The Perplexity of Rainbow Boy

Rainbow Boy is quite the interesting character.

His name and the fact that his power is "the brilliance of [his] rainbow..." all point to one thing. He's got to be gay.

I've known quite a few gay men who seem to have that power.

The problem is that rainbows didn't become "gay" until around 1978, and Rainbow Boy debuted in 1942. So the whole rainbow motif doesn't really support any conjecture on that part.

What does make a case for his fairy-ness is that fact that every time he enters a room, he comes flitting in like he's doing some ballet:

Please, girlfriend.
Hydroman and Gruno don't seem too thrilled by his flamboyance...

One the other hand: Rainbow Boy is a DICK!

In the story I ran a few weeks back, Rainbow Boy helps save the earth from invasion by kidnapping the alien general and taking him around to show how being a dictator is a bad thing. Here's a look at the horrors they encountered:

Now the problem with this is... Rainbow Boy let all those people DIE!

Yes, he is trying to prove a point, but couldn't he have proven it by "Look at what they're about to do...now excuse me while I go rescue those people!" But he makes no attempt. I'm surprised he didn't bring along popcorn for the show.

And he's practically smiling in panel four when he says, "I'm going to show you more!" With an explanation point...

Yippee! Let's go!!

Rainbow Boy is a bad bad person. He may have saved the world from an alien attack, but my conclusion is he's still to evil too be gay.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Project Superpowers: Rainbow Boy!

Although Rainbow Boy has yet to make a proper appearance, he did appear in a one-panel cameo in PROJECT SUPERPOWERS #0, as one of the victims of The Fighting Yank and his urn. (Although he looked a bit more like Rainbow Grandpa...)

It's kind of interesting to note: that while The Flame and The Black Terror are constantly worrying (and whining) about their sidekicks, Hydroman (who teamed-up a few times with Rainbow Boy, including RB's first appearance) doesn't seem too concerned about his friend.

Rainbow Boy first appeared in HEROIC COMICS #14 (Sept 1942) and stayed there through issue #20 (Sept 1943). He made one final appearance, in a team-up with Hydroman, in HEROIC COMICS #25 (July 1944). And then he was gone...

This Rainbow Boy story concludes yesterday's Hydroman tale from HEROIC COMICS #19 (July 1943):

Ultimate Origins #1 - Michael Turner variant

When I first mentioned the variant cover for ULTIMATE ORIGINS #1, I cracked that I'd have a hard time deciding between the Simone Bianchi cover and the Turner variant. Which is because I am decidedly not a Turner fan.
Since then, I've seen the Turner variant...

Holy Moley!! I had to check the signature to make sure that was really by Turner. That's hot!
Turner's women are usually drawn skraggly and anorexic looking. But -- woo!

Titans (whatever) #1

TITANS #1

written by Judd Winick
art by Ian Churchill & Norm Rapmund

Okay...
When this book was first announced I was kind of excited. I mean, THE NEW TEEN TITANS has always been one of my all-time favorite comics. I love these characters and having them come back together was just too much to ask. Even though the previous TITANS revival kinda fell apart, I still wanted to love that one, too.
Judd Winick wasn't really a stumbling block for me. I know a lot of people on the internet seem to hate him, but he's written some good stuff (GREEN ARROW/BLACK CANARY, the first couple years of THE OUTSIDERS) along with the bad (TITANS/YOUNG JUSTICE: GRADUATION DAY, TITANS EAST SPECTACULAR). So, I wasn't too worried.
Ian Churchill's art on the other hand had me a little trepidatious. I just don't get it most of the time. He can draw a pretty man on occassion, but on the whole it just does nothing for me. But I read the interviews, and Winick seemed like he was excited and got the group. So I thought it might me all right.
I guess I was kinda wrong. This book just doesn't make any sense. I could go into more detail, but Troy Brownfield over at Newsarama has pretty much taken all the words out of my mouth.
Go read his review and then come on back. I'll wait.

Hmm, hmmm. La la la la...

Oh, hi! Okay: First of all, I don't hate it quite that much. But it's close.
What is the timeline on this thing? Are they all attacked at once? They couldn't get ahold of Dick to let him know what was happening, because his comm was cut while he was fighting. And how long was his fight that they got ahold of Batman and he got to Dick before Dick was done? Or did the other attacks happen before Dick's? And how did they get away.
Especially Donna. She was out in space with Kyle, gets attacked by some tentacle thing, and then has time to get free, come back to earth and change clothes. All the while that Dick is running around with glass sticking out of his neck. !!??? And where did Kyle go? He was a Titan once. He did get attacked same time as Donna. Were they just like "Okay, see ya later!" !!???
About the only thing I didn't hate that most people seem to have a problem with is the return of Trigon. I love him. I hope he turns out to be cool. But really, this should have been a lot more Raven oriented for Trigon's return...
All in all, there were some highlights in the artwork :). However if these weren't my favorite characters, I probably wouldn't be back. But I have to keep reading to see if maybe it gets better. Please.

And now for something completely different: Here's a review of the book from an alternate universe. I really, truly cannot believe we read the same book. I so wish I could love it as much as this guy did.

(not necessarily the) Best Covers: DC/Marvel June '08

Hm. Another month without a plethora of cover solicitations that grab ya by the eggs. So I'll just talk about a few of the more interesting ones:

HUNTRESS: YEAR ONE #3 - MATTHEW CLARK
Matthew Clark draws an awesome looking Huntress.
Too bad he's only doing the covers.
And really too bad that he isn't drawing the Titans instead of what we're getting...


SUPERGIRL #30 - DREW JOHNSON & RAY SNYDER
Why does this bring to mind Superboy-Prime and the Superboy-Punch?
Is it a coincidence?


TEEN TITANS: YEAR ONE #6 - KARL KERSCHL & SERGE LAPOINTE
Hm. This one looks kinda familiar.
Not sure where I might have seen it before, though...


TEEN TITANS #14 (April 1968) - NICK CARDY


ULTIMATE ORIGINS #1 - SIMONE BIANCHI
On the off chance that I did decide to read this...
I'd have a tough time deciding between this and the Michael Turner variant!!
(not)


UNCANNY X-MEN #499 - MIKE CHOI
Just something hot about it!


WOLVERINE: ORIGINS #26 - GREG LAND
Okay, okay, I know -- it's just another Greg-Land-traces-a-photo cover.
Doesn't stop if from being a cool looking image, though.


WONDER WOMAN #21 - AARON LOPRESTI
AHHH!! Wonder Woman's a Skrull!!
Who do you trust!?

Sixty-Nine

WORLD'S FINEST COMICS 69 (March-April 1954)		SUPERBOY 69 (December 1958)
Because apparently, Superman and Batman have nothing better to do with their time than protect a sidewalk piggy bank.		He's wearing the Superboy costume. So he knows he's Superboy. So he must have some kind of powers. Like maybe invulnerability? So maybe it won't hurt if he falls?
ACTION COMICS 69 (February 1944)		SUPERMAN 69 (March-April 1951)
It appears that sixty-nine is the Prankser's favorite number...
BATMAN 69 (February-March 1952)		THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD 69 (January 1967)
Guess there's nothing wrong with a little Bat-bondage amongst friends...
ALL-AMERICAN COMICS 69 (November-December 1945)		MYSTERY IN SPACE 69 (August 1961)
It seems like Doiby Dickles is none too happy with Green Lantern's extra-curricular activies. Jelluz much?		Really, really don't want to know what Adam Strange was up to right before the alien attacked...
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 69 (February 1969)		TARZAN 69 (June 1955)
The Kingpin likes it rough.		Just because...

BLAZE BARTON and the Tentacles of Doom!

Here's an irresistible golden-age classic! Well, probably not a classic. But who can resist a story that's only 4-pages long where the hero is ensnared in tentacles on every page and by the end of the story loses his shirt!!!

Ah, to be a young boy during the golden-age of comics!!

Blaze Barton travels to the Dark Side of the Moon in HIT COMICS #12 (June 1941).
written by ?; art by Maurice Gutwirth.

It's cute (on page 4) how he gets so into playing with the tentacles that he completely loses track of the girl he's trying to rescue. Guess a guy's got to have his priorities!!

You can download HIT COMICS #12 and lots of other awesome golden-age goodness from Golden Age Comics Downloads!

Superpowers: Origins - The Black Terror & Tim

One of the golden-age stars of Dynamite's PROJECT: SUPERPOWERS is the Black Terror:
But just who is the Black Terror?
Travel back to May 1940 and read EXCITING COMICS #9 featuring the origins of the Black Terror and his sidekick Tim! Notice at the bottom of page 3 how Bob Benton has got a little bit of Frank Miller's All-Star Batman 'tude goin' on!

You can find this and many more apparent public domain comics at Golden Age Comics Downloads.