Sunday, May 27, 2012

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Hormone power

If your power is to produce hormones to make men (and only men, not women, it stated that in the text) crush on you and do your will, then why would you dress like that?  You could wear a bin liner and your power would still work.

Bad logic comic costumers.

Monday, May 21, 2012

Barbarian fun

Yes it's silly.  Yes it's reinforcing sexist cliches.  No I don't care.  I think the concept of Skataris is absolutely fucking glorious.

Dinosaurs! Swords! Barbery! Damsels in distress! Savage Lost Worlds! Dinosaurs!  I want to be a savage sword wielding dinsoaur fighting barbarian rescuing the damsels.

As I said, glorious.

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Too annoyed not to post again

Super Silly Sunday

I'm still alive...!!

I recedntly read a few Teen Titans series and was struck by the ridiculousness of some of them.  The series is by Judd Winick and Ian Churchill.  Now, i usually like Judd Winick, or at least, I liked his Green Arrow run, a lot, and I like Batwing, but these stories were mediocre.  As for Churchill, he's a porr man's Michael Turner, without any of the life or movement.  The following scans are the final pages issues 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7 respectively.  5, 6 and 7 are the final panels on each page, which took up the bottom half of each page.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Coming out in Comics - Renee Montoya and Maggie

This is from Gotham Central, #34:
This issue has a guest appearance by the Teen Titans, I can't remember the rationale now, but it was obviously written as a tie-in to bump up the reader numbers.  Anyway, at this page Starfire walks in to the police station and asks if she can help with the investigation.

As far as I'm concerned this issue outs Maggie Sawyer.  If you look at the column of panels, you see the expressions on the male cops faces when they see Starfire.  The bottom panel shows Renee Montoya (previously outed) and Maggie Sawyer.  Maggie's face mirrors Renee's.  The top panel in the column establishes that the men are lustful for Starfire, the middle one points out Renee's and Maggie's reactions, and as Maggie's expression perfectly mirrors Renee's, I'd say that this page outs Maggie, in a non verbal manner.

Never in this series was it confirmed, verbally, that Maggie is gay.  There was a hint in the early issues when Renee has just been outed, and then this.  But this is plenty good enough for me.
As with the last post I did in this series, this scan was kindly provided to me by DAJB of Broken Voice Comics.  As I read this on Comixology I can't take a scan.  For argument's sake, and for a different POV, I will give you DAJB's take on this.  He felt that by this point the series:

"lost its authenticity and strayed into the murky waters of mainstream titillation.  Whereas Batman's brief appearances in GC made sense in the context of the story, Starfire's little cameo just seemed completely gratuitous; inserted purely to allow Rucka to make a cheap joke.  I'm not convinced this "outs" Maggie Sawyer, but we all take something different from these things, I guess.
That's the glory of literature!"

When I read the series, I didn't feel that this titillation, or done for a cheap joke.  Mind you, I felt the series became a little looser and little bit more fun, mayhap for a darker definition of fun that most people use.  At any rate, this series is canon (or was, pre new 52), so to my mind it still outs Maggie within the parameters of the story.  Whether the writer or artist intended it as a joke or not, it still stands as is, real within the story.

So I'll celebrate it.

Monday, May 14, 2012

ASN bulletin for May

(sorry I don't have time to format this correctly).
-------------
ASN May eBulletin



Welcome to your ASN eBulletin. ASN goes to a demo – and winds up in the Huffington Post. Want to do some pro choice networking in London or Bristol this month? In April ASN heard from 26 women, and we thank the supporters who make it possible. Have a spare room/sofa/airbed in W London, S London, Liverpool or Bristol? Read on!



ASN in the News

• Pro Choice events in London and Bristol

• Women we’ve helped

• Taking a moment to thank our supporters

• Seeking hosts in W London, S London, Bristol and Liverpool



ASN in the News

It was great to see so many of you at the Pro Choice Demo at Bedford Square. One of ASN’s fliers made it into the hands of The Huffington Post’s Dina Rickman, resulting in this story quoting two ASN volunteers as well as representatives from bpas and the nifpa.



Pro Choice events in London and Bristol

Did the demo put you in the mood to spend more time in the company of your pro choice brethren and sisteren? Then there are a few upcoming events to think of attending:



Tue 15 May: ASN’s Mara Clarke will be speaking on a panel in Bristol as part of the Festival of Ideas: The Future of Feminism at 7.30 pm



Wed 16 May: Abortion Rights is hosting a Pro Choice Public Meeting from 7 pm in Committee Room 10, Parliament. Speakers include Dianne Abbott MP, Zoe Williams, Kat Banyard and Richy Thompson. RSVP to choice@abortionrights.org.uk



Thurs 24 May: There will be a Reproductive Health Happy Hour in Central London from 6 to 8 pm. Check the Facebook Page for more details!





Women we’ve helped

In May, ASN heard from 26 women in need of help. Following are some of their stories:



A young mother (with a young baby) pregnant as the result of rape. Her GP was anti choice and, when she asked about abortion, told her never to come back again, and the illegitimate pregnancy advice centre she found told her she should have the baby and have it adopted.



A young woman who travelled to the UK for a termination but was sent home due to an unforeseen medical complication. She was able to make an appointment at a different clinic on another day, but the price of flying to the UK a second time left her short of funds.



An 18 year old student who, after borrowing money from her sister and all of her friends, was only able to raise half of the cost of the termination who texted in response to our grant: "Heyy , thanks so much ! your really helping me!! thanks so much you dont no what youv done !!! xxxx"



A married couple with children who called ASN after discovering that their current pregnancy had foetal anomalies. They have one part time job between them and are barely getting by and wound up using their grocery money to purchase the necessary plane ticket to travel to England to access a legal abortion.



The mother of a pregnant 15 year old girl struggling to raise the money for her daughter’s travel and abortion.



We thank these men and women for allowing us to share their stories.





Taking a moment to thank our supporters (and asking our supporters to let us know who they are!)

Are you one of ASN’s amazing donors? Take another look at the case studies above. You helped us help those women. Each week ASN hears from women like those above, women who are often in desperate circumstances. We are only able to help them as a result of the generosity of our donors – so thank you, thank you, thank you! Speaking of thank yous, if you have donated to us but have not received an email acknowledging your donation, please get in touch! This is especially necessary for those of you who have donated through standing order as the information we get from the bank is not generally enough to identify who donors are. Not an ASN donor but wish to become one? All funds donated by individuals go directly towards covering the cost of a woman’s abortion or travel to England.



Seeking W London, S London, Bristol and Liverpool hosts

ASN has experienced an increase in requests for housing, particularly near the clinics that provide abortion to 24 weeks - Richmond, Ealing, Streatham, Brixton and Bristol, as well as Liverpool. Do you have a spare room, pull out sofa, or air mattress and the desire to have a direct impact on a woman in need? Please get in touch, and feel free to pass the word along to any pro choice friends who live near these clinics.



***



Thank you again for all your support. Without you, we wouldn’t have been able to provide accommodation, financial assistance, and confidential, non-judgemental information to the women in difficult circumstances who have contacted us.





With best regards



Abortion Support Network

info@abortionsupport.org.uk

www.abortionsupport.org.uk

Charity Number 1142120



Abortion Support Network (ASN) is an all-volunteer charity that provides accommodation, financial assistance and confidential, non-judgemental information to women forced to travel from Ireland and pay privately for abortions in England. The cost ranges between £400 and £2000 depending on circumstance and stage of pregnancy. While other organisations campaign for law reform, ASN is the only group on record providing women travelling for abortions with the thing they need the most: money.



ASN is now a charity! Registered Charity Number 1142120















+44 (0) 7897 611 593



info@abortionsupport.org.uk



www.abortionsupport.org.uk





Registered Charity Number 1142120







Wednesday, May 02, 2012

Wonder Woman Wednesday


It's a preview from Wonder Woman 8.  Which may be out in the shops by the time this is posted actually..
That is one badass costume.  Man, the Wonder Woman new52 series is really really great.

Tuesday, May 01, 2012

Happy Beltane!

After the most hectic week in the world last week I took Monday morning off, pootled about the house and prepared (a little) for Beltane.  It was a really really nice morning and I felt very relaxed and in the spirit of things.

It was, suprisingly, a really nice warm sunny day so I got to spend half an hour in the garden reading fairy tales.  Then I cycled into work and got hit in the face by various flying insects, which is probably the biggest sign that we are nearing the end of Spring/coming up to Summer.

Here's hoping the weather is good on Tuesday (Beltane/Mayday) itself. :)  Hell, if it's not I'll wrap up warm, light the candles when I get home and hope the boyfriend's cold is better so I can burn some summery incense.  We'll have a proper celebratory meal (asparagus!) when he can taste things again.

I hope you all have a good Mayday :)

Note the lack of phallic pole... the boyfriend informed me I wasn't allowed to include a wooden dildo, ribboned or not.  Bah, he's no fun ;)