, what happened to him? He was turned into an idiotic jerk (Jason as well), even at his lowest during the pre-New 52 he was never this stupid and annoying. For instance in Titans vol #6: Broken Promises written by Eric Wallace, Roy was at his best especially with how low his life had become following the death of his daughter but in the end he had transformed into this amazing character who was ready to take on the world. Roy had always been one of my favorite characters but this version is awful.

The reboot has ruined each of these characters because they are not shown at their best. I found myself wondering how am I supposed to root for these unlikeable characters.

I have to admit there was one scene that I really liked, in issue #3 there was a scene that showed Jason's memories. A memory that he didn't want returned to him it was when he was still Robin. He was sick with a cold and Alfred was trying to get him to stay in for the night, but what made the moment was Bruce deciding to take a night off to stay home with Jason. That's the only scene out of all the seven issues that had remotely any heart and was well written.

Before I end my review there were two things that annoyed me (besides the whole book in general) the first was white-washing Talia al Ghul (see picture).

Yes, that's supposed to be Talia. She always had a more multiracial/multicultural appearance. Lately Talia seems to be getting whitewashed (see The Dark Knight Rises for another example).

The second thing that annoyed me, was Jason's helmet. Not only was it ugly (why would you put lips on a helmet) but it was always breaking. Was it supposed to be made out of plastic or some other low quality material for it to break so easily.

Anyway, this is probably me just nick picking but they just added to my annoyance toward this awful book.

Unfortunately, I will be reading the second volume, mainly because I already have those issues (I bought them before I dropped the series from my list), so I'm going to at least read them. Here's hoping the writing will have improved with those issues. I still think Scott Lobdell is an awful writer and it makes me wonder why he was given so many different series to write.