Comic Book Jobs: The Congo Needs You

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,

If you’re looking for a comic book-related job that’s a little off the beaten path, this is your lucky day.

Does your knowledge of the Democratic Republic of Congo stop at, say, Congorilla or Michael Crichton? You might want to read up a bit before considering taking a job there.

The Search For Common Ground is looking for a Country Director in The Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Country Director “manages the overall program in the DRC from a programmatic and operational perspective, as well as leading on fundraising and donor relations.”

So where’s the comic book connection here? “SFCG uses a range of tools to implement conflict transformation and peacebuilding, including radio, television, participatory theatre, mobile cinema, comic books, joint action projects, training, public forums, and arts and culture events, among others.” I wonder what those comic books are, don’t you?

The University of Washington is looking for a Community Outreach Manager who will “serve as the lead in assessing, planning, implementing, and evaluating health education, outreach, and training interventions for and with American Indians and Alaska Natives in an eight-state region.”

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DC Comics Review: Justice League: Cry for Justice #4

Posted by David Torres Categories: Reviews, DC Comics,

Rating: ***

A nice improvement from last month’s issue, which I was really disappointed in, but this month we see a nice improvement in the story.  However, still not enough to knock my socks off.  Our story opens up with Hal’s splinter Justice League group recovering from Clayface blowing himself up.  They decide to leave and go interrogate another villain to see what Prometheus is up to.  Following them is none other than Batwoman.  It was announced that Batwoman would be part of this team and she finally makes her appearance.  Things are moving a bit too slow for me.

Our story moves over to Paris where Congorilla and Starman Mikaal Tomas are battling it out with two Z level characters named Penny Dreadful and Arak.  Both are working for Prometheus and Arak confesses to assisting Prometheus in the killing of the gorillas in Africa and kidnapping Congorilla’s gorilla friend, Malavar.  Congorilla is ready to kill them, but Starman stops him.  Penny kills Arak for betraying Prometheus and Mikaal kills Penny as she tries to kill Congorilla.  Mikaal is ashamed that his deceased lover Tony would not have approved of what he just did.  Congorilla comforts him, but also states that the trail for Prometheus has gone cold.

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DC Comics: Justice League: Cry for Justice #3

Posted by David Torres Categories: Reviews, DC Comics,

Rating: **

Here is another series that started off great, but is slowly going downhill.  The one saving grace is the artwork.  Mauro Cascioli is doing some great work here.  I particularly like his work on Congorilla.  In this issue we have two back-to-back splash pages that show Congorilla and Starman fighting off some bad guys and it looks absolutely awesome!  When I heard Conogrilla was going to be a part of this team, I thought I wouldn’t like the character, but so far I like him and think he would be good on the Justice League for a while.  Now to the story.

In our last issue, we saw Green Lantern’s pro-active Justice League taking shape.  GL and Green Arrow met up with the Atom, Shazam, and Supergirl.  In a weird scene, the issue opens up with GL questioning Supergirl on whether she’s here as a hero or a villain.  He asks her this because of the recent events in the Superman books with New Krypton and some of the Kryptonians acting like bad guys.  Instead of having Supergirl stand up to GL and say she’s a hero and her own person, she begins to cry!  I know Kara is a teenager, but come on.  It’s bad enough that female characters in comics have tough times being front and center of things, but to have her cry is just wrong and it makes her look weak. 

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DC Comics Review: Justice League: Cry for Freedom #2

Posted by David Torres Categories: Reviews, DC Comics,

Rating: ***

When the original concept of a Justice League book written by James Robinson first surfaced, I became very interested.  After a long delay, the series finally began last month.  It was originally supposed to be an on-going series, but it’s now a mini-series which lays the groundwork for when James Robinson takes over the current on-going Justice League book. To review this issue, I have to give a little background on the last one.  Hal Jordan is tired.  He’s tired of seeing his friends die at the hands of super-villains.  He’s tired of reacting to their criminal acts and wants to act before they do.  He wants to go on the offense and not stay on defense.  He wants justice!  The rest of the League think Hal is acting irrationally - all except Green Arrow.

Other heroes in the DC Universe share Hal’s desire for justice.  Heroes like the alien Starman Mikaal Tomas who sees his lover Tony die at the hands of super-villains; Congorilla who sees his gorilla friends and the hero Freedom Beast die at the hands of hunters.  Is there a connection?

We shift over to issue two where Green Lantern and Green Arrow are in Gotham City and they meet up with Jason Bard.  For those who are not aware of Jason Bard, he’s a private investigator who worked with Batman.  Bard hears that Green Lantern and Green Arrow are out looking for some super-villains.  He tells them that Prometheus and a bunch of other villains are in town waiting for instruction from someone.  Hal and Ollie leave Bard and go after the bad guys.

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