Tired Of Hurting

I just finished Shannon Hale's Book Of A Thousand Days last night. It was recognizably Mongolian inspired to me (as well as fairy tale inspired) and I loved it. I'd picked it up at the library because the cover says she was the writer who wrote Princess Academy which is another YA book I've read and greatly enjoyed.

I like plucky but thoughtful/reflective female protagonists. Young women who think before they act (and after they act and better yet during the action). They are more believable and admirable to me than heroines counting on luck or even strength/aggression.

Flipping to the back of Book Of A Thousand Days, in the library I saw that Shannon Hale is white. And I was filled with a keen disappointment. But I had enjoyed one of her other books and I hadn't once thought those characters where white, so I thought I'd give this one a try.

I feel I can safely say that this is two books now by Hale that I've read that are nothing like Lian Hern/Gillian Rubinstein's Across The Nightingale Floor. The two Hale's tales I've read have not been generic white fantasies dressed up in exotic cloth. The culture of the protagonists have helped form them uniquely. To take out an aspect of Dashti's life and trials and substitute it with something else, would change the story completely. As to take out an aspect of Miri's life and experiences.

The same cannot be said for the characters in Nightingale who could as easily drink beer as sake, eat wheat as rice, dress in robes as kimono, use broadswords as katana, have lords and a high king as shoguns and emperor (even if the last two terms were not specifically used - it was very obvious what they were).

But this is the cover of The Princess Academy that I read; A string of girls against iconic style mountains wearing clothing that made me think of the mountains of Peru, or at least that area of high mountains and tribes in South America.

This is the cover I found on Hale's website. Either Miri is now white, or some other girl in the book is and she is thought important enough to be on the cover. There is a third cover I found while looking the first version up and at least there the girl on the cover has been drawn and painted with browner skin and dark hair and against a background that looks more South American than European (or even at a stretch, Greek)

I'd liked Hale's writing enough that I came online to see what other books she'd written. And now I'm struck with bittersweet, because apparently she's behind the plunky retold Rapunzel reviewed by Karen Healey of Girls Read Comics; She's the author of the book who was interviewed about gender and fairytales and comics. She managed not to make me feel sick inside, in that telltale way I get these days around white feminists. And First Nations people matter in this (Rapunzel) fairytale, in terms of the fabric of the world's society.

But there's that cover. There's Dashti represented only as hands on Book Of A Thousand Days (inside at least she and her world are, to me, obviously Asian). And the hurt is so strong and so deep - the odd sense of betrayal that I had dared hope this writer would be different - even as I know writers seldom have say over their covers at all. But the hurt doesn't care about that fact; all it feels, all I feel, is that here is yet another example of more people in charge of media distribution going 'Oh, the consumer won't buy a PoC lead'.

I'm aware of my hurt. I know why I'm hurting. What makes me truly upset is all the girls who don't know where that splinter in their soul is coming from. The ones who're encouraged to read ghettolit because it's about them, because it might be the only thing for them; heroines who use their body and sex appeal to deal with drug dealers, scoundrels, ex-cons and pimps.

Wonder Woman's Lacks

Things I am tired of. I am tired of Circe vs Wonder Woman. Yes, I know I stopped reading DC (and Marvel). But something possessed me to look up images of WW on Deviant Art. There was good stuff. There was also an over abundance of softcore porn and raunchiness and abject and total male gaze wherein she looked anything but a strong warrior. I'm not sure if it was just made up to look official or not, but one image had a cover like scene, with her behind Batman.

And that was the blaze to set an explosion, metaphorically, in my mind.

I love Batman, but Diana would not be behind him. Beside him, yes. But not behind.

Which led to me thinking about Diana's enemies. Batman has 'The Joker', like Superman has 'Lex Luthor'. But they both have an entire gallery of ne'er do wells. Diana has Circe and Ares. That's it. That's all I've ever seen. No matter what happens, it all eventually spins back to Circe and Ares.

Perhaps there is some executive decision somewhere that states that Diana, Princess of Thymascaria, The Wonder Woman, cannot have more enemies than Circe and Ares, with Cheetah as some kind of local, C level bonus round.

Clayface, Ras As Gul, Killer Croc, The Riddler, Penguin, Rupert Thorne, various mobsters of Gotham - that's a list straight out of my head as I write this. No checking Wikipedia. That's what hits me when I think of Batman. And yep, I totally forgot Catwoman.

Toyman (is he a shared villain?), Metallo, That 5th Dimension Pest whose name I can't remember to spell, Zod (when he's around), Darksied (when he's alive/around) - I'm trying to remember comic villains and not just Superman: The Animated Series villains. But that's my list, off the top of my head of Superman bad guys that do not include Lex Luthor.

Ok, Ares, Circe, Cheetah, andThe Silver Swan - for Wonder Woman. But I don't think there's been an update on The Silver Swan in a while. But where's the savy business mogul, of perhaps a cosmetics industry or fashion magazine who doesn't like what WW has to say about empowerment and make-up and following the crowd? I mean that's a superficial villain at best, yes. But why hasn't it happened? More than once if it has actually happened.

Why doesn't WW go up against magic consistently? Batman can't do magic. Superman sure as heck is vulnerable to magic. Why isn't that WW's domain as part of the Trinity? Why isn't she dealing with modern manifestations of ancient powers? Why isn't there a nice crossover between her and Batman where she's called to help because Gotham's Gargoyles have come to life (the city's supposed to be heaped on top of malevolent and festering magics, right). And it's ancient power leaked from between the worlds and not something Jason Blood has an easy answer to?

Why doesn't WW fight Monsanto a corporation that's perverting nature while crushing farmers under mountainous debt? Why isn't she using her presence and influence to advocate for investigations into their business practices? Why isn't she showing up unexpectedly and stopping them from harassing farmers, throwing people off land they'd owned for generations?

Why isn't WW helping her universe's version of Fiji and their fight to have fresh water, against corporate interest that bully their government?

Yes, Superman takes a certain tact because he doesn't want to be portrayed as a benevolent alien dictator. But Wonder Woman has/had a mission. She's a product of ancient gods. She's a humanitarian ambassador from a more evolved (philosophically, scientifically, magically) civilization that's NATIVE TO EARTH. Why aren't there WW embassy buildings all over the world?

Why haven't other Amazons joined her cause to help humanity and become staff to those embassies?

Why isn't Wonder Woman a movement?

Why aren't her enemies the political rulers/dictators of various countries? Perhaps in league with shadow councils of their native cultures and gods?

For the record, if Wonder Woman was a movement as well as a person, Amazons Attack - having people barging into women's shelter's would have made a lot more sense. Y'know, if they were Wonder Woman Rehabilitation Centers or Education Clinics etc.

My respect for Kurt Busiek grows and grows, because I've just remembered that's kind of what he did for Winged Victory.

Apparently what I should do is think of a good name for an archetype and write my own damn stories (I'm not giving a damn about traditional avenues of publishing) - because damn, I'm fed up with spits and starts of writers who don't have any idea what to do with her; whether or not their cluelessness is compounded by editorial fiat.

And my Amazing Warrior Princess won't have to pick a thong out of her behind.

PS: I heard about the new status quo vis Gail Simone. You do not want to hear my opinion on it. It gets ugly.

Gain A Little, Lose A Little

via Kirk in the Box, who can always be counted on to point and mark the crazy, freaky, mind blowing and other glee-I-snarfed-your-brain:

Devil's Due Publishing: BARACK THE BARBARIAN

And based on these scans over at Kirk's, I want this comic. It's not just the fantasy spin on something we all saw playing live last year and it's not the chance to get in on the ground floor on a Conan type myth-arc (though unless they offer digital downloads at a reasonable price, my ground will be a trade eta: Pullboxonline.com!) - it's that I had a hell of a lot more hope Pre March 2009. This could help me hold on to that feeling again.

I'm black, and gay, disappointed in America's seeming continued regime of torture, the lack of transparency as promised, several full of BS statements and acts by the Obama Administration towards non Americans and smaller or destabilized foreign governments - the list goes on. And I've been comforting myself with thoughts of The West Wing and hoping someone writes down on a napkin: Let Barack Be Barack.

I didn't think Obama was the Messiah, but I desperately wanted change and he seemed like he would definitely be a change. Moreover he seemed to understand the need for change. He seemed to understand the respect for leadership and government that was missing and why it was important and how it fit into the fabric of the US.

But lately I've ended up feeling like he is simply a better brand of liar - better because he doesn't deny reality while lying about it, making the behind the scene wheeling and dealing more obvious.

Barak the Barbarian? Doesn't have to hold to or be responsible for non-Fiction Barack's actions. He can rekindle my dying hope, while kicking monster ass and being as amazing a hero as the writers can imagine.

My one hesitation, is Manny The Fixer, described by Kirk as a 'sneaky sidekick'. I'm hoping those are his words and not actually in the comic since it makes me twitch as anti-semetic.

But Hilaria of the Amazons? After all the strife and ugly of the nomination process - Hilaria of the Amazons is, well, the same kind of fictional second chance, but one I didn't realize would make me feel so much better.

And with Larry Hama as the writer, I have to wonder if Red Sarah's (why is she called that if her hair's dark? I'm hoping this is a reference to her sword being red with blood. eta: Red Sonja has/d red hair ) resemblance to The Baroness is on purpose.

PoC writer, PoC main character and hopefully many PoC supporting characters to come.

And now for the loss

Cover art for, and snips of the 'Post Racial Commentary' accompanying Dwayne Mcduffie's last JSA issue. Warning the commentary is Stupid White Comic Fans being Ugly White Comic Fans.

Watching The Story In Your Head / BYOS

I've recently been engaged in conversation about Watching The Story In Your Head and When You Can't Watch Your Story Anymore. A recent comment by Heavy Armour made me realize that while I'd engaged in wrestling with and discussing television and movies, I hadn't applied any of that careful pinpointing to comics; that is I hadn't broken down why I continue to read some things and why I ran fleeing from others and I haven't put the question to anyone reading me here.

The whole conversation started around the realization for me that I could not deny the accusations of poor story telling, reliance on stereotypes and tropes and possibly cheap methods of getting viewers to connect with the protagonist in Memoirs of a Geisha. I struggled for a while trying to define the difference between "Watching The Story In Your Head" and privilege. Both involve not seeing what's happening to some extent.

What I realized as it was pointed out to me is that "Watching The Story In Your Head", even though it can happen simultaneously to viewing is often a response to things gone wrong and if someone points out the things that went wrong, I will have my alternate version but I won't deny they saw what they saw or that I see it too when they point the finger.

It took a while though, because it seemed so dangerous to be creating an alternate story on the fly - that is until I realized that such a creation/viewing/interpretation in itself was efense mechanism against the wrong. I'd have stopped enjoying what I was viewing if I couldn't change it. In some cases I'd even have walked away in disgust, story unfinished.

The flipside, "When You Can't Watch Your Story Anymore" was revealed as I thought about it and wrote about it, to be almost a two stage process. First there's the story, then there's the story I'm watching, this usually kicks in as things happen on screen/in the plotline that I disagree with, don't like or am offended by. Then there's the point in which I can no longer make a mental shift in order to enjoy what I'm viewing - there's just too much to change. I might as well make a clean break of it and find something fresh and original to wrap my mind around or write something my own damn self.

When I put these thoughts to comics now, it seems clear to me that comic readers do this ALL THE TIME. Readers follow their version of the canon; their version of a character's history; their version of a character's backstory. They make up reasons for certain actions by characters they love. They try to work around varied writers and artists who have different interpretations of said characters than what they themselves particularly love. Comic book readers are SKILLED at following 'their story'.

It makes me wonder if comic book executives don't take advantage of that fact to some extent. They're aware, especially in these days where they were fans themselves. The figure they may lose some, but eventually they'll get them back because something will hook into the story those fans like to see. But that immediately makes me think of Joe Quesada and BND. Hear me out, take a deep breath and hear me out *smile*, I know some of you are tired of this particular topic.

Joey Q has his story, the one he likes the best for Spiderman. And he's gained a position in order to make his story THE TRUE STORY. Except that in doing so, many many fans believe he's forgotten an intrinsict part of comic book reading which essentially is BRING YOUR OWN STORY. The readers who're upset with him? The fans darting his face in bars and basements? He just invalidated their stories in a media that's generally all about BRING YOUR OWN STORY. It's made the arguments "But there's nothing in the stories of BND that needed MJ gone" take on a new meaning for me. MJ could just as easily not be in panel for those who don't like her there, but be a presence that's on tour with a musical, or doing an indie movie shooting on location somewhere and contacting Peter primarily through email and phone. New incarnations of old enemies could still have happened etc...

In the end, Joey Q's personal need to have Aunt May around forever, because she's apprently such an intrinsict part of his Spiderman story, meant that everyone who isn't him (and isn't reliant on him for a paycheck) is now going "But what the fuck??!"

Which is kind of where I am when it comes to Characters of Colour now and the Big Two. It's been one thing to bring my own story when it comes to said characters, it's another to try to do so when the characters no longer look like they belong in my story. And comics being a visual art media, makes it impossible for me move on from that. It's one thing to view a show or a comic or a movie that has no characters of colour in it. That's a different gripe about say, The Devil Wears Prada existing in an NYC with no black people, no non American cab drivers, no Asian folk, no models of color, etc. But all comic artists have to do is draw the already existing characters - the battle for more is on another front.

Women who read comics? They can't bring their own story to the panels if they're forced to include moments for the heroines to pick their thongs out of their asses, or add more doublesided tape to their corset/bathing suits. And if they never get to see the characters being forces to be recconed with, then they can't Bring Their Own Super Hero Fantasy.

I realize I'm not saying anything that hasn't been said before. But it is new for me to realize that while I stumbled in understanding this when it came to live-action; it was all unconscious and absorbed and understood when it came to comics. How many times have I heard. "That's not my superheroX" followed by. "So I guess I have to wait for a better writer before I pick it up again.". How many times had I said it? Done it? And all the while I was fully aware of why.

I'm going to end with random (created) examples of such while my brain 'reintegrates'.

- That's not my Supergirl.

- He'd better be writing my Hal Jordon.

- Please, like that's Gotham?

- For the love of Peter, Paul, Mary & Joseph why can't anyone ever write an X-men book without writing a love story/triangle? I want action not a soap opera!!

- I don't know what's so hard about writing Wonder Woman. I've got her story clear in my head.

- Ex Machina, now there's a superhero story.

- Cosmic Marvel. I'm telling you! Lose Yourself In The Space Opera!!!

- If I wrote Civil War...

- If I were writing Final Crisis...

- The only person I'm following is X, his is the only story making any damn sense!

- In my story, Tigra cuts a bitch! WTH? What's wrong with Bendis???!

- TDK movie, finally someone told an actual BATMAN story on film.



PS: It might go without saying, but I'm not going to risk it, that I've realized my favourite stories in sequential art are the ones where the writer and artist are the ones doing all the work. I don't have to bring anything (not even store bought potato salad or humus). All I have to do is read, enjoy and be curious as to what happens next. So it leads me back to Shadowgirls and Claymore and HACK/SLASH etc...

A Thought

I just watched "An Inconvenient Truth".

If Al Gore is Jor-El, who is baby Kal-El? And what is the spaceship? Earth?

Tangent Universes

In a second I'm going to post this here, where it was inspired over at A Trout In The Milk.

I was really captivated by the idea of Digression Comics and a Tangent Universe. These are my Marvel Ideas.

---

***
The world is full of mysteries, marvels, miracles and magic, not all of it good. When things go wrong and innocents are hurt an organization almost as old as time, sends out agents to be army, spies, medics, counselors and more.

They are Gambit. They battle the forces against nature; the living dead, monsters of chaos, rips between dimensions.

And they do it all knowing each time one of their number will die, because that is the price Gambit pays for saving the world.

***

In 2012, within the physical location of the area known as the Bermuda Triangle a portal opens up and hundreds upon hundreds of individuals pour out. To everyone watching on the news, it's as if magic is happening. To the world's governments it's a nightmare and the first public step of a secret deal they've made with higher alien powers.

This is the first day of the rest of their lives for Exiles, political problems of a far off Space Empire. With a new regime in place everyone from the prior Princess to Celestial Guards to The Royal Cook has been cast into the furtherest reaches of uncivilized space.

Earth.

It is now their home. Human beings? Millions upon millions of guards.

Can the Exiles and Earth ever find a way to change this situation? Will they be content? Or has Earth just made the biggest mistake possible and given over everything to these few hundred aliens.

***

New York City never sleeps, but when the sun sets and alley-ways fill with shadows, a guardian walks its rooftops, listening, watching, protecting. The island of Manhattan is the domain of The Amazing Nightcrawler.

But this dark vigilante, this wielder of shadow magic is more than just an individual's answer to crime, injustice and pain. He is a spirit curse wielded jointly by the Family Wagner of Wagner's Coffee & Books; Grandmother, son and granddaughter; Raven, Kurt and Talia. They are three generations touched by magic, trying to use it for good.

Got the name.