Wonder Woman's New Origin

Via OddityCollector

Excuse me while I laugh.

I mean, the 'solution' to Wonder Woman, is NOT to have a writer with an understanding of mythology, is not to possibly be having her fighting the paranormal, (couldn't ever be as much as I would dislike it personally, to tap into the HUGE Paranormal Romance and Twilight crowd with a truly kick arse heroine), it's NOT to have writer and artist capable of mixing in a little 'Percy Jackson & The Olympians' or 'Harry Potter' - the whole child of legend and secret hidden worlds and battles the rest of mankind never knows about.

No.

It's apparently to make WONDER WOMAN into Kevin Sorbo's Hercules: The Legendary Journey's.

I laugh.

There's speculation all the time that they (TPTB) have got no market research going on, no clue whatsoever about readership etc... But this? I mean, on the road from Jody Picult to THIS right here? It just screams 'IF YOU DON'T HAVE A DICK WE DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH YOU!' It's so perfectly obvious that they're doing the fannish stories that have lived in THEIR heads about the characters THEY liked as young boys and when it comes to female characters, outside the range of bed interest, they don't know wtf to do.

Even as I try to avoid it all, the news comes up and there in my face is yet another arsewipe move.

Really? The only way Wonder Woman can be written about, is if you (DC) focus it through the lens of a man? If you're obliquely telling a man's story about his daughter?

These are your bright ideas? Wonder Woman via Zeus (ZEUS) OF ALL DAMN Grecian Deities - I can smell the built in fail in any future intimate relationships Diana could attempt with male characters from here) and Supergirl via the lens of how she's not Superman? How different she is?

Wonder Woman, child of clay, gifted with life and talent from a host of goddesses (and more recently, Hermes) - that's the myth, you ignorants. That's the lore.

Parts of This Would Have Been Email To Box-InThe-Box

"http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2011/06/dan-didio-signals-the-end-of-the-clark-kentlois-lane-marriage/

**Imagine Joker-style pained laughter here**

Peter and MJ irked and sore hurt. But Clark & Lois - seriously? Of all the ways for DC to follow in Marvel's footsteps; seriously? "

Huh. Wow. Alrighty then. Here I've been wondering how it is I felt like I walked away from Marvel so much easier. And I ended up thinking it's because I like characters in Marvel Universe; whereas I Like DC Universe (or did) and have favourite characters within it.

Wow though. I've had this little niggling grieving/mourning thing going on - thinking about stuff despite my turning away. Realizing how surreptitiously or not as it may be, I've been keeping up and aware with the DC Universe. And I've been mildly hurting over the whole 'Damn, they finally do digital after I'd rolled my eyes at Batman's Death and (concept of) Batman Inc and thought the, at least, I was walking away'.

But wow.

It's entirely possible if Action Comics is 'Superman at the start' - it refers only to Action Comics. It's also possibly that DC would do the 'immortal, long lived Superman' (as many people have remarked on) but instead of having say Lana Lang as his first wife, and Lois now as his second (since Superman is apparently an unerringly heterosexual alien) - there's what instead...?

Because the SMALLVILLE fans haven't known Lois & Clark lead to marriage? What?

All this talk of taking characters 'back to their core' seems to me to be removing them from the time-stream and flow and experience they've had till now, and taking them backwards; removing all nuance and layer that has grown on them, deepening who they are - and along with it deepening the scope of the universe; you know one actively showing more diversity than straight, white, cis, hetero, currently able bodied, males.

---

No Richie as backup for Virgil. Lois & Clark Kent = No. No news on if Batgirl is the 'Untold Adventures' or if Oracle remains. More besides, plus all the implied ageism of 'making them younger and fresher'. Cause wise, older and experienced heroes - who needs that. 20somethings know everything!

Oh DC. DC. Thanks for making it an extra spoonful easier. Apparently I needed a numbing agent.

Ouch. Deep Breath. Expected Disappointment

"One of the primary things we've done with Static — just to show that we're positioning him a little differently — is to take him out of the Dakota setting and place him firmly in New York City. There's a chance you'll see other Milestone characters, but we really want to make Static a primary hero of the DC Universe."

Because you apparently CAN'T be a MILESTONE character and be a PRIMARY DC UNIVERSE character. Because apparently STATIC can get play as part of the DC Universe, but Milestone characters are NOT part of the DC universe.

Suddenly my want of Virgil in college, dealing with those issues - alongside Richie, and the responsibilities of superheroing seem very, very, small.

Couldn't Help Myself- I Peeked

Saw the DCnewUniverse Covers (summary descriptions here). Rolled my eyes at Red Robin's Costume. Smiled a bit at Jason , Kyle and Tim getting their own teams. Noticed how much non auxillary pallid swamp face there is. Cringed at the: BATWING: The first black character to wear the Batman mantle. Wasn't that supposed to be a woman by the way? One Batman has - you know what? My favourite characters (and canon) are safer in my head; that place where Shadowpact lives, and grows without a need for Justice League 'Dark'.

It would all be so much simpler if there were just regular elseworlds and favourite characters could grow, and grow old and mature and pass on legacy and live in universes with more than a few tinkle drops of social justice awareness.

Damn this hurts. I had no idea how much I'd wanted to read about Virgil at College; of Static maturing and growing and team ups and more. Not always highschoool, not always highschool problems.

I walk away but I still dream, which leads unconsciously to hope.

I will say this, as much as I remain surprised that things can still hurt me - it says just how much I grew up loving these characters, just how much a part of myself they feel to me; I see in them. Whatever, however DC continues to miss the things that first inspired me, and continue to exclude me and mine from their universe, degrade the heroes that bear slivers of my reflections - I need to remember this love and this pain so that yes, folklore characters such as this can live in my head and inspire my own writing (public or private).

G'bye, Jason, Guy, Bruce, Jonn, Virgil, Kara & Kara (PJ). G'bye Diana most Wonderous and Beloved (just under Batman). G'bye Kal and Connor and Dick. G'bye Harley. G'bye Oracle. G'bye Vixen, G'bye Kon. G'bye Renee. G'bye Jim. G'bye Kate Spencer. G'bye John. G'bye Birds of Prey. G'bye Gotham. G'bye Arkham. G'bye Metropolis & Opal City. G'night Alfred.

Meanwhile, I've a comic preview to read and comment on - I'll go do that now and stop being so maudlin. It is what it is, yes? I mean, I've totally survived waving the hell G'bye to Peter and MJ, Dazzler, Dagger, Cloak, Hank, Kurt, Mystique, Magneto and a Scott Summers who made any damn sense.

ETA: WTH DC? Nutscare Castrating Amazon Women? Really? Seriously? Amazon = Man Hating? Seriously? That bullshit in 2011?

G'bye Oracle. G'bye Grown Up Mature Amazing Barbara Gordon

I don't have much anything to say. White cis, hetero, currently able bodied people are taking America the world back from a more diverse humanity. And Hollywood continues to be THE ALL WHITE SHOW ALL THE TIME (with a mammy here and an Old Jiving Jo There).

**shrugs**

That means there's (more of) a vacuum of stories, diverse stories for a diverse humanity. That's how I've got to think, that's what I'm going to focus on. Everything, anything else, leaves me exhausted. I've got no more pearls to throw before swine.

[I'd put Candle In The Wind here, but can't find an instrumental version I like and Oracle's no 'English Rose'.]

In Case You'd Not Noticed

This blog doesn't much follow comics anymore.

BUT, for the record, yes, I know about the Somali Pirates, the little white childen as possible slave labour & sexual toys and all the racist wrong  [Brightest Day #1 DC]. But neither DC or Marvel want my money as a woman, a black woman, or a black woman who is gay (far less as a black woman who is gay and was born somewhere outside the USA).

The people who still spend money have said something. Search Engine and you will find it.

Meanwhile have some Luke Cage without 'bling and hos'.

PROOF! We Are Not A Monolith (& stuff)

Digital Femme gets all excited about Blackest Night. Her descriptions turn me the eff off. I found myself going:

"Is this supposed to be happening in the same universe and time frame as Batwoman and New Krypton?" and rethinking my urge to buy those trades - cause I don't want to see any of Blackest Night splashed around, even if I buy those two second hand or something.

I'm also (not just like DF) in that I'm not likely to read just for spectacle. New Krypton and Detective Comics (with Batwoman) are nibbling at me because they intrigue me about characters. I'm very much a character girl (what with being that crazy woman walking around thinking 'What Would Batman Do' and then doing it).

On the flip side, Marvelverse? I don't even care anymore. It's kind of scaring me. I imagine myself hearing that Monica or Allison has been killed off and my instant reaction is - well, guess I'll start writing fanfiction.

Oh the X-men went all evil and/or got blown up? - That's sad.

They castrated Beast? - Was he even using that body part? Eh. Whatever.

Scott Summers has become Emma Frost's boytoy sex slave and has been mind whammied? - Eh, hopefully they won't need to revive Jean from the dead so someone can slap Frost down for that.

Ok, maybe the last one has a little bit of caring from me. What with the whole 'slapping down' but I'm not inclined to want to see it, so I'm thinking it counts under the 'Meh'.

DC, Rainbow Wars etc...

So I had a random thought just now. I'm currently recovering from some kind of cold/flu/illness bug and thus haven't done much of anything for the New Year; nor have I pestered anyone about anything. I've been trying to rest.

Rest, btw, can be the most boring thing ever. Watching paint dry is infinitely more exciting that trying to rest. Which is why I found myself going to blogs I don't read as frequently anymore and actually following links to places like Scans_Daily. Which led to this question.


If Lanterns are no longer allowed to have physical or romantic emotional entanglements within their Corps now. And their rings will rat them out to Alpha Lanterns (or however that works) - does this mean Alpha Lanterns are going to show up to drag GL's to court for having crushes or falling in love unconsciously with fellow members?

I mean that's soap opera supreme right there. Brought to court for the crime of LOVE and the character's all 'I love who??!!! But I thought that was indigestion and hate!'

Do currently married Corps members have to take their rings off now in order to be affectionate with one another? That way they're not doing anything illegal with the ring? Or does just wearing it not count?

I know I've given up on the big two. But the second Hope Lantern caught my eye. Sentient Elephant = Yay. It's not another prominent character of colour but it is a non westernized depiction, so baby yay. Of course I'm already betting all those Blue Lanterns have to die via self sacrifice.

One last thought.

Manhunters to Storm Troopers

Jedi Council to Guardians of the Universe

Sinistro to Darth Vader ?

Luke Skywalker to....?

PS: When all this rainbow crap is done and the Guardians have effed themselves up the buttcheeks and out their own noses. I want to hear how a Green Lantern ring made its way to Sinestro to recruit him because has has the capacity to be the greatest of them all...and he then bursts into maniacal laughter and says "It is complete!"

While I Was Watching Vixen

Uhm, so I asked people before I made this post. And they told me that Connor Hawke is still supposed to be multiracial. Superboy Prime did not punch the non-white out of him.

And yet....This doesn't look even biracial to me. This doesn't look like the artist had one idea and the colourist had no idea how to blend things. That looks like a tanned surfer dude.

In all honesty I cannot remember which races make up Connor's biracial identity. My memory of seeing him for the first time involved blonde hair which suggests Caucasian (White) and dark skin which suggests, being Black or South Asian. And I'm fairly certain his eyes used to be drawn without a fold. So at the very least, my first impression was he was multiracial with traits from his parents and his grandparents.

But what part of the previous image or this image brings that multiracial identity to mind? Hell in this pic he looks more like Ollie's son than anything else. Which leaves what? A heavily tanned surfer dude who also slings arrows but is into Zen. A Californian, maybe even San Francican. [Writing Edit: Just been told he doesn't do archery anymore - so just a surfer then?]

I'm asking honestly now - When Superboy Prime punched the black off of Vixen, and the pants off Wonder Woman and we were watching in horrified shock, did he knock Connor Hawke into Aryan purity?

It's a question that's got to be asked, don't you think?

DC lost me a while ago. Everytime I check back, however, I find less and less reason to regret walking away. Sort of like Marvel (with Dazzler and my newest love, Shulkie) but that's a rant for another day - or maybe not. I've already stated Marvel doesn't care about people like me. And I bet pretty soon Mr. Terrific will drop from Third to Seventh most intelligent man in DCverse and DC will be more obviously forcing & shoving people like me away.

Yeah, good thing for webcomics and indies and the occasional manga. But I'm still rapidly becoming A GIRL WHO DOESN'T READ SUPERHERO COMICS.

It's sad.

*attempts not to feel beat down, rib kicked and depressed aka Tigra Bendisized*

Laugh When They Pee Themselves. It's Healthier

Sometimes no matter how hard you try to talk yourself out of something - you just aren't going to win. I've ended up writing about this.

THE GRAYSONS

Dear Warner Brother, The CW, All Other Idiots,

* [ insert prolonged, rolling on the floor, near peeing myself laughter here, with giggling hiccups ] *

So basically what you're saying is, you want ONE TREE CREEK VILLE, where for some reason, Dick Grayson is not eight, or ten years old and a sudden orphan. But is instead a teenager who can have a first love, in a time period where the whole damn world knows his parents are gonna bite it and he's gonna end up traumatized and angry and malleable enough to end up as 'THE BOY WONDER', Batman's brightly covered, moving target, decoy, sneaky little backtalking, drive the Joker crazy, tie you up for stealing wallets, sidekick.

* [ insert prolonged, rolling on the floor, near peeing myself laughter here, with giggling hiccups ] *

Kalinara mentions already hating Dick, and thus possibly enjoying the train wreck.

I...

Smallville ruined Superman for me too. Ruined him so well and so badly that I forgot, until reading Kurt Busiek's Samaritan that I had ever liked him. Then, spurred by this seeming new love for Superman, I started reading more and more and stumbled back into Lois and Clark and suddenly I was looking up Superman the Animated Series and going 'But wait, I used to adore this guy!'.

So I start again, I don't hate Dick Grayson. I love Dick Grayson. I wanted to be Dick Grayson. I figured parental divorce could take the place of being horribly orphaned. But being Batman's sidekick? Being trained to fight crime? Becoming a cog in the wheel of Batman's mission? I was all for that. And I was all for Nightwing and Dick striking out on his own and figuring out why he did what he did and if he still wanted to do it.

Dick Grayson's life before Bruce Wayne is something precious and warm. It's family, and light and laughter and death defying stunts. It's the heart of Nightwing sailing over rooftops and essentially doing perfrance art: Violence Ballet On A Criminal In 4 Minutes.

Dick Grayson's life before Batman is the stability of a loving family as towns change around him; the smell of sawdust and pancake makeup and animals. Though in this day and age it's more likely to be mortor oil and gas from death defying bikers, Manderin or Cantonese from a signed troupe, amazing clowns, lots of dogs, and those cool folk who spin while hung up by their hair.

Still, as wonderful and interesting as it is and as wonderful as it is to get stories about Dick going back to the circus for time to clear his head, or to visit - a show about Dick Grayson before his life changes forever, is freeze framing the moment before a cold bullet enters his heart. It's bullet-time torture.

When I combine the thought of that, with how hated Clark Kent became in Smallville (that I couldn't even watch past Episode 4, I believe way back in Season 3); When TPTB didn't ever concieve of making the show an AU where Superman either was an alien overlord or a babbling idiot directed by an overseeing presence and Lex Luthor was the hero - to play on Rosembaum's charism, chemistry and popularity - all that mixed with these frozen memories of Dick's before his life became shadows and lies and deceptions and freedom only behind a mask...

It's like watching a small child scribbling in crayola over a piece of - nay, watching a grown adult who actually should know better, adding flaking bits of plastic to a masterpiece of form, vision and movement and then going "I Made It Better! See!"

But I've discovered The DCAU Trades. So really, I'll just watch the rest of the world go "But What The Hell Is This Cursed Thing". Sort of like I watched the WB/CW mess up Tarzan.

The Mincing MINX

If you've read my Twitter then you saw me laughing at the collapse of MINX. I also admitted that my laughing might mean I'm headed for hell in a svelte sports car hand-basket with velvet cushions and nubile massage servants. Truthfully I think at some point you seriously just have to laugh or you end up paying a lot of money to repair all the walls in your home that are covered in head dents.

I didn't like MINX. And it's not just PLAIN JANES I didn't like, I didn't like the line up. It didn't interest me. It didn't interest me on my own or as something to give to the young girls in my life; quite a few who are young girls of colour who've enjoyed every manga or anime suggestion I've ever given to them.

Ragnell at Just Past The Horizon (Newsarama Blog) mentions the same concept in her Friday coloumn. MINX was doomed to fail despite all the talk it got because it was set up TO fail. Forget a bookstore, it's like DC didn't take the time to walk into a local library and study where the girls went. And they certainly weren't bright enough to ask a librarian.

I've watched for the past three or so years (and a bit over) young girls pouring over the manga sections of my local libraries. Magical Girl stories are new to them; new and exciting and wonderful. It took me a long time to realize the very obvious fact that they and I are a generation apart and thus they've never heard of some of the books I read or shows I watched around their age. Manga is there and in their faces with adventure stories.

The librarians can hardly keep up. And yet... MINX is dead.

Chicks in Chainmail, Xena, Buffy, the concept of frigging Nancy Drew - Poof - over the heads of DC and a lot of other players who like to give lip service to the concept of equality and diversity but who really are old and set in their ways; rusty gates closed shut on the concept that Trix are for kids, silly rabbit comics and adventure is for whiteboys.

I can remember there were a series of adventure anthologies when I was growing up that were all about GIRLS OWN ADVENTURES in order to match and meet the concept of the genre of BOYS OWN ADVENTURES. At the time I thought the title and promotion was silly but I ate up stories of girls caught up in accidental tourist spy games and living as part of a WW2 French Resistance; girls who were detectives and hunted down wrong doers...

I must have been 10-11. AND GIRLS WHO DID THINGS was like candy.

Mercedes Lackey's Valdamar Series? They had strong female characters doing things; Elspeth and Talia. They had a Queen who chose her country over her private life and who battled to balance being a mother alongside being a ruler. Susan Cooper had girls caught up in fantastic universes who became part of the everlasting struggle between the powers of dark and the powers of light.

And the thing is, there's a very strong and popular trend in books right now that shows what happened to those girls who read those things when they grew up. It's called URBAN FANTASY / PARANORMAL ROMANCE.

This is not the place to debate the seeming interchangeability of those two genre titles. We can bitch about that later. But the point is, Girls/Women caught up in fantastic adventures, trying to balance life against the supernatural, or magic; caught up in spy plots and underground societies and fighting for the cause of good against evil - IT'S BEEN ONE OF THE STRONGEST GROWING MARKETS IN A DECADE!

So really DC, where did you think those women came from? Did you think they just sprung up whole out of the ground like Dragon Teeth Warriors and only in their twenties did they suddenly decide they wanted a bit of magic and adventure and excitement in their reading?

And for those who are still having the hangup with PARANORMAL ROMANCE and would like to use it to say those aren't adventure stories - Have you read any of them? Because I'm telling you plainly the reason UF has become interchangeable with PR as a term is because of the same stereotypes that lead to MINX's failure. The publishing industry saw women eating up these stories and concluded they were buying them for the 'romance' because women buy romance books therefore if a woman is buying a book, it MUST have to do with romance.

For the record? There's romance in comics. Scott Summers and Jean Grey. Would the bloody Phoenix Saga mean as much without the romance between the two? What would happen to all the plots that have to do with Wolverine's part as the odd man out and potential interloper? Nate Grey and Madelyene Pryor? Susan Storm and Reed Richards? Susan Storm and Namor? Misty Knight and her Kungfu Boy Danny? Ring any bells? The whole BND sucks scandal in Spiderman revolves around what? Mary Jane Watson and her romance and marriage to one Peter Parker.

Ollie "can't keep it in his pants" Queen and Dinah Lance, The Black Canary.

I just had to throw that one last one out there by itself but the list goes on. Barbara Gordon and Dick Greyson. Jim Gordon and Sarah Essen. Does the boys club of comics actually think they don't have romance in their works? And if women buy romance and thus any books women buy MUST be romance - then why aren't women buying their comics...

Unless of course the answer is that women are and if women are buying and women obviously aren't always women but grow up to be women from being girls and little girls then....

Why aren't you following the logic, DC? It's a trail of solid breadcrumbs. Wait, don't tell me you never heard of Hansel and Gretel? It had a kickass girl in it too.

Goodbye Cruel - Nah, Just Taking A Break

I started this post two days ago, before real offline life interrupted. I was typing out a post to request that people no longer deliberately send me images of Marvel and DC cocking up horrendously on issues of race - if I stumble over it, that's on me. But I don't need my pressure skyrocketing up like someone's trying to win a Carnival prize, no matter what their original intent was in showing me the image.

I never finished the post.

I was suddenly hit with this mental whirlpool.

There I was, comparing mainstream comics to the mainstream public feminisphere and there was this correlation of becoming what you hate the moment you have even a little bit of power - and my brain just spasmed.

The word cockslapped came to mind. As in, have I been raising my voice and fist for the dubious honor of being cockslapped? Considering how gross I find penises, the mental image was quite disruptive.

From the original non-published post:

Mainstream comics and mainstream (or at least prominent) feminism (oh so white) have a serious amount in common. Comics won't listen to the women won't listen to the minorities.

On and on the message goes "This is not for you. This is for everyone (male/the sisterhood). Why are you making so much noise? Can't you see what we're doing? Why don't you just have your own?

"Put aside your blackness for this cause, put aside your womanness for that step up. Are you more interested in having JL covers with frequent women on the cover? Or frequent minorities. Pick a side. We hold the power and we'll dribble and dole it out."

The honor of being cockslapped...

When mainstream comics decides to promote a character of colour; but said character is bleached, or made more 'palatable' with more and more white features; lighter skin, different nose, straighter hair. (Don't get me started about Misty and the blue eyes)...

When comics decide to promote a female character but she's busting out of her top, or waving her shiny latex ass to the viewer (Catwoman covers)...

When a prominient self-named feminist notices a problem that affects WoC and PoC and thinks the gratitude for her bringing it forward to attention should negate her lack of pointing out the work that came before - by women of colour...

The link on my blog under the graphic title: PoC MEANIE, leads to a comment thread on livejournal where appeasing white folk, or 'You always catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.'is described as:

Also known as "Listen n*****, watch your manners now boy. You be nice to me, and I won't put you in your darkie place like you should be. Why do you presume to attack me. If I want to call your worthless sp** or P*** ass a sp** or p*** I can. It's been used before and it'll be used again. If you want me to change, get down on your knees and suck my big white cock and make me feel good about adjusting my attitude. After all, everyone agrees with me and you're the minority after all.

Yes, that's it... more tongue... now SUCK MY BALLS BITCH, that's putting honey on it. That's sucking away the liberal guilt... now stay still while I come down your throat..

Yes... yes...

There, last drops in your eyes.

Now kiss it and zip me up."

Cocksucking, cocksucker, a term that's flung around as an insult that's used to describe an action with a focus on it being done only by women, or gay men.

Though at the time I was thinking of it more as oral rape. "Please me via the orifice you use to nurture yourself. My cock is out, your mouth should be on it. Pleasure me and receive whatever I give out, be my receptical and then maybe, MAYBE, I'll listen to you"

And please, no one come into my journal to discuss cooercion and rape and what is rape and what isn't. You won't get published for one thing. And I will do something horrible to you, for another.

The sum of it all is power-tripping. Power is a heady thing, especially when you've never had it, and you've been scratching and climbing to get it. The people in charge of mainstream comics right now? They used to be powerless fans, reading week to week and wishing they had the power to change things. Now they do. And they have.

Goodbye MaryJane.

Goodbye Crisis, hello Crisis. And Crisis. And...Crisis.

The femiblogsphere exists and now there are women, white women, who are getting heard and noticed etc, etc, etc,. Who are getting book deals - which I bring up because Marcotte did say that people were only criticizing her because they were jealous and wanted to ruin her career. She got a sniff of power and it was 'SCREW Y'ALL DARK BITCHES'. Though truthfully, given her attitude, she'd probably had that mentality for a very long time before.

In the two days since I started writing the original and likely now forever unpublished post, there have been several incidents like in this ongoing conversation, where I just ended up shaking my head.

If the sex of those self labeled feminists was changed to male and we put them on Newsarama...

Y'know it's ok to love an ideal. I love America the ideal. But at the same time I am not burying my head in the sand, ass up, ignoring the things America, the country, government, citizenry is doing and have done in the past that go against the ideal of what this country could be.

But apparently when it comes to feminism, when it comes to comics, specifically the big two superhero universe comics, that's exactly what their proponents are doing. To point out what is wrong, is to attack, is to not really care about it in the first place, is to have no love for it at all. To point out what is wrong and to get fed up with explaining over and over again and with spoon feeding over and over again is to be an irrational and angry NOT TRUE FAN.

And damn, if using that term doesn't make me think of Laurell K Hamilton Troobies who will defend to the end an adventure series turned plotless and extremely bad written porno. Now I realized that that the Troobies identify with the books so much and that the books may have helped them explore areas wherein they felt shy and lost and had no where to start looking, that criticism of the books feels like an attack on them personally. But I don't believe every comics fan is some basement dwelling mouth breather who has no self identity other than through comics. And it's a ridiculous image to have about white women (and others) and feminism - no matter what their actions say.

It's just plain. Power. Tripping.

And I'm fed up with it.

My calling out the big two specifically has always been about equality. I want to see everyone get a power fantasy, hopefully at least three. I want said power fantasies to have flush support casts and interesting backgrounds. I want those universes to reflect the diversity of the world. I want equality.

And I'm calling out comics because popular culture reaches a large group of people. Popular culture can TEACH and expand minds. It's why I think movies and tv should be held accountable for misrepresenting cultures and peoples. Without preaching, popular culture can show you a different world, tilt your mind about a concept.

Popular culture IS the real world. It's the slang you speak, the clothes you wear, the products you buy, the concepts you integrate into your sense of self and your place in and around the world!

But don't talk to me about the big two unless it has something to do with DAZZLER. I'm going to take a break and explore other universes, other characters. It hurts, because these two universes were what I cut my teeth on, what I learned to read on, how I associated the concept of a punch with Batman sending a villain back three steps to smack up against a brick wall.

It hurts.

But there are other universes, other characters I could be pointing out. There are other modern myths I can embrace. So I'm going to do that for a while. It's time to regroup and praise while I figure out what my next step forward will be. Because seeing comics and the feminisphere as equal in their power tripping and ignoring is a big deal for me. I mean feminisarchy is a damn stupid made up word and doesn't even say what I want it to mean. WWS says that (White Woman Syndrome). Seeing a ladder and comics and the feminisphere as one tugging on the leg of the other to be noticed while mashing the hands and heads of anyone trying to climb up alongside is just...

Mind. Blown.

It's like this XKCD Comic except there should be a third panel where the girl stick figure tells a darker male or female stick figure "Wow, PoC suck at Math."

Becoming. What. You. Say. You. Hate.

Note: To anyone who'd been paying attention I'm going to switch FACES OF COLOUR, from the PoC Carnival Blog, to here.

Extra Note: I'll be moderating comments as usual but I don't know if I'll be replying.

Newsarama: Breeding Ground Of Stupid? You Decide.

Concerning VIXEN DRAWN & COLOURED AS WHITE yet again, I followed links and found someone's response on Newsarama to a post done that linked me.

That person's response?

Every Willow Lady post ever, Short Version:

Their original picture here

So let me get this straight. The good ole boys who haunt and post Newsarama have read me. They've read me and their conclusion is that I'm a child who's shouting and needs to be muted.

Frankly, I'm not surprised.

I'm saying loudly, over and over again that racism in mainstream American Comics isn't dead, because racism in America isn't dead.

This is not something a good healthy dose of white people want to hear. White people not just Americans. But I'll leave the PoC and NWP of the UK and Europe to deal with the those areas. That's their day to day, this is mine.

Is it better to be dismissed than to be ignored? That's a tricky question to answer. My first impulse is to say yes. Because there's the slim (.1%) chance that some day a few of those dismissing me, will have a clue by anchor dropped on them and they'll be able to think back and go 'Oh! That's what she was talking about then'. I think that's positive.

But the whole thing about if a tree falls in the forest and there's no one there to hear, does it make a sound? My answer has always been yes. Friction and action disturb molecules, which move and create waves, some of which reach into the audible range.

Me and this blog? There is movement and friction and action from me. I'm saying something. I'm noting something. I'm remaining aware. I'm making decisions as a conscientious consumer. I'm deciding who I am going to be as a human being.

I am going to be someone who doesn't let people in the world tell her to shut up and play nice.

I am going to be someone who doesn't swallow her pain.

I am going to be someone who says - "I. AM. BLACK. This is me. This is who I am. This is who I want to see reflected in the things I love."

That said?

Y'all WhFk need to get SCHOOLED on INSTITUTIONAL RACISM. I won't teach you. But I will keep bullhorn microphoning in your ear until you get some learning.

VIXEN IS NOT A WHITE HERO!

DC you are doing it wrong!!!

DC: In Your Justice League Makin' Your Heroes WHITE

Is this supposed to be an alternate universe? One of the 52? Because once again VIXEN IS NO LONGER A BLACK WOMAN.

Please note, those individuals still contacting me telling me I'm blowing stuff out of proportion and being racist for originally pointing this out? My reply to you will come during the bi-annual - Look At These Idiots.

This is just me pointing out, that the artist slowly shifted Vixen's features from African to Caucasian and now this is a second consistent showing of her AS WHITE.

Also if that tanned individual in the back with the domino mask is Black Lightening who is ALSO supposed to be African Descended, then how can this NOT be deliberate because he sure as hell doesn't look white. He might pass the paper bag test, but he's not white.

I read up Sinestro Corps this past weekend. But no way in HELL am I following or spending money on anything from DC anymore. Nope.

I'm so sorry Greg Rucka, because I adore your work. But I can't buy the new Question TPB from DC.

Does anyone know if Greg Rucka takes paypal? Can I just send -him- money and get the torrent?

CAUSE I AM NOT BUYING JACK SHIT FROM Detective 'Let Us White Wash African Descended Characters' Comics.

ETA: I noticed Vixen almost immediately. Trying to size the picture for my blogger, however, and WW suddenly began to stand out EXTRAORDINARILY. There are sure to be others, however, pointing out the T&A Yoga going on there. And BC and HG.

---

***

NB:If you want to comment and tell me this is another mistake, please know you will not be published.

Instead I will save your comment for the bi-annual "What Fools There Be On This Here Internet" where the comment forwarded to my email will be published in full in a post mocking your stupidity, racism, ignorance, privilege and pointing you to BDSM sites for a Master or Mistress of Sadism, because obviously you are one masochistic child of a bitch.

MY BIRTHDAY; a little happiness, some rant, some smack talk and plea for reccs

Let us describe what I did with my birthday.

I relaxed. I had easy, yet delicious food. I bundled up for warmth. And I read comics. All. Damn. Day.

I read me some NextWave. Agents of H.A.T.E - FINALLY. And got me some squee over Monica (Who will ALWAYS BE MY CAPTAIN MARVEL).

I read me some Shadowpact. Ragman is f*Cking cool! Seriously. Jewish hero. Kicking ass. Taking names. And BRINGING YOU YOUR REDEMPTION!

I think I'm in love.

Also it was very sad to learn that they stopped at #25. Also I only read up to #21.


Also also? Shadowpact? That was one white ass team, yo. WHITE. ASS. And I sincerely appreciate Nightmaster's vague allusion to that fact (mentioning getting his white ass handed to him)

Also? The JL in that series? WHITE AS WONDER BREAD.

Are there no POC magical heroes in DCverse? And please don't tell me Blue Devil is a person of colour, or I will rip your still beating heart from your chest and piss on it.

Which reminds me I've had a post brewing to one side about Supergirl getting kicked to the curb from the WHITE AS MOON ASS Teen Titans - but it's a rant involving lots of frothing at the mouth from me, at how things went down via summaries from Maid of Might and scans_daily. So it might not ever see the light of day.

Seriously the only way that whole set up could be redeemed to me is if someone comes back and does THE STORY WE DIDN'T KNOW, where Cassie fricking Stargirl had herself some lesbian experimentation using Super-Girl as something to hump in her grieving over Kon-EL, selfishly not considering that using a person, moreover a person with limited understanding of human interactions and no clue this could be a possibility, is WRONGER than WRONG especially when one calls oneself a hero.

*breathes at that run on sentence*

AND the misunderstanding between Cassie and Kara when this is all explained is that Cassie confesses and Supergirl is understandably pissed off and is all very much "Lose my number you user skank!"

*breathes, exhales*

But where was I? Oh yes.

GREEN LANTERN CORPS.

Seriously - WTF is up with that? I repeat. WHAT. THE. F*CK. IS. UP. WITH. THAT.??!

A girl on her birthday tries to get into GLC, look at some stuff, cause the Rainbow Wars look interesting and the latest previews look exciting.

AND................

Apparently in order to know WTF is going on, I have to read shite from 2004! Because Geoff Johns is a -looooooong- view writer?

SERIOUSLY?

SERIOUSLY?

This is supposed to encourage me to buy the TPB's HOW?

Cause you know, so far on my list of things to acquire by the end of the year, I've got - NEW EXCALIBUR (the first half 1-15) and NEXTWAVE.

But I need to know about ION and Sinestro Corps War in order to appreciate The Alpha Lanterns and the fact that the big headed blue dudes have felt fear and like George Bush Jr after 9/11 are now running around going 'PATRIOT ACT!' and 'ILLEGAL PHONE TAPS' and 'OH NOES WE NEEDS US SOME CIA INTERNAL AFFAIRS IN HERE!' ?????

I don't have a clue if I'll even like GL, why do I need to know all that? How is this attractive to the causal but intrigued new series reader?

Also GL fans, are you aware that while Kali921 is one of you, she's also a Nova Corps fan? Not only that, but she and others have been pimping Marvel's Cosmic Comics at me, like it was naked women covered in chocolate whose mouths constantly produce whipped cream and caramel?

And one of the bloody damn hooks of Nova Corps & Anahilation is that I don't bloody well have to do bloody homework in order to understand it??

Despite some scant knowledge of GL's from my childhood, including a parent's love of Alan Scott, I am a definitive DCAU baby! I have one true Lantern and his name is not HAL or KYLE. And my kickass female lantern love is PINK and likes dark meat!


Why do I need to read about people I only know of as peripherals in order to understand a story that seems as if it should have a broader more encompassing pov? Is the Rainbow Corps not a truly epic undertaking after all? Epic as in universal, as in not complicated requiring endless footnotes to comprehend???

*breathes*

Seriously though Nova has a Raccoon and the GLC has a chipmunk, or maybe it's a squirrel. Either way, glowy people kicking ass to save the universe. My money's only going to be spent on that story ONCE. And it's going to be spent on something that's enjoyable and doesn't give me a damn headache.

So if any GL fans out there want to point me to something, or inform me of what to read that's not 4 trades prior to what's going on right now. I think my vote's been cast.

Also. Nova has/is a lesbian.

So seriously. Y'all GLC pimpers are getting rolled!

Right, now that all that bemused WTF is out of my system :) And it is bemused, cause I was all about the happy on my b-day....

Who wants to recc me something to spend birthday money on? Keeping in mind my icons are generally women, with close to cosmic level powers who'll kick a bad guy in the face or groin?

Also, is there a light based heroine (maybe even hero) I DON'T know about?

Monica, Allison Blaire... (I know I'm forgetting someone)

What the fuck is up with this picture?

Who is that behind Wonder Woman?

Is that Vixen?

The yellow jumpsuit looks like it belongs to Vixen, if slightly the wrong colour. As do the bangles on the wrist and the belt on the waist.

But last I checked, Vixen was not a white woman.

*Rechecks*

Vixen, Vixen, Vixen, Vixen.

Nope, not a white woman.

And while she obviously uses relaxer on her hair, I've never heard of the chemicals automatically bleaching skin. So no plot or reasoning will be coming from that direction.

Seriously, what the hell is up with that? You know there is no way that from writer to printing press Superman could suddenly show up in a series that's part of current continuity, sporting braids and a darker skin tone.

Because people would call you on that!

LOUDLY.

And in all honesty, as cool as the idea would be to randomly show the heroes as different ethnicities and cultural identities to show how universal they truly are;

Today Superman is Black.

Today Batman is Korean.

Today Wonder Woman is Latina

Today Flash is Indigenous Australian...

You aren't that cool, DC.

You just aren't that cool.

Instead it all comes across very much like:

"We've secretly switched the usual black superheroine, for a white chick. Let's see if anyone notices."

There are only a handful of minority characters, in your universe DC. And while yes, said characters totally kick ass, that is no excuse for you to be cavalier. There's no reason for this not to have been caught.

What? Were you all mesmerized by Wonder Ass and the Astounding FF Breasts that somehow managed not to droop?

Stop fucking things up DC.

Stop fucking things up.

And oh yes, caption box, it is indeed CRAZY.

[ETA: Edited Feb 2011 - Update lost images]

Two Questions

1. Stephanie. Memorial Case. Bat Cave - Is it true that one's there now?

2. Is it also true that it's a pathetic appeasement that says nothing about why it wasn't there or why it should be there?

Bonus: Do they really thing that after all this time, a case now will a) shut fans up, b) shut girl wonder up or c) shut up any bloggers or organizations that were created due to the outrage and conversation?

Extra: Can someone draw me a Mary Jane Memorial Case? ETA: And maybe one for Tigra?

I'm with the Superheroine

Why does Dinah look like she's

a) Taking it up the butt

b) Not so secretly a motorcycle driving blow up doll made specifically so Ollie can shoot arrows?

In other news: Marvel Girl or DC Girl ? No. Superheroine Girl! That is me!

I really should discuss how much I enjoyed Manhunter up to Issue 19#, instead of just saying I'm going to discuss it. It was gritty and real. Though using those two words, makes me feel like I'm just spitting out buzz words.

It was a realistic look at the DCverse; strife and grit, pain, blood, sweat, tears and piss. I love the fact that it's based in LA. I love the concept of their being parts of the world where, for some reason, metas and villians and supers just don't seem to go. I loved Manhunter as 'The Sheriff' of LA. And I loved the weaving arc to make sense of past history. Also I feel like I learned more about bloody OMAC than I have, trying to read issues, blogs and look the damn thing up in Wikipedia.

I haven't moved past the first issue where it's One Year Later yet, because I'm confused as eff over how things changed. Also, I think I've found a hefty dose of personal 'WTF is this shit!' over the concept of OYL.

Also also? I want to read about The Rainbow Wars of GLCorps. But I'm having a hard time shifting gears from general excitement to must follow.

Why are comic such a love/hate situation? Why is it you get in the groove and then the writer changes or the artist changes and...

Which reminds me - Must rant about No More Photorealistic Art. Oh yeah. Ranty coming up. All bright and shiny and spiky.

Got the name.

One Fan's Problems With Recent DC Events

This blog isn't just about women in comics, it's about characters of color in comics too. I've just been too busy whacking off my inner femmnist (She's had a lot to say). But for now Read This: "Honey, the new canon is built on a steaming pile of racist, misogynist shite."


It's, to paraphrase my roommate's own link post, about how fan Te ran away to the whitest of white fandoms - Batmanverse, only to find see it recently invaded by the same "Spork in the Eye*" cliches as everywhere else.

*Spork-in-the-eye, trademarked to my roommate.