That's one of dem furrin comics, isn't it?

Contrary to popular belief (and possibly what I've written on this blog) I don't absolutely despise Manga. I'll read it, of course, but I don't like to review or rant or comment on it. I just finished reading Revolutionary Girl Utena, Volume 5. I imagine with a simple search I'll be able to find blog articles on the sexuality in the story. The gender roles that switched, the gender roles that weren't, Utena as a romance hero vs Utena as an action hero, homosexual undertones, homosexual overtones, lesbian text, bisexuality, whatever you can think of. Probably all written by people who know Japan better than I do because I don't know a damned thing about Japanese culture. I've never been there, and I don't really have the inclination or funds to go. I try to read enough about Eastern religion and philosophy to recognize when someone's blatantly ripping off and/or disrespecting an Eastern religion in paganism, but really that's not the same as studying culture. So, while I'll read and enjoy anime or manga that's been recommended for a very specific reason (Utena was suggested after I did a short message board post on why I liked Wonder Woman) I can't break down the story like I can a book by a British or American writer, because I feel like I'm out of my element when it comes to the symbolism. I'll make an exception here, though.


(I told you I'd use that banner). Spoilers, but I'll summarize first (and gender-specify because I know shit-all about japanese names and I'm willing to bet some of you are in the same boat) for those of you who haven't read the series but still want to read the post.

Please note, this is the Manga only. I haven't watched the anime, and I've heard it goes totally different.

In this series, Utena (female) gets rescued from drowning as a little girl by The Prince (male) and decides she is going to be just like him when she grows up. (Also, he's promised they'll meet again if she's noble and strong so most of this series is her looking for him). After moving to a new school, Utena rescues Anthy (female) from her abusive spouse Saionji (male) in a duel (which has special effects and a sword beign pulled out of a woman's chest), and then gets informed that Anthy is the Rose Bride and is now her Bride because she won the duel. There are lots of MYSTERIOUS and SECRET happenings with the duelists, and there's a special dueling field that is directly underneath the floating upsidedown castle where The Prince lives.

Utena then duels Juri (female) over the affections of Touga (male), and Miki (male) because Miki's sister is being held hostage. Then Touga (male) because he was leading her on, pretending to be The Prince. After she's won against just about everyone, enter Akio (male), who is Anthy's brother and apparently The Prince. He gets into a romantic relationship with Utena. Touga, who still has a crush on Utena, tells her that Akio is just toying with her emotions like he toyed with his emotions and one things leads to another and Utena ends up dueling Akio. Akio wins, turns Utena into the Rose Bride, and reveals that oops, no he's not The Prince but he's The Bad Guy who has been manipulating them all series. Well, that sucks, and the enchantment around being the Bride manages to keep Utena from stopping Akio from climbing up into the floating upside down castle to kill The Prince. She snaps out of it, though, and is then pissed and gets Anthy (who switches sides more than Ares in Wonder Woman) to lead her and the other four duelists up to the floating upside-down castle.

While inside the floating upside-down castle, Juri, Miki, and Saionji try to get everyone to turn back, so Anthy imprisons them in glass coffins because all of a sudden she's a major power and shit, and Touga and Utena follow her on. Touga gets injured, Utena moves on and finds The Prince, already injured and dying. She then fights Akio, gets the exposition, does some funky power merging thing with The Prince's Soul, merges Akio and The Prince (because they were just two halves of the same diety), saves the world and gets locked up in the floating upside down castle -- or it gets destroyed, I'm not too clear on this.

Touga wakes up to find that he remembers everything, but no one else (Juri, Miki, and Saionji) remember Utena, Akio, dueling, or the floating upside-down castle. He finds Anthy, who is now acting exactly like Utena, and she explains that Utena's waiting in the floating upside-down castle and that someday she'll go up there and they'll hook up.

The reason I gender-specified (instead of letting people guess!) is to point out who was in a samesex relationship with a divine figure and who wasn't. Akio and Anthy are established as divine figures in the end. Touga was with Akio, and Utena was with Anthy. Saionji was with Anthy, so he was with a divine figure, but he didn't have a samesex relationship. Miki has no romantic relationship (his sister prevents it). Juri only has romantic interest in Touga and Ruka (male). She actually doesn't interact with women much at all. Juri, Miki, and Saoinji are unable to go forward in the castle, and they end up forgetting the entire experience.

Kalinara swears Juri is a lesbian in the anime, but in the manga she's like the token heterosexual woman of the story. Only shows interest in male characters. They make a point of having her say she's not dueling for Anthy, but for Touga. She doesn't even interact with women other than Utena. (Actually, I was surprised in the second volume when they pointed out that Juri was a she! She's thin, in a male uniform, and only ever spent time with male characters). I'll probably rent the anime just to see how much differently everything works out with the character sexuality realigned. But in the manga, it lines up so that the bisexual characters get to advance, but the straight (by which I mean strictly) heterosexual characters get caught up, and the straight homosexual side-characters don't ever make it to floating upside-down castle.

So I wonder, is there a point to that particular division? Was not embracing both genders romantically a sign of being blind/unaccepting of divinity and destiny in this book? Or was it simply because these three characters were minor, they just weren't important enough to get a samesex relationship or an epiphany?

Maybe someone who wasn't surprised to find out this book wasn't set in a small communist South American nation can help me out here.

Personal Note: To Anyone Who's Tried to Contact Me.

I'm on dayshift this month and its cut into my free time, so if I'm curt over instant messenger or not answering e-mail and comments, that's why. Also why I'm missing a lot of posts I'd otherwise comment on since the New Year. My various blogs are only getting updated as I need to write/vent/make jokes to preserve my sanity.

I'd like to stay social, but trying to stay social gets stressful enough that a relaxation activity becomes extremely tasking as you try not to offend everybody you know but can't get to speaking to them right away.

I have to prioritize, I know.

Anyway, that's my blanket "no offense or snubbing meant" disclaimer.

Will there be people-eating monsters involved?

Tonight brought a great deal of snow to Oklahoma (so my plans to get together with a large group of friends and burn valentines in front of the Hallmark store were canceled), a new hiding place to my cat (which I still have yet to find -- and in my little apartment here are few enough options to seriously assume stepping through the mirror into another world), the unique experience of being serenaded over a text-based instant messenger (which Chris ruined three songs in by stating that he does this regularly for Kalinara), and great news on the latent goth front:

I'll be making an official announcement there, but here's the unofficial pre-announcement. This year will bring (drumroll, please) a NEW COURTNEY CRUMRIN BOOK!

Yes, it's true, the next chapter in the grand Courtney saga will come out starting in August. This time, it's going to come out a little different. Instead of four individual chapters, the forthcoming installment will appear in two perfect-bound 48 page editions; before being bound together into a single digest at the end of the year. The final collection will be the same charming mini-format as the first three, while the two issues will look more like the Portrait of the Warlock one-shot.

(Via)

Valentine's Day

I'm sure everyone was expecting a Steve Trevor post, but really I'm in a Starman mood lately and I always had a soft spot for the Shade and Hope O'Dare as a couple. I like to think that since the series ended they've gotten together and had an adorably creepy little baby girl with shadow powers who will be vexing the Justice Society or the Flash in some future storyline. (Actually, I'd overlook my "no more blonde teenaged girls" policy if such a character were to show up with pale yellow hair.)

It would be living together, at best, I can't see either of them too fond of anything official even in the case of a baby. So why wish a baby on them? Because the idea of shadow powers (not to mention Shade's probable parenting style) introduced into the fanatical law enforcement legacy of the O'Dares makes me giggle.

(And I'd rather never see either of the two characters again than have them established as not romantically linked.)

Anyway, in honor of Valentine's Day, can you top the Shade's original smartass answer to Hope's stupid question?

Okay, its safe to blog again.

Hell yeah!

Although it's difficult to tell when the unpredictable Oscar winner is being serious, Cage insisted he was. "I am serious about She-Hulk, and I think it should be done," he said. "No, I don't want to direct it or necessarily even be in it." Cage added about Mendes: "Can't you see her as the She-Hulk? I think she'd be great."

Cage said he is talking to producer and former Marvel executive Avi Arad. "I'm trying to put that together. I'm talking to Avi," Cage said. Turning to Mendes, who was seated beside him, he added: "You in a bikini kicking a lot of ass, throwing cars. Awesome!"

"Why do I have to be in a bikini?" Mendes asked.

"Because that's the character," Cage replied. "That's what she wears. You have to be in a bikini."

I want to see this. It would be wonderfully cheesy.

And yes, she would wear a bikini. Its She-Hulk. She is a mouse who sees herself as big, muscular, green, and glamorous when Hulked out. That's why I relate to her. She'd never walk out the door in one as Jennifer Walters, but as She-Hulk she would wear a bikini.

(H/T Kalinara and Mike)

Is it safe to blog yet? II

Nope.

If anyone needs me, I'll be under my rock.

Some might deride this internet pasttime...

But at the moment, it's very relaxing. Fortunately, nice people all over the world post their cats to be made fun of.



(I just think comic geeks might be the only ones to get this joke.)

Is it safe to blog yet?

Apparently not.

I love her current costume. It might be neat to read a few stories about this "cute" supergirl, but as far as the regular comic, I like my "sexy" Kara very much thank you.

I'll be back when I can write something other than a stream of obscenities.

Thursday Thirteen: Not All of These Are Rational.

In honor of yesterday's Lovecraft post...

Thirteen Things That Terrify Ragnell Beyond (Because Of) Her Imagination 1. Stories about Witches. 2. Moonlight shining off of reflective surfaces in a darkened room. 3. Standing on any rickety structure that requires that I carefully maintain my balance. 4. Impalement. 5. My reflection in a mirror that's placed in a darkened room. (this ties in with #1) 6. Accidentally dropping something heavy on the cat, and killing him. 7. Ghosts. 8. Being sucked into a jet engine. (A big danger where I work) 9. Sharp pointy things in the vicinity of my eyes. (This is why I am so attached to my ugly round glasses) 10. Losing a finger. (another danger where I work) 11. Being accidentally choked to death by a necklace. 12. Sleeping through a Tornado. 13. Spiders. Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. Racy Li 2. Kalinara 3. Artemis (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Gothing Out

I'm a latecomer to the horror genre. Aside from a couple Steven King movie adaptions, the required Edgar Allen Poe poetry (standard for any budding young Goth), and weekends rolling dice over my Vampire character sheet as a teenager I didn't bother with the genre much. I always loved ghost stories, but I was a jumpy kid and my parents never let me watch horror movies. They needed to protect my delicate imagination. When I got older I found out that my sister never really liked the scary stuff, so I was deprived until my most recent boyfriend (now an ex-boyfriend, but that's not really his fault) decided to introduce elements from his favorite pulp writer into his Mage games.

I'm competitive, especially in relationships (which is why so many boyfriends shortly become ex-boyfriends). I had to keep up with him, so I scoured the comic book stores and found only a copy of The Worlds of H.P. Lovecrat: The Tomb. It met my satisfaction, so it was to the library for me and a month of indulgence in short horror stories. From the Call of Cthulu in an anthology, I moved on to all of the Cthulu Mythos cycle, to the Dream Cycle, to the miscellaneous stories in other collections, to the original Lovecraft Circle (the ones I could find) and now I'm reading the modern knockoffs.

I never pass up the chance to read a Mythos story, even though its not a subject I am compelled to blog obsessively about. Lovecraft is a private indulgence best savored alone in bed, after midnight, by the dim illumination of a flashlight. It doesn't do to blog endlessly about the minutia of Lovecraft continuity (mainly because he played loose with the details to achieve that mythic feel). The most you can really do is trade jokes, videos, parodies, and mock derisively the people who actually buy and use the Necronomicon.

I will, however, say that The Dreams in the Witch House is the freakiest story ever written.

Anyway, this was a particularly good day for Lovecraft fans. First, there was an anthology put out by Boom Studios that I'd asked the clerk to pull for me, though I can't imagine where I may have heard of it (all playing aside, Kevin's story was my favorite of the collection. Neat concept, I was expecting Erich Zahn when I saw the musical references but he went in a direction I hadn't seen before and captured the mystery/horror mood of a Lovecraft story. Tough to do in a visual medium.) And right next to it there was a Graphic Classics volume of Lovecraft stories that I hadn't seen before.

Best of all, no repeats. Well, it has adaptations of stories I've read before, but no repeats of any stories I have in comic book format. (Not to mention it has a rendition of the freakiest story ever written.)

Nice week, all in all. Plenty of tastefully horrible dinner reading and hopefully I'll get some entertaining nightmares out of it.

I WAS planning to post something substantial...

But you know me, that's really unlikely on dayshift. I had a post idea but instead ended up messing around with images. I came up with these pathetic offerings:




Now, what I want to know is why I haven't seen anyone else do it. Its such an obvious idea, and there's a huge Steph fanbase. Not to mention there's a lot of people out there with better graphics skills than me.

I mean, I should see those banners everywhere.

(Note: Next time you see such a banner on this blog, you'll see actual comics content. I swear.)

I always feel bad when I see these posts.

You know, every once in a while, a member of the mainstream Feminist blogosphere discovers objectification comic books and thinks she's found something new.

I'm not sure if that's exactly what happened to Maia, but I figures she's new to the fandom since she thinks that's the single most impractical top garment ever made to wear as a top (Star Sapphire begs to differ). I tend to snicker, then feel kind of bad and kind of irked (seems like nobody hears us outside the fandom when we complain either) when non-comics readers get surprised like that.

Anyway, I was going to leave her a comment with the address to write an angry letter to (or at least explain what cost them a potential reader), but I only have the DC ones memorized. Can anyone help?

The quality of this blog has really dropped in the past few months...

Brandon has another meme and I am going for the extremely lame and lazy joke before anyone does.

I trust I don't need to outline what's wrong with this statement.

This post makes me want to burn down the internet.

I never liked the idea of Whedon on this movie. It seemed to pigeon-hole him into a type of character (strong woman) that he would be expected to write from now on.

(Edit: Original poster didn't mean to phrase it that way, but we got some good discussion out of it. Read the comments!)

Ick.

Michelle's having trouble with Imageshack's advertising:

The owners of ImageShack are either hypocrites or wildly incompetent. Or both. I never click on anything hosted on ImageShack while at work because I always get a couple scammy pop-ups and there’s usually some vaguely unsavory-looking ad banner on their hosted pages. At home at least Firefox blocks the pop-ups, and I generally don’t care what’s displayed when I’m at home anyway. But today’s the first time time I actually saw full blown porn in one of their ad banners. This wasn’t an ad for LavaLife. This was four animated shots of live porn.

Very not-safe-for-work screencap

I was pissed. Particularly because every ImageShack page features a link that visitors can click to report the image being hosted as “offensive/adult content”. Yet where’s the link to report ImageShack’s ADVERTISING as offensive pornographic material?! I couldn’t even figure out where to report this to their abuse department, so I sent them a message thru their general feedback. I don’t expect it’ll do anything, but I wanted to make my displeasure known. What burns me is that ImageShack’s TOS clearly and repeatedly states that no pornographic material may be uploaded to their site (along with “illegal…copyrighted, harassment, or spam” material). Nowhere in the FAQ is it mentioned that they have the right to, and will, put the very same material they just prohibited all over your pages. So - hypocrites or just plain lazy in screening their advertisers? Because only an idiot would mistake the content for “#1 Site for College Girls”.

She includes a screencap, and suggests boycotting them and using a less hypocritical site.

Well, that was Anti-Climatic

I'm sick, and on Saturday night there's not much to choose from with TV. There was a remake of an old movie (I liked the original) on television, so I turned it on. (Sadly, its been years since it was released so my reaction is a bit late).

About halfway through, I found myself wondering WHAT THE FUCKITY FUCK HAVE THEY DONE TO THE STEPFORD WIVES?!!!

Full Spoilers for both versions of the movie below

Seriously, the first movie was fucking brilliant, subtle, and scary. I expected any remake to be bad because everyone already knows the twist, but I did not expect:

1) Joanna to be a REALITY TELEVISION EXECUTIVE. Dear gawd, in the 70s she was a normal sympathetic woman -- this movie starts with a show that details a marriage breaking up on her reality show (a show where the man and the woman get split up, spend wild weekends away from each other -- and the example shows a man who is faithful and a woman who leaves him).

2) Joanna's friend (played by Bette Midler) is a sloppy writer. Now, in the 70s she was a bit messy, but in this fucking movie she keeps the house like a disaster area. Another perfectly normal character from the 70s taken to an extreme.

3) The friend who'd been there the longest, the first to go. In this movie, that friend is a gay man who fits the gay yuppie stereotype to a tee. It really pissed me off that he got Stepford treatment and then put up for Senate, and nothing in the movie pointed out what a huge fucking injustice it was that the man getting redone was put up as a career guy and all of the women were remade to be housewives. Its like they consciously thought "Hey, gay men are too feminine, so let's have him redone to be really masculine and uptight" and just threw that in along with some joke about Republican candidates. It was flippant, and worthy of more examination than "that's the way it is."

4) The men in town were played up FUCKING SYMPATHETIC. What the HELL?! They're REPLACING THE WOMEN WITH ROBOTS and its somehow presented as OKAY?!!? They are cold-blooded bastards who care only about their own comfort. They are selfish as possible. They're a bunch of animals. These are fucking monsters and in the first movie they were played as the monsters they were.

5) THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE A HORROR MOVIE!!!!!! IT IS SUPPOSED TO SCARE THE BEJEEZUS OUT OF YOU!! They don't even try to be scary.

So anyway, I make it as far as the grocery scene that ends the first movie, and the damned thing goes on. There's a twist. Joanna's not a robot, her husband Walter is not evil and together they join forces to take out the evil male mad scientist -- Only, the mad scientist is not the mastermind.

The mad scientist is a robot (everyone else was dealing with implanted brainchips, but this guy was a full robot), created to be his wife's perfect man. Glenn Close is the mastermind.

I'm not sure how to digest this movie. I mean, I spent most of the movie getting extremely pissed off at the entire thing. The five points outlined above do a lot to dilute the power of that poetic justice at the end. Especially since, even though none of the women were physically hurt (though they were all career women who have essentially had their lives slip away from them as they were under Stepford brain-whammy), all the men got off extremely easy in the end. Basically the moviemakers made a "whipped husband" joke.

Also, I have trouble forgiving any movie that gets me that pissed off just to end with fucking insane Glenn Close. Can she even play sane? Has anyone ever seen her play sane?

I think it would have worked as a parody of the first movie, if it had been presented that way. It was presented as a remake, so I got myself worked up over a movie that, in the end, turned out to be nothing of substance.

Certainly not worth the trouble. Hollywood can't even be competently misogynistic anymore.

Batgirl

I think Marionette sums up the situation best:

But somewhere up at DC, whoever was responsible for this villainisation got overruled and Teen Titans #43 gives us an explanation that allows Cass to return to the good guys' team. It's a bad explanation, which doesn't begin to cover the changes that were made to her in Robin, and it's all about abuse and mind control, but I see a lot of fans happy to accept it because it gives them Cass back.

This in turn has prompted a reaction to happy feminist fans of Batgirl that can be summed up as "Oh, so it's okay to have a story of abuse towards women when it suits you, is it?" To which the answer is "No, but this bad thing fixed something that was worse. We do not cheer the bad fix, we cheer that the worse thing is gone."

Technically speaking, Cain's occupying a refrigerator either way -- tossed off her own book and grabbed for Robin's storyline. But the TT#43 storyline gives the option to thaw which is a relief more than anything.

And Lo, the Seventh Book was Published...

Found this prophecy about the looming July non-comics-related pop culture mega-event. (Via)

Poetry for Brigid

Today's Imbolc on the pagan calender, and I stumbled across a cross-blog poetry meme.

One of my own, but I'm not sure civilians will understand the reference.

Military Girl
Ben's mother at the door.
Surprise!

He crosses the room to let her in.
I stand up, straighten my hair, and absently
rub the toe of my shoe against the
back of my nylons.

Another Director Bites the Dust

Whedon's off the Wonder Woman project (Via):

You (hopefully) heard it here first: I'm no longer slated to make Wonder Woman. What? But how? My chest... so tight! Okay, stay calm and I'll explain as best I can. It's pretty complicated, so bear with me. I had a take on the film that, well, nobody liked. Hey, not that complicated.

Let me stress first that everybody at the studio and Silver Pictures were cool and professional. We just saw different movies, and at the price range this kind of movie hangs in, that's never gonna work. Non-sympatico. It happens all the time. I don't think any of us expected it to this time, but it did. Everybody knows how long I was taking, what a struggle that script was, and though I felt good about what I was coming up with, it was never gonna be a simple slam-dunk. I like to think it rolled around the rim a little bit, but others may have differing views.

The worst thing that can happen in this scenario is that the studio just keeps hammering out changes and the writer falls into a horrible limbo of development. These guys had the clarity and grace to skip that part. So I'm a free man.

On one hand we won't have to suffer through Whedon-made villains. I cringed when I heard he didn't want to use the ones she already has. Plus I was dying for the WWII connection to remain (I do hope the rumor that the new script has a WWII setting is true).

On the other hand, its back to Development Hell for one of my favorite franchises.

10th Carnival of Feminist Science Fiction and Fantasy Fans

The 10th Edition is up at Adventures in Lame. Check it out!

Hosting is lined up for the 11th Edition, but if anyone is up for the 12th and beyond email me.

Thursday Thirteen: 13 Pet Peeves

Okay, I'm not sure how this'll be recieved by the greater meming community as its probably not what they had in mind (but hey, you wanted to get to know bloggers better!), but I've had a hair trigger all week and this was all I could think of. (Yes, I picked the sweet little hearts code just because I'm ranting.)

Some of these will be political, US-centric, and contain profanity.

Thirteen Things about Ragnell the Foul Thirteen Things That Greatly Annoy Me 1) Being treated like I'm stupid. 2) Oversimplifying a complicated argument so that everyone gets classified in extremes, with one position being "good" and the other "evil." 3) Barney Fife jokes about the police. 4) People who argue the meaning of "freedom of religion" without ever having read the Consitution. 5) People who argue what ideals the United States was founded upon without ever having read the Declaration of Independance. 6) Micromanagement. 7) Using the phrase "politically correct" to complain about being asked not to be a dick. You are not being a rebel with racist and sexist jokes. You are being a dick. 8) Nationalists who claim to be Patriots. 9) Calling any character trait I display "masculine" "manly" or "male." I'm a woman, dammit. Everything I am and do is feminine. The problems are your narrow definitions. 10) Characterizing the entire military as conservative hawks. Just because they're volunteers doesn't mean they're disposable OR that they have a particular political philosophy. Some people need money, some people need training, and some people actually do love the Constitution and the freedoms outlined. 11) And while I'm at it, the "she killed, isn't she a villain now?" meme that pops up occasionally in the comics community (usually whenever a hero kills somebody.) In actual life, policemen and military members are taught that killing is possible while in training, and take the job fully knowledgable that its necessary in some scenarios. Preparing to accept that does not automatically mean a person doesn't respect life, or that they look forward to the option, or even that they'll bring themselves to do it when the time comes. That "killing automatically makes you a bad guy" argument basically argues that the policemen and veterans who've killed during their duty are bad guys and no "But superheroes are different because of x" argument has ever or will ever lessen that. 12) Aircrew. By the very nature of your job, if you fly in an airplane for a living and break the shit I or my counterpart works on, I hate you. Nothing personal. I just hate you. 13) Perky, rebellious, blonde teenaged girl superheroes. There were been too damned many of them at DC (Arrowette, Wonder Girl, Spoiler, Secret, Supergirl, Stargirl, Speedy -- you couldn't fit a redhead or a brunette in there?) and with a bad artist you couldn't tell them apart in civvies. We need a moratorium on creating new ones for at least a decade. Try someone who's not white instead. If she must be white for being a blood relative of another character, try a redhead or a brunette instead. Really, its like there's a factory for superheroes and someone left the setting on "Blonde" "Teenaged" "Female" "Perky" and "Rebellious." Even when later writers flesh them out, they all start out the freaking same. They all look the fucking same. It must be stopped! I demand diversity, if only to be able to follow the fucking story without wondering who the hell's talking! Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Geoff Johns, I could never stay mad at you...

Teen Titans spoilers.

He's getting mixed reactions, but I have to say that between that and the Batgirl revelation in that issue my anger at the POW storyline in Green Lantern has disappeared.

Which is weird because I'm a huge Green Lantern fan that's only marginally interested in the Gotham characters.

Teen Titans Creative Team Change

Geoff Johns is leaving to make room for Adam Beechen.

I dropped Teen Titans a long time ago because I didn't like Johns' Wonder Girl, and even though Beechen is the DC Hit Man for Batgirl I thought I might give it a shot. Because Marz was the DC Hit Man for Hal Jordan, and I still ended up liking some of his non-editorially driven stuff. Emerald Knights and Final Night were my first Hal Jordan stories.

Why do I still care?

Lisa at Sequentially Speaking has some information about artist changes for DC books:

ART UPDATE FOR GREEN LANTERN #18 AND 19

Please note that GREEN LANTERN #18 (JAN070293) and 19 (FEB070275) will be illustrated by Daniel Acuña (UNCLE SAM AND THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS), with covers by regular series artists Ivan Reis and Oclair Albert.

Not that I was planning on buying it (well, okay, I was planning to buy it if, miraculously, issue #18 shipped with all of the fleshy parts of Star Saphire's costume colored in black, blue, purple or white) but I couldn't buy it even if I was buying it with Daniel Acuña on the art.

He's responsible for this.

Yeesh, I don't know why fauxtorealistic artists get work.

He'll ruin this for everyone, won't he?

Stephen Colbert just launched another attack on Wikipedia.

Upcoming Deadline: Carnival of Feminist Science Fiction and Fantasy Fans 10

Reb at Adventures in Lame put out the call back on the 12th. Deadline is Tuesday. Get your posts together.

Deadline: January 30th
Contact: allreb[AT]gmail[DOT]com or submission form
Carnival Date: February 1st

In other news, the mainstream Carnival of Feminists has issue #30 up at the Feminist Pulse and issue #31 will be at Truly Outrageous on February 7th.

Now I just need an envelope.

Wrote another letter to DC, this time over this. Feel free to pinch your nose and read aloud Comic Book Guy-style:

Dear Mr. Didio,

I saw Eddie Berganza's guest column in DC Nation last week. I had a mixed reaction, as a female reader

On one hand, its nice that you know we exist. I've been reading since I was 12 and over that time I've gotten the distinct impression that comic book companies only think guys read.

And I am casually interested in Supergirl. I pick it up from time to time to see if I like what's going on, but I'm not a big Kelly or Churchill fan and with Super-books I read for the creative team. (And implying the Power Girl is a "bimbo" by creating a "mimbo" equivalent doesn't endear them to me.)

Now Green Lantern books I'll read even when the writer and artists are unknowns. I love Green Lantern. I have the T-Shirt. I have the toys. I have the 'piggy' bank. I WANT to buy the entire series from the 40s until now because I ADORE the concept.
But I've dropped Green Lantern 3 times over the last 13 years. Twice because Jade was being treated like crap, and once for costumes. I never thought I had a problem with cheesecakey costumes before (love Wonder woman, love Power Girl) but Ivan Reis' interpretation of Arisia made me cringe. The shirtless Star Sapphire on the cover of GL#18 made me drop the book in the middle of a storyline. It looked like porn.

While its heartening to see an actual superhero book looking for female readers, its hard to stomach the sentiment when another book makes it crystal clear through exploitive art that female readers are not welcome.

Look, at DC you have an AWESOME product concept-wise. Superheroes can and do appeal greatly to women and you have the icons. And its wonderful (hint, hint) that you have pleasing female readers in mind.

Just don't stop at the 'girl' books. I'd read everything you put out if I felt welcome to.

Its obvious that column was because Supergirl's sales are declining and they know that women are reading due to the Girl-Wonder.org letter campaign, but I don't think they realize how stuff like this and Minx sound when contrasted to the mind-boggling sexism of the Green Lantern #18 cover. So I thought I'd bring that to their attention.

Quote

From Thunder Blossom's livejournal:

So what's really making people feel iffy about our lazy janitor as a woman? I'd say it's simply a matter of what standards have been set already. Really, the problem is that we're just not used to having female characters that don't do what has been already set in our culture as female things to do. And it comes down to, why is the character a girl? People asking THAT, but not ever asking, why is this character a typical white guy AGAIN? And we're so used to seeing men as the stars, that when there's a woman, the rarity calls attention. Calls so much attention that I guess people get more wrapped up in the "why" of that instead of just trying to follow the story.

Another classroom example: In acting class, our instructor drew a big square on the board and asked us to make a character out of it. It was just an exercise in figuring out a character and motivations and goals and all that. Most that were made were male characters, all without any romantic histories or motivations, while the one female character did. I mean, there were some crazy and fanciful ideas for the male characters, but the one girl seemed quite limited to that girl stereotype.

What's happening here is... I guess people are asking the wrong questions. "Why should we have a female character? There has to be a purpose in our character choices! Oh, so logically something significant to this character story-wise would probably be a boyfriend or something."

When these attachments are taken out of a story and we simply have a character that happens to be a girl, it may throw some people off because they're just not used to it.

Interesting

Newsarama posted a teaser image that DC sent out. Careful, it might spoil some of 52 (though there's an argument that its meant to mislead going around).

Anyway, I just wanted to comment on four things in that picture.

Spoilerphobes, go away



1) Someone online is probably already making a big deal of that belt. Well, forget it. Not even Didio would bring Barry Allen back.



2) I'm happy to see Mary healed up and sitting around like she's mourning someone else (rather than being mourned).



3) Donna and Kyle. I thought I'd scream at the implication of seeing them together, but weirdly I'm getting comfortable with the idea. Don't get me wrong, I'll never be a Donna fan, but damned if she wasn't the strongest love interest Kyle ever ran across and she has proven staying power. Idiot writers can depower her, kill her, turn her to stone, erase her mind, turn her into a villain and she keeps coming back to what she was in her most popular incarnation. She's got a better chance of getting through a crossover than Kyle does.



4) This is adorable and I want a poster of it.

Raquel Ervin and Why I'm Pro-Choice

Today's the 34th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade, so naturally I turned to my stack of Icon issues and dig out the appropriate story for the occasion -- Icon #7, which illustrates pretty well why I went from anti-choice to pro-choice over the last 5 years.

The first thing you need to know about Icon is that is is a very political book. Augustus Freeman IV is an alien who has been stranded on Earth for almost two hundred years. He's very old, very rich, and very conservative. Raquel Ervin is an idealistic teenaged girl with very progressive leanings who convinces Augustus to don a suit and use his powers to inspire and help people. She has a belt that gives her superpowers. Together they are Icon and Rocket, fighting crime and debating human nature across Dakota City.

Early on in the series, Raquel discovers that she's pregnant, and the father asks how she knows its his. Raquel doesn't react too well to that.



So yeah, help from him is out. The family already lives in the projects. Her grandmother all but tells her she won't help, its abortion or adoption. Raquel doesn't think a black baby will get adopted, so as Icon #7 (by Dwayne McDuffie, Erica Helene, and MD Bright), the "Very Special Issue About Abortion" opens, Raquel sees one option to save her ambitions.

Hoping for a mistake, Raquel takes a trip the clinic to get the diagnosis confirmed. After the Doctor tells her that yes, indeed, she is pregnant, she goes off the record. Because the government funds the clinic, its illegal to give Raquel the information she needs, but the Doctor tells her what type of procedure she needs, how long it will take, and that she needs to make the decision quickly for both her physical and her emotional health. this leads to the first revelation of the issue (all issues of Icon of drama and personal revelations that lead to social commentary monologues on Raquel's part).



After this, she decides (consciously) that an abortion is the smart thing to do so she goes to Augustus to borrow the money. Augustus, as mentioned before, is very old, very rich, and very conservative. She goes in expecting a denial and a sanctity of life lecture but here's where the writers throw a little twist her way. Augustus was married before.



Estelle and Augustus decide on an abortion, and fortunately they had enough money to afford a safe one, by 19th century standards. Augusus tells Raquel that he can't put himself in her position, or judge her based on her choice, but the money is a gift if she needs it.

Raquel does not react well to that.



This is when we find out what Raquel's really been searching for. Not money, not options, but someone to tell her what to do. Raquel's at a scary crossroads. She can have the baby and forever wonder what her life would have been like without having put her life on hold for a child, or she can have the abortion and forever wonder what her life would have been like with a little son or daughter. Its such an incredible decision, and both choices have a lot of pain associated with them. If she was denied the money, or the ability to get an abortion, she would be forced to keep the baby and responsibility for her decision would not be on her. She could always blame Augustus if she has to drop out of school. She wants to keep the baby, but she doesn't want to think that she gave up her dreams when she does.

This may also be when I start projecting onto Raquel. See, I've lived my life avoiding responsibility and deferring to other people for even little decisions. I put off college too long, I put off learning to drive until I was forced to, I put off buying a car until my situation become impossible, I put off moving off base and into an apartment until the USAF forced me out of the dorms. Every single step I've taken towards being an adult has been reluctant, and made at the very last moment. Because, at the least moment, its very easy to blame circumstances or other people if the choice you've made was the one you regret. This always made the pro-Choice movement scary, because whichever choice you make, you own it and its a unimaginably huge decision.

Raquel ended up keeping the baby, but she couldn't resign herself to having been forced to make the decision. She had to commit herself to working her butt off to making things work for her, and for the baby together, and if she fell on her face it would all be her fault.

I've gotten into arguments at work with pro-lifers who think that the pro-choice movement is irresponsible. For me, being pro-life and letting everyone else makes my decisions for me is the irresponsible path. Its the easiest path possible, that's why I was pro-life when I was a teenager.

As an adult, I can't be anything other than pro-choice, because adults make decisions. And adults don't make other's decisions for them.

And this issue captures my own view of it perfectly. At the end Raquel makes the choice to have the baby, but she and everyone around her are better off for having the options available that they do, and the right choice for Raquel is not the right choice for everyone and the stories of the Dr. Sidhani and Estelle Freeman illustrate that.

This is Actually Related to the Post I Was Writing

I'm trying to do a Blog for Choice Day post, but today I am easily distractable so I'm not sure how well it'll come out. I seem compelled to be flippant when I discuss Icon. I think its the overwhelming joy of having such a pro-Feminist superhero comic in existence, even if it is long since concluded.

In the meantime, please enjoy Raquel "The Rocket" Ervin punching some dude in the face.

We haven't done a caption game in a while.

Have fun, I even left a bit to get you started.


(Here's the original image, scanned out of The Best of the Spirit)

Gossiping Gods!

Guess what happened next.

Since I'm doing memes anyway..

(Found via Artemis and Racy Li)

Thirteen Books I Started Reading, But Haven't Finished 1) Triplanetary 2) Rituals of the Dark Moon 3) Women in the Line of Fire 4) Superconscious Meditation 5) Any Four Women Can Rob the Bank of Italy 6) War of the Worlds 7) Survival 8) Art is a Way of Knowing 9) The Prince 10) The Universe Next Door 11) The Second Sex 12) Witchcraft for Tomorrow 13) To Write Like a Woman (Just started 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 and 13. I've given up completely on 8, 9, and 10.) Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. Racy Li 2. Caylynn 3. KT Cat 4. Jenny Ryan 5. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Five Things Feminism Has Done For Me Meme

I was tagged for this one a long time ago. I am terribly slow with memes. Also, I fear this will reveal too much of my petty, vindictive soul.

Oh well.

Here goes:

1) Last November, two men who signed their names to absurd, criminally unconstitutional legislature, wasted taxpayer money, and had the most odious personal politics I have ever heard of were voted out of office, and I helped. Yay Suffrage!

2) When in a discussion about politics or feminism, and someone states something to the effect of "Have YOU ever served?" or implies that women should be eligible for the draft if they want equality, I can say "Yes, in fact I enlisted during the Clinton years before patriotism became so popular. How about you?"
Past military service still carries a surprising amount of weight with a lot of people in the US, and its only because of feminism that I had the option.

3) I can upgrade and troubleshoot my own damned computer because of the training I got in the military, in a career field that was not open to women fifty years ago.

4) I have my own job, and I pay for my rent, my food, and my utilities with money that I earned myself. I didn't need to stay with my parents until I got married.

5) When I'm finished working, and need to relax, I can go online and find a story that features a woman like me, who has my interests, and my skills, and maybe some of my background. This does not have to be a romance story, though it can be if I'm in the mood. It can be political, fantasy, science fiction, or just a story about ordinary life. It can be online or at a nearby store, a television show I hadn't known about, a comic, or written prose. I can find a story where the hero, a woman, drives the story, does not fit entirely into a set little box of wife, mother or daughter based on how she relates to a male hero. I can find a story that doesn't try to subtly drive my lifestyle choice in a direction I find unsatisfying, just because that's the social role for my gender. I can find a story that values what I do and affirms that women can have it too. I can write such a story and reasonably expect to see it published and read.

Which is basically a long way of saying I can dream, and share it with others, and I can learn what other people dreamed about, and there aren't stupid limits on what we can share based on what's acceptable for girls to dream about.

And this meme is old, so whoever hasn't been tagged before and is reading this, consider yourself tagged.

Hey, those aren't the rules!

Okay, one thing keeps bothering me about this post:

The questions began. First I was asked to establish more credentials, and it wasn’t even innocently phrased anymore. One guy said, word for word, “If you really like Batman, name three Robins.” Because hey, I’m me, I busted out Stephanie Brown, in fact, and not Tim Drake. I was then told that I’d forgotten one. (“No, you asked for three and I named three. If you wanted Tim, you should have asked who the three male Robins were.”) I was asked who killed Jason Todd. I was asked to detail current storylines.

Since no else has mentioned it yet, I might as well.

Didn't she win?

I mean, seriously. She knew Stephanie Brown and they didn't. Their knowledge of Batman trivia was inferior to hers. They had no right to keep questioning. In fact, she could have been demanding that they prove their geeky credentials because they were out of date.

She won, dammit. They're supposed to lower their heads and bare their soft underbellies for devouring. No fair, dammit.

Check out Bully's place today, too

Dr. Martin Luther King Day

Off-Topic Reading: Civil Rights History

Letter from a Birmingham Jail

(I'd never seen this one before today)

Solicits and Ice

On Wednesday, work itnerrupted me and I didn't make it to the comic book store. And then on Thursday, work interrupted again. I made plans for Friday and that was when the storm hit. I waited out the ice, living off oatmeal and macroni and cheese in the meantimke, until today when I stumbled out of my cavern to clear off my car.

That took 40 minutes.

Then, I was stuck in the parking spot. It took 10 minutes, a bag of kitty litter, and a neighbor's help to get out.

I made my way down the icy road to the dry cleaner's, which was on the corner. On a clear day this trip takes 2 minutes. Today, 15.

Obviously the comic book store, half-way across town, was out of the question. So much for JSA and GLC this week. Maybe Wednesday. Today even the discount grocery store a few blocks away was out of the question. Instead I went to the one which is close, but so expensive you actually save money by going to the 7-11 instead (but the 7-11 is out of kitty litter). Yeesh, Skinner Spaghetti for $1.70? WTF? That's a 10 cent item!

But hey, at least I have power. And a phone line to order pizza.

And the DC solicits are up for my birth month!

They're pushing two Wonder Woman issues that month, which that means the bimonthly crap is over when Heinburg bolts (if we'll actually have the end of Heinberg's run by April is another question). I might be satisfied with Piccoult for a while if she can get a script done on time. Also, Amazons Attack starts that month, so they might be setting up a Wonder Woman month in April.

Recommended Reading.

At Loren's place.

Did ComicsSpace just get useful?

ComicsSpace Bulletins just went online. If anyone else is like me, and just collected people for a little bit then got bored, there's a use for that account now.

I'm going to use mine to link people to stuff, as that is the purpose the the internet.

Mary on Visibility

From Tangled Up in Blue:

A lot of the people I know, online and off, identify a lot more easily with male characters than with female characters, which I suspect is one of the major stumbling blocks when we all try to discuss this stuff from equally well-meaning but very different positions. Because I don't identify more easily with men than with women. I don't know why that is. It wasn't, when I was a little girl, a political choice I made. It's just part of who I am, and it influenced the way I grew up and the beliefs I hold as an adult.

There's a book I have called Fearless Girls, and in the introduction the writer talks about going to a school and reading a picture book to a kindergarten class. At the end of the story, she asked the kids who they'd 'been'. Who had they identified with in the story. And one of the little girls flipped through the pages to a crowd scene, and pointed out a girl in the background -- the only female character in the story. That's how I feel sometimes. It's why I end up fixated on hobbits who show up for two scenes at the end of a three-book trilogy.

There are certainly male characters I'm fond of; that's no revelation to anyone reading this, I'm sure. But I want Sarah Connor as well as Mad Max; Zoe as well as Jayne; Jessica Jones as well as John Constantine, Stephanie Brown as well as Tim Drake. I want the option to identify with a female to be available to me.

It's not fair for a black kid to watch tv and only see white people when they'd also like to see black people. It's not fair for a gay teen to watch tv and see only straight people when they'd also like to see gay people. And it's not fair for me to watch tv and only see male people when I'd also like to see female people.

Your mileage may vary; I know it does for a lot of you. But my mileage is as valid as yours, and isn't as reflected by what I can watch, and that's why I haven't shut up about it yet.

National De-lurking Week!

Anyway, I nearly missed it, and there's only a couple days left, but Tom informs me its National De-lurking Week. So leave a comment, even if you normally just read.

Last time I asked for guesses as to the context of the image, but you should all know this one even with the words changed.

If Anyone Ever Wonders Why I'm So Arrogant When Discussing Comics...

It's a pre-emptive strike. I've experienced what Reb has in every comic book store in four cities. (Via FSF Carnival 9)

Two other guys, both of them nerds, were there. Both of them overheard. And upon affirming that yes, I really like Batman and have a mild interest in and knowledge of comics, I was asked what other titles I read.

This was not a friendly question. It wasn’t the way you’d ask a new acquaintance what they read to see if there’s anything to discuss or bond over. It was a challenge, which they made very clear. The question may have been, “What other comics do you like?” but the subtext was very clearly, “You’re a girl, what other comics could you possibly actually be familiar with?”

But I am, as I said, conversant in Batman and passingly interested in comics. So I answered honestly that I don’t really read a lot of comics, and definitely know more about Batman than anything else, but thanks to friends who were really into them, I enjoy both Green Lantern and Green Arrow. And the guys in the staff room, well, freaked out.

The questions began. First I was asked to establish more credentials, and it wasn’t even innocently phrased anymore. One guy said, word for word, “If you really like Batman, name three Robins.” Because hey, I’m me, I busted out Stephanie Brown, in fact, and not Tim Drake. I was then told that I’d forgotten one. (“No, you asked for three and I named three. If you wanted Tim, you should have asked who the three male Robins were.”) I was asked who killed Jason Todd. I was asked to detail current storylines.

And again, keep in mind, these were questions to establish that, good god, I really was a living, breathing girl – an attractive one, no less! – who was into something nerdy. One of the guys responded with wonder. The other, who many women at the store have had other, far worse kinds of run ins with, was angry and condescending. (Needless to say, he was the one who hadn’t even realized Stephanie was a valid answer to the Robin question.) This all went on for a good twenty minutes (until our break ended, in fact) and through the whole thing I got more flustered and more angry, though I couldn’t quite put my finger on why until later.

Ahh... Nerd Superiority plus sexism. Didn't Atalanta set up the race rule because of a similar combination?

Ninth Carnival of Feminist Science Fiction and Fantasy Fans Posted!

The absolutely wonderful Betty has put together the Ninth Carnival over at League of Substitute Heroes!

Go check it out!

And if anyone wants to step up to host the tenth, contact me.

I Hate Being Wrong

Ladies and Gentlemen, (Via Rhiannon) Mr. Chuck Dixon:

We needed a scene in which Connor undeniably had sex with a female so we could stop the assumptions that Connor was gay.

Let me start off by saying that is the stupidest excuse for having a sex scene I've heard outside a Laurell K. Hamilton plot.

And it serves to kill some of my interest in Connor Hawke.

I didn't read much of Dixon's Green Arrow, just the Green Lantern crossovers, JLA and the relaunch. From them, though, I never got the impression of a homosexual man. Instead I thought he was asexual.

Now, for those of you unfamiliar with the term "asexual" as applied to human beings, let me explain it to you the best I know how. If you've ever been pretty drunk while a remarkably attractive person is kissing you and begging you to spend the night but you turn them down because you don't feel like going to the trouble of undoing a button fly on somewhat tight jeans, the term might just apply to you. If its not shyness that keeps you from approaching the gorgeous person who sent you a drink, but an unwillingness to give up your seat in a crowded and noisy club, the term probably does apply to you. I don't mean anyone who turns down sex in a "it's not my type" or "I'm aroused but repressed by low self-esteem or cultural taboo" way. I mean someone who turns down sex in a "I have better uses for my energy" way.

Its a lot more complicated than that, and there's probably a bunch of people ready to nitpick this definition, but the basic idea is no real interest in sex.

That's not to say there's no interest in romance or attraction, which is where I got my impression of Connor Hawke. He liked women, but really didn't have an active sex drive.

It fit with his whole relaxed archer persona. Like Ollie, pretty much all of his sexual needs were met. Unlike Ollie, he required very little in that department.

Until, of course, I saw these pages.

Instead he's just another repressed, sheltered young man for writers to project their own adolescent sexual insecurities through, or play off cliches and cheap jokes with.

This character is strange. I'm reasonably certain that he was a 90s attempt at racial diversity. I remember one comic that described him as part white, part Asian, and part black. But, they gave him blonde hair and most of the artists draw him like a white man anyway, so nobody knows unless they specifically point it out.

In the meantime, he seemed, to a lot of people, like a chance at sexual diversity. A lot of people read him as gay, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who read him as asexual. They can still make him bisexual if they want (there's really no way to close that door on future writers). But that message board conversation proves that he was created to be a stock heterosexual young man.

And he looks like a stock white man, unless you go out of your way to point it out in the story (and you shouldn't have to).

They could, of course, have let it be subtle and been ambiguous so that individuals could project on him, relate him to themselves or people they've known. But that intense need to establish sexuality early on shut the door on that, and made the DC universe just a little less diverse, and a little less interesting, than it could have been.

In the end, of course, it proves nothing but Dixon's double-standard on censoring homosexual relationship. People experiment, even asexuals, and a single love scene doesn't set things in stone. A later writer could establish him as gay and retcon this out, or explain it away as him doing what he thought he was supposed to do and have a big awakening sexuality storyline.

The only difference now is, as opposed to being irked that he's gay rather than asexual like I'd thought, I'd find myself logging online in sadistic glee to read Dixon's reaction.

Honestly, what they teaching at Harvard these days?

Dear Defensive Writer,

No one is surprised or shamed when you say "there is nothing to support that in the narrative" to an accusation of sexism. Of course you don't think there's anything to support sexism in the narrative. You wrote the damned thing.

So when responding to a criticism that charges that a female character is written out of character and dismissed by the story, it certainly helps your point if you read the post and respond to the actual criticism rather than ranting in the comments of a post linking it about all the good you did otherwise in the story and then claiming that the sexism charge is baseless without even looking at the actual sexism charges. It might also help to go to the post that addressed the issue and comment there.

I've seen your colleagues answer these same sorts of criticisms thoughtfully and politely, taking the entire argument in account. Some see the mistake, some don't see the mistake, but at least they listen. Maybe you should too.

Just a helpful suggestion,
-- One of the Fans Who Made the Original Criticism.

(Those you wondering what this is about should check comment #4 on this post)

Speaking of Stupid Statements

From Newsarama, courtesy Smith:

No, I have no qualms about drawing men. They're actually easier to draw since I don't have to worry about making them attractive.

Dear Frank Cho,

Feel free to go fuck yourself.

Sincerely,
Superhero Fans Who Like to Look at Men

How Did We Miss This?

I was been bagging and boarding my comics (turns out I had two longboxes worth just sitting around in piles) when I can across New Avengers #4 and its Spider-Woman cover.



It reminded me of an old post on Mortlake on the Schuylkill where Melchior quoted a Bendis interview from Wizard Magazine:

"Wonder Woman won't sleep with you--but you have a shot with Jessica," says Bendis. "You're not waiting in line behind Superman." (p. 77)

Naturally, we all mocked him for fantasizing about ink and paper.

We missed something more damning.

That quote is the perfect example of a writer writing for men and not for people. It goes to the heart of every problem with female characters in pop culture. Spider-Woman isn't considered better than Wonder Woman because she has a simpler backstory, a more relatable personality, or more potential as a character. She's just a fantasy fuck that's closer to reality. This writer isn't even trying to get his readers to identify with the character here, he's presenting her as something to masturbate over.

It all comes down to writing characters of one gender as who your readers want to be, and characters of the other gender as who your readers want to have. This quote illustrates that attitude perfectly.

It makes me wonder how many of these female characters are written as sexually open because the writer thinks an active sexuality is an interesting character trait with story potential, and how many are just written that way because they think men will only read about women they'd be able to get into bed. It also depresses the hell out of me.

On the other hand, it makes me glad I'm not reading any Bendis books right now.

It's an old quote from an old magazine, and its a point that's been made before (many times through art, and I think Melchior may have felt it was worth being left unstated), but I just had to go back and point it out again. I just wish I'd noticed it and made a bigger fuss back in February.

Ineligible, but Irresistable

This breaks Rule #4, but I had to share my version of...

The Wonder Woman relaunch in 30 seconds!




I'll post my real entry later.

Not feeling particularly insightful today...

But I have a poll up on my livejournal that might be interesting. Just seeing how many people have read the books I read last year. Its just easier to make a poll on livejournal.

There's still some cotton candy left.

One of my New Year's resolutions is to be a more attention organizer for the Carnival of Feminist Science Fiction and Fantasy Fans. To that end, I'm going to link the Eighth Carnival, from a month ago, which I seem to ahve not linked on this blog. (Sorry, Mari!)

And I'm linking the submissions call for the Ninth Carnival.
Deadline: January 5th
Contact: elizabethm[at]girl-wonder[dot]org or submission form.
It'll be up on January 9th, hopefully I'll have the presence of mind and time to link it on time.

Also, the mainstream Carnival of Feminists is on January 17th at The Feminist Pulse if anyone ahs anything non-genre driven to submit.

A new rear's present.

Tom put up a picture for me.

Year-End Review: Fiction is the Future

When another driver abruptly pulled out in front of me on the way home today, my potential end flashed before my eyes. When I caught my breath I asked myself what would happen if I died one the way home today. The answer brought great relief and the realization that its simply not healthy to be me. I've heard that most people who reflect on their mortality get warm fuzzy feelings, a desire to see more family, do the things I never got to do with their lives, and in general resolve to live the rest of their days as if each one were the last. I got no such revelation. Instead, I got a little voice in the back of my head telling me that if I died it wouldn't matter that I'd spent so much money on books this week.

I spent a lot. In my short life I've only ever been overdrawn once (and it was a side-account that I hadn't been adding into) and that was because I'd spent too much money at the bookstore. I do this periodically. I can judge the years I've been out of Pennsylvania by the books on my shelves. I tend to buy in learning frenzies. My first stay in Mississippi from home put Sherlock Holmes, Marvel trade paperbacks, and self-help books on a little shelf. With San Antonio came King Arthur, Science, and Christianity. Philosophy and Folktales. Scattered science fiction, fantasy, various comic book series as I've gone crazy searching for back issues. The announcement that White Wolf was ending the World of Darkness setting had me buying second edition roleplaying games in bulk in Oklahoma. Most of my back issue boxes are from nearly all of San Antonio's comic book stories selling back issues for a dollar that one year. Most of the old and worn books I have come from when I got my car and sought out every used bookstore in that city. I like used bookstores, you can find cheap old copies of classics so you can read them and better understand the pop culture references. A couple shelves of metaphysics, new age, old age, and eastern religion from my spiritual crisis a couple years ago. My ex-boyfriend introduced me to Terry Pratchett and HP Lovecraft, well-read copies of their works are on the shelf above the self-help book that led me to end the relationship.

Most of my reading this year has been online, and actually driven by this blog. We started When Fangirls Attack in January, and that was when I made the Carnival of Feminists for the first time. This year saw the addition of real Feminist theory to my bookshelf (prior to this I'd just had women's spirituality and self-help there). This year I did more reading about Feminism and comic books that ever before, mainly because of that blog. Reading the theories and applying them to a medium and mythology I love made every lesson sink in much better than just reading it. I don't know if its possible to ever explain the impact of this.

Every once in a while this year I'd see a comment on how applying Feminism to comic books was a waste of time when so much was going on in the world right now, but really, it does make a personal difference and I believe examining trends in fiction makes a bigger difference than most people realize. I mean, how many people know who Mary Wollstonecraft is? How many people know who Mary Shelley is? Mary Wollstonecraft wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, the first major feminist work ever published. More of my readers should know that one than the average comics blog audience, I'll admit. Now, her famous daughter Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein. Every reader of every comics blog should know that one. The former is groundbreaking in its niche and has worked into the culture through activism, but the second is a morality tale that can be referenced with a simple name. A single word that immediately calls to mind all of the lessons about man playing god that Shelley put into that work. Nearly every person in our society knows the story. Nearly every person knows and understands the moral. Feminism, however, still eludes much of the populace.

Now, I'm not saying I don't respect nonfiction work. Its still important and brilliant, but when its a matter of nonfiction versus fiction I truly believe that fiction has more potential for impact. For everyone who has ever read a work of nonfiction Feminist theory, you'll find three more who've read classic works of horror, science fiction or fantasy. Fiction makes an impact, it captures the imagination. The imagination is the most powerful part of a human mind. It would be one hell of a thing if one day one of us could come up with a work of fiction that summed up the moral of equality, and captured the imagination so well that its title seeped into the public conscience and summoned the principles of Feminism every time the work was mentioned nearly two hundred years later.

We already have the barest tip of the iceberg. We have Wonder Woman to conjure up images of feminine strength. We have Buffy as proof that a female action hero will work on television. We have children's books with female heroes that young girls read by the truckload but somehow, somehow, we're still fringe. Superman and Batman are still much better known than Wonder Woman. We've gone backwards since Buffy went off the air. Boys aren't reading the books starring girls, though girls read the books starring boys. And each of these works falls short of perfect and can be improved to be less standard, more feminist. Because everything that does make the mainstream that is full of old gender-standards just serves to reinforce those gender standards and something, something is keeping the groundbreaking fiction on the fringe.

So, we have blogs like Feminist SF, the Hathor Legacy, Girls Read Comics, and Heroine Content, that are niche blogs that concentrate on analyzing the crap, analyzing good works that could simply be better, and figuring out just why the good stuff is not catching on. We have niche communities like Feminist Film, Feminist Fandom, Feminist Fantasy, Girl-Wonder.org, and Whileaway for discussion about this. We have linkblogs like Jade Reporting and When Fangirls Attack that track the conversations. And then we have personal blogs like this one (and a number of others on the sidebar) that started out like a general pop culture blog and then turned into niche blogs just for the ongoing debate.

Why? Because someone out there will write it. They will write the Frankenstein of Feminism. They will write a work about gender equality that is so beautiful, so vivid, so perfect, so powerful that it bursts into the mainstream like Harry Potter and nothing can stop it. It won't be fringe anymore. It will be common knowledge. We'll have a word, a name, a title to say whenever we want to call to mind all the principles of feminism and the bad things that can happen if you try to shove people into strict gender roles that don't properly fit, never have properly fit, and never will properly fit.

Maybe that someone will have read one of our blogs.

That said, I'm not sure if Written World will remain a niche feminism-comics blog. It all depends on what I read and learn. I found myself immersed in politics this fall because I did political satire for Nanowrimo, but I've kept those thoughts to another blog. Its just a matter of time before I turn my attention fully back to comic books, of course, but in the meantime my sister signed up for Janowrimo and I promised I'd go through the mess with her.

In the meantime, I have plans for tonight, and if anything happens to me on the way to 2007 I'll take comfort in knowing that I've saddled my church-going mother with over fifty books on witchcraft, metaphysics, and divination.

Happy New Year!