I regularly read Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback on SI.Com and Gregg Easterbrook's Tuesday Morning Quarterback on ESPN.com. What I love about both columns is that they're not just about football, they're about myriad other things King and Easterbrook are interested in, like microbrews or the economy or even politics.
That inspired me to create this column, which I hope to write for publication every Friday.
The first obstacle I faced was naming the column. Friends at Gail Simone's Forum on Jinxworld helped me out and the winner, supplied by CutterMike was "The Cliffs of Insanity," a reference, of course, to The Princess Bride. And perhaps reflective of how many things tend to run around my brain.
Often, there are bits and pieces of stuff I think GeekMom readers would love but I don't have time to write a whole post. (This is not laziness. I just added it up and I wrote over 180 blog posts last year. O_o!) I'm particularly interested in the role of women in superhero comics, as it's been a passion all my life and I find myself commenting on various controversies over the week on other sites but I never find the time to post them here. Then there are the bits and pieces I come across and love but never make their way into a post. Now they will.
And to kick things off....
Coolest Mainstream Cover spotted:
It's a cover to Fearless Defenders #2, a new team of female Defender that includes Misty Knight, Valkyrie, and Mirage/Dani Moonstar. The first issue of the series releases next month. I will have to consult GeekDad Jim MacQuarrie to check if Dani's bow is functional.
Girl Comic Readers Are Unicorns Moment of the Week:*
DCWomenKickingAss' List of the Worst of 2012 for DC Women.
There's not a facepalm big enough for some of these decisions, particularly turning the peace-loving Amazons into rapists and child-slavers. No, I'm not making this up. I wish I were. Want to see the relevant scans?
Making the formerly peaceful and loving Amazons into rapists and child slavers resulted in the best artwork (by Cliff Chiang) in support of the worst retcon in a long time. (The scans are from the new Wonder Woman series, #7, by writer Brian Azzarello and artist Cliff Chiang.)
It also adds a whole lot of rape into Wonder Woman's origin, though that was somewhat below the surface of the Greek Myths regarding Hippolyta and those who chained her. Why is that more problematic? Well, rape is something that's has rarely been used well in superhero comics. So much so that I can't think of a good example. The worst would be Identity Crisis, a DC miniseries that basically rewrote the DCU based on the rape of a woman who has no agency at all in the story.
For a longer discussion of the topic, go to "Rape doesn't belong in super-hero comics. Ever. Period." I don't agree with the opening premise. As I write, I feel no topics should be forbidden but it's a fascinating discussion that touches on exactly why it's so problematic than even murder in superhero comics.
*Why the name of this part of the column? Because often when I'm talking to comic fans on the internet, I feel I have to prove that I'm not some mythical creature but an actual real female comic fan. And it's also hard to convince them I'm not a *rare* exception, despite attendance at 2012's New York Comic Con and San Diego Comic Con being forty percent women. (And that's one of only a list of stats I tend to keep handy to disprove the unicorn myth.)
Fangasms of the Week:
All is not negative! Some great stuff already here or coming up in 2013!
Dangerous Work: A new book by Arthur Conan Doyle about his time on a whaling ship. Definitely on my wish-list.
Filming expected to begin for ABC's SHIELD pilot early this year. And it has female characters, as hoped! Yay!
I saw a press screener of the first two episodes of Spartacus: War of the Damned. Two impressions: one, it is aptly named. No quiet build-up this season. It's WAR! Second: well, hello, Caesar! If you liked Brad Pitt as Achilles, you will like this version of Caesar, played by Todd Lasance.
GeekMom Musings:
My son had to do a survey of our family for a genetic traits assignment in science. This annoyed me. How would an adopted child feel about this assignment? I understand the study of genetics is important and my son was happy to do it but I know quite a few people who were adopted and I can't help but think this was not the greatest way to go about teaching inherited traits.
Web Comic Cover of the Week: Chronographer.
From the creators: "We move from the 1800s to the 2040s as our heroine struggles to uncover her own nature, history, and future. Each period of time is tackled by a different artist, giving the book a unique look and feel." Each of the four issues is divided into three parts.
Logo is by the aforementioned GeekDad Jim MacQuarrie, cover art by Fabio Pio, and the book is being written by Erica Heflin, with interior art by Pio, Carlos Paul, and Edson Alves. It's coming out in February from Greyhaven Comics.
