Hellboy is fun.  He’s an antihero that skirts the line between man and monster both on the inside and the outside.  And even though when you get to brass tax he little more than a red man with horns, its always refreshing to see a superhuman that looks more than human.  I know, I know, he’s a demon.  But my point is, too many times people just take the easy way out and say ‘look at this guy, he’s an alien despite looking like my next door neighbor.’

And I was always intrigued by the notion that he sands off his horns.  Such an effective insight into him as a character.  Here we have a giant red ape that either wants to look more like a human or less like a demon.  Then we get into the whole body modification subculture which is ripe for the picking [phrasing!] in the speculative fiction genre.

1-2-3 no CG!  Heh, I’m actually in the digital art industry, I just feel the need to celebrate the people that do it old school.

Oracle is the former Batgirl who when paralyzed became a cyber hacking guru instead of giving up fighting crime.  And while all most heroes are inherently worthy of being looked up to, Barbra Gordon stands out because of what she is under the costume.  By which I mean resilient, not hot.  Although that doesn’t hurt either.

And whereas many of the other disabilities like Daredevils blindness, Iron Mans frail heart and body, and Thors weird alter-ego limpyness are compensated or cured from their abilities, Batgirl takes the more realistic approach and fights with what life gave her and what it took away.  Because even in the fantastic realm of super men, not everything can be fixed.  Until the reboot.

io9, one of my favorite sites, just posted this article about the history of strongmen and their influence on pulp culture.  I know a little about Victorian times from movies and such, but I draw a blank around the turn of the twentieth century, so it was a facinating read.  The connections to super heroes are also very apparent, with all the talk of super human strength and leotards.  And sexy naked people have always had a place in art.

But I find the whole idea of sideshow very interesting.  Not in the sense of freakshows, although that too says a lot about our society through history, but just the spectacles that people used to amuse themselves before HD TV.  I never had many carnival experiences growing up, but I can just imagine all the whimsy and wonder such fantastic sights could offer.  And like everything else, there is always a seedy underbelly if your looking for one.

When Iron Man came out, this was one of the more iconic images to spread across the net, and I think justly so.  It shows not only the super hero, but the man inside.  Mr. Robert Downey Jr. happens to be one of those people so charismatic I’d pay to watch him fold laundry, so he brought an excellent devilish flair to Tony Stark.  And the movie gave him plenty of opportunities to show it off.  In fact, I would say that like Spider-Man (the real one) the man plays just as big a role as the mask.  So if I were in marketing, I would value this image over one where he is all suited up.  We get to see him as the best of both worlds, like the classic image of Clark Kent ripping his shirt off.

But now to the major reason I like this picture.  The arc reactor.  I was in love with that thing.  I even wanted a shirt that had that light design on it.  I guess it’s just one of those odd things I randomly find appealing.

Who else remembers this part of Xmen 2? The correct answer should be everyone.

Someone on Tumblr mentioned a post called the 50 Greatest Comic Book Movie Moments and I’ve enjoyed checking it out.  

It reminded me of just how awesome that scene was, that moment where Wolverine and everyone else in the audience goes, oh shit!  Few other movies come to mind where there is just such an intense feeling of ‘oh, it’s ON!’  I guess it helps that I’m a total Xmen fanboy.

This is the movies representation of Lady Deathstrike, a character who in the comics is some cyborg chippy out for revenge against Wolverine.  So here we have another awesome example re-imagining and using the source material mostly as a guide.  So here she serves as a foil to Wolvy, a theme that would be seen again with Sabertooth in Origins.

The other day I posted a relevant article re blogged by one of my study subjects fellow bloggers Dresden Codak.  And so I’m going to return the favorite by using one of his images without his permission! Hooray for the internet!

But in all mostly seriousness, I remember somewhere on the blagosphere someone calling Dresden Codak a hypocrit for decrying portrayals of women in comics while himself depicting naked cyber babes.  THIS WILL NOT STAND!

If memory stands, his point was in reference to recent issues like Catwoman flashing her boobs while back flipping out of a window.  In such an event, having your suit unzipped like that provides no strategical advantage.  Context BUSTED.

Compare that situation to the one above, one of the few times Dresden Codak’s protagonist Kim is shown without clothes.  In it, she is changing clothes,  and barely even grants side boob.  Context CONFIRMED.  Plus, I’m pretty sure this is the first time we get to see the full extent of her cybernetic body, so it’s not just skin for skin sake.  It’s for SCIENCE.

OK, so I usually like to balance out my postings but I’ve been craving me some X2 for a while now.  And while this doesn’t rally have anything to do with fashion or character design, it belongs on the internet so hush up and listen.

I remember a while ago flipping through the channels and running into this awesome scene from Xmen 2.  Then all of the sudden, a wild Ladycop appears along with a Mancop to quell Pyro.  Now, years of Buffy fandom have ruined me with a rampant feminism streak, so I notice the use of a woman cop in a minor role as opposed to using two guys which is what most movies probably would have done.  So I’m “thumbs up Xmen 2!”  Of course I shouldn’t be surprised because Xmen have always been about stong female characters, in shown in the next scene featuring Storm and Jean.  And then in a few minutes we get that awesome plane chase, and I’m pretty sure one if not both of the antagonistic pilots are women.  Gold stars for everyone!

I dunno why I bring this up, I guess I’ve been reading a lot about unequal treatment and female roles, so it’s been kind of on my mind lately.