Matinee

When I was a teenager, I remember E! television. Much of it was the same crap we all know today, gossip and awards shows and general stupidity, but there was one really good show there. Mysteries and Scandals, hosted by AJ Benza. I was addicted to that show. I admit it, I like "True" Crime, documentaries and fiction. It's why I took the Criminology elective in High School. We got to watch a lot of those as course material. The first time I saw the Hollywoodland preview on a blog, I knew I'd have to see it as soon as possible. Shortly thereafter, I learned of an upcoming Black Dahlia film.

Today, I ventured forth from my comfortable Subterranean Cave (a lair deep beneath the storm shelters of Oklahoma City) to the movie theater for a double-feature. They were both playing in the same place, and spaced far enough for a lunch break.

I do not regret the expenditure of time and money, but I left the theater saddened. Not in the good, "I just watched well-done tragic story" way. No, this was the "I was feeling down during the previews" way.

You know why? Because each movie had five previews in front of it.

Not a single preview was for a movie with a female hero.

All the King's Men, Catch a Fire and The Last King of Scotland seem to be historically based, so yes, leeway is to be given there. I think out of the three of them there were two female characters, and both was The Girlfriend/Wife type.

Man of the Year is about a comedian who was successfully elected President after campaigning as a joke. Laura Linney seems to be the female lead, his wife (who didn't vote for him). No female campaign workers or politicians of enough note to be shown in the preview.

The Prestige looks pretty damned good. 19th Century Magicians. The female lead is a girlfriend.

A Good year is an uplifting story from the viewpoint of the man who finds an exotic foreign love interest as he discovers the true meaning of life.

The Departed (which aired in front of both movies) pissed me off because it's a modern era set undercover police drama with not only no female hero, but no female cops in the background! Not even in the Academy shots!!

And then we get to the last preview, which also aired in front of both movies. It was a post-apocalyptic story where every woman on the planet is infertile (They don't mention whether the men are shooting blanks or not) and have been for eighteen years now. It seems to be about trying to get a pregnant woman from the middle of the country to the coast in a world fraught with violence and danger and desperate people, so she can go someplace safe to have her kid. It looked promising, because they show Julianne Moore coming to get the male hero and enlist him into the cause. But she's not in any of the action/travel shots. The pregnant woman is simply there as a womb, a treasure to be moved from one spot to another. But hey, Moore could still be a hero, right? Well, the overview says One Man and dashes that hope. Oh, and the title is Children of Men.

Most of these are action movies. Not a one of them stars a woman. They just have women there as part of the plot.

And the two movies that I saw? Well, they are historical/true crime fiction so of course, the leads were male.

I liked both movies, they are good movies. I like watching movies with male leads.

Just not all the time.

Remember what I said before about maybe we'd be better off if the Wonder Woman movie wasn't made?

Well, fuck that. We need that movie, and we need it now. And we need it to make a bazillion bucks so that a bunch of knockoffs get made the next year.

Because this year, we got nothing. Movies like The Devil Wears Prada. Or action movies were male-led solo movies with love interests, or team movies with weak-ass token women who surrender leadership to the attractive male loner and misogynistic villainesses. My Super-Ex Girlfriend, a movie about a fucking supervillainess who was basically a romantic interest.

We had more than this in the 90s. We had a few kickass action heroines. Ellen Ripley, anyone? Sarah Connor? Hell, even those stock horror movie girls like Nieve Campbell and Jennifer Love Hewitt were tough as nails and the story was centered on them. It should have grown from there. The cliches should have been smoothed out, the disrespectful parts should have been fixed. It should have gotten better. We should have more than we had then.

I shouldn't see ten previews without a single female lead. That's just not right.

(And Hollywoodland? Bring tissues.)

Try Somewhere Else

Nothing new for you right now on this blog. I have an Amateur Art Appreciation feature up, and a couple of posts (Spoilery) on Zamaron, but aside from that I don't have the energy tonight to write here.

If you're looking for entertainment, try here instead, much of the interesting stuff is deleted but you can get the gist.

Wonder Woman Casting Rumors Threaten My Mental Health

(Via Blog@Newsarama) Does it make me a bad Wonder Woman fan when I see crap like this and think that I'd rather they not make the movie?

Bilson has already proved her suitability for the iconic part, after she donned a Wonder Woman outfit for a sexy seduction scene in 'The O.C.'. A host of Hollywood stars had been tipped for the role, including Catherine Zeta-Jones, Cameron Diaz and 'Van Helsing' actress Kate Beckinsale, who turned down the part saying she "did not want to embarrass her daughter" by wearing the revealing outfit.

Dawn put it better than me:

Has she displayed strength? Athletic prowess? A memorable character? Perhaps a beauty that’s more handsome then pretty? Does she give off a warrior vibe?

No. She, “she donned a Wonder Woman outfit for a sexy seduction scene.”

Because the KEY part of Wonder Woman’s character, as we ALL know, is her power of sexy seduction.

Oh geez. Oh frig. I need a beer.

(Well, I'd go with Great Hera, rather than Oh Frigg)

Anyway, I don't believe it for a moment, because I live in denial. I mean, the mere rumor is my worst fears about the movie come to life, all too plausible given Joss Whedon's confession that he bases his heroines on Kitty Pryde.

I'd rather they shelved it until the patriarchy's been pelted with high heels, then ground into the dirt with sensible shoes than go with a hot looking brunnette with pipe-cleaners for arms. (And if I can't get enough henchwomen, or the funding for that purple death ray, that means it'll be a long time...)

A Rare Treat

Hal Jordan, from the neck up and not being hit by anything.



I got my hands on Legend of the Green Flame the Superman/Green Lantern special by Neil Gaiman and a bunch of different artists.

This picture's from a sequence spent in Hell, pencilled by Eric Shanower and inked by Arthur Adams. I'm just especially fond of Hal's face here. The hair is well-done, and so are his eyes. I think I'm attached to the expression right now because of the emphasis on this character and fear. Fear is special when it comes to Hal, so it's fun to see him freaking out. Plus, I just don't like the Van Schiver face that he had for Rebirth, or the toughened one the artist drew at the beginning of Volume III. I like a certain softness to Hal's face.

And in light of the Spectre years, I find his dialogue very amusing.

Oh, cool!

I was nominated for an Okie. I didn't even know about these. I should pay more attention to local blogs.

(And this is my 401st post, by the way, in case anyone's keeping track)

Black Panther #19

I sat down and read Black Panther #19. It was the most enjoyable reading experience of my lifetime. The main event was a confrontation between the Royal Couple and Dr. Doom, which included an iffy sequence where T'Challa ordered Storm to stand down and let him fight it while she was kicking Doom's butt for him. But that wasn't what I loved about this issue. What I loved was the aftermath of the battle -- Ororo and T'Challa's first fight as a married couple.

It was cute that they both started saying the same thing. T'Challa's rant about personal honor and his image as King made sense, I suppose, but I really couldn't get behind him there. Sure, he has to be commanding and strong as leader, but isn't she Queen? Shouldn't she be commanding and strong as well? And how was she second-guessing him by helping him out?

Ororo's reaction totally made up for it, the look on his face when she interrupted him was priceless. As was the line "I thought you wanted a Queen, not a mindless concubine" and the other line about how if he wanted "window dressing that could kick ass on command" (a bit more Americanized than Storm usually speaks, but hey, she's been in the country a while) he could have his bodyguards for henchmen -- but she was his partner. What others may find corny, but I especially liked, was the speech about marriage meaning that their lives were together, and that T'Challa's difficulties weren't just his own. His enemies were hers also, because they'd agreed to share their lives together. She wasn't there to take orders or to give them, but to make decisions with him, as wives and husbands are supposed to. She was never again going to stand by when she felt he needed help, no matter what his foolish pride had him saying, because no good wife would let her husband go into danger unaided like that.

I thought I loved Storm before this issue, but I had no idea I would be so overjoyed when she gave him the ultimatim. "Marriage for me is an equal partnership, T'Challa. If you don't want to be together on those terms, then we can not be together." That was.. That was beautiful.

The moment of silence, three panels of them sitting together, was perfectly timed. Then T'Challa answered, in a beautiful way.

"It's going to take some time, beloved, for me to get used to this idea, but I'll try." I particularly liked the panel angle on his face at this point.

"Don't worry," Ororo's smile was subtle but noticeable as she said this, "I'll be here to help you."

The art was wonderful, the writing was wonderful. I found myself taking back all the things I said about this pairing before. It could work out. It could be done with respect. So long as they kept to this promise of portraying an equal partnership in this book, they would have a fan in me! It was the best thing I had ever read...

...and then I woke up.

For what actually happened in Black Panther #19, see Loren and the Fortress Keeper.

I'm going to go hit something.

What's Distracting Patricia?

A meme courtesy of Dave --


What else could it be?

And, oh yes...

Today is my One-Year Blogiversary.

So I celebrated with a rare update of the sidebar.

Justice Society Preview Art

This week's 5.2 About 52 column at Newsarama has a preview page for Justice Society of America at the end. If there was any doubt left about who was wearing the Liberty Belle costume, it's resolved now.

"And telepaths who can bench-press a buick?"

I read Mystery in Space, feeling a little worried. I was afraid I may not like it, since the only other Jim Starlin work I've read was Cosmic Odyssey (a storyline that filled me with mixed feelings).

But what was I thinking? It has Captain Comet in it! It's in outer space!! Of course I was going to enjoy it.

Still, it would have been nice to get the four dollars.

Mild Spoilers

Anyway, Starlin is a better penciller than Shane Davis. Davis pencilled the first story, Starlin the second. Davis is not a bad storyteller, or bad with anatomy -- My main problem with the art in the first story actually had to do with the lines on Capt. Comet's face, which is Matt Banning's problem. I think his face would have been better looking with a different inker. It didn't make it difficult to read, though I liked the art overall on the second story much more.

The story's intriguing, it gives the promised cosmic mystery while giving us the basic history of Capt Comet (which is complex and definitely necessary) in a natural, and the history of the Weird in a natural way. Good for new readers who are unfamiliar with the characters (I'd never seen the Weird before), and for old readers who missed a few issues or have forgotten a lot. Both stories end with a cliffhanger, of course.

They do very well with the two main characters in each story, but neglect to tell us about the yellow-skinned woman. She looks like Stealth from L.E.G.I.O.N. but I don't have all of that series so I'm not sure what happened to Stealth, or why she would have an eyepatch right now. They don't give a name for her.

The setting reminds me of Deep Space Nine.

There is also a talking dog in the first story. He is impressively drawn.

Oh, and like with Rann-Thanagar War, I'm well-aware that I am one of maybe five people in all of fandom who like this one. So, stuff it, Sims!

Help Me Out Here.

I should have joined in the conversation in this post, but I'm trying to keep to my "Don't Comment While Angry" rule. It's difficult, because whenever I read the discussion, I get to a single comment and freeze in my tracks.

It's a very condescending comment, one that goes out of its way to oversimplify the opposing argument (and completely disregards my oft-stated opinion on Steve Trevor). I try to pass by it, but I can feel my fingernails turn to claws and snakes rustle in my hair. That comment colors every comment after it. It brings out the monster in me. I read through the rage and neutral statements seem like unprovoked attacks. I'm licking my fangs as I formulate my responses, until I realize that if I join in I'll find myself attacking every commenter and making no headway in the process.

To prevent this, I wait a few hours, look again, and freeze again.

The only way to solve this, is to take that comment out of the conversation and study it directly. And I need some help with this.

Once again, finding male companionship is equated with marginalization of female characters.

Sad.

What do you think, readers?

Hernandez Housefire

An open letter, reposted from Newsarama:

LEA HERNANDEZ'S HOUSE BURNS: HOW YOU CAN HELP

Early this morning, the Texas home of award-winning writer/artist Lea Hernandez, my friend and co-creator of the graphic novel Killer Princesses, caught fire and burned. Half her house is now gone, and the rest is smoke-damaged. In addition, she lost at least six of her family’s beloved pets, two dogs and four cats. If you knew Lea, you’d know how devastating that is.

She’s lost a great deal of her family’s possessions, including irreplaceable art. She doesn’t yet know the full accounting of what’s been lost at this time.

Most know Lea as the brilliant creator of such works as Rumble Girls and Cathedral Child. She drew the Marvel Mangaverse Punisher book, and has drawn for Transmetropolitan, among many other accomplishments. She is also the co-founder and original editor for Girl-A-Matic, one of the most important venues for female-friendly comics created to date.

She’s also my friend, and it’s entirely possible I wouldn’t have a career in comics if she hadn’t asked me to write Killer Princesses for her to draw.

And finally, Lea is one of the last great firebrand hellraisers in comics.

Lea has two (wonderful, amazing) special needs children and right now they need a place to stay and some clothes to wear. More than that, they need
some help, and fast, in the form of donations to her paypal account. Lea’s a proud person so I’m going to ask FOR her. This is important, and a great chance to do a wonderful thing for a creator who has consistently enriched this industry we all love so much. Please, take a moment and send WHATEVER YOU CAN to Lea’s paypal account and help make this time a little bit less painful for someone who would do the same for you if the positions were reversed.

If you’re a retailer, I ask that you set up a donations jar. If you’re a creator, I ask you to think of how devastating this would be to your career and donate what you can. If you’re a reader, I’m asking you to take a moment and hit the paypal link. You’ll be doing something heroic and you’ll feel great about it, I promise.

Read what Lea had to post on a neighbor’s computer while wearing her pajamas at: Livejournal.com/users/divalea

Donate (PLEASE) to her paypal account at: divalea@gmail.com

Finally, if I understand the story correctly (as told to me by Lea’s good friend and current Girl-a-matic editor), it was Lea’s daughter hearing the smoke alarm that allowed the family to get out in time, so for God’s sake, do everyone you love a favor and CHECK YOUR SMOKE ALARMS.

Thank you so much for helping. Really, any amount you can send will make a difference. That’s all I can say.

Sincerely and gratefully,

Gail Simone

Sandicomm needs her own blog...

...But until then I'll quote one of her comments to draw attention to it:

And on a completely unrelated note, I had a mini-epiphany when I was walking my dogs this afternoon. The worst thing that can happen to a comic book woman is to be raped, as if the death of a loved one or contracting a horrible disease weren't worse. (And don't get me wrong, rape is an incredibly bad thing, but if you really want to hurt a character, surely there are other things to do.) But the best thing that could happen to her is that she gets a mate, particularly a superhero. So there's a blinding double-standard, and the only thing a woman is good for is sex, even in a world where women can be just as superpowered as men. This is something you've known and thought about for a long time, I'm sure, and it's something I understood self-consciously, but I never really realized it until now.

52 Week 17 Interview

(Okay, this one's serious) With Amy's question in mind, I looked around for some information on that sequence in 52: Week 17 with Starfire. Here's what I found:

NRAMA: Is allowing one’s top to be torn off a part of negotiating in a vacuum? Because if it is, earth is screwed, as the bulk of our astronauts are dudes…

SW: Male breasts are used as currency on Venus, so we’re good.

NRAMA: A joke about the collective net worth of fanboys could be made here…

SW: But we won’t. As for the scene, Tamaraneans have historically been shown to be very open about their bodies, ashamed of nothing - much like George Pérez, who I’ve heard draws wearing only old issues of Swordquest. So as I reread the issue for the interview this week, I had one regret about that scene: Kory probably should not have covered herself after Lobo pulled her top off, it made her look too vulnerable and victim-ish, which isn’t the truth in the least.

(And forget it, Internet, her “Code Unapproved” parts would have still been covered artistically, this ain’t Vertigo!)

That’s not to say anyone can rip off Starfire’s top and live to tell about it. In this case, she needed Lobo to do something for her and her team and wasn’t going to be stopped by a torn top. She knows she has plenty of time to get him back for that.

I do have to say I'm very glad he noticed this -- "Kory probably should not have covered herself after Lobo pulled her top off, it made her look too vulnerable and victim-ish, which isn’t the truth in the least" -- though it would have been preferrable before the issue went out.

Any other thoughts?

52 Week 16 Interview

Steven Wacker: How ya doin’, Geoff?

Geoff Johns: Awesome.

SW: That’s great!

GJ: Awesome.

SW: Thanks for coming on as a guest this week.

GJ: Dude!

SW: What?

GJ: Sweet.

SW: Umm…I think we’re going to need you be more expansive.

GJ: Awesome.

SW: “Awesome” what?

GJ: Dude. It’s just so sweet.

Ladies and Gentlemen: Geoff Johns, Writer

(Whole interview here)

Motherhood in Comics

I'm still feeling rotten and overworked, but I need to get some thoughts out into the open for sanity's sake. For a while the posts will be coming out in their "Formative Stage" as opposed to the completed and structured form that regular readers are used to (spoiled by). This one is the first, struggling thoughts of a post I've been wanting to do for months, but I've been unable to turn off Rant Mode long enough to get a coherent set of paragraphs out.

I wasn't originally going to comment on this post because, to be brutally honest, complaining about pathos in Gotham is like complaining about idiocy in Green Lantern. Still, this comment, and how it relates to a pet peeve about comics, stuck out at me:

So apparently, Babs can't be a strong woman who wants to try to help make gotham a better place, she's merely trying to connect to the men in her life. Right. That's us told then.

This is a natural turn of the character of Babs Gordon, yes, she has always had very strong paternal ties. But it still is an underlying problem with a lot of superheroines. This particular one, the daughter fixation on her father wouldn't be a problem if Batgirl had been created with a substantial maternal presence in her household.

As it is, I can think of very few heroes (Black canary II, Wonder Woman) with mother fixations, and quite a few (Zatanna, Power Girl, Oracle, Stargirl, Cameron Chase, Manhunter, Black Canary I, Arisia) with father fixations. That's not to say I don't like the character, or the dynamic, but damned if the imbalance isn't sending a nasty message about the value of motherhood.

It gets even worse when you try to think of male characters with female role models, or even mothers who had nearly as much of a positive impact as their fathers did. I can't think of any, actually. Maybe the new Zatara in teen Titans, if his mother is Zatanna (I hope it is).

And then, look at the hero-villain couples that produce a child. How many of those are heroic/semi-heroic fathers with villainous/semi-villainous mothers? Arsenal and Chesire? Batman and Talia? Alan Scott and Thorn?

Hell, one of the reasons I like the very same writer that the linked comment is complaining about is because he took Hal Jordan, a character with standard superhero father issues, and added a strong maternal influence (I think his mother's death has been referenced in three storylines since the last series restarted? And I'm sure it'll lead back to his romance problems). He couldn't make her a role model with the setup, but at least he made her count which is more than the previous writers had.

And I know that DC Comics is generational, and that First Generation of Heroes was overwhelmingly male. However, it doesn't help that the few women in that generation have been killed off (Hippolyta, Dinah Lance I), aged (Red Tornado, Sandra Knight), pushed to the background (Sandra Knight), and not many heroes have picked up their legacies, and everywhere I look I see the overwhelming important of Fatherhood over Motherhood even the newly created characters tend to have Father issues or Fathers to live up to or Absent Fathers they constantly angst over (though the ones with Absent Mothers barely bring them up) and are just inspired by their Fathers while their Mothers bake apple pie in the background--

And that's when the fledgeling thought pattern descends into inarticulate blind rage...

And...

Because I missed a whole day of blogging (having felt like crap), here's a special bonus Steve Trevor panel to mock!

Disordered Thoughts on Character Appeal

I blame my deteriorated mental state for the Kalinara-esque title. I'm still sick, but this was rattling in my head and needed to be written. Pardon my structure.

This is a tricky one to start, because the comment that got me thinking, was a slight misstatement on the part of the commenter. However, there's sometimes truth in tired miswritings, and the misreadings in them. Especially when they echo vague ideas we've seen before. Retraction aside, this quote has me thinking about writers, and how they market characters to women, and how they market female characters to men.

Guy resonates with people because his problems are our problems, well .. except brain damage maybe.. Fiancee stolen by someone he thought was a friend who lied to him, left for dead, taken advantage of. Guy wasn’t feminine.. he was innocent. As in young and idealistic. Eventually he got hurt badly enough that it fractured his mind and put him into a Coma that the Guardians had to heal him from. Girls just like Guy because at least he’s upfront and is really a nice guy deep down.

What gets me, and again I'm not personally going after the commenter, but it says a great deal that the two thoughts are separate.

Here it is again, the first thought:

Guy resonates with people because his problems are our problems.

And the second:

Girls just like Guy because at least he’s upfront and is really a nice guy deep down.

And no, I'm not about to take someone's head off over "People" and "Girls." I just find it interesting that the commenter felt a need to bring up a "girl reason" for liking Guy in his comment. I think this attitude about fans of opposite sex characters needs closer examination.

We already talk, all the time, about how female characters suffer when written as objects rather than people. They are written that way, at times, because the writer is writing a character as a person the reader "wants to be with" rather than someone the reader "wants to be."

I've seen the "excuse" for this, that most writers are male, most readers are male.

The idea that, to write for a female audience, women will be categtorized as "want to be" personalities and men as "want to be with" personalities is along the same lines as the one where female characters get objectified. Without even getting into the heteronormativity of the matter, it bothers me on the front because it pretty much says that a man cannot identify with a woman, and vice versa. It really bugs me because that's not how I, personally, pick my favorites.

Oh, you've all seen this site. You all know I like to get down to the jokes about Green Lanterns and their assets. The first thing Chris Sims said back when I mentioned I was making a list for Tom Bondurant's 50 Greatest DC Characters Survey was "Lemme guess, 1) Kyle Rayner's Ass, 2) Hal Jordan's..." and to this day I'm sure he'd still claim I only put Kyle on that list by virtue of his hindquarters.

He'd be wrong, though, because I don't pick my favorites based on "hawtness." Rather, I am insistent that certain characters are "hawt" because I like them so much.

And while I have mentioned the appeal of Kyle as "The artistic guy who actually does have a core of strength" that's not why I enjoy reading him. I enjoy reading him, particularly when Marz writes him, because it's very easy -- with Kyle's attitude and narrative voice -- to place myself in the story through Kyle. That's why in JLA Kyle was such an anchor early on, because he was an easy character that way.

That's also why, when it changed to Winick, many of the Kyle fans through Marz despised the character changes (Kyle's narrative voice was traded in for moral superiority), and why now, fans who got into Kyle through Winick think he's gone "backwards" with the new writer.

That is an entire other series of posts, though.

My point is, though, that while I can see the appeal of Kyle as a romantic interest, and make cracks about his appearance, I wouldn't really give a shit for the character if I didn't have a personal connection to him. Kyle's a character who thrives on relatability.

While the idea of the fantasy man who never occurs in real life is appealing, I believe that that's more of a reason to like them if you prefer the character's love interest to the character themself. I think people as a whole tend to gravitate towards characters because they see something of themselves in them -- either a character trait they have and identify with, or a character trait they would like to emulate.

That's not to say every character I enjoy needs to be a carbon copy of myself, there only needs to be a spark there. A sliver of personality. A trait I can step into, or a trait I would like to step into.

John Stewart, for example, would be a favorite for idealism. I never thought much of John until I read his origin story by Denny O'Neil. The first page, where he stands up to that policeman for picking on those kids really resonated with me, and I've been completely mad about the character ever since. Because it's a compulsion that I, in my best moments, act on, and I wish I was able to do something so courageous as effortlessly as John does.

That's just a little something that gets to me when I see a "Girls like character X because..." statement about a male character (or a "Guys like X" about a female character). It usually describes a reason for a a fan who doesn't really like the character, but has a fetish for whatever trait. Not that there's anything wrong with that, in theory, it's just not a line of thinking that leads to solid writing that will appeal to a wide audience. In my experience, I, and most readers of both genders, prefer to follow a character they personally relate to as opposed to one that they would just like to fuck.

Green Lanterns Can't Joust

Wow, I'm too tired to post, or reply to your comments tonight. Rough day at work.

Instead, I have something for Sleestak's Hal Jordan Head Injury Project. From Super-Team Family, Vol 3. #12...

On a happier note...

I was the fill-in blogger for 52 Pickup this week.

It seems I spent much of the post ranting about the colorist, though.

Okay, I'll have an actual happier note sometime later this week, I'm sure.

DC Owes Us Another Green Lantern Collection

As solicited by DC Comics: "The greatest adventures of the Emerald Gladiator, collected in one volume! Thrill to the exploits of several Green Lanterns in stories from GREEN LANTERN ('40s) #1; ALL-AMERICAN COMICS #89; GREEN LANTERN ('60s-70s) #1, 9, 87, 172; SUPERMAN #257, TALES OF THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS ANNUAL #3, GREEN LANTERN ('90s) #3, 0; GREEN LANTERN: MOSAIC #5; GREEN LANTERN GALLERY and GREEN LANTERN SECRET FILES 2005."

What was in the actual trade?

Showcase (60s) #22; Green Lantern (60s,70s, 80s) #1, 31, 74, 87, 172; Green Lantern (90s) #3; Green Lantern: The Brave and the Bold (1999) #2 , DC First: Green Lantern/Green Lantern (2002), and Green Lantern Secret Files and Origins 2005 -- The Flight story.

I'd hardly call the Brave and Bold miniseries or the DC First special one of "The Greatest Green Lantern Stories Ever Told."

You know what are some of the Greatest Green Lantern Stories Ever Told? Well, the Elliost S Maggin story about Tomar Re (Superman #257) that was originally solicited for one; and some of the issues from Mosaic -- not just #5, but some whole storylines there; Green Lantern (Volume II) #30, the introduction of Katma Tui; and maybe, just maybe, some of the Golden Age stories (all of which were cut) that I've never read.

I want that Tomar Re story from Superman #257. I've only found it online. You know how shitty reading comics over a computer is. I only know how awesome it is by reading over a computer. I want to hold that story. I want it in my hands. I want to run my fingers over the paper. And I was all excited that it would be reprinted until I actually got the trade.

Where is it? Where's my Tomar Re story?

Damn you, DC!!! First you make Hal crazy, then you take away Kyle's face, then you put the wrong Lantern in JLA and now this!!!!

And this one, this one is not just my crazy fan entitlement speaking, you promised me this one.

Guess what my question is at every panel next convention.

You'll be sick of seeing my face, Levitz.

(Crossposted to Zamaron)

Thoughts on Current Events

I've seen this everywhere...

Harlan Ellison groped Connie Willis at the Hugos. (Point #3)

..and I should say something about it, but.. Ach.. I'm too disgusted about it.

But one blogger (found through Lis) brings up the best point, something to be addressed.

It makes me wonder–how must a woman just entering the field feel about this? Younger female readers? What could they possibly think about this? Could they possiblly think anything good about SF/F? As a field? A community? I tend and like to think as a field we have our shit together. But, much as we have the “digital divide” on the Internet, we have the “sanity divide” or “asshole divide” in science fiction! I’m sure shit like this happens in other fields–but in such a public arena? Where the award-winner gets treated like shit?

And he naturally has me thinking about comics. When the stories about female professionals and the behavior they face at cons get out -- hell, when stuff like Miller's ASBAR SCRIPT gets out -- and we see the harassment and unprofessionalism and general disregard for women behind the often defended as harmless surface material, what do you think we think?

I was nervous going to Chicago. The last con I'd been to was GenCon and that was when I was a teenager, with my sister and two friends (one of whom was such a HUGE guy that only an idiot would threaten him or the little 15 year old talking to him). Here I was a grown woman, nervous that I'd run into trouble there. Making "Group" plans to avoid it.

I've spoken to a number of other young female fans online, and they expressed the same trepidation. Worried that the fanboys at Wizardworld were as bad as they heard. And who wouldn't be? It's sponsored by Wizard Magazine, notorious for pandering to the adolescent male mentality -- we've all seen the cover and the contents.

It turned out to be an enjoyable experience, but Wizardworld Texas (which is far closer to my home) is rounding the corner and I can go there alone. So, of course, the same nervousness is rearing its head. I won't be backed up by three girls in matching shirts. I'll be a single woman. I've told other women not to worry, to just go. If I can get the time off, I will just go, but still... Most of us would rather stay home than risk it.

And it comes back to the horror stories online about how we're treated in male-dominated fan communities, and comic book stores, in addition to conventions. We've all heard them and gone "so that's how it is," and it makes sense, because of the "Sex sells" attitude that actually translates to "Sexy Women sell" in comic book marketing. What are we supposed to think? What kind of message does it send? It all combines to tell us that we are not welcome there.

If you guys wonder why you never see many female fans in person, this may have something to do with it.

Oh, no...

(Via Johanna)

Please note that beginning now, WONDER WOMAN will be published on a bimonthly schedule.

WONDER WOMAN #3 (JUN060222) is available for advance reorder and is scheduled to arrive in stores on October 11.

All orders on WONDER WOMAN #4 (JUL060198) have been cancelled. This issue will be resolicited in the October Previews (Volume XVI #10), scheduled to arrive in stores in December.

Good Guy Hierarchy of Superhero Comics

Icon -- Icons have been headliners for decades by this point, and have recognition outside of comic books due to enough exposure through movies and cartoons that a person who hasn't read comics for a number of years, or who has never read comics can name them. They are known by their civilian identities almost as well as their superhero identities. They often have multiple books, and a number of headliners as satellites. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Spiderman, and Robin (Dick Grayson) are all Icons. There are varying degrees of Iconism (Hal Jordan's status is arguable, for example, as DC is making the push for Iconic status, and he has recognition for Superfriends, but John Stewart has more recent recognition for JLU. However, John Stewart is not a Headliner, like Hal is, and is rarely used as more than a supporting cast member in the comics) but it's safe to say that an Icon naturally leads a Franchise. A Franchise consists of more than one book, and some exposure outside of the insulated comics community in the form of merchandising or alternate media. An Icon is the sort of character that will be proclaimed the "The REAL ____" by people who have never actually read more than a couple isolated issues of a franchise (Kalinara has a story about this one for you).

Headliner -- Headliners come in two basic forms. Independent Heroes with their own ongoing solo books (such as Firestorm, Manhunter, Black Panther, Iron Man) who do not have Icon status, or Franchise members who are not dependant on an Icon's or Team's constant presence for the storylines (though sporadic guest appearances will occur). A Franchise will often have several Headliners who receive occasional guest help from their Icons. Supergirl, Catwoman, and Kyle Rayner are Headliner members of Franchises. They get guest appearances from the other Franchise members, but the Icon's presence is not in every issue, and their plots do not revolve around their relationship to that Icon (other than, he is the lead of the Franchise).

Team Player -- Members of a teambook who do not have solo ongoing series. If a member of a teambook has their own ongoing series, they are promoted to Headliners or Icons. Team Player is the status of a character who has no home other than the teambook itself (Stargirl, Power Girl), and guest appearances or supporting roles in other Headliners's books (Jay Garrick, Alan Scott). Team Players will often have their own miniseries once they gain enough popularity, or need a storyline away from the rest of a group, but their ultimate home is the teambook itself. The Team Player works in shared spotlight, though internal group dynamics do often make some characters outshine others (You have your Leader, your Peacemaker, your Anchor for the audience to play into, your Token Characters, and your Useless Romantic Soap Character, just to throw some examples out). Team Dynamics are a post for another day.

Backup Feature -- This is a now defunct status, as most comics no longer have backup stories, but some characters were created for solo stories in the backup features of Headliner and Icon books. They had their own plots and the stories were centered on them. They have pretty much all been demoted to Professional Guest Star or Heroic Support.

Professional Guest Star -- Usually a Headliner after her book's been cancelled, or a Team Player who is no longer on the team (or the Team Book is cancelled), but sometimes someone is created specifically for this role. This is a Hero, not a Civilian, who shows up to help the Headliner or the Team. They have no home, they are a nomadic people. They do have fans, and they do show up from time to time in various books. Sometimes this is just an excuse for a writer to use a character they like. Sometimes this leads to a promotion to Team Player or Headliner as it serves as buildup for the character's new role. Sometimes it leads to a demotion to Heroic or Civilian Support. Sometimes, they die.

Heroic Support -- The hero here is a regularly occurring member of the Headliner/Icon's cast, rather than a guest star. This is lower on the hierarchy than a Professional Guest Star because you have less independance. Heroic Support is completely subordinate to the Headliner. Their character development depends entirely on how it affects/reflects/leads into the Headliner's plot. Like a Professional Guest Star, Heroic Support is often a character rescued from Limbo (when their home book was cancelled), but sometimes they are a reformed bad guy or actually created for this purpose (Sidekicks?). Yes, a Heroic Support can become an Icon through exposure (Dick Grayson), but this leads to a promotion to Headliner. You can get a miniseries, but usually not an ongoing. Oftentimes they are captured/injured/in over their head and need to be rescued by the hero, who will solve the plot themselves. Sometimes they rescue the hero (this is usually so that the hero can come back stronger next plot, or so that the next storyline the hero can reflect on their weakness and relationship with the Heroic Support who rescued them). Black Canary (Green Lantern/Green Arrow, Green Arrow) Shade (Starman), Pied Piper (The Flash), Donna Troy (Green Lantern), and Jade (Green Lantern) have all been Heroic Support in the past. Todd Rice/Obsidian (Manhunter), Nemesis (Wonder Woman), John Stewart (Green Lantern), and Storm (Black Panther) are currently Heroic Support. Most Law Enforcement professionals count as Heroic Support, because if they get names and recurring roles they are usually badass enough to pull their weight (Jim Gordon, Cameron Chase, the O'Dares, Chyre and Morillo).

Note About Villains: Villains exist in their own hierarchy, though I would say that when a hero is turned into a villain, they would fall about here on the Good Guy Hierarchy of Superhero Comics, between Heroic and Civilian Support.

Civilian Support -- The lowest level of Character Status in Superhero Comics where you can actually have a name. Yes, some civilian supporting cast members are infinitely cool (Lois Lane, Alfred) but ultimately they are Civilian Support. It's a perfectly respectable position, for a civilian. For a hero, its the pits. And usually, when a hero loses their powers, this is where they end up (Mark Shaw in Manhunter, Mikaal Tomas in early Starman -- he was promoted to Heroic Support by the end) unless they have such impressive non-super abilities they can pull their weight like a member of the Batclan. While even Civilian Support can get a miniseries or even historically an ongoing (Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen), their entire storyline revolves around the Icon to which they are attached and their relationship to the Icon is announced in the book title. Everything about Heroic Support applies, except you don't get a costume and you aren't expected to pull your weight, which makes it all the more impressive when you do get to do something.

Background Hero -- You get to fight in the background. Pretty much every unnamed Green Lantern is on this level. If they were ever named, they are Professional Guest Stars (Former Backup Features, msot likely), Heroic Support (Green Lantern and Ion), or Team Players (in Green Lantern Corps)

Background Civilian -- "Look! Up in the Sky!"

Kirby Day

In honor of the Anniversary of Jack Kirby's Birth, an image from Kirby's run on Jimmy Olsen. There were far more innovative and interesting panels, but I'm particularly fond of this one as it, unlike the other Jimmy faces (the inkers were redrawing Superman and Jimmy's faces to match Curt Swan's interpretation), is done in Kirby's style. I guess they let this one go because it was a monster.

Looks like this does need to be said.

Everyone does realize that taking Character A, when Character A is one of the major players in a teambook, and putting her into the supporting cast of Character B's solo book is a demotion, right?

It makes Character A subordinate to Character B's story. Character A will be hurt, maimed and writtne out of character in roder to advance Character B's story.

This happened with Black Canary as Green Arrow's girlfriend. In Green Lantern/Green Arrow she showed up, and was immediately put under mind control, so that Ollie would rescue her. I cannot recall any point in the O'Neil/Adams run where Ollie was put in danger so that Dinah would have something to do. In The Longbow Hunters she was captured and tortured so that Ollie would rescue her. Again, can't recall a comparable story where Ollie was put in danger so Dinah would have something to do.

So, you all realize, this is very, very likely to happen to Storm in Black Panther? Which is why I'm so damned pissed about this pairing, right?

Should Oracle and Nightwing actually get together... Well, you can't have Nightwing in Birds of Prey, he'd take over. Guess where our beloved Babs goes. And guess what would happen to her?

You Dick and Babs fans do realize you are cheering for a demotion of Oracle, right?

Couldn't Resist This One

A Joke In Need of a Punchline

This panel begs for mocking, but I can't quite word a joke right tonight. Can anybody help me out?

Justice League of America

I just finished reading it, I still hate the Red Tornado, but the story seems worth finishing on the first read. We'll see how it holds up on a second read. I'm getting more and more attached to the idea of Arsenal as a member, I hope this one isn't a fake-out. The interior art was good, Benes is very talented, but I still have one overwhelming complaint about it...

Mild Spoilers
(Mild Spoilers)


I hate the Platinum redesign. It's gaudy, unbalanced, and overaccessorized. Please change her back immediately.

Final Call: Carnival Submissions

Submissions for the Fourth Carnival of Feminist Science Fiction and Fantasy Fans are Due Wednesday, August 23rd on the Official Shrub.com Blog. Send submissions and nominations here (subject heading Feminist SF Carnival) or through the BlogCarnival Submission Form.

The Carnival will posted on August 25th, 2006

If you are interested in hosting a future edition of the Carnival, please contact ragnellthefoul AT hotmail DOT com for information.

Please crosspost everywhere applicable.

Peculiar Search Terms

I was, sadly, not surprised to see someone get to my blog with what are my teenage breasts supposed to look like because teenagers can be pretty insecure.

I was pretty damned surprised not only to see someone get here with it, but to actually see a search for Hermes/Apollo slash. That's fandom on a religious level.

My Newest Infatuation

I think I've in love.

He's been working on it for a while already, and seems to have one hell of a plan.

“My plan is to start with Steve Trevor crashing on Paradise Island, and hilarity ensues,” Hughes said. “The way the All Star line was pitched to me, and this was several years ago, was that this was going to be the iconic interpretation."

I like that part where "hilarity ensues." It will be nice to have an All-Star book that's funny on purpose (Unless Miller truly is the Kaufman of Comics, in which case the joke is on all of us -- critics and buyers alike.)

“My take on Wonder Woman is that she’s the perfect woman, but perfect characters are boring. It’s the weaknesses that make people interesting. Superman running through the criminal world, with bullets bouncing off of him saying, ‘It tickles!’ - that’s not as interesting as it is when Superman gets to the villains’ lair, and the bad guy whips out a piece of Kryptonite, and Superman’s weakness now must come into play.

“Wonder Woman’s this perfect character, so her weakness can’t make her look like a bad person, or even a weak character, really, and I came up with insatiable curiosity. All of my favorite, larger than life, fictitious characters seem to come from farms, and they all seem to have what I think is called a Dorothy complex – they have everything they need at home, but they want to see over the rainbow. That’s it with Wonder Woman – she lives in the perfect place – and she wants to go to man’s world, and meet people, and talk to strangers, and learn their ways. I thought, in the hands of a writer who’s halfway decent, that insatiable curiosity, that Marco Polo, ‘I have to see the world’ kind of thing, could get any character into a world of trouble. She has this insatiable need to know and see the world. She’s Dorothy Gale, She’s Luke Skywalker, she’s James Kirk – she wants to get off the farm.”

He seems to have realized the importance of Hermes being the only patron she has that she doesn't share with the rest of the Amazons.

"There’s a difference between curiosity and naiveté. Wonder Woman standing in the middle of traffic asking, ‘What’s a car?’ is not what I’m talking about. She’s out somewhere, in strange new lands, meeting new people, and while she’s there, she needs to slay a dragon…or something. She’s almost addicted to learning new things. Anybody else would look at her and think she was perfect – wise, strong, beautiful, but she’s like a mental anorexic, and would be thinking, ‘I haven’t learned Japanese yet.’ But there’s no pessimism – there just aren’t enough hours in the day to learn all the new things in the world. That’s where her fascination of man’s world comes from – it’s so big and wide open – there’s just so much. Where she’s going to get into trouble is that…there are certain things we do in man’s world that they don’t do on Paradise Island. Likewise, she’s never seen a baby…or an old woman. Somewhere in amongst all of that, the stories start to write themselves.”

That's... That's a little creepy. Adam Hughes can read my mind, and has decided to use the Wonder Woman approach he found there.

And as for that aforementioned Steve Trevor? After 25 odd years as not being even perhaps a love interest, he’s back to his more traditional role, that of a contemporary to Diana in age.

“To make this all an interesting journey, I’m trying to turn up the interest level in Steve Trevor. He’s going to be her guide through man’s world, and if romance blossoms between them, well…we’ll have to see…”

Marry me, Adam.

“If I can pull him off the way I want, picture Steve Trevor as Steve McQueen who’s been hanging out with Race Bannon from Jonny Quest, and they go over to Chuck Yeager’s house for drinks, but it’s the Chuck Yeager played by Sam Shepherd from The Right Stuff. Steve Trevor is the prototypical laconic, cowboy pilot, because that would make an interesting balance with Wonder Woman.”

Or, to go totally geekspeak, Hal Jordan wishes he could be Steve Trevor one day – and not just for the possible shot at Wonder Woman.

If marriage is out of the question, I have this reproductive equipment I'm not using right now and wouldn't mind bearing your child.

As Hughes sees it, he’s the perfect match for Wonder Woman.

And he's not the only one. So long as he keeps the vital Steve characteristic -- which is that being saved by a woman turns him on as opposed to hurting his pride. The proper reaction to getting his butt saved by Diana is not "I'm being saved by a girl" but "So, what are you doing after the fight's over?"

“Everything Wonder Woman says and does makes the world a better place. If you aske her to pass the salt at the dinner table, she’d do it in a way that would make you think, ‘Gosh darn it, I am going to go back and finish college! She could cure cancer with a smile. She’s this positive, outspoken person, so her companion for the story will be this laid-back, laconic, cowboy poet of a pilot who balances her completely. Again - it’s not a story about a superhero, it’s about a princess from a foreign country coming to America, and her handler/tour guide is the Marlboro Man.”

Okay, if he can pull it off, this could be a lot of fun.

Finally a Wonder Woman writer who sees things the way I do. Hopefully he can convert enough to this viewpoint that some of the All-Star continuity makes its way to the regular continuity, and Steve Trevor lives forever!!

Coming in November... (Yes, these would be Spoilers)

The full DC November Solicits are up featuring... The Shocking Return of Kyle's Face!

Other things of note:
-- Detective Comics will not be by Paul Dini in November.

-- All-Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder is late even on a "bimonthly" schedule, resoliciting the issue with Wonder Woman's butt on the cover. You know, the one we'd have to buy so to see how badly he fucks up Diana and the rest of the JLA. Yes, I was going to read it. Kalinara and I have a bet about how he degrades Green Lantern. I've got money down on how angry I'll get.

-- Catwoman is still fighting the Film Freak?

-- Cassie Cain's really been getting around since she turned evil. She'll be in Supergirl #12 this time.

-- 52 WEEK 26: The Origin of Power Girl by Waid and Adam Hughes.
WEEK 30: Get ready for the story you never expected! "Batman...No More” — a full length 22-page adventure featuring Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd and...Batwoman?!?

-- Ken Lashley is still drawing The Flash. This makes me sad. Why won't this book let me love it?!

-- Okay, Johns, I'm holding you to this Green Lantern solicitation. You've played with us way too long. You've teased us in other solicits and not followed through. This, this is the last straw. I had better see John Stewart this issue, dammit!!

-- "On the planet Korugar, a Lantern faces hatred and rejection and, across the cosmos, another Lantern’s heart is broken."
The lesbian subtext in the first Green Lantern Corps storyline was so thick that it took two readings to figure out which character they actually meant by the second clause of that sentence.

-- Green Lantern Archives, Vol 6, "Advance-solicited; on sale January 3"
Tease.

-- Without even reading the writeup for Green Arrow #68, I'm guessing Monsters.

-- Just for the record, I'm purposefully avoiding the slash joke about Ion #8.

-- "Hot on the stardust trail of the oldest artifact in the universe, the Omega Men crash land on earth — dragging with them the battling Spider Guild, L.E.G.I.O.N., and a mysterious female alien. Only one thing stands in the way of a planet-wide cosmic doomsday: the heroes of Earth!"
I'm sold on Omega Men. All it needs is Adam Strange, Captain Comet and a Green Lantern and it has the whole Outer Spaaace! set.

-- Sachs and Violens TP
There was seriously more demand for this than a collected Green Lantern: Mosaic?

-- Supergirl and the Legion of Superheroes once again does not have Starboy on the cover or in the solicitation. Dude, you don't just change his appearance and shunt him to the background. Khallor-fans, unite!! We want Thom! Well, we think he's Thom... We'd like to know if he's Thom or not...

-- This image was four hundred times better when Alex Ross drew it for a Vertigo series.

-- Where the hell is Wonder Woman? Someone handcuff Heinberg to his typewriter.

JLA Lineup Spoiled

I don't know where he found it, or if it's a hoax, but some joker on CBR (in addition to a commenter here) found the revealed lineup JLA#1 cover and sweet Venus, is it hideous. It has to be a real Turner drawing. Any imitator could only improve on his style. Anyway, below the cut, the cover I saw on CBR (which will be subject to serious, serious mocking and criticism once the actual issue comes out and its not a spoiler), and my personal letters to the characters.

Potential (Very likely) Spoilers

Spoilers



Dear Diana,
Enclosed is a Victoria's Secret Gift Certificate. Get a big enough bra.

Dear Bruce,
Enclosed is a laxative. You look a bit stuffed up.

Dear Clark,
You seem to have been replaced by a beady-eyed imposter. You may need to look into that.

Dear Dinah,
Are you going to be able to be in the JSA too? Because that would rock, to see you in three teams at once. I think the record is Wally West, and that was two team books and a solo book. You could totally bury that if you could swing a miniseries too.

Dear Kendra,
At least this cover wasn't by Chaykin.

Dear Mari,
Welcome back from limbo. You've gotten quite a push lately, so there's a bit to live up to. Watch out for Green Lantern. I don't think you've dealt with him yet.

Dear Roy,
I'm happy you got your break and look forward to reading your adventures. Please remember to smile pretty for the camera, and turn around as often as Uncle Hal does.

Dear Jefferson,
Congratulations on your new job. I'm surprised you found a hairstyle that makes the Afro look good in retrospect.

Dear Hal,
I love you. You are one of my favorite Lanterns. Top 2, at least. I would enjoy seeing your butt your clumsiness your work any other time. I'm a HUGE fan. But get the fuck out of John's book, you rotten spotlight hog.

Dear stupid, garish, Silver Age android,
Rust and die. The real Red Tornado is Ma Hunkel.

Looks like one of those shadows is now filled in...

Newsarama has the DC teaser solicits up already (full solicits on Monday). Down at the bottom they have a picture of the JLA#4 cover with what looks to be a slight spoiler on the lineup.

A few more thoughts before the full solicits come out:

On Birds of Prey's cover, we see prospective membership candidates. This may be some character's one chance to get away from Judd Winick or Daniel Acuna...

Why isn't Beau Smith writing this?

Adam Hughes on Deadlines and All-Star Wonder Woman

I've only seen this on the Beat, and have just gotten around to posting it now that I've also seen it on a message board. Adam Hughes talks about All-Star Wonder Woman on Byrnerobotics:

Secondly, I am not doing a 'monthly'. My commitment to ALL-STAR WONDER WOMAN is for 6 issues. My schedule is to hand in 10 pages, pencilled and inked, a month. The issues will be released monthly, on-time, because we're starting far enough in advance. You will get your ALL-STAR WONDER WOMAN every four weeks.

I think that if the announcement had been worded that 'Adam Hughes is doing 132 pages of WONDER WOMAN', there'd be less confusion and consternation.

Later on, he gives us his intentions for the series:

As for ALL-STAR WONDER WOMAN, wish me luck. DC is really letting me do my thing, and if the books stinks like a fishwife it'll be all my fault. :-) I'm supposed to do 10 pages a month (I'm shooting for 11) so that way I'll (hopefully) have a 22-page issue done every 2 months. I'll be staying on the covers of CATWOMAN while doing this, so that no one thinks I'm dead. Laura Martin is going to be coloring the book; I'll be working hand-in-hand with her to make sure the books looks as good as it can. Check out our 2-page Wonder Woman origin in DC's 52, #12 for a taste of how ASWW will probably look. My dream for ASWW is to cram as much character & story into Diana's tale as humanly possible, with the type of action set-pieces that will make Joss Whedon scream "Damn you, Adam Huuuuuuuughes!!!" into the rain, shaking his tiny fists in impotent rage.

Hopefully he means that he has an issue due every two months for the company, and that it will actually ship every four weeks as he said in the original post.

It's still bothering me...

This quote from Reginald Hudlin.

"Why did you choose T'Challa's [Black Panther's] first love over his ex-fiancee, Monica Lynne?

RH: Because Superman should be with Wonder Woman, not Lois Lane..."

No, not for the previously mentioned reasons.

I've seen people pair up Wonder Woman archetypal Equivalents with Superman sorts before. It's not a bad thing in itself (though I still maintain that it is a terrible idea using Wonder Woman herself and superman himself), but still, I have a problem wtih that quote.

It's the comparison of Black Panther to Superman as Storm is compared to Wonder Woman.

You see, Storm is part of one of the most popular comics of all time. She was a regular in two cartoon series, a headliner in three movies, part of six video games and has been seen on a fairly regular basis in various X-Men books since 1975. She was even voted by fans, during the Marvel vs DC crossover eyars ago, to beat Wonder Woman in a fight.

Black Panther has appeared as a cameo in a Fantastic Four cartoon, on and off as an Avenger, and in various, oft-cancelled comic book series. He's projected to appear in an animated film.

Storm, having the more consistant media explosure, is considerably more popular and well-known despite being all but written out of X-Men in recent years. Black Panther is getting a push right now for the big time, but really only appears in his own book and has very little outside of comics media coverage.

Based on cultural impact and exposure, a far better analogy (much as it breaks my heart as a Wonder Woman fan) is that Storm is to Superman as Black Panther is to Wonder Woman.

Now, as a Wonder Woman fan I am vehemently opposed to a marriage between Clark and Diana. However, were it (one of the signs of the Apocalypse) to occur, it would occur in either an extra-sized wedding special, or Superman's book. The two characters would either both appear in both books, or Wonder Woman would become supporting cast in Superman's book. Because, as a Wonder Woman fan, I am realistic enough to know that Superman is the more popular character, and that the plotline would revolve around him.

So why is this marriage occuring in Black Panther's book and not one of X-Men series?

I was going to leave Marvel alone this time...

(In the end, I just couldn't resist)

In case you don't believe me.

August 14th

(EDIT: Oops. I worked dayshift, so I was in a hurry to get to bed last night. I made a slight boo-boo. Didn't see it until I came home from work. The WFA-list is now back on WFA. Sorry!)

Call for Submissions: Fourth Carnival of Feminist Science Fiction and Fantasy Fans

(Okay, Jenn is right, we need an acronym)

Anyway, because of the fuss of Wizardworld Chicago, I was remiss in my organizer duties and didn't get this information out as immediately as I should have. You still have ten days, though.

The Fourth Edition will be at Shrub.com on August 25th. Deadline is August 23rd

The suggested writing theme is feminist utopias and dystopias, but (as always) you’re free to write on anything that fits into the official guidelines.

Submissions are due by Wednesday, August 23, and can be mailed to me here (please use the subject heading Feminist SF Carnival) or submitted it via the Blog Carnival form.

The Sound of Nobody Disagreeing

You scored as Green Lantern. You would marry GREEN LANTERN! You like hotheaded flyboys. This guy is also a test pilot. Don't wear yellow and he will take you on the ride of your life.

Green Lantern		75%
Superman		64%
The Flash		61%
Batman		57%
Captain Marvel		57%
Green Arrow		43%
Aquaman		39%

What Justice League Member (Male) Would You Marry?
created with QuizFarm.com

Okay, I am surprised Green Arrow scored so high...

Good News for Supergirl Fans

From the DC Nation Panel at Wizardworld:

When will we see Supergirl act more like Supergirl, and less like the Punisher?

Didio: “When sales drop.”

Wayne: “I’ll second that.”

Strange, my question would have been when do we get to see the writers and artists handle her more like Supergirl and less like the Bomb Queen?

Anyway, found this information earlier at Kara Lives:

So before Loeb left, Supergirl was a top 10 book. Now that there were creator changes, delays, subpar plots, Supergirl has now been pushed back to the 20s. Here are the sales numbers provided by Newsarama.com :


21. Supergirl #7(res) -- 81.99 (thousand copies sold)
27. Supergirl #8(res) -- 74.07 (thousand copies sold)

Okay, who's still buying? I know I'm not buying. I tried it out for Greg Rucka, and a scan of issue #7 told me the followup writer wasn't for me.

I know the incest love triangle thing is really interesting in a Jer-El Spring-Er sort of way, but if you want a real Supergirl, you're going to need to give it up. Save yourself three dollars. Buy the LSH one instead.

Because if sales keep dropping, we'll get Supergirl back!

Raquel "The Rocket" Ervin

I don't know why I was looking through the "I" section of the back issue bins at the store this week. Maybe it's because I know the "G" section by heart by now, and this was a change. Either way, I managed to find, for a dollar an issue, just about the entire run of Icon from Milestone Comics (I'm short issue 15 and 16). I felt guilty snatching them up, because they're tough to find, so I grabbed the first few issues and a few with Rocket (his sidekick) on the cover. I went back today and snatched up the rest of them.

Icon, on first glance, looks like the Milestone Comics version of Superman. Hell, he had the "Strange Visitor from Another Planet" bit down in the first two pages. There's a few major differences. For starters, he's black, and wears red and green as oppose to blue and red. He does some funky energy thing with his hands. Has no vision powers. He landed on a plantation in 1839, as opposed to a Kansas farm 30-40 years ago. He was a fully grown and matured alien being, but the ship physically changed his body to that of an infant human to keep him safe. He was raised during this false childhood as a slave, ended up in the Underground Railroad, fought in the Civil War, amassed a huge fortune, and works as lawyer Augustus Freeman IV (said as "the Fourth" in a snooty accent) in the rich part of Dakota (Milestone's fictional city). He's conservative, keeps to himself, and believes people can pull themselves out of poverty by their bootstraps. Actually his teenaged sidekick Raquel Ervin, Rocket, talks him into putting on the tights when she finds out he has superpowers. Seh designs the costume, she tells him what he needs to be. Tells him he has a responsibility to inspire and protect people, and, fortunately, he's just idealistic enough to listen.

In Icon #2, on their first night out as superhero and sidekick, Icon and Rocket leap into a hostage situation, and find the Dakota Universe equivalent of the Metropolis MCU pointing guns at them.

Icon, like any innocent citizen who's spend the last few decades in the rich part of town, and votes Republican, puts his hands over his head and offers to explain.

This could have gone one of two ways. Later on in the series, the cops are indeed established as decent people. But this was a tense situation, there still might have been a fight even if Icon got a chance to explain. Or, they could have treated him like Superman, and given him a shot. It could have been good or bad.

But we shall never know, because he was with Rocket.



It is a page and a half before we see Icon again, but it's worth it.



I think it's safe to say he's never had a teen sidekick before.

Never fear, they actually get to fight the villain in Issue 3.

(This post brought to you in honor of the last ten minutes of Chris Sims' birthday, Central Time. There will be more Rocket Awesomeness to come in the future.)

Hmmm...

Going over an old post I found...

On one level, it achieved precisely what the writer had intended. Plotwise, it worked perfectly. The intent was a Spider-man style origin, where the hero is off elsewhere while the loved one dies. Rather than have a random villain as the culprit, the writer also created a completely despicable evil -- he threw some interesting parts on behalf of the villain (the flowers he gave Alex with the death threat note, the note to Kyle that implied she'd cooked food for him, the comment about what a beautiful girl she was). The character herself was respectfully treated, an unpowered support cast-member allowed to put up quite a fight against a powered villain. The convention of placing the body in the refrigerator was pure logic. Where else would be put it while he waited an indefinite length of time for Kyle to return?

Would anyone consider that paragraph a justification for the convention of killing a girlfriend to further the hero's story?

Happy Birthday

Today is the anniversary of Chris Sims' birth, and I searched through my back issues for a piece of art awesome enough to honor the occasion. I found a couple of panels that caught my eye.

Chris, for your birthday, I give you...

Kyle Rayner and Barda Free in an Art Museum.



Hope you like it!

Thank Heavens!

I feared I would be too tired to blog tonight, but Mike has saved me! With a Green Lantern version of the Random Panels meme that's been going around. What would Tom Kalmaku write in his GL Casebook?





And here's my shot at the Bat Blank, though I'm sincerely surprised I hadn't seen it yet:

Crossposted from Comic-Bloc

I can't seem to keep out of these arguments, this one's about Pantha, but I ended up with some insights I thought I'd share. I'm arguing with this guy, not about specifics, but on dismissing the sexism argument at the outset. Here's my argument:

There's a wealth of symbolism and story cliches that enforce gender roles that people are thinking of when they bring this up. They are also thinking of superficially similar situations with men where things were treated differently. Instead of arguing these points with valid counters -- men who have been injured SPECIFICALLY to bring angst to a female character, which is the actual equivalent of the Fridge accusation; or reasons the character may have been considered disposable -- you're just plain dismissive of the person arguing because heaven forfend, someone may have brought up sexism.

Here's the thing, we live in a society with still very strict gender roles, as a guy you must know this -- its it socially acceptable for you to wear certain clothing, to express certain emotions? Well, on the female side we experience our own problems, where you are not expected to be able to do a certain job (science, math) or think a certain way (mechanically, logically) as well because of your gender. Sexism still exists, as we still have assumptions in our society about behavior that's proper for a man yet is not proper for a woman, and vice versa.

Since society has these gender roles and presuppositions, they are going to show up in stories also. Probably moreso than they show in real life. It's worth examining a female role in a story and how it may differ from a male role, sometimes it turns out to be inconsequential, yes (I can think of a few anti-Arisia posts I had to read twice before I decided it wasn't a putting the blame on the woman attitude so much as a "The main character can do no wrong" attitude), rarely does it turn out to be malicious (Actually, I can't think of an instance where I've believed a moment of sexism in comics to be intentional or malicious), but sometimes it needs to be looked into and changed.

You can't simply dismiss the argument offhand because sexism comes up. You have to actually address the person's concerns on a mature level. It's not only perfectly acceptable to examine the possibility of sexism, it's downright important to consider the option, not only in the stuff you dislike but also in the stories that you do like, and in your own attitude. Considering the possibility does not lead to conclusion that it exists and even more importantly, Concluding that it exists does not imply that it was malicious, or that the writer is a bad person or an unskilled writer, just that the cliche appeared. Gender roles are a common storytelling tool, but they're restrictive for all characters and looking into them opens up creative opportunities by expanding your range of character types and situations.

Again, I personally disagree with JLG on Pantha's death. I don't even think that a Fridge moment is necessarily a bad thing (I do think it's a terrible thing when we only see women on the one side of that narrative tool. And at the moment I can come up with men injured to give angst to other men before I can think of men injured or killed to give angst to women). But that's no reason to dismiss his concerns out of hand as "Freaking out over a female character."

What do you think? Effective, or cause for more defensiveness?

Why I was lazy earlier...

Because at this point, I still can't do anything but babble about Chicago. Content will be coming once that wears off. In the meantime, I've told yet another con story at Zamaron.

Oh, and forgot to mention earlier. We cornered Keith Giffen and asked him a very important Blue Beetle question. Jaime is pronounced like HI-mee, with the Spanish "J" rather than the Jamie I've been using in my head.

Hopefully I'll have something of substance tonight.

Meme: Influential Books

Tagged by Reappropriate

1. One book that changed your life

Magickal Herbalism by Scott Cunningham

2. One book you have read more than once

Hogfather by Terry Pratchett

3. One book you would want on a desert island

Fearless Girls, Wise Women, and Beloved Sisters edited by Kathleen Regan.

4. One book that made you laugh

Tantra: The Way of Acceptance by Osho

5. One book that made you cry

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis

6. One book you wish had been written

Respecting Your Character's Religion: A Resource for Comic Book Writers by L. Fortuner

7. One book you wish had never been written

I'm going to cheat here and give two broad categories that cover the absolute worst of two religions. All books analyzing current politics for signs of the Endtimes and all recipe-style Spell-books should be retconned out of existence.

If that's unacceptable, then The Once and Future King by TH White (On my bookshelf there's a collected edition, so it counts as one)

8. One book you are currently reading

Tarot Journeys by Yasmine Galernorn

9. One book you have been meaning to read

The Second Sex by Simone Beauvoir

10. Now tag five people!

Damn, I hate tagging people. I almost never respond to tags myself, but I liked this one. Anyway, Kalinara, Chris Sims, Steven, Tekanji, and Kevin should offer some variety, should they choose to accept this.

Wow, look what I missed...

I was at the DCU Panel and was generally very satisfied with their responses, but I've found out something very interesting since coming home.

From Newsarama:

Static or other Milestone characters? Levitz: "We keep talking about it. Nothing's come together yet. Dwayne McDuffie has been talking to Dan about bringing him into the DCU. But Dwayne's had some health issues."

I saw the above question. When I mentioned it in a conversation with West I was promptly shown this (he found it here):

Two things: Not that it's any of Wizardworld Chicago's business, but I didn't have surgery until May of this year. Eight weeks later, my doctors told me I could go back to work. Since then, I've written two comic books for Marvel, a series bible and development work for a new cartoon at Nickelodeon and sold a new animated series to BET. If Paul actually did imply that my illness interfered with ongoing negotiations, he has been misinformed.

It's been over three years since anyone from from DC Comics has spoken to me about using Static in the DCU. Dan DiDio and I had a single, preliminary discussion. I heard nothing else from DC until I was called on the phone a few weeks later by someone introducing herself as "the editor of Static Shock." I informed her that this seemed premature, as no agreement had been made between DC and Milestone. Since that call, I've heard nothing further on the matter from Dan or anyone else at DCU.

Looks like Paul Levitz has a little bit of explaining to do.

So I've Returned...

There are too many miles between Chicago and Oklahoma City. Maybe we could move Missouri out of the way.

Anyway, after a two day drive, I've finally made it back and I'm afraid to look at my bloglines. Wizardworld was a lot of fun, I got to see my sister, hang out with her, found a present for her, got my hands on Dracula vs King Arthur, picked up random independant books in Artist's Alley (mainly based on which sellers I liked best and how much cash I had on me at any given time), found a discounted copy of The Traditions Gathered sourcebook from White Wolf Games that had the Sons of Ether in it, read Tarot, fight on the way to the airport, make up at the terminal.

We had fun and a instant ice-breaker for all of geekdom ("So what happens When Fangirls Attack?") with our shirts, but sadly, no canned response. This was embarassing when, as I mentioned earlier, Dan Didio asks me for one at each Planning a repeat trip next year (not sure to which con) so we have until then to think of one.

I could have asked something insightful and relevant, but instead decided to ask about Carol Ferris and Katma Tui. Geoff Johns answered that we'll get an appearance by Star Sapphire, the Zamarons, and/or Carol in Green Lantern and the end of GL: Mosaic (Okay, I disguised my Katma question as one about John Stewart) is still in continuity. I asked that one a second time for clarity, and he answered in the affirmative in from of everyone. Then, as related by Kalinara, we approached him afterwards and clarified that I meant the resurrection. So, this could be interesting.

Two other people asked about John in both panels. More prominence for John Stewart is still a vague promise. I hope we won't have to wait for all of Hal's personal issues to be sorted out, or else we'll be waiting forever.

Dan Didio reminds me of an extra-enthusiastic Uncle who likes to give out presents, or a First Shirt.

Keith Giffen told me to not call him "Mr Giffen" anymore. "Sorry Mr. Giffen."

Got autographs from Ron Marz, Geoff Johns, Dan Didio, and Keith Giffen -- now I just need to wait for that order of Dragon's Blood and Wisteria to come in at the New Age shop and I'm all set to control DC Comics for the next seven years! (Kidding... Put the torches away...)

I have a 52 poster with Grant Morrison's signature on it, and a beautiful poster of Hal Jordan in front of Saturn drawn (and signed) by Mark Sparacio.

I have pictures of all four of us together with Geoff Johns, and I desperately wanted one of me and Kalinara with Ron Marz but Kim went to a panel while he was signing autographs and my own camera didn't have working batteries. I have some nice pictures anyway, and someday I'll get one with Ron Marz for the website.

I was surprisingly excited to see Liberty Belle on the JSA cover.

Kalinara showed me the first part of Lexx which was appropriately weird.

I've now been lost in Chicago driving three times now, riding while someone else drives twice, and walking once.

On the way home I was lost in two Springfields, St Louis, Joliet, Joplin, and Tulsa.

Psychocat is still alive. (I had the apartment manager check in on him.) For an hour after I got home he whined if I wasn't petting him, and a few minutes ago he bit me. Twice.

I never called that guy who left me the love note (Dammit Kevin, learn to spell!), and I didn't see the Girl-Wonder.org folks at all!

But I still had a lot of fun!

Lost in WizardWorld, No Cyberspace in Sight

Well, I made it to WizardWorld Chicago, without my power cord for my laptop. This is why I haven't posted since Monday. I'm borrowing Kalinara's laptop (the keyboard sticks) right no. Yesterdy, we were too busy at the con to check. We got Geoff Johns' autograph. I have to go back with a copy of Green Lantern, but we got a picture of all four (myself, Kalinara, my sister, an Kali's roommate) of us with him. We know Ron Marz is scheduled to be there and I fully intend to find him and get his autograph and picture.

Yesterday, we were wandering the con in blue polo shirts with "When Fangirls Attack" and the url on our chests (Those weren't ringers, as someone asked my sister). Last night, I did laundry so we'll be wearing them again. We sat in the front of the DC Nation panel and annoyed the staff (Dan Didio called on me and my older sister at once), and we have the same plans for today.

Looked for the Girl-Wonder.org folks, didn't see anyone. Kim saw a few of their flyers left at Peter David's booth, much to the writer's apparent confusion.

My sleeping schedule is all messed up, I'm awake while the sun is out.

And last night I saw a note attached to my windshield. It was from a guy I met while waiting on AAA to change my flat tire. He left me his phone number and had postscript telling me he thought I was cute. He saw me for five minutes on Wednesday, before any other conventioneers came in!

In other news, my sister turned twenty-nine today so I must find her a present.

See you all when I get back!

Monday Misandry

Well, I'd have been satisfied letting the conversation fizzle out on this earlier post, but one last commenter showed up with some rather unusual ideas. He seems much more interested in talking about Harlequin romance being unfriendly to men right now, which would be fine except this is my blog and I don't know a damned thing about Harlequin romance books. I really don't care about Harlequin romance books, I want to read comic books. He also has some interesting views on what an "independent publisher" is, along with a rather questionable resume. I'd be inclined to just ignore him entirely, except his argument had an underlying idea that needs to be addressed.

His first comment:

The Big Two have no reason to publish shoujo-esque manga unless they wish to lose their core, primarily male fan base.

After we set him straight that we didn't want DC to market Manga, he continues:

Ragnell, the same arguments you made can be applied to any number of industries. Yet no one is suggesting that Harlequin market towards males. Why? What is the fear about marketing to men?

So I replied that I knew very little about Harlequin, and wouldn't argue against a male romance reader who suggested that they could be better marketed for men. I never once said that the way Harlequin practices business or writes books is okay in the least. I simply said, I knew nothing about the subject. He comes back:

Various companies appeal to certain markets regardless of whether people outside those markets also enjoy the stories. You seem in favor of it when the market is largely female. That’s quite hypocritical, and honestly you lose the support of male fans by doing that.

The commenter in question is from a blog I found by way of his linking to Girl-Wonder.org. I'm going to assume that he's aware of their complaints -- Stephanie Brown's treatment in particular -- as well as the ones I've brought up on this blog. In the comment thread he posted on, I had suggesting marketing a few superhero comics where women could find them, and having covers which were friendly to female readers.

Yet, and I believe this because he keeps bringing it up, he seems to feel that if something was done to make the superhero comics industry friendlier to female readers, that somehow male readers would be driven away.

As though male readers feed on the degradation and humiliation of female characters. As though, female characters must be disposable and never once in the spotlight for male readers to feel comfortable. As though bad art portraying practically pornagraphic images are what is necessary to sell to a male reader.

See, I simply must disagree. I very much doubt my father or my brother would be bothered by the suggested improvements in their entertainment. I've watched TV and discussed books and movies with the men I work with, and while they enjoy raunchy pictures found online and in their magazines, I've yet to see one of them flee from a story with a respectful portrayal of a woman. In the comic book store, when I point out that a female character got shafted in a storyline and describe a better way to handle her, most of the men in the store either agree that they would read a story about her, or come up with a better idea. I'm willing to bet a lot of Birds of Prey readers are male, as well as readerrs of Rucka's Wonder Woman and other stories that have "gotten it right" and would probably have been widely enjoyed by a female audience were they marketed to them. I've yet to see a man give up buying manga or name because he's seen it in a bookstore with female customers perusing the shelf. On the whole, I'd have that I have a high opinion of the male comic-book reading public, and I believe that good stories would be read by readers of both genders.

So, I have a question to ask that commenter, and anyone who agrees with him -- Why do you have such a poor opinion of men?

Blogging Survey

Heidi conducted a survey about blogging (Why, how, when people chose to do it) over at Comics Fairplay, and the results are up right now, in case anyone is interested.

Part One
Part Two
Summary