Why can’t *I* produce purple nipple lasers? I have great love in my heart.
That’s Fatality from Green Lantern Corps #14. I literally LOLed when I turned the page to see that.
Really? I can do it on cue. I thought everyone else could.
(the text in the speech bubble says: “I basically spend like all day looking at lolcats on facebook, I’m such a huge nerd!)
im finally getting around to catching up on my favorite comics! but guess what’s waiting for me on the back cover. yes thats really what i wanted to find at the end of my jewish lesbian superhero comic guest starring wonder woman. thanks for reminding me how you really feel DC
jesus fuck are you kidding me
What the fuck is that shit? So what DC is saying is “Hey, hey chicks hey. Never give us your money again, ever.)
oh my fucking god DC really
really
i feel even LESS bad about downloading my comics now
ugh vomitorium
woooow, fuck you.
Batwoman is 1 of only 2 mainstream superhero comics I read, and it’s one of the most amazing comics I’ve ever read, both in writing and art, and now… I mean, why? Like somebody said, this is a Jewish lesbian hero featuring Wonder Woman. How out of touch can a company even BE?
This is from a company who launched a “Minx” ( an imprint of DC Comics that published graphic novels aimed at teenage girls) which did a belly flop after just one year, because they got old cis white guys to write stories about girls for girls. To add insult to injury, their excuse was not that they did a terrible job of trying to market and create quality comics targeted to girls, but that a girl’s comic market doesn’t exist. DC is ridiculously out of touch.
Coming right after Tony Harris’ rant about cosplaying girls, this couldn’t be more poorly timed. I really don’t understand what DC is thinking. It’s like they are actively trying to turn off any female fans.
The Battle of the Red Headed Bat Women! Preview of Batgirl #12
It’s finally here; the meeting of new 52 Batgirl and Batwoman. I’m kind of scratching my head as to why DC who hands exclusive previews as promotions all the time decided to throw this one up on their blog (but then again they threw up the preview for Batman #12 featuring Harper Row and art by Becky Cloonan).
Anyway, here you go Babs vs. Kate:
Why are they fighting? I want them to be friends D:
turn_off by ~Agustinus
SuperGirl:” am i missing something? why everybody naked today?
BatGirl:”turn off your x-ray, girl”
Click here to read Tattered Remains - Part 2
Written by Valerie Renee, with illustrations by me, ScaryKrystal
This fan comic continues the pre-New52 Renee Montoya story. I really hope her fans enjoy it and feel like they get a little closure! Thanks for everyone’s patience and encouragement, and who have waited for this since we did Part 1 last year. We miss you Montoya!
And MEGA thanks to Val for writing this story and keeping the character alive. If DC won’t do it, it’s up to us fans! So please let us know what you think, and thank you for reading it!
And thanks to YOU for taking on such a labor-intensive art project! It came out so great, I couldn’t be happier.
Here you go, Internet, I really hope you enjoy :-)
:D YAY
Signal boostin, I know a lot of people will be very into this =D
According to One Comic Book Publisher, this Batwoman “looks fat”
Over on the Escher Girls blog, which does an amazingly consistent and good job of slicing and dicing comic book art featuring women, a submission was posted which blew my already cynical mind.
It was about a Batwoman piece that artist submitted for a portfolio review. The artist freely admits to not being the best artist in the world but wanted to get some feedback from portfolio reviews during SDCC.
I’ve stood and watched some portfolio reviews at conventions, and I’ve seen all levels of artists’ stuff - from penciled images that makes your jaw drop with “you’ve got to be kidding me” to work that you can see real potential in.
You can check out more of her work on her DA page, but let’s focus on the comments she received in regard to this sketch of Batwoman.
I’d say that is fine portrait of Batwoman and, bonus, that no backs were broken in the production of it. Gail Simone said, “I like that Batwoman piece very much. I don’t know what the rest of the portfolio is like, but if you can tell a story as well, I would work with you any time.”
And now on to the feedback. You can read the whole thing over at Escher Girls but essentially the general feedback from the publishers was that it “wasn’t industry standard”. One company was more specific. Brace yourself: (Bolding mine.)
“Her breasts are much too small and do not have the lift that superhero women should have. Her jawline is fat and her neck much too long. The style of her hair is clunky and does not flow in a sense that a super human would. Her hips, waist and thighs are too big and she honestly looks fat. No one is going to want to read a comic with a fat female protagonist. I honestly recommend looking at issues of Sport’s Illustrated to get the right anatomy. Those women are the peak of human perfection, and that is what we want in this industry.”
You know I could post a few recent covers that show off female characters and their lack of anatomy (and backs and normal size asses) but I don’t even think I have too. And the fat comment? Look at the waist — does that look anyone who could be reasonably considered overweight?
And remember we don’t know which comic company this is. Could be a big two, could be an indie.
That said I am not the least bit surprised. Not when I was told by an artist who works at a big two company that an another artist was not given a gig on a female led book because a senior executive didn’t think the artist “drew women ‘sexy enough’”
And there are other tales I’ve been told. But I’ll save them for another day.
The debate about how women are drawn in comics seems to never end. And each time it comes up I am heartened by the folks who get it and then brought down to earth by the amazingly cluelessness of others - both men and women. Kelly’s column on the topic over on CBR practically broke the internet but if you haven’t read it you should. But prepare yourself for some of the comments.
And look this post isn’t about having artists who aren’t ready for the big time getting a pass. This isn’t about female artists and comics. This isn’t about disagreeing that there is a hyper-realism in comics. Of course there is, I know absolutely no one is real life who flies or has the ability to stop a missile with their bare hands. This is about how there is a fundamental disconnect by some people in comics when it comes to the depiction of women. Not by all. But even one like the person who commented on the Batwoman piece is too much.
The whole “use sexy female models as references for drawing women” advice keeps popping up, and it’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. Unless you’re living in some strange all-male commune, you will see real women over the course of your daily life, and just paying attention will give you a fairly good idea of what women look like.
I don’t understand artistic advice that perpetuates the status quo. How is that creative?
Actress Traci Thoms inspired a DC Comic character; now she’d like to play one
Actress Traci Thoms has appeared on television’s Cold Case and Harry’s Law as well as on the movie screen in Rent and The Devil Wears Prada. But to superhero fans she may be most known for her role as Etta Candy in the much maligned 2011 pilot of Wonder Woman.
The race blind casting of Thoms carried through to the comic world and in the new 52 as I pointed out to readers (and to Thoms herself) a few months ago, the actress is a ringer for the character.
But now Thoms would like to see the reverse happen and she’d like to appear as a character in DC Comics or Vertigo to be specific. A mini campaign called #tracifor355 has appeared on Twitter to get Thoms cast as Agent 355 in the movie of Y: The Last Man. Of course Y: The Last Man is in seemingly endless hell development with New Line Cinemas, so who knows when that will happen? But when it does I think Thoms has a good case:
Again it may be awhile before that project gets to to casting. That’s okay, Thoms also has ideas for Marvel. When Tumblr Robot Boy tweeted Thoms about whether she would play Misty Knight, Thoms didn’t just say yes, she tweeted back this:
I’ve been saying that Marvel should make a Daughters of the Dragon movie. Marvel, looks like Traci Thoms has her character research all done.
YES PLEASE Traci Thoms is amazing! (She was in “Deathproof” too!)
I stumbled across “Magdalena” just now, and at first I was considering reading it. It’s not that often you find a comic focusing on battle nuns, after all. Our niche is a small one.
But after giving it a glance over, I’m not sure I could stomach it. It’s just so… American. In that tacky superhero-y, overly-sexualized, cheap shock way. I like ridiculous self-deprecating ‘sploitation genres sometimes, but this comic (like many other mainstream US comics I’ve tried to read) doesn’t seem to realize what a parody it is of itself.
It reminds me of my initial side-eye reaction when I heard about Helena Bertinelli, a superhero who I would have loved to associate with (I am also an Italian-American raised Catholic superhero!) but for her horrendous costume:
Auuuugh it’s so tacky it makes me want to claw my eyes out. And again, this is a character who’s supposed to be a devout Catholic. (And as if a rich Mafia-familiy Italian girl would let herself be seen in something so unfashionable, pls.) I’m tempted to try giving her a Mafia!Nun redesign someday.
The only other comic about warrior Catholic ladies I know of is “Warrior Nun Arelea:”
The creator himself lampooned the ridiculous outfits by having a character in the comic buy a book called “Warrior Nun Areola.”
It just makes me kind of annoyed that anytime religious women (particularly nuns) are shown in comics, they have to be dressed in something more akin to “adult costumes” than modest clothing. I’m not asking for realism here, I mean… look at what MY nuns wear:
Putting “nuns” in bikinis isn’t exciting or new, it’s extremely uncreative and completely defeats the purpose of making a religiously devout character. It reeks of laziness and a desire for cheap sex appeal. Just… stop it please.
More on DC’s Ame-Comi Girls; “a world with only “only heroines and villainesses”
Over at Robot6 they’ve posted some of Ted Naifeh’s sketches for the upcoming Ame-Comi Girls series along with some information about the comic. Last week I shared with you some thoughts by co-writer Justin Gray as well as a page of the Batgirl comic.
Here’s Naifeh’s sketch of Batgirl:
Naifeh states, “this is the concept. What if the DC universe had no superheros of super-villains, but only heroines and villainesses.”
Here’s his sketch of Duela Dent, who I assume is a villain.
SHE HAS NO HEAD! – NO, IT’S NOT EQUAL
(Birds of…Porn?)
”[…] It’s important to remember that idealization of the form is not the same as sexualization of the form. Something can be idealized without being sexualized. But in superhero comics, because the forms that female characters are based on have their roots in porn and models, the form becomes even more sexualized once it is idealized to perfection. Is there anything wrong with perfection in fictional stories? No. Is there anything wrong with superheroes being beautiful sexual beings? Of course not. Is there anything wrong with titillation for the sake of titillation? No, not in the right context. But because the vast majority of female superheroes are rendered this way, it leaves context out. It becomes ALL about titillation and sex, regardless of context. And that creates a problem. And it’s one of the many ways that anyone interested in looking at things objectively can see that…No, this is not equal.”
