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!

Before this gets out of hand.

I've noticed a small amount of griping about the posts here and here. I've no doubt that this will turn into a large amount of griping, so I may as well wade in here and say I agree that there are people placing fan entitlement over feminist critique in our little community of the blogosphere.

I may be wrong that this will turn into a New Year's Flamewar. The last time I touched on this subject I didn't get the shitstorm response I was expecting. Of course, last time I didn't single anyone out, so here goes.

I've seen a Green Lantern fan complain that Jade's death was sexist because it was unfair to Alan on the Comic-Bloc forums.

On When Fangirls Attack, I've seen supposedly feminist articles complaining that bad haircuts are sexism against female character.

I've seen a flock of JLI lovers attach themselves to Girl-Wonder.org and seize on every opportunity to trash DC, which I simply find suspect. I know that there are very passionate feminists who also love JLI, I liked the series myself, but when I see constant personal attacks against Didio and Johns that keep bringing up the body count of Giffen's old Justice League but don't see the same people engaging in the more in-depth feminist debates, I'm a little suspicious.

And I know a comics blogger who comes up with endless justifications for her hatred of characters such as Donna Troy and Jade. She claims that they, at their very core and in their concept, are anti-feminist by nature and should die horribly to be replaced by better female characters. (And Cassie Sandsmark, but I haven't ranted about her on this blog yet.)

Look, this is superhero fandom. We're naturally obsessive, possessive, and only marginally sane at best. Fans who don't want anything bad to happen to their favorite characters have been latching onto pseudofeminist critiques since the Fridge List, and they aren't going to stop now. Its hard for any fan-rant not to look like "Bring Hal Jordan back or die" with that image in the reader's mind.

The best anyone can do is offer as well-thought out and reasonable an argument as possible, with plenty of social theory to back you up. It never hurts to go for the common sense argument.

Now, I do have to weigh in on the other controversal statement Dorian made in that paragraph. The Memorial Case Campaign. I don't see overt sexism on DC's part. I do see inherent sexism in the Bat-verse, and the setup of the characters. I am absolutely certain that piles of letters from fans about wanting a better portrayal of female characters is a good thing. Whether you feel its in character or not for her to get one, it lets them know that women care about what happens in the books.

Because everyone has to do it sometime.

And because I finally got around to playing with that camera Mama the Foul got me for my last birthday. I'm gonna try this Friday cat-blogging thing.

This is Knight. Feel free to caption.

Dammit Healey!

I've been namechecked. (Sort of)

Sarcasm and Superheroics: Feminism in the Mainstream Comics Industry.
2006 has been declared the year of Women in Comics. Alison Bechdel's “Fun Home” was one of Time’s 10 Best Books, best-selling authors Jodi Picoult and Tamora Pierce were signed up to write for DC and Marvel, and DC announced a new "Minx" line for girls. However, 2006 was also a year of increased feminist activism in mainstream comics. New websites When Fangirls Attack and Girl-Wonder.org collected and encouraged feminist debate on issues of diversity and sexism in comics, and there seemed to be plenty to talk about. Moreover, the Occasional Superheroine confessional memoir recounted a disturbing tale of abuse and misogyny within the superhero industry that was reflected onto the pages of its comics. What has improved in the comics industry? What is yet to be done? What challenges are posed by the industry's peculiar institutional structure? How can women break into the comics mainstream? How can we critique it? And what comics *can* you buy for your kids?
Suggested by: Karen Elizabeth Healey

Still, awesome panel idea.

Merry Christmas!

My mother got me a few books, including one called Mastering the Art of Drawing. It has a few activities that should keep me busy for a few days.



I also have some Robert Heinlein novels to read, so don't be surprised to see some ranting in the near future.

Have a lovely holiday everybody!

Wonder Woman Artist Interview!

Drew Johnson talked to Newsarama about his upcoming Wonder Woman stint. He has a change of style in store for us:

I'm in a different place artistically than I was on my previous run with Greg. I feel like I have a better understanding of how to tell a story visually than I did back then---I learned a lot about that working from Keith Giffen's layouts on 52 recently.

In terms of drawing, I relied heavily on photo reference for just about every figure I drew during my last work on Wonder Woman - in fact Greg choreographed and posed for all of our fight scenes during our run. Since then, I've gotten away from photo reffing figures.

My wife Karen is an animator, and when we were first going out, she introduced me to a whole new set of artistic influences and more fluid, gestural ways of drawing the figure. I've been lucky enough to get to work on my pages at a desk in her studio sometimes over the last year and a half, and getting to watch her and other animators draw really inspired me to loosen up my figures--to make 'em look less posed. My art style, I hope, looks a bit more evolved since I last worked on Wonder Woman.

Also, this sketch spoils a supporting cast member, and the interview implies that the Dodsons will be back after this run is over. But I haven't heard any rumors about the writer to follow Piccoult yet.

To My Older Sister,

During the winter holiday season, when the days get shorter and the nights get longer, and the primal fear of the sun never rising again reaches its height, I feel an irrational need to tell members of my family things that I've kept to myself all year long. Since today is the Winter Solstice, that irrational feeling is at its peak. So in the spirit of the season and for my own peace of mind, I have a special holiday message for you:

I want my copy of Soulwind back.

I know you still have it somewhere.

Season's Greetings,
-- Your Younger Sister.

From Doctor Mid-Nite #1:

This is amusing.

On Tamora Pierce's post about writing female heroes, a livejournal user with the name gailsimone1 comments here. That journal has no public content, and no one friended to view any locked content.

This empty livejournal now has 38 people waiting for her to write in it.

I can't help but think of that interview where she said she didn't find herself all that fascinating.

My newest online obsession

This may be useful for those of you who'd like to catalogue your trade paperbacks online, or maybe look at people with similar collections.

They allow up to 200 books with a free account. I couldn't stop there, though. I have maybe a third of my own personal library on there, and I haven't even gotten to the shelf that is filled with trade paperbacks. It's a bit addictive.

I might put a widget on the sidebar later, when I'm done with my entire collection or I just get bored enough not to enter any more.

(Found through Composite)

For Insight

Try Tamora Pierce's livejournal. Especially the part about people who ask her why she writes female character:

It really hurts when girls ask me this. Are they so beaten down by our culture's superior value on boys that they don't understand why someone would prefer to write for them, showcasing their strengths and possibilities? Do they find it so strange that someone would willingly showcase them? So brainwashed that they think there's something wrong with me that I prefer it, or that I prefer girl heroes, and not princesses, or princesses in disguise, or orphans in quest of families, or loner socialites, or rocker wanna-bes, or girl victims? (Not that I don't value the books in which girls begin as victims--I read them myself, and really like the way the characters learn what's going find strength and a way out. But I prefer a different approach, and when girls ask me why I'm doing it, I need to start asking, "Why aren't more people doing it? Aren't you worth as many heroes as the boys get?"

So far, this has been a bad winter for blogging.

However, I still have time to stop in and accept my Time Magazine Person of the Year Award, or rather, my tiny portion of it as a comics blogger.

The annual honor for 2006 went to each and every one of us, as Time cited the shift from institutions to individuals — citizens of the new digital democracy, as the magazine put it. The winners this year were anyone using or creating content on the World Wide Web.

I'd like to thank my parents, misogynistic fanboys, and Green Lantern's Butt. (Via)

Green Lantern Corps #7

The only reasonable reaction to this issue is a contented sigh and bouquet of roses for the creative team.

Oh, and letters to Tomasi demanding that Gleason design every costume in the franchise from this moment on.

I Can't Believe I Did This

That image was so hideous it put me off blogging for three days. (Well, I had other issues, but it certainly didn't help my enthusiasm).

The store didn't get most of the comics on Wednesday, so I had to go in today to get mine. While I was there, I did the unthinkable.

I crossed Green Lantern off my pull list.

Don't panic, I'm still me. I'm fine with getting Green Lantern Corps and Ion (loving them both so far), but I just can't muster any enthusiasm for the main book right now. I'd still be getting it if either the POW storyline had never happened, or the artist had the slightest idea about what looked good on a character.

See, it's not even so much the sexism with Arisia and Star Sapphire as it is the sheer ugliness of the two costumes. Add that ugliness to the fact that they make my favorite title something I can't carry in public without hiding the cover. Then add in the sexism of no male character having been drawn in a comparable monstrosity. It's totally soured me on the art.

The writing is annoying me because of the POW storyline, and also because John Stewart is completely absent. They keep promising, but he never actually shows up.

I might pick it up again when the Star Sapphire storyline is over, not sure though. I'm not sure I'd be willing to read a resurrection storyline with Katma Tui right now. Can you imagine what sort of costume that stupid artist would put her in?

Beyond the Pale

Soyo told me that the cover for Green Lantern #18 was out today.

Peter Tomasi, Green Lantern Editor
DC Comics
1700 Broadway
New York, NY 10019

This was too easy.

Actually, it is way too easy. I dare you all to make a nonsexual joke about it.

Something to Smile About

Wonder Woman #6 Solicit from Newsarama:

WONDER WOMAN #6
Written by Jodi Picoult
Art by Drew Johnson & Ray Snyder
Cover by Terry & Rachel Dodson
Best-selling author Jodi Picoult (The 10th Circle, Sister’s Keeper) takes the writing reins, setting Wonder Woman on a collision course with her long-missing people, the Amazons!
Special Agent Diana Prince of the Department of Metahuman Affairs is assigned the impossible task of capturing Wonder Woman! How she can capture herself is just the start of Wonder Woman’s problems, as Diana Prince must relearn how to exist as a human woman and a deadly foe begins closing a net on the Amazon Warrior that will lead to a catastrophic outcome! With gorgeous art by Drew Johnson and Ray Snyder (52)!
On sale March 28 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

So the Amazons return, the secret identity stays, and most importantly Drew Johnson is back. I love what the Dodsons have been doing, but damned if I didn't miss this guy to death. He draws the most incredible women, and the most incredible Olympians!

I hope this means he'll get to modernize Hermes. I hope this means the gods are back.

I hope this means it ships on time.

I hope this means I won't pan the crap out of this book because of I hate the writing.

How can a meme so accurate make such a glaring mistake?

(Just a screencap because the image doesn't fit my blog. Here's the actual quiz.)

I'm not going to rant, I'm just going to display it and shake my head. I know no one meant anything by it, but I hate that I can't even do a quiz in this fandom without somehow running into that "girls don't read superheroes" attitude.

On a lighter note...

Those of you on livejournal may be interested in Karen's new mood theme, which showcases many wonderful different emotional states, as drawn by Greg Land.

Martin Nodell passed away.

From Blog@Newsarama:

Mark Evanier is reporting on his blog that comics legend Martin Nodell, creator of Green Lantern, passed away today at the age of 91.

That makes three in a very short period of time.

You Can Never Have Enough Free Webspace

Oh, and as long as I'm posting -- I have been asssimilated. Everybody else has one and the layout is not obnoxious yet. Not sure what I'll do with it, except place links to my other sites and gauge my popularity.

Maybe I can do political cartoons with dreadful art or something like that.

White Tiger #2

Better than the first issue. I still hate the art, but the writing's much smoother.

Another villain displays sexism, but its seems like there's more of a point to it. It's setting up a personality, specifically a leadership style, and makes more sense.

Less Spanglish, too. Though isn't "puta" a bit profane for an all ages book? I could be wrong about the meaning, it's been a while since I lived in Texas.

Same sort of stuff slipped by editorial in the Gorgon storyline in Wonder Woman. Weird how TV and radio are getting more restricted, but comics are getting more slack right now.

(And the sad thing is that this isn't even the most trivial thing I've ever criticized. I'd say that the most trivial thing I've ever posted was the rant about Captain Comet's name, but I'm sure there's something more miniscule in my archives that I'm forgetting about.)

Let's Keep This Simple

In honor of this, my five hundredth post on this blog, I have prepared a very special treat for all of you.

Present behind the cut.

From the pages of Green Lantern #50,

in its very first appearance,

Kyle Rayner's butt.

Green Lantern: The Other Series #8

Lest you think I hated all of the Green Lantern books last week, I wanted to do an in-depth review Green Lantern Lite (mysteriously marketed as Ion for 8 issues now). Instead, I read the archives of the Invincible Super-Blog all night. You only get a short summary.

Surprisingly, despite some definite openings for feminist critique and a looming refrigeration unit on the horizon (you'll hear about it if it does indeed manifest, because I really like the threatened character), I was really happy with this issue. The story was cheerful, entertaining, and full of action that kept moving. I'm already very fond of Kyle. So yes, Ron Marz the only Lantern-writer not to piss me off last week.

I think it's mostly the art this time. There were two fill-in pencillers (Paco Diaz and Yvel Guichet, not sure who did which set of pages) which pleased me greatly. For various reasons I despise the regular artist and I shovel steaming mounds of criticism onto his work whenever possible.

I was pleasantly surprised by the art, and the writing was enjoyable.

Almost Carnival Time!

Final Call for Eighth Carnival of Feminist Science Fiction and Fantasy Fans is up at Dance of the Puppets. Nominations/Submissions due December 7th.

From Greek Gods to Guy Gardner and G'nort

I was planning to post on the flaws of George Perez's Wonder Woman reboot, but instead I'm just going to touch on one flaw and how it relates to Green Lantern. Well, more specifically, Guy Gardner: Collateral Damage #1 which could have been called Green Lantern: Collateral Damage (Just like Ion is really only Green Lantern: Now With Less Angst!). In it, Howard Chaykin's Guy Gardner really reminded me of George Perez's Greek Pantheon.

With Perez, it was painful to read his Olympus and Hermes scenes because it seemed like he'd never read up on the gods. I got the distinct impression that he got a fact sheet and a few pages summarizing the notable stories and he went from there because while the structure and framework of the Pantheon was there, the life and the spirit was nowhere to be found.

I'm convinced that's what happened with Howard Chaykin and Beau Smith's Warrior run. Someone must have given Chaykin a list of plot elements and summaries, because the framework of Warrior is there but the spirit sure as hell isn't. I'm willing to accept the narrative condemnation of Guy because its first-person narrative from G'Nort's POV (I mean, since when is G'nort considered "perceptive"?) but even taking that into account doesn't improve on the overall mood of the book. I'm largely unimpressed with this comic and that is really saying something because I had very low expectations to begin with.

Also, that new Rannian Lantern puts the series out of continuity with GLC, which grates on my nerves because GLC has managed to keep with the spirit of Warrior even though it threw the trappings of the series to curb.

On the bright side, there was a G'nort butt-shot.



(Annoyingly, that was the only full tailview of G'nort and every other Lantern was turned to the side or the front every panel. Even the female character. The man knows nothing about Green Lantern. Butts, not breasts, dammit!)

Also on the bright side, I spent twenty minutes laughing at the first two pages in which we see "Dark G'nort." That was golden unintentional comedy, funnier than any other G'nort appearance I've ever seen. The scrunched up little face, the badass attitude, the known history, and the fact that this is Dark fucking G'nort combined to save the entire issue for me. I think he should stay this way, it is hilarious.

Those two pages aside, don't waste the six bucks. Buy a few Warrior back issues instead.

I know I've covered this before.

I just can't get over how "Fanboy" carries the expectation of extremely pretentious criticism, and "Fangirl" carries the expectation of starstruck gushing silliness.

I know what fangirls are like. They are exactly like fanboys when they get disappointed. I know what fanboys are like, just a goofy as fangirls when they get starstruck. Its just an inescapable connotation.

We need a gender-neutral word, dammit, and "Fan" is just a tad too dignified.

On Harsh Criticism

(Note: Please excuse the following really pretentious post. Using long words in a self-important tone is a defense mechanism common to the net-dwelling fannis comicus. It serves to discourage disagreement by maximizing the risk of humiliation and minimizing the gains of friendship. And a post explaining the fannish need to nitpick and complain would not be the same without using the proper "fanboy voice" in the writing.)

It may surprise recent readers to learn this, but I have been in a beautiful, blissful mood since November 30th. I had been running ragged for several months at that point. Spreading myself a little too thin had caused me, for the most part, to burn out on blogging. I was very close to just stopping abruptly and disappearing from fandom. I've done this once or twice before, it's not hard to pick up again. Instead, I signed up to do even more writing, and immersed myself up to the bridge of my nose in the venture.

It worked beautifully! Sure, it has probably affected my writing in the most negative way possible (I'm sure in a few weeks this annoying tendency to milk my writing for the highest possible wordcount to the detriment of theme, mood, grammatical accuracy, and actual communication, will fade away) Once the month was over, I suddenly found myself well-rested and brimming with ideas. I am attempting to write fiction. I am writing more on my blog. I am completely caught up with my blog-reading. I am smiling and laughing as I walk through the hallways at work. I am accepting of myself and unashamed of my origins. My heart is filled with good will for everyone I meet. I love comics, comics fandom, the blogosphere, and the internet again. I love everything, almost.

All of this good will seems to be stopping short at the feet of the people who work and slave to deliver quality entertainment to an ungrateful fandom. It seems that my sensibilities are set to hypersensitive. While I harbor no personal resentment towards the individual creators, the very small little details that grate on my exposed nerves, the ones which, prior to NaNoWriMo, I had tried so very hard to forgive and keep reading past, are suddenly to such an extent that I can not ignore them, even for the sake of a story which is ninety-five percent pure awesome. I must complain, in detail, and in harsh language, about these little problems.

In short, ladies and gentlemen of the internet, I am in full "Fanboy" mode, and have been rampaging accordingly since the month began. I'm sure when its over I will awaken from my fannish stupor, still hugging my three-quarter drunken bottle of liquid rage, dazed, confused, and completely unaware of what happened in the preceding posts. I will then collect my things, look back on the negativity contained on this blog with great embarrassment, take a shower and attempt to return to polite society. Most of fandom should understand, we are comic book fans after all and this is normal behavior. Most of you will give me a wide berth until you're certain I won't bite anymore. Everyone will politely ignore my previous comments, and new fans will have no clue as to my prior rampages with the exception of a slight blush whenever there is cause to praise the comics work of Tamora Pierce.

I very much doubt the creators themselves will remember or even care to remember my rantings. In comics, creators are a part of fandom, they get this from every quarter, I am just another nutbag fan, and I am hardly the harshest critic on the block. There is absolutely no point in pretending to be perfectly happy when perfect happiness is hardly my natural response, especially when feigning niceness might lead to stress, exhaustion, and the need to write another thirty-day novel to relax. Besides, having plopped down my three dollars to cover their royalties I am entitled to get whatever enjoyment is possible out of the comic book and as many of you know, ranting and raving on the internet is immensely enjoyable.

Complaining about comics is a joy in itself, and a form of socialization on the internet. It is one of three possible compensations for a disappointing read, the other two being mockery and potential increase in value. It allows a fan to show off their own verbal and analytical skills to the detriment of the creator, and even display a greater imagination by offering alternative stories. Complaining in a witty and entertaining manner, commonly referred to as "“snarking", is beneficial to the health and self-esteem of your common fan, and it serves to blow off the frustration that builds from watching a character that you grew up with take a direction that is deeply distressing for personal reasons.

Now, while most of my readers are members of the superhero fandom, and are already positive acquainted with the positive benefits of griping, there are still some people reading who find quite a bit of harm in these complaints. Most notably among this minority is She For Whom the Calender Trembles, Maker of the Tuna Casserole, Roaster of the Roast Beast, Scourge of the Parent-Teacher Association, Infamous for the "My Daughter Does Not Need to be in That Program" Altercation Which Resulted in the Transformation of Three Board Members from Flesh to Stone. Her full name has been known to cause spontaneous combustion in the faint of heart, so you may refer to her as "Mama" the Foul. To avoid being turned into a lovely statuette, offerings must be made on three seperate annual occasions, a pilgrimage must be undertaken each winter, regular verbal correspondence must occur and the request that I "be nicer to the other kids" must be periodically honored.

For the benefit of "Mama" the Foul, I will admit the obvious, that there is little point in throwing personal insults at a creator, criticizing the wrong creator, or criticizing a creator for the wrong things aside from venting pent-up frustrations. But, consider this -- in my normal job, I work in lower middle management. As a blogger, I can't get a writer like Geoff Johns fired (I don'’t think ANYONE could get Geoff Johns fired at this point, his name is etched in stone on the DC writing assignments list only the other titles he writes on change), but as the immediate supervisor of Poor Hapless Bystander I can certainly hurt his chances of surviving the next round of staff cuts if I'm not careful to explain precisely how he is responsible for the continuing daily sunrise in as glowing terms that equal or surpass the glowing terms his rival'’s supervisor uses when she explains how her subordinate is responsible for the continuing daily sunrise (performance reviews suck). This is hard to do when I sit down at my desk and obsess over the one fluorescent yellow thread in an otherwise perfect earth-tone tapestry.

I'’m not the only one who obsesses over the little things, thank heaven for fandom. I'm also not the only person out there in lower middle management who relaxes by obsessing over these things, and then complaining about them.

I am one of very few who gets told by her own mother she should feel guilty about it, and then writes an entire post explaining that she is not sorry, not wrong, but may have been just a tad bit oversensitive and that's okay but there's absolutely nothing personal. (Though if JSA sets me off this week, I may be moving on to personal insults -- in which case I'll need someone to distract Mama the Foul.)

Now, while complaining about everything is a guilty pleasure, it is still an enormous pleasure and a traditional comic book fan pastime. It is, in particular, a traditional superhero comics fan pastime.

So with Mama the Foul placated I was planning to, in the spirit of tradition, saturate this blog in the dubious pleasure of being completely unfair to some poor schmuck who was just trying to bring some joy into the collective heart of fandom and educate the comics blogging community about all of the numerous flaws in George Perez's Wonder Woman reboot. However, I'’ve rambled on long enough for one post, and there really isn'’t enough memory on Blogger to accommodate a detailed explanation of everything that was wrong with George Perez's reboot of Wonder Woman. Still, if tomorrow I find myself in a foul mood towards comic book creators again, this would be a safe rant to expect.

Three Days Left

I've been remiss in not announcing it here, but you sitll have three days left to post and submit. The Submission Deadline for the Eighth Carnival of Feminist Science Fiction and Fantasy Fans is December 7th, so you only have three days left to get those submissions in to Marionette. Announcemenmt and Guidelines here, send submissions to maricarnival [AT] blueyonder [DOT] co [DOT] uk or by using this submission form

Marionette's posting the carnival on December 10th on her blog!

To the Writer of Green Lantern, Volume Four,

Today for the second time in a year, I reconsidered buying Green Lantern when I saw it in my pile. You must understand that, in addition to being reasonably fond of Kyle Rayner, I have been a huge Hal Jordan fan since I was a teenager. Since "Rebirth," I've been utterly obsessed with this franchise. I buy everything "Green Lantern" that DC puts out. I went through ten of the little mystery box figurines to find the Hal Jordan/Abin Sur statue. I bought every Green Lantern back issue in the Oklahoma City area, and then raided Tulsa. I read every issue that comes out and features a Green Lantern character. I feel more affection for the writers of the two spinoffs than I do for several blood relatives. I should not think twice about buying an issue of the main title. I should not even have to think about buying an issue of the main title. It should be automatic. Like breathing. I should be paying direct deposit to the comic book store, and I should be reading it in the car before I leave the parking lot in order to gain exposure to that sweet, sweet superhero space drama.

Before I get in exactly why, let's look at the character you're writing.

Hal Jordan. He has spent maybe five years (in continuity, maybe one?) as the Spectre. Prior to that, he spent maybe six years (no idea how much that is in continuity right now) as an insane cosmic crossover supervillain. During the 70s and the 80s, he was the Poster Boy for White Liberal Guilt. He has, since conception as a character, been utterly incapable of sustaining a meaningful relationship with a member of the opposite sex. His first serious girlfriend, the love of his life, had her brain taken over by aliens and he was forced to fight her. She is now married to someone else. Another major girlfriend was transported to an alien world along with her entire town because Hal visited there. He is a character who has been shown, in your own series, to believe that being married with children is an ideal existence for his best friend, but engages in an endless series of one night stands; the combination of which indicates emotional instability and denial as opposed to the healthy unfettered expression of sexuality displayed by, say, Queen Hippolyta. His parents are dead, he watched his father die in front of his eyes flying a jet -- the very career field Hal entered. His older brother and his older brother's family are dead. Since you've gotten your hands on him, the insanity became ten years of intense mind control (a convenient way to remove culpability while retaining an emotional illusion of responsibility), his mother's death occurred while she was angry at him, only six people in the Green Lantern Corps trust him, everyone on Earth thinks he is a criminal, and the Guardians are using him as a "how not to behave" example.

Somehow, this was not enough misery for you to play with, so you added the POW storyline.

I am certainly not saying that there is no place for such a situation in the entire franchise. I initially, and mistakenly, thought my gut reaction was an objection to all instances of grafting historical horrors into the background of a fictional character as a sign of disrespect for the subject matter. This simply isn't true. I watched Hogan's Heroes for years and laughed my ass off. Maus was fucking brilliant and threw mice into concentration camps. I've watched that movie with Owen Wilson in Bosnia repeatedly. I've roleplayed with this in the character backstory.

No, the problem isn't the idea itself. The problem is in the execution. After five issues this does not strike me as a well-crafted way to weave real-life political themes into the overall theme of a speculative fiction storyline, and use the outer limits of the imagination to comment on the reality of the human situation. It strikes me as a quick and easy way to tug at heartstrings of your audience and create sympathy for a character that should already have the audience's sympathy. It strikes me as a way to use current events as shorthand to the very real anxieties and concerns of the very real people reading the book. You're showing flashbacks and buddies suggesting they get therapy. You quoted John McCain and set it in the real war-torn region Chechnya instead of a fictional DC construct. You used this setting to introduce a damsel in distress and drive the higher plot. It's a way to skip the work of presenting an carefully plotted, well-crafted sympathetic tragedy, the fallout of the tragedy, and the internal and external conflict involved by playing on preset reactions to the trappings of a real-life situation that most of your readers are familiar with. This way, you can introduce the subject with a few flashbacks, quotes, and angsty narrative captions to milk the emotional resonance for all its worth as you complicate the hero's life.

It's basically a cheap shock tactic, the same problem most writers have when using rape. It's dramatic shorthand and not an explorable drama on its own. A throwaway theme. It's all about Angst.

Now let me tell you, as a former teenage Goth I know a thing or two about Angst. From years of experience brooding in the back of the classroom, wearing black, playing Vampire: The Masquerade and writing gawd-awful poetry I can attest that you do not need to flirt with Reality to achieve Angst. This infatuation with real life, realism and Reality that has infected you and your peers is worrying to say the least. I know Reality is attractive, but beneath that sly smile beats the heart of a predator. I would think that anyone who reads comics would know that the true nature of Reality is that of a ravenous beast which devours the creative and idealistic soul. I can't imagine what would entice you to bring such a creature into a comic book. Is it drugs? Do you need some?

As a matter of necessity, I would advise avoiding Reality at all costs. Reality is no good for you. Reality plies you with alcohol. Reality makes you pick up the check. Reality does not pay for gas or the hotel room. Reality does not call back the next morning. Reality is cruel. Reality is vindictive. Reality is jealous and clingy, but expects to be able to run around at all hours of the night with heaven-knows-who. I know, I've flirted with Reality myself (Reality's bisexual, by the way) and it was nothing but too much trouble for not even a quality heartbreak. Surely, there's a better way to achieve Angst than by associating yourself with Reality.

But I digress (all the time, now that I think about it, and no one seems to mind). My point is that there are ways of getting a reaction out of your reader, and they define the quality of your writing. I am not the only reader paying for cheap thrills, an emotional roller-coaster to ride every month. But there are cheap thrills to make a story engaging and fun, and there are cheap shocks to get a quick gut reaction from your audience. Cheap thrills pretend to be nothing other than that. Cheap shocks feign the sort of in-depth literary writing that garners praise for creating emotion reactions when they are actually just playing on emotional reactions that the majority of readers would have. Cheap thrills can be low or high quality writing, and they can be intensely imaginative. Cheap shocks are always low quality writing, and they betray a lack of imagination. The Green Lantern franchise, with a massively long history, and a massively large, weird cosmic background is fertile ground for the imagination. The test of a writer's skill is the same as in all speculative fiction, by how they draw the reader into temporarily believing an outrageous situation. The writer can focus on applying plausibility to the basic personality of the main character, and use that plausibility as anchor to a wonderful, imaginative and insightful story, or they can fake imagination and insight by throwing a few realistic elements on the surface, leading to a regularly mediocre, often infuriating, and sometimes offensive story.

Sincerely,
A fan who will be re-reading back issues.

Green Lantern #15

Nothing here to break up my foul mood. Expect the creator bashing stick to remain readily available this month, because if I can't enjoy Green Lantern it's a bad sign for everything else I read.

Ivan Reis should not be allowed to design female costumes anymore. Granted, at least this one is pretty, but still disturbingly indecent and impractical, and completely impossible to wear as a convention costume. Someone needs to get that artist a date.

I liked parts of this issue, but I still hate Geoff Johns for that storyline that's popped up in issue #10, issue #14, and this one. You'll probably hear a lot more about it because its irritating the shit out of me.

Let's Play a Game!

Time to see who's still hanging around after that month of downtime. We'll do an easy one. What's White Tiger saying?


Don't be shy, de-lurk and make a joke!

White Tiger #1

(ETA, Dec 3: Ouch! My mother just told me I should feel bad about this review. I probably shouldn't have read this one right after getting so angry at Green Lantern #14.)

I know, I know, I promised ninjas. Is this close enough?



There was a lot of buildup and hype to White Tiger, no small part of it was the anticipation of seeing what a female writer from outside the industry, who was known for writing books that appeal to young women, could do with a female hero. I was looking forward to the chance to either laud Tamora Pierce for an excellent job, or tear her writing to pieces for not living up to the high expectations.

I can't do either until she works with a new artist.

The artist used the hideous backbreaking posture that I dislike on principle, and there were a couple annoying cheesecakey breast shots in the first page, but there was really only one that made me loathe this guy's art, and it had nothing to do with which gender he drew. I really, really hate this guy's heads and faces. His foreheads are too large and features too small, and there is some unusual angle with his necks that makes things a bit strange. Character faces are pretty important for mood, expression and characterization and if they don't look right it makes it hard to like the character.

Anatomy isn't everything, its just what strikes me as most unlikeable about Phil Briones' work. I do like artists that have a less than perfect grasp of anatomy, but that's a matter of style. With some artists I can see through the superficial problems that a lot of people write them off for, and find something that makes me love, or at least tolerate them. It started with Howard Porter's JLA. Oh, we bought it for Grant but I constantly complained to my sister about the art, and even she rolled her eyes at his Wonder Woman depiction. Still he had his pluses, look in the background of the early issues of JLA that he drew. You can find little details like oreos in J'onn's quarters, or feathers after Zauriel flies off. There's even a flood scene that shows two fishermen catching a shark (the town was flooded with stolen oceanwater). Even aside from the little details that hardcore fans would notice, Howard Porter was just damned good at drawing action and motion. He could do those huge cosmic shots in outer space that Grant Morrison's writing needs and even if he could never get the characters perfect the rest of it was good enough to read it.

Patrick Gleason's people are blocky and doughy, but the flow in his work has been incredible. In GLC, every character is posed and every panel is angled to give the impression that the story is nothing but nonstop action even when everyone is just talking for most of the issue. And the faces in his closeups can be absolutely gorgeous. Gleason put more expression in a shot of Kyle's masked and lensed eyes narrowing at the sight of Fatality than Briones put in an entire page of Black Widow and White Tiger conversing in a bar. I might never like Patrick Gleason's human bodies (though his aliens are awesome and his original design for Isamot's girlfriend was beyond awesome) but his storytelling ability set him pretty high on my "favorite artists" list.

And of course, there's Frank Quitely, an artist you either adore or despise. A lot of people despise his characters their squat, wrinkly bodies, but he has done so much with posture and expression in All-Star Superman that I adore most everything he does.

The problem I have with Briones isn't exactly his big weakness so much as his lack of any strength to make up for that weakness. The backgrounds are mediocre. The action is by the numbers. There's nothing innovative in his storytelling. There's nothing in his layouts that draw the entire page together. It's generally unremarkable enough that all of what for other artists would be little mistakes are glaringly unforgiveable muckups in his hands.

During one of my regular person to person ranting episodes (when I let out all of the frustrations that never make it to these blog), a friend asked if my problem with him was a lack of direction because he is doing a book written by a novelist. She's unfamiliar with the comic book medium, so he probably didn't get the best direction he could have. No, that's not it. Anyone who's watched creative teams get jumbled knows that a skilled and talented artist can more than make up for a weak writer.

This is not to say that all of the issues I had with this issue should definitely be laid at the feet of the artist. I was impressed, early on, that Pierce and Liebe managed to avoid the biggest mistake a writer moving from prose to comics can make, which is wordy narration. She let the artist show the story and saved the captions for important issues. But there were a few minor irritations that set me off in this book, and the biggest one came six pages in.



It's a girl.

It's a girl!?!

I see absolutely no reason for the bad guy to call attention to his opponent's gender. I mean, this is the Marvel Universe, home of Black Cat, Black Widow, Elektra, Psylocke, Misty Knight, Colleen Wing, Echo, Spider-Woman, and numerous others. Is it really that surprising anymore when the black clad warrior with the glowing talisman who is kicking your ass turns out to be female?

I can see establishing a villain's personality as sexist, but I really don't see what that adds to the story in this case. Maybe my standards are just set too high because it's disappointing that fight scenes still get interrupted to point out the gender of the participants. It tore me out of the story for a few minutes. I much prefer a world where women kicking ass was accepted as natural and not something worth commenting but I suppose that's too much escapism for even comic books.

Of course, it's possible that I am completely overreacting and that I never would have noticed this if I wasn't already irritated to be reading something drawn by such a terrible artist. Good art covers a multitude of sins. There just wasn't any good art nearby to soothe my easily inflamed and oversensitive temper.

Aside from that were a few scenes that seemed a bit too long (but could have been saved by a better artist), and some character issues. Black Widow just seemed "off," not at all like herself. It took me until her name was said to realize it was Natasha, and in Marvel Comics she should be distinctive immediately. The Spanglish was cliche. I still don't feel comfortable enough calling White Tiger by her first name, so I think more could have been done to make the character personable, but this is just the first issue by a writer who's never written before. It could be turned around later.

On the whole, I would grade it as "Better than Judd Winick and Tom Raney."