A little while ago, I covered the upcoming addition of Bunker to the Teen Titans team in this column. Now, as part of that, I mentioned how I thought it was a shame that they wouldn’t be focusing on people having negative reactions to him and his sexuality in the book, especially not from his fellow team mates.

Now, it has been asked of me why I think that’s a shame, and isn’t it better that a state of total acceptance is shown. And yes, that would be lovely in the real world, certainly. And when we get to that stage when it is the norm, then yes, we should definitely only have sexuality in comics handled as such. But sadly, that isn’t how it is in the real world. This is fiction we are talking about too, but sometimes fiction bears some powerful responsibilities in the context of the real world it’s released into.

My thoughts on this are maybe a little complicated, and I myself have been struggling to clarify it, so bear with me.

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So it started back in August, the 31st to be precise,
Some people were so hot for it and others cold as ice,
Some people saying that DC had destroyed and sold its soul,
For me comics is my music and DC my new rock and roll,

How can it be a bad thing with so many titles sold out?
The buzz it’s created for comics in the whole wide world throughout,
I don’t think that all are amazing but I still wouldn’t call them a waste,
I put it down to different people, who all have a different taste,

Ive stayed with all my favourites and have added new as well,
Would I call it a massive success? I suppose really only time can tell,
The Batman family comics in my pull list come to nine,
Of my 21 DC comic’s I call these lot here my spine,

All four Superman titles I am reading, so please add these to my list,
Green Lantern’s there, all of them too, because I couldn’t just resist,
I could go on but you get the gist about what this all means to me,
Quality writing and fantastic art on most you can guarantee,

Reservations, there were loads but I really shouldn’t have had a worry,
Clark Kent, Bruce Wayne, Barry Allan still rock and even now Arthur Curry,
To top that off, hot chicks there’s loads most showing lots of skin,
Ill admit I am getting suicide squad, but only to see Harley Quinn,

Two months in now I still feel the same and I am even getting two mini series,
The mystery woman who the hell is she? Ive now read so many theories,
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed as its time for me to conclude,
But one last thing I want to say FFS CATWOMAN WAS NOT TOO RUDE.

Alex Muldwych Giles

In the last few months with everything that has been happening in the comic book world I have noticed something, I have noticed that as in life so many people are negative and love to put down a comic, a character or a story line much more than they will praise it or even just say it was ok.

I've come to believe that the majority of comic book fans (not me or the people I talk comics with) are looking for something to be negative with, in fact there are a few who rip into everything from Marvel and DC yet praise all from Image or Dark horse which is clearly just because they don’t see them as mainstream so must be “cool”.

These comic book fans annoy me and I don’t mind telling you that at all, they are as bad as the music Nazi’s we all know, who love an underground band until they sign a major record deal and are then suddenly sell outs and crap, even though the first album is the same songs they were singing happily along too when no one knew who they were.

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By now y'all know I've got a full on robot chubby for Bored to Death, here's your 10 day warning, the boys are back...

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Secret Identity:

“A secret identity is an element of fiction wherein a character develops a separate persona (usually adopting a pseudonym), while keeping their true identity hidden. The character also may wear a disguise (ranging from makeup or a mask, to a complete costume). A character may have several types of secret identities simultaneously (such as adopted names, pen names, undercover identities, and crime fighting codenames).”

Now one of my BIGGEST gripes when I was younger was about superheroes identities and why no one noticed that the likes of Clark Kent was Superman and that Bruce Wayne was Batman.

Now that I have thought about it a bit more for this article I now accept it and feel I can understand why they get away with it.

Obviously, first and foremost, it comes down to suspension of belief and if you are reading a comic or watching a superhero film then you like to escape to a fantasy realm and believe that for instance some humans can defy the rules of gravity and nature or that aliens can come down to earth to help protect it by using superpowers.

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The conclusion to our trilogy of columns looking at the Avengers Big Three, and the best actors to portray, them is here, and I’ve saved my favourite for last. Regular readers will be aware that I do love Captain America. Even wrote a whole piece about why a little while back. Cap’s put in more screen appearances than Iron Man or Thor, thanks in part to the fact that he precedes them in the comics by a good couple of decades. There were also two attempts at live action Cap movies before the recent effort with Chris Evans in the title role (winner of your vote for best Cap, by the way). In the seventies there were a couple of made for TV movies starring Reb Brown as a rather lacklustre, one-note Captain America. Then, the early nineties gave us Matt “son of J.D.” Salinger in the title role in a disastrous movie in which Salinger did his best impression of… Well, Reb Brown. And wore rubber ears as part of his costume. Who thought that was a good idea?

Neither of these efforts were ever going to make this list, and are now mostly regarded as, at best, curios. However, leaving them aside, I was more than ready to bombard you with a Super Soldier Serum charged column featuring one awesome live action Cap, and four awesome animated Caps too.

Then I discovered one more live action version...

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Why is it that the majority of comic book fans feel the need to choose sides between DC and Marvel?

Ive pondered this question for a while now and it’s something I wondered as a kid of 14/15 too. There were 2 of us in team DC and another 4 of my friends were team Marvel. I never labelled myself as team DC but as I didn’t get any Marvel comics but did get 3 DC I just kind of became it.

It’s strange because as a kid and being in team DC I grew up with a little dislike for Marvel, I know now how stupid that was/is but I was only young and that’s what it feels like sometimes in comics, you have to choose sides. Even if I go to my favourite comic book forum it’s separated into sections of DC, Marvel, Independent and a few others (note there is no general section if you want to speak about both in same thread which is a tad annoying).

Every day on the forum there is a question in at least one of the sections that goes like “DC convert here, over from Marvel” or “I am swapping to Marvel because of the 52 reboot”, I mean; CONVERT? SWAPPING? why choose one side?

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Still undecided whether there is going to be a Sidekick presence at October's MCM Expo but the news that Gail Simone will be appearing may've just forced my hand, you glorious MCM bastards. Now we just need to get a team together for the Battle of the Blooggers.

PRESS RELEASE

A record number of artists and writers will be flocking to MCM Expo London Comic Con’s Comic Village next month – and we’re delighted to announce that acclaimed American comic book writer Gail Simone and best-selling British science fiction author Peter F. Hamilton will be among our special guests.

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With the recent reveal that Cable will be returning after 'dying' during X-Men event, Second Coming, we now have some more information about the direction that his return will take. It seems that Cable will be taking on The Avengers in an attempt to safeguard his 'daughter', Hope, and her future prosperity. With this mini-series being written by man of many lives, Jeph Loeb and drawn by fan favourite Ed McGuinness I pose the question; Is Cable the new RULK?

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BEWARE: SPOILERS FOR STORMWATCH #1!

Last week saw the release of Stormwatch #1 from DC, written by Paul Cornell and with art by Miguel Sepulveda. More importantly, it features the return, or perhaps more accurately the introduction, of Apollo and Midnighter; two of comics most renowned homosexual characters.

As you may recall from earlier editions of Tales, I wondered how we might find these characters represented, what this would mean for LGBTQ representation in comics as a whole, and also how this marries up with DC’s claims of a broader, more diverse and inclusive universe.

With the issue finally out, I felt I should say something about it. However, I admit this is proving the hardest entry to write…because there’s not an awful lot to say. Maybe that in itself is worth exploring.

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