Really, comic books are sexist?

[eumelia]

Ya, really.

One of the better things about having a world renowned Comic Book writer come to your local Con (*squee*Neil Gaiman*squee*), is that you get a chance to really talk and converse about the stuff that you really want to talk about, with people you haven't seen in a long time and with new people you may or may not see ever again.

I know why I like Neil Gaiman, he opened up comic books for me and I liked his prose as well, so I got his stuff, meeting the man very much validated my love of his work, it was also nice seeing that he really is a very nice person in general; incredibly patient and tolerant!

I like Alan Moore, I wish I had read him before Neil Gaiman.
Really, had I read "Watchmen" before "Sandman" I would have appreciated the Modern Age a whole lot more, at least in DC, Marvel was always a little ahead of its time, though my love remains for DC, in general, Marvel is better at the giving us "reality" so to speak.

Both in DC and Marvel, the "reality" is, men are big and strong, women are small and despite being strong are not as strong as the men, and if they do happen to be stronger than the men, then there is something seriously fucked up with them!
And that is the reality of our everyday life here; women can hold positions of power, but heaven forbid if they are more influential than the Man and if they are, well, they're overpowering, uber-bitches.
Right.

We're in the year 2006 people, despite Comic Books being the successors of pulp fiction, this isn't the 1956. Misogyny should not be the underlying message anywhere! Women having their bodies contorted in weird and peculiar ways should not be the norm and if it is, the men should be double jointed as well. If men have bulging muscles, I was to see a bulging package too, since the women have smooth lines and bulging bosoms!

I don't want to be any body's party pooper, but telling me that Frank Miller empowers women is a crock o' shit and that the ridicule of Powergirl by Jeph Loeb is anything other embedded sexism and misogyny you will hear what I wrote.
It's 2006.
1956 sucked the life out of people back then as well.

Why haven't we evolved?

Comments

[glitter-j.livejournal.com]

You rock.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

But you have better icons than me ;D

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

Is *anybody* stupid enough to claim that Frank miller empowers women?! I thought opinion was pretty firm that he didn't.

And as for Preacher... now, there's an odd comic book.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

"But the whores, they're dominating and have guns!"

*patpat*

"Go read a book about what being a whore is and why they'd need the guns" was my answer.

icon love!

[ayellowbirds.livejournal.com]

i'm excited about Whedon writing for Runaways.

I'd be more excited if we started seeing some more female creators, more lesbian and gay creators, a few trans characters who aren't sequestered into Vertigo comics, maybe even a female to male character for once. I'd be more excited if artists were consistent about She-Hulk's muscles (one will draw her with a strongwoman physique, while the cover artist makes her tall and slender), especially if they stuck with a believably beefy body. I'd be more excited if artists started including more male characters with costumes as revealing as those of the female characters (damn near everyone wears skin tight clothing, so that's nothing new). I'd be more excited if Dust (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust_%28comics%29) wasn't a horrible stereotype whose hijab somehow clings to her bosom like spandex.

I was excited about Young Avengers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Avengers), because it had two attractive young men in a relationship together. Granted, it would be better if it wasn't probably related to stereotypes of how young gay men present themselves...

One of the things i do when i create a superhero type character is devise the concept first. I say to myself, i want this power, and that power, and this sort of personality. After that, i decide on sex, gender identity, sexuality, ethnicity, nationality, religion... i wish more creators would do that. Far too many characters are based on someone thinking something along the lines of "what powers would a superhero of such-and-such group have"; and then you wind up with an Afghani heroine who transforms into sand, or a Canadian hero named Puck (Canadians all love hockey, right? :P)

Re: icon love!

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

I plan on being the next Gail Simone :)

As a person who sees (and meets, greets, speaks and interacts with) quite a few women in veils on a day to day basis, Dust's hijab has very little to do with reality, it would seem that whoever wrote her has never actually met a devout Muslim woman. *sigh*

Re: icon love!

[huperanthro.livejournal.com]

keep an eye on this journal, big rant about this stuff coming up today ;)