Comments on: debutantes, nurses and librarians, part 2

By: anne-marie

anne-marie — Wed, 06 May 2009 23:50:57 +0000

thanks kevin! I haven’t read the Wonder Woman run yet - well, I should say, I haven’t read much of it. Single-issues and I are not mixy things, so I’ve been waiting until they’re compiled in a TPB. Sounds like my wait may be close to over. I was sad to miss Simone at Stumptown, but the farmer’s market took priority.

Thanks too for slogging through the funky formatting. Looks like the new theme may have issues with comics scans.

amd

By: Kevin Moore

Kevin Moore — Tue, 05 May 2009 16:01:59 +0000

Oops. Let me clarify: Simone GOT RID OF the BDSM misogyny. I didn’t mean to imply it was a part of her writing. Even with the presence of Nazis in leather!

By: Kevin Moore

Kevin Moore — Tue, 05 May 2009 15:59:46 +0000

As I was reading this, my five-year-old son looked over my shoulder and said, “Who is that?”

“Bat Girl,” I told him.

“Bat GIRL?! Bat Girl isn’t REAL!” He has very strict views on the reality of superheroes. Spider-Man, Bat-Man and Superman are real. Everyone else is a pretender.

Meanwhile, I stumbled upon Gail Simone only recently, a Wonder Woman anthology, The Circle. Really good stuff! Took all the weird BDSM misogyny of the original and replaced it with cosmic problems. And fighting gorillas. Gotta have fighting gorillas.

By: ⌘f » Blog Archive » debutantes, nurses and… librarians

⌘f » Blog Archive » debutantes, nurses and… librarians — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 23:50:42 +0000

[...] ETA - Link to part 2 [...]

By: anne-marie

anne-marie — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 18:10:27 +0000

The emotions/ humanity thing is actually something I’ve heard discussed in the context of why DC and Marvel superheroes are different. Most recently Joss Whedon talks about just that in the context of moviemaking - saying DC heroes (except for Batman) are harder to film because of that disconnect.

http://www.cinematical.com/2009/02/25/joss-whedon-explains-why-dc-comics-movies-wont-work/

I’ll admit to being un-moved, generally, by DC. What’s discussed above, some of the Batman arcs, ~~and the Frank Miller Daredevils~~ are the only things I’ve tried from DC that have really grabbed me, so I’ve been sympathetic to that interpretation of their heroes, without really having any knowledge to back up that feeling.

By: caleb

caleb — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 17:58:28 +0000

yes, pictures!

it also occurred to me after submitting the comment that i could think of several heroes who don’t have emotions on the human scale - the hulk for example. but more often i think it’s villains with the megalomania disorders.

By: anne-marie

anne-marie — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 07:26:44 +0000

well it is a trope for sure, though I’m not sure it’s limited to superheroes. I think we generally have a hard time seeing intellect in our physical heroes and vice versa. I think the addition of the other post, the idea he suggested that the trope only applies to the good guys in superhero comics - kind of filled in a missing blank for me. Something about the fear of knowledge/intellect that’s not very well formed yet. I don’t think that the existence of the trope in this series is a failing of the particular series - but … Barbara Gordon being first female and secondly in a wheelchair shifts the rules of the story game - this context allows for pushing at that trope in a way that more traditional stories don’t so easily. Maybe. I’m not sure exactly what the point is, but… pictures!

By: caleb

caleb — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 07:03:57 +0000

so very interesting, and thank you.

i don’t read a whole lot of comics, but isn’t part of what makes the stories compelling that even when our physical or psychological abilities are super-human, our emotions are still on the human scale? tony stark the alcoholic, peter parker falling in love, teenage mutant ninja turtles struggling with … well, being teenage mutant ninja turtles?

the idea that she could have either great intellect or great physical ability but not both (or goodly-powered intellect or even better evilly-powered intellect) seems more like a lame superhero trope than it does a failing of a particular story.