Women in comics

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I found a livejournal link with a scanned article written by Alan Moore in 1983 about Sexism in Comics. The back third of it is about up-and-coming female artists and writers whose names I don't recognize at all and who have probably retired from the business by now, but the early pages are really interesting. Especially when you consider that this was written 5 years before he crippled Barbara Gordon.
 
And now for something completely different....

Well, maybe not completely, but certainly different from any comics I've seen previously.

Muslim Women in Comics, Part 2 Even though this is the second part, I'm listing it first because it talks about several comics I've never seen in my LCS. The one that interests me most is The 99, by Naif Al-Mutawa. This book sounds fascinating for the cultural background alone. If anyone has seen copies of any of the issues, I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on them.

Muslim Women in Comics, Part 1 Critiques the appearances of Dust, an Afghan woman "rescued" by the X-Men who is eventually brought to the Xavier School. The blogger comments about the character's clothing, personality, and portrayal in the X-books.
 
Seldes Katne said:
Muslim Women in Comics, Part 2 Even though this is the second part, I'm listing it first because it talks about several comics I've never seen in my LCS. The one that interests me most is The 99, by Naif Al-Mutawa. This book sounds fascinating for the cultural background alone. If anyone has seen copies of any of the issues, I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on them.
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Hmm, okay last year I had a subscription to Cracked magazine, but it went under after three issues. So to compensate me for the rest of the year, I was sent a comic book called The 99 instead. I read the first issue and threw it away, the subsequent issues I didn't even bother to read. Why? The art was bland, and the storyline was very cookie cutter, but with more Muslims than usual. That being said, the issue I read had the team stopping a runaway plane or something like that, but none of what was mentioned in the article (except for The 99 trying to find the Noor Stones). So honestly, I'm not sure what to think (I wish I had known about this earlier, I would have saved the issues for you).
 
Thanks, Iceshadow. I appreciate the thought, at least. :D

I'm going to do a 'Net search when I have some time and see if I can turn up any more reviews of The 99. The one blog link I posted gave at least one issue a positive review, but given your comments, I'd like a little more information before decide to spend time and money tracking down issues.
 
I thought this post excerpt was interesting matter for this thread:

[IMGL]http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_NZvrpYQgDqo/RgzYvNXeE0I/AAAAAAAAAHw/n1leMM7fntw/s400/silentwar3.jpg[/IMGL]Isn't that beautiful? Crystal looks strong and protective and powerful here. Looking at the cover makes me forget a little bit about losing Wanda, mainly because I've never seen Wanda get to display such a presence. Not many female characters do. That's probably why I got out of my way for covers like this and like the Spirit #4. Its an image you can just look at and feel strong.

Last week, I saw a picture that looked much the same. It was on a T-Shirt in a souvenir shop and showed a classic poster of Luke and Leia for Star Wars. It was a little different from the ones I'd seen before, because rather than posing at his feet and holding a gun, Leia was wrapped around Luke's leg. It was the first time I'd seen that poster, but it didn't really make an impact on me. I thought at the time that it was the familiarity of the pose. Then I saw this cover.

I wonder if the artists understand what they convey when they do a role reversal like this. As a woman, I'm expected to empathize with the male characters as well as female characters (the whole "if boys will read it, girls will too; so make it for boys" mentality that the Entertainment industry displays) but that doesn't change the fact that when I see a man and a woman on a cover, I tend to identify with the female character.

So a picture of the traditional version, where the man is standing and radiating power while the woman is on her knees clinging to his leg can be offputting because at first glance my mind wants to identify with the female position. But the male character is the stronger in such a picture. He's the one we're meant to empathize with while the girl is the throwaway. So there's a little bit of distancing that has to happen. I have to ignore the gender difference to identify with the stronger character. Something is lost, and I see the art through a filter. I've seen tons of poses like this, with the woman wrapped around the man's leg, and they've never struck me as a good pose.

But looking at this cover the power hit me right away. There was no distance, there was no filter between me as a viewer and the stronger character. I got the full effect of the picture.

Its hard to describe, but when I saw it my heart felt a little lighter in my chest, my cheeks felt warmer and the corners of my mouth turned up in a smile. I think I may have stood a little taller in the store.
 
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From the latest Dreamteaming round's discussion comes a conversation about the now infamous Hal/Helena/Zinda threesome.
Zombipanda said:
I think the question is, is it sexist on the part of the writer or sexist on the part of the characters? To me, it seems like the kind of conversation I'd hear among dudes I'm friends with, and it seems fairly well in line with the attitudes of Hal and Ollie.
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That is a fair question. As a joke it falls right in line with Ollie's personality and Hal just sort of rolls with it. That's fine, guys really do talk like that with one another.

But if we assume Hal really did it my opinion changes. Sure a reformed Lothario like Ollie would be the first to give him kudos, but I couldn't ever see Hal doing it. Mostly because he's a straitlaced attaboy with the personality of a damp dishrag. Which makes the idea of him hooking up with not one, but two members of DC's most prominent female lineup rather ludicrous. Since it's out of character for all three parties involved and generally pointless in the conversation they're having at the time I gotta say it's a little sexist on the part of the writer to put it in there at all.
 
McCheese said:
From the latest Dreamteaming round's discussion comes a conversation about the now infamous Hal/Helena/Zinda threesome.

That is a fair question. As a joke it falls right in line with Ollie's personality and Hal just sort of rolls with it. That's fine, guys really do talk like that with one another.

But if we assume Hal really did it my opinion changes. Sure a reformed Lothario like Ollie would be the first to give him kudos, but I couldn't ever see Hal doing it. Mostly because he's a straitlaced attaboy with the personality of a damp dishrag. Which makes the idea of him hooking up with not one, but two members of DC's most prominent female lineup rather ludicrous. Since it's out of character for all three parties involved and generally pointless in the conversation they're having at the time I gotta say it's a little sexist on the part of the writer to put it in there at all.
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See, I disagree. I think the inclusion of Huntress makes it ludicrous enough to not be taken seriously. Zinda seems like the kin of girl who would throw herself into a no-strings fling and not think too much about it, like a sailor on shore leave. I doubt Huntress would find Hal appealing in the least. Hal's boring (to me at least) but he always seems to be portrayed as something of a lady killer. Yeah, if it was intended to be truth, sure, that's stupid, and fairly sexist. If it's just Hal and Ollie horsing around, then it's sexist on their part, sure, but generally indicative of who those two guys are. I think it does speak to the conversation they're having as well. It's Ollie trying to ease a tense situation in the best way he knows how. It's not particularly well written, but Cry For Justice is pretty badly written all-around, and it fits the character.
 
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All I seem to remember from Cry of Justice are these lovely stories with Congorilla and Mikaal Tomas. Are you sure there are other parts of the comic? I am pretty sure it is a Congorilla and Mikaal Tomas team-up book.

also: I think its a fair reading to say that it never happened and Ollie is just joking around with Hal... If that wasn't the intention, then that's going to be the reality... Hal is a bit of a player, and you know, I bet he's had a couple of ladies in bed at once before... but I don't think he's picking up Birds of Prey in his spare time.

On the other hand, Lady Blackhawk/Hal makes a decent amount of sense...

Interested to hear others thoughts on this.
 
Dr.Strangefate said:
All I seem to remember from Cry of Justice are these lovely stories with Congorilla and Mikaal Tomas. Are you sure there are other parts of the comic? I am pretty sure it is a Congorilla and Mikaal Tomas team-up book.

also: I think its a fair reading to say that it never happened and Ollie is just joking around with Hal... If that wasn't the intention, then that's going to be the reality... Hal is a bit of a player, and you know, I bet he's had a couple of ladies in bed at once before... but I don't think he's picking up Birds of Prey in his spare time.

On the other hand, Lady Blackhawk/Hal makes a decent amount of sense...

Interested to hear others thoughts on this.
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Whatever happened, I'm sure it was all done FOR JUSTICE!
 
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