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Remember two seconds ago when I was saying comics give and then they take. This would be the give part of that equation:
WOO!
Mark your calendars! February 23rd!
Not wild about how prevalent Bette Kane aka Flamebird seems in the solicit because that was the least interesting part of Kate’s Detective Comics arc to me, but I knew it was coming and I trust Williams III to do it well. Don’t let me down man! So excited.
I tried people, I really did.
I’ve never liked Steph much and I’ve made no secret of it, and I dislike her in the Batgirl uniform for a variety of reasons (up to and including the fact that her actual costume is ugly as sin with its thigh pouch and hideous purple) but I have bought every single damn issue of that series and I have tried my best to have an open mind and I have supported it with my dollars and even talked positively about it on this blog – about how even though I don’t like Steph much, that I think Bryan Q. Miller has done a great job with her voice on the series and that overall it’s a really positive book for young women and girls – the kind of book we need more of. That it’s an important book because of the niche it fills and the audience it respectfully reaches out to. I was even excited because Dustin Nguyen was coming on board.
And this bullshit is the thanks I get?! It may be adorable, but it’s horseshit. Check it out…a “tiny adorable history which Cass has been COMPLETELY EDITED OUT OF!” And worst of all, the bit seems to imply that this is STEPHANIE’S VERSION OF EVENTS…which makes her seem like a bitch that edits out her best friend when convenient. Oh screw it, I’ll just post it – from The Source.
Honestly DC…just because you know how fucked up your handling of Cass has been for um…YEARS…does not mean you can have Nguyen draw an adorable little revision and we’ll just swallow it up. And I really don’t know what your goal is here, because you’re DEFINITELY going to piss off the Cass fans (like me) but most of the Steph fans are ALSO fans of Cass because the two characters were best friends…so just who are you thinking is going to love this…? Why do it? Do you really think the book is such a crazy irreplaceable success that people will just read this and be all “oh, yeah, that’s totally how it was. Cass who?” Unlikely. And I notice Steph has conveniently left out her time as Robin as well…which she would never do…so this all just smacks of you guys trying to gloss over everything you’re not so proud of regarding your female characters in four cute cartoon-y pages. Epic fail.
Regardless, you just lost a reader and a reviewer. I HAD been working on a post for CBR’s Comics Should Be Good about how despite my Steph dislike, the book had become quite good, and more importantly, IMPORTANT. Guess where that article is now? That’s right – the fucking round file – where it belongs.
Congrats DC. You pretty successfully rehabbed a character, so that even people like me that dislike Steph were buying your book…but now, with that little “Cass apparently never existed stunt” you lost a reader. And we’re at it, the realization of Batgirl/Oracle is pretty tasteless as well.
So, Batgirl can come off my pull list…what other DC books on my list are TOTALLY UNNECESSARY.
Time to do some culling.
A new SHE HAS NO HEAD! is up – a review and discussion of Stumptown #1 – 4. Check it out.
My copy of Shadoweyes finally arrived (which I ordered months ago on Amazon). And it is BEAUTIFUL.
I immediately sat down and read it again. And it’s even more wonderful reading it in print, than the digital advance copy I was lucky enough to see months ago. If you want to know more about Shadoweyes, I wrote a review (and there are exclusive preview pages) on She Has No Head!, here.
There’s also an interview with Ross Campbell here, and an in-depth creator spotlight here. I’m a huge fan, and reading this book can help you know why – it’s my favorite of his work to date – by a significant margin. Make sure to check it out!
You can buy Shadoweyes at SLG here, on Amazon here, at Barnes & Noble here, or at your local comic book store.
Tags: great books, recommended!, ross campbell, shadoweyes, slg
Saturday, August 28th is reading comics in public day. DC Women Kicking Ass has all the details – check it out and participate if you can!
Also, if you like this look of this freaking adorable drawing by Agnes Garbowska, know that I’m planning a post of one of my favorite things – cute superheroes. Prepare yourselves!
DC Superheroines By Agnes Garbowska
A new She Has No Head! about Ben Caldwell’s YA Wonder Woman Pitch, and the need for mainstream comics to court new readers, and women readers, is up.
I cannot contain my excitement over reading Ben Caldwell’s Wonder Woman pitch to DC. C’mon DC, take a chance, this is some really exciting wonderful beautiful stuff…it could jump start a whole trend. You can read more here on Caldwell’s blog as well.
As I’ve said before…capturing women readers, most especially young women readers, is a huge challenge, but the rewards will be so great if anyone can manage it (did you know girls and women make up approximately 80% of fiction readership?) the spoils will be seriously significant. Just because Minx didn’t quite work, or Manga stuff is getting pulled, or Wonder Woman’s ongoing title isn’t crazy successful, or “kids books are loss leaders” doesn’t mean the right combination of those things won’t work – i.e. the most powerful female superhero of all time with a dynamic female friendly beautiful art style, a fresh perspective and look, free of heavy continuity, in a book that comes out as a digest and might be easily found at the grocery store check out next to Archies…sounds like an insanely winning combination. And the kind of thing that would have alerted someone like me to superheroes very early on…instead of having to wait until I discovered the X-Men cartoon at 16.
Yes, it’s a risk, yes it might not work, but if it does the pay off is HUGE. Fortune favors the brave and all that DC. You should give it a chance, put the full force of DC behind it, commit to it, just do it…and see what happens. The first comic book company to figure this out (how to capture and keep women readers) are going to be freaking kings…don’t you want another shot at that?
A new She Has No Head! is up, an interview with comics creator, writer, and artist Brian Wood, about his Wildstorm series DV8.
New SHE HAS NO HEAD! is up, an interview with Editor Jeanine Schaefer and Associate Editor Lauren Sankovitch about all things Girl Comics, now that the series has finished.
A new SHE HAS NO HEAD! is up, a detailed review of Wonder Woman #600. And yes, I talk a bit about the costume. Woo!
A Jamie McKelvie designed Wonder Woman that, for my money, is hands and feet above the Lee re-design. It's effortless and modern, streamlined and clean. But it still FEELS Wonder Woman
