Mon Apr 16, 2007 7:50PM9 comments ›
Mon Apr 16, 2007 — by Elayne Riggs
The Secret is out
Now made for a woman!
I've been rooting for Pulp Secret to flourish ever since their executive producer, my old college friend David Levin, first gushed to me about it. And in the short time they've been around the site has branched out from their 5-minute video news segments to a weekly talk and interview show to David making good on his vow to give away items in his prized comic book collection on a regular basis.
But for me, there was still something missing. And some of it had to do with me not being able to tell the three young white male self-amused hosts apart. I'm sure they're nice guys and all, but it was (as the Brits say) much of a muchness.
Now finally, with webcast #18, the video news segments have a female face.
She's Ana Hurka-Robles, a director and writer from NYC who's been behind the camera until now. Says AHR, "I'm part of a small crew that produces the episodes, so I get a chance to direct, shoot, write, research, and edit. I know that film degree would come in handy some day!" (I think someone else may have "edited" her name up there.) You can catch her on-screen debut here, at about 3:45 into the webcast, but she narrates capsule reviews in webisodes 10 and 15 as well.
Thanks, David & co., for expanding PS to include the other half of the population!
Jump to comments (9) 
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Comments (9)
Martha Thomases (11:57 AM on Tue Apr 17, 2007)
You're thanking him for doing something the rest of the American workforce did more than 30 years ago, including the print comic business, the cable television business, the network television business and almost the entire Internet industry? It seems to me he's only slightly ahead of the Don Imus-Rush Limbaugh set in terms of including people based on merit, not good-old-boyism.
David (2:50 PM on Tue Apr 17, 2007)
Not sure what we've done to offend you, Martha, that you would put us into the Imus-Limbaugh category. My company has ALWAYS been diversified, with women in positions of authority and creativity. The fact that it took a whole month to get a female face on the show should not be construed as good-old-boyism. Other than that, how do you like the show?
Martha Thomases (3:04 PM on Tue Apr 17, 2007)
David, I didn't mean to diss you, and I apologize if my clumsy sentence construction gave that impression. I was disturbed that Elayne thought it was so unusual to have a woman on-camera and/or behind the scenes that it was praiseworthy. As I said, it's the way smart businesspeople have operated for decades. As you demonstrate.
David (4:03 PM on Tue Apr 17, 2007)
Thanks, Martha. I happen to agree with you. It's nice to see, by the way, that there are more women interested in comics these days than there seemed to be when I was growing up.
Ana (4:09 PM on Tue Apr 17, 2007)
Hello ComicMix! Glad you enjoyed the Indie Cred segment. I just couldn't contain my enthusiasm for Optic Nerve's biannual new issue in a voiceover alone! But I've done writing and editing work for a lot of past segments - some highlights include the recent Fistacuffs feature (Ep 16), an interview with Mouseguard's David Pederson (Ep 9), and of course my weekley segment you mentioned, The Rundown. I'm particularly proud of the Rundown, the point of which is to get viewers caught up on the complex storylines of great-but-low-selling books, so they can jump right in and grab the newest issue. The featured books are always personal favorites.
On the subject of women in comics, growing up in Oakland and Berekely, the graphic novel subculture always felt pretty inclusive to me. It's certainly harder to find mainstream comic media that recognizes a female audiance, but I do enjoy sites like GirlWonder.org, PWBeat, and the Comic Book Queers Podcast.
-AHR
Elayne Riggs (5:30 PM on Tue Apr 17, 2007)
I didn't think it was "unusual" per se, Martha - in fact, I thought it was about darned time that Ana stepped out from behind the scenes. I think PS is a worthy endeavor but it had all been rather homogenous until now, which had frustrated me.
David (2:46 PM on Tue Apr 17, 2007)
Thanks for the kind words, Elayne. Ana has been with us behind the scenes from the very beginning. Having a female face on the show was part of the plan from the beginning - we were just looking for the right one. Turns out we had her with us the whole time! As for the spelling of her name - typo typo typo. We think she's great - fresh out of film school and winner of awards. Best, David