The News Blog of Comics Culture
Tweet A few people sent this to me last night, but out of respect for Tony Harris’s great art, I couldn’t bring myself to post it, but now that he’s asked people to retweet it, here you go: I cant remember if Ive said this before, but Im gonna say it anyway. I dont give [...]
TweetOutrage erupted on Twitter and Facebook over the weekend when writer/journalist Dirk Manning posted a still from Ted with an “anti fake geek girl” message on it implying that fake geek girls were whores. Image marketing manager Jennifer De Guzman took exception, and writer Mariah Huehner and other first responders of Twitter also made their [...]
In light of recent stalkerish stories, two incidents from last weekend’s PAX video game show, make for disturbing readings.
While it occurred at an event that wasn’t officially affiliated with PAX, the incident recalled by female video game blogger Kyle is perhaps given away by her blog post title: Boundaries and The Penis Incident:
Afternoon diversion: Well, well, talk about tying up all our themes in one handy image, while tooling round we spotted the cover to the new edition of Women, Art, and Society by Whitney Chadwick, which covers: This acclaimed study challenges the assumption that great women artists are exceptions to the rule who “transcended” their sex to produce major works of art. While acknowledging the many women whose contributions to visual culture have often been neglected, Whitney Chadwick’s survey reexamines the works themselves and the ways in which they have been perceived as marginal, often in direct reference to gender.
And you thought comics had it bad. It’s been a banner year for video game sexual harassment—or at least video game sexual harassment awareness. The Anita Sarkeesian Kickstarter and subsequent online abuse has been well documented, and it’s been discussed so much that the Times is ON it with a piece that nonetheless serves as a good round-up. This is the last frontier, as anonymity and youth add up to a culture of harassment—which spills over into the real world as when a female gamer was harassed by the captain of her own team IRL (above.) The Times says it’s gone so far even video game makers are trying to do something:
As an addendum to the previous post, and for further reading, there’s currently a Women Write About Comics roundtable going on, with interviews with lots of smart people. The most recent is with Alexa Dickman of the Ladies Making Comics tumblr and her indispensable Women in Comics wiki which is doing an amazing job of bringing to light tons of forgotten women in the comics industry. Lots of smart talk, including this gem:
My essay on Marvel and DC as dedicated safe spaces for male-focused entertainment got quite a bit of talk going, which is the best possible reaction to any essay. Several very smart people wrote rebuttals, and these posts also generated very thoughtful comment sections.
It would almost be self-aggrandizing to praise Noelene Clark’s recent women in comics piece in the LA Times, since I”m quoted so extensively in it, but I’m happy to say that the bulk of the cartoonists she spoke with were also proponents of the idea that I often promote here: women have already had massive, historic success in the comics industry, and at this point those outlets that aren’t adapting to the wave of female readers and creators are truly out of step with the times, and not the trendsetters.
Anyone who has been to the San Diego Comic Con can tell you that a large number of the attendees require a little extra help moving around, as there is a small but significant portion of disabled con-goers. And as demonstrated by the recent Comic Con Talk-Back panel, working to ensure that disabled patrons can enjoy their Con experience as the able-bodied can be a big challenge for organizers, even with the best intentions.
That’s according to a Variety story which suggests that Fangirls are the new golden girls for marketers at Con:
Tim Hanley (he of Gender Crunching) has a great guest post up at DC Women Kicking Ass looking at The Women Behind Wonder Woman. Of course we all know about the men like William Marston and HG Peter, but there were several women involved in the early years as well, including Marston’s two wives Elizabeth and Olive (above—yes the three of them lived together and it was a little odd), but also women who worked directly on the series, including the great editor Dorothy Roubicek Woolfolk and even a scripter:
The occasion of ASTONISHING X-MEN’s same-sex wedding has also seen several parties and receptions at various comics shops across the nation, including Zeus Comics, which held a bachelor party last week. But Midtown Comics is going all the way by hosting two actual same sex weddings this Wednesday, with a reception taking place at the Eventi Hotel. Two couples—Scott Everhart and Jason Welker, and Khris Wilson and Chris Orme—will be tying the knot. Both events are private but people are being encouraged to take photos outside, as the shop will be opening late due to the nuptials.
As the UK’s big three-weekend rolling convention rolls on, Kapow! is the big multimedia/Big Two and Image/mancave convention, with movie premiere stuff, Joe Quesada, Dan DiDio, Eric Stephenson, Jonathan Ross, and even Warren Ellis and Peter Serafinowitz. The show is being held at the fairly intimate London Business Design Centre—total capacity is about 6500 people—and all tickets are already sold out, meaning there will be no walk-up tickets at all—so mastermind Mark Millar’s wish to give the UK a mini San Diego has come true.
While THE AVENGERS has been hailed as a feel-good ball of action-comedy that kicks off the summer with smiles and cheers, in one regard it is a bit unsettling.
You see, it is yet another in a long, long line of movies that has trashed Manhattan real estate in a willy-nilly fashion. For about a hot minute after 9/11, destroying Manhattan in entertainment was considered crass—who needed fakery, when you had the real thing?—however, it soon came into vogue again as a symbol of the unsettled post 9/11 era.
In case you were sleeping under a tree, it’s official: HUNGER GAMES was the third biggest opening ever, with $152.5 million, the best non-sequel opening ever, only behind HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2 and THE DARK KNIGHT.
Heady company for a girl who hunts squirrels.
The success of the movie also puts the lie to Hollywood’s beloved trope that an actioner starring a women can’t be successful. And as such, it’s going to have a lot of repercussions. Because Hollywood is full of copycats and they’re going to try to repeat the formula. But what formula will they see in HUNGER GAMES?
The Long Dark Eternal September of the Soul
Tweet_____________________________________________________________________________ The recent, latest online activism against an online idiot encouraged me to write something which I had been thinking about for awhile. The philosophical musing began when I discovered the following on Wikipedia: Eternal September From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from Long September) Jump to: navigation, search Eternal September (also September that never [...]