A Strange Confession: I like Superboy Prime

As my title says, my strange confession today is that I love Superboy Prime. Don't get me wrong, he's a whiny, angsty, over-used, over-powered, emo teenaged tool. But oddly, that's why I like him.

Okay, see, I'm one of those people that honestly, well, villains never really do much for me. Don't get me wrong. I cheer seeing Sinestro and I'm more than happy to see Lex Luthor scheme and the like. But I like seeing villains in relation to the heroes, I don't have a whole lot of interest in the villains in their own right.

And I think sometimes creators get a little too over-enamored with their villains. Which to be fair is often somewhat inevitable. Villains have to be complex and interesting since that's what makes it fun to see them battle the heroes. But there's a way to take it too far. And then its on and on about how cool the villain is, his tragic backstory, how utterly badass he is...

Take, for example, Deathstroke. I don't mean to offend any Deathstroke fans, but I tend to think he's completely overused. (And don't get me started on the stupidity of the Deathstroke vs. Kyle fight in Identity Crisis. Even assuming Deathstroke CAN take advantage of Kyle's distraction to force the ring to very briefly react, Kyle Rayner, who is the Lantern most famous for deranged conjurations, is not about to PUNCH DEATHSTROKE to begin with. Hell, even Hal or Alan at their most by the book would CONJURE a giant fist rather than punch him. But I digress.) I won't deny that he's got a complex backstory or that he can be interesting or compelling, but I don't find him nearly as interesting as certain writers appear to. Honestly, I find him a little annoying. (Not to mention pretentious, yeesh.)

Superboy Prime is probably a bit overused right now, but not quite on level with Deathstroke, I think. He did spend a year or so real time in a giant green cube at least, as opposed to showing up everywhere. But I think the real draw for me is that well...you know that annoyance I feel whenever Superboy Prime opens his big mouth?

I'm SUPPOSED to feel that way. I'm supposed to find him annoying, whiny, emo, and all those other things. I'm supposed to enjoy Guy Gardner calling him a crybaby and cheer for Power Girl to kick his ass. And as powerful as he is, I never get the sense that we're supposed to appreciate his utter badassery.

He's a whiny teenager with way too much power, sure, a badass? AS IF. And that's how we're supposed to feel.

He's kind of like one of the annoying villains that normally would be relegated to cannon fodder or comic relief underling status, but they actually gave him POWER. That's oddly interesting to me.

That said, I do hope they table him for a while after Sinestro Corps. He's a villain that can be overused real fast. At the same time, I kind of like him.

I hope he gets one hell of a beatdown first. <3

Romance Novels and Manga Collide!

Huh, I was just on Blog@ and saw something interesting.

Apparently author Christine Feehan wrote a manga?

I don't particularly care for her work (I'm not much for romance novels) but my mother's a huge fan. How weird. And apparently Sherrilyn Kenyon's got one too.

Then again, there's a fair bit of crossover appeal between romance novels and romance manga anyway, I'd bet. Especially the kind of vampire/supernatural sorts of romance. And since the romance novel audience skews a little higher age-wise, I think, than the manga reading female audience, this could be a really good way to expand the comic book reading audience.

I don't really know how my mom feels about manga art style, but it might be worth picking her up a copy. It IS the holiday season after all...

Neat!

Hey cool! More Dresden comic info!

I'm awfully excited. And there's going to be a Butcher-penned miniseries before that too! Nifty!

Interesting that from the sound of it, they're keeping the du Morne/Mouningway-as-uncle thing from the tv show. I like that, really. It's the simplest reason a kid would be legally dropped into his care, especially with all the Wizardy quirks that would probably look kind of weird from a social worker's standpoint.

And really, it doesn't necessarily contradict the books if you assume "Le Fay" is a flashy pseudonym.

I wonder if they'll keep the more humanoid-looking Bob as well. That'd probably work better than the talking skull for a visual medium. I mean a talking skull is a neat and creepy visual short term, but it's not terribly good with expressing emotions. And it's not like comics can really use a lot of narrative descriptions of tone-of-voice.

And I'm STILL sad that Morgan's no longer African-American. Sure, it's not in the books, but that guy's become THE quintessential Morgan in my head. It's too bad, since one thing I really liked about the tv show was the attempt at greater racial diversity. Oh well. I'll get over it...after I've sulked for a while.

Still, I'm getting really excited for this one! Yay!

The Dinosaur Started It:

Sleepy. No post today. Instead enjoy this snip from Warrior 22:



Because everything's better when you have an eye-patched redhead shooting a tyrannosaurus in the face.

Don't fret for the dino, though. He had it coming. Besides, look at his head:



That dinosaur is a nazi! A nazi!!!

I love this comic.

Huh, they're right: this scene DOES work!

Zhinxy's posted this Wolverine interrogating Spider Woman in the shower scene over on scans_daily.

Now, I'm going to admit outright, I have not read the issue in question. Moreover, I'm not particularly impressed with Bendis at the best of times and not really inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt.

That said, I actually really like this scene.

It could be considered a bit gratuitous in that there really isn't a need to have him interrogate her in a shower, sure, but the thing is, this works for me. Having it in the shower isn't necessary, but it does add a special sexualized element to the confrontation without being exploitative.

There are so many ways that this could have gone wrong, so many. But instead they made it work for me. I think because a) it's Wolverine. Wolverine's not one of my favorite characters, but even I, at my most irritated with him, would never suggest the man is a rapist. He might stab her in the head, sure, but he wouldn't rape her.

It's weird when I type it out like that, since one would think a naked stabby death would be something to be avoided, (and it certainly does have sexual overtones...anyone who thinks it doesn't really needs to go watch Psycho again) but the difference, to me, is that with Logan, the naked part probably wouldn't enter into the equation. If he were going to stab her in the head, he'd probably do it as easily clothed as he would naked. Stabbing her isn't about dominating her sexually or otherwise, it would be about ending a threat. Impersonal.

If this were a villain? The scene would not play out well at all. If it were a character we could believe would rape her, the scene would go from tense to full on threat, which wouldn't really be cool. I won't say that sort of scene is never useful in storytelling, but it's not suited to a superhero book and there are other, non-sexualized ways, to carry about the same threat.

b) she's confident. Annoyed, but confident. Yes, she's naked, and yes she's in the shower, but she knows that he won't rape her. She knows that she can put up a fight if it comes down to it. She's also a character who's used her sexuality as a weapon, so she knows full well that even if he's trying to get a psychological edge over her by making her vulnerable, she's not falling for it.

If she were frightened? It would be different and squicky. If she were cowering, cringing, crying for help? The scene would have been very unpleasant and infuriating. The fact that she's meeting him on an equal level, uncowed and confident regardless of implied vulnerability...

Well, that's just hot, really.

It's essentially like the difference between rough sex and rape. The former can look violent, scary, painful to an observer, sure. But if everyone's consenting and having a good time, well then, there you go. Rape on the otherhand is rape. It's ugly, awful and horrible.

This scene is both violently and sexually charged. But it's not just him dominating/threatening her. It's equal and mutual. It's rough and hot and she's definitely contributing to the atmosphere as much as he is. It's honestly sexy.

There's a part of me that kind of wants them to dooo eeet. (I'm twelve at heart, and thus incapable of talking about sex maturely. :-P) And I barely know who Spider-Woman IS, or if it's remotely in character for them TO have sex. But damn if that's not hot.

Pull-List Trouble...

I'm thinking of taking Robin off of my pull-list. Actually, "thinking of" pretty much means I'm going to do it the next time I'm in the comic store and remember to do it. I'm fairly decided about it.

I'm kind of sad though. Robin was the first series I really started reading comics with and I still have deep fondness for the Tim Drake character and how he thinks and acts. And "A Lonely Place of Dying" was like the first trade paperback I actively hunted down myself.

At the same time I've been largely dissatisfied with the series of late. I don't really know why. I haven't soured on the character, really, but I don't get the same delight either. It may just be that I like Tim more in theory than execution (and that I've been getting my fill of awesome, intense, scary-competent characters elsewhere. Not that there can ever be too many, but these others may be more to my taste.)

I don't know if it's the writing, but I know that the announcement of Chuck Dixon being back on the series doesn't particularly appeal to me either. That may be more just a general dissatisfaction with his more recent work than anything else, and heck, maybe he'll be awesome again on Robin.

Oh well, if it's good, I'm sure I'll be buying it again. If not, well, there are other series to buy. :-) It still feels kind of weird though.

Rambling About the Flash!

You know, I really really am enjoying the Flash comic right now. I think it's actually starting to tie GLC and JSA as my favorite comic series at the moment.

I think it's neat. And the current approach is fairly original as superhero comics go. I always like seeing comics that try to balance a family life with superheroing, especially balancing being a responsible parent with being a superhero. I've always been a bit disappointed with how Catwoman handled it, though I think the problem there may be more that Helena's not really old enough to be more than a plot device or millstone around her mother's neck. Manhunter's great, but since Kate doesn't have primary custody of Ramsey, parenting is a plot point only when Andreyko wants it to be.

The less said about the Dinah Lance and Sin fiasco, the better. And as fond as I am of Roy and Lian, they've been on the back burner for freaking ever.

But Wally. Wally's married now. He has kids. Full time custody of the kids. He's got to balance being a good, attentive husband, being a responsible and caring father (of hyperaged superpowered children, egads!) and being a superhero. And it's neat!

I also like how the kids are incorporated into the story. They're there and they're cute and they have exciting things happen, but they don't get in the way of exciting grown-up things happening either. There's still action and danger!

I am mildly weirded out by the comic book tendancy to have children take after one parent or the other. But I am kind of amused that little Iris is the one who looks like Wally while Jai looks like Linda. (I also appreciate that the kids aren't named Barry and Iris. Then again, considering that Bart was still alive when they were born, and is already Barry's namesake, it would be unnecessary for Wally to name his own son after him.)

The new solicit perplexes me a little, since there's talk of "supporting the family". I'm reading that as financially. Though really, of the two of them, I'd always thought Wally would be a better stay at home dad. He really doesn't tend toward steady jobs, police station gig aside, and Linda's always been more career-oriented.

Then again, I suppose feeding a family of speedsters would require two incomes at least.

Anyway, I'm just really really enjoying the series! How about you?

Hmm, I wonder...

Well, the solicit for Robin appears to be hinting toward the return of a particular character.

I can't help but suspect a trick, just because I'm contrary like that. I tend to think resurrections and the Batclan don't go as well together (see example A: Jason Todd).

Though I suppose it'd be easy enough to retcon that Leslie smuggled her away or something and just TOLD Batman she was dead. Come to think of it, I'm kind of surprised they hadn't done that already. But then I've also seen waay too many soap operas.

It would be an interesting solution to the memorial case situation at least?

I'm personally not sure I'll buy the issue or not, but it definitely looks worth a look.

Thanksgiving Placeholder

Since it's Thanksgiving, (if you're American), I'm taking today off from blogging and hanging out with the family. Sorry to all you foreigners out there. :-P

Here, enjoy some solicits if you haven't already.

Everything seems awfully interesting! Especially the GL/GLC solicits!

I'm slightly unnerved that they're bringing Black Alice back in Birds of Prey, since I never really took to her, but we'll see. It might be fun. :-)

Have a good thanksgiving!

Question: Phyla and Moondragon?

Okay, so someone's been getting me all amused and intrigued by telling me about Phyla Vell and Moondragon and all the fun space-faring lesbian dragon relationship stuff and it sounds like a lot of fun.

Thing is, the only thing is that I'm completely unfamiliar with either character. The only time I think I've seen them was that appearance in She-Hulk a while back. I do plan on giving the new series a try, but I'd also like to pick up on older appearances too.

So I know there are folks who are more experienced with Marvel comics than I am reading this, at least I hope there are, so um...

If I want to learn more about the characters, where's a good place to start?

A PSA for all WFA readers:

A Public Service Announcement for All Folk Who Read WFA:

What "When Fangirls Attack" is not:

1. A feminist safe-space.

2. A "feel-good" website.

3. The first volley in a vast feminist attack.

4. A soapbox.

5. A repository of links to one side of an issue only.

6. YOUR linkblog.

What "When Fangirls Attack" is:

A resource created by Ragnell and myself compiling links to all discussion and commentary regarding women and comics that we come across.

This means that sometimes you're going to come across people whose opinions annoy you, make you sad, piss you off or anything in between. They might be serious, they might be trolls, they might be very clever parodies, it doesn't matter. If their posts are applicable, we WILL link them.

We will not warn you about whether a post is likely to offend you or not. For one thing, we don't know what may offend any single person. For another, we're not your babysitters, parents, or the guardians of the sanctity of your reading material.

If you don't like the way we run WFA, that's fine. But please remember it is our linkblog. And no one's forcing you to use it. If you'd like to stop using it, or heck, even make your own, we won't take it personally.

But our blog, our rules. Any questions?

Quick Bits

Huh, so up at the scans_daily post they've got excerpts from Dixon defending himself on CBR. The CBR link doesn't seem to work, sadly, so I can't really see the context.

Personally, I think his defenses are weak and they don't really counter very many of the points I found offensive.

But well, you guys can judge for yourself by following the link.

All I know is ultimately defense or no defense, I found it offensive. And I have absolutely no intention of buying issue #2.

On a more positive note: Wasn't Wonder Woman fantastic? I was a bit skeptical of the fit of writer to character, though I do like a lot of Gail Simone's work. I just wasn't sure I thought she was the best writer for the job. I'm glad to admit, my doubts were unwarranted. I really really enjoyed the comic for the first time in ages.

I'm really really looking forward to the next one!

Dresden Art!

I know other folks have pointed this out already, but look!

Dresden Files Art!

Okay, I completely rescind my previous doubts. I should have known not to judge the company solely by Anita fucking Blake. Harry looks great! And I love that Murphy actually looks, though admittedly some of it may be the coat, like a sturdily built woman. Also, I dig that coat and gun.

I think the real winner though is Gentleman Johnny Marcone.

(And by the way, looking at this pic of Harry and the two for Marcone do appear to possibly a specific crazy theory of mine.

Am I the only one that sees a possible family resemblance there? :-))

The only one I'm a bit disappointed with is Morgan. Not because he's bad, but...well...I'm kind of disappointed that he's white. I know it's not rational to expect them to mimic the tv show, but I thought the tv-Morgan really embodied the role, so I'm still a bit disappointed. :-)

I'm definitely looking forward to the comic now!

Memories!

Okay, I swear to God, I will actually have real content up tomorrow. Really, I will!

But tonight I've been distracted by this:

http://community.livejournal.com/1bruce1

It's a livejournal community that recaps a bunch of Sweet Valley books! God, I loved those when I was a spawnling.

Well, actually I found I'd love each series until I managed to get of equivalent age to the characters and realized "Um, being 7/12/16 isn't really like that, you books are lame!" And then I'd be already reading the next series. Sheeplike, what? Me? Really?

Still, I always admired their trashy soapy sanctimonious fun! And even then my love for fictional losers must have kicked in, as I always had a mild crush on Steven Wakefield. Or I wanted to be him. I was a bit gender confused as a kid... (I also had no taste. Seriously. Egads. :-P)

God, this brings back memories, I'll see you when I've finished reading and snickering. :-)

Still gone. Go away.

Still busy with the whole schoolwork thing, but while I'm gone, why don't you bask in the glory of the awesomely amazing She-Hulk robot!



Isn't the resemblance uncanny?

No Post Here. Go Away. :-)

I know you've come here expecting a post, but well, you're not getting one. :-) I've got a big assignment due Friday (case memorandum on due process in the state of Washington, nifty, yes?) and so, I kinda gotta at least TRY to work on that.

I do have an anchovy and olive pizza to cheer me up. Best Pizza Ever. <3

Anyway, I posted something this afternoon. Go read that instead!

Follow-Up to the previous Dixon/Outsiders post:

I addressed this in the replies there, but I thought it warranted a blog post of its own.

I have now officially read Batman and the Outsiders #1. And NOW I'm deeply offended.

You see, the "special relationship" remark occurs, and naturally Anissa gets pissed off by it. Whereupon Batman reveals that he was unaware of anything more than a close friendship between the two, discerned from body language, until she just revealed otherwise. She is suitably chastised.

You know what, I'm calling Bullshit on that.

First of all, we're to expect, given how gratuitously unsubtle those two women are, that Batman did NOT know they were involved? This is BATMAN.

Moreover though, I cannot buy that in this context the term "special relationship" is referring to a mere albeit close friendship. I'm sorry, but that term clearly implies a relationship that's either familial or romantic. A close friendship is not suitably "special".

For a comparison, Dick and Roy are like total BFFs right? But do you seriously think Batman would EVER use "special relationship" to describe them? I'm sure the slashers would have a field day if he did. Because there are clear implications in that phrase. How about Dick and Donna? Or Dick and Wally?

Moreover, the way it was stated implied, to me, that Batman considered it something to frown upon. I'm not saying right this moment that this was intended to be homophobic or just a general disapproval of romantic relationships, but it definitely read to me like disapproval, and considering he's by now worked with the JLA for how long? I mean, regardless of his own proclivities, he's had to have grown accustomed to working with heroes with close friendships with one another, and realized that it doesn't have to get in the way of competence. I can buy him disapproving of romantic relationships, but friendships? Considering he's on a team with Clark and Diana, had been with Wally and Kyle, Ollie and Hal, and all those other sets of friends, I can't buy that.

Besides, Batman is precise. If he meant friendship, he'd say so. I don't believe he'd say "special relationship" unless he meant to relay those particular implications. He's a very smart man, and as Bruce Wayne, clearly demonstrates social adeptness. Even if he could miss the very obvious behavior of the two women (provided Jefferson didn't tell him over drinks or something), he wouldn't miss the implications in his own words. And he wouldn't use them without intending them.

There is actually, it occurs to me, a way the scene could have played out that would be a little less offensive and more plausible. If Batman had said the phrase intending for her to have read it as homophobic and thus deliberately provoking her anger, that might actually have worked for me.

Batman would then chastise her, not for giving away her secret, but for yielding to anger that she can't afford. Grace and Anissa really haven't been terribly subtle in their behavior, so Batman could argue that he's figured it out and that others probably have too. And on the battlefield, she won't be able to afford to give into that explosive anger should she encounter a probably-inevitable homophobic taunt. She'll need to keep her cool.

In this situation then, Batman's probably not a homophobe, but instead making that comment for a specific reason. He's still probably being more of a jerk than he's been characterized lately, but it would at least have a point. The comment would be acknowledged as potentially offensive and Anissa's anger justified, while still chastizing her for giving into it. I think, if this had been the case, I would have rescinded part of my earlier post.

Instead we get a Batman who's both too inobservant to note an obvious relationship and too socially inept to realize the implications of his own words OR we get a two faced liar who meant to provoke and confirm his suspicions, but blames her for overreacting to his "innocent" comment.

Either way, we get Anissa portrayed as over-emotional, over-reactionary, and too stupid to know a supposedly-innocent comment when she hears it.

It's a blatantly transparent set-up that's somehow MORE offensive than the preview had made it out to be. Whatever. I don't think I'll be reading this comic again.

An Interesting Idea!

As usual, I'm somewhat behind the loop, but Brainfreeze has linked something interesting!

So Marvel's going to make some comics available online for a fairly reasonable sounding fee, which I like a lot. I thought those Marvel compilation DVDs were a fantastic idea and I actually prefer the idea of reading a lot of stuff online if I could. See, I'm very disorganized and destructive and not the best at preserving my comics collections as they should be, having access to them on the computer would be so much better for me. Then I could read my hard copies first, put them somewhere reasonably safe/out of the way, and reread them on my computer without hurting them! Yay!

I also don't have much trouble reading things off a computer screen. :-) And the display options they offer seem to be really neat.

My only problem though is, like Brainfreeze points out, I don't want temporary access to the comics. I want to keep them. I particularly don't like anything that requires me to have active internet access at the time, because what if my internet goes out? I wouldn't be able to read my comics! That'd suck!

I get why they're doing it that way, but it might very well be a deal-breaker for me. I suppose it'll depend on what they have available, since, well, I'm a fickle fickle person and can be bribed away from many of my pre-established convictions by something shiny. :-) If they have something I want to read, I'll totally subscribe, complaints aside.

I reserve the right to bitch though. :-)

Damnit Dixon (and Company)

Okay, so Scans Daily's got a scene from the Newsarama preview of Batman and the Outsiders up here. I've swiped and re-uploaded it for my own convenience.



(Click for a larger image.)

Okay. Um, I know I'm incredibly behind with Outsiders (I hadn't bothered with anything past the Checkmate crossover) but...what the fuck?

I'm not actually talking about the homophobic implications in the way Dixon's got that dialogue working. "Special"? Even if that's not intended to be insulting, a character like Batman would know full well how a character like Anissa would take that. It's pretty fucking offensive. Thanks, Dixon.

That's not actually my issue here today, though. My issue here is something that may or may not actually be Dixon's fault but it pisses me off nonetheless.

Why the hell is Anissa Pierce being treated like a fucking incompetent? Has she been spun around and replaced by Stephanie Brown when I wasn't looking? This is the girl that Nightwing, in an admittedly dickishly out of character move, sent in to a dictator to distract/seduce/spy and she performed the job as well as anyone could have expected. (Boy I would have liked to see Jefferson find out about THAT bit, and take it out of not-Dick's hide.)

(Devon blogged about that bit last year if you need the memory refresher.)

Anissa's been on this team for two years now! She started as a newbie, sure, but she's never been incompetent. She definitely pulls her own weight. She's a character who defied her very, VERY formidable ex-hero father to be a hero herself, undertook dangerous missions and while she had a lot to learn, she was learning it!

I give Winick a lot of guff about what I see as a general trend of poor portrayals of female characters, but I really really liked Anissa. I wasn't much of a fan of how her relationship with Grace was introduced (I liked their chemistry and wanted them to get together, but the execution didn't do much for me) but I can't fault him for creating one of the few likably portrayed characters on that team.

I didn't read the versus issue, I'd imagine she lost. And maybe I'm misremembering the run of Outsiders, maybe she did suck, but who the hell is Batman to kick her off a team that she's served on and bled for for two years. I get that this is supposed to be a redux of Batman and the Outsiders, but these people are not his fucking team. They existed LONG before he got involved.

And you know what? Grace SHOULD get a say in whether Anissa's on a team. "Special relationship" or not. Grace was ALSO a member of that team for two years or so before Batman took over. Hell, Batman wouldn't have any ties to the team at all if Roy didn't swipe his old crony-group's name for it. And his old sidekick.

But yeah. Grace is a member of that team. She's been a member of that team for longer than Batman's been running it. She, and the other teammates, should be the ones choosing who they fight beside. Not some dick in a batsuit.

And I get that this is set-up, I do. Anissa's going to be part of the team, and very likely, this is going to end up some kind of early Tim Drake redux, wherein the plucky young sidekick denied by Batman, defies him to save her friends, and thus proves herself to him.

I get that.

But I'm still annoyed. Because Tim did have to prove himself to Batman. He was inheriting Jason's costume and Dick's name, but Batman had every right to judge his readiness for the role. That he wasn't really ever going to give him a fair shake is beside the point, it was still Tim's job to prove himself worthy of the role.

Anissa isn't trying to prove herself worthy of being Batman's sidekick. She's going to end up "proving herself worthy" of the team she's been on for years. And Batman's humiliating her further by making her watch, to show her why she can't do the job, as a favor to her father.

Damnit. I haven't been so irritated by a page of a comic preview in a long time.

I guess I'm just annoyed because I really really like Anissa. I do. I like that she's smart and educated, that she went to college (wasn't she pre-med or something?). I like that she's not one of the legion of young white blond girl superheroes that are nigh interchangeable appearance wise. (I like those characters, sure, but if you consider how many active non-limboed white, blond, blue-eyed teen/just-post teenaged girl heroes versus how many active non-limboed non-white girl heroes of similar age we have, it's pretty fucked up.) I like that she's the daughter of a hero who wants better for her...even if we never had any indication that she existed before Winick decided to drop her in. I like that she made a promise to her father to not take up superheroing until after she finished college and then the very day after her last course, she put on the wig and costume. I like that she did her best and was fairly competent and sensible aside. I like that she's a lesbian, or bisexual, even if I thought Winick played it more for titilation. It's still nice to see a wider range of sexuality portrayed.

I like the wig too. I've always liked when superheroines wore wigs, because hair color/style/length does do a lot when it comes to the shape of the face and what people see when they look at you. And that color/length is so eye-catching that it's even more likely to distract attention away from the face.

I didn't like a lot of her plotlines, but I always liked the character herself, so I really really don't like seeing her in this sort of undignified and humiliating position. Hmph.

Recommendation Help: Patriotic Comics?

This is going to sound strange, but I'm really in the mood for a patriotic comic.

I'm not really looking for something that's hard core political or anti-terrorist itself, nothing terribly hardcore. Just something that gives kind of a squishy feeling for being part of the country would suit my purposes. Something that's kind of 'Fourth of July' ish. Celebratory rather than preachy or fanatic.

The patriotism doesn't have to necessarily be American patriotism either. Any kind of patriotism would probably suit my interest. :-)

I don't suppose anyone can help me with a recommendation?

A basic truth:

You know what I love?

Fake science. Especially fake science that has no way of actually working. See, I don't really have the head or training for science, so honestly, if you give me a long string of vaguely plausible sounding technobabble, I'll totally be all for that.

It doesn't even have to be particularly plausible. I'm a Doctor Who fan, after all, and well "reverse the polarity of the neutron flow" doesn't even work to a lay person like me. But I'm willing to go with it.

I don't know, there's just something awesome about that kind of comic book scientist. They can do ANYTHING as long as they can explain it in big enough words.

Also, they can do it wearing labcoats, and labcoats are always awesome. Goggles are dorky, but labcoats? Everyone looks cool in a labcoat.

More Star Trek casting reactions

So...Winona Ryder is Spock's Mom?

Really?

Huh. I'm guessing it'll be flashback, or with age makeup, since I really can't see Ryder as being old enough to play Zachary Quinto's mother otherwise.

Yeesh though, between Amanda Grayson and Christopher Pike...it seems like they're really shoving everything they can think of into this movie.

...I hope it won't suck.

I wonder who'll be Pike's "Number One"?

Pretty Fizzy Paradise: Official Comment Policy (Updated 2023)

Comment Policy revised as of March 5, 2023.

As this blog has been in hiatus for a number of years now, I feel comfortable with posting this revision of my comment policy.

Hateful comments will be deleted on sight. Spam comments will be deleted on sight. Comments that annoy me or use misogynistic/racist/homophobic/transphobic language will be deleted as soon as I become aware of them. Even if they're old.

So if you wrote an in depth comment to something I wrote, ten years after the fact, calling one of the characters a cunt, well, sorry. Your comment is gone. Actually, no. I'm not sorry.

Kalinara at 40 is a lot bitchier than Kalinara at 24. Deal with it or go home.

(Note: comments below are responding to a previous version of this post)

Public Service Announcement

Okay, I only just now noticed that blogger now allows you to subscribe to a particular comment thread. (I have no idea how long this was in place. I am THAT oblivious.)

For the record, I do NOT advise that you do that here at PFP. Why? Because I almost never end up typing only one comment. I am always deleting and rewriting often to just fix one stupid word.

And sometimes I fix a lot more than that...general inconsistancies, incoherencies, because it's way too damn long (yes, sometimes my replies get too long for even ME, and considering the ones I leave up, that's saying something) and...let's say sometimes my initial reaction doesn't read as diplomatic as I actually intend. Which I suppose is just more evidence that I'm a lot more of a bitch than I might appear at first glance. :-)

I don't actually intend to spam any of you, but I'm so used to seeing my comments in print and realizing "Hey this doesn't say what I wanted it to at all!"

So yeah. Seriously. This is my public service announcement. If you don't MIND being spammed endlessly, or you have some perverse interest in how many times/attempts it takes me to hammer out a reply that actually says what I want it to, or what kind of things I'm apt to say before my temper cools and common sense rears its ugly head, I can't stop you.

I guess I could market it as a special bonus feature. The REAL Kalinara exposed! Subscribe now. But only if you have the stomach.

Ooo, tawdry. Heh.

This Amuses Me:

You know, I love early Avengers issues, especially for scenes like this:



I think the funniest part of all this is that Jan totally doesn't care if Cap gets hurt via her boyfriend's one-ball-juggling trick except that it would totally inconvenience their vacation. You're a peach, Jan.

Though Wanda's comment totally makes me picture Magneto juggling his underlings on a moment's notice.

Heheh

According to statcounter, at least one person has typed the phrase "flem sex womanimages" into a search engine and got this blog.

This amuses me to no end. I think that may win my best search term ever award. (Today's second runner up is "ice cream man from Hell clothing")

What about you guys? Got any funny search terms to share?

Musings on the Queen Bitch (Warning: Semi-Autobiographical Tangents within)

Mightygodking's got a great post up about the head cheerleader as alpha bitch stereotype/stock character.

I have to second everything he says here, seriously. And I want to elaborate on it, from my own perspective.

I won't rehash the same points he makes about Cheerleading being a hard and relatively unrewarding, demanding activity. Instead I want to talk about the "Queen Bitch" stereotype in general.

First, I have to disclaim this with some simple autobiographical facts. My highschool experience is fairly remarkable and atypical. I didn't go to a standard public OR private high school, instead, I was part of the first class to attend an experimental charter school located in the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village. The school experience was varied, with good and bad elements, (but let's be honest here, there are few things more kickass than going to school in a museum/historical village,) but I can't be 100% certain that the social standards are actually representative of the greater population of female high school students.

Okay, the big important factor is that my school only had 100 students per grade, and we were the first class recruited. There were no upperclassmen for us, ever. We did have cliques and groups, but they were not strongly defined, and there was often a lot of migration back and forth between them. There were not actually a lot of clique wars, since most of us had enough friends in other groups to make anything beyond a mildly antagonistic rivalry a fairly bad idea.

We didn't have a cheerleading team or a band, and it was a while before we even had a sports team (the Henry Ford Navigators, how awesomely lame is that?!).

I don't know how typical my experience was, as I said, but I do know that it bore almost no resemblance to pretty much any portrayal of high school I've seen on television or in comics, ever.

The biggest difference is that we didn't have a Queen Bitch. We simply didn't. And while as a highschool student, I just thought this was another way our school was different from others, the older I get, the more I wonder if this Queen Bitch archetype exists at all.

Because, let's face it. People are generally popular for a reason and who really wants to hang out with/or be a total bitch? In my high school experience, we had our rich bitch type characters hanging around, but quite honestly...no one liked them. They sure as hell weren't about to be voted Homecoming Queen. We girls are catty, we're not going to vote for someone we don't actually like, even if we ARE jealous of her. Especially if we're jealous of her, you think we'll give her more reason to lord it over us?

I'm beginning to think that the Queen Bitch is primarily a male construction. In one of my anthropology classes, I remember a big thing about how boys and girls tend to socialize differently. Apparently, and I don't know if this is true or not, boys tend to compete more against each other and establish more hierarchies and dominance play. Girls, on the other hand, tended to be more cooperative. A boy who transgressed would be, this study said, punished by being pushed into a lower social tier. Whereas a girl who transgressed would be more likely to be simply shunned by the group as a whole.

I tend to take these kind of studies with a grain of salt in general, but I have to admit, that when it comes to my own social upbringing, the description of "girls' society" is fairly apt. I don't know if it's biological, the way we're raised, or simply that my experience is an aberration, but that is how it was for me. There was never one alpha girl, and more likely a girl who tried to take on those sorts of characteristics would be expelled from the group as a whole.

I've been on both sides of this, naturally, accepted and shunned, but I've never seen the kind of socialization that these stories imply. Not among GIRLS anyway.

This is why it's my theory that the Queen Bitch is a primarily male concept. The Queen Bitch is always set, in these sort of stories, as the opposite to the popular boy. (Usually an athlete). And is often given her status through her relationship with him. She's the Queen to his King.

I'm sorry, but okay, assuming my experiences are atypical and girls do have the same sort of alpha-hierarchal society as evidenced by these movies, shows, comics, books, et cetera...why the hell would we choose our alpha based on who she's dating at the time? Or the number of boys she's dated? (Especially given the stigma attached to being "too easy".) That simply makes no sense!

And by the way, just because there's one girl that all the boys want to date...that doesn't mean WE'RE going to think she's the best thing since sliced bread. We don't judge each other on quite the same standards as you judge us. (And honestly, jealousy's a lot more likely to keep the subject down than elevate her up.)

The thing is, I do remember from my more typical middle school existance, the existance of a "popular crowd". A group of girls, snobs of course (if you can't tell, I was NOT a part of this group, heh) who were somehow the highest social status in the school, despite the fact that our "outcast" group was quite a bit bigger. So at least that correlates a little...

But, well, it's a lot more of the Sweet Valley Books's "Unicorn Club" than it ever was Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Cordelia and the Cordettes. The GROUP was elevated, not one individual. There might be one girl who was prettiest, one girl who was richest, one girl who was the best leader, but the whole thing was more of a group affair. And each one was DESPERATE not to get thrown out of the flock. And they might be a bitch to people outside their circle, but inside? Not. A. Chance.

Ultimately, all I know is that there is almost noting to turn me off of a school set story than the presence of a Queen Bitch. It strikes me as a lazy attempt to make the heroine likeable through her victimization, rather than, you know, giving her qualities that are actually likeable. And at least for me, it bears no resemblance to any socialized atmosphere I've ever encountered in my school years.

You don't have to know the cause to feel the effects...

On a post of Ragnell's a few days ago, she makes a point that gets an interesting response in her comment section. This is what she says re: sexism in comics:

"And if you are saying "Its always been this way," you're being an ass. If that's true, then how did all of these people who are so "easily offended" by the "natural state of comics" ever get to the point of being regular fans?"

The interesting response is by "Monroe" here:

Because they started as kids and most kids don't give a shit about feminism or even know what it is?

Now, I'm going to hazard a guess, just a guess mind you, that this Monroe person is male. I may well be wrong about this, I admit now.

Okay, I can't speak for all women, because I know we all have different experiences, but me personally, as a girl growing up, I was NEVER not aware of sexism or feminism.

I didn't know the names or the concepts of course. I wouldn't have been able to tell you who Betty Friedan was or understand why the heck someone would burn their bra, I didn't know about privilege or glass ceilings or sexual harassment.

But I knew that girls were different than boys. But more than that, I knew that girls were treated differently than boys. I noticed that while I could play Ninja Turtles or He-Man or Thundercats with my male next-door neighbors at home, none of them wanted to be seen playing with a girl like that at school.

I noticed my mother, herself a very feminist woman, frown when I'd be more interested in climbing a jungle-gym, chasing kids with sticks than in playing house. I remember the odd looks my father got when he brought his eight year old daughter to computer club meetings and let her play Hillsfar on his Tandy while they talked about whatever it was they talked about.

Now, some of that might have been more obvious to me because I had generally more "boyish" interests. I did like dolls and girly cartoons too. But I was happiest with "boys' stuff" and seeing the girls fight alongside the men.

And I noticed when the girl was always the one in trouble. I noticed when the girl was the one who always fainted and had to be carried. And you better believe I noticed when the girl was only interested in clothes or hair or boys, when all the male characters had their own pursuits.

I noticed the Pink Ranger's skirt-thing and her shallow dialogue. I noticed that there was no female Ninja Turtle (on the cartoon, at the time), I noticed that talking Barbie never said anything INTERESTING.

I noticed that Troi was the only crewman of the Enterprise not in a uniform and that all of her outside interests could be summed up by the word: Chocolate. I noticed that Dr. Crusher never got to do much of anything besides have romantic tension with Picard or be Wesley's mom.

I noticed that Jesse Spano was treated as a neurotic freak for caring about grades, when Kelly Kapowski and Lisa Turtle got into shopping and dating mishaps. And a lot of the time, only the guys got to do all the fun schemes. Believe me I noticed when two of the girls weren't there anymore, replaced by some new hot girl for Zack to lust after and NO ONE SAID ANYTHING about it.

I noticed these things. I cared about these things. They made me angry, defiant, ashamed, without ever really understanding why. And I noticed that none of the neighborhood boys I played with ever had a clue.

Now again, I have no idea if other girls' experiences matched with mine. I know my interests were fairly atypical for my gender. But I bet you ten to one they noticed SOMETHING. Boys being called on more in class, booksmarts and boyfriends treated as constantly irreconciliable forces, being told to act ladylike when in the middle of a mild argument, while the boys across the room are practically fist-fighting...

I'd imagine that we all have some sort of experience in this matter. For that matter, I would not be surprised if the men out there have their own experiences relating to gender issues that are very relevant to the discussion, but I don't know, not being male. I do know however, that I do not remember a time when I wasn't at least somewhat aware of sexism or feminism, even if it would be a long time before I'd ever heard the word.

You don't have to know the medical terminology for an injury to know that you hurt.

Reconsidering Wizard

Over in the comments of my Variations on a Theme column at Newsarama, some astute folks have pointed out that the whole "Men's magazine" thing only appeared on one variation and likely was supposed to be a joke/parody cover of magazines like Maxim.

I have to admit, I hadn't really thought about that option. It hadn't occurred to me, but thinking about it now, I think they're right and I was wrong. I think it was supposed to be a harmless joke that ended up falling flat.

And you know what? I was more apathetic than anything else before, but now, I genuinely am annoyed.

Not because it's a joke, because honestly, I have no proof one way or another that it is or isn't one. Though I suspect it is.

I'm annoyed because the joke would be funny if it were any other publication. But with Wizard, it really isn't. Because with Wizard, it's actually believable. Because while we had a bunch of folk saying "how outrageous" or "well, good for Wizard!" or "Meh, whatever," very very few people even suspected it was a joke.

I admit, sometimes my sense of humor needs work. I don't always get jokes right away and can be fairly gullable. Sometimes I need to be told that the parody's a parody, and if it were only me who had taken this seriously, I'd think the problem was on my end.

But I genuinely think most bloggers and commenters believed it, intelligent people on both sides of the Great Feminist Divide actually took this at its word. And I think that indicates that the problem isn't ours anymore, I think the problem is in Wizard.

This kind of parody doesn't work if it's true. And blurb or no blurb, Wizard's content has essentially proven itself to be a magazine geared almost exclusively toward the basest, most immature, most stereotypically fratboy-esque of straight men.

A magazine with a feature called "match the rack" can't get away with making that joke. Not and have people actually get it.

I hope it's not a joke. Because at least then the creative minds behind Wizard are displaying some sort of sense of self-awareness. If they made the conscious decision, if they did as has been suggested, and looked at the results of those questionnaires filled out at conventions and decided that their magazine would be better off just declaring themselves to be a magazine for men, okay. I can accept that. I don't necessarily like it, but I can understand that decision. Sometimes it's wisest to keep your central fanbase happy rather than risk alienating them for a larger potential market. I don't know if I think that's the best decision here, but I can understand it.

However, if it's a joke, Wizard's creative brass has just proven themselves to be utterly deficient at anything resembling intelligence, insight, or self-awareness. If they meant it as a joke, if they actually still intend to reach out to a broader audience of women and men who don't find their sophomoric posturing terribly amusing, they've complete and utter morons.

The fact that they made that joke, if it is a joke, means that they think they're NOT at that level of straight men only, yet. They would have to think that they ARE making sincere efforts at reaching a female (or not-straight-male) audience.

With "Match the Rack".

Damnit Smallville:

I hate you, Smallville, I really do, but every so often you keep attracting my attention! I actually sort of liked the Green Arrow episodes that my ex-roommate made me watch last year. I managed to avoid the allure of Supergirl (mostly thanks to the costume...I'm petty, I admit it) this year, but this might make me watch.

I tend not to like Smallville's adaptations of other characters very much, Oliver aside, (though I've heard that Dean Cain's pseudo-Vandal Savage is good, I haven't seen him myself, and I actually enjoy their Lois Lane), so I'm probably going to find this version of Black Canary incredibly annoying.

But the actress is cute and she looks somewhat like I'd picture a young Dinah Lance. I don't know how well she can act (I've never seen her before, apparently she was in Painkiller Jane though, hmm), but I'm curious enough to possibly give her episode a try.

God damnit. It's going to be bad, I know it, but I'm so going to end up watching it.

Oh well, at least she's cute?

Thinking About Holiday Specials

It's occurred to me that I have a deep dark secret. I love holiday specials.

Not tv movies or that sort of thing, I can do with out those. But when you have a normal tv shows that suddenly put up halloween decorations or a menorah or a christmas tree or the like? I'm totally hooked.

Comic books too, of course. Halloween specials, holiday specials, special thanksgiving issues, all that stuff. I just love them. :-)

I have no idea why, I'm not much of a holiday person myself, and particularly in the case of comics, holiday celebrations are awfully inconvenient. (So okay, it's supposed to have only been so many years since Zero Hour, but they've had HOW many Christmases?!)

I dunno though, there's something about seeing characters I like just...do normal person stuff for a little while. Sure the Christmas Tree's probably going to get totalled during a supervillain attack and trick-or-treating's invariably going to end up being disrupted by zombies, werewolves, or something else. :-) There's just something about the little things. :-)

I might be a sap. :-)

Wizard is now WYSIWIG, Okay!

I haven't really posted a reaction to the whole Wizard as Men's Magazine issue yet, and I've probably been remiss in neglecting to, since I know everyone wants to know my opinion. :-)

Hey, you are here, after all. :-)

Honestly, a part of me thinks I should be bothered by this, but in all honesty, I'm really not.

I know that it should be a big deal to me that the most prominent print comics magazine is officially declaring itself to be primarily for the opposite gender, implicitly excluding me from its prospective readers.

Maybe because it's so soon after that whole Newsarama Bendis interview thing (A nice critique showcasing some of the more offensive points.), but honestly, I'm perfectly fine with it.

See, the Newsarama thing upset me a lot, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. (I am however a little too chickenshit to call them on it too overtly until two weeks after the fact, but I own my flaws.) The thing about Newsarama is that while its perceived flaws are fairly well-documented, particularly in its specific focus on the Big Two, and the lack of hard criticism of the same, I had never really counted sexism among the flaws.

I mean, sure, you're going to find morons posting on the forums, and yes I'm making a blanket judgment there. There are a lot of smart people who do the forum/message board thing, but there are also a lot of outright idiots, which is true of blogs as well I suppose, but I know where to find/avoid them. (In as much as WFA lets me, but then again, it's common knowledge that Ragnell does the real work there. :-))

I'd always thought though that the interviewing staff, while not necessarily sharing feminist concerns, were usually fairly decent at allowing the professionals to speak for themselves about any of the controversies du jour. I don't mind reading leading questions or even statements that indicate that the interviewer doesn't share that particular concern, but the over-simplification and dismissal in that particular interview really got to me.

Really, it's because Newsarama's staff have always been so nice and supportive of the Blog@Newsarama folks, at least for as long as I've been there. B@N, I don't know if you've noticed, tends to do a lot more coverage of feminist issues and usually with an overt pro-feminist bent, this does not even address how often B@N posters address the issues on their own blogs. So seeing such a blatant dismissal of any and all feminist concerns felt a little bit like a slap in the face. "Yeah, we're glad you're here, but we think you're stupid and overreactionary."

Gee. Thanks.

The realist in me knows that such a statement was probably not intended by the interviewer, but my gut reaction was shocked and offended. Irrationally so? Probably. But then gut reactions don't rely on rationality. And really, I've mostly gotten over it by this point anyway.

I bring it up though, specifically to contrast with the Wizard thing. The Newsarama incident was admittedly much smaller beans than the Wizard one. It's one interview, that's more thoughtless than malicious, I'm sure. It's certainly not like they put a huge banner at the top saying #1 Men's Comic Site.

But I didn't expect it, so it was a lot more disappointing. This Wizard thing on the other hand? Well, honestly, Wizard's been a primarily straight guys' magazine for years. Match the Rack? Heh. Now they're just being honest about it.

And I can't really knock that.

It's essentially the same reason that I'll bitch like mad about She-Hulk or Ms. Marvel cheesecake covers (or even the Heroes for Hire cover), but I've never said a word of criticism toward Witchblade, Red Sonja or Tarot. The covers for She-Hulk and Ms. Marvel do not reflect the interior contents, I believe. The tone, stories, and art are all completely different than what one would imagine from the cover. Those cheesecake images very likely scare off a significant portion of an audience who would actually like the interior issues, while the folks who buy it just for that will undoubtedly have to console themselves with just the cover.

Witchblade, though? Red Sonja? Tarot? These are all series where, well, what you see from the cover is pretty much what you're going to get. (I'm not, I want to note, equating these series in any manner except that their content is fairly clearly advertized by the covers I've seen.) Truth in advertizing and all that.

Wizard's always been a magazine that hasn't particularly appealed to me. I know some women do enjoy it, and may or may not be offended by this change. Personally though, I'm happy about it, because it means that if an interesting cover catches my eye, I can glance up to that line and consider seriously whether my curiosity is strong enough to risk severe irritation, and make my decision accordingly.

I know folks have rightly commented on some of the more negative consequences to the premiere print magazine now being explicitly male-oriented, and the difficulties inherent in fostering the contacts and resources required to make a female-oriented magazine. (Though I definitely don't think it's impossible, and it'd be damned awesome to have one!) It is annoying that the comic companies are going to keep giving exclusives and interviews to a magazine that implicitly excludes my whole gender.

But really, I'm not sure how relevant I think Wizard really is anymore. From the few issues I've flipped through, I didn't really see a whole lot of information or content that I couldn't get at Newsarama or CBR. Maybe I'd miss out on a few of the nifty previews, but generally, I didn't think the content was unique enough to keep reading. It's not like it's Comic Foundry or Sequential Tart, both of which, I think, provide content that you're rarely going to find at those places.

I don't know really. In principle, I should be angry. I certainly sympathize with all the pissed-off, insulted reactions. In practice though, I don't care that much. If Wizard wants to finally come out of the gender-neutral closet, and reveal itself as the Maxim-for-comics that it seems to want to be, I'm all for it.

It just makes me less likely to randomly pick up an issue and find myself seriously annoyed.

A Long Belated Review of Superman Doomsday!

Okay, some backstory. I didn't actually pay for my copy of this movie. (Someone official-like actually emailed me and ASKED to send it to me! How cool is that?!) I've actually owed this review for at least a month. Part of it was an address/email mix up (hee, they sent me an extra copy to apologize! Score!) and then, when it FINALLY came, I had like umpteen things for class due and...

Excuses, excuses. Better late than never, huh? (I'm a crappy reviewer! Sorry!!!)

Of course, since they gave me free stuff, I have to declare it's the best movie ever, right? Isn't that how it works?

Okay, okay, I'll do a real review. I warn you though, I don't do professional high-quality reviews. This is a rambling, ranting mess. But then if you really wanted a good-quality review, you shouldn't come to me! :-)

Besides, I GOT my free stuff already. :-P

Look! A Banner!!! Take it as your spoiler warning:



Okay. The truth is. It wasn't bad.

Essentially, it was like watching two movies. Okay, anyone who's seen the movie already, or read reviews, would already know that the Doomsday fight/death of Superman actually occurs fairly early on in the movie. Which is a good thing, because honestly, up until that point, the movie is completely dreadful.

Seriously, the violence was insanely gratuitous (hey, I like violence as much as anyone, but there was a point where Doomsday snaps some guy's neck that even I thought was too much), the plot lame, Lois Lane's voice actress grated, and Superman's design was wretched.

...seriously, what made anyone think putting cheekbones like that on a square-jawed man was a good idea? You do realize cheekbones are supposed to slope into the jaw, right?

I really didn't like the whole "Bang Lois, but don't tell her my secret identity" thing. Though I was somewhat mollified by the fact that Lois very obviously knew who he was. I did actually like their fight about that.

Also, the robot made me laugh.

And...um...wow. They really played up Lex's obsession to the point of...well...they certainly played it up, didn't they.

So, yeah, until the Doomsday fight: sucktastic. To say the least. After though, it really did begin to rise in my estimation. There were lovely emotional moments that seemed very genuine to me. I liked how the different characters expressed their grief, especially the scene with Martha and Lois.

The clone's emergence was fairly well-done, I thought. It was pretty obvious that something was wrong when he turned down sex with Lois. I mean, come on. Lex...did not appear any straighter, and I was genuinely shocked by the way he took his grief out on a particular henchman so to speak.

The line "intergalactic soccer hooligan" made me giggle a lot. So much so that it gets a special mention in this review.

The resurrection of Superman was fairly well done (though, Lex keeping the body...when he clearly didn't need it for cloning purposes, since the clone was the one who swiped it...creeepy) and I enjoyed the clone's fall from grace (and the way he got rid of Lex's controlling mechanism was pretty hardcore!).

The ending fight was exciting. A lot more exciting than the Doomsday fight, I thought, and I liked Lois's role in it. Also, as much as I've bitched about Superman's design here, I thought the long hair worked much better here than in the comics. It made the incongruous cheekbones less obvious.

Finally, I enjoyed the epilogue scene a lot. And as much as I hated the thought of Superman sleeping with Lois without revealing his identity, the very end made it all worthwhile. (I loved that the big reveal actually involved putting the glasses on.)

Though I feel cheated out of a reunion with Martha. Poor woman ALWAYS gets the shaft.

But anyway, once the Doomsday fight finally finishes, I enjoyed it a lot. I'd watch it again. :-)