The Mix : What are people talking about today?

MARTHA THOMASES: Girls’ Powers

MARTHA THOMASES: Girls’ Powers

Why do we like superheroes?  There are many theories.  The one that makes the most sense to me is that they arise from our frustrations with our own bodies.  As someone who was once the mother of a two-year old (as well as once a two-year old myself), I’ve seen how the rage and frustration of an infant gets transformed with words into imaginative play, with storylines so complicated they would baffle Grant Morrison.

We want to fly and we can barely walk.  We want to lift cars over our heads, yet we struggle to pull up our pants.  We want to leap buildings with a single bound, but the monkey bars at the playground are too scary.  No wonder we are drawn to superheroes.

Since most comic books have been written by men and purchased by boys, we can make fairly educated guesses about what most frustrates the male of our species.  They want to be stronger.  They want to be faster.  They want to be more powerful.  They want to be able to physically and mentally dominate. 

What about women?  Do we want the same things?  Do we want something different?  If women controlled the superhero comic book market, would other kinds of characters be more successful?

May I suggest the following:

Metabolism Lass – The woman you love to hate, she is able to eat anything at all, even cans of frosting, without gaining weight.

Multi-Task Mistress – She can tend to a screaming baby, a demanding boss, a helpless husband, all while explaining to her mother, on the phone, how to use the Tivo.

Invisible Girl – No, not Sue Richards.  This I-Girl is able to walk past a group of construction workers, Wall Street traders or street kids without rousing any whistles.

Couture Queen – Sick and tired of clothes designed for people with no hips or thighs, she has the power to create clothes that actually fit, look good and feel comfortable on adult women.

Manicure Maid – It’s a cliché of modern times that if you want to show a character is spoiled, you make her complain about a broken nail.  Hey, it hurts to break a nail!  Despite the pain it causes, Manicure Maid uses hers as weapons, firing cuticles like bullets at badguys.

Princess IRA – Our heroine can stretch a pension check from here to Pluto, which is a useful power when women live longer than men, but earn less.

Guilt Girl – Doing amazing feats on your own is great, but she completely understands that you don’t have time to help her overcome the monstrous evil she faces.  Really, it’s okay.  She’ll get by.  Don’t trouble yourself.

Have ideas of your own?  Put them in comments!

Eccleston rising in the dark

Eccleston rising in the dark

According to the Manchester Evening News, Christopher Eccleston (Doctor Who, Heroes, The Second Coming) is set to star in a theatrical adaptation of Susan Cooper’s Young Adult novel The Dark Is Rising.

Eccleston will play the main villain, the Rider, who leads the evil forces back and forth through time, in what are described as Harry Potter-style films. The five books in Cooper’s series are optioned and will be produced, depending on the performance of the first film.

Ian McShane (Deadwood) co-stars with Eccleston, for director David L. Cunningham. The Dark Is Rising is set for a September 28th release.

Notable postables

Notable postables

Rich Watson’s much-anticipated interview with Alex Simmons is finally up — at least part one is.

Rachel Edidin gives a lesson in things to bear in mind when writing sexual violence into comic stories.

Scott at Polite Dissent dissects Amazing Spider-Man #539 (whence the panel at right is taken) from a medical POV.

Lastly, congraulations to Sean McKeever on his successful lasik surgery!  I’m not a little jealous.

More retro films, sequels on the way

More retro films, sequels on the way

Yeah okay, y’all are still talking about Barbarella, aren’t you?  Sorry, the original had some cute ideas but gah, was it sexist!  Talk to me when she’s properly dressed and Simon LeBon’s cast as Duran Duran.

Now here’s what I’m craving — a bit of the ol’ Get Smart.  USA today has a blurb about the in-production movie (set to open in late June) based on the old TV show created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry.  Andy Dick is nowhere in sight, thank goodness, but I love the casting they do mention — Steve Carell should make an ideal Maxwell Smart, Anne Hathaway has the potential to succeed Barbara Feldon as a smart and funny Agent 99, and Alan Arkin as The Chief is just too perfect.  Some of the other cast members sound like they’d fit right in as well.  I know I’m pretty psyched for Masi Oka’s big-screen debut!  (Did you know Steve Ditko drew Dell’s Get Smart comic book?)  Let’s hope the indicated trouble in paradise is just a rumor.

Meanwhile, all is not well with the casting of Mummy 3 — The Inevitable, as our esteemed Mike Gold refers to it.  Seems Brandon Fraser is in, but Rachel Weisz is out, leading to speculation that she’s definitely doing Sin City 2 — This Time It’s Even More Personal (my subtitle).  I haven’t seen the Mummy flicks in awhile, but how integral was Weisz’s character in them?  I seem to recall as she was pretty much "love interest/accessory" rather than, you know, an Agent 99 type.

And Harry Knowles is swearing up and down that Shia LeBeouf has been cast in the fourth Indiana Jones movie as Indy’s son, which only interests me insofar as he has one of the more fun names to say and type.  And elsewhere on Ain’t It Cool News, Quint reports that Christina Ricci has been cast as Trixie in the upcoming Speed Racer movie. With John Goodman and Susan Sarandon all set to play Speed’s parents, which amazingly means that Speed’s mom is bound to get actual screen time.

DIY LSH

DIY LSH

Colleen Doran draws our attention to One Shot Hero, which we think is pretty cute:

Okay, the mouth movements make it look like everyone’s chewing gum, and you can’t hear Phantom Girl’s voice, and there’s that problematic Nazi-type salute which was supposed to be someone using powers, but aside from that I find it charming anyway, especially the Superfriends takeoff at the beginning.

Wonder-ing no more

Wonder-ing no more

Following up on the speculation we mentioned last Saturday, Newsarama is reporting that it’s official: DC’s Bob Wayne confirmed at the Comics Pro Membership Meeting in Las Vegas yesterday that fan favorite Gail Simone will be taking over the writing chores on Wonder Woman starting with issue #13.

Naturally, Matt Brady (who has been over this story like white on rice) gets a hold of Gail for a follow-up interview, wherein she teases, "Finally, about the art team. I can’t say who it is yet. But if the readers all made a list of who the best possible Wonder Woman art team would be, I bet this would be the number one choice. It’s that good."

If readers actually made such a list, we suspect it would contain as many different names as there were readers.  My choice, for instance, is at right…

MICHAEL DAVIS: Art School Confidential

MICHAEL DAVIS: Art School Confidential

The one thing you can count on in the comics business is people want to get in. By this I mean there are a zillion people who want to make comics their lifework. To some “comic books’ is a silly way to make a buck. Well forget them. Tell them to have a ham sandwich and shut up. I’m talking to all the young creators who want to make this their careers. I know a bit about this and if you allow me I would like to share some of what I know with you.

The first step on the road to comic immortality is education. I want to talk to the young artists out there. I will let my good friend Mike Baron in a guest column talk about becoming a comic book writer (Mike, please write a guest column for me!).

There are a lot of young artists who think it’s smart to simply copy Image Comics from the nineties and that will give them the art background they need. It won’t. By the way, Image does great books and Jim Valentino has a fantastic nose for good content. I’m sure that Jim would agree that the books Image is doing today are vastly different from the ones they were doing when they revolutionized the comics industry in the nineties. There are a great many young artists who think that copying Todd McFarlane or Rob Lefield will give them the tools they need to be the next Todd McFarlane or Rob Lefield – again, it won’t.

There are no sure fire ways to break into the comic industry as an artist. The industry is filled with self-taught artists-some of these self taught creators are superstars. However, most people can’t simply draw themselves into the field. For the majority of you I think a good art school is a great first step, the first step you will need to establish your own way in a very competitive comics business. How do you choose a good art school?

Very carefully.

An art school should not just teach you art, it should equip you to navigate the business. You want a school that will deal with you as an aspiring professional and not just an artist. A lot of schools don’t do that. Some of the best schools have working professionals teaching there. You would think that will be a great place to go right?

NOT necessarily.

Some instructors will share with you every single thing they know. Some won’t. Why won’t they? Because you will be their competition in a very short time. Because they will someday fear you.

Oh. Nobody told you that?

Look, the professional art school is a business. Before I go on let me be clear: I’m not talking about teachers in fine art curricula. Those teachers teach students who want to make art for art’s sake. Those students want to bring their vision to people for no other reason than to make their personal statements. I’m talking about teachers of Illustration, Cartooning, Animation, Graphic Design or any commercial art course. Chances are if your teachers are working professionals they will not share with you all their contacts or their knowledge. Or to put it another way, if you were an rookie on The New York Mets and your position was center field, do you really think the veteran who held that position would tell you all he knew?

(more…)

Triskadecaphobes unite!

Triskadecaphobes unite!

Egads! Friday the thirteenth actually comes on a Friday this month!

(POGO and all related characters © 2007 OGPI)

Rainy day shorts

Rainy day shorts

Some bits and bobs from here and there, as we try to get caught up on NYC-rainy-day reading:

CBR reports on Marvel EIC Joe Quesada’s classy gesture in asking that his name be removed from consideration for an Eagle Award, stating, "While incredibly flattering and an honor to be nominated, I feel that my name unjustly takes up a spot that should be taken by an editor who is doing hands-on editing. Doesn’t matter what company they work for, they would be worthier of a nomination than I as that is not what I do for a living."

Jim Lee posts a couple pages from upcoming All Star Batman and Robin issues to the Wildstorm blog, and catches fans up: "Here’s what I know…issues 5 and 6 are DONE. I’m knee deep in issue 7. Rather than come out with 5 when it was done, the decision was made to hold up issues and stockpile them so when they do start coming out, that there won’t be any holdup between issues."

I can’t say enough about Colleen Doran’s posting this month about financial literacy for freelancers.  She just posted a resource list complete with links.  Well worth bookmarking!

Heidi at the Beat draws our attention to a nifty article at AfterEllen.com on lesbian comics creators.

Eddie Campbell examines the art of courtroom sketching in a series of posts called "The Villains in my Home Town."  Here are parts 1, 2 and 3.

Lastly, Terry (Strangers in Paradise) Moore inspires 12- and 14-year-old sisters to put pencil to paper.

Jimmy Palmiotti on Painkiller Jane

Jimmy Palmiotti on Painkiller Jane

Today we lay out the facts on Painkiller Jane‘s premiere, compliments of creator Jimmy Palmiotti, tell you about how Painkiller‘s co-creator pulls out of the Eagle, dig into Matt Raub’s review of the second Doctor Who of the new season, show you how MySpace just gave a big boost to a prime time show and then take a nostalgic glance back to when CBS was the "sexy" network!

All this, a really groovy Timeline, and – dare I even suggest it? – even more on the big ComicMix Podcast, right here:

And feel free to comment on the ComicMix Podcast below.