Chinese Access to Manga Featuring Homosexuality Further Restricted?

My wife alerted me to this bit of news earlier this morning and I haven’t seen it reported at all in the English-language press, so allow me to share this with you. The message above was allegedly received by a merchant on the incredibly popular Chinese on-line market place Tabo Bao. The message demands that the seller remove all manga that depict homosexual acts or the homosexual lifestyle from their Tao Bao shop. The demand is in accordance with a policy aimed at producing “a more harmonious society”- the go-to justification for anything in the public policy of the Chinese Community Party. While censorship is nothing new for China, the motivation to restrict information is usually political, personal, or related to promoting a favored business (personal relationship business or Chinese firm over foreign firm). Bootleg films and comics are widely available in China. You don’t have to look too hard. Like in most places, the rise of the internet in China has repeatedly threatened and changed the status quo. Like QQ, Baidu, Tudou, Renren, and Douban, Tao Bao has become an incredible force in the on-line consciousness of China, but unlike those sites, it is still very much rooted in the material world. With this policy and its enforcement, the capability of any resistance movement to use the on-line marketplace to distribute unpopular literature is challenged and a precedent is set for all communities using sites like Tao Bao to engage in less than sanctioned economic activity or rather perfectly sanctioned economic activity in which the content of a book compels the government to intervene its sale and distribution.

In somewhat related news, my wife got me a pretty sweet Batwoman statue for the holidays.

亲爱的 Dracula: Panda Claus

 

Villains: Joining Google’s celebration

As frequenters of this site know, crosswords of varying difficulty have appeared sporadically since the site began. The empire was built on those little boxes, penciled in between our slings and arrows, our ups and downs. Yesterday a small start up tech firm known as The Google brought attention to the 100th anniversary of the versatile medium. Those nerds celebrated with an animated doodle. The World’s Second Greatest Detective , refusing to be outdone by a bunch of coder and cooties, decided to massacre two birds with one stone by simultaneously commemorating the 100th anniversary of the crossword with the publication of DC Comics New 52 Villains Omnibus, a mammoth tome featuring each of DC Comics Villains Month issues from this past September, with a DC Villains Crossword. The answers are all titles taken from the New 52 Villains Omnibus, so don’t go looking for Catwoman, Hush, Amazo, Gentleman Ghost, etc. If you need a list of those titles, click here.  If you click on the puzzle, it gets much bigger too.

Across

5. what’s cooler than cool? ice cold

7. classic teen tightener

8. makes lions cowardly with gas

9. say hello to their little friend

10. pointed the Flash to Flashpoint

11. more badass than Duane Chapman

16. rules Gotham from a shadowed perch, behind granite and lime

17. the blackest night’s blackest knight

22. rough in a diamond

23. lives in the worst part of Gotham City

25. if dialing h gets you preparation e, this is how you get preparation h

29. Jordan’s friend, Natu’s father

30. Aquaman’s brother

32. Can be usually be found at the Iceberg

33. Solomon Grundy died on Saturday, but Superman died on this one

34. Born in the dark, molded by it

35. I make a point of never being clueless, who am I?

36. One of the Jor-El’s best buddies if only in his mind

38. faster pussycat kill kill

39. So Raven

43. Played poorly by Kevin Spacey

44. big bad harv

45. Has a cooler collection of bottles than any frat boy you know

47. Of all of Darkseid’s minions, he probably finds the most sexual gratification from spanking

Down

1. Coast City’s least favorite Superman

2. Not the handsomest villain but possibly the hungriest

3. one of the few female characters to put on more clothes in the New 52

4. his scientific discoveries were vital to Talia’s war on Batman, Inc.

6. Wonder Woman’s brother

8. whether male or female, a problem for hawkman

10. looking to put Green Lanterns’ lights out

12. A failure for Lex Luthor, especially compared to Superboy

13. One of Jor-El’s best buddies

14. hair like the Joker

15. Inspired the pornographic thespian Jack Napier

16. poison ivy planted seeds in him

17. gave Aquaman’s dad a heart attack

18. one bullet minimalist

19. Gems of the Gem Cities

20. digs lysistrata and wearing other people’s faces

21. most wtf character choice in Injustice video game

24. Grandfather to Thomas Wayne’s grandson

26. of Super Villains

27. just another clever beat inventing knowing

28. put the rot in rot world

31. The man with a kryptonite heart

37. aims to make aiming arrows difficult

40. once wore a lot of Sinestro Corps rings

41. christened Cyrus Gold, possibly on a Tuesday

42. iconic cosplay favorite who appeared in an animated series before appearing in a comic

45. subject of the best storyline in 52

46. kisses with his Apokolips

Above you can see what Google’s doodle looked like while below you can find the correct responses to the crossword clues.

The Christmas Spirit of the World’s Second Greatest Detective

As the last moments of 2013 are sucked up into the vortex of history, I thought I could share a few items that I feel really articulate the Christmas Spirit of Wayne Xiaolong, the World’s Second Greatest Detective.

Firstly, craft plays a huge role in what makes this site tick. One of the things that separates Wayne Xiaolong from other comic book sites is the ambition of this site to produce content rather than review or report on the content of others. This holiday season I’ve made a number of crafts and I’d like to share some of them here.

I made a significant quantity of lighters as holiday gifts this year. I haven’t given them all out, so I’m only posting pictures of ones that have already been claimed. Making these lighters was really simple. If you want to make some yourself, you’ll need a few things: cigarette lighter(s), decoupage, paint brush, and some images. I created my images using Photoshop. I cropped pictures from the internet and pasted a gold frame to keep it classy. You don’t need to print pictures though. You can cut images out of magazines, comics, instruction manuals, etc. I would recommend thinner paper over thicker paper, so no encyclopedias except maybe Wikipedia. Then you paint a little decoupage on the lighter and the back of the picture. Place the picture on the lighter. Paint a little decoupage on the top of the picture and let it dry. Repeat that last step a few times and viola! You have a fun and inexpensive gift. Many of the lighters are made were tailored to the recipient, but the ones in the above photograph were chosen as more generic crowd-pleasers because who doesn’t love Earth Kitt, Li Xiao Long, Linda Carter, and Zhang Man Yu?

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Secondly, Wayne Xiaolong exists in response to the exciting stuff going on in comic books and the Atlanta art world. The work that I do with artists and arts organizations here in Atlanta gives me a very real sense of community while the current generation of comics creators provides me with a different sense of community as I find myself identifying with and finding inspiration from the incredible work being produced right now. WXL proudly wears its branding as an outpost for the eccentricities of the Green Lantern narrative. The last decade of Green Lantern work opened my eyes to the renaissance taking place in comics while the new crop of talent working on the title have been very supportive of this site. Now is a great time to be a Green Lantern fan and I encourage all of you to check out the independent titles that helped Vendetti, Soule, Jordan, and Jensen catch the attention of DC Comics. Anyway, last night I received a gift from Van Jensen, a GL writer who has made Atlanta his home, that I wanted to share with you. It’s a magnet featuring two classic GLs from the Silver Age, Tomar-Re and B’dg.

Thirdly, a desire to bring light into this dark world is fundamental to the philosophy of this site. Some of the most frequent visitors to this site come in search of ESL crossword puzzle and clozes related to superheroes. Having taught a university course on the history of superheroes to Chinese (i.e. ESL) students in Dalian, I have the unique experience and expertise in using superheroes as tools for teaching English language and Western culture to people from the East. For the past year, I’ve been creating these crosswords for the family from Myanmar that I tutor. They’re a really fantastic family from the Chin state of Myanmar- mom, dad, and two lovely little boys. The two boys often greet me with one of three battle cries: “Superhero!” “Batman!” and “Go Go Power Rangers!” They’re pretty young (2 & 4) and English is their 2nd (maybe 3rd/4th) language, but my goal is get at least the older boy to be able to recite the full GL oath (In brightest day, in blackest night; no evil shall escape my sight; let those who worship evil’s might; beware my power- Green Lantern’s light!) .  Here’s a picture of the two boys as pandas that I created last year. Like most children their age, they’ve been growing at a phenomenal rate.

I often bring them sweets and small toys. After Free Comic Book Day, I brought them a big stack of nearly age-appropriate comics. Their joy is some of the most rewarding joy to witness and they provided what I believe will be the highlight of my holiday season. This past Wednesday I brought them their Christmas present.

I wrapped the gift and adorned it with candy canes, gingerbread Twix, caramel apple Milky Way bites, and a Godiva truffle. These kids love chocolate and superheroes, so we have a lot in common. When they opened the gift to find the world’s greatest heroes, their excitement could not be contained. Jumping up and down, shaking their fists, shrieking- these kids seemed to be in total awe that the seven major members  of the Justice League were now part of their toy army. In a pleasant coincidence, Young Justice was playing on the TV, which made it very easy to explain to them who Cyborg is.

Finally, the World’s Second Greatest Detective would like to wish a safe and happy holiday season to everyone who reads, supports, and inspires this site. Let’s all pledge to work towards a more cooperative world in 2014, to turn hope into action, and to celebrate the contributions and potential in others and ourselves. I have a feeling we can look forward to some great comics too.

The Ice Storm and the Fantastic Four

I’d like to share a passage from Rick Moody’s The Ice Storm with you. This passage was brought to my attention by my lovely wife. She’s a better reader than me for several reasons. One reason is that I’ve resigned myself to primarily reading books with pictures in them, but that’s a relatively new thing. The reason that impresses me the most is that she’s well-read in two languages. Her decision to read The Ice Storm follows in the foot steps of Li Ang, another Chinese genius who reads Western literature. You may remember than Li Ang directed the film adaptation of the book. It featured the acting talents of Sigourney Weaver and does not resemble that abomination Avatar. My wife’s been reading this book for the past few days and keeps telling me that she finally understands the American Suburbs and why I’m fucked up.

Anyway, here’s the passage:

Sure, Paul had tried DC Comics. He had read Batman and Justice League of America, and he had followed some of the other Marvel titles too: Spider-Man, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, The Avengers, and X-Men and especially those titles that were F.F. spin-offs, The Silver Surfer and The Sub-Mariner. He had tried them all. He had ranged far and wide. But he kept coming back to the F.F. Batman was cool: his skills were not supernatural. He was just smart and rich. Superman was a moral force. The Hulk had hubris. Silver Surfer was definitely created by a mind on psychedelics. Thor was the comic you read if you wanted to work for one of those touring Renaissance festivals, if you wanted to wear a shirt that was called a blouse.

So why the Fantastic Four? First of all, Paul couldn’t shake the uncanny coincidence that his father had the same first name as Benjamin Grimm, the Thing. When he was younger, he actually thought of his father as the Thing: chunky, homely, self-pitying. When Paul was a kid, his dad raged around his house like a pachyderm taking down underbrush. His father would find a damp towel clumped on the bathroom floor and sprint to Paul’s room to accuse him. His father would lay in wait for the tiniest noise, the scantest footfall, and then he would howl from the bottom of the stairs. But his dad was always coming around to apologize, too. He couldn’t terrorize with real commitment. He was like the Thing. He hated the world, hated mankind, but loved people, loved kids and dogs.

And his mother was the Invisible Girl. Although, on the other hand, sometimes she was like Crystal, the Elemental, the prophetess, a seer. And sometimes his dad was Reed Richards, the elastic scientist. And sometimes Paul himself was Be Grimm, and sometimes he was Peter Parker, a.k.a. the Spider-Man. These models never worked exactly. Still, the F.F., with all their mistakes and allegiances, their infighting and dependability, told some true tale about family. When Paul started reading these books, the corny melodram of New Canaan lost its sting.

The pictures are from our tree. If you want to look at more of our ornaments, I suggest you click here and enjoy some of the ways the Christmas spirit manifested in our apartment. If you want to make us an ornament, that would be pretty cool.

Wayne Xiao Long: Year One (celebrated with meditations on the contributions of Geoff Johns to comics)

Today marks one year of Wayne Xiao Long: The World’s Second Greatest Detective patrolling the rooftops of hyper-Gotham. Though the site suffered a few lulls when AT&T took it upon itself to punish me with no internet and terribly insulting customer service, I’m pleased with what’s been accomplished here. I’ve gotten to speak with a lot of people from different aspects of the comic book industry and I’ve discovered new ways that sequential art extends beyond the comic issue. The ESL crosswords continue to be really popular and I apologize that I’ve made and subsequently lost several that never ended up on the site. In my tutoring, the last few months have focused largely on mechanics and grammar, so there aren’t any fresh ones. I might get around to making so more aimed at native speakers. While the site has attracted a lot of crossword and comics enthusiasts, a tremendous number of readers have found this site in pursuit of adult fare. Perhaps as a thank you to all the readers, I’ll draw some of the more popular search items that bring people here such as “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Gay Sex,” “Nude Zatanna,” “Nude Black Canary,” and “gay sex treasure hunter.” Probably the most disturbing search term that frequently comes up is “crush fetish.” Yeah, I might take a swing at drawing a Gay Sex Treasure Hunter- it might even like the ridiculous picture of Cyborg at the top of this article.

This Cyborg appears in Flash: Our Worlds At War and surely tells us something about imagined racial realities in the United States in the twenty-first century. Vic Stone is one of the characters who I think get one of the best and most long overdue makeovers in the New 52 and seeing him in this Jiveborg set-up from 2001 reminds me of just how desperately Cyborg needed a reboot. The writer of Flash: Our Worlds At War Geoff Johns has a long history of reviving characters and transforming them into more vital elements of the DCU, most famously Barry Allen’s Flash and Hal Jordan’s Green Lantern. Immediately prior to the New 52 reboot, Geoff Johns created the Flashpoint storyline which gave Cyborg a leading role, allowing him to further shed his Teen Titans stigma and sit at the grown up table of Justice Leaguers.

I really like Geoff Johns. I would vote for him for political office as I think he has an incredibly thoughtful grasp on global politics and what issues affects Americans locally. His depictions of Keystone City and Coast City echo of a very genuine patriotism and belief in American ingenuity. In the recent released Necessary Evil: Super-Villains of DC Comics documentary, Johns speaks about the use of villains as metaphors for larger dilemmas facing humanity and that’s something he does particularly well. Whether creating the richly complex members of the Red Lantern Corps, all of whom comment on some compelling and topical  form of abuse, or portraying villains like Goldface with an understanding of labor unions that is neither superficially supportive nor dismissive, Johns pours a lot of the real world into his comics. He gave the ring back to Hal, life back to Barry, and to Aquaman? His arm and much needed shave, plus a little studio time with Diana in Flashpoint. Johns brought the Justice Society onto the small screen in Smallville, bringing Dr. Fate, Hawkman, and Stargirl to life in stunning fashion.

Still, I have a bone to pick with Mr. Johns. DC Comics recently released two New 52 trades by Johns. First, they released Justice League Vol. 3: Throne of Atlantis and then they released Aquaman Vol. 3: Throne of Atlantis. The problem is that these two books are essentially identical and DC is just forcing its readers to buy 6 issues twice for the thrill of reading Aquaman #0. It’s not as if Aquaman fans arent’ reading Justice League. The whole thing stinks of greed beyond normal comic book greed. It’s a pity.

Anyway, happy Year One to Wayne Xiao Long! Thanks for reading!