Laughs about butt-sex, and Batman: The Brave and The Bold (Not in relation to one another, though)

Two of the most dependable sources of comics-related humor on the Internet have been lightening up my Black Friday, and, oddly enough, they're both talking about sodomy.

First, Dan DiDio played 20 questions with Newsarama's Matt Brady, and when Brady asked why there wasn't a mature readers label on Batman: Cacophony, since it included scenes of The Joker discussing the color of his pubic hair and bending over so Onomatopoeia could have anal sex with him (while alluding to the fact that The Mad Hatter has always wanted to have anal sex with him as well), DiDio challenged his critics who thought that maybe that's a little more mature than is necessary for a comic featuring this guy:


And I will challenge everybody on that – one of the things I think Kevin [Smith] does so deftly is that he walks the finest of lines. The implications of certain scenes and certain dialogue, if you read into them further, could be deemed mature, but I think he stops the story right at the right spot, so we don't have to consider labeling in that fashion. I think that's what makes him a great writer.


See what I mean? DiDio is hilarious. This is, by the way, the first time anyone has ever praised Kevin Smith for the subtlety of his writing. So, if I understand what DiDio is saying, Cacophony doesn't need to be labeled mature because talking about prison sex, clown fetishes and ass-fucking for money is fine so long as no one actually says the "F-word" and Onomatopoeia doesn't actually take up the Joker on his offer to let him fuck his ass.

Basically, it's like Jaws or Alien, only instead of not-showing us a shark or an alien, Smith was not showing us anal-sex. Smith is the Spielberg of man-on-man supervillain sodomy.

Secondly, Abhay Khosla finishes up his occasional series of essays on Blue Beetle, taking into account its recent cancellation and one-time Blue Beetle writer John Rogers' reply, Sean Witzke's suggestion that those sad about the news shove it up their asses, and his own suggestion of what people should maybe shove up their own asses.

Khosla's commentary is as amusing as always and, in this case, devastatingly withering. While I actually did like a big chunk of the book, I can't really say he's wrong about the book either (But then, I'm not a 12-year-old nephew without a doctorate in DC Continuity; I'm a 31-year-old uncle with one).

You know what is perfect for 12-year-old nephews and 31-year-old uncles alike though? Cartoon Network's Batman: The Brave and the Bold. I lack cable and thus am eagerly awaiting an eventual DVD collection, but I did manage to catch the second episode and, holy shit guys, it was pretty much perfect. Batman teamed up with Plastic Man and Fire to fight the Gentleman Ghost for, like, three minutes, and then Batman and Plastic Man went to Dinosaur Island, where Gorilla Grodd and his gorilla minions were riding dinosaurs and working on a gun that turned Batman into a gorilla. Also, there's a flashback featuring Kite-Man.

Watching the title sequence on YouTube and pausing it over and over during the bit where they flash Flinstones vitamin looking images of various guest stars, I got even more excited about this awesome damn show.

I mean, we all knew Blue Beetle III, beard-free Green Arrow, beard-rocking Aquaman, Fire, and Plastic Man were going to be on the show. But did you see who else flashed on the screen? Etrigan, The Demon! Dr. Fate! Green Lantern Guy Gardner! Bronze Tiger! Kamandi, The Last Boy on Earth! Jonah Hex! And B'wana Beast (or possibly Freedom Beast). Still, one of the Beasts!

Alright, that's all I got in terms of "content" for tonight. Reviews and some actual original content will resume tomorrow, and you can look forward to a (mildly) exciting (to me) announcement on Monday morning. Huzzah!