tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-289899552024-03-13T09:03:37.536-07:00Men Need FeminismFeminism with men in mind.Jeff Pollethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789663140920958914noreply@blogger.comBlogger474125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28989955.post-37095685964871228312015-08-20T12:00:00.001-07:002015-08-20T12:00:41.005-07:00#BuyComicsByWomen: The "Kurt Busiek Hates Me Now" Edition<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Continuing my experiment where I only buy comics that have a female artist or writer. <a href="https://storify.com/feministallies/if-we-can-t-get-great-writers-on-board-things-won-" target="_blank">This week, I got to talk to one of my writer heroes, Kurt Busiek, and alienate him forever!</a> Ah well. He's a good guy, and a fantastic writer. I really hope he'll be working with more women in the future. It really does seem like some of the most prominent male writers and artists in comics don't understand that they, too, are gatekeepers.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Yep Pile:<br /></span><br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Power Up #2(Writer: Kate Leth Art: Matt Cummings Cover: Matt Cummings) </span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">While I wasn't blown away by #1, I enjoy Leth's work enough to give this a few more issues to grow on me. </span></li>
<li><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Welcome Back #1(Writer: Christopher Sebela Art: Jonathan Brandon Sawyer Cover: Elsa Charretier) </span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This one is pretty hyped, and I'm excited to try it. I haven't read anything by Sebela and Sawyer before, but if I can find the Charretier cover, I'm gonna pick it up.</span></li>
<li><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Secret
Six #5 (Bombshells Variant Cover)DC Comics: August 19,
2015 Writer: Gail Simone Art: Dale Eaglesham Cover: Emanuela
Lupacchino) </span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I know everybody loves Simone's Secret Six--it's not my favorite of her work, oddly enough; still, the new-to-me characters, and the "Bombshells" variant cover won me over.</span><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span></b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Swords Of Sorrow Thoris Adler #3(Writer: Leah Moore Art: Francisco Manna Cover: Jay Anacleto) </span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I say it every week--these are some of the most fun comics out right now. Pulpy goodness.</span><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span></b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Swords Of Sorrow Vampirella Jennifer Blood #4(Writer: Nancy A. Collins Art: Dave Acosta Cover: Billy Tan) </span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">See above.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Island #2(Writer: Brandon Graham Art: Brandon Graham Cover: Emma Rios) </span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This is the comic I'm most excited about at the moment--it feels like a possible shift for the industry. Or at least a fun experiment.</span><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span></b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Rat Queens #11 Writer: Kurtis J. Wiebe Cover: Stjepan Sejic artist:Tamra Bonvillain artist: Tess Fowler </span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">You had me at Tess Fowler. This is also <a href="http://mahmusecomics.com/2015/02/21/fuck-tradition-more-feminist-appeal-in-the-rat-queens/" target="_blank">one of the most oddly feminist comics</a> being sold today, I think.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Revival #32(Writer: Tim Seeley Art: Mike Norton Cover: Jenny Frison)</span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Still a solid story with feet planted in the horror genre.</span><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Runaways #3(Writer: Noelle Stevenson Art: Sanford Greene Cover: Sanford Greene) </span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Somehow I missed the debut of this! Now I have to catch up!</span><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span></b><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></li>
</ul>
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Nope Pile</span></b><br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Young Terrorists #1 (Writer: Matt Pizzolo Art: Amancay Nahuelpan Cover: Amancay Nahuelpan ) </span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I know nothing about Nahuelpan or Pizzolo, but this sounded interesting.</span></li>
<li><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">B.P.R.D. Hell On Earth #134 #25(Writer: Mike Mignola Art: Julian Totino Tedesco Cover: Laurence Campbell) </span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">134 issues without a woman writer or artist! Some kind of record.</span><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span></b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Astro City #26(Writer: Kurt Busiek Art: Brent Eric Anderson Cover: Alex Ross) </span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I miss this title. I got a few in when Wendy Broome was a guest colorist, but I'm going to leave this one be until there is a regular female artist on it. It's a loss.</span></li>
<li><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Dr Fate #3(Writer: Paul Levitz Art: Sonny Liew Cover: Sonny Liew) </span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I missed that Liew was doing the art on this one. He's one of the few artists I'll buy on principle, ever since </span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">My Faith in Frankie. Sad I'm missing this one.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Martian Manhunter #3(Writer: Rob Williams Art: Eddy Barrows Cover: Eddy Barrows)</span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> I've always loved this character, but haven't loved the last few incarnations--I'd love to give this one a shot, but it will have to wait.</span></li>
<li><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Mantle #4(Writer: Ed Brisson Art: Brian Level Cover: Brian Level )</span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I loved Brisson's Sheltered, and this one looks so fun and different. Missing out.</span></li>
<li><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Wolf #2(Writer: Ales Kot Art: Matt Taylor Cover: Matt Taylor)</span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> Probably my favorite writer these days; I'll console myself by reading and re-reading The Surface. </span><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span></b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Trees #12(Writer: Warren Ellis Art: Jason Howard Cover: Jason Howard) </span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Similar to my sadness about Kot, I'll console myself with Ellis' Injection.</span></li>
<li><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Star Wars #8(Writer: Jason Aaron Art: John Cassaday Cover: John Cassada) </span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The series just looks so fun, and I love Aaron and Cassaday. I'm glad they get to sell billions of comics.</span></li>
</ul>
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
Jeff Pollethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789663140920958914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28989955.post-22763165573035126112015-08-17T09:30:00.000-07:002015-08-17T09:32:20.568-07:00Get This Book: The Sex Myth, by Rachel Hills<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Xcq0BJXXDrU/VdIJvAVaKkI/AAAAAAAAZ2k/tdmU-HVlhEw/s1600/the-sex-myth-9781451685787_lg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Xcq0BJXXDrU/VdIJvAVaKkI/AAAAAAAAZ2k/tdmU-HVlhEw/s320/the-sex-myth-9781451685787_lg.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I like reading about sex; throw in thoughtful analysis of sex and gender, and I'm hooked. Include a good mix of anecdotal stories and scientific analysis, and I'm in for the duration. <a href="http://books.simonandschuster.com/The-Sex-Myth/Rachel-Hills/9781451685787" target="_blank">Rachel Hills' <i>The Sex Myth</i></a> does a fine job of delving into our predilection to think that we know just what the sex lives of others are like, and just how wrong we often are. In particular, she's shining some light on the post-sexual-revolution tendency to <i>insist </i>that people be having the kinky, frequent sex that we have all been told is within everybody's reach. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For me, her discussion of how men are affected by sexual stereotypes about men was the most interesting chapter. She starts off by taking us into a frat house in the U.S.--a move which I quickly criticized as myopic in the margin of the book. Hills is too smart to fall into such a trap, however, and is bringing us there because these men are doing their best to rail against the stereotypes, with part of their manifesto urging respect toward women. And it's "Christopher", one of the fraternity men, who says some things that are so rarely heard from men in our culture:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"In ever sexual relationship I have had with a woman, I have felt pressured to do more than I am comfortable with," Christopher says. Sometimes taht pressure has come directly from the women he's dating, other times from some internalized ideal of how guys "should" approach sex. He recalls a night he spent watching movies on the couch with his first girlfriend when he was fifteen. "I was quite happy to just kiss, but I remember feeling this pressure to initiate something more. <i>You're alone and she turned off the lights, so I guess that means you're supposed to take it further.</i>"</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And after a few more anecdotes, Hills gives us some facts:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A 2010 survey commissioned by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy and Seventeen magazine found that 21 percent of fifteen-to-twenty-two-year-old guys had been pressured by a female peer to go further sexually than they wanted to, with more than three-quarters (78 percent) agreeing that there was "way too much pressure" to have sex. Fifty-six percent said they were "relieved" when a female partner wanted to wait to have sex." </span></blockquote>
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DIGHDFCC9q8/VdILrnqYr5I/AAAAAAAAZ2w/9czgFBvnl6A/s1600/the-sex-myth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DIGHDFCC9q8/VdILrnqYr5I/AAAAAAAAZ2w/9czgFBvnl6A/s320/the-sex-myth.jpg" width="237" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And this is the strength of Hills' book, for me--there is a well-done mixing of personal stories and more generalized facts about our sex lives. And despite the intricate discussion at hand, Hills manages to write in an almost breezy tone about some really serious issues. The Sex Myth feels something like a discussion among friends, rather than a polemic. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One quibble I have with the book is that it skews fairly heterocentric. She does obviously make an effort to leave a lot of the discussion as sexual-preference-neutral, and there are queer people quoted in the book, but one can't help but wonder how many of the fraternity guys were really concerned about being pressured into sex by other men, for instance. But this is just a quibble, and it actually speaks to a strength of the book for me: This book feels like the interesting beginning of a conversation that we all should be having.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Links:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://books.simonandschuster.com/The-Sex-Myth/Rachel-Hills/9781451685787" target="_blank">The Sex Myth at the publisher.</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://rachelhills.tumblr.com/thesexmyth" target="_blank">Rachel Hills </a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/rachelhills" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">buy the book at <a href="http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781451685787" target="_blank">Indiebound</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://nytlive.nytimes.com/womenintheworld/2015/08/03/busting-the-sex-myth-that-everyone-is-doing-it-more-than-you/" target="_blank">NYT review</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Full disclosure: I was provided with a review copy of the book, for which I'm grateful.</span></div>
Jeff Pollethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789663140920958914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28989955.post-24718398782870835832015-08-12T11:36:00.000-07:002015-08-12T11:36:53.417-07:00#BuyComicsByWomen August 12, 2015<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Running a little experiment where I only buy comics that have a woman who worked on the comic as an artist or writer. This week has some highs and lows, for sure:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yep Pile:</span><br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">Constantine The Hellblazer #3</span><b> (</b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Writer: Ming Doyle Art: Vanesa Del Rey Cover: Riley Rossmo) </b>I'm enjoying a non-Vertigo Hellblazer. Never thought that would happen. Nice work folks!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">DC Comics Bombshells #1(</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Writer: Marguerite Bennett Art: Marguerite Sauvage Cover: Ant Lucia) </b>I just love that this comic happened at all. Can't wait.<b> </b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">JLA Gods And Monsters #1(</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Letterer: Saida Temofonte Writer: J. M. DeMatteis Art: Thony Silas Cover: Darick Robertson ) </b>I know nothing about this, except that I love DeMatteis. Glad Temofonte is lettering it, so I can read it!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">Swords Of Sorrow #4(</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Writer: Gail Simone Art: Sergio Fernandez Davila Cover: Tula Lotay)</b> This continues to be a super fun book. I'm not loving the entire set of crossovers, but this centerpiece is solid.<b> </b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">Velvet #11(</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Cover Colorist: Elizabeth Breitweiser Writer: Ed Brubaker Art: Steve Epting Cover: Steve Epting)</b> I kind of can't believe this isn't a movie yet. Loving this series.<b> </b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">Beauty #1(</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Writer: Jeremy Haun Art: Jeremy Haun Cover: Jenny Frison) </b>This looks like a fucked up, fun read. Not familiar with Haun, but love Frison covers...</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">Injection #4(</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Colorist: Jordie Bellaire Writer: Warren Ellis Art: Declan Shalvey Cover: Declan Shalvey)</b> Ellis on words, Shalvey and Bellaire on art. Can't lose.<b> </b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">Shutter #14(</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Writer: Joe Keatinge Art: Leila Del Duca Cover: Leila Del Duca ) </b>I say it every time, but this is the most underrated series in comics right now. I wish this book got the love that Saga gets.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">Star-lord And Kitty Pryde #2(</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Writer: Sam Humphries Art: Alti Firmansyah Cover: Yasmine Putri)</b> <b> </b>This feels like the perfect book for Humprhies. If I can't read Avengers A.I., I'll take this. Putri is growing on me.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">Secret Wars #5(</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Writer: Jonathan Hickman Art: Esad Ribic Cover: Sophie Campbell) </b>I can't help myself. I hate the whole Doom thing, but they're doing fun stuff in this book.<b> </b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #8(</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Writer: Ryan North Art: Erica Henderson Cover: Erica Henderson) </b>This book makes me wish I was still buying comics at the supermarket from a spinner rack.<b> </b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">A-force #3(</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Writer: C. Willow Wilson Art: Jorge Molina Cover: Jorge Molina) </b>The best thing to come out of <strike>Bullshitworld </strike>Battleworld.<b> </b></span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Nope Pile</span><br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">It Will All Hurt #3(</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Writer: Farel Dalrymple Art: Farel Dalrymple Cover: Farel Dalrymple) </b>I hate losing out on full-on creator-written-drawn comics, but I think I'll stick to my experiment.<b> </b></span></li>
<li><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Crossed Badlands #83(</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Writer: Mike Wolfer Art: Mike Wolfer Cover: Christian Zanier)</span></b><b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> -- 6 covers, no women. </b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I like the concept of Crossed, in small doses. I get no doses, because there are never any women working on this comic.</span></li>
<li><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Mercury Heat #2</span>(<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Writer: Kieron Gillen Art: Omar Francia Cover: Omar Francia )</span></b><b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> -- 5 covers, no women</b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">. This one hurts. Sci-fi written by Gillen is difficult to pass up. Can't we get one cover a month by a woman?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">Providence #3</span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; white-space: pre;"> </span><b>(</b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Writer: Alan Moore Art: Jacen Burrows Cover: Jacen Burrows ) </b>Honestly, I'll probably buy the GN of this, when my experiment is over. It just looks beautiful. <b> </b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">Uber #27</span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; white-space: pre;"> </span><b>(</b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Writer: Kieron Gillen Art: Daniel Gete Cover: Daniel Gete ) </b><b>-- 5 covers, no women </b>I love the ideas in this book--wish I could pick it up.<b> </b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b> </b></span><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Crossed Plus 100 #7(</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Writer: Simon Spurrier Art: Fernando Heinz Cover: Christian Zanier)</span></b><b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> -- 7 covers, no women </b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I love Spurrier. But really? Seven covers, no women?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">Americatown #1</span><b>(</b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Writer: Bradford Winters Art: Daniel Irizarri Cover: Mike Choi ) </b>Looks like this one was written just for me. I haven't read Winters or Irizari before, but I have some FOMO here.<b> </b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">Arcadia #4</span><b>(</b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Writer: Alex Paknadel Art: Eric Scott Pfeiffer Cover: Matt Taylor) </b>So many interesting sci-fi-ish comics out right now. Wish I could read this one.<b> </b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">Abe Sapien #25(</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Writer: Mike Mignola Art: Sebastian Fiumara Cover: Max Fiumara) </b>Mignola is on his millionth comic without any female artists. Not even one cover. I'm missing these books less and less...<b> </b></span></li>
<li><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Harrow County #4(</span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Writer: Cullen Bunn Art: Tyler Crook Cover: Tyler Crook) </span></b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Boy-1 #1</span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; white-space: pre;"> </span>(<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Writer: H.S. Tak Art: Amancay Nahuelpan Cover: Zach Howard) </span></b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Descender #6(</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Writer: Jeff Lemire Art: Dustin Nguyen Cover: Dustin Nguyen) </span></b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Drifter #7(</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Writer: Ivan Brandon Art: Nic Klein Cover: Nic Klein) </span></b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Fuse #13(</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Writer: Antony Johnston Art: Justin Greenwood Cover: Justin Greenwood) </span></b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Phonogram The Immaterial Girl #1(</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Writer: Kieron Gillen Art: Jamie McKelvie Cover: Jamie McKelvie) </span></b></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">Odyc #6(</span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Writer: Matt Fraction Art: Christian Ward Cover: Christian Ward) </b>I may literally weep over not being able to get this one.<b> </b></span></li>
<li><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Reyn #7(</span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Writer: Kel Symons Art: Nathan Stockman Cover: Nathan Stockman) </span></b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Star Wars Lando #2(</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Writer: Charles Soule Art: Alex Maleev Cover: TBD ) </span></b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Howard The Duck #5(</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Writer: Chip Zdarsky Art: Joe Quinones Cover: Joe Quinones) </span></b></li>
</ul>
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Jeff Pollethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789663140920958914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28989955.post-23888912692497198642015-07-22T10:54:00.000-07:002015-07-22T10:55:13.795-07:00Thank God for Power Up<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Continuing my #BuyComicsByWomen experiment, where I only buy comics that have a female writer or artist working on them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Yep Pile</b></span><br />
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Power Up #1 (</b></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Writer: Kate Leth Art: Matt Cummings Cover: Lucy Knisley) </b> Been looking forward to this one for a while now. Lucy Knisley alt cover is just a bonus. </span></li>
<li><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sensation Comics Ft. Wonder Woman #12 </span>(</b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Writer: Derek Fridolfs Art: Tom Fowler Cover: Emanuela Lupacchino) </b>I'm definitely late to the game on this one--may have to pick up some back issues!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Swords Of Sorrow Sonja Jungle #1 (</b></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Writer: Marguerite Bennett Art: Mirka Andolfo Cover: Jay Anacleto )</b> This crossover is the first time I've bought comics regularly from Dynamite. Well done, all y'all!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>VERTIGO QUARTERLY: CMYK </b>Sure. I'll keep picking this up. Always something worth the cover price.</span></li>
<li><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Star Trek Ongoing #47 </span>(</b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Writer: Mike Johnson Art: Rachael Stott Cover: Joe Corroney ) </b>I continue to enjoy this comic--not sure why it doesn't get more press, as it's consistently better than the nu-Trek movies were anyway...</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">Star-lord And Kitty Pryde #1</span><b>(</b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Writer: Sam Humphries Art: Alti Firmansyah Cover: Yasmine Putri ) </b>I'm a fan of Humphries ever since Avengers A.I., and I suspect this won't suck. New to Firmansyah and Putri, but the previews look fantastic!</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Nope Pile</b></span><br />
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">God Is Dead #39(Writer: Mike Costa Art: Nahuel Lopez Cover: Jose Luis) </b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> What can I say, I like watching gods beat the crap out of each other. I'll have to wait until this year is up though...because it looks like there will never be women working on this.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">Disciples #2</span><b> (</b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Writer: Steve Niles Art: Christopher Mitten Cover: Christopher Mitten) </b>I dug Niles' <i>Criminal Macabre</i> a lot, and Mitten's art is gorgeous; definitely missing out here.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">Fight Club 2 #3</span><b> (</b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Writer: Chuck Palahniuk Art: Cameron Stewart Cover: David Mack) </b>I'm not the hugest Palahniuk fan, but everybody involved in this is top shelf talent, and stories about masculinity and identity are a favorite of mine, so I'm bummed about this one for sure.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Mind Mgmt #35(</b></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Writer: Matt Kindt Art: Matt Kindt Cover: Matt Kindt) </b>Who am I kidding? I'll be buying the TPB when my year-long experiment is over, but FOMO is in full force here. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">Wolf #1</span><b>(</b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Writer: Ales Kot Art: Matt Taylor Cover: Matt Taylor)</b> This is the book I'm feeling the most heartache about. It sounds like it's right up my alley. </span></li>
</ul>
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Jeff Pollethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789663140920958914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28989955.post-67015047180208267882015-07-08T10:52:00.000-07:002015-07-08T11:01:32.082-07:00Missing Out, but Lots of Good Stuff to Read<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">#BuyComcsByWomen experiment continues. For a year I'm only buying comics with at least one female writer or artist. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yep:</span><br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Princeless Raven Pirate Princess #1</b> Writer: Jeremy Whitley Art: Rosy Higgins Cover: Rosy Higgins -- I'm jumping on the Princeless bandwagon late, I know, but I'm excited to check this out.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Archie #1 </b>Writer: Mark Waid Art: Fiona Staples Cover: Fiona Staples -- Mostly picking this one up for the cognitive dissonance of looking at Staples' Saga art and her Archie art.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Constantine The Hellblazer #2 </b>Writer: Ming Doyle Art: Riley Rossmo Cover: Riley Rossmo -- I don't think I'll ever be a fan of non-Vertigo John Constantine, but I'll probably always be a fan of Ming Doyle, so I'm going to keep reading this for a bit. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Section 8 #2 </b>Writer: Garth Ennis Art: John McCrea Cover: Amanda Conner -- I haven't read an Ennis book that I liked in ages (ok, Caliban was pretty great), but this is a pure nostalgia buy for me, I'll cop to that. Hitman was just really fun for a time in my life, and I like seeing Ennis fuck around in the DC playground, and I'm digging Conner's covers.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Swords Of Sorrow #3 </b>Writer: Gail Simone Art: Sergio Fernandez Davila Cover: Tula Lotay -- This stuff is just plain fun, and who resists Tula Lotay covers?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Injection #3</b> Writer: Warren Ellis Art: Declan Shalvey Cover: Declan Shalvey Colorist: Jordie Bellaire -- I'm liking this more than any Ellis stuff in a while, and I'm grateful for Bellaire, who seems to be coloring every other comic I'm buying these days.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Saga #30</b> Writer: Brian K. Vaughan Art: Fiona Staples Cover: Fiona Staples -- I have a secret: I'm not reading this book. I'm getting them and saving them for a time when I am not finding any comics I'm liking, because I know I'll love these.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Shutter #13</b> Writer: Joe Keatinge Art: Leila Del Duca Cover: Leila Del Duca -- Del Duca has become a must-buy artist for me, and this story is a really nice mix of real-world feelings in a crazy world. </span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Nope:</span></div>
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<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">God Is Dead #38 </b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Writer: Mike Costa Art: Emiliano Urdinola Cover: Jacen Burrows -- Still bummed that one of my favorite nutso comics is off the buy pile for lack of women creators. </span></li>
<li><b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Providence #2 </b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Writer: Alan Moore Art: Jacen Burrows Cover: Jacen Burrows -- I suspect I'll cheat and pick this up as a trade next year. I have a hard time resisting Lovecraftian storytelling. </span></li>
<li><b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Abe Sapien #24</b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Writer: Mike Mignola Art: Sebastian Fiumara Cover: Max Fiumara -- There has never been a female creator in any of the Mignolaverse. Ever. Still. </span></li>
<li><b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Harrow County #3 </b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Writer: Cullen Bunn Art: Tyler Crook Cover: Tyler Crook -- I dig all the folks working on this book, and the reviews are solid. Missing out for sure. </span></li>
<li><b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Negative Space #1</b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Writer: Ryan Lindsay Art: Owen Gieni Cover: Owen Gieni -- The writeup for this seem really interesting. Maybe there will be some women working on it later...</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Black Science #16 -- </b>Definitely missing out on this crazy sci-fi. Writer: Rick Remender Art: Matteo Scalera Cover: Matteo Scalera </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Descender #5 -- </b>I'm sure Lemire and Nguyen are crafting some great work here--I know I'm missing out. Writer: Jeff Lemire Art: Dustin Nguyen Cover: Dustin Nguyen </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Star Wars Lando #1</b> -- There are 11 creators listed on this book, with all the variant covers. Not one is a woman. Writer: Charles Soule Art: Alex Maleev </span></li>
</ul>
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Jeff Pollethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789663140920958914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28989955.post-22843330321861110632015-07-01T14:46:00.000-07:002015-07-01T14:46:04.323-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Another week of the #BuyComicsByWomen experiment yields some interesting results for me; I'm definitely seeking out and finding some comics that may not have been on my radar if not for the experiment--with so many comics in the nope pile because no women writers or artists are working on them, I look around a bit more, and that has made for some more interesting reads, for sure. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yep Pile:</span><br />
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Help Us Great Warrior #5 Writer: Maddleine Flores Art: Maddleine Flores Cover: Becca Tobin -- </b>I discovered Flores' webcomic just before she started publishing this comic, and it's been so fun to read.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>8house Arclight #1 Writer: Brandon Graham Art: Marian Churchland Cover: Marian Churchland -- </b>Definitely on my radar (mostly because of twitter!) and one of the series I'm most excited about.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>No Mercy #4 Writer: Alex De Campi Art: Carla Speed McNeil Cover: Carla Speed McNeil Jenn Manley Lee </b>-- De Campi's foray into real-world fiction is really well done. This is a series I might not have discovered if not for this experiment.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Zero #18 Writer: Ales Kot Art: Tula Lotay Cover: Tula Lotay SERIES CONCLUSION</b> -- Will we ever get a series with these two again? Hopefully. Sad it's ending, but it's been fantastic, and one of the most underrated comics of the past few years.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>A-force #2 Writer: C. Willow Wilson Art: Jorge Molina Cover: Jorge Molina </b>-- Wilson is one of the few writers that make a book a must-have for me these days, and I don't love the Battleworld concept, but she makes it work in amazing ways. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Princess Leia #5 Jordie Bellaire, colorist Rachel Dodson cover, inker </b>-- I'm not a big Star Wars fan, but digging this book, so I'm glad Bellaire and Dodson worked on it, though, c'mon, Marvel, give us a Leia book written by a woman!</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Nope Pile:</span></div>
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<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>God is Dead #27 -- </b>This is/was one of my favorite guilty pleasures, but there hasn't been a female writer or artist on it since I started my experiment.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>The Spire #1</b> 4 covers, none by women. I love Si Spurrier, and this looks like a fantastic story with an interesting female protagonist, so this one hurts. So many dudes working on this book. If you have four covers, at least get one by a woman. I know I'm missing out on this one.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Arcadia #3 -- </b>This one has a fantastically interesting conceit, exploring class issues through the sci-fi trope of virtual reality living. I'd love to check it out.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Baltimore Cult Of The Red King #3</b> -- Dark Horse continues it's astounding run of the ENTIRE Mignolaverse having no women writers or artists. I'm missing this one: I read the novel of Baltimore years back, and I'll be these are fun stories. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>American Vampire Second Cycle #8</b> -- Snyder has knocked this one so far out of the park that nobody even remembers Stephen King helped write the first five. But nary a woman artist in sight. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Midnighter #2</b> -- I'll admit I cheated when I bought Midnighter #1 even though there are no women writers or artists working on it. It was the day that gay marriage won at the Supreme Court, I was at a special event at my LCS, and I overdid it a bit. It was a well-written book, and I would love to continue with this series, but alas...</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>18 Days #1 -- </b>I like checking out new (to me) Morrison books, but no women working on this one.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Nailbiter #14</b> -- I cheat with this one, because my partner buys it, so I get to read it anyway. Still--we're waiting for some promised guest covers by women! </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Satellite Sam #15</b> -- It's tough to resist the Fraction/Chaykin combination. I'll probably end up getting this as a trade, but I wish we could get some women working on the book. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Darth Vader #7</b> -- Again, not a big Star Wars fan, but a big Gillen fan, so this is one I miss. </span></li>
<li></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>We Stand On Guard #1</b> -- A comic by Brian K. Vaughan, Matt Hollingsworth, and Steve Skroce about future Canadians defending their country from an invasion of giant robots from the US? Normally this one would be a no-brainer.</span></li>
</ul>
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Jeff Pollethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789663140920958914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28989955.post-4398983680514899482015-06-17T14:13:00.000-07:002015-06-18T08:27:45.866-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Still running an experiment of only buying comics that have at least one woman as writer or artist. This week is particularly interesting, as there are so many books I really love/want to read on my "nope" pile, yet plenty of interesting books to buy on the "yep" pile:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yep:</span><br />
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Secret Six #2 </b>(Gail Simone and Dale Eaglesham): I'm not a big Secret Six fan, but I'll buy most of what Simone writes because it's almost always at least a lot of fun. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Blackcross #6</b>: Thank goodness for the Tula Lotay variant cover, or this would be on the "nope" pile.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Swords Of Sorrow Dejah Thoris Irene Adler #1: </b>I'm picking up most of the SoS books, just because they're fun! Writer: Leah Moore Art: Francisco Manna </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Star Trek Ongoing #46:</b> I'm a fan of this series (more than of the movies), and here's hoping they keep Rachael Stott on for a bit so I can buy it! (Mike Johnson and Rachael Stott)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Revival #30: </b>Grateful for the Jenny Frison cover, because I dig this book. Writer: Tim Seeley Art: Mike Norton Cover: Jenny Frison </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Ms Marvel #16:</b> This is definitely my fave superhero book at the moment. Writer: C. Willow Wilson Art: Adrian Alphona Cover: Kris Anka </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>R</b></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>unaways #1</b> I can't believe I didn't hear about this one until today. Recently finished Noelle Stevenson's "Nimona" book, and it's so very good. Can't wait for her take on the Runaways. Art: Sanford Greene Cover: Phil Noto </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Black Canary #1:</b> I'm not a big fan of the character, but maybe that will change after Brendan Fletcher and Annie Wu do her justice?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>The Kitchen #8: </b> Sorry to see this series end, but with a cover by Becky Cloonan and drawn by Ming Doyle, it's a must-buy.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Update: I missed Jordie Bellaire as colorist and cover! Surface #3</b> Writer: Ales Kot Art: Langdon Foss Cover: Langdon Foss Colorist:Jordie Bellaire</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Update: I am an idiot and left of Vaughn: Alex + Ada #15</b> (Jonathan Luna, Sarah Vaughn, writer)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Update: Variant cover by Tula Lotay! The Fiction 001</b> (Curt Pires and David Rubin): This looks like it'd be funky and fun, so I feel like I'm missing out.</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Nope:</span><br />
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Mad Max: Fury Road: Furiosa #1: </b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Eight people working on this book as writers or artists--all men.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth #132:</b> The Mignolaverse continues it's run of never having had a woman writer or artist, ever. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Martian Manhunter #1</b> (Rob Williams and Eddy Barrows)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Empty Zone #1</b> Writer: Jason Shawn Alexander Art: Jason Shawn Alexander Cover: Jason Shawn Alexander </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Lazarus #17</b> (Greg Rucka and Micahel Lark)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Low #7</b> Writer: Rick Remender Art: Greg Tocchini Cover: Greg Tocchini </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Southern Bastards #9</b> Writer: Jason Aaron Art: Jason Latour Cover: Jason Latour </span></li>
<li><br /></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Trees #10</b> Writer: Warren Ellis Art: Jason Howard Cover: Jason Howard </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thors #1 Writer: Jason Aaron Art: Chris Sprouse Cover: Chris Sprouse </span></li>
<li><br /></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Astro City #24</b> (Kurt Busiek and Brent Eric Anderson): I'm cheating here, because I'll almost certainly buy the trade on this one after the experiment is over. I just like the book too much.</span></li>
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Jeff Pollethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789663140920958914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28989955.post-84244658293840823742015-05-06T11:05:00.002-07:002015-05-07T08:31:34.629-07:00Buy Comics By Women, still going!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Missed a few weeks of blogging due to being busy, but back on track now with the lists of comics I want this week--some of which<a href="http://feministallies.blogspot.com/2015/02/a-year-of-buying-comics-created-by-women.html" target="_blank"> I'm not going to buy because there are no women involved as writers, artists, or colorists</a>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Buy Pile:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Hinterkind #18 -- Cover: Marguerite Sauvage</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Names #9 -- Cover: Celia Calle</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Swords of Sorrow #1 -- Writer: Gail Simone</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Wonder Woman '77 Special -- Cover: Nicola Scott</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Rocket Girl #6 -- </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Art: Amy Reeder Cover: Amy Reeder </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Zero 016 -- Art: Jordie Bellaire</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Secret Wars #1 -- Amanda Connor variant cover</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Dead Drop #1 -- Tamra Bonvillain variant cover</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Notice out of all of these, there is only one writer and two interior artists who are women. Cover artists are rad (and make good money, right?), but I'm seeing a pattern of women colorists and "variant" cover artists, with fewer regular writers and interior artists who are women. I really want to read Dead Drop, so hopefully I can find the variant cover easily; Secret Wars I'm on the fence about anyway, so no big if I can't, but still: The biggest crossover event in the last few years and only one woman artist--on a variant cover? Bogus. Careful, Marvel, or your "Women of Marvel" initiative will turn into more of a separate-but-not-equal ghetto for women artists. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Also note that the rad-looking Wonder Woman '77 Special is written, drawn and colored by dudes--grateful for Nicola Scott's cover!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Nope Pile:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Rachel Rising #33 </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">God is Dead #35</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Arcadia #1 Alex Paknadel matt Taylor</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jupiter's Circle #2</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Wicked + The Divine #10</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Nailbiter #12</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Roche Limit: Clandestiny #1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Descender #3</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Spider-Gwen #4</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There are some big ironies here, I think: I'd guess that Wic + Div and Spider-Gwen are two very popular titles among women readers (just a guess though, of course), but here I am not reading them. That seems wrong. But this is just an experiment, and only 7 more months to go. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'm most sad about missing out on Arcadia, which sounds like a really cool concept, created by some interesting folks, and the new Roche Limit book, which looks absolutely beautiful. </span></div>
Jeff Pollethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789663140920958914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28989955.post-79512403516163197072015-04-08T10:19:00.000-07:002015-04-08T14:42:12.280-07:00Howard the Duck Hates Women (<--Clickbait)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Continuing <a href="http://feministallies.blogspot.com/2015/02/a-year-of-buying-comics-created-by-women.html" target="_blank">my year-long experiment to only buy comics with at least one female creator</a>. This week has some great comics I can buy, but some of my favorite comics I can't, and quite a few of them!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yep:</span></div>
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Coffin Hill 17 Writer: Caitlin Kittredge -- This continues to be a badass book.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Convergence Nightwing Oracle 1 Writer: Gail Simone Art: Jan Duursema -- Thanks to the @LCSValkyries for the recommend.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Convergence Batgirl #1 Writer: Alisa Kwitney -- Love Kwitney! T</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">hanks to the </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">@LCSValkyries for the recommend.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Saga 27 Art: Fiona Staples -- Duh.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Southern Cross 2 Writer: Becky Cloonan -- One of my fave new comics.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Surface 2 Colorist:Jordie Bellaire -- Still onboard with this one, and a perfect example of a book I wouldn't have found if it weren't for this experiment, and seeking out work by Bellaire</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Captain Marvel 14 Writer: Kelly Sue DeConnick -- Double-duh.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Max Ride First Flight Writer: Marguerite Bennett -- Another great example of the experiment working in my favor. Can't wait to check this out.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Updated:</b> Astro City 22: Originally I had this on the "nope" pile--but I was corrected by none other than Busiek himself--Wendy Broome is one of the colorists! Yay!</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><div>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<a href="https://twitter.com/feministallies">@feministallies</a> Colored by Alex Sinclair and Wendy Broome. Also edited by Kristy Quinn & Jessica Chen, but you may not be counting that.<br />
— Kurt Busiek (@KurtBusiek) <a href="https://twitter.com/KurtBusiek/status/585893271387246592">April 8, 2015</a></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Nope:</span></div>
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Rebels 1 Cover: Tula Lotay Colorist Jordie Bellaire</span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This one is a special exception: I could buy it per my experiment rules, but I continue to refuse to buy comics written by Brian Wood, even when he's working with some of my favorite people in Lotay and Bellaire</span></li>
</ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Abe Sapien 22: Continuing pain, and knowledge that I'll likely cheat and buy the trade after my experiment is over.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sleepy Hollow Origins 1: The show is a campy pleasure, so I'm sorry I'm missing out. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Astro City 022: Sigh.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jupiter's Circle 001 (Mark Millar)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Nameless 003 (Grant Morrison)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">ODY-C 004 (Fraction)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Convergence The Question 001 (Greg Rucka). Sad there are no women working on this book, since I love Montoya so much. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Rat Queens 010</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Darth Vader 004</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Howard the Duck 002: Twelve people working on this book. All dudes.</span></li>
</ul>
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Jeff Pollethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789663140920958914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28989955.post-54842782095592094912015-04-01T09:40:00.004-07:002015-04-01T09:40:56.018-07:00Avengers: Millennium -- All Dudes, All the Time<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Continuing my year-long experiment to only buy comics with a woman artist or writer...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Buy Pile:</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><ul>
<li>Lady Killer #4: Joelle Jones continues to knock this one out of the park, I bet.</li>
<li>Names #8: Cover: Celia Calle</li>
<li>Hinterkind #17 Cover: Marguerite Sauvage </li>
<li>No Mercy #1 Writer: Alex De Campi Art: Carla Speed McNeil -- Love De Campi's work on the Grindhouse comics, so can't wait to see what she does with the real world.</li>
<li>Dark Tower Drawing Three House Cards #2 Writer:Robin Furth -- This is definitely a guilty pleasure, seeing Furth continue to expand King's rich world. At what point to the comics eclipse the books? </li>
</ul>
<div>
If I Can Find the Variant:</div>
<ul>
<li>Cluster #3 Variant Cover colorist Jordie Bellaire -- Hopefully I can find this variant, although it's becoming clear that, during this experiment, variants might not work out; ruins the flow if I can't find an ish.</li>
<li>Uncanny Inhumans Variant cover by Siya Oum -- I'm new to Oum's work, but I hope I can find it!</li>
</ul>
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Nope Pile:</span><br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Hellboy And The B.P.R.D. #5: This one continues to hurt. Some of my favorite characters of all time.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Millennium #3: I loved this show, even though I didn't watch X-Files. This one stings.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Black Science #13: The art is just fantastic in this book--sorry I've had to give it up.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Dying and the Dead #2: Hickman is one of my favorite writers. I'm sure I'm missing out here.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Nailbiter #11: I'm cheating on this one, because my partner buys it every week.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Southern Bastards #8: I've read every ish of Scalped, so missing out on Aaron's writing is difficult.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Kanan Last Padawan #1: I'm not a big Star Wars fan, but I've been liking the Rebels show, and the new Star Wars comics. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Empire of the Dead Act Three #1: Not a huge zombie fan, but this looks so fun and fucked up. Sorry I'm missing it. Also, Andrea Mutti is a guy, which took me a while to figure out. Sorry Andrea!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Avengers Millenium 001: Comic Vine lists 17 creators for this comic, given the variants and editors. All. Men. It's like they're not even trying.</span></li>
</ul>
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Jeff Pollethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789663140920958914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28989955.post-69687195288794980072015-03-25T10:56:00.000-07:002015-03-25T11:27:45.529-07:00Buy Comics By Women<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This week in my <a href="http://feministallies.blogspot.com/2015/02/a-year-of-buying-comics-created-by-women.html" target="_blank">year-long experiment</a> to buy comics with at least one woman on the creative team means that I still get to read most of what I want, but I don't get to read some stuff that is likely really good. Once again I'm pleasantly surprised by the number of women working on the comics that I want to read, and sad at the glaring omissions. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>The Nope Pile</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">God is Dead 31</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Past Aways 1 (matt kindt!)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Drifter 5 </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Wytches 5</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Darth Vader 3 (Gillen!)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Valiant 4 (Lemire! matt kindt!)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>The Buy Pile</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Hit 1957 1 Art: Vanesa Del Rey</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Suicide Risk 23 Art: Elena Casagrande</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Conan Red Sonja 3 Writer:Gail Simone</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Grindhouse Drive in Bleed Out 3 Writer: Alex De Campi Art: Afua Richardson</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Red Sonja 15 Writer:Gail Simone Cover: Jenny Frison </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Autumnlands Tooth and Claw 5 Colorist: Jordie Bellaire</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Fuse 11 Colorist:Shari Chankhamma</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Wicked + Divine 9 Colorist: Marguerite Sauvage</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Dark Tower: Drawing of the Three House of Cards 1 Writer:Robin Furth</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Divinity 001 Cover:Jelena Kevic-Djurdjevic</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Drifter and Wytches really hits me where it hurts, as I love some hard-boiled sci-fi and some Scott Snyder. But how can I complain when I get a Grindhouse book, a Red Sonja cover by Jenny Frison, and get to keep reading one of the most underrated titles out there, Suicide Risk?</span><br />
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Jeff Pollethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789663140920958914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28989955.post-52663801809891537422015-03-18T09:20:00.003-07:002015-03-18T09:24:52.191-07:00Lots of Comics Artists Who Are Also Women<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Another week of <a href="http://feministallies.blogspot.com/2015/02/a-year-of-buying-comics-created-by-women.html" target="_blank">The Experiment</a> (spending a year only buying comics that have at least one woman as writer or artist), and something I'm a little surprised by is creeping into my consciousness: I was already reading a lot of books that had women working on them. And: There are a lot of women working as inkers, cover artists and colorists in comics. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here are the books I'm allowing myself to buy this week:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Alex + Ada -- artist Sarah Vaughn</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Burning Fields -- colorist Joana Lafuente</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Giant Days 001 -- artist Lissa Treiman</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Lumberjanes -- Writer: Shannon Watters Art: Carolyn Nowak</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Kitchen -- Art: Ming Doyle Cover: Becky Cloonan</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sensation Comics featuring Wonder Woman -- Art: Noelle Stevenson</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Outcast -- art and cover by Elizabeth Breitweiser</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Manhattan Projects Sun Beyond The Stars -- Jordie Bellaire, colorist</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Red One -- colorist Rachel Dodson</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Zero -- art by Jordie Bellaire</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Captain America and the Mighty Avengers -- Rachelle Rosenberg, colorist</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Princess Leia 002 -- colorist Jordie Bellaire; Rachel Dodson inks</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">All New Captain America #5 -- if I can find the Marguerite Sauvage variant cover</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Nope Pile:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Frankenstein Underground </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Millenium </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Fly Outbreak</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That nope pile is so dinky! And aside from BPRD, I'm not too broken up I don't get to read the others. I'm kind of glad my experiment turns out this way some weeks, so I can get through the weeks where I don't get to read most of the comics that I want that week. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One more note: Is Jordie Bellaire the hardest working artist in comics? </span></div>
Jeff Pollethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789663140920958914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28989955.post-14668810824733275282015-03-18T08:47:00.001-07:002015-03-18T09:06:17.389-07:00With Male Privilege Comes Male Responsibility<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ltpEb_k-4W0/VQmehse2tRI/AAAAAAAAWEM/bOwBa-MGtdg/s1600/asshole2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ltpEb_k-4W0/VQmehse2tRI/AAAAAAAAWEM/bOwBa-MGtdg/s1600/asshole2.jpeg" height="221" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A few weeks back I found out a writer that I used to love, but whose comics I had given up because of <a href="http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/10/28/tess-fowler-and-modern-day-misogyny-in-the-comics-industry/" target="_blank">misogynistic douchebaggery</a>, has a new book coming out, and three of my favorite female artists are working on the book. I wasn't likely to read Brain Wood's "Rebels" at any rate, since it looks like Tea Party Porn to me, but, but, but: Andrea Mutti! Jordie Bellaire! Tula Lotay! -- All of 'em on one book! My first instinct was to tweet out to any/all of them and ask why they were working with him--but of course that instinct is also misogynistic douchebaggery itself, y'know? These are grown-ass women, and they make their own decisions, know more about him and about comics than I do, and I don't have a "right to know". But that was my instinct. Trying to own that. </span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GiZbaI2zWh0/VQmZ8PEjqWI/AAAAAAAAWEA/bXp7ub7zLZo/s1600/chris_kelly_sue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GiZbaI2zWh0/VQmZ8PEjqWI/AAAAAAAAWEA/bXp7ub7zLZo/s1600/chris_kelly_sue.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now the completely convenient non-apology from Chris Sims comes out, and even though I also wasn't interested in reading his new X-Men book anyway, I find a promotion quote from one of my fave writers (also a woman) on his website. And again, my lizard brain responds with: "I WANT TO KNOW WHY!!!!"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And Rachel Edidin</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">, a friend of Sims, has a bunch of answers to the 'why?' question, most of which basically say "this shit is complex". You should read what she wrote: <a href="http://postcardsfromspace.tumblr.com/post/113923434118/do-you-have-any-advice-thought-on-processing-the" target="_blank">It's pretty great</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I know that. I know Brian Wood is a human being who can make mistakes. I know that Chris Sims is a dude who was steeped in the same bullshit misogynist culture that all of us are, and that we can make room for nuance, and forgiveness, while still keeping room for not-forgiving (which is why Edidin's take is so great). And I think that women in the industry, and women who are fans, get to make whatever decisions they want without me butting in--of course they do, of course they do, of course they do--that is part of the whole point of feminism. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But as pro-feminist men, I'm not sure we get the same options. I think we have to give up some shit, whether it's reading what might be a great comic, or something more serious, like choosing a different fucking career from the one where we behaved very, very badly. It's male privilege that allows a dude like Sims to think that he can still deserve to write for mainstream comics after behaving like that, especially given the timing of his sorta-apology--and male privilege for men to continue to support men like him. As long as men still have so much more power in the comics industry than women do, as long as women are still underrepresented as writers and artists, then men need to hold the feet of other men to the fire. I'm not going to get on women who understand these men and want to work with them, but I'm still going to get on the men who hire these dudes, and the men who buy their comics, because it's not acceptable that the only repercussions from bad behavior are a slap on the wrist. </span></div>
Jeff Pollethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789663140920958914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28989955.post-29830581860713415462015-03-11T11:04:00.000-07:002015-03-11T11:05:54.379-07:00Why Am I Not Reading East of West?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One of the most interesting things about my <a href="http://feministallies.blogspot.com/2015/02/a-year-of-buying-comics-created-by-women.html" target="_blank">experiment of only buying comics with at least one woman creator</a> is that I'm discovering a lot of colorists! One of the other interesting things is how many of my absolute favorite comics don't have any women working on them. I'm having to give up some of the best comics being created, I think. That's the downside. The upside: Still reading some of the best comics being created, and also discovering different writers and artists (though mostly artists).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Nope Pile:</span><br />
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Rachel Rising: This one hurts, and it seems kinda unfair putting a comic that is created solely by one person in this experiment, but for now I'm doing it.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Abe Sapien: Even after the <a href="http://feministallies.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-gender-gap-from-one-editors.html" target="_blank">great interaction with Scott Allie I had this week</a>, there are no women working on this fantastic comic, so it stays off of the buy pile. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Astro City: Another painful one. This has consistently been one of the best comics (and has been coming out pretty regularly in its Vertigo run!), and I definitely feel like I'm missing out. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">East of West: I have to ask myself, at this point, if this experiment makes sense. East of West is one of those books that should have an even larger following, I think--it's imaginative, beautifully drawn, twists and turns in ways I can never predict. I hope a woman comes on board at some point soon so I can return to reading this one.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Star Wars: I'm not the biggest Star Wars fan, but I was enjoying this one, before the experiment started. </span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Buy Pile:</span></div>
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Cassanova: Acedia -- Cris Peter as colorist</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Bill and Ted's Most Triumphant Return -- Whitney Cogar, colorist</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Coffin Hill -- Caitlin Kittredge, writer</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Red Sonja -- Gail Simone, writer</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Star Trek -- Claudia Balboni, art</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Postal -- Covers by Linda Sejic</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Shutter -- Leila deLuca, artist</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Captain Marvel -- Kelly Sue DeConnick, writer</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ms. Marvel -- C. Willow Wilson, writer</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Surface -- Jordie Belaire, colorist</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sheltered -- Shari Chankhamma, colorist</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Silver Surfer -- Laura Allred, colorist</span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Buy-if-I-can-find-the-variant-cover: New category because there are so many this week. Turns out that his could be an expensive experiment if I take it to it's conclusion. Not sure if I'll find/buy these, but I'll ask about them at my LCS:</span></div>
</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thor -- Stephanie Hans, alt cover</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Howard the Duck -- Sara Pichelli variant cover</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Spider-Gwen -- Sara Pichelli variant cover</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Cluster -- Jordie Bellaire, colorist on Declan Shalvey's variant cover</span></li>
</ul>
</div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
Jeff Pollethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789663140920958914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28989955.post-30570286605956156182015-03-10T09:20:00.000-07:002015-03-10T09:20:14.198-07:00The Gender Gap from One Editor's Perspective<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So here's a thing that is happening to me: Someone who has worked on some of my favorite comics of all time is chatting with me about his experiences as a comic editor (of some prestige and for 20 years or so) as regards hiring women artists, writers and editors. That's a pretty cool early result of my <a href="http://feministallies.blogspot.com/2015/02/a-year-of-buying-comics-created-by-women.html" target="_blank">year-long experiment of only buying comics that are written or drawn by women</a>. It started when I suddenly realized that my experiment meant that I wasn't going to be able to buy some of my favorite comics of all--the Hellboy family of comics, including B.P.R.D., Hellboy in Hell, Abe Sapien and the like. It made me curious, since I've been reading the books for a while and couldn't remember when I've read one that involved a woman creator, and after some looking around, I couldn't find any female creators for any of the books. I reached out to Scott Allie, who I knew would know the answer. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Allie was kind enough to get back to me! It turns out I was wrong, but sadly not by much:</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/feministallies">@feministallies</a> True, we haven't worked with a lot of women. Jo Chen, <a href="https://twitter.com/splinister">@splinister</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/beckycloonan">@beckycloonan</a> Michelle Madsen.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">— Scott Allie (@ScottAllie) <a href="https://twitter.com/ScottAllie/status/573268714474250241">March 4, 2015</a></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Curious, I asked if there were some coming up. Allie said no, but was cool with discussing the subject in a non-twitter-sized format:</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/feministallies">@feministallies</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/artofmmignola">@artofmmignola</a> No immediate plans. Happy to discuss in a forum allowing for more nuance...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">— Scott Allie (@ScottAllie) <a href="https://twitter.com/ScottAllie/status/573320912147107840">March 5, 2015</a></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It's kind of incredible to me that the Editor-in-Chief of a comics company would bother responding to tweets from a stranger, and then exchange some emails--I think it says something not only about how great comics are as a medium, but also about how important companies like Dark Horse are, and folks like Allie. And I'd venture to say that Allie has been a strong ally for women in the industry (my words, not his) in various ways: Not only hiring female editors and other talent, but also getting out there and talking about problems with the industry regarding the gender gap. He gave an interview last year with <a href="https://twitter.com/JillPantozzi" target="_blank">Jill Pantozzi</a> at The Mary Sue that addressed women in comics--characters and creative talent--in which the very subject of women in the Hellboy books was addressed, and it sums up a lot of what Allie indicated to me in his emails. <a href="http://www.themarysue.com/dark-horse-scott-alli-interview/#0" target="_blank">I highly recommend reading the interview in The Mary Sue in full</a>, because Allie details a lot of the work he's done regarding getting more women in the industry jobs. His ideas around the why and wherefore of a distinct lack of women creators on the Hellboy books is summed up in the article as well:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="background-color: #f6f4f2; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #262626; font-family: 'Open Sans', 'trebuchet ms', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word; word-wrap: break-word;">
<a href="http://www.themarysue.com/dark-horse-scott-alli-interview-pt2/#0" target="_blank"><strong style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Allie: </strong>Absolutely. The goal is not to fill a quota. It’s to reflect reality. We’ve been given a little bit of a hard time, you know, by a handful of people online, literally a few, that <em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">BPRD</em> doesn’t have more female creators involved. Despite everything else I’ve said here, I don’t think myself a hypocrite for saying that I haven’t made an explicit effort to hire women to write or draw [<strong style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Mike</strong>]<strong style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Mignola’s</strong> books. I haven’t made that a specific priority. I’ve looked for the right people to work on the books. A few times that’s led me to women, but I’ve not made it a quota. Nor have I done that on <em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Buffy</em>—it’s just that on <em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Buffy</em>, the pursuit of quality has more often led me to women. Is that because of the themes of <em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Buffy</em>? Or is it about what <em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Buffy</em> needs to be, creatively? I don’t know. It only occurred to me recently, when the diversity thing kicked up after Image Expo, that the first two comic book seasons of <em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Buffy</em>—real comics, all of them—were drawn by a black man, and the current season is drawn by a woman. That wasn’t intentional, it wasn’t a decision we made before we hired our talent, but it’s appropriate.</a></div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="background-color: #f6f4f2; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #262626; font-family: 'Open Sans', 'trebuchet ms', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word; word-wrap: break-word;">
<a href="http://www.themarysue.com/dark-horse-scott-alli-interview-pt2/#0" target="_blank">However, when hiring for editorial staff, I do make it a priority to bring in women. When you’re hiring writers and artists—when I am, anyway—I’m hiring them for what they’ve done, assuming that they will continue to do work of that calibre. When I’m hiring a young assistant editor, I’m hiring them on a hunch. I don’t really know what they’re capable of. I’m guessing, based on whatever factors I can take in. So it’s easier for me to let gender play a part. I’m not going to hire a less talented female penciler over a more talented male penciler, because I’m not looking to fill quotas—I believe I can judge those talents with some objectivity. Whereas with a potential assistant editor, I’m guessing, it’s way more subjective, and it feels like an appropriate place to take a hunch and say, We need another voice in the mix.</a></div>
</blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Allie has obviously put a lot of thought into this, and has made strides to get more women in comics. He also could have just said to me: Here, let me google it for you and you can go read The Mary Sue article! But instead he engaged. That is a good indicator to me that he's got a genuine interest in making things better. I also don't fault his basic strategy--having more and more women editors will mean more female writers and artists in comics, undoubtedly. But I'm also interested in why he doesn't go further, and try different things (and not just him, of course, but editors in comics in general). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Choosing the best person for the gig is something that's hard to argue against--problem is, it's becoming more and more clear that we all have unconscious biases. All of us, not just the jerks. The people who are out-and-out misogynists have it, pro-feminist men have it, people doing good work have it. Hell, women have it against women, sometimes. It's a thing. Why not try out some tools for avoiding unconscious bias as often as possible? The New York Philharmonic discovered that even well-meaning folks have unconscious bias, and <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/women-in-leadership/2013/oct/14/blind-auditions-orchestras-gender-bias" target="_blank">gender-neutral hiring techniques caused the hiring of women to go up 40%</a>. Allie has a thoughtful response to this idea:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But I won’t be a one-issue editor, I won’t hire with the sole
motive of balancing this inequity, or put that motive above all else. My
job, the thing I got into this work with the desire to do, is to make
good books. That’s hard enough to do, in my opinion. If I work to create
other obstacles and hoops to place between me and my goal, to further
my personal political agenda, I am doing it wrong. In terms of hiring an
editor or an assistant editor or a writer, the hoops I’d have to jump
through to prevent myself from knowing the applicant's gender would
prevent me from knowing other important things about them. So anyway,
no, I can’t imagine a circumstance under which I’d do the equivalent of
that double blind thing the orchestra did, though I’m glad it worked for
them. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span>Now, none
of this means that we shouldn’t do things like Womanthology or the stuff
Gail is doing with Red Sonja or Vampirella. There’s plenty of room for
books like that, and, as importantly, there’s enough amazing talent out
there that you can make those books great. And doing those things will
help foster talent that we’ll all use in various ways on other
projects. -- from an email</span></div>
</blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I don't work in comics. I don't even work in publishing. I've never been a paid editor, and that's why Allie's point of view is valuable to me--it has to be hard to make good comics, and to do so for so many years, so I empathize with the desire to not add extra work to that. It's pretty likely that I'll never know just how hard it can be do put out good books so consistently. I also think that, as men who have benefited in whatever ways from the unconscious biases of others, we have an added responsibility to do extra work to shift our workplace cultures. Maybe "double-blind" hiring can't work for a comics editor, but there have got to be some more ways of keeping unconscious bias to a minimum. Hiring women editors to do talent hiring will almost certainly help, something Allie is an strong advocate for, but a</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">s it stands, there is a way in which male editors who take this position reinforce the idea that it's the women who <b>do</b> get hired who will have to do the bulk of the work changing the culture, which is part of how the gender gap harms women. Also, as Allie himself pointed out to me, historically Dark Horse has had lots of the editors-in-chief who are women (Barbara Kesel, Diana Schutz and Melanie Crawford Chadwick, for example)</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">, which underlines to me the idea that hiring women editors just isn't enough to change the culture as regards gender.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'm grateful that folks like Allie are making great comics, and thinking about these issues (and other issues of diversity, which I haven't touched on here). I think that we can be fans, and support comics pros, yet still ask these questions, still push them to create more and more diversity, to close the gender gap as quickly as possible. This interaction with Allie makes me hopeful, even though of course we may disagree on the details -- I'm going to miss these books for the year that I'm doing my experiment, and I'm hopeful that as things shift, such an experiment won't be useful anymore. </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
</div>
Jeff Pollethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789663140920958914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28989955.post-50284173922721208392015-03-04T10:27:00.000-08:002015-03-04T14:48:18.392-08:00Week Two: A Year of Buying Comics by Women<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Last week I officially started <a href="http://feministallies.blogspot.com/2015/02/a-year-of-buying-comics-created-by-women.html" target="_blank">my experiment of spending a year only buying comics that have one or more women creators</a>. I'll repeat that this is just an experiment--I'm not advocating for others to do this, or that it's the way to get the culture of comics to be less sexist. I wanted to try it out to see how it would feel, for me. It's akin to Judith Levine's <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/242583.Not_Buying_It" target="_blank">Not Buying it</a>, or even more similar experiments, like <a href="http://the-toast.net/2014/02/03/what-happens-when-you-tell-people-youre-reading-only-women/" target="_blank">only reading novels by women for a year</a>.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This week there are a lot of comics that I want to read, that I have to leave off the buy pile because of this experiment:</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">No Women Creators Pile:</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">god is dead <br />uber </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">day men hellboy and the bprd 1952 </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">big man plans</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">black science <br />rat queens <br />descender </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">nameless </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">All new hawkeye </span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Buy Pile:</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Revival -- regular covers by Jenny Frison<br />Saga -- art by Fiona Staples, cover by Fiona Staples <br />lady killer -- words, art and cover by Joelle Jones</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">names -- regular covers by Celia Calle</span><br />
[Update]<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">princess leia -- Jordie Bellaire, colorist</span><br />
[Update] <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">blackcross -- cover by Tula Lotay and cover colors by Jordie Bellaire, if I can find 'em</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">[Update] Rat Queens -- cover by Jenny Frison, if I can find it</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Some thoughts about this week: </span><br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">First off, that's a small-ass buy pile. I have some new webcomics on my radar thanks to The <a href="http://theormessociety.com/" target="_blank">Ormes Society</a>, including the fantastic <a href="http://agentsoftherealm.com/" target="_blank">Agents of the Realm</a>. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Second thought: It looks to me like the Hellboy line of comics will be off-limits for me all year, since (correct me if I'm wrong) it looks like there has never been an artist or writer on any of the Hellboy books. I hope I'm wrong about that, and/or it changes soon.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'm missing out on some awesome comics with this experiment.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It's tough to find who lettered an issue online. Any hints on this? </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Lots of coloring is being done by companies, rather than individuals. Huh. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There's something wrong with an experiment like this that doesn't let me read Rat Queens. [Update] If I can find the Jenny Frison cover, I can do Rat Queens!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On the other hand: Nobody involved in creating the Princess Leia comic is a woman? [Update] I WAS WRONG: Jordie Bellaire is the colorist!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">[Update] I'm going to count variant covers done by women, if I can find them either hard copy or digital. </span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span> </div>
Jeff Pollethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789663140920958914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28989955.post-60342582806855757742015-02-25T15:43:00.001-08:002015-02-25T15:43:54.263-08:00A Year of Buying Comics Created by Women<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I really like reading comics--and one of the things that has gotten me back into comics after a few years of not buying them has been the influx of women creators. I have been buying comics on-and-off for about 20-25 years. I'd estimate that about 90% of those comics were written by, drawn, colored and lettered by men. This is a ballpark figure, of course, but I think it's probably pretty close to the real figure. There's nothing amazing about this--I am a product of Marvel/DC marketing in a lot of ways, I'm over 40 years old, and those comics have historically been overloaded with creators (and readers) who are male. <br /><br />Given I've spent so many thousands of dollars on male-created comics, I thought I'd try an experiment: For a year I'm only going to buy comics that have at least one woman working on them. <br /><br />I'm taking the idea that this is an experiment to heart--I'm not advocating that this can fix gender inequality in comics in any way, that everybody should do this, that it will even really make a dent in the problem. Instead, I want to check out my "stuff" around gender in comics: How important is it to me to support women in comics? What does it look like to support women in comics? How important is representation in the material (e.g. Captain Marvel has her own book!) , and how important is representation in the creation of that material (Lumberjanes was created by all women!)?<br /><br />Here are, loosely, my rules:</span><br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'm going to only buy comics that have a woman involved in the creation of the book at one of the following levels: writer, artist (drawing and/or coloring), letterer.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'm going for "consistently has a woman involved", so if a guest-artist is a dude, but usually it's drawn by a woman, I won't skip the issue</span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'm going to mostly read stuff I would have read anyway, but since I'll be missing out on some good books, I'll probably expand my reading choices, too</span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'm going to try this for a year. I've been doing it informally for January and February so far, so I'll do it until January 2016. </span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'll keep weekly lists of the comics that I *want* to read, but can't, because there are no women involved in them. </span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'll probably also talk a bit about the books that I *can* read.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'll do a weekly summation of how the experiement is turning out. </span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />The first thing that comes up for me is that some of my absolutely favorite comics ever will now be off my pull list, at least for now. No Sex Criminals. No BPRD. No East of West. FUCK!<br /><br />Also, some books with great female protagonists will be off-limits: Copperhead. Rat Queens. Lazarus. SPIDER-GWEN. FUCKITTY FUCK!<br /><br />I also considered counting editors who are women as ok for the buy pile--but while editors are so often the unsung heroes of comic books, I think comics companies, especially the "big two", often fill their ranks of editors with women far before they hire more women as creators, in the same way that, say, tech companies fill their marketing departments with women, but not their coding departments. This is something I want to highlight for myself.<br /><br />I'm also fascinated by just how many books I *can* still read--if I had tried this experiment 10-15 years ago, I would have not been reading many books (or I would have been reading a bunch of incredible books I haven't heard of yet?). </span></div>
Jeff Pollethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789663140920958914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28989955.post-79791129654319082842014-09-12T13:19:00.001-07:002014-09-12T15:08:29.688-07:00Rasputin: Gread Writing, but Still Women in Refrigerator Writing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://alexgrecian.com/" target="_blank">Alex Grecian</a> knows a lot about violence, and a lot about comics. His novels about "Scotland Yard's Murder Squad" are well-received best sellers. His comic book, Proof, ran for over 28 issues. He's an avowed pacifist--which rings true; who better to write about the horrors of violence than someone who doesn't think violence is ever a good solution to a problem? His bona fides regarding comics and violent characters are obviously solid.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I also suspect he knows more than most folks do about the historical (and mythologized) Rasputin, given that his new comic, debuting in October from Image Comics, is set to explore Rasputin from new angles. He certainly knows more about Rasputin than I do. I'd only run across Rasputin because of a smattering of interest in a few Russian plays and novels, and, of course, the wholly fictionalized account of Rasputin <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin_%28Hellboy%29" target="_blank">as a villain from the Hellboy comics</a>. </span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VtN2cvvrIFM/VBMjXg92eWI/AAAAAAAARn8/A7vesay4NCw/s1600/rasputin1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VtN2cvvrIFM/VBMjXg92eWI/AAAAAAAARn8/A7vesay4NCw/s1600/rasputin1.jpg" height="133" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When I saw Image's tweet about an article by Grecian about his new comic, I clicked--I don't love all of Image's books, but that's like saying I don't like all of the fiction in the library: One of Image's best attributes is that they choose to publish good stuff, regardless of genre. I wasn't surprised that the <a href="http://www.playboy.com/articles/comic-rasputin-immortal-mad-monk" target="_blank">link took me to playboy.com</a>--the tamest of adult men's magazines--Playboy seems to be in the midst of <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/09/05/3478753/playboy-feminism/" target="_blank">re-branding itself</a> as feminist-friendly. I even thought, upon seeing the first art in the interview juxtaposed with a link to "22 Insane Profile Pictures from Russian Gals on Dating Sites" to be depressingly fitting: Did Playboy's algorithms have a sense of humor?</span> <br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Being a fan of learning about writers' processes at least since I used to read <a href="http://www.kameronhurley.com/" target="_blank">Kameron Hurley's</a> blog, Brutal Women, which (among other things) detailed the process of writing her first book, I was glad to learn a bit about why somebody would tackle Rasputin in comics form, especially given the mountains of books written about the man.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> It was difficult to stick with Grecian's words, however, given the stunning art by Riley Rossmo was right there. Scrolling down through the panels, however, I was taken aback by the choice of panels to appear in this article in Playboy.com. We're treated to a scene of intense domestic violence, and Rasputin's father beats his wife to unconsciousness and perhaps death right in front of the young man. After his father leaves, Rasputin then heals his mother in a dramatic fashion in the final panel we're shown. These few pages of the comic, especially within the context of both Playboy and the recent video involving Ray Rice, made me immediately think of Women in Refrigerators phenomenon:</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_Refrigerators" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The term describes the use of the death or injury of a female comic book character as a plot device in a story starring a male comic book character. It is also used to note the depowerment or elimination of a female comic-book character. Cases of it deal with a gruesome injury or murder of a female character at the hands of a supervillain, usually as a motivating personal tragedy for a male superhero to whom the victim is connected. The death or injury of the female character then helps cement the hatred between the hero and the villain responsible. </span></a></span></blockquote>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-knb6eVoIixg/VBMz32RisyI/AAAAAAAARoI/ssg0fq8Aj1o/s1600/Rasputin2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-knb6eVoIixg/VBMz32RisyI/AAAAAAAARoI/ssg0fq8Aj1o/s1600/Rasputin2.jpg" height="255" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On the few pages we're given, we see the beginnings of the "hero" (or in this case, anit-hero?) Rasputin, as he is immersed in the violence of the villainous father, and heroically saves his mother's life. I'm not going to show the mom getting the shit beat out of her by the father here, but you can check it out at the <a href="http://www.playboy.com/articles/comic-rasputin-immortal-mad-monk" target="_blank">original post</a>. I think Rasputin looks remarkably superhero-ish here, which seems to be something of the point of this new book. </span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Given the information I had, I tweeted the following: </span><br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">the panels in this article make the new Rasputin comic from <a href="https://twitter.com/alexgrecian">@alexgrecian</a> look like standard women-in-fridges fare. <a href="http://t.co/BMzjSMnyk5">http://t.co/BMzjSMnyk5</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">— MenNeedFeminism (@feministallies) <a href="https://twitter.com/feministallies/status/510186331105148928">September 11, 2014</a></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
<br /><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script> </span> <br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Which led to the following discussion:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/feministallies">@feministallies</a> Guess you'll have to read the whole thing. No refrigerators. Happy to send you a preview.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">— Alex Grecian (@alexgrecian) <a href="https://twitter.com/alexgrecian/status/510188922295840769">September 11, 2014</a></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
<br /><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" lang="en">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">.<a href="https://twitter.com/alexgrecian">@alexgrecian</a> Sure if you want-but I hope you see how choosng panels showing a woman beaten to death by her husbnd in <a href="https://twitter.com/Playboy">@Playboy</a> is not great?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">— MenNeedFeminism (@feministallies) <a href="https://twitter.com/feministallies/status/510198081485570048">September 11, 2014</a></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
<br /><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script> </span><br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<a href="https://twitter.com/alexgrecian">@alexgrecian</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Playboy">@Playboy</a> which is still not an answer to the question: was choosing those panels for an adult men's magazine a good choice?<br />
— MenNeedFeminism (@feministallies) <a href="https://twitter.com/feministallies/status/510201834666213376">September 11, 2014</a></blockquote>
<br />
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Regardless of the rest of the issue plays out, the choice to show these particular pages on the Playboy site seems inappropriate at best to me. Even if the rest of the book shows that this isn't a case of Women in Refrigerators, as a preview, this is (great) art showing a husband beating his wife to a bloody pulp on the floor; the power of such images seems like a poor choice for a set of preview art--in a culture where dudes like Ray Rice exist, we need to give context to any art that shows domestic violence against women, context that by definition can't be given in a preview, probably.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So does the rest of the book show my intuitions were wrong or unfair? What about "the actual story"? Well, even though it seemed the offer of a preview read wasn't on the table any longer, Grecian's agent at Image was kind enough to reach out and send me a preview copy, asking for nothing else but an objective review, and to avoid any spoilers. I read it last night, letting it sink in, and again this morning. It's a well-written book, with art to match. I'll probably pick it up in October, and give it at least a few issues to see if it's for me. That said, it is textbook women-in-refrigerator comics. Rasputin's mother is there only as a plot device--her beating motivates Rasputin later on to be less-than-kind to his father a bit later on in the book. The father is more fleshed out--we know infinitely more about him than we do about his mother. Later on, the adult Rasputin we see briefly in this first issue is still affected by his now-dead father, appearing as a ghostly figure.</span> <br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Does his mother's beating give emotional resonance to the protagonist? Mabye--but that is central to the whole point of the women in refrigerator concept: Harming/killing women characters is too often done in comics as a shortcut to add emotional resonance--it's a shortcut that has been used so often that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_Refrigerators" target="_blank">volumes have been written about it</a>. Can harm to women characters in comics be done in a way that is not an example of " 'friging'? Of course. Mignola's Hellboy and B.P.R.D. comics are full of women characters who come to harm, but they're not examples of 'friging because they're allowed to actually be characters, not there </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">just </span>to motivate the (usually male) protagonist. Here, we're not given much about Rasputin's mom to work with. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So it turns out this is a solid first issue, and also a prime example of Women in Refrigerators. It didn't have to be both. </span><br />
<br /></div>
Jeff Pollethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789663140920958914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28989955.post-7773304216449314632014-06-16T10:44:00.000-07:002014-06-16T10:46:12.774-07:00Grateful for Female Friends<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Found myself this week feeling especially grateful for all of the female friends I currently have in my life, and also for the female friends I had growing up. Been thinking a bit about it because of two stories that dug deep into my brain: Gus Van Sant's film <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranoid_Park_(film)" target="_blank">Paranoid Park</a>, and the graphic novel <a href="http://www.vertigocomics.com/graphic-novels/sentences-the-life-of-mf-grimm" target="_blank">Sentences: The Life of MF Grimm</a>, by Percy Carey, wherein the male protagonists seem almost wholly separated from women as friends.</span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FUmxDXDKc9c/U58m3Xz-AOI/AAAAAAAAQd8/b9fhVojyym4/s1600/paranoid.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FUmxDXDKc9c/U58m3Xz-AOI/AAAAAAAAQd8/b9fhVojyym4/s1600/paranoid.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranoid_Park_(film)" target="_blank">Paranoid Park</a> is a fictional account of a white, middle class high-school skater boy navigating not only his parents' divorce, but also the aftereffects of a severe trauma. No spoilers here, but he is surrounded mostly by his male skater friends, who aren't particularly good at even noticing he's been through a trauma, and who respond to any deviations from traditional masculinity by wondering if somebody "is a faggo". The only girls his age in the film he interacts with are his girlfriend, who really only sees him as something of a fashion accessory, and a friend-who-is-obviously-smitten-with-him that he mostly blows off. (To be fair, this second girl is one of the only positive influences in his life.) The movie does a good job of conveying the isolation he feels because of the secret he doesn't feel he can divulge, but also the basic isolation that kids growing up can feel--and especially focuses on the isolation boys feel as they try to fit into the straight jacket of traditional masculinity. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PEFf4-SS-5Y/U58nLVtB0KI/AAAAAAAAQeE/xnYE10oaq78/s1600/sentences.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PEFf4-SS-5Y/U58nLVtB0KI/AAAAAAAAQeE/xnYE10oaq78/s1600/sentences.jpg" height="320" width="234" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.vertigocomics.com/graphic-novels/sentences-the-life-of-mf-grimm" target="_blank">Sentences: The Life of MF Grimm</a> is a beautifully illustrated autobiographical comic about Percy Carey, otherwise known as MF Grimm, who was/is a hip-hop star of some renown. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(Carey is now president of </span><a href="http://arch-enemy.net/" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Arch Enemy</a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">, a comic company that puts out some interesting stuff, which goes to show this man knows how to create success in just about whatever he does.)</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> He pulls no punches in the telling of his story (and his story includes a lot of literal punches), and my favorite aspect of his writing was that he sets the tone by explicitly laying out some of the culture he was immersed in to those of us who might not be familiar with it-- the culture of a not well-off black kid in the United States. One of the only women he talks about in the book, his mother, is central to the story of his life: She always has his back, and is the central person in his life who teaches him to take shit from no one. (The scene where she punches out a stranger who pinches her ass was one of the best parts of the book, if also heartbreaking.) But that one page on his mom, with the exception of a few words about his grandmother's death, is basically the only time any relationships with women are talked about. Carey seems to have lived a life among men, to the extent that almost all of the formative moments he has chosen to tell about were about the men in his life. If he had friends who were women, he left them out of this book. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Which brings me to what I have always been grateful for, but feel more strongly these days: All of my female friends. A few of them are ex-girlfriends, but most of them are just people I clicked with on some level, and they have offered me (as I look back) lenses through which to look at the world that I would never have had access to if I had kept my friendship circle to mostly men. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sure, as a man who is romantically interested in women, sometimes friendships with women are sometimes more...complex. There's the sentiment, which I learned from When Harry Met Sally, that men want to sleep with all of their women friends:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/a8oszx5OIMQ" width="420"></iframe></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And of course this sentiment isn't limited to movies from the 80s. Here's the same idea, in a relatively modern discussion:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/RLqK0DTevxA" width="560"></iframe></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To whatever extent that stereotype may hold true, I'd say it's partly because we don't encourage men to be "just" friends with women. ("Just"--because somehow friendship is less-than romantic relationships?) There are too few blueprints for and examples of mixed-gender friendships, especially among straight folks. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So a thank you to all of my women friends, past, present, and future. </span><br />
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Jeff Pollethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789663140920958914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28989955.post-87071487047285424192014-06-05T11:14:00.002-07:002014-06-05T11:19:07.165-07:00You Don't Get to Be Kathleen Hanna<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0pvJDbEKvZg/U5CxmGI2L1I/AAAAAAAAQYA/5IKZGgKVkKo/s1600/billy2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0pvJDbEKvZg/U5CxmGI2L1I/AAAAAAAAQYA/5IKZGgKVkKo/s1600/billy2.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It hasn't quite even been a year since the whole <a href="http://feministallies.blogspot.com/2013/08/about-year-and-half-ago-i-slowly.html" target="_blank">Schwyzer meltdown</a>, and we already have the newest "top feminist dude" <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/stopclymer?src=hash" target="_blank">showing his true misogynist colors</a>. When Schwyzer's truths became impossible to ignore (and, sadly, I did ignore them for far too long), I began some deep rethinking of how I go about practicing feminist ideals in my daily life, and online. Clymer's bullshit has pushed me back into rethinking things, yet again.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I came to feminism through theory (women's studies classes), through lived experience (raised by a bad-ass single mother), and through folks like bell hooks who provided both theory and insight into practice (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_hooks" target="_blank">Feminism is for Everybody</a>). I knew enough women who wanted men to do some of the hard work of feminism that I began to consider myself an ally. Enough women thought I was an ally that I felt justified in that. Now I see lots of women supporting a dood like Clymer who (to me) clearly isn't fit to lead a gender equality site that I'm starting to doubt (as many other have before me) whether "ally" is even a useful term. For quite a while I didn't see why men can't be leaders in some feminist fights, but I'm starting to get it now, with slow, dawning understanding. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And after all the good ideas put forth by many people around <a href="http://freethoughtblogs.com/hetpat/2013/05/28/why-i-am-not-a-feminist/" target="_blank">why men shouldn't lead anything in feminist movements</a>, it was finally this rather simple analogy that brought it home to me, for which I'll forever be grateful to @heatherurehere on twitter:</span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PiSziES7BD8/U5CxjPQIokI/AAAAAAAAQX4/oaDDolL_wa8/s1600/billy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PiSziES7BD8/U5CxjPQIokI/AAAAAAAAQX4/oaDDolL_wa8/s1600/billy.jpg" height="211" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"The women of Bikini Kill let guitarist Billy Karren be in their
feminist punk band, but only if he's willing to just "do some shit."
Being a feminist dude is like that. We may ask you to "do some shit" for
the band, but you don't get to be Kathleen Hanna."--@heatherurehere on twitter </span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sure, sometimes men listen more to men, and that's one reason why men have to be a part of feminist movement. And patriarchy harms men, which is another good reason for men to be pro-feminist. There are myriad important reasons for men to support feminism. But do we need men to lead gender equality sites? Nope. <a href="http://studentactivism.net/2012/01/04/paternalistic-feminism-hugo-schwyzer/" target="_blank">Do we need men to lead Slutwalk</a>? Nope. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I still think that men need to connect with other men, and folks of all genders, to <a href="https://twitter.com/feministallies/lists/pro-feminist-men" target="_blank">build communities,</a> to <a href="http://xyonline.net/" target="_blank">support each other</a>, all while doing feminist work. I still haven't found that supportive community, really, though lots of new friends on twitter do a good deal of that work. So I'll keep blogging, and talking with people in Real Life, and amplifying the voices of women, but I'm not even comfortable calling this thing Feminist Allies any longer. I'll call it Feminism Helps Men for now, and see where that takes me. </span></div>
Jeff Pollethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789663140920958914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28989955.post-87691574938942547692014-05-14T10:18:00.000-07:002014-05-14T10:18:10.319-07:00Quick Review: Daddy, a Memoir from Madison Young<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZjOOO9ebbCA/U3Oi65Xlj1I/AAAAAAAAP6o/1aHtQEzr-F0/s1600/daddy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZjOOO9ebbCA/U3Oi65Xlj1I/AAAAAAAAP6o/1aHtQEzr-F0/s1600/daddy.jpg" height="200" width="129" /></a></div>
I feel oddly mixed about Madison Young's memoir, <a href="http://daddythememoir.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Daddy</a>. It starts off strong with insights into Young's art, work and relationships with family, other artists and her partners--and she really bares her soul, which almost always makes an interesting memoir. Very intimate details about her relationships are given, with some thought, but something about the style of writing left me wanting a good deal of the time. The book begins and ends with much self-examination, and these are the parts I liked the best. Yet the bulk of the book is a series of loosely related life events, which is kind of how we all live our lives, but that choice didn't give me the meaty, explicit connections that I like in memoirs. <br /><br />On the other hand, it is this style that lends the books some of its strength--when we look back at our lives, we can try to force a simple, coherent narrative, but that's always a bit contrived. Young leaves her life messy in this memoir, and that's to be commended, even if as a reader it sometimes wasn't as satisfying. <br /><br />I suspect that future memoirs, if she continues writing them, will be better than this one as she hones her writing craft--a book centering on the founding of Femina Potens would be most welcome, for instance, as the bits and pieces we get about it skim the surface. I want to hear (even) more about how feminism, art, submission and motherhood have intersected (or not!) in her life. There is a conceit here that the book is about Young's Daddy, yet is also about her, and that works for what this book is. But I also would love to hear more about her feminism, art and porn work apart from her partner's place in her life, though it's possible that separating her partner from all of that isn't possible(?). <br />
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Links:<br />
The book's site: <a href="http://daddythememoir.wordpress.com/">http://daddythememoir.wordpress.com/</a><br />
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Jeff Pollethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789663140920958914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28989955.post-57578623186788536002014-04-30T08:00:00.000-07:002014-05-01T08:11:30.998-07:0050 Shades of Kink (A Little Review)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lhVYYBTawx4/U1_SEo629ZI/AAAAAAAAP3s/MAQzW1RYq1w/s1600/50.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lhVYYBTawx4/U1_SEo629ZI/AAAAAAAAP3s/MAQzW1RYq1w/s1600/50.jpg" height="320" width="228" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tristan Taormino's <i><a href="http://www.cleispress.com/book_page.php?book_id=519" target="_blank">Fifty Shades of Kink</a> </i>starts out with an honest explanation of why a book like this may be needed now more than ever:</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> "Let's say you read <i>Fifty Shades of Grey</i> or another erotic, kinky novel like <i>Carrie's Story</i> by Molly Weatherfield or <i>The Marketplace</i> by Laura Anoniou. You Enjoyed these fictional accounts of dominance and submission, power and lust, pleasure and pain, hot sex and incredible orgasms. You enjoyed them </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">a lot</i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">." </span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Instantly setting the tone and at the same time letting the reader know that this isn't just a book written to jump on what must be the <a href="http://mikefarragher.blogspot.com/2013/08/fall-50-shades-o-green-book-tour-dates.html" target="_blank">money bandwagon</a> of titling something "50 Shades of..." Instead, this is a book written for the throngs of people who have been recently introduced to kinky ideas from the explosion of kinky fiction that has been happening for the last few years. Kinky books have been around a lot longer, of course, but I think nobody can contest that their popularity has reached a tipping point. And this book is a great way for folks riding that new wave of kinky books to explore what playing in a kinky world might look like for them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Why is this sort of book feminist? Or, is it? I know enough kinky feminists of various genders to believe pretty deeply that <a href="http://angietupelo.com/my-booklets/navigating-kink-through-a-feminist-lens-web-version/" target="_blank">kink can definitely be one tool in the toolbox for feminists</a>. (See also <a href="http://feministallies.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Feminist%20Porn%20Book" target="_blank">recent-ish posts</a> about The Feminist Porn Book. I also understand that this is <a href="http://www.thefrisky.com/2013-06-27/radical-feminist-interview-on-thought-catalog-takes-potshot-at-sex-positive-feminism-kink-questions-consent/" target="_blank">not a universally held view</a> among feminists (what is?). The straightforward, gender-neutral style of Taormino's book makes a good implicit argument for the former. </span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tocrRkxCzmc/U1_PYEq-7KI/AAAAAAAAP3Y/1CRqTzdbMX4/s1600/Tristan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tocrRkxCzmc/U1_PYEq-7KI/AAAAAAAAP3Y/1CRqTzdbMX4/s1600/Tristan.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The first section tackles a bunch of myths that sometimes surround BDSM and kinky culture--she explains that myths about all submissives having low self-esteem, about all BDSM being straight-up abuse, that all dominants are sociopaths and like like are just that: myths. She then dives right into how important consent is, and, more importantly, gives a few examples of how folks can begin to conscientiously navigate consent in a kinky relationship. To me, that's feminist as hell. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This book is definitely a primer. It's written as a solid intro, in quick, plain-language sections without a lot of special jargon (and explanations when jargon is used):</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"Play is a common term used to describe the practice of BDSM, as in, "I want to play with a bondage expert so I can learn more about it." It can also be used as an adjective: "My play partner caned me really well at Susan's play party. I'm glad I set up that play date!"</span></blockquote>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1PaPJ13ML_w/U1_RsIzRabI/AAAAAAAAP3k/EEcZK8X486I/s1600/ww_kink.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1PaPJ13ML_w/U1_RsIzRabI/AAAAAAAAP3k/EEcZK8X486I/s1600/ww_kink.jpg" height="226" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Because I Love Wonder Woman, and Couldn't Resist</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Taormino doesn't stop there though--I suspect even seasoned kinky folks could get something out of it (aside from buying it for prospective play partners!):</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"Cowhide floggers are versatile, and they can create a soft to medium sensation with a tiny bite. Elk is thicker than deer, and an elkskin flogger creates a heavy, deep, penetrating thud, so it's better for experienced floggers..." </span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Another nice style choice for the book is the fact that, u</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">nlike some kinky books I've read, Taormino doesn't default to the men-as-dominants, women-as-submissives (mythical) stereotypes, even leaving much-needed room for genderqueer folks by generally steering clear of gender pronouns throughout. This isn't a book for straight people, or queer people, for men, women or genderqueer folks--it's a book for anybody with a growing interest in kink. All this and an into from another favorite feminist writer, <a href="http://www.rachelkramerbussel.com/" target="_blank">Rachel Kramer Bussel</a>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Highly recommended.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Linky goodness:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Buy directly from Cleis press <a href="http://www.cleispress.com/book_page.php?book_id=519" target="_blank">here</a>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Buy from Amazon <a href="http://www.amazon.com/50-Shades-Kink-Introduction-BDSM-ebook/dp/B00B0YPJI8" target="_blank">here</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Taormino's website is <a href="http://tristantaormino.com/" target="_blank">here</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tristan also has a fantastic podcast that I listen to a lot: <a href="http://tristantaormino.com/sex-out-loud/about/" target="_blank">Sex Out Loud</a></span><br />
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Jeff Pollethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789663140920958914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28989955.post-64719453887390756152014-01-10T14:03:00.000-08:002014-01-10T14:03:34.287-08:00Listening to Lorelei Lee<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span id="goog_1530073159"></span><span id="goog_1530073160"></span>"I didn’t choose this profession as a political act. You will not hear me say that I decided to get naked because I believed it would be sexually liberating or empowering. I’m not going to tell you that when I took off my clothes in front of the camera for the first time, I immediately knew I was on a path to self-discovery. The journey of the last ten years was not something I planned, and the truth of my experience is much more complicated than the public discourse on pornography and sex—shouted out in large, bright headlines from magazine and newspapers—would have you believe. What I can tell you is that as I continued to do this work—as I came up against my own ideas about femininity, power, and sex—I found strength in the part of my identity that developed out of my experiences as a sex worker. I found a manifesto of my own ethics, and I found that, to my surprise, I believe deeply in the positive power of sexually explicit imagery.</div>
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I am a feminist, and I am a pornographer. I have been paid for sexual performances of every kind. After a lot of reckoning, I’ve come to believe that the work I continue to do makes the world a better place for women to live in."--Lorelei Lee, <a href="http://www.feministpress.org/books/feminist-porn-book" target="_blank">The Feminist Porn Book</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I can't see how any anti-porn feminist could read that and reject Lee's experience as genuine. Also don't know how you could read that and not want to read the rest of her piece in <a href="http://www.feministpress.org/books/feminist-porn-book" target="_blank">The Feminist Porn Book</a>. </span> </div>
Jeff Pollethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789663140920958914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28989955.post-12516048762555135922013-12-17T08:31:00.001-08:002013-12-17T08:31:47.439-08:00A Taste of Power<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Reading Elaine Brown's autobiographical <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Taste_of_Power" target="_blank"><i>A Taste of Power</i></a>, and it's a fantastic read. Learning a lot about some history of the Black Panthers, and of my town, Oakland. It's also a bittersweet reminder of how things have changed, and how they haven't, and of how difficult it is to even conceive of revolutionary change. In her first speech to party members after taking (really, she did have to take it) control of the party, she maps out what revolutionary change could look like:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">"We're going to set a revolution example here. And the example we lay down in Oakland will be the spark that lights the prairie fire. We will carry our torch to another city, and then another. Each time, each place, the people will take their lead from us, the revolutionary vanguard. Just as the people have demanded and institutionalized our Free Breakfast for Children and sickle-cell-anemia programs, they will demand socialized medicine and decent housing. Soon they will begin to take control of their local political machinery. Then they will attack the economic structure in each city. Bit by bit, city by city, they will whittle away at the capitalist foundation. Eventually, a time will come--not in our lifetimes, Comrades--but a time will come when the people will understand their power and the pigs' machinery will be unable to accommodate their demands. That is when the people, black people and poor white people and oppressed people all over America, will rise up like a mighty tide and wash clean this beachfront of capitalism and racism, and make the revolution!" </span></blockquote>
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Jeff Pollethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789663140920958914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28989955.post-89922864900094379782013-11-08T15:39:00.000-08:002013-11-08T15:42:11.532-08:00Fantagraphics Conversation: Why Are So Few Women Being Publsihed in 2014?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I really like comic books. I really like independent publishers. I really like gender equality. These three things kinda don't go together sometimes. Comic books have historically had a gender equity problem, both in terms of the creator-side of things, and on the side of the buying public. This is not a new truism. It's one of the reasons that we want and need great sites like <a href="http://www.themarysue.com/" target="_blank">The Mary Sue</a> and <a href="http://womenwriteaboutcomics.com/" target="_blank">Women Write About Comics</a>. Things are sloooowly getting better: I can now buy several mainstream comic books written or drawn by women every week, something that just wasn't happening 20 years ago. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.fantagraphics.com/" target="_blank">Fantagraphic Books</a> is a fantastic publisher of comic books. They're having some financial difficulties, as many (many!) independent publishers are, and they came up with a great way to have their fans support their upcoming publishing season with a Kickstarter that allows folks to basically pre-order a book, with lots of bells and whistles attached (signed copies!). It sucks that they have to do things this way, but it's great that it looks like they'll almost certainly make their goal. Go check out <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fantagraphicsbooks/fantagraphics-2014-spring-season-39-graphic-novels?ref=live" target="_blank">their Kickstarter </a>and support them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Having said all of that: It looks like only 4 or so of the over 30 books they are publishing in 2014 are created by women. (This could be off by a few, as I'm just going by first names.)</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I would feel much more motivated to support them as an independent publisher if their roster reflected more diversity than that. Luckily, Kickstarter allows one to email a project creator, so I did: </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #121a0d; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">Love this idea, but why so few women creators? Makes it harder to shell out support $$ (though I'll still preorder some on Amazon) when editorial choices around gender are out of touch with your readership...</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Fantagraphics publishes a lot of fantastically odd stuff that wouldn't otherwise get published, and I suspect (though I don't know) that more women read their books than read the more "mainstream" comics. I think their creators should better reflect that. Also, I like to read books made by women, and when there are only four to choose from in an upcoming season of publishing by Fantagraphics, that's not much of a choice (though, let's be honest, the four they are publishing are AWESOME). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Gary Groth from Fantagraphics responded with a surprisingly boilerplate response that one might hear from Marvel or DC (or <a href="http://www.newrepublic.com/article/books-and-arts/77506/the-read-franzen-fallout-ruth-franklin-sexism" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>) when called out on it:</span><br />
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We appreciate your support but the season was created based on the work we have lined up as well as the books people have submitted to us. Please don't discount the amazing work of Eleanor Davis, Ester Pearl Watson, Carol Swain and Joyce Farmer who have work in this season (which is half of our publishing year). All four in this season are veteran Fantagraphics cartoonists with several books out from us, meanwhile a few of the men are new to the publishing world like Lane Milburn and Conor Stechschutle. Fantagraphics also has many women in editorial and managerial positions who influence the season as well make sure we are printing the comics you want to read created by the best cartoonists in the world.</div>
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We are publishing these books based on the quality of the work, not the gender of the creator. We would publish amazing comics like those of Eleanor Davis if she was an inanimate object.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This ticks off all of the boxes regarding what amount to excuses for not getting more women on the creators' roster:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"Hey, we have published women in the past!" --Check</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"Hey, we are publishing four books by women this year! They've all worked for us in the past! -- Check </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"We're publishing cool stuff by men who wouldn't otherwise be published, maybe!" -- Check</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"We employ women as editors!" -- Check</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"We're genderblind! We just publish the best stuff. Who knows why men do comics better than men!" -- Check</span><br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bwazuTYHzCQ/Un107KLeIUI/AAAAAAAAOck/lpOrPyhC4V8/s1600/fantagraphics2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://lh3.ggpht.com/-bwazuTYHzCQ/Un107KLeIUI/AAAAAAAAOck/lpOrPyhC4V8/s1600/fantagraphics2.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I know it's difficult. You have to make a shift in thinking when trying to diversify as a publisher, or as an editor. You have to do some footwork to encourage a more diverse pool of people to submit stuff. And for a small publishing house that is already struggling, that's a lot to ask. But geez, if we can't get more diversity out of independent publishers, where should we try to get it?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jen Vaughn, a cartoonist who also (at least) blogs for Fantagraphics also had a response:</span><br />
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As a working female cartoonist, I probably know more than you do about this particular issue than you do unless Jeff is progressive name.</div>
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There is now a list of many, many, many cartoonists we've published on the front page. Feel free to look through all those and if you see some female names you don't recognize, check out their artwork and comics!</div>
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As always we appreciate the debate, let me know if you have any other questions.</div>
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-Jen Vaughn</div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In a way, this is more of the same, but with the "added value" of having come from a working female cartoonist. Unfortunately, it doesn't answer my question at all--it's just a variation of the "but we DO publish SOME women" response, and I responded with that in mind:</span><br />
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Hi Jen--</div>
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It's great that Fantagraphics has published women, and is publishing women (yay!). That doesn't explain why only 4 out of over 30 books coming out in 2014 are by women. It's basically saying (and Gary echoed this in his reply to me) "Hey, we publish the best comics, no matter who they are by. Looks like dudes just submit better stuff!" -- which is the kind of cop-out reply that we've heard from Marvel, DC and, well, The New York Times book review (so, ok, you're not alone).</div>
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In your experience, and I do value that, of course(!), why would a publishing company publish mostly books by men in a year?</div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Again, I love Fantagraphics. I'm happy they're likely going to make their Kickstarter goal easily. I also think that having the female to male creator ratio so low is crappy, and avoidable. Perhaps not easily avoidable, but avoidable. Editorial staffs in all kinds of publishing are slowly making these changes, or at least becoming aware of them. I want Fantagraphics to be held to the same standard--I'll support y'all more the more diversity in gender you have on your roster each year. </span><br />
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Jeff Pollethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789663140920958914noreply@blogger.com0