Women Spotted at Comics Convention
Comics Links
Comic Book Resources investigates the existence of women – often attractive women, some of whom actually read comics – at comics conventions. Astonishing! (Illustration: one of those elusive “real women.”)
A long 1977 New York Times article about Harvey Kurtzman and Mad magazine has been posted by Mike Lynch. [via Mark Evanier, who had some comments on it]
The Times (of London) checks in with Cam Kennedy and lan Grant about their in-the-works graphic novel adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde.
Mark Trail likes squirrels. [via the Comics Curmudgeon]
Kleefeld on Comics posts scans from the mid-70s Mighty Marvel Comics Strength and Fitness Book. [via everyone else blogging about comics, basically]
Comics Reviews
Bookgasm reviews the second trade paperback collecting the DC series 52.
Richard of Forbidden Planet International reviews The Other Side.
Eddie Campbell reviews Robert C. Harvey’s biography of Milton Caniff.
Dana of Comics Fodder reviews this week’s Marvel comics.
Greg Burgas of Comics Should Be Good does that one better – reviewing a pile of this week’s comics regardless of their publisher.
SF/Fantasy Links
Cory Doctorow’s latest column for the Guardian is all about how Digital Rights Management demonstrations are optimistic at best.
John Scalzi presents his novel Old Man’s War in Chaucerian English.
Charles Stross explains how readings work, and why writers shouldn’t be afraid of them.
John C. Wright admits that his “Chaos” trilogy was inspired by Roger Zelazny’s Amber novels, and explains all of the parallels.
David Louis Edelman uses the bad example of Robert Stanek to talk about the right ways to promote a novel.
Peggy of Biology in Science Fiction dips into Mundanity, and finds it lacking.
Reviews of SF/Fantasy
The Agony Column is impressed by the very existence of Nathalie Mallet’s The Princes in the Golden Cage – and thinks the book itself is pretty good, too.
Book Fetish reviews Mary Shelley and the Curse of Frankenstein, by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler, the story of how the novel Frankenstein was written.
Book Fetish reviews Julie Kenner’s Demons Are Forever.
Bookgasm looks at Richard K. Morgan’s Thirteen.
CA Reviews covers the paranormal romance Dead Sexy by Tate Hallaway.
Powells Book Blog has the Esquire review of Warren Ellis’s novel Crooked Little Vein.
Douglas Cohen, current assistant editor of Realms of Fantasy, looks back at the magazine’s first issue from 1994.
Fantasy Book Critic reviews Brandon Sanderson’s The Well of Ascension.
Jay Lake has just read Naomi Novik’s His Majesty’s Dragon, which made him think about the role of novelty in SF/F.
The (Australian) Daily Telegraph has discovered Robert Schnakenberg’s book Sci-Fi Baby Names (which, I have to admit, I’d never heard of). [via Forbidden Planet International]
Interviews with various people
SciFi Wire talks with Laird Barron about his International Horror Guild-nominated novella “Hallucigenia.”
The Amazon Blog talks to Douglas Wolk about his book Reading Comics.
Esquire interviews Chip Kidd about some of his recent book covers.
John Joseph Adams, the Slush God, interviews brand new writer Kevin N. Haw.
Time magazine profiles World Fantasy Award winning novelist Haruki Murakami.
John Scalzi interviews Tobias S. Buckell, author of Ragamuffin, at the Ficlets blog.
The Book Swede presents the second half of his interview with Brian Ruckley.
Oddities
B.R. Meyers, writing in the Atlantic, isn’t happy with current literary prose and explains what’s wrong with all of the different types of it. [via Blog of a Bookslut]
Did’ja ever think you could just say that your book was chosen by Oprah’s Book Club and rake in the dough? Well, Bill Schneider did …and it didn’t work out as he hoped.
World Fantasy Award nominee Cathrynne M. Valente has just discovered ‘70s porn.
Free Stuff
One of my favorite stories from 2005, Scott Bradfield’s “Angry Duck,” is now available for free online.
AntipodeanSF’s new issue – either #110 or #111, they’re not quite clear – is now available, with free fiction and other things, online.
Jeff VanderMeer’s Shriek: The Movie is now available on the Internet.
Laurell K. Hamilton has posted the first chapter of her upcoming Merry Gentry novel, A Lick of Frost.
It takes guts for a woman to weir that out of the house. Especially when she looks good in it. I have nothing but respect for women who make comics, and admiration for those female fans who dress up. We should make them feel at home.
I guess I'm bitter. I still feel like an outcast, invisble half of the time at conventions. It was like pulling teeth to get free handouts from the 'booth babes' among others Friday at WWC. These costumed gals seem to spend far more time posing for pics than shopping or acting like fans. And do Campbell and Marie think of themselves as "the 'Brangelina' of comics" for more tabloid reasons? Where does the celebration of comics end and a hunt for zlist 15 minutes begin?And that braod going on about wanting more blonde characters needs to expand her library, As brought up by a fan at the DC Nation panel at one point there were 7 females on a team and 5 were blondes. And considering only 16% of the population is naturally blonde, I'd put saving the world above dye jobs.Again maybe I'm bitter
Comics shouldn't be about one gender ogling the other. Comics should be about telling great stories, and comic conventions should be about celebrating that storytelling. Everything else is superfluous and gratuitous and, frankly, insulting to half the population.
Which half? Clearly, subtracting the number of men, women and children who do dress up from the total number of attendees reduces the number of people of either gender who are potentially insulted to less than half. And I think it's a leap to assume all of either (or any) gender who are not so attired are offended.People dressing up in costume at a convention is a convention. Nobody forces anybody to do it (presumably), clearly a lot of people have a lot of fun playing dress-up, and it is perfectly legitimate to assume that it is okay to look at those people who do don costumes in such circumstances.This isn't restricted to comic book and science fiction conventions. I know one woman who loves to dress up in 1950s fashions when she goes out in public. She is making a statement about herself and her iconography, but mostly she is making a statement about what she thinks is cool for herself — people who come across her can take it or leave it. As long as people act politely, I don't see the problem. It's a free speech issue for both the costumed and the public.
Well, we're pretty much in agreement then in terms of how to treat someone in costume. If more fanboys acted with common courtesy rather than knee-jerk lechery I don't know if I'd be so turned off by the idea of booth babes.As to my other point, I still think costuming is fairly superfluous to and has little to do with storytelling, but obviously lots of folks disagree or we wouldn't have that Stan Lee "Who Wants to Be A Superhero" show. And frankly, who in their right mind wouldn't adore ComicMix friend Fat Mama?
When I was younger, I was very, very goth. I liked Sandman, The Cure, Poe, horror movies, goth clubs, bats, and on and on. I felt I dressed goth so that others who liked the things I did could spot me easily. I also drew a lot of ridicule. "Why?" I thought. "What is it to them how I dress? Whey can't these upstanding clean cut people show everyone else that their momma raised them right?" But I kept dressing that way, because it made me happy. I understand what you mean when you talk about "knee-jerk lechery." For me it was knee-jerk hate. I don't dress that way anymore, but I still love it, and I think that others should be able to be themselves and love it, too.
…and if anyone wants to know more about our rebel princess in the above photo, they can find her @http://www.myspace.com/rebel__princess