Full. Body. Eyeroll.

So there's been a lovely kerfuffle going on this week, the simple summary of which is, Can you be a hot girl and a nerd?

Leaving aside the irritating use of "girl" to describe adult women, I haven't really had any commentary other than a side-eye.

I finally figured out my response, left as a comment on the above linked post.

Here it is. Ready?

If you can’t be a hot girl and a nerd, what the hell have my best girl friends and I been doing since childhood?

Sheesh.

That’s really all I have to say on the subject, with a healthy punctuation of a full-body eyeroll.

There you go. There's my soundbite.

A Love Letter to Someone Else

Spoilers for Scott Pilgrim vs the World

Tonight I saw Scott Pilgrim for a second time.

When I came out of it on Saturday, I was filled with OMG THAT WAS AWESOME. Tonight? Not so much.

Tonight I realized that regardless of all the references I caught, squees over the perfect casting, covetousness over various costume pieces and accessories...this movie wasn't written for me.

In fact, I am merely a coathanger to the plot of that love letter. I'm not an active participant--and neither was Ramona Flowers.

This movie (and the comic) was, quite literally, a story about how a woman's past just about killed the guy interested in her.

Josh, very astutely, compared this story to High Fidelity, noting that they were similar tales of different stages in "mens' lives."

Both sources are excellent, innovative, and honestly new takes on a yawn-inducingly tired story. One that, again, has nothing to do with me.

While she had a bit more "there" there in the comic, Ramona Flowers is nothing more than a Manic Pixie Dream Girl. No amount of hair color shifts, pithy one-liners, or awesome fight skills make up a character. Shit, even Knives had more character development than she did. (I'm referring solely to the movie, here. The Knives plot was resolved far sooner in the comic.)

I guess, in the end, I feel very hurt that a movie I was told was for me, wasn't for me at all. And in fact, doesn't regard me at all.

I'm not saying the movie was bad. My qualms aside, it truly was a hat tip to almost every subculture to which I hold a membership. Edgar Wright once again proved his brilliance.

I just wish...the love had been more inclusive.

THE BIG NEWS

Several weeks ago, Valerie D'Orazio, the Occasional Superheroine herself, emailed me offering me an exciting position with Friends of Lulu.

I am pleased to announce that I am now the Convention Director for Friends of Lulu!

For those of you not familiar with it, Friends of Lulu is a national nonprofit organization whose purpose is to promote and encourage female readership and participation in the comic book industry.

I am thrilled to have been asked to work with such a fantastic organization.

Expect to see me at the FoL table at a convention near you!

Cool Trivia Of The Day...

Thanks to Tom Spurgeon, I just found out that my father went to the same high school as Will Eisner.

Of course, my dad was there about thirteen years later, but still. That's awesome.

Happy Birthday, Charles Brownstein!

My convention attendance this weekend is still up in the air.

I am attending a music festival in New Jersey tomorrow, and with the 91 degree weather forecast, it's anyone's guess what sort of shape I'll be in on Sunday.

That said, I'm going to try to make an appearance at both Big Apple Con and MoCCA, because there will be people at both I'd like to see. (Malcolm McDowell at BAC, and most specifically Randall Monroe at MoCCA.)

HOWEVER!

I will be attending Charles Brownstein's birthday party tonight.

I hope everyone has a great weekend, and remember, whether you're on a corn field in New Jersey, or the sweltering heat of the Puck Building, DRINK LOTS OF WATER!

Let's keep fan heat stroke to an absolute minimum!

Help Sell Out Superman #676!

Benchilada said it best.

Short version?

Go buy Superman #676 today.



Do it for me, or if you don't like me, do it for Vito Delsante.

NY Comic Con: Well Done.

Oh my.

I count this weekend a success. I slept a total of nine hours the entire time, the alcohol gods blessed my liver with imperviousness (not always a guarantee), my mother demonstrated a level of fierceness I can only hope to achieve, and I had an absolute blast.

I saw so many people who I never get to see.

I got to people watch at a convention, which really? Is one of my favorite things to do. The beauty of conventions is that people totally let their id out. Or at least, their inner Spiderman. Or Indiana Jones. Man, there were a lot of Indiana Joneses. And even though I personally have no problem with it, I know many people will be overjoyed to hear that I saw more normally-dressed Princess Leias than Slave Bikini Leias. (Leia choked Jabba with her chain. If that's not owning it, I don't know what is.)

I was pretty impressed with this show. Each year, Reed Exhibitions gets the hang of running a large scale comics convention a little more. They needed more floor space, yeah, but hey, even San Diego could use more floor space. The only problems I saw this year were a shortage of people managers and bad panel scheduling.

A friend of mine was in line to meet Milo Ventimiglia on Saturday, at a booth near Aisle 1500. I stood with her for a bit, and was appalled at both the way the line was completely blocking the aisle we were next to, as well as the sheer rudeness of the people trying to get through. People pushed, shoved, and knocked us with bags, with barely a mumbled apology. I stood with her for a good fifteen minutes, and it was only towards the end of that time when a member of the Con Staff showed up with some volunteers as she struggled to explain line control and traffic management to them. (Really? It's that hard to understand the concept of "Separate the line from here to here so that people can get through"? Seriously, the kids she had with her totally didn't get it.) I'd had enough of that particular shenanigan, so I moved on when the other friend who I'd directed to my location arrived. I have a sneaking suspicion that line control was an issue in a lot of places.

For instance, I also almost got caught in the Saturday 4pm Panel Kerfuffle.

I was hoping to hit the Quickstop Entertainment panel, not for the Kevin Smith content, but to see Jonathan Coulton and Paul & Storm. When I got downstairs to the hallway, I made it only so far before I was told I could go no further. No explanation was given.

I walked around to a different area, and discovered a potentially dangerous situation. The hallway was being blocked off, and the escalators were not running. Behind the escalators was about 20 feet more of hallway, and then walls, and the security team was barking at the amoeba of people I was in to "move back! move back!" This made me nervous, as there were easily about 30 people around me, and not much further back to go. I made the executive decision to go back upstairs to the con floor, because it was too easy to imagine that situation getting worse. I got more nervous on that point when the security guard told me I had to get back as I was trying to get around the escalator to walk back up on it. Thankfully, he let me pass when I said that was my intent, but well, that could have gone pretty badly, you know?

I didn't find out what had caused the problem--bad panel management--until today. Much as NYCC wants to be, it's not SDCC yet. I'm not sure it can ever fully be so. I don't know the full offerings of the Javits Center, but it doesn't seem to have its own version of Hall H or Ballroom 20. One of the saving graces of the SD Convention Center is that by having several such large spaces, it removes a few thousand people from the traffic flows with each panel. Furthermore, the center's staff, as well as the convention's staff have traffic flow down to a science. I know that neither the Javits' nor the convention's staff have the experience to handle that yet. The larger issue, however, is that I'm not sure that the Javits even has the layout for such specialized crown management. You can't simply just go in one door and exit the other side like in San Diego.

So uh...I guess maybe scheduling two "Women in ______" panels against each other was the least of the worries?

COMIC CON AHOY!

Soon, it will be out the door with me!

If you see a 5' brunette with a red stapler tote bag, hey! That'll be me!

Feel free to say hi. :)

Cute, NY Comic Con. Very Cute.

Due to a good news/bad news sort of turn of events, I will be able to attend lots more of next weekend's convention than originally planned.

In perusing the schedule, I noticed something that really isn't cool.

Friday, April 18th
5pm - 6pm Room 1E07
Women in Comics

Friday, April 18th
5pm - 6pm Room 1E15
Women in Fantasy and Science Fiction

I see.

Well, given that I am not a time traveler, a Time Lord, nor in possession of a Time Turner, it looks like I'll have to choose. I know I certainly can't be the only person who wants to go to both.

Scheduling these panels against each other severely divides their attendance. Obviously, many conventions have panels which compete with each other. That being said, why, in this climate of "Bringing The Womens Into The Comics/Genre/Fandom," would they do this?

The really ugly thing about this is that when programming gets planned next year, one or both of those panels may get cut due to low attendance. I hope the panels are next door to each other, otherwise I'm going to get really tired running back and forth.

I'm also slightly perturbed by the creative choice to list "Fantasy" before "Science Fiction" in the title for that panel. Given that the "generally accepted" shorthand is "SF/F" or "Science Fiction and Fantasy," why list Fantasy first? Alphabetically? Somehow, I think no.

I'm glad both of these panels are happening. I just wish it didn't come with another example of "What? We gave you panels, what more do you want?"

Echo!

Echo #1

Due to various life things, I haven't been to the comic book store in a couple of weeks. I know, I know, bad geek!

I was sure to go this week, however, because Terry Moore's new book, Echo, debuted!

I cannot wait to see where he goes with this story. It's so exciting to see him writing action/adventure after so many years of romance. (Although the I Dream of You arc and related storylines definitely fell under the "detective/shoot-em-up" category.)

The art is, as ever, crisp and evocative, and the writing is intelligent and well-paced.

Admittedly, the set-up of Julie Martin's life (lonely, not signing the divorce papers, debt, etc) is something we've seen before. However, I trust the "person with sucky life experiences extreme, fantastical life change" trope in Terry Moore's hands.

The character that jumped off the page for me was Park Ranger Dillon Murphy. He seems to be a different sort of male character than I've seen Moore write, so I'm looking forward to seeing what he does. (Though, Moore may have been flexing those muscles working on Spiderman Loves Mary Jane?)

In short, this is an exciting debut issue, and has set the stage for an exciting new comic.

Stop Ripping Off Artists!

It's Called *Comic* Con.

Here's an article about how the Writer's Strike could hurt Comic-Con. (via The Comics Reporter)

Up front: I hope the Writer's Strike is resolved soon. An unbelievable amount of people and businesses are suffering financially because of it. Entire related industries are drying up because movies and shows aren't being produced. This is a serious economic problem.

That being said...

If the Strike affects numbers at Comic Con, I won't be disappointed. I'm not one of the people who feels that Hollywood is "ruining" Comic Con--I've only been to two of them, I'm really unqualified to make that assertion. However, my informal opinion is that having a lesser presence will improve several Con problems.

1. Congestion. The heaviest congestion day on the main floor, from what I saw, was Sunday. Why? Because Thursday through Saturday, you had several thousand people off the floor at all times. You had huge numbers in the big ballrooms, and you had equal, if not greater numbers of people waiting in lines to get into the next panel in those same rooms. This cleared up the floor considerably. None of the big panels were held on Sunday, so all of those people went to the floor--many for the first time all weekend, I'd conjecture.

2. Sales. This is really just conjecture on my part, but go with me on it for a second: If more people at the con are there for comics-related things, more comics-related things will be purchased. Additionally, because fewer people there for Hollywood will buy memberships, there will be more memberships available for comics-oriented attendees.

3. Tone. As I said above, I've only been to two Comic Cons. The difference between the two, though, was palpable. That may have as much to do with the upsurge in genre movies and television shows between 2006 and 2007, but the result was the same: so much more attention being paid to the shows and movies, less to the comics.

4. Hotel Room Availability & Price. This is the big one, kids. The cost of going to Con has skyrocketed. In 2006, my boyfriend and I stayed in The Days Inn Gaslamp. The sign on the door said our room--a very small smoking room whose promised wireless didn't work--was $99 a night. The other night, I called to book a room there again, just as a backup, in case the rush to book rooms totally fouls up this year. The room, the same room, was $400 a night. That's a 400% increase! In two years! That's absurd. And even though more hotels go up each year, this is a situation that will only ever get worse as Comic Con grows.

Once again, I'd like to see the Strike resolved as quickly and amicably as possible. But I also can't help but hope that if it does continue, it makes it a little easier and less expensive to go to San Diego this July.

Assigning Our Icons

Can we please remove Wonder Woman as the poster girl for feminism? (link via The Beat)

No wait, hear me out.

Wonder Woman is an AWESOME icon.

She's a great GLBT icon. She's a great Poly icon. She's a great BDSM icon.

But when her raison d'etre is female superiority, she's not a great feminist icon.

To be fair, great strides have been made in recent years to make Wonder Woman more about equality than superiority. But then, I've never made any attempts to hide who my vote is for...



Seriously, everything of Power Girl I've read involves her:

-kicking ass
-trying to be taken seriously (often while kicking ass)
-trying to set herself apart from her famous cousins (sometimes while kicking ass)
-trying to define herself as her own person, separate from her cousins and her boobs

And the thing about her boobs? Totally a joke started by the artists in the 1970s. I kind of love that.

D'oh!

My apologies to those who were expecting to see me after the convention last night.

I retreated to my boyfriend's nearby apartment for a "quick nap," and didn't move until well after midnight!

I'll see you all again soon, I promise!

Praise the Lord and Pass the Parsnips!!!

Remember that post I made talking about the endings of series and how they can go wrong?

Terry Moore posted a piece of art that makes it all better. In terms of Strangers in Paradise, anyway.

Thank you, Terry. Was that so difficult? ;)

(Seriously, it's gorgeous, and brings more closure than babies and closing the door to the fourth wall ever could.)

Oh for the love of... - FOLLOW UP

IT WAS EIGHTBALL.

You have got to be KIDDING me.

Yes, there is a lot of nudity and discussion of sex in Eightball, but none of it is gratuitous or pornographic. Of course, it contains just the sort of sexual realism that sends nervous hands to clutch at strands of pearls.

The thing I find most amusing about this revelation is that Eightball was handed to me when I was 16. I was already reading comics at that point, Strangers in Paradise, Young Heroes in Love, and Gen13 being my favorites. (That I can recall.)

And who, pray tell, handed me Eightball?

A counselor at my camp where I was a CIT.

It was a David Boring story, the one where he dates a girl because of her big ass. I loved the story so much, I went out and bought my own copy at Million Year Picnic on CIT Night Out. (The camp was in Boston, obviously.)

While a camp counselor/CIT relationship isn't quite comparable to a teacher/student one, the similarities are there.

I imagine my parents would have been much more upset about the teacher handing me Hothead Paisan than a "fellow" counselor handing me Eightball. Knowing my mom, she probably would have liked the Eightball story.

In the case of the teacher and student, I'm curious as to what inspired him to give her that comic in particular. If there was discussion and a relationship that would have inspired that choice, then what's the problem? Just as my teacher from junior year wouldn't have given me Hothead Paisan without us talking about queer culture and sequential art, I doubt this guy would have done the same with an issue of Eightball.

That said, if a teacher gives a student any kind of reading material (questionable content or otherwise) out of nowhere, then it's time for some questions.

Oh for the love of...

A Connecticut teacher has resigned after getting in trouble for giving a student an "age-inappropriate" graphic novel.

Huh.

Well, we don't know what the graphic novel was.

A teacher I was friendly with my junior year once lent me a huge Hothead Paisan collection. Does that mean she should have gotten into trouble?

(Yes, she was gay. I lent her my Strangers in Paradise collections in return.)

Watch the graphic novel in question be something like Wereslut, or something similarly inappropriate. Then we'll all feel silly.

Although Wereslut's actually a pretty good read.

Power Girl: A Feminist Icon for the 2000s

I've said it before, and I'll say it again....

This is what a feminist looks like:


I'd hit it, but she'd probably hit back. I'm okay with that

Seriously, I want to find the artist (Dale Eaglesham) and shake his hand.

That's some awesome stuff right there.

She's strong! She's sexy! She's wearing realistic pajamas!

YAY!

LOL

Stolen from The Beat, who stole it from Len Wein...

How to stop Stan Lee in his tracks in one easy lesson...

Not-Quite-Dead From Comic-Con!

Some late-night, plane-trip, walking-all-over-Christendom-and-back, -related creeping crud has gotten me. In the interest of fandom and comics, however, I press on.

This year's Con has been about the little things.

Seeing old friends, meeting artists I didn't realize would be here, meeting celebrities of varying strata, all of whom have been gracious and kind.

Oh, and the not-so-little event of watching my boyfriend win an Eisner.

It's been a good Con so far.

I confess, I was apprehensive about attending today, given the show was sold out. The crowds, however, seemed to stay in Hall H and Ballroom 20, packing in for The Next Big Panel all day long. The floor was crowded, but manageable.

I'm here in San Diego until Monday, and I hate that it's already gone by so fast. I still haven't been to the Zoo, and I'd like to hit In-N-Out burger, before heading back East.

But I am having a great time.

I'd like to pause the joy for a moment, however, to remember Leah Adezio, who I didn't realize had passed away until the "In Memoriam" portion of the Eisners.

Back ten years ago, when I started going to conventions (Big Apple Con in New York, to be precise, back then known as "Church Con"), Ms. Adezio had a table each show without fail. And each show, without fail, she had a kind word and a hello for a wide-eyed fourteen year old, learning her way around the con.

When her face came up on the screen last night, I felt like I'd been punched in the stomach. Leah Adezio was one of the few women I regularly saw at Church Con, but she was always the kindest, warmest, most welcoming presence there.

I will miss her, and always remember her fondly.

Sad tidings aside, I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekends, Staplers and Staplerettes!

Remember, if you're here, I've got pink hair and my Red Stapler tote bag! Please stop and say hi!