Joss whedon and feminsim part 2

I've been re-reading Allecto's posts on Joss Whedon here, here and here. As I said previously when I first read what she had to say I was taken aback by the forcefulness of her feeling. I didn't understand what position she was coming from and the amount of hate in Allecto's text shocked me, nonetheless on first reading I was left feeling uneasy because some of what she was saying seemed to make sense. Now, I like having my views challenged, I like reading new things, but it does take me a long time to mull things over and get my thoughts in order. Anyway, the end result was my previous post.

Now I've had time to think I've decided I want to go through Allecto's posts and respond to them. This will not be an attack on her, as I've said I think a lot of what she's written is valid. I mostly want to get my thoughts in order and exchange ideas. Like Allecto, I think Joss as producer and in charge of concept development of both Firefly and Buffy he should be held accountable to the content of each show. Fine. Let's get some general points down first:

• I do not think that Joss is a misogynist, neither do I think him sexist. I think he is trying to overcome sexism and misogyny, however being male he is always coming from a vantage point of male privilege and so will always always overlook some issues and representations etc. Lacking the lived experience of being female he will also not be able to fully understand what it means to be female in patriarchal society.
• Buffy and Firefly are two very different shows, with different characters and different moral standpoints. Both demonstrate different world views and I don't think either should be used as an indicator of the writer/producers mindset and worldview. what goes for Buffy may apply for Firefly.
• No matter how much I love this show or others I think we should always call out those responsible when we see errors and offensive material included in the show. Both programmes were written by a man in a patriarchal society and will undoubtedly reflect that society.

Ok, let's go:
Post number one: A Rapist's View of the World: Joss Whedon and Firefly
Allecto stated in the first line that this a rant. To me this means it is angry and not necessarily well planned out. Don't give her grief over the presentation of her arguments ok? (Quotes from Allecto are in italics).

"Zoe runs around calling Mal ‘sir’ and taking orders off him....a white man tells a black woman to ‘shut up’ for no apparent reason. And she does shut up. And she continues to call him sir. And takes his orders... for the rest of the series."
I don't see this as an issue of race. I think it is clearly set up in the episode that they are in the army together and Mal is the Captain. In an army setting you take orders from your boss or you risk getting killed. You trust that your orders are good ones because if you start arguing and breaking the cohesiveness of the unit you put your squadron/unit/whatever in danger. Although we could ask why not have a black female captain and a white male subordinate.

I don't think Firefly is very good on issues of race, not because of scenarios like the one above, but because for a show set in the future where there's a huge Chinese/Asian influence on the culture there are remarkably few people of Asian descent included. This has been rectified slightly in the comics, but really should have been recognised and rectified when casting the show. Also, I suspect that a lot of the Asian cultural references, e.g., furniture, dresses, background stuff etc, are based on stereotypes and may not actually reflect the true diversity of Asian culture in existence today. I say suspect because I'm cynical - I know next to nothing about Asian culture.

"Jayne asks Mal to get Kaylee to stop being so cheerful. Mal replies, “Sometimes you just wanna duct tape her mouth and dump her in the hold for a month.” Kaylee responds by grinning and giving Mal a kiss on the cheek and saying, “I love my Captain.”
What the fuck is this feminist man trying to say about women here? A white male captain who abuses and silences his female crew, with no consequences. The women are HAPPY to be abused."
I read Mal's quote as Mal showing up Jayne's inherent ridiculousness. Jayne probably would see no problem with duct taping Kaylee and shoving her in the hold for a month. Kaylee recognises this, hence her response. Jayne is the counterfoil in a lot of Firefly - he's a real selfish git who doesn't give a stuff about anyone else and is something of a sociopath (I think that's the correct phrase). He's out for number one and he truly doesn't understand why duct tape and imprisonment are bad things. Mal is also flawed, he's got a dubious morality (more on that later) but he's not as much a low life as Jayne.

Now Mal and Inara. Mal behaves awfully towards her. He consistently calls her a whore because he's uncomfortable with her job. He says he respects her not the job and does stand up for her when another guy gets too possessive, yet he calls her a whore and ignores her requests to give her privacy. I'm totally with Allecto on her views on Companions and Mal and Inara's relationship. I diverge a bit regarding Inara servicing the entire crew.

I think there are implied differences between Inara with a client and Inara talking to the crew. I think Inara is a thoughtful, diplomatic person and that she talks to the crew and supports them because it's in her nature to do so, she also argues with them when disagreements arise. I don’t think she’s being exploited here, I think Inara and the crew are having natural normal relationships and I don’t read it as a problem. However you could argue Inara’s training has shoehorned her into being this way and as such she is being exploited, but on a more subtle level.

Regarding Allecto’s points about the series being action centred and homoerotic, personally I like action. I like gunfights, I like fist fights and I like explosions. Whether it is homoerotic I think is debatable. Mind you I have issues with the term homoerotic anyway – yet again it places sexuality with men not women. There’s a picture of a hot topless male – it must be homoerotic, because of course only men have sex drives! Women could never be turned on by pictures of naked or near naked men. ‘Homoerotic’ takes away women’s sexual legitimacy and engagement. It implies that we are passive. And that’s bollocks.

“Let me just say now that I have never personally known of a healthy relationship between a white man and a woman of colour. I have known a black woman whose white husband would strangle and bash her while her young children watched. My white grandfather liked black women because they were ‘exotic’, and he did not, could not treat women, especially women of colour, like human beings. I grew up watching my great aunts, my aunty and my mother all treated like shit by their white husbands, the men they loved. So you will forgive me for believing that the character, Wash, is a rapist and an abuser, particularly considering that he treats Zoe like an object and possession.”

I’m sad to hear that. Allecto’s experiences are terrible ones. Without meaning to denigrate Allecto’s experiences I would argue that it is possible for white men and WoC to have healthy relationships. Obviously not all relationships go well, most end badly (for partnerships of all colours), but in mixed race relationships problems and failure within the relationship may not be down to race. I don’t think race has an impact on Wash and Zoe’s relationship. However, I am white and I am coming at this from a position of white privilege and I am fully aware that this affect my readings of any text. As such, I will not pick up on all or any issues, particularly not subtle or hidden ones.

All thoughts and criticism welcomed.

Iron Man

Avoiding spoilers is too hard. *whimper*

Joss Whedon and feminism - part 1

I've reading Allecto's analysis of Firefly, latest installment here, and find myself reluctantly agreeing with a lot of what she has to say. I say reluctantly because I love Buffy and Firefly and am rather gutted that there is so much wrong with it.
When I read the first installment of Allecto's analysis I was rather taken aback. I didn't understand where she was coming from and as the piece was not intended as a radical feminist 101 it took me a while to understand it. Although I don't agree with everything she writes she makes a damn good argument for all of it.

I do believe that men can be feminists. I do not think that they are well placed to pick up on and recognise internalised misogyny and societal sexism because by and large it doesn't affect them. But men can identify as feminists. They cannot however preach to women about how the bets way forward to advance women's rights. They will never know what it is like to be a woman and to be treated as a second class citizen. When I went to get my mortgage with my boyfriend the mortgage advisor directed 90% of his spiel to my boyfriend. Despite the fact I was asking the questions, despite the fact that I earned the most. The boyfriend did not notice this, because he has never had to, because he's never been in that position. However, he fully supports feminism. This is fine. He, and all the other men out there, just don't notice 95% of the crap women deal with.

Anyway, I'm slowly going through all my Buffy videos, (I know, videos, get me not with the technology), and am currently on season 2. Bearing in mind what I'd just read from Allecto certain things, say, problems, were occurring to me whilst watching it.
During Innocence, where Angel loses his soul after he's slept with Buffy. The blame for this is put squarely on Buffy's shoulders. By Giles, by her other and by Buffy. By the time Willow tells her it's not her fault in I only have eyes for you, several episodes later, Buffy is thoroughly convinced it's all down to her. She's completely internalized the guilt and won't give any of it to anyone else.

She had been in a relationship with Angel for a pretty long time now. 6, 8 months, a year? She's 17 years old. In the UK, it's legal to have sex when you're 16. I'm not sure about the law in America. She knew she couldn't get pregnant, he couldn't give her STDs cos he's dead, they loved each other. She knew nothing about the curse. Jenny knew something, but couldn't tell anyone. What exactly was wrong with them having sex?

Giles later said to her "Do you want me to say you acted rashly and wag my finger at you? You did and I can." Buffy then looks destroyed. This is her one trusted and knowledgeable authority figure in her life, her stability, and he tells her that? She did not act rashly. Having sex is not a crime. Later on her mother finds out about it and is unimpressed. But that makes more sense, mother's don't like to hear about their daughter's having sex. But then in Passion Joyce puts the blame on Buffy again for Angel changing. How is this Buffy's fault? How is it ever the woman's fault? Angel's behaviour reads like a stalker. Yet this isn't picked up on, Joyce doesn't help Buffy stop it, just blames her. The two people Buffy cares most about have told her it's her fault that her boyfriend changed after sex. If she hadn't had sex with him everything would be still be all honey and roses.

Why is Joyce not showing her it's Angel's fault he's changed? Did he not have anything to do with it? Why is Giles not placing the blame squarely on the Romany tribe who put the curse on Angel? Everyone hates Ms Calendar but I get the impression that's because she wasn't open with them about spying on Buffy and Angel. Not because it's her tribes fault he's changed. Jenny calls her uncle out about the curse, but that's the only time it's mentioned.

This whole storyline makes a pretty shit morality tale - it removes all culpability from the man. I understand that maybe Whedon wanted to show how teenage girls feel after sex when their boyfriend turns into a jerk, but it could have been down without everyone blaming Buffy. She didn't know. How could she have known? And as such, how is it her fault? Angel wasn't raped, it was fully consensual.

Maybe there's other reasons the story was written this way. Maybe instead of intending to show how it's always the woman's fault and that sex for teenagers is bad, Joss wanted to show the difference between teenagers and authority figures (Buffy and Joyce/Giles) as opposed to peer to peer relationships(Buffy/Willow). Maybe.

Still, it's not all bad. Although in Firefly's Our Mrs Reynolds, Mal is obviously taking advantage of and abusing Saffron, in the Buffy episode Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered, Xander cast a love spell and inadvertently makes every woman in Sunnydale want him. Including Buffy. He doesn't however take advantage, and he clearly states that it would be wrong and he does the right thing. So, I am thinking that Mal's behaviour in Our Mrs Reynolds is not symptomatic of Joss being a misogynist.
Mal is a bit of a grey area when it comes to morals. He happily kills people, he steals and he beats people up, and he enjoys it. His behaviour with Saffron then indicates further that he is a jerk. Contrast this with Xander, who is most definitely a good guy, though a bit of a sleaze, he generally does the right thing. Ergo, Joss can write good feminist texts. Except that the Buffy episode in question was written by Marti Noxon, and Our Mrs Reynolds was written by Joss. Damn.

New poster to tackle prostitution

Picked up from The F Word.

I approve. It quite clearly makes the link between prostitution and rape. I would say the vast majority of the time prostitution is always rape. I know there are some women who go into sex work because they like having sex. The vast majority don't. For the vast majority it is not glamorous or enjoyable. They do not make a lot of money. If you are coerced into having sex then it it is always rape. Most prostitutes are coerced into it. This poster places the emphasis and the blame on the man. Makes a nice change from blaming the women.

Note: When I say most or vast majority I mean 99%

DC hearing my prayers?!

Barda Figure!

That's pretty cool, check out the cheekbones! Link from Shelley's Bookshelf, she has a lot of figures.

I'm getting more and more. At this rate I'll be drowned in toys. I've got my eye on several:

All star Batgirl. Lame comic, great figure. Love the stars.

Batwoman. and the minimates version.

Supergirl. To complement my Linda Danvers figure. Who won't stand up unfortunately.

Flamebird.

A decent Black Canary one. Is this real leather??

A good Green Arrow one.

Impulse.

Rose Wilson. Please?

Wonder Woman in full Amazonian battle armour.

And by good I also mean affordable. I can't afford the women of the DC Universe busts. :(

When did this come out??!! And dear god this is awful. Take the man away, please.

Here's a fun photo of some of my toys:

I must get a newer one to show booster, blue beetle, catwoman and Nightwing.

Wally West is a dick.

I've been reading volume 2 of the Flash and come to the conclusion that Wally West is a bit of a dick. Flash number 2 ends with Wally inviting then girl friend Francis Kane to move into his house. Next issue he finds a note from her saying she's left, things were moving too fast etc. Fine. 5 pages later (and about 2 hours within DC Universe time) he meets Tina McGee. And starts hitting on her. Next issue they're kissing. He has a dilemma about her being married.

Then follows some really awful storyline about her husband beating her up because he's been taking some super serum rubbish. Yet she still loves and defends him and finally ends up leaving Wally for him. The husband is fully recovered by this point by the way. And there's some excrutiating dialoge and tension between Wally's mum and Tina because they're all living in the same house. Yadda yadda yadda. It's really bad writing. I blame the 80s.

And then in this lovely page Wally's shows the senstivity and intelligence of a dead rodent:

A few comics before this he's also hitting on his hot young neighbour and only stops cos he realises she a criminal. Wally, you are a dick.

And this page just confuses the hell out of me:

I think the dancer is a caterer. He shows up 2 panels before to talk about this issues monster - the Kilgore - is disbelieved by the scientist and then the above panel happens. Huh?!

Fun things

In an effort to focus on the good things in life I bring you the following:

Bears and Menstruating Women. Should you camp?
This reminds me of my friends corgi, who recently went to the trouble of digging out her used tampons from the bin and eating them. 3 of them. They had to take the stupid thing to the vet and it was prescribed it some sort of laxative. I was thoroughly grossed out.

Pac man pie chart

Menstrual Painting
I like the one done on the bathroom floor.

Optimash Prime! Best. Toy. Ever.

Lolcatz

Power Girl gets own series Now please lets make it a little more consistent than the Supergirl one, ok folks?

Women of the DC Universe poster 'tis wonderful. (In my head this is a kind of alternate universe where Kate Kane isn't a total femme and would wear trousers. Everything else remains the same though) And Adam Hughes manged to draw the hands ok. Ivy and Harlequin look like they are lovers sharing an intimate moment. Kara is spot on. Power Girl looks like a goddess.

Edit: Also the pirates app on facebook, awesome!

The menstrual posts and Optimash Prime toy were first seen on Occasional Superheroine's blog. the Optimash Prime toy had me giggling on the floor for 5 minutes.

The Holocaust

Nazi doctors at death camps tortured children, they were exposed to several inhumane surgeries without anesthesia. Some of those 'experiments' were injections of lethal germs, removal of organs and limbs, sex change operations. The victims were then murdered after the experiment was over.

Something is very wrong.

The text in bold is taken from the new game Imagination Is The Only Escape. This is a story of a child's struggle to survive the concentration camps of WWII. I will blog about the game at a later date. Right now I can't. This post is to highlight the atrocities committed by the Nazis and any comments about the existence of the game will be deleted from this post. This footnote ic included to give legitimacy to the above text.

Worth highlighting

Open Source Boob Grab. A summary from Feminist SF -The Blog.
My brain certainly can't cope with putting thoughts together. I say, Grarrrggghhh!

OGC cracks one off

OGC. The Office of Government Commerce, part of HM Treasury. Specialists in procurement and programme and project management. Interested in efficiency gains for central civil government. They've gone and got themselves a new logo, for 100,000 pounds, no less. Here it is:

Can you see the problem? I'll rotate it for you.
Oh dear. Oh dear dear dear. I wasn't entirely convinced this story was true, so I emailed some colleagues still working there and they assure me that yes it is real and they are going to continue using it!

Yep, that'll look lovely on all those books they produce (PRINCE2, MSP, ITIL etc..)

Retirement

I have decided to retire my nostril piercing. Voluntarily. This is unusual for me, I have had a large number of piercings and the few I have retired have been done under duress. (how's that for bad english?). My surface wrist piercings were rejecting, my nipple piercings weren't healing and my ear ones were giving my massive gyp. My vertical labret was removed as I had to get a job.
I still have my upper and lower navel bars, my septum, both tragi and 11 running down my ear rim. Including each lobe stretched to about 6mm *beams*. I would like those bigger but again, having an office job where I meet funders probably meas I can't have much bigger lobes.

Anyway, my nostril piercing. I've had this about 8 years now I reckon. I told my mum I had it done and she cried. OK, she was a bit mad at the time and I was living away from home, at university so it's not as big a deal as you'd think. The reason it's coming out is because I can't find a stud that will stay in and fit comfortably, and having a hoop in just irritates it. In the last week it's gotten a bit sore and red and I have come to the decision that it would be better to lose it than continue to risk irritation or infection if it catches on anything. Very mature of me I think.

On the bright side once it's settled I could have two parallel studs put in :D

Whorewhorewhorewhorewhoreswhoreswhores

Just found this web comic about Frank Miller. True. People, just because the ladies in Sin City have guns it does not make it a feminist movie.

Monster Comic buying session part 1

I got my Nightwing figure! It's very cool :D Although the slots at the back where her wings fit in and not level :( Oh well, it's still pretty awesome :)

I've bought a ridiculous amount of comics recently. Orbital comics in London has loads of 50p back issue comics, (it's also where I got my figure from), and Forbidden Planet does a grab bag of 5 back issues for a quid. You can only see what two of them are and the second time round I did end up with duplicates but it's still a bargain. I may now attempt a super short collection of thoughts of each comic. I won't say review. Team ups first, then individual books, then Infinte Crisis tie ins. Then non DC books.

Justice Society of America \2: Nice. Features Kingdom Come Superman. I'm thinking of picking up the title on a regular basis now. Previously I haven't gone near it cos all the JSA heroes except Power Girl have bored me senseless. I am ready to concede I may be wrong.
JSA Strange Adventures \5: I remember enjoying this. And the cover art is great. And it's got Hawkgirl. Thumbs up.

Justice League New Frontier special \1: Lovely art. Didn't really like Superman in this. Liked Black Canary and Wonder Woman in the strip club, even if Diana did come across a bit mental. Dinah's reactions to her and the situation were great though.

JLA \67: I do have a soft spot for this run.

Teen Titans\57: An issue devoted to Rose, my favourite of the titans, hurrah! I must get the 5 or 6 issues I've missed of this.
Teen Titans Year 1 \1 to 3: Oh poor aqualad, he's rather pathetic isn't he? I like this mini. A lot.
Titans \1: Yes so it's Michael Churchill's art and it's pornface all over, and Supergirl and Wonder girl are clones of each other, but the story is good. What's everyone's beef ??

Green Arrow/Black Canary \6 and 7: Oh hell yeah. I love these two. And I like Judd Winick's writing. Oh Ollie, you're such a twat, you didn’t' check the aliens. *shakes head*
Green Arrow \48: Dire.

Brave and the Bold \10: Oh Robin and Wally, you’re so mean to Aqualad.

Wonder Girl \1: Oh I'm definitely getting the trade of this. Oh yes.

Black Adam \2: The end of 52 promised a better book than this. And the cover is lame. But hey, Black Adam's back!

Batman Legends vol 2 \2: A British reprint of stories from ASBAR, (Ninja) Man Bats of London and Superman/Batman Public Enemies. Hey, it's the goddamn Batman, what can I say, I love it!

Robin Annual \7: Shiny. The bat family has always interested me more than batman himself, and this was an enjoyable read. The festival of the hungry ghosts story was the best even though I know fuck all about Damian. Maybe that's why?

Superman \661: Tagline on the cover reads - (Khyrana) 'No one can stop Khyrana, Superman--no one!' (Wonder Woman) 'OH?'. The boyfriend finds this funny in an American comics are really utter dross way (he's a manga snob). I find it funny in a cheesy overly dramatic way. Lois was acting rather jealous in this though. Is that a normal part of her characterisation recently?
All Star Superman \10: Definitely not as awesome as I'd been led to believe. I will not be rushing to pick the hardback of this anymore.
Superman \185: Gorgeous cover. Really enjoyable read, although Superman getting snarky with villains does always seem a bit contrived. Like the writers are trying to move away from the gentle boy scout image, it's not always handled very well and this issue is an example of that I think.
Superman \207: Can't remember a thing about this..
Action Comics \10: Yay! I especially liked the terrible editing job. In the Criminals of Krypton we find out why the ugly silent one - Non - of the Zod + Ursa group is so grunty. Turn the page and Superman's Top 10 Most Wanted reads Non’s fall from grace and current condition remains a mystery. Err, no it doesn't!
Superman The Man of Tomorrow \ 13 and 26: Mulletman. Rubbish.
Superman The Day the Earth Died \658: The start of the Camelot Falls saga. Oh I want to read it all.

Supergirl \28 : we’ve finally had a run of several decent issues! And good art, thank god!

Nightwing \137: Not good as an intro to the Nightwing books.

Plastic Man \9: New, refreshing funny. I'm amazed I like a Plastic Man title.

Aquaman \48: Oh my god this was brilliant. Have they put this into trades? Must get all back issues. And the art is simply lovely.

Booster Gold \1: 52 pick up. Great! Booster's a brilliant character, a bit of an arrogant cocky jerk but he generally does the right thing. I'm now gonna be getting this one regularly. \8 also followed on pretty well.

Countdown to Mystery \2: Well it's nice and shiny and flicking through it I can see it features the Spectre and a guilty Plastic Man but for the life of me I can't remember any details.

Countdown to Adventure \3: Oh I like this. Go Starfire. I liked how the 3 way relationship between Starfire, Animal Man and his wife was handled.

Infinite Crisis aftermath The Spectre \2: and Tales of the Unexpected featuring The Spectre \1-4: I think I've got the individual stories of these mixed up. I wasn't aware of this new incarnation of the Spectre and it has piqued my curiosity. the Dr 13 stories at the back of tales of the unexpected were far superior though. Mad and very very funny.

Checkmate \15: Did I even read this?

Showcase \1: Cyborg, Blue Devil, Catwoman: I did not care for Catwoman. I think they may have wanted to make her more edgy and mean and 90s. The Blue Devil story was entertaining, the Cyborg one was a good opener but without the follow on issues I've lost interest. Overall, rather forgettable.
Blue Devil \22: From 1986. Funny, a keeper.

Midnighter \14: Do not care for. I picked it up cos I thought Midnighter was a gay superhero and I'd heard interesting things about it. But it didn't grab me. Maybe it will on a future re-read.

Serenity Better Days \2: Of course I like, how could I not?

Buffy \13: Not as good as last issue. Loved the Xander/Dracula dialogue though.

Wolverine \58: Wolverine is one of the few Marvel characters I care for. This was ok; I’m a sucker for random religious/spiritual experiences so this drew me right in. And of course it’s got Doctor Strange in it, who rules. However, do they really think that their audience needs the word anagram explained?

X-Man \49: Fucking shite. oh Marvel you suck.

And then there's the Impulse run as well. And more 52 spin offs. And 5 of a kind books. And Empowered. And Superman 3,2,1 action. And probably even more. *Sigh*

So, that meme thing then..

As promised, here goes:

Black Canary
Kara Zor El
Linda Danvers
Sarah Connor
Babs Gordon
Renee Montoya
Kate Kane
Misfit
River Tam
Zoe Wash
Kaylee
Buffy
Anya
Fray
Faith
Big Barda
Impulse's friend Carol
XS
The female half of runaways
Rogue
Shadowcat
Power Girl
My mum
My Sister
Wonder Woman
Cassie Sandsmark
Rose Wilson
Mia as Speedy
Raven
Manhunter
Katie and Julie Power
Isis
Lois Lane
Arrowette
Secret
Mighty Endowed
Empress
Mary Jane Watson
Zinda Blackhawk
Thunder
Grace
Huntress

I thought I'd be able to come up with more. I guess I have a narrow range of geeky interests. Or my brain is failing me. That's more likely.

The Fuck You She's Awesome meme

Here. I shall contribute. Oh yes. But not now. This weeekend when brain is working again.

Interestin' debate about immigrants

going on at the f word. I must say I'm amazed all London mayoral candidates are supoprting the amnesty policy. I think it's a good idea and I agree with the comments of Julie, Anne Onne and Lynne.
Being anti immigrants is frequently framed in racist language and I think people forget or don't know that the percentage of minority ethnic people in Bitain is 7.9% (from the Office of National Statistics Website). To my mind that's not a lot. Of course illegal immigrants won't show up in that figure, but sometimes I think people confuse illegal and legal immigants.
It irks me when people blame immigrants for taking jobs away from the British folks. If you've got a beef that someone is taking a lower wage than you'd be prepared to work for, well that's just market forces in operation. Blame capitalism. Look at the bigger picture.

eurgggghh

Sittin' in my room, listenin' to the Gin Blossoms and about to read the Impulse run. Dear god I've got a nasty hangover. eurrggghhh. I think I need to change the music, it's not helping. eurrgghh.

Edit - have changed the music to Sepultura. Much better. Ahhh.

DC figures are lame

OK that's a lie they're not all lame. Only the ones I want are lame. I went to the big smoke yesterday to meet with friends, see some art and do some comic related shopping. We got down to London especially early so we could go to Forbidden Planet and I could buy some toys. Big fail.

We got the tube to Tottenham Court Road, turned onto Charing Cross Road and noticed a shop called Orbital comics. This was the awesome - lots of 80s to the present stuff for 50p, a manga selection my ever picky boyfriend was impressed with, to the point of going back later and purchasing 2 books, and this awesome Nightwing figure:

Which I'm now kicking myself about not getting. I'd just spent 12 quid on comics and thought I'd see what Forbidden Planet had to offer.

We got to Forbidden Planet and the DC selection was rubbish. The 12 inch batgirl dolls looked liked men. the material for the costumes all sucked, and the Women of the dc universe ones were rubbish. The expressions were all wrong or they were naked (hello Big Barda). The Zatanna and Donna Troy Wonder Girl ones were good, but not 50 quid of good. Anything of Power Girl and Wonder Woman had the expressions all weird.

I looked at the Marvel section, specifically the Marvel zombies, and they were awesome! Zombie spidey and Mary Jane? Check. Zombie Spidey about to beat someone to death with his own leg? Check. Zombie Cl America? Yep! Even the Harry Potter ones were better!

So I bought bundles of comics for a quid each. I'll wait for the next wave of mini mates to come out instead. And buy the Nightwing one.

Sort it out DC.


Wow. That was a boring post.

Barbie Supergirl. In pink. ehhhhhh. And man tackle.

Looks like I'm in a blogging mood tonight, Must be all the nervous energy from the chocolate egg I ate earlier.

Barbie Supergirl? Barbie's are fucking horrible. My particular brand of feminism hates them, they're fucking bimbos. And you want to make the DC female superheroes into Barbies? You want to take away all their individuality, their distinctiveness and separate identities and pour them all into one hollow plastic identikit shell? Fuck. Off. My beef with Barbie is they are sold as the ideal woman, the prettiest, the most slender, the tallest, the best shape you can be. And there's only ever one shape. From the website - From urban teen to fantasy queen she's every girl! Not mine she fucking aint.

From Valerie D'Orazio's blog, I bring you Pink Supergirl.

I am not making any comments on the validity of pink as a colour. It has as much place in our world as red, blue, green, brown, black and yellow.

My beef is not so much that Supergirl has never worn a pink outfit. I'm all for adapting costumes to make them your own. I couldn't give a shit how popular they are with kids. My problem is that it seems whenever companies are trying to sell something to women and girls they make it pink. Car Insurance. Mobile phones. Air travel.

It seems that pink is what being a women boils down to. It's lazy, it's condescending and it assumes we all like pink. And are shallow enough to buy something just cause it's pink. And I'm not the only one who thinks so.

On a brighter, less sweary note, lets see more man tackle in our comics:

Thanks Messrs Ross! Keep producing these and if I ever meet you I'll buy you a drink!

Because this post deserves more exposure and linkage

This post.
Geek girls rule. Girls rock harder. And we come in many different body shapes.

Oh Noes! Fantasy geeks! Fantasy GEEEEKS!

That's kind of a stupid headline isn't it? Oh well. Imagination equals fail for me. Anyway, onwards and upwards to the point of this post.

Whilst watching a documentary about the history of fantasy fiction, (which incidentally failed in two ways I think, because -
1) it started with Tolkien. Now fantasy to me goes back many many many centuries and truly starts with tales such as the Mabinogian, and the ancient myths. OK, so the myths are religion and not strictly speaking fiction, but I'll betcha they spawned many folk tales told as stories, and I'll betcha they featured wondrous fantastical creatures and magic.
2) They said Lord of the Rings was intertwined with and partly responsible for the hippie movement. I think because lots of people dropped acid and thought they were on middle earth, or something. That seemed to me to be a stretch and I think they just wanted to show naked people on the telly. Anyhows)

it struck me that people refer to fantasy, and sci fi, as escapism, and seek to understand why all the fans want to escape form their daily lives. they need to find a reason, such as weariness with the daily grind, abuse or poverty, that explains wanting to read about dragons and elves etc.

This seems to me rather daft, because isn't all reading escapism? Why not ask the question of anyone who reads any book? Even history books and autobiographies and misery memoirs. It's all escapism. Yet there doesn't seem to be a need to justify why other forms of fiction and non fiction are read. This seems to be unfair.

The other thing that struck me was why do people look down on fantasy and not on historical fiction? Take Robin Hobb's Farseer trilogy I'm re-reading now. There's very little actual magic in it. It's all court intrigue and conspiracies and politics and war and murder and treason. Isn't that what books like The Other Boleyn Girl focus on too? Add in that Robin Hobb is a beautiful writer and the language spoken by the characters is so poetic at times, this results in a very satisfying, well written, immensely enjoyable, sophisticated book.

So why the snobbery surrounding fantasy? I say, nay, this is unfair.

I saw this on Heidi Meeley's blog, and thought I'd join in. Hey it's this or housework, OK?

Here are the rules:
"List 7 random things about yourself that people may not know. Link the person who sent this to you, and leave a comment on their blog so that their readers can visit yours.Post the rules on your blog."

You'd think this wouldn't be too hard, it's not like I've really got an online presence after all. Here we go:

1. I'm deathly scared of dark bathrooms. The second the light's turned off and I'm still in there my heart races and I rush to open the door and get out into the light.

2. I always develop an inappropriate crush on at least one of my co workers.

3. I have only just come to accept my body as it is and realise 3 pounds either way isn't going to make a lot of difference.

4. I sometimes have to ring my partner and ask him where the cleaning apparatus in our house is kept.

5. I get stimulation overload. By this I mean when I have the choice of reading a book, watching repeats of my TV shows or going on the Internet I cannot decide which to do and either try to do all 3 at once or wander around in a confused daze. For this reason I try not to have too many options.

6. I'm terrified of having children.

7. I'm going to get a driving licence purely to use as ID. I have no desire to learn to to drive I am merely sick of people questioning me.

Hands, porn, lesbians, libraries, voodoo and lip reading

So, I finished reading Young Justice. As people may have noticed I think it's rather good. But there's always a but, right? Take Empress - cool costume, cool power, cool character background etc etc. I feel that making the sole black chick's power a voodoo one is, how shall we say it, racial stereotyping? And then on top of that she gets naked to cast a spell? Jesus. I call that racist. Probably not racist through maliciousness, more racist through lack of imagination and thought, but still racist.

My other problem with the run is the deaf girl Arrowette makes friends with on the way to the games. I'm fully supportive of including more (any?) deaf people in comics and literature but i think it should be handled well. It should not be inferred that deaf people are experts on lip reading. Only about 30% of all words are formed on the lips, the rest are formed with the tongue and throat. So, it's impossible to lip read 100% of all speech. It really would be nice to see communication issues reflected accurately.

Given Peter David's inclusion of a couple of deaf characters in Supergirl and Young Justice
I wonder if he suddenly came in contact with deaf people at some point, maybe a member of his family or a friend went deaf suddenly? It reminds me of Judd Winick bringing in HIV positive characters. Which again I fully support. Comics can provide a good forum to educate people about illnesses/disability/social issues so bring it on. Just do it right. Please? Do your research first.

(And on another note, I really hate Cassandra Cain's ability to read body movement like a language - it doesn't make sense! People growing up without speech and without hearing don't communicate as she did. It's a stupid plot device.)

On to Buffy issue 12. So she slept with Satsu. Big deal. This doesn't make her gay, or even bi. This simply means she slept with a chick. Some of the blogs I've read that have looked appear to be getting hung up on whether this makes Buffy gay or bi. I say, does it matter? It's just sex. And I don't think you can draw parallels between Buffy's previous unconventional relationships and sleeping with a girl. So Angel and Spike were dead vampires. They're still hot male dead vampires. That's quite different from women. I'm quite offended that some people think women and dead male vampires have something in common.
I should add that fro Buffy to be gay or bi she'd have to actually crush on women. I doubt she has a proper hard on for Satsu, I think she needed comfort and closeness and orgasms. You don't have to fancy someone to sleep with them.
And the rest of the comic? Awesome. This series is getting better and better each issue. But Willow flying really pisses me off for some reason. I'm picky and don't think anyone in the Buffyverse should be able to fly. It just doesn't seem to fit.

And I also just read the whole Genshiken series. I liked. One of the more notable parts of it was the abundance of porn for women they' showed. And showed it as part of everyday life for the characters, it wasn't anything to be ashamed of. It was read the same way the men read their porn, it was discussed openly, and recommended to friends and it was normalised.

By extensions this normalises female sexuality and realises women do have sex drives and desires and fantasies. Compare that to Western attitudes towards porn and women and I see that Genshiken deals with this in an incredibly mature and praiseworthy way. It's a relief to see women reading and buying porn without shame, without being subject to ridicule or name calling. Bring it on.

Superman 674
Their new house. Want want want! Check out that library space. *drools*

Serenity 1
Hurrah for the explosions and the guns! Boo in a big way for the cover. That's an Adam Hughes cover? What, did he draw it blindfolded? Look at the hands! And Mal's neck, and Zoe's very very forced grin - she looks like somethings pinning her cheeks back.

Comics roundup

So, I'm working my way through the Young Justice run at the moment. Written by Peter David, which I hadn't realised. It's really really good. Infantile, funny and features Mighty Endowed. Who? I hear you say. She turned up in issue number 1.

Awesome sendup of superheroines and villanesses. Michael Turner take note. WUMF! I hope she turns up again.

And then there's the issue where Arrowette yells at the JLA. Apart from her reaction being pretty cute and somewhat similar to what I reckon any of us would do, the artist covers up her groin with her skirt. See?

Yay! Ok so this is somewhat spoiled by the gratuitous pool and thong/bikini scene later on in the series, but I'm ignoring that.

And just because I have a soft spot for Impulse:

EDIT - Pls bring Arrowette back. She's great. Yes I know we have another teen girl archer - Speedy (and thank god Judd Winick didn't kill her off in GA) - but they are both quite different characters and there's a space for them both. Pretty please?

And while I'm on the topic, why aren't there any decent Big Barda figures out there?

Smallville - Persona

Oh lexy. Lexy Lexy Lexy, what have you done? Oh my heart bleeds for you.

Language and sexual violence

A couple of posts I've read today that caught my attention.
One from Karen Healy's blog: Girls read Comics (and they're pissed)
She's talking about Garth Ennis' the Pro. I must admit that when I read this I wasn't overly impressed. But one thing that Karen has said really struck me:

The thing about prostitution – and here and henceforth I’m referring specifically to female prostitutes – is that the culture of the West goes on and on about sexy being great and empowering for women.()...and then the worst thing you can say to a woman is to call her a whore.

This is part of what I was trying to say in my earlier post - Language, Sex, Wonder Woman. or at least I was thinking it in my head or something. I don't know, this has been a particularly crappy week.

Anyway, the second post I saw on this topic was from the f word. My brain's too fried to read or take in all of it but it's an interesting article. I think.

angry sarah

grrr. anger. I miss Dan.

edit: angry sarah has now up(down?)graded to crying Sarah. This will quickly turn into must stay away from knives sarah. sob.

52 - Black Adam

Spoilers....


So I just finished reading 52. I was rather unimpressed with how Black Adam's story panned out*. I liked his relationship with Isis and Osiris. It was mellowing him out, bringing him back his humanity. I thought this was a good development for him. Now when they killed off Isis and Osiris, it seemed to be purely for an excuse for Adam to go evil again. *coughWircough*.
Now I appreciate they were writing cliches, the commentary said as much, and yes suddenly finding love and even more suddenly losing it does create conflict which is the basis of a good story. But, it's a crying shame that this relationship and Adam's personal growth was confined to the pages of 52. It makes it look like some sort of silly experiment.
Black Adam has now reverted to type and the status quo hasn't changed. I think it's lazy. was it all done so that Adam could be depowered? Did the end result drive the story or did the story drive the end reuslt?

And a special shout out to Greg Rucka - don't refer to Isis as an acquisition of Adam's. Don't compare her to a cape. Not cool, Greg, not cool.


*I very rarely read about the Marvels so didn't know Adam had disappeared or murdered a country or two. So this story was a lovely surprise.

Smallville Gemini

Ok so I'm a little behind the times with this one.
Oh Lana, Lana Lana Lana, I realise you're rather mad but shouldn't you know Clark will never go for spying on Lex like that? You've met his morals right? Oh Lana, you're so fucked up in the head. And didn't Lana and Clark have a break up at the end of episode 8? Or some sort of heavy cooling off discussion?

I did like Chloe and Jimmy being discovered in the lift. The looks on their faces. It was just squishy.

Have I missed Chloe experimenting with her powers? Last I saw it was all with the tears of healing, now it's the firey glow of healing? Well I can go with that.

And lastly, yay for Bizarro! Quite excited about next weeks installment now. More excited about Black Canary though. I feel a crush coming on. Pity the set looks so cheap. I'm not sure about the actress's face though. It's a similar feeling with the Kara actress. They just look a bit wrong . Maybe it's just the short hair. We'll see. And with any luck they'll bring Ollie into it, by which point I'll be so excited I may just wet myself.

Language, violence, Wonder Woman

So, I've just been away visiting some friends overnight and somehow the talk got onto my feminism. Gee, I can't think how. Possibly because it was me talking.
Anyway, my friend is a linguistics professor so we talked about gendered language. I spoke about how I really hated swear words like slut, slag, whore etc. All those sexual ones which really only apply to women. My hatred on these rests on the fact that the use of these words rely on the basic idea that women having sex is bad. It's an attempt to control other women's sexuality. Well you know what? Fuck you. My body, my sex. It's got nothing to do with anyone else. Having sex is not bad. It's not wrong, it's not evil. Not having sex is not virtuous. Not having sex does not make you a better person, or a good girl.

And it is significant that there are no equivalent insults for men. If we want to criticise a man for having sex we call them slut, slag, whore. These become insulting not so much because of the sexual aspect of the word, but because by applying them to men we are feminising men. It's like calling a man a big girl. It implies that being female, being a woman is a bad thing, it is inherently a worse state of being than to be a male. Riiiiighht.
My (male) friend agreed with all this. And then said that he believes that we've achieved equality. This makes me so tired.

------------------------------------

Then today on my browsings around the internet I visited The F Word's site. From here I was linked to an Abbey OReilly post on The Guardian's blog site. She talks about being harassed in the street. About being stalked at a London train station. About being groped on the tube. About requests for a blow job from complete strangers. This is violent and threatening behaviour. It happens to all women. It is scary. It is why Reclaim the Night exists. It shouldn't fucking happen. We shouldn't have to put up with this shit. Seems simple right? Apparently not. If you read the comments left on Abbey's post it seems many people cannot tell the difference between chatting someone up and abusing them. This makes me want to weep.

-----------------------------------

This behaviour makes me sick.

-----------------------------------

To people who say Feminism isn't needed and we've attained equality, may I direct to Ain't it Cool News. In this article, Capone chats up Loretta Devine. She's not interviewed, she's chatted up. This is not about her work, it's about her sexual status, her availability for a shag. It's like putting a big neon sign saying it's ok, she's still a sexual object, we don't have to take her work seriously, we're thinking about her in terms of sex. This doesn't happen to men. Maybe it's because it's mostly straight men interviewing other straight men. But that highlights another problem doesn't it, where are the lady interviewers?

------------------------------------

One good thing can come out of the Wonder Woman Playboy shoot. Provided they haven't photoshopped and airbrushed her pose, comic artists could use this as an example of how spines work.

Hillary Sexism watch

So I've just checked in at feminsting (http://www.feministing.com/) and gone through their recent hillary sexism watch stuff. and now i'm really fucking angry. Iron my shirt? Pinching her cheeks. Ugh. So so angry. Must go seeth. God I hope she wins.

merry season

happy fucking xmas everybody. hope you all enjoy it. bring on the comics cheer.


I really wanna be a slayer. a sober one by preference. or maybe a kick ass fuck you one. yeah. I wanna be Kennedy.

This is not Artemis

Artemis - Wonder Woman art for sale on ebay

Artemis - different hair. not asian. wears clothes. If you wish to sell titillating manga style pictures, by all means do so. But please do not label it Artemis unless you wish it to be recognisable as her.

Edit - actually, I don't mind her being asian. I mind her being generic with no individual recognisable characteristics.

How to draw men in tights

Comic artists, when drawing men in spandex, please take note of the picture below.

(Dominic Tuck, deaf ballet dancer).

Men in tights do not tend to be sexless. Please draw in the requisite bits.

I thank you.

Eh

Oy this again
I don't want to be protected. I want to be able to protect myself (quite possibly with high kicking kung fu moves. This is why I like Black Canary so much).
Christian vlaues did not stop sexual exploitation from flooding the town square. That's why there's always been prostitution. And rape. Sure, it may have kept it out of sight and condemned the women more than the men, but..oh right..that's not good is it?
The chilvalric code kept politeness but maybe not respect? I'd rather respect.
I don't want a society where the solution to gender inequality is that women have to rely on men to protect them. I want a society where I am not at risk of being raped, or mugged, or threatened or leered at. I want a society where the words slut, whore, slag, etc are not insults. Because it shouldn't matter what a women does in her privtae life. having sex does not denigrate her status as a human being. And using these words as insults does denigrate women.

Right now I'd settle for comics and literature that show a wide variety of possible nasty things that can hurt women at night. And also shows these women turning to face their intended attackers and having some power.
Let me explain. Currently, when women in comics are walking alone at night, one or more men will turn up, leer at her, and make sexual violence threats to her. You know, they never wanna just mug her or beat her up. there's always the sexual undertone. And the women always scream and run. They never turn round to face their attacker and stand up for themselves to fight, or laugh in their face, or anything. Their role is to run away. Fine, in the real life I guess this happens a lot. But I am sick of reading of women as victim. Some women fight back you know.
Some women aren't victims. I read a story in a women's magazine a couple of years ago where this women 'talked her way out of rape'. She got in a dodgy cab, the faux taxi driver drove off in the wrong direction, she realised what was happening and screamed and yelled and took control. She didn't get raped. (I can't remember how she got out of the cab - I'm 99% certain she wasn't left in the middle of nowhere though.)
So you know, it does happen. we can take control.

So stop showing me fiction where women can't help themselves. That doesn't gel with my experience as a woman. And I don't get threatened with rape every time I go outside at night.

Elseworlds Finest - Supergirl/Batgirl

Well I've just got round to reading Elseworlds Finest - Supergirl/Batgirl. I must say that Supergirl is absolutley lovely in this. She looks so strong, personality, not just body wise. There are lots of good things with this, but just a few bad things too. :(
Good: Hawkgirl's muscles!
Bad: Batgirl posing on page 2. I know she's meant to be drawn like Batman usually is, one leg resting on the ledge. And at first glance it looks pretty awesome, but then I look again, and it seems like just a little too much emphasis is placed on her boobs and butt. And I don't think spines work like that. (Unfortunately I don't have a scanner so can't post up pictures).
Good: Batgirl looking ominous with the cape on page 4. Shrouded in the cape. Teh awesome.
Bad: Batgirl having her suit actually sprayed on. Give me a fucking break.
Good: Diana in full trousers. A black Captain marvel. A black Black canary. The new Flash costume. Mmmm, streamlined. (But why also the mainline continuity Flash, Captain Marvel and Black Canary? What am I missing?)
Also good: Big Barda. Look she's just awesome ok?
Tre Good: Supergirl's tall! Like really warrior woman tall! Taller than Lex. Awesome.
Good: Page 13. Lex: 'We should have dressed you up - had a gown designed - something befitting your angel image. '
Supergirl: 'Flying down over them in a dress? That's not the image I wanted them to have, Lex!'
Hell yeah! (Do you hear me Michael Turner?)
Bad: We could have done with a bit more depth as to why Batgirl banned metahumans from Gotham.
Good: Page 18. BOOM! You gotta love anything that geos boom. You just gotta.
Meh: Oracle. meh. Tim Drake as the JSA stooge.
Bad: Why the JSA? Why not the JLA?
Good: Batgirl gets to look moody and stubborn just like regular universe Bruce. No pouting. No lippy. Just. 'I said I had it under control.' *scowl*
Supergirl with firey eyes.. Supergirl smash.
Good: Child Barbara with the gun. Oh hell yes.

So all in all, they managed to remove a lot of the women-for-the-male-gaze-only type art. Which is yay. Pity some slipped through. Booo.

And compeltely away from the women art etc subject. I'm not sure You can call this Batgirl part of Elseworld's finest cos she's not heroic enough.. 90% ofwhat we got was Batgirl as tyrant. Not Batgirl as hero. Still. Have a star for trying.

Various names

Stolen from Ami Angelwings:

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) - Phoebe Bicycle

2. GANGSTA NAME: (favorite ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) - Vanilla Chocolate (Cookie is American for biscuit right?)

3. DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) - Red Cat

4. STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) - Gresa (MM that's nice isn't it?)

5. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, first tool that comes to mind, put “The” at the beginning) - The Blue Chisel

6. STRIPPER NAME: (favorite candy, the name of your favorite perfume/cologne) - Wispa Classique

7. PORN STAR NAME: (First pet and street you live on) - Pheobe Waterloo

Heh. fun. Now i'm off to read my dazzler comics. Cheerio.

Smallville episode 8

Oooh I quite liked this one! After the disaster that was episode 6 I did think that only the odd numbered episodes were gonna be any good. I was wrong. Number 7 was awesome, number 8 was pretty cool. However, I did note some superdickery going on.

If Clarke had stopped to think for a minute he have realised that Lara can probably handle herself, under the yellow sun and all. Get over your hero complex mister. And secondly, leaving the very human (ex?) love of your life alone with Lara, who has a homicidal superpowered kryptonian after her? Lana's gonna be able to help how exactly?!

And Lana. Lana Lana Lana Lana! Clark whinges about his lost mum, and it's all about you is it? Oh I know how you feel Clarkie, I miss my mum too, moan moan moan. Huh? How is that relevant?!

But ooh, Richard is Julian Luthor! Ooooh! I thought they were going for homoerotic moment between Julian and Lex there. Until the brotherly connection was realised. Damn shame that. I'm up for a bit to man on man action in this show.

Overall, 4 out of 5 stars.
Back to how the shows been doing -
Bizzaro - tre Awesome. But the first episodes always are, finishing off the cliffhangers form the previous season and all. And this version of Bizzarro is sooo much better than the my-head-hurts-to-read-it comics version.*
Kara - Mmm. Good. I liked the snarky and the sizing up of each other.
Fierce- Absolute rot. I think I may have documented my thoughts before.
Cure - Hmm. As I recall, this was so so.
Action - ahh, knowing meta fiction narrative methinks! Yeah, this rocked. Nice WiR debate too. Made me chuckle.
Lara - was this the one where we learnt half of Krypton has visited earth? If yes, then this is the one that really sucked.**
Wrath - Oh yeah, evil Lana, plot and character development, oh yeah! good one.
Blue. Yep. Already done this one.

Which was the one with Lana keeping Lionel captive? Cos that was also the awesome.
I think I just

I had 6 mince pies and frozen mango for my dinner. Not at the same time. I'm not sure if I'm proud or not.

I think I've scuppered my even/odd number theory.

*except for Bizzarro Linda Danvers Supergirl. She's adorable and I think I want a pet one.
**I'm willing to concede that my views on this are down to the fact that I'm a it of a purist. Part of the pleasure of the Superman mythology is that he was sent to an unknown planet and there are very few others that share the knowledge. Allowing all his family to visit kind of ruins this. (Then again, I've very much enjoyed the recent comics third kryptonian storyline.)

Smallville - Lara

Stupid stuipid episode. Why have Lara et al come to Earth? Why choose to make a superhero show and then fuck about with the main elements? I wouldn't have any objections if it was done well, but that was stupid.
And it appears Clark has Kara's crystal. Stupid. Am now to hacked off to watch episode 7. Grr.

Smallville episode 5

Ahh so much to love in this episode! Lionel's back! Lana shows more snarlyness - I guess this is the direction they'll go in to allow Clark and Lana to split? Clark gets the cape! Further persuasion to get Clark to be a superhero! WiR theory made into reality - ok so that's not so cool, but it made me giggle. Do we think they are addressing the blogosphere's concerns here?! A new character finds out Clark's secret identity and doesn't die or get mindwiped! Hurrah!
This makes up for the mess of last week's episodes.
Bad things - no Kara. Booooo. Good on Chloe for giving her a backstory though :)

In other news, I finally got and read the GA/Black Canary wedding special. Giddy Superman makes me laugh. He looks and acts like a 12 year old boy! The whole issue was pretty good actually, I like Dinah getting pissed Slade nicked her ring and I really liked everyone's reactions to the invite (especially Plastic Man's).

Also got ASBAR 7. Awful. but awesome. but awful. but awesome. And was that meant to be Black Canary, or some random Irish chick who dresses just like her? And do we think that Frank Miller may be writing himself as Batman? Or at least, writing himself as he wants to be.

Kara Smallville

I like Kara on Smallville. I liked her snarky in episode 2, I liked her self assuredness and her meeting in the forest with Clark. Episode 3 however, was bollocks. There was no need, character development wise, for a beauty pageant. The weather girls plot was just rubbish. And now I'm a little afeard that they might try and make Kara and Lex have a relationship. Grr.
And Lana appears to have come back with no toughness. Surely the strength she shows when aroudn Lex should also show when she's around Clark? But it comes across as two entirely seperate people, and I prefer the tough Lex Lana. *sigh*

Wonder Woman = housewife ?

or tidy upper-er, or cleaner? You wouldn't think of her as that would you? Except that this artwork up on ebay at the moment has her "indulging in a little tidying up, picking up someones pants"

Why would Diana be picking up someone's pants? Is she doing a spot of light cleaning round the watchtower?

And why are her feet in that position when she's not wearing heels?

Tales of rape in fiction

Been thinking about this lately. I think the reason I loathe I so much is because it always seems to be saying look, women, this is an ever present threat in your lives, you will never escape it and if someone wants to hurt you like this then you can't stop them. And oddly enough I take offence at being told I should be fearful all my life. I know this probably isn't how the writers mean it, i'm sure when writers put rape or near-rape scenes into their fiction it's to show how bad the assaulter is, it's an easy way to get us to feel disgust. But it doesn't always read like that.

WiR. I cry WiR!

Black Canary number 4. Making it look like Sin was killed by Ollie just so that Ollie could be made to look less selfish so that Dinah could than say yea to the proposal? Wir! What a load of crap.
And don't even get me started on the stupidity of not including Dinah in the faux death plan. (oh no, wait. if Dinah was included then Ollie couldn't be made to look better. of course.) Or how Dinah did not get pissed at Ollie for the effing stupid patronising plan. and for pretending to kill her daughter. and for such a weak way of ending an otherwise good mini. arg. losers.

Statues, Kryptonians and lesbians

I was following the MJ statue furore closely but after so many posts I got a little disheartened. It's really good to see so many people talking about it, it's good to see different points of view. However some responses have really bothered me.
The one I'm mostly disturbed by is people saying that MJ looks like a skank, or a whore. Where do people get off judging others for how they dress? There's a lot of hatred behind calling someone a whore. And of course there's the value judgement of being a prostitute is *bad*, it's the worst thing a woman could be. If a woman's a whore, she's not worth anything - she's the lowest of the low. Or am I reading too much into it? It seems to me that people slagging women off based on their style of dress is deeply wrong.
How other's dress has got nothing to do with anyone, except the person themselves. It doesn't tell you about their morality. It seems to me to be running along similar lines of she wore a short skirt she was asking to be raped.
If anyone is reading this, I really would like your thoughts.
Posts that I have enjoyed about MJ are this Nerd Selection one and this livejournal one which talks about other Adam Hughes statues. The Livejournal one makes a lot of good points, and I came away from that post confused about the merits of the statue again. Plus, I love those other statues. Especially the Wonder Woman and Power Girl one. And the Hawkgirl one. And the Zatanna one. Oh. That's all of them you say? Well ok they all rock. Someone buy me them. Please.

In other comic readings, I finally got Runaways 2 and 3, not as ass kickingly awesome as numbers 1 and 6, (but maybe that's due to the hangover), but pretty damn good all the same. The art is lovely, the way the paper is printed is lovely. The characters are written and presented as humans first, men and women second. They have different body types and their personality is shown in each face. It's what the feminist blogosphere has been crying out for!
I for one, love Gert, partly cos she's fat. So rare to see a fat chick in comics. She has attitude.
And I'm so pleased by the lesbian relationship! That is one of the reasons I wanted to pick the books up, it's a lesbian relationship that is presented as normal, and not as 'other'.
(and for a wordy book equivalent of this check out Tamora Pierce's 'Magic in the Weaving'

Supergirl number 16 and 17. *SPOILERS to end of post*



Now I really liked the origin story number 16. A different spin on Jor-el, Zor-el revealed not be an insane nutter, a reason given for Kara's instructions to kill Superman. It explained the crystals a bit, thought I'd still like to know exactly how they are implanted in her and how that works. Good stuff I thought.
And then in number 17 they ruin it by hinting that it's not Zor-el who is speaking to Kara, it's two other mystery people. Now that sucks. And then the other Supergirl turns up.
I didn't read 52 but I do know the conclusion reintroduced the multiverse. And as I have also read theories saying that this Kara's Krypton is different to Superman's Krypton, (something to do with crystals and hair apparently, I should really pick up Superman), I assume that the Kara we have known so far is from a different universe. I hate guessing plotlines. Especially when I'm right. Hopefully I'll be wrong.

MJ, again

And I'd also like to add that I love that MJ took the surname of Watson-Parker when she married. That is awesome. Whenever I discuss with people the merits of retaining your own name of taking a double barreled one after marriage I am met with confused looks.

That MJ statue...

Yeah, so there's been posts all over the internet about that new MJ statue, you can view it on the Digital Femme blog, which includes a link to the art it was based on.
I don't think I've ever before given my comments about the latest furore on the 'net, but this time I thought I had something to add. So here goes.

I don't like the statue, MJ's proportions are off, it looks weird. I like it even less when you get the 360 degrees photos. When people have commented that it's bad art, I have agreed. It's rather odd that of all the things to produce a statue of, they've produced one of MJ doing Peter's laundry. It can definitely be read as a woman's place is in the home, looking after her man. I don't like that.

However, I also think that I've done hand washing in my fancy clothes before. I've also done hand washing in tracky bottoms and baggy t-shirts before. It depends on what I'm wearing at the time. So I can totally buy that MJ is doing handwashing in pearls, a thong, tight-ass jeans and a plunging top. If that's what she was wearing anyway that day. And you know, she's a top model right, she wears stuff like that. I'd be surprised if anyone changed clothes just to do the handwashing.
Maybe she'd just doing him a favour handwashing the suit. Maybe the washing machine has broken.
I can also buy that she's in that cheesecakey provocative pose. Maybe Spidey has just walked in and she's flirting with him, and has arched herself just for a second. Hell, I do that for my boyfriend all the time.
So maybe it's not so bad.

But then again, I notice the height of the bucket; she'd have to be bent down all the time to use that. Or realistically sitting down, or kneeling. She's a tall lady, she will get backache bending down for too long. Especially with breasts (trust me, I know about large boobs).
Actually, realistically, she'd be doing the washing in a sink.

And MJ is a tough independent woman. Why not put her in a pose that reflects that? Unless they were going for the flirty tease Peter thing, and think it's an independent woman controlling her sexuality or something.

Then I remember that it's probably designed for fanboys to wank over.
And I think of all the other superhero statues made.
And I sigh and remember that the site producing this has removed all the comments complaining about the statue, and left the comments praising it.
And the statue is apparently already sold out.
And I realise again that this statue is a by-product of all the sexism in society.

I rather like Digital Femme's idea of adding a second statue "featuring Peter Parker wearing a towel and Spider-Man booties while grinning sheepishly". That would work.

For lots more links to other blogs discussing this have a peek at When Fangirls Attack.

I'm with the Bat..

Nearly. I'm getting to know Batman a bit better lately. He's growing on me. (Although for my non superpowered male hero kicks I think I'll still go for Green Arrow. Got the Moving Targets trade recently. Awesome. )
Anyway, I read Arkham Asylum yesterday. Written by Grant Morrison. Illustrated by Dave McKean. He who drew Wolves in the Walls. It's wonderful. His drawing rocks. everyone should go have a look.

That's all.

The problem with relaunching superheroes

Or more specifically, the problem with relaunching Power Pack.
I first came across Power Pack in the back of the Thundercats comics in the 80s. They were awesome. Even when the Thundercats stories turned into tripe it was worth getting the comics for the short Power Pack strips. I recently went on ebay and bought the majority of the run of the 80s Power Pack comics, and man, they are still fantastic. Well they got a little odd and silly towards the end, but the final issue, the holiday special, that cleared up and wiped out the previous rubbish plotlines made up for it.
Louise Simonson was the original writer for the Power Pack, and she is good. She also did some of the Death of Superman storylines - but to be honest I preferred the Pack stuff.
Anyway, a few years ago (I guess) Marvel decided to relaunch Power Pack. I eventually got round to buying volume 1 in the digest size edition, and, well, it sucked. It was boring. the characterisation was off. It was told from Katie's perspective but she didn't feel like a real little girl anymore. Too cutesy, not enough depth. I didn't like it.
For some reason I thought I'd pick up the X-Men/Power Pack crossover trade, The Power of X, from the library the other day. probably just to confirm my suspicions that it remained bad. It was. So I'm gonna tell you what is wrong:

• Katie suddenly using her powers to hurt people, willingly. Ok she's defending herself. But the Katie I know went through a massive guilt period because she'd nearly destroyed one of the Snarks. She then decided not to use her powers. She didn't want to hurt anyone anymore, she didn't think it was right. I don't care if it's a bad guy, (In this case The Marauders), she wouldn't do that. You're taking away her maturity for the sake of a (crappy) fight.
• Julie telling a science conference the origin of their powers (posed as a hypothetical origin). This is not Julie. She's the cautious one. Sure, she wants their parents to know, but not like that!
• Power Pack suiting up and fighting in plain sight at the above mentioned science conference, where their folks are also attending. And not even using Jack's cloud cover! Or getting masks!
• Shouldn't Beast have heard of Power Pack? I mean, they're good friends with Logan, and Shadowcat.
• Julie's boyfriend. Ok, so I figure they've got older. But Julie is definitely not more than 15. She's probably not more than 14 or 13. So how come she has a boyfriend that is doing a science internship? I mean, how old do you have to be for that, 18?, 19? At least. Certainly not left than 18. So 14 year old Julie, with an 18+ year old boyfriend. Ewwww.
• Julie is in an off kilter, tilted semi-coquettish pose on the cover. Jesus she's a young kid! That's wrong.

And the stories don't flow. This comic sucks.

Birthdays and bowels

Dan's told me to stop talking about my bowels, apparently it's a little bit gross. I think people are prudes. Anyway, I had my bowels washed out at the weekend. There's wasn't as much in there as I thought there would be But there again, how big can my bowels be? How much can they hold? I would have felt better if the lady doing so hadn't held a certificate from the National College of Holistic Medicine, (sounds a little Gillian McKeith-esque to me), saying she could do this, but no damage was caused, and psychologically speaking, it's nice to see all your shit taken out. To know that you're cleaner inside. I would be happy to have it done again, but maybe not with this particular lady.
And it took me two days to poop again, and it was a really good poop.

On to the other B subject, I am 28 today. No, I'm 27. Oops. Typo ahoy. Honest. You may wonder why I am on t'internet now instead of celebrating or boozing it up. Well, I dislike celebrating birthdays. It makes me uncomfortable. I'm happy making them like every other day. But with less of the going to work action. There has been chocolate, but no booze. In keeping with my booze free plan. And diet plan. I've lost a stone now. So I'm now back at roughly what I was a year ago. How depressing. Well, maybe in a month I could be at 9 stone 7. That would be awesome. I've never been 9st7.

Scuppering of the plans

So blogger has been bought up by/gone into partnership with google then. Not very impressed. Google being the company who are assisting the Chinese government in blocking non approved websites. Hmmm. Tossers.

Anyway, in me news, electrolysis! the things we women do for hair removal. Ow. Ow times alot I say. I mean, yay, the hairs are removed, and will grow back weaker if not outright killed off, but man, I swear I heard something sizzle. Several times. I must have some really tough deep rooted hairs.
I would say, my god the things we women do for beauty, except I don't want them removed to look better. I want them removed because I feel like a I have a parasite alien infection in my face when they grow. I hate them. If I was primarily concerned with how they looked I wouldn't be taking off my face attempting to pull them out. At least with the electrolysis the most I may possibly get will be bruising, which fades. It wouldn't however look like I had a massive acne problem and it won't leave scarring.

And in good news, more and more peoeple are coming round to the idea that the recent incarnation of Supergirl is not inherently awful, it may actually be a good comic and it shouldn't be cancelled. See Alex in Wonderland's blog.

Yes she's drawn in a sexist way, yes she's not sweet and lovely, yes she's stroppy, yes she's confused, yes she may have more in common with Paris Hilton than you'd like (I personally disagree on the last one), but this doesn't make it a bad comic. I think Kara is getting more complex, I think there are a lot of interesting ideas in it the blogosphere isn't picking up. For example, the way she claims she doesn't want to be a part of the Superman legacy yet is always wearing the S symbol, his symbol. And it is his, for the moment, anyway.
I would love to continue this thought but I have unfortunately had two very long days and tomorrow's is going to be even worse. So I shall salute. Goodbye. Ciao. До свидания.

(And the reason I like this Kara is not cos of the the smex. Although I do think she's beautiful. But then again I think Paris Hilton is fairly hot. I realise I am in the minority here.)

Hellooo out there....

Betcha all can see the dust bunnies roving. They'll have your knees off if you let 'em. then your ankles. oh yes.

So, what's up with moi? Well, me and the boyfriend bought a house. It's a got a gorgeous red room. It's like being in the womb. But bigger. And infinitely colder. Brrr. Double glazing is not to be under estimated. I massively failed at my Fast Stream attempt. Grrr. I will get it next year, I will, oh yes. I found out where to get lovely 60 pound bras from in Norwich. woot.
Oh and this Sunday sees me attempt a roast as a practcie session for Christmas.

If I work out how to link to other sites I shall.