DC Comics General

So remember that scene from Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams' Green Lantern/Green Arrow. Well, David Walker's Cyborg had a similar scene, though this time the subject was of prosthetic rather than race.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2015/07/22/cyborg-1-recreates-that-scene-from-green-arrowgreen-lantern/

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/man-machine-inside-dc-entertainments-810534

http://comicbook.com/2015/07/23/how-dcs-cyborg-links-itself-to-real-cultural-issues/

Bombshells #1 preview.

Too bad that they didn't decide to keep Cyborg's work with kids with prosthetics for the New 52 (did they?). Wolfman and Perez's New Teen Titans from back in the 80's made it pretty visable; it's generally what he did in his spare time.

http://www.newsarama.com/25336-dc-bombshells-creator-creates-world-where-women-were-heroes-of-world-war-ii.html

"Who is this masked madam?"

Did that really make it past the editor? Still, not quite as bad as the Spirit's monologue from Frank Miller's Spirit film, where he calls Central City, in a poorly constructed noir-esque monologue, both his mother and his lover....just, eww.

Did that really make it past the editor?

What are you talking about? Madam is a form of address for a woman. It's, in fact, still used today. For example, Madam Secretary.

Well, yes it is...but "Madam" used as a proper noun and not as a form of address (which is the way it's used here) is a common euphemism for the female proprietor of a brothel. It's certainly not the only usage, but there you go.

edited 27th Jul '15 5:02:28 PM by Robbery

Nope, it's still also a form of address for a woman. The brothel thing is slang.

Right. I'm not arguing that it's a form of address. I know it is. The other informal definition does exist, though, which is my point. The line is unintentionally amusing. It's something that an editor should have caught and changed to something less ambiguous. Like in the Batman TAS episode Harley and Ivy, the Joker originally had a line where he referred to H and I as "Busy little beavers," which they changed to "busy little bees" because, while the expression "busy little beavers" is fairly common and easily understood, the word "beaver" has an unfortunate informal definition as well, and they felt they'd do better to make the line less ambiguous.

Clear?

edited 27th Jul '15 5:09:19 PM by Robbery

Right, but, at the same time, the word "madam" is not inherently sexual. It is used in many, many cases to refer to a woman and in some cases to refer to the head of a brothel.

The fact that you immediately thought of a brothel doesn't mean that "madam" isn't a perfectly fine word and can be used to refer to a woman. For instance, if I say, "Madam, I'm Adam," pretty much nobody is going to think I'm talking to the head of a brothel. Even if someone says "That madam over there," pretty much nobody is going to think that they are referring to the head of a brothel either.

You are basically saying, "Because this word can be used as a euphemism, it should never be used in any other context." Which is patently silly.

(The "busy little beavers" line is different because it was supposed to be sexual. They had to change it because the censors caught them.)

edited 27th Jul '15 6:54:34 PM by alliterator

Isn't Bombshells set in the 40's? Using the phrase who is the masked madam makes a lot of sense for that time period.

You're right in that if you were to say "That madam over there" likely few people would think you were referring to the owner of a brothel; however, they would likely look at you funny, given that that's an odd construction. Used as a title or a form of address ("Madam Secretary," "Madam,I'm Adam") there's nothing ambiguous about the word. Used in a manner OTHER than as a title or form of address ("I'm Adam, and you're a madam" "The secretary is a madam") and it is at best an odd constuction, at worst unfortunately ambiguous. My amusement stemmed not from the word itself, but from the way the word was placed in the sentence I referenced. It struck ME as unintentionally funny. While I didn't think the sentence would be misunderstood, I thought it's phrasing was such as to call up the alternate definition in a reader's mind. Apparently, that's just me and not you. I was not seriously criticizing the editor of Bombshells, I was only pointing out something I found mildly amusing in what I (obviously erroneously) thought was a clever manner. Ah well. C'est la vie.

edited 28th Jul '15 4:09:25 PM by Robbery

As the person above you said, the book is also set in the 1940s, when referring to a woman as a "madam" was more commonly used. "The Masked Madam" is the female equivalent of "The Masked Gentleman."

edited 28th Jul '15 4:20:05 PM by alliterator

Just posting this here in case anyone is interested.

I find it funny that Hank Henshaw is like Brainiac, only better than him in almost every way.

How so? I mean how is he like Brainiac and how is he better than Brainiac?

Henshaw has the advantage of being far more consistent as a character.

And having a much less stupid name.

I'm guessing in that they're both biomechanical Superman villains, and that Henshaw is functionally immortal.

So I'm planning on reading Simone's WW run. What issues did she do(the digital store for my region doesn't have a collection with her issues)?

Gail wrote issues 14-44 and then issue #600 of Volume 3 of Wonder Woman, that's between 2008 and 2010.

Thanks!

@napoleon de cheese Cyborg Superman is a less stupid name than Brainiac?

edited post.

edited 1st Aug '15 5:04:14 AM by windleopard

The Cyborg or simply Hank will do.

Yeah, but they can't really call him "The Cyborg" anymore, given that they're really trying to push their heroic Cyborg right now. Aside from that, "Cyborg" is, while not stupid, a boring name. As is "Hank."

And I always thought that "Brainiac" was a fine name for a super villain. But then, I encountered it as the character's name first, and only as an insult later.

So is he the guy who went from Teen Titans to Justice League or is he Hawk?

edited 1st Aug '15 10:14:34 AM by rikalous