Author: Martha Thomases

Martha Thomases: What It All Means

crumbBy the time this column runs we may have some other, more fresh horror than the terrorist attack on the French satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo. Certainly, those of us who love comics will have read myriad opinions on What It All Means, and, perhaps, we will simply want to talk about something else.

Tough noogies. I’m going to talk about the Charlie Hebdo cartoons.

First of all, I want to be clear. I am totally in favor or freedom of expression. I support all kinds of anti-censorship organizations, including but not limited to the American Civil Liberties Union and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Nothing that I say should be interpreted to mean that the journalists, editors and cartoonists at Charlie Hebdo were in any way, shape or form responsible for the terrorist attack against them.

That should be obvious, but here in New York, respectable news media seem to accept police union boss Patrick Lynch’s contention that Bill de Blasio is responsible for the murder of two police officers because he stood next to Al Sharpton.

Neither do I want to argue about what is and isn’t funny. I have my ideas, and you have yours. While I might be able to persuade you that my point of view is reasonable (and vice versa), I can’t make you laugh when you are not amused.

Having said that, I want to talk about my perspective on what is funny. In general, I think the point of humor generally and satire specifically is to ridicule people in power. To me, pointing out that the emperor walks around with no clothes, that’s funny. Pointing out that the peasants walk around with no clothes is just mean.

(Obviously, that isn’t all that contributes to my personal sense of humor. It’s just what is relevant to this issue).

So, as you might guess, I didn’t find a lot of the “offensive” cartoons very funny. Part of it may be that I’m American. Part of it may be that I didn’t live in Paris in 1968, the era in which Charlie Hebdo was born. It isn’t shocking to me for someone to make fun of the Pope, or Israel, or Islam.

And I was bothered, somewhat, by the crudeness of the portrayals. Although there is a persuasive argument against my feelings, I still felt a racist undertone. Again, that could be a cultural difference between France and me.

I don’t want to use the word “should” when I talk about humor. “Should” is the antithesis of humor. And still, I may have to in order to make the points I want to make. Because I think a large part of the audience for those cartoons missed (what I consider to be) the point, and thought they were laughing at those ridiculous Muslims.

French Muslims don’t have a lot of power. It isn’t funny (to me) if they aren’t wearing any clothes. Drawing a caricature of the Prophet to rile them up is pretty much childish. Not worthy of a death sentence. Not worthy of any legal censure. But maybe worth a conversation, over coffee and/or brandy, about what the cartoonists wanted to say and what people perceived them to be saying.

Joe Sacco, in this comic, illustrates the issue for me. We are free to say/draw/publish/play whatever we want. A thoughtful adult tempers this freedom with some thought about how our free speech is understood.

Using stereotypes is a convenient shorthand for humor and other kinds of communication. I grew up with a father who told Polish jokes. I’ve sat around many a bar table listening to (and telling) blonde jokes. These are (comparatively) harmless. However, Muslims are not all the same. The shorthand of stereotype in this case works against not only Muslims, but all of us.

One of my favorite musicians, Billy Bragg, said on his Facebook page “Thus we extend the hand of friendship towards moderate Muslims only to slap them in the face in our determination to offend them in the name of free speech. In doing so, we legitimize the rantings of extremists who say that Muslims have no place in Europe. Radical Islamists are already declaring that this week’s cover of Charlie Hebdo is ‘an act of war.’

“If we genuinely want moderate Muslims to be part of our community, to stand beside us against the extremists, then we have to start a process of building trust that will involve listening to their concerns. That’s not ‘self censorship’, it’s respect – the very thing that civil society is based on.”

Free speech doesn’t mean we are not each responsible for what we say. It means we are more responsible, because we can’t blame our imprecise language or inarticulate ideas on anyone else.

 

Martha Thomases: She Walks! She Talks! She Makes Comics!

She Makes ComicsIn the early 1970s, when I was in college, I went to hear Gloria Steinem speak. The modern version of the feminism movement was still in its early stages. My memory of the talk is fuzzy, but I remember her recounting the reaction of men on the left to women’s issues:

“She walks! She talks! She gets down on there belly and slithers like a snake! It’s – a woman who thinks!”

That quote kept coming to my mind while watching She Makes Comics, a terrific new documentary directed by Marisa Stotter. I say “terrific” because it is a thorough overview of women who have worked in the comics industry, from newspaper strips to cosplay costumers. To quote from the promotional material: “Featuring dozens of interviews with such vital figures as Ramona Fradon, Trina Robbins, Joyce Farmer, Karen Berger, Kelly Sue DeConnick, and Becky Cloonan, She Makes Comics is the first film to bring together the most influential women of the comics world.”

Unlike a lot of films about comics, this one looks at the entire industry. There are veterans of the early days, like Jackie Ormes and Ramona Fradon. There are the rebel women who rallied against the macho underground comics of the 1960s, like Trina Robbins and Joyce Farmer. There are retailers and cosplayers and journalists and academics. There is Karen Green from Columbia University, my current hero.

And yet, I was unsatisfied.

Maybe I’m too old for this (I say, like a cop in a buddy-cop movie). I’ve been having the conversation about women in comics with women in comics for nearly forty years now. Many of the women with whom I’ve had this conversation are in the movie, like Trina Robbins and Heidi MacDonald.

For most of those long decades, there have been many many many documentaries made that say, in essence, “Oh, look! Women can do this, too!” As an example, just a few years ago, there was The Girls in the Band, about women in jazz. It’s not a radical idea that women can be as creative and independent and talented (and venal and commercial and pretentious) as men.

Rather than an overview, I’d like to see more emphasis placed on people we don’t know as well. The filmmakers know this. In an interview with Stotter in Newsarama, she said:

“As we dove into the research, we found that there were actually far more women cartoonists who were working in the decades prior to the 1950s, enough for us to realize that excluding them entirely would be a disservice to our project’s mission. We broadened our scope a bit to include many of them, and Jackie Ormes is one of them. Her story we found particularly interesting because of her personal life. She was a real star in the black press, enough of one to hobnob with prominent black celebrities of the 30s and 40s, and land on an FBI watch list for associating with alleged communists.

“Her story was so fascinating on numerous levels, and we felt that it wasn’t enough to simply address the fact that she existed. We wanted to expand upon her story and highlight how important her contributions were to elevating depictions of middle class black life at a time when most newspaper images of African Americans were offensive stereotypes and caricatures.”

Please make that movie. And then make a couple dozen more.

This movie is a wonderful introduction to a topic that requires at least a twelve-part mini-series. It would include fans and distributors and teachers and librarians, at the least. It would talk about race and class and gender roles.

And maybe publicists, too. Then I could get interviewed.

 

Martha Thomases: Resolution For The Hell Of It

ReadIf you are still hungover, you have my sympathies. If you have never been hungover, you get an evolving mixture of envy and pity. No matter. The new year is upon us.

This is the time of year when some of us, nagged by memories of elementary school homework assignments, make resolutions to improve ourselves in the year ahead. In general, my resolutions involve drinking more water and tossing more cat-toys (Selina likes to play “fetch”), but one change I made last year was awesome and I’d like to recommend it to you.

Every week, when I go for my weekly comics fix, I try to find at least one new book to try. I don’t manage to do it every week, but I bet I sampled 40 new titles last year. Some I didn’t like, but spending 15 or 20 minutes reading something different is not a horrible fate.

It’s easy for me to try something new because I’ve been reading the same (more or less) superhero comics for nearly six decades. Lots of titles that has been accepted by cooler people than me for decades is new to me. Still, there are books that were new in 2014 that I’ll be sticking with.

As you may recall, my budget can stand this experimentation because I’m no longer buying books that aren’t fun anymore. For me, fun books have different perspectives. Anything can happen.

It may be that this is the year that the industry is taking the same message to heart. I mean, there has been a part of the comic book business that published unconventional stories by unconventional creators since at least the counter-culture of the 1960s. And it’s not unusual for writers and artists associated with the underground to get a gig above, and vice versa.

What is unusual is for these writers and artists not to be straight white men. After years and years (and decades) of talk, there is finally a significant segment of the creative community that can get pregnant, or not, depending on circumstances and choice. Along with more women who write and draw, there seems to my (perhaps inaccurate) eye also be an increase in the number of female editors, assistant editors and associates.

It doesn’t seem to me that there has been a parallel increase in visible participation by people of color, but the subject isn’t going to meekly go away anytime soon. I think that now, more than ever, we need creators who can bring a non-white perspective to the “good guys/bad guys” dynamic of so much comic book plots.

Another excellent resolution for the new year is to commit yourself to the growth of our industry, both at a retail level (including libraries) and a personal, helping level . Our industry is not alone in the commercial arts in treating talent like so many disposable widgets, but that doesn’t mean that we have to stand for it.

Hoping your 2015 gives you better stories.

 

Martha Thomases: And Today’s Holiday Is…

Today is Boxing Day. According to Wikipedia “Boxing Day is a holiday traditionally celebrated the day following Christmas Day, when servants and tradespeople would receive gifts, known as a ‘Christmas box’ from their bosses or employers… in the United Kingdom, Canada, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Kenya, South Africa, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and other Commonwealth nations, as well as Norway, the Netherlands and Sweden.”

Which is, as the British say, bollocks. With no history or evidence whatsoever, I consider Boxing Day to be the holiday in which we put all our unwanted gifts into a box they came in and return them to the , store for something we want. And since that works better as a premise for this column, that’s what I’m going with.

Here are some trends from 2014 popular culture that I would like to see returned and exchanged for something better:

  • The new Wonder Woman team. I don’t know anything about the strategy that involves putting a married couple to work on the same book at the same time. Perhaps the editors thought everything would flow more smoothly if the writer and artist were in the same house. However, in the case of Meredith and David Finch, I think they made a poor choice. Finch’s art is too reminiscent of the kind of T&A that passes for story-telling these days, and Meredith’s words and plots don’t help any. I don’t think I would enjoy their characterizations of any super-heroines, but certainly not Wonder Woman. She is supposed to be strong and independent and a peaceful warrior, not armored eye candy.
  • Making trilogies into four parts. I understand that movie studios want to get every last penny they can from the ticket-buying public (and, later, the video-on-demand buying public and the DVD buying public). I understand that lots of people get jobs from making an extra movie. Unfortunately, they don’t take the epic and re-divide it into four parts. They take the first two parts, then split the third in two. The first part of the third book ends on a cliff-hanger and is not in the least bit satisfying. That’s not how story structure works.
  • Incompatible media. I’m old enough to remember the conflict between Beta and VHS. More recently, I remember the conflict between Blu-Ray and HD. It was incredibly aggravating and stressful to want new technology, but to also know that picking the wrong format would cost thousands of dollars.

The problem this year is not the machines, but the purveyors. I enjoy lots of streaming services, especially Netflix and Amazon Prime. Unfortunately, my Apple TV won’t let me watch the latter on the big TV in my living room. I could buy the plug-in that Amazon makes, but that way lies madness. I don’t want a bunch of little plastic devices sticking out of my television set. I want one that lets me access whatever I want.

  • Intolerant fan bases. I never thought I would live to see the day when my beloved comic books would be an important part of the popular culture. Not only do they inspire movies and television shows that win awards and top the ratings charts, but they earn spots on top-ten lists. It’s really great. People I know from the non-comics parts of my life read graphic novels now.

Unfortunately, not everyone is happy to see nerd culture in general, and comics in particular, become popular. Gamergate is still an issue. Women at comic conventions still get hassled, especially (but not only) if they are cosplayers. Twenty years ago, when a bunch of us started Friends of Lulu, we were harassed by those who were threatened by our involvement in the industry>.

I think the reactionary voices are louder now than they have been because they are on the way out. I think the capitalist glee at the new customer dollars will eventually overcome the boys club (and the white club, and the straight club and the Christian club etc. etc. etc.).

Here’s wishing you more and better in 2015.

 

Martha Thomases: Gifting Comics

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Hanukkah is halfway over and Christmas is next week. Traditionally, columnists with no ideas use this as an opportunity to recommend gift ideas that, ideally, benefits themselves, their families or their friends.

Here’s the thing. I don’t know your gift-giving needs. I don’t know your friends. I don’t know your tastes, and your budget is none of my business. These are books that, if I didn’t already own them and love them, I would want to get. If they are new to you, I envy the good times you have ahead.

I want to start off with Mimi Pond because, well, I know her a little bit and this will make me seem important. She and I both freelanced for the fashion section of The Village Voice back in the late seventies and early eighties. Fashion was like the ugly stepchild at the paper, not worthy of the seriousness of purpose to which the alternative press was dedicated.

Anyway, over the years, Mimi has created a bunch of really, really funny books. Secrets of the Powder Room is laugh-out-loud uproarious. Shoes Never Lie made the jokes that were still being stolen on Sex and the City thirty years later.

This year, however, Pond went in a different direction (to me, anyway) and produced a beautiful graphic novel, Over Easy. It’s about her experiences waiting tables, and while that might seem really trite and banal (haven’t we read a million books about the shitty jobs artists take to support their art?), it’s really atmospheric and lovely. The characters are instantly distinct, the world in which they live is both exotic and recognizable. I loved just about everybody in it, and I was sorry to see the story end. We want more, Mimi!

I don’t know Kelly Sue DeConnick. I’d like to, but so far, the most I can say is that we were in the same room at New York Comic-Con and I thought about going up to introduce myself, but then she was mobbed and I didn’t want to be in that mob. She has a new book out, Bitch Planet  and while it’s only one issue, it’s already hilarious.

Bitch Planet takes the “women in prison” scenario (or, as Michael O’Donoghue used to call it, “Kittens in a Can”) and takes it for a militant feminist whirl. It subverts a lot of my assumptions (you mean the skinny white woman isn’t the main character?) and the ads on the back cover are really, really funny.

There has been a minor kerfuffle on the Interwebs because a local comic book store wrote up a solicitation for the book and referred to Ms. DeConnick as “Mrs. Matt Fraction.” They also listed Mr. Fraction as “Mr. Kelly Sue DeConnick.” The joke misfired, there was outrage all the way around, and the store apologized (and, I hope, figured out why that was offensive).

None of this is a slam on Matt Fraction. I’m sure no one thinks he’s riding on his wife’s coattails. Along with artist Chip Zdarsky, he’s created Sex Criminals, one of the funniest comics ever. You can read the first issues in a trade paperback collection and you should. I haven’t been made to feel so sexually inadequate by a comic book since American Flagg.

The story and the characters are wonderful but my favorite part of the series is the letter column, which usually goes on for five or six pages. Readers send in not only commentary on the stories, but also shameful confessions, awkward questions, and unsolicited advice. Matt and Chip answer in the same tone. Here’s a brief sample of what they sound like.

I was really disappointed that the collection didn’t include the letter columns, although it does have some brand-new text pages that are also reasonably hilarious. Fortunately, Image collected a bunch of the letter column stuff, and new stuff with more artwork, and dubbed it Just the Tip <  >, a cute little hard cover book that’s the perfect stocking stuffer for those of you who stuff stockings.

If you’ve read my column during the year, you know that I also recommend The Fifth Beatle and March and Sage and Snowpiercer. I don’t know if I wrote about them, but I liked them, and you should know.

Happy holidays, one and all.

 

Martha Thomases: Party Time!

I’m having a hard time focusing this week. See, Sunday is my annual Hanukkah party, and I’m in a tizzy making sure that I have enough food for my guests. My parents taught me that if I don’t have leftovers, I didn’t get enough. I don’t know how many people are coming.

Which is complicated even after the food is ordered. There’s the entertainment.

There was a time when I had a day job and most of my friends had day jobs, and we’d see each other at the various office parties we attended. In my time, I’ve attended holiday parties at DC and at Marvel. Both were fun. Maybe I wasn’t looking hard enough, but I never saw any of the shenanigans associated with office parties. No one was photocopying his naked butt. No one was having sex in a closet, or in a desk piled with coats. Nobody even vomited in a public place. Everyone was aware that while this was a party, it was a party on the job, and no one was going to be too embarrassed to come back to work in the morning. At least not that I saw.

Those days are gone. People don’t have permanent jobs so much anymore, and those that do either don’t have parties or have tougher security so I can’t get in.

Which is fine. I mean, my favorite thing about my party is the mix of people. There are my friends from high school, from the neighborhood, and from knitting. There are people I know from the peace movement and from freelance journalism and from comics. Sometimes some of my son’s friends show up, which makes me feel like the cool mom.

It is the mix that entertains me. I like to see who clicks and who doesn’t. Naturally, because I honor my inner eight-year-old, I then wonder what it would be like if superheroes had holiday parties.

When Clark and Lois (I like to think they’re still married) host a tree-decorating party, does Bruce Wayne come? Does Guy Gardner? I like to think so. If they do, how are they introduced?

For that matter, when Tony Stark has a party, does he invite Bruce Wayne? They would seem to travel in the same circles. Holiday parties are the perfect place to plan new corporate strategies. Lex Luthor would probably have to be there, and I’m sure Stark Industries does enough business with the federal government to have a relationship with various embassies. Wonder Woman would certainly have to be invited.

A lot of superheroes know intergalactic aliens. Does this make catering more difficult? I don’t think there is any reason to believe that a Kree or a Dryad or Martian can eat, much less digest food from Earth. And what does that do to the plumbing? Is that covered by home-owners insurance?

I would bet the Guardians of Oa (not the Galaxy) have an etiquette book that answers these questions.

Any party is improved with a touch of the unexpected. Certain characters, not born in comics but occasional residents, should be welcomed. Bugs Bunny, Yogi Bear, Dobie Gillis, Jerry Lewis – these are folks who add spice to the mix. And they would be someone for the Angel and the Ape to talk to.

Would any of these parties be as much fun as mine? I doubt it.

Have a wonderful Hanukkah party, folks. I wish you the most landings on gimmel.

 

Martha Thomases: Short Stories

Excuse me while I talk about world affairs for a bit. I promise this will come back to comics.

One of the talking points about ISIL, the crazy people in the Middle East beheading hostages and slaughtering hundreds (thousands?) of others is that they are successful because they are so savvy with social media.

Now, I confess that my Twitter skills aren’t great. However, I hadn’t been able to figure out how one could assemble 140 characters (or a video, or a Facebook page) to make a person want to become a suicide bomber or cut off heads. Sure, maybe there are psychopaths who would respond, but that’s a tough crowd to get together for a focus group.

On Saturday, this story ran in my local paper, with both an explanation (at least, one I could understand) and a potential solution.

The ISIL propaganda works, not because people are inherently suicidal or sadistic, but because we are, each of us, desperate to be the lead character in our own stories. If you’re a Muslim kid in a place with a depressed economy, no job prospects, and nothing to do, it can be very appealing to think of yourself as representative of The Prophet on Earth, dedicated to avenging the wrongs done to your people.

Of course, it’s not that simple, but it offered me a way to understand. And it offered Suleiman Bakhit a way to save the lives (and, in my opinion, the souls) of those most susceptible to ISIL’s propaganda. Mr. Bakhit created a comic book that offered other, better ways for a kid in ISIL’s target market to be a hero.

This made me think about the reasons those kids (in this case, in Jordan) didn’t have the kind of pop-culture heroes we take for granted in this country. And then, it made me think of how we hold up different kinds of heroes to different segments of the American audience. Straight white people get Superman, Spider-Man, Batman, Iron Man, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Green Arrow and more.

Quite often, it’s not enough.

When a publisher of super-hero comics, or a director of super-hero movies, etc., chooses to change the race or gender of an established hero, there is a predictable outcry. White fans insist the change was made to be “PC,” and not possibly because the comic creators or director had a story he/she wanted to tell.

Even creating a character who isn’t straight and white can be denounced by fans. I remember very well at the launch of Milestone that we got a lot of flack from comic book fans because DC was distributing comics that starred hardly any white people. Again, they insisted that DC must be doing this out of some kind of PC pose, not because the stories were good. As DC’s Publicity Manager, I saw a lot of those complaints, and I can assure you, they were real and they were nasty. If there are any doubts, you can ask our own, beloved Michael Davis.

I don’t know why it’s news that we each want to be the hero in our own story, the lead in our own movie. One of the ways I can tell if a comic or film (or novel or television show) is good is how difficult it is to imagine a story starring a minor character.

A good story is a good story. That is enough justification for it to exist. If, in addition, a good story offers its audience a way to consider a world without terrorism, that’s even better. And if a good story inspires its readers to heroically change this world without joining ISIL or other terrorist groups, that’s fabulous.

If that story requires an African-American Batman, I’m cool with that. We all know they’ll just change it back in a few months, anyway.

 

Martha Thomases: Big Black Friday

Did you have a nice Thanksgiving? I hope I did. I’m writing this in advance, of course, because journamalism (sic).

Anyway, unless something very terrible happens between the time I write this and the time is is published, you are reading this on Black Friday. This is a relatively new “holiday” devoted to shopping.

I hate it.

To me, Thanksgiving is a holiday about being grateful for what we have, our families, our friends, our health (if we’re lucky). It should not, to my mind, be followed by a greedfest, one that manipulates us into feeling guilty if we don’t spend enough money.

I, myself, am susceptible to this manipulation. If I watch enough television, I find myself wanting diamonds from chain stores. Chain stores!

Still, I’d like to use my bully pulpit here to recommend something else to consider when planning your holiday gift-giving. Yourself.

Do you have a lot of little kids on your list? How about, instead of buying them plastic toys that will break or bore them within the week, you give them a coupon good for ten hours (or more or less) of story-time. I had great times with my kid going through the DC Archives together. That was me and my kid. You’ll find books in your own collection that are right for yours.

If your kids are a bit older, you can amend the coupon to hours of play, as super-heroes, or hours of working together to create your own comics. You’ll both get stories out of making stories.

It’s a little bit more difficult to find non-material comic-themed gifts for people who are not children. Here are a few I would like to receive:

  • An editing and organizing of my stuff. Some of it is really good and I’ll want to read it again, if I can find it. Some of it is really good, but I probably won’t want to read it again, and some library might accept it as a donation. And some is just junk I haven’t thrown out yet. If someone would do all this for me, I would consider it to be a great gift.
  • A drawing of a super-hero costume designed just for me. It would show that the person giving it understand that I simultaneously want to be a super-hero and yet don’t want anyone to see my actual body in spandex.
  • An afternoon or evening indulging my fantasies. Not sex fantasies, but comic book fantasies. Maybe this means a long conversation about what kind of super-powers we’d like to have, and what kinds of crime we would like to fight. It would be the gift of being eight years old again. Maybe it means going over back issues of Zap Comix and laughing too much about the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers. That would be the gift of being young and cool again.

Again, your specific friends and family will have different kinds of appropriate gifts. The specifics aren’t important. The gift of yourself is.

If you don’t have time to give, at least not in quantity, there are still lots of great comics and graphic novels from which to choose. Before the holidays come, I’m sure my colleagues on this site will have their own suggestions, as will I.

Just one more thing. If you are considering buying me chain store diamonds, this is the only chain that is acceptable.

 

Martha Thomases: Kardashian Kulture & The Comet Landing

What’s the latest pop-culture kerfuffle? Glad you asked.

Last week, while everyone on the planet was obsessed with Kim Kardashian and her ass (no, I’m not linking to it), European scientists landed a satellite on a moving comet. It was an amazing achievement, and I don’t know why it didn’t get more attention except that:

1) It wasn’t an American project, but the work of the European Space Agency.

2) It didn’t feature someone’s gigantic naked ass.

Maybe in an attempt to get some of that Kardashian crowd, the man who spoke to the media on behalf of the project, Dr. Matt Taylor, wore a shirt with an illustrated pattern of women in various kinds of bondage gear – and not the covered-up kind.

Here’s what I think happened: Dr. Taylor wanted to look like a regular guy when he was interviewed in order to make himself seem more approachable to the reporters who interviewed him. Rather than wear a lab coat or a business suit, he looked for something casual. The shirt was bright and comfortable, like a Hawaiian shirt. A woman friend of his had made it for him. It made him feel good.

And then there was outrage. And outrage about the outrage.

Now, I don’t think Dr. Taylor made a good choice when he wore that shirt. When you speak in public, you have to consider all the ways you will be perceived. Dr. Taylor was literally thoughtless about this situation, in that I don’t think he thought it all the way through.

A good publicist would have fixed that.

I mean, what if a female scientist, acting as spokesperson, had come out wearing a shirt with a pattern of semi-clad men in bondage, with amplified primary and secondary sexual characteristics. Would we consider that a simple fashion faux-pas, or a political statement?

Would we think she was welcoming men into careers in science?

This is relevant to comics because women work in the industry in ever-increasing numbers. We have benefitted, all of us, because women provide a different perspective, not only as creative talent but as editors, marketers, lawyers, art assistants and accountants.

And yet, the people most often interviewed about the graphic storytelling media are white men who frequently make jokes about rape, violence against women and other kinds of sexism. Often, they do this at press events that feature demeaning images of women, taken from the pages of the comics they are promoting.

They don’t represent the entire industry, but, by making women feel unwelcome, they damage the entire industry.

Dr. Taylor has apologized and I take him at his word. He made what I consider to be a minor mistake, recognized it, and did the right thing.

And also led the team that landed a satellite on a comet. Let’s not forget that.

 

Martha Thomases: Free Comics, Convergence And More!

This is going to be a slap-dash column, full of random thoughts (and, I hope, insights) because I’m having a slap-dash episode. The plumber is supposed to be here fixing my kitchen sink at some time in a four-hour period. I don’t know when he will arrive, but I’m pretty sure it will be when I’m in the middle of something really complicated.

The super in my building is supposed to come by to hang a picture for me that is too heavy for me to hang by myself. Again, that time thing makes it difficult to plan properly, or to think and act in an orderly manner.

My son and his girlfriend are coming to visit (hence the increased urgency for a working kitchen sink) and I have to make up the guest room, make sure there are snacks in the fridge, and explain to Salina the cat that she can’t sleep there at night.

So yes, I’m not thinking a lot about comic books, nor their spin-offs into other media. Except that super-speed and super-strength would be especially useful right now. Together, they would put my plumber and super out of business. Working people will have enough problems from Congress over the next two years without me wishing for extra abilities that make their lives more difficult.

Anyway, here are my random thoughts.

  • Convergence, the DC event that lets the corporate staff move to Burbank and get settled, sounds great to geek me. No, it won’t draw in new readers. No, I won’t like everything. But I’m psyched for Tom Peyer on The Atom, Larry Hama on Wonder Woman, Gail Simone on Nightwing/Oracle, Alisa Kwitney on Batgirl and Greg Rucka on Question.
  • That said, it seems that event-driven comics are not the guaranteed sales they once were and this is only good for comics. I mean, I’m fine with Spider-Man showing up in the third issue of every new Marvel series (god, I’m old), or a new DC character finding herself in Gotham, because that’s a way to introduce new readers to the book. Universe-spanning crossovers are the antithesis of this. Instead of using something familiar to make a new reader comfortable with taking a chance on a new title, crossovers tend to be so complicated (especially if one reads only a few titles consistently, not all of them) that it’s easier to skip the whole thing.
  • You know what would bring in new readers? Free comics. And, yes, Free Comic Book Day is a wonderful thing. So wonderful that I think we can take its success and use it to try to reach more targeted audiences. For example, if I, as a single woman living in Manhattan, could get a Groupon for a free first issue (or trade paperback) of Saga, redeemable at my local comic book shop, I might try it.

Yeah, it’s not cheap. Image would have to support the plan with co-op dollars. Still, I think it would draw in a bunch of people that comic book marketing doesn’t normally reach.

  • I’m liking Matt Ryan as the title character on Constantine. He seems to enjoy the hell out of all the snark he’s supposed to convey. The scripts aren’t terrible – a bit heavy on the exposition, but that’s what happens when there is a new universe to introduce to viewers. I like the way they use comic book art as Easter eggs.

However…

His tie is always askew in exactly the same way. I just know there is someone on set whose job it is to wrangle the tie. It doesn’t look casual. It doesn’t look reckless. It doesn’t look like John Constantine, man of mystery, is caught in a world beyond his control.

It looks affected. More than anything, it reminds me of Miami Vice.

It’s a tie, John Constantine. If you don’t want to wear it, don’t wear it. If you put it on in a half-assed way, day after day, every day, I will think (and I’ll try to use words you’ll understand) you are a wanker.

  • Like a good geek, I get my comic books on Wednesday, usually in the morning because that’s how it fits into my round of errands. Often, I don’t actually sit down to read them until the weekend.

For the last few weeks, I have left-overs on Tuesday.

Are comics worse? Am I outgrowing them, finally, fifty years after all my childhood friends? Is it just a fluke of chance, that storylines aren’t appealing to me?

I take my own advice and try to pick up something new, from an independent publisher, on a regular basis. Lots of these comics (see Saga, above) become part of my regular list. So I don’t think it’s happening because I’m a slave to super-heroes. I still like them.

Any suggestions?

  • There is a new Stephen King book out this week. It’s titled Revival and I know almost nothing about it. I love Stephen King books. Reading one feels like getting into a warm bath, because I know that he can tell a story, and create characters I’ll care about. He cares about them, too.

And I’m probably not going to have the time to read it until the kids go home. And I like having them here and don’t look forward to their leaving.

Maybe I can stay up all night reading. When I finish reading my comics.

 

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