The NY Times profiles DC’s first ongoing woman writer for Wonder Woman – Gail Simone, who also started “Women in Refrigerators.”

This (Women in Refrigerators) is a list I made when it occurred to me that it’s not that healthy to be a female character in comics. I’m curious to find out if this list seems somewhat disproportionate, and if so, what it means, really.

These are superheroines who have been either depowered, raped, or cut up and stuck in the refrigerator. I know I missed a bunch. Some have been revived, even improved — although the question remains as to why they were thrown in the wood chipper in the first place.

Which came first, the thong or the asshole?

Arguments for/against women being marketed for their looks are at least as old as Marisha Pessl. Second-wave feminism ebbed just in time for “computer technology” to give us “faceless egalitarianism.” So it should come as no surprise that there is a woman game programmer/producer who is being both parodied and praised for being hot.

Someone apparently made parodic digital-porn starring Jade Raymond (hot game programmer in question), but that someone (David Cheung) claims women bring it on themselves by marketing good looks in the first place (an advantage he thinks even Brad Pitt couldn’t take in the game industry). Though to be fair, from what I can gather, Jade Raymond isn’t exactly walking around in a thong.

“Jade Raymond,” argument courtesy Holly at La Feministe (the hottie) v. Horny otaku, as partially represented by David Cheung (the notties)

I’m not going to bother taking sides, because at the end of the day, I have more pity than disdain for otaku who troll for digital porn, and more envy than praise for successful hot ladies.

It’s just a shame the argument can’t really go anywhere. For starters, the “what if the tables were turned” argument made by Team Feminism doesn’t work because time machines and parallel universes have yet to be discovered. Conditional arguments (“If she were a man…” “If she were stupid…” “If she’d won the Nobel Prize…” “If gamers weren’t pigs…”), though extremely popular with feminists and affirmative activists rarely win because there is always someone ready to bust their tautological trump card statements:

I’m just being honest.
It just is what it is.
Hey, I’m not the one who created this industry.

If versus Is, folks. Who do you think wins that fight?

On the other hand, the porn-artist isn’t doing himself any favors antagonizing beautiful women and upstanding moral citizens (whom he refers to as “moralfags”)…in subliterate English. It’s too bad because I can almost sense a coherent statement in his rant until it just reads like spam. He’s no Mailer, I’ll say that much.

(Thanks for the heads up Heidi.)
a. ishii

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Click for more.

by Paul O’Brien

Well, it was bound to happen eventually. DC were the number one publisher in the direct market in October – the first time they’ve been able to say that since May 2006. It’s close, mind you. The margin is 34.2% to 33.7% in dollar share, and 39% to 37% in unit share. But it’s DC’s chart, nonetheless.

Marvel had a rather bad month in terms of delays. In theory, October was supposed to be the final month of WORLD WAR HULK, but the series slipped into the start of November, taking several tie-in issues with it. So, there’s not many WWH crossover books on this chart.

“One More Day” continues to drag on far beyond the original schedule, leaving Marvel with only one Spider-Man book instead of the scheduled three. ASTONISHING X-MEN and THOR both missed shipping as well, along with a raft of lesser titles that slipped into the start of November. None of this did Marvel any favours in the charts.

What does that leave us with? Well, there are a few WORLD WAR HULK titles still around, and there’s the start of the X-Men crossover, “Messiah Complex.” There are a scattering of unusual new miniseries, including three old Steve Gerber concepts – FOOLKILLER, HOWARD THE DUCK and OMEGA THE UNKNOWN.

And there are zombies, as MARVEL ZOMBIES 2 reaches the stores. In celebration, and on the grounds that October includes Hallowe’en, Marvel have commissioned even more gratuitous zombie variant covers that usual, on some of the most unlikely books imaginable. We’ll be seeing them scattered throughout the list.

Thanks to Milton Griepp and ICv2.com for the permission to use their figures.

1.  NEW AVENGERS
10/01  Avengers #47     -  58,771
10/02  Avengers #59     -  53,772
10/03  Avengers #70     -  58,878
10/04  ---
10/05  New Avengers #12 - 127,949
=====
10/06  New Avengers #24 - 136,811  (-12.0%)
11/06  New Avengers #25 - 136,504  ( -0.2%)
12/06  New Avengers #26 - 122,670  (-10.1%)
01/06  ---
02/07  New Avengers #27 - 132,109  ( +7.7%)
03/07  New Avengers #28 - 119,514  ( -9.5%)
04/07  New Avengers #29 - 125,378  ( +4.9%)
05/07  New Avengers #30 - 126,425  ( +0.8%)
06/07  New Avengers #31 - 160,911  (+27.3%)
07/07  New Avengers #32 - 122,991  (-23.6%)
08/07  New Avengers #33 - 117,906  ( -4.1%)
09/07  New Avengers #34 - 112,815  ( -4.3%)
10/07  New Avengers #35 - 111,481  ( -1.2%)
                           6 mnth  (-11.1%)
                           1 year  (-18.5%)
                           2 year  (-12.9%)
                           3 year  (  --- )
                           4 year  (+89.3%)

It’s a fairly quiet month at the top end of the charts, so NEW AVENGERS leads the pack. After some unusually high drops over the last couple of months, the book seems to be levelling out again.

(more…)

The writers are still striking. Godspeed, o scribes! Nay the nectar of thine muse doth protest ill…

An oldie but goodie:

WIRED magazine blog points out the irony of WGA protest signs being so lame.

They may be able to pen some of the most riveting dramas and hilarious comedies this side of the Atlantic, but Writers Guild of America members can’t seem to be bothered to think up a witty slogan — and everyone’s a critic.

But that’s not all. They started a WGA Strike Slogan Contest. Below, arguably the best entrty:

We write, they wrong.

Hey y’all. It’s Anne Ishii, previously of Vertical, guest-blogging for the next few days alongside Mark. I hope you had wonderful Thanksgivings. i.e. Not the kind where you go to the movies alone and then get sick on popcorn and your flask of plasticky bourbon, come home, and watch ten hours of Law&Order. [Having done these things on holidays previous, I empathize and feel the immunity to ridicule.]

So…let’s start this baby right. First, this wouldn’t be a comics blog without mention of Neil Gaiman in a context other than his own writing.

Gaiman Pimps Amazon Kindle. [I couldn't help but notice though, the footage is unusually long. Viz: "Director" cycling his fingers and nodding at Gaiman, gesturing to keep going because it's great; yelling "cut!" only after he's passed out.]

Second, this wouldn’t be a blog if I weren’t making fun of someone.

Canadian Choreographs Interpretive Dance Piece About Manga

Poor guy gets torn apart by this Toronto Star Dance Critic.

Via Concedearte, these folks just got married! Don’t know who they are.

(more…)

You can spend hours and hours and hours pouring through the wonders at the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive, a vast resource of information on and art by a who’s who of animation/comics/illustrations notables. In fact there’s even a Hall of Fame! Educate yourself. And support them. One reason? This archive of Gustaf Tenggren’s THE LITTLE TRAPPER and other classic Golden Books.

Or this reprint of the illustrations from a 1945 Coronet magazine. The above is by Vera Bock.

Check out the blog for more reasons to support this amazing resource.

We don’t know if the movie will be any good, but, boy, you have to give the people behind THE DARK KNIGHT points for originality and thinking outside the box.

Not sure when they went live, but a friend of ours pointed our browser to two more viral sites related to the upcoming Bat-Movie.

The Gotham Times

The Ha Ha Ha Times

“I miss my Mommy.” That’s just mean.

Posted by Mark Coale

We didn’t get to see the comic-centric episode of THE SIMPSONS last week, because we had forgotten it was going to be on and, honestly, we’ve not watched the current series in a couple years (preferring to just relive seasons 3-7 on DVD).

However, tonight’s episode will bring almost a big a nerdgasm as last week’s “Watchmen Babies” bit: the debut of Sideshow Bob’s (and Cecil’s) father. And yes, he will be played by John Mahoney, who played the cranky father on FRASIER (who we like to remember as the overprotective dad in SAY ANYTHING).

And, while we’re talking about the Groening-verse, don’t forget to pick up the new Futurama DVD, BENDER’S BIG SCORE, this week while you out doing your Christmas/Hannukah/Winter Solstice shopping.

Posted by Mark Coale

If you’re a comics lover — and we mean a REAL comics lover, the kind of person who wants to understand the joy and sorrow implicit in the butterfly wing of every line on paper — then #1 TV show of all times for cartoonists was definitely MY WORLD AND WELCOME TO IT.

The show was based on the work of James Thurber, the brilliant writer and cartoonist whose whimsical flights of fancy on the page belied his deteriorating eyesight. (He created Walter Mitty, among other things.) The program starred William Windom and here are the opening credits:

You can see another clip here. Each episode mixed some gentle sit-com situations with illuminating forays into animation based on Thurber’s work. The writing was by smart people like Melville Shavelson and Danny Arnold, and the animation by DePatie-Freleng, best known for The Pink Panther.

The show isn’t out on DVD of course — it’s pretty obscure even by TV standards. (The young Beat watched just about every episode.) However, some bootleg DVD’s are available now which have sparked tributes by Eddie Campbell:

After many years of thinking about it, I have at last found access to dubs of one of my favourite tv shows of all time (thanks Gareth). These are not official and I can’t point you in any direction. In fact the quality is somewhere close to looking at the picture through a woolly cardigan.

The title was called My World and Welcome to it. It was a half hour comedy series that ran for one season of 26 [According to IMDb 14] episodes over 1969-70, and then won an Emmy after it was cancelled. It starred William Windom as a cartoonist, John Monroe.

and Jerry Beck at Cartoon Brew:

The series was a bit laid back in some respects, and Thurber’s witty parables were possibly over the heads of much of its viewing audience. Despite winning two Emmys (Best Comedy Show and Leading Actor, William Windom) it was cancelled after one season. A DVD release of the complete series would be quite enlightening. I’d love to see it again.

By the way, Thurber’s bad eyesight stemmed from a childhood incident in which his brother shot James’ eye out with an arrow. See? It isn’t always funny.

A big huzzah to Comicraft, who just celebrated their 15th Anniversary. We talked to Richard Starkings a few years ago for our first book BREAKING THE PANELS and he may have given the most thoughtful and non-comics-related answers out of all the people interviewed.

To commemorate the occassion, Comicraft has unveiled a new font, convenientally called COMICRAFT.

Starkings has this to say in the anniversary presser released by Comicraft.

“JG and I feel very fortunate to have worked with so many top talents in the industry during the last fifteen years,” said Starkings, “and we feel really honored to have been able to contribute to so many great books. We’re very proud of our track record and we’re continuing to invest the same level of quality and commitment into our own titles and websites, and the fonts we make available at comicbookfonts.com.”

Congratulations to Richard, JG and all the other folks involved with the company.

Posted by Mark Coale

We didn’t get a chance to experience Black Friday first hand today (too much sleeping during the day).

Anyone want to share their expierences from shopping today, at the local comics store, big box retailer or online?

Thankfully, our latest Amazon order came on Wednesday, allowing us to spent much of Thanksgiving night watching Season Three of our all-time favorite TV show, Mission: Impossible.

Posted by Mark Coale

From the twisted pen of R Sikoryak, presented at Again With the Comics.

As an alternative to parades or football, may we suggest, these 39 never-reprinted Kirby Monsters comics at Philip Parodayco’s Monster Blog. Hours of browsing fun.

Most of Jack Kirby’s 188 pre-superhero stories have been reprinted; here’s the 39 that have NEVER been, in chronological order. As collectors provide me with scans from their original issues, I’ll be posting these stories on Monster Blog for your eternal enjoyment and edification!