Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Vega: A Man's World

The first page of the comic
This is a weird comic I found. "Vega: A Man's World" was a story featured Omega Men issue 27. It was written by Alan Moore (writer of Watchmen, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, V for Vendetta and From Hell).
The story revolves around a female alien biologist (who is called "Leelyo" by the other characters, but it is unclear if that is her actual name or just an alien word). She is visiting the planet Culacao, whose natives are all male. Leelyo notices the natives have a strange ritual where they stab the purple membrane on giant mollusks with a spear. The story opens with her witnesses them performing the ritual. She notes how her translator, Mopi, has tried to explain the ritual, but the concepts are too alien for her to understand. She wonders show the all-male natives natives can reproduce. Leeylo reveals to Mopi that woman can reproduce. Mopi takes her to his hut so they can do so. The next day, Mopi talks to his fellow native Rudo and it is revealed that the natives stab the membrane to cause the mollusk to create more of themselves. It's revealed Mopi, misunderstanding what Leelyo was telling him, stabbed her unintentionally killing her although he fails to realize what he did.
References:
http://swords-and-veeblefetzers.blogspot.com/2010/11/omega-men-27-vega-mans-world-alan-moore.html

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Oz Squad

The titular team
Frank Baum's Oz books (give yourself a pat on the back if you actually knew there was more than one) have fallen into public domain. Like anything in public domain that is even remotely famous, they have numerous adaptions and re-imaginings. Oz Squad is an obscure example I stumbled upon. It re-imagines the Oz original characters as a darker and edgier superhero team.
Premise
The story takes place after the original forty novels and World War II. The Land of Oz (which is now a parallel dimension as opposed to just being a country that hard to reach) is seeking diplomatic relations with Earth. The Oz Squad is a special task force that protects both Oz and America. This team consists of Dorothy, Scarecrow, the no longer cowardly Lion and the Tin Woodsman. However, they have undergone changes: Dorothy is a nearly century-old but retains the body of a young adult, the Scarecrow has become morose, the Lion has gained the ability to assume the form of a human and the Tin Man has been technological updated. All of them now live in America. They mainly battled Rebecca Eastwitch, who is actually the returned Wicked Witch of the East. However, they battle other foes such as Tik-Tok (whose spring now causes him to be moral when it is wind up and evil when its not).
References:
http://www.leftfield.org/~rawdon/comics/reviews/oz.squad.html
http://oz.wikia.com/wiki/Oz_Squad
http://wiki.dorothyandozma.com/index.php/Famous_Forty
http://oz.wikia.com/wiki/Copyright