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Covers of the Week:
Aaron's co-pick - Batgirl 18 by Dustin Nguyen
Aaron's co-pick - Cinderella: Fables are Forever by Chrissie Zullo (AKA Dustin Nguyen)
Evie's pick - Justice League: Generation Lost 19 also by Dustin Nguyen
Bonus Lidsville :
Bonus Higgins Boys and Gruber:
13 comments:
At the risk of sounding like an asshole, it's #126...right?
Well, as there's no risk of exposing myself as an idiot (TOO LATE!) yes, it is.
Yeah, the stuff with Misty Knight pregnancy is so messed up. And the fact that they revel that the pregnancy was a miscarriage(or what ever the term is for it) happened in New Avengers (which I'm trade waiting and didn't know) and not in a Iron Fist book is really stupid. Even more so since near the end of Iron Fist last series, they show 'Future Misty' telling her son about his father.
Aaron,
There's nothing dickish about having a strong opinion and expressing it forthrightly. In point of fact, yours is an opinion I'd like to hear put more forcefully by male comic book readers.
You shouldn't sound so defensive about it, though. You don't have to be cagey about your knowing right from wrong. To apply this specifically to the show, you don't need the retrenchment to sales figures and "it's an opinion show;" you can just say "this is a bunch of sexist horseshit" and fuck tha haytahs.
Ducking behind sarcasm ("I'm voting for tits!") and constantly qualifying what you're saying as your "feminist" position has the implicit message that it's some kind of insurgent opinion or special-interest quibble, which it certainly isn't. An opinion like "the portrayal of women in mainstream "comics is generally awful" or "the average comics-buying dude is reinforcing gross sexist practices" isn't just a feminist position--it's a grown-up position.
Not only are you a feminist, Aaron, but you are also a Claremogynist. Stop hating on Chris Claremont - he's awesome!
Dustin Nguyen, all we are is Dustin Nguyen.
Aaron,
Personally, I felt your 'feminist' stance was totally unoffensive (more importantly right). I took it from the perspective of a heterosexual male acknowledging their significant other's tastes are always right.
People need to remember that ABC is an opinion show, one that is run by you and Evie. You guys are not DC/Marvel 'Yes People'.
Also, it has been confirmed the Alexander clone is the Smallville iteration of Conner Kent. Maybe Smallville has a few more digestible ideas left. It is one of my must see television train wrecks.
I think people are too hard on Smallville. Yes it has plot holes but you either sit back and enjoy or nitpick all the silly stuff
You know, Aaron, I don't think you are right about the comic industry and the choice to cater to just a specific group of people. And about the connection of sexism in comics.
If what you said were true, some of the quality books should sell higher. Of course some stuff would not be noticed, stuffed in between (exaggeration on purpose!) boob-shows and sexy heroines, but some good stuff would be bound to get noticed and sell better.
But Hickman's Fantastic Four? I keep hearing that everyone (well. many comic fans at least) say that this is a really high-quality book. But it does not sell very well, especially considering we are talking not about any superhero team here, but about Fantastic Four. (I don't read it myself though)
The same would IMO go for books like JSA and JSA All Stars on DC side, but DC just said that the JSA All Stars title will be cancelled for Flashpoint. And I really don't see much sexism in there (okay. Power Girl is in the book, but she is not the whole team. Look at all the other members!)
No, I don't think that this whole thing has a really big impact on finding or appaling a target audience andthis surely is not the reason for sales figures being 25% down compared to last year.
Quality in comics is not the problem.
(But I don't see the problem with sexy heroines who show some skin anyway. But, I think I said it before: I am male, I don't think real women are like that, but this is comics. Oh ... and I am from Europe. Blood is more of a problem over here than skin ...)
Hm. Need to follow this up with another thought:
I am not even sure this development (25% sales down compared to last year) in the comic market is a bad thing. Maybe it will lead to more experimentation and maybe it will help the whole stories to move on, because what comics really are missing is change.
Whenever a scenario moves forward a step (for example X-Men before "No More Mutants"), someone quickly steps up and dials the wheel back 20 years.
When a hero dies, he's just dead to come back a month, a year or a decade later.
That itself leads to the problem, that the icons we are used to seeing in comics are 30, 40, 50 years or older. Few new heroes find a place in this structure and even when the old icons are "updated", they are still not heroes from our time. I don't think many of the heroes we see these days reach to the heart of our time and thus they don't appeal to that many people.
Combine that with poor marketing choices, high prices and we are at the heart of the problem. I honestly think it has nothing to do with sexism. (By the way: How come no one complains about the overly muscular male superheroes in skintight costumes?)
I need to get rid of a third comment: Did anyone every try to compare the dropping sales numbers to the average income of the target audience? Or the median income?
I have a feeling this might also be part of the problem.
Sorry to drag this out even further, but I've got to ask: Aaron, quality has nothing to do with mass popularity in any other medium, why would they be linked in comics? It seems to me the distribution and format is what's holding comic sales back, not the content. This is not a defense of bad comics!
Also, women have better taste than men is not really a feminist statement and implying that the people who disagreed with you liked The Widening Gyre is a low blow. :P
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLyS87ZDWvk&feature=autoplay&list=SPDCB040E4FF4964D4&index=6&playnext=2
The Kitty half-time show at the 2011Puppy bowl. I lost 100 dollars on this game. Thanks Big Red
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