This year San Diego Comic-Con tightened their press access and made it much more difficult to obtain “press” passes. While some sites were issued blanket passes they filled later, other legitimate sites were denied (*cough* us *cough*) and had to find other ways to get access to the convention, like a “professional” badge. That’s why this is so interesting.
SimplePickUp and Project Go is a website that for $5 a month allows individuals to see videos and learn secrets about picking women up. From their website:
Whether you’re a frustrated virgin or a seasoned veteran, there’s something to learn from watching how we pick up girls.
Well, they were at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. Here’s the video….
While there’s definitely funny moments, I’m baffled how this qualifies as press? There’s no coverage of the convention, only acts that demean and degrade women.
In an industry struggling with how it depicts women and minorities, and finds gender disparity at many positions, I find it hard to swallow how this behavior would be allowed, let alone credentialed.
I checked the video a bit, and checking my professional pass this year and my press pass last year, it sure does look like a press pass, actually make that two since the camera man would need one too. I think those who do the credentialing have some explaining to do.
DC Women Kicking Ass – Joe Quesada on female led Marvel movies – Other than Hunger Games, can you name a female lead movie that has the juice of the recent Marvel blockbusters? Can’t say I disagree with Quesada.
It really is a slippery slope, men writing about Themyscira’s Amazons, a warrior race of all women who have little use for men.
Spoilers for Wonder Woman issue #7.
I was with Azzarello in his current Wonder Woman run.
I love the idea that the the Gods they worship are not, in general, good people. They are jealous beings who are used to having their way, no matter what, with little, if any regard for anybody else. There’s a very common thread in Greek myths: the gods are all dicks, with maybe one or two exception. It’s rare for them to be loving or forgiving, and that’s the world Azzarello’s Wonder Woman takes place in: A world of jealous, rage-filled, hedonistic gods.
The cool thing is we’re seeing all of this from Diana’s point of view. Diana, who is a good person, and who believes in what she fights for. The best parts of this Wonder Woman run are her reactions to all of the messed up things she finds out about.
The consensus on Zeus being Diana’s father, and Diana having a father to begin with, is split. What isn’t, is that her reaction to the news was very well done.
It’s very engaging to not only find out all of these gritty things about the Amazons and their gods, but to watch Diana find out and react.
But I’m having a hard time with the latest issue of Wonder Woman.
Issue #7 introduces a much darker side to the Amazons. Essentially, when they start running low on Themyscirian residents, they go and find a large, man-filled boat, throw themselves at said men, and then, once they’ve had their way, they kill them.
Nine months later, some of the Amazons give birth to girls, and that’s great, but if they wind up delivering boys, those babies are traded to Hephaestus for weapons. If Hephaestus didn’t take them, the Amazons would simply kill them.
From a storytelling standpoint, this is genius. Another shock to the system for our heroine who was always told that by divinity Amazons never gave birth to male children.
From the perspective of a woman? It’s just another thing that makes me slam my head against my desk.
Because, of course, women are the aggressors and men, men are the victims of our hateful power. Women with power (in body, in mind) hate men. Powerful women, women who do not need men, are scary, and, essentially evil and amoral. That’s the subtext in this, whether Mr. Azzarello meant it or not.
Truth be told, it’s the same old bullshit superhero comics have been pumping out for decades, and it is, as ever, insulting.
And sad! Because until this issue, I was so gung-ho about this comic book. As far as DC’s New 52 are concerned there were three books I was following with enthusiasm: Scott Snyder’s Batman, Geoff Johns’ Aquaman and Brian Azzarello’s Wonder Woman. Three unique and engaging romps.
But as a woman, I am yet again reminded by Wonder Woman #7 that these books are not written with my demographic in mind. That it doesn’t matter whether I read and enjoy these books or not because I am not in that coveted 18-34 year old male section of the readership. That even though I manage a comic book store, and many of my customers trust me enough to make recommendations on what’s good week to week, my opinion does not matter. That though I am part of the customer base, my money is not as valued; somehow not as green.
I am not wanted here.
When DC Comics held their summit with retailers about their New 52 and my bosses came back with the news that the DC reps had stated their aim of hooking 18-34 year old men, a demographic they already had in spades, I had a question: “With a growing female fanbase, why not market and aim toward them?”
It’s a question my employers were kind enough to send off to Mr. Bob Wayne, who is DC’s Vice President of Sales.
Doonesbury has taken up the issue of trans-vaginal exams in this week’s strips which has caused it to get pulled from numerous newspapers. I’ve been waiting all week to figure out exactly got so many people bristling, maybe today’s strip was the issue? Here’s the two likeliest panels so far that has caused the controversy.
Doonesbury creator Garry Trudeau discussed the censorship and strips with the Washington Post on Sunday. In why he hopped into the debate Trudeau responded:
Virginia Republicans have been focusing on women WAY more than they should telling women and their doctors what should and shouldn’t be done to their bodies. Many of those involved are men like State Senator and Republican Caucus Chairman Ryan McDougle who represents the Mechanicsville area. A protest of sorts have kicked off (with hilarity) on his Facebook page where people are asking the State Senator for medical advice involving their lady parts. But, what’s the connection to comics?
One protestor who identifies herself as a “really fat and hairy lesbian” name checks well known comic creator Alison Bechdel. Bechdel might be best known for her long-running comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For and her graphic memoir Fun Home. Check out the post below which has since been taken down.
Brian Wood is one of my favorite comic book writers and has a great track record in depicting realistic women. That’s why it’s no surprise that his latest project with Ming Doyle is partially to do just that. Mara is a new six-issue sci-fi/superhero miniseries coming from Image Comics. But this is what stood out in his brief chat with Comics Alliance about the project:
I decided to create this during the post-DC52 reaction regarding women in comics, female characters in superhero stories and their depiction within, and all that discussion that followed. In addition to just feeling like I had a powerful, relevant story to tell, I wanted to prove, if only to myself, that a story like this can be told without reducing it to or otherwise relying on these sorts of base depictions of women. Like Channel Zero, Jennie One, Supermarket, Demo, Local, The New York Four, The New York Five, DV8, and a good deal of Northlanders, MARA features a complex, realistic, multi-faceted female lead.
