Mike Musings part 3

Welcome to the third installment of my Blog. This week the topic is Comic books. Indeed it is a subject of which I am quite knowledgeable. Now first I will talk about an independent comic called Tarot witch of the Black Rose, published by broadsword comics, written and created by Jim Ballent.
This concerns the adventures of a witch called Tarot. Now this is very pagan friendly as Tarot herself is a pagan. It follows her as she battles evil forces. However this is not your ordinary super heroine comic. You see Tarot has a sister, Raven Hex and she would like to destroy ordinary people or at least enslave them. She feels witches should rule and will go to any means necessary to achieve those ends which often puts her at odds with Tarot. As handmaiden of the goddess, it is her duty to stop Raven and others who would do evil. Tarot is not alone though. She has her boyfriend Jon who can talk to and see ghosts and her other lover, Boo Cat, a lesbian were cat! Yep, you read right. Tarot's values are pagan values. Not the mainstream stuff most superheroes subscribe too. That sets it apart from regular comics plus the nudity is also a factor. That said it is an interesting read and the lovely Tarot is quite the captivating lady as she fights for right even if those she is saving seem to hate her for her beliefs.
Tarot is not afraid to embrace her sexuality as you may have guessed. She is very open about sex and feels that nudity and sex are nothing to be ashamed of. I applaud that and feel if everybody were less ashamed of stuff like this then maybe the world might be a little happier.
Now next up I will return to the Dc universe to talk about one of the most interesting characters to come a long in a while. I refer to DC's revamped Batwoman! Back in the 50's and 60's Batwoman hung out with Batman and helped him out. There were even hints of romance between them. Back then Batwoman was Kathy Kane, ex-circus performer and current socialite. Now Kathy Kane has become Kate Kane, socialite, crime fighter and Lesbian. A definite departure from the original. As Batwoman Kate has made her Mark on Gotham City to be sure. This Batwoman has a much harder edge than the original and knows how to handle the bad guys in Gotham City. Now how and why she became Batwoman is still unknown, but the Ravishing redhead will be starring in Detective Comics starting this month. Rest assured she holds her own against anybody as well as Batman himself as many a felon has found out.
Sticking with DC, let me mention one of my favorite titles, The Justice Society of America. The original Super team is still around, well several of them anyway. This is truly a multi generational team raging from the old times Like Wildcat, green Lantern and the Flash to the new Mr. Terrific and Dr. Midnight, not to mention Libery Belle II ,Hourman II and StarGirl who represent the younger adults to Jakeem thunder and Cyclone who are the kids of the group.
This title always has the most interesting stories, especially with interaction between the different members and the different generations. The kids are learning to be heroes and experiencing their fair share of growing pains. The young adults have their own hang ups, some are following in their parents footsteps, others just try to make the best of their abilites while the old timers struggle with a changing world and trying to find their place in it. Throw in some supervillans into the mix and you have one seriously cool team title. If you pick up one team book I highly recommend this one. I truly feel there is something for everybody here. Not to mention the characters are fresh and interesting and the stories always are interesting.
Well that's it for this week. I will see you next week, same bat-Time, Same Bat-channel! :)

Commander Mike Vivian
XO, ISS Tomahawk