A dated but still interesting biography of William Marston, creator of Wonder Woman. And an overview of the character from the Comic Book Periodic Table.
In a sweeping example of what passes for feminism in comics, the Big Three Superteams of DC Comics (Justice League, Justice Society, and Legion) are all being led by women. Even though nothing in any of these characters' backstories has indicated that they actually qualify for the position. Black Canary, in particular, just left the Birds of Prey with the stated purpose of spending more time mothering her newly adopted daughter Sin, and now here she is allegedly bossing Batman around. At least over in the Marvel universe, where Janet van Dyne leads the Mighty Avengers, it doesn't seem quite so much like they pulled her name out of a hat.
Over in Lady, That's My Skull, Sleestak offers what should be the final word on the Showcase Presents Batgirl cover controversy.
According to Occasional Superheroine, DC is facing a Countdown to Change that may mean the end of the Didio era. At Journalista, Dirk Deppey writes an overall favorable mention of the post that ignites a feminist firestorm with one ill-conceived, largely misunderstood joke.
(Look: I find Occasional Superheroine to be a thoughtful, sometimes moving blog, well worth the read from the first post in the archive. But at the same time, in this particular post she does repeatedly use the word "c**k-up", complete with self-aware, self-censoring asterisks. It might be insulting to suggest even jokingly, as Deppey does, that she suffers from "fear of c**k". But what if he meant fear of the word? Isn't that what censoring it implies?)
(See also Pretty Fizzy Paradise and the Comics Reporter.)
Just to lighten the mood a little, Devon at Seven Hells presents Subtext Follies featuring Wonder Woman.
What Were They Thinking asks, what kind of student sends a photo like this to their old teacher?
And Jimmy Olsen's Blues presents a review of the recent death of Bart Allen and return of Wally West, by... Bart Allen.
He must be on the roof!
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Men are from Krypton, Women are from Themiscyra
Pretty Fizzy Paradise: I get asked sometimes why I care so much about something as "minor" as feminist issues in comics. Why does it matter? Why don't you find something else? It's designed for guys! ... I've realized, and this is not intended to be an insult, that most men have no idea what it's like to be a woman.
(Read that first.)
Comparing Linda Park to Lois Lane isn't quite apples vs apples. Ms Park is a television reporter, and there may be no environment on the planet where What You Look Like is perceived to matter more than on television. Ms Lane is a newspaper reporter: I won't pretend appearance is irrelevant, but what really matters is who you know and what you know.
Hm. If anyone at DC is listening, I'd love to see a Linda Park / Lana Lang encounter. I'd think they'd have a lot to talk about. I'm guessing "beauty tips" wouldn't be very high on the list. But that's really a tangental issue.
I could argue that if women want men to "get over" caring what women look like, that this expectation is unrealistic. It's hardcoded in us. But it certainly is realistic to expect us to keep our damn' mouths shut about things that are none of our business. Under most circumstances, things that are none of our business include how much makeup is enough, whether we think your boobs hang straight, how much you weigh, or whether the rug matches the curtains.
Women are human beings, and that should be reflected in the way they are spoken to, spoken of, and depicted. That doesn't seem too much to ask.
(Read that first.)
Comparing Linda Park to Lois Lane isn't quite apples vs apples. Ms Park is a television reporter, and there may be no environment on the planet where What You Look Like is perceived to matter more than on television. Ms Lane is a newspaper reporter: I won't pretend appearance is irrelevant, but what really matters is who you know and what you know.
Hm. If anyone at DC is listening, I'd love to see a Linda Park / Lana Lang encounter. I'd think they'd have a lot to talk about. I'm guessing "beauty tips" wouldn't be very high on the list. But that's really a tangental issue.
I could argue that if women want men to "get over" caring what women look like, that this expectation is unrealistic. It's hardcoded in us. But it certainly is realistic to expect us to keep our damn' mouths shut about things that are none of our business. Under most circumstances, things that are none of our business include how much makeup is enough, whether we think your boobs hang straight, how much you weigh, or whether the rug matches the curtains.
Women are human beings, and that should be reflected in the way they are spoken to, spoken of, and depicted. That doesn't seem too much to ask.
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Under the Green Sun
By the era of the stories collected in Showcase Presents Superman #3, the new approach was beginning to become a rut of its own. Superman went from being the sole survivor of Krypton to being the custodian of a lilliputian city full of them, plus he had a teenaged cousin to keep an eye on. Every story explored the mythology: the easy availability of kryptonite of various colors, the ongoing threat to his secret identity and/or bachelor status posed by the workday presence of Lois Lane and Lana Lang, the revolving-door escapees from the newly-discovered Phantom Zone. It was getting harder and harder to present the Man of Steel with any real threat.
Which is why it fascinates me that, in the midst of all this, came this gem from Bill Finger and Wayne Boring. Finger was better known (when known at all, in these days before story credits) as a strong contributor to the Batman legacy, while Boring is the artist (following Schuster himself, and preceding Curt Swan) who defined for a generation of readers what Superman is supposed to look like.
This story owes more to the pulp magazines that inspired early comics than to the comics that immediately preceded it. John Carter wouldn't have been out of place in this story. Superman just happens to be cruising through interstellar space (because he can, I guess) when he happens upon a monster threatening a group of people (the human form being the default form of intelligent life) who don't notice it's there because they're blind.
If I attempt to summarize what happens in this sixteen-page story, it'll look like I'm trying to make fun of it, and I'm not. Despite -- or, perhaps, because of -- the absence of Lois, Jimmy, kryptonite, or any familiar element of the mythos, Finger and Boring prove that they still know what makes Superman tick. This may be my favorite Superman story ever.
Which is why it fascinates me that, in the midst of all this, came this gem from Bill Finger and Wayne Boring. Finger was better known (when known at all, in these days before story credits) as a strong contributor to the Batman legacy, while Boring is the artist (following Schuster himself, and preceding Curt Swan) who defined for a generation of readers what Superman is supposed to look like.
This story owes more to the pulp magazines that inspired early comics than to the comics that immediately preceded it. John Carter wouldn't have been out of place in this story. Superman just happens to be cruising through interstellar space (because he can, I guess) when he happens upon a monster threatening a group of people (the human form being the default form of intelligent life) who don't notice it's there because they're blind.
If I attempt to summarize what happens in this sixteen-page story, it'll look like I'm trying to make fun of it, and I'm not. Despite -- or, perhaps, because of -- the absence of Lois, Jimmy, kryptonite, or any familiar element of the mythos, Finger and Boring prove that they still know what makes Superman tick. This may be my favorite Superman story ever.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Why I haven't been around lately
The better part of ten days of my life were consumed preparing for, en route to and from, or attending the Robert A. Heinlein Centennial celebration in Kansas City. (No, smart@$$, he wasn't there.) This process was made more awkward by being under doctor's orders not to lift anything heavier than ten pounds, due to having recently undergone the implantation of an Internal Cardiac Defibrillator.Oh, fine, thanks. I plan to talk more about this on my LiveJournal page; I just thought you should know.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Backwards and in high heels
To his credit, the first thing [name recused to prevent spoilers, even though after the announcements of the past week it's not much of a secret any more] does when he appears in the new Justice League of America #10 is make sure that these three are all right. That rings true, touchingly so.
But after that moment, nobody speaks to or of them at all. The redheads are never even named. * (Don't get me wrong, I enjoy continuity porn as much as the next geek, but damn if I don't miss all that Weisinger-era exposition. These days the readers are left to put the pieces together as best they can, and if the creators don't think it's working, they say "Well, we never actually said that's who they are" and rewrite history again.)
I mean, if they are who they appear to be (and [name recused's] comments make it clear that they are), they've experienced everything [name recused] has in the last year, and should be just as disoriented and in need of hugs-all-around as he appears to be, ** not squeezed into the corner of the panel smiling beatifically. *** (Did they swap sainthood tips with Barry or Gwen while they were gone?)
"Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, except backwards and in high heels."
* Which brings up another question. Howcome Bart had to borrow a suit to come back (leaving Saint Bartholomew the Elder streaking through the Speed Force, I presume) but Linda and the MacGuffin Twins got to hang with the same mid-thirtieth century future-pasterrific tailors the *ahem* real Legion use?
** I'm in for the next chapter, but if [name recused] does the "I think I was in heaven" Buffy-thing he looks to be heading toward, I'm going to be awfully disappointed.
*** I hate it when supporting characters know they're only supporting characters in someone else's life. Don't buy a refrigerator, Linda! It'll only lead to tragedy!
LATER: Okay, I surrender. I am apparently unable to make one particular point understood. I'm just sayin', if I get a choice between these twins...
...and those twins...
...well, I know which ones I'd want to hit with the ol' Omega Effect, you know? I mean, I like Iris' take on the Kid Flash uniform, but everything else in the Kingdom universe can go.
But after that moment, nobody speaks to or of them at all. The redheads are never even named. * (Don't get me wrong, I enjoy continuity porn as much as the next geek, but damn if I don't miss all that Weisinger-era exposition. These days the readers are left to put the pieces together as best they can, and if the creators don't think it's working, they say "Well, we never actually said that's who they are" and rewrite history again.)
I mean, if they are who they appear to be (and [name recused's] comments make it clear that they are), they've experienced everything [name recused] has in the last year, and should be just as disoriented and in need of hugs-all-around as he appears to be, ** not squeezed into the corner of the panel smiling beatifically. *** (Did they swap sainthood tips with Barry or Gwen while they were gone?)
"Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, except backwards and in high heels."
* Which brings up another question. Howcome Bart had to borrow a suit to come back (leaving Saint Bartholomew the Elder streaking through the Speed Force, I presume) but Linda and the MacGuffin Twins got to hang with the same mid-thirtieth century future-pasterrific tailors the *ahem* real Legion use?
** I'm in for the next chapter, but if [name recused] does the "I think I was in heaven" Buffy-thing he looks to be heading toward, I'm going to be awfully disappointed.
*** I hate it when supporting characters know they're only supporting characters in someone else's life. Don't buy a refrigerator, Linda! It'll only lead to tragedy!
LATER: Okay, I surrender. I am apparently unable to make one particular point understood. I'm just sayin', if I get a choice between these twins...
...and those twins......well, I know which ones I'd want to hit with the ol' Omega Effect, you know? I mean, I like Iris' take on the Kid Flash uniform, but everything else in the Kingdom universe can go.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
That sound you hear is...
- Earth-616's Cosmic Reset Button being pressed.
- 50,000 Marvel readers saying "WTF" simultaneously.
- The Internet splitting in half. Again.
I've lost count of the number of times Everything We Know has been revealed to be Wrong lately. When you do that too often, and you never establish what Everything Really Is before you move on to the next revelation, you arrive at Nothing Really Matters. You run the very real risk of retconning away everything the readers liked about the characters.
I have visions of a super-team -- let's call 'em Avengers, there are so many groups of Avengers running around that the odds favor it -- discovering that nobody in the room is who they appear to be. Wong is the Chameleon, Dr Strange is Loki, Luke Cage is Brother Voodoo, Spider-Man is actually the Space Phantom, Clint Barton is another Skrull (but had forgotten that he was a Skrull), Iron Fist is really Daredevil, Spider-Woman is the Other, Echo is Mystique, the Ninjas are all Jamie Madrox, and Wolverine is actually Willie Lumpkin gone postal.
If there's anybody left that I've forgotten to account for, they're probably one of Shield's Life Model Decoys.
This week's Big Question
In light of Sleez having once forced Superman and Barda to perform in a pornographic film, what exactly is Jimmy talking about here?
And am I wrong to wonder?
Monday, June 11, 2007
Avengers vs Avengers
Strangely, in both Mighty Avengers and Marvel Adventures Avengers, one member of the team has been turned against the rest. Well, I suppose it isn't all that strange, since it's one of the time-tested tropes of the Marvel universe. Nor, with all the shape-shifters wandering around, is it all that unusual to discover that everything is not what it seems. Everything old, as they say, is new again.
But I'll bet that the average reader who hasn't been following the Avengers (difficult as that is, since there are three, or is it four, different groups traveling under that name) would never guess that the person on the cover of Mighty Avengers #2 is actually Tony Stark.
There's something that hasn't been done before.
Well, it's actually the latest iteration of Ultron, an artificial intelligence created by Hank Pym, which has taken over the body and armor of Iron Man and, through unknown / buzzword means, has transformed the organic and electronic source material into a shape of its choosing -- and since it "loves" Hank, the shape it has chosen is that of a stark (so to speak) naked Janet van Dyne. I wonder what its reaction will be when it discovers that, literally at this very same moment, Hank is in bed with Tigra the Were-Woman.
Whatever "at this same moment" means in an arc that has stretched across three issues so far with no real time having passed and no sign of a conclusion on the horizon.
But then, I guess the point of the book is to provide an excuse for Frank Cho to do what he does best: Draw women as close to naked as the market will allow. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
(Kind of makes you wonder why he's not drawing Marvel's version of "Birds of Prey", Heroes for Hire, doesn't it?)
At least, in Marvel Adventures Avengers 13, I know what's going on. In this all-ages continuity, Janet is Giant-Girl, whose costume Hank designed to make it possible to communicate with ants. (She can shrink to ant-size as well, she just doesn't, because she doesn't see any point in being ant-sized.) This facility also makes it possible for the insectoid PsyClops to exploit a flaw in the suit's operating system and take mental control of her.
Hence, the Attack of the 50-Foot Superhero scene on the cover, which actually does occur in the book.
I have to say that, in my advancing age, what I want in a comic book is (a) a story, that has (b) a beginning, (c) a middle, and (d) an end. The mainstream Marvel universe (see above) is an infinite middle. The "Marvel Adventures" universe consists of mostly self-contained stories. I like that.
But I'll bet that the average reader who hasn't been following the Avengers (difficult as that is, since there are three, or is it four, different groups traveling under that name) would never guess that the person on the cover of Mighty Avengers #2 is actually Tony Stark.
There's something that hasn't been done before.
Well, it's actually the latest iteration of Ultron, an artificial intelligence created by Hank Pym, which has taken over the body and armor of Iron Man and, through unknown / buzzword means, has transformed the organic and electronic source material into a shape of its choosing -- and since it "loves" Hank, the shape it has chosen is that of a stark (so to speak) naked Janet van Dyne. I wonder what its reaction will be when it discovers that, literally at this very same moment, Hank is in bed with Tigra the Were-Woman.
Whatever "at this same moment" means in an arc that has stretched across three issues so far with no real time having passed and no sign of a conclusion on the horizon.
But then, I guess the point of the book is to provide an excuse for Frank Cho to do what he does best: Draw women as close to naked as the market will allow. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
(Kind of makes you wonder why he's not drawing Marvel's version of "Birds of Prey", Heroes for Hire, doesn't it?)
At least, in Marvel Adventures Avengers 13, I know what's going on. In this all-ages continuity, Janet is Giant-Girl, whose costume Hank designed to make it possible to communicate with ants. (She can shrink to ant-size as well, she just doesn't, because she doesn't see any point in being ant-sized.) This facility also makes it possible for the insectoid PsyClops to exploit a flaw in the suit's operating system and take mental control of her.
Hence, the Attack of the 50-Foot Superhero scene on the cover, which actually does occur in the book.
I have to say that, in my advancing age, what I want in a comic book is (a) a story, that has (b) a beginning, (c) a middle, and (d) an end. The mainstream Marvel universe (see above) is an infinite middle. The "Marvel Adventures" universe consists of mostly self-contained stories. I like that.
Friday, June 08, 2007
Earth-Testosterone
I think Earth-Miller and Earth-Haney must be the same place. Possibly Earth-Kanigher too.
This book is so confusing, I don't even know: Is it still the same night the Flying Graysons were killed? What happened to Vicki Vale and her underwear? Was that really Black Canary, or just a waitress dressed as her?
Will All-Star Batman meet the all-new Batwoman?
"I love being the goddamned Batman"? I'm so glad Mom and Dad were killed, now I get to spend their money on all these wonderful toys. Now if only my looney brother would show up, my life would be complete. No, wait, maybe I am the looney brother!
This is like a Batman book written by Bat-Mite.
This book is so confusing, I don't even know: Is it still the same night the Flying Graysons were killed? What happened to Vicki Vale and her underwear? Was that really Black Canary, or just a waitress dressed as her?
Will All-Star Batman meet the all-new Batwoman?
"I love being the goddamned Batman"? I'm so glad Mom and Dad were killed, now I get to spend their money on all these wonderful toys. Now if only my looney brother would show up, my life would be complete. No, wait, maybe I am the looney brother!
This is like a Batman book written by Bat-Mite.
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