This has been going around in email and blogs, and we’re not really going to get into it too much, but apparently this dude started something at a SF con where men who wanted to grab women’s boobs could do it if the women were wearing a button that said it was okay. If a woman had a button that said “No, it’s not okay” you’re not supposed to grab her boobs, which is gentlemanly. He ended his call for creating an “Open Source Boob Project” that would carry the practice far and wide with the words “Touch the magic, my friends. Touch the magic.”
Our first thought is that we wish boobs really were magic so we could magically change the kitty litter. Our second is that SF cons have this whole “sex positive” thing going on and a lot of people go to them to meet up with other people and some times get it on with other people who like to wear cat ears or whatever. But maybe that is not supposed to be carried over to other areas of life. Val, as usual, put it in some perspective:

I think if people want to have adult-themed comic book or sci-fi conventions where this sort of behavior is agreed-to upon before people even buy the ticket, that’s fine. If there is such a driving need among some people to have sexual situations at a con, to fully “liberate oneself,” great — create a separate con for that. Then “consenting adults” can purchase a few fanzines, cop a feel, and call it a day.

Val also links to theOpen Source Swift Kick to the Balls Project.

Related: We found this link in our trackbacks and we can’t read Italian but it seems to be on the same topic and we stole the above illo from it.

Various notes and comments on various aspects of women in comics over the past few days.

§ Reminder: It’s always someone’s first convention panel!. Huffington Post’s Michelle Kung:

I began the fest with a DC Comics cocktail event at the Park Bar, where I was introduced to a slew of writers and more importantly, was given a kick-ass Watchmen movie poster. On Friday, I walked the booths, paid $5 for a small cup of gelato, and wandered in and out of various panels, many of which I found surprisingly lackluster. Sessions such as the Women In Comics panel featured writers already overly familiar with their co-panelists and audience questions, which resulted in relatively rote answers. (Said one female cartoonist: “I’m just waiting for a day when I’ll be recognized as just a comics writer, and not a female comics writer.” Yawn.) My friend and fellow Comic Con virgin Georgia had a more exciting day — when she bought her first ever comic book, she was “forced” to take a shot of vodka by the vendors.

§ At Comixology, Shaenon K. Garrity looks at The Girls of Shonen Manga:

THE DITZ: A childlike woman (often with a very adult body) who leaps all over the hero like a puppy and routinely forgets key articles of clothing. Often the Ditz is a foreigner, to explain her ignorance of concepts like “modesty” and “personal space.” Other times, she’s just stupid. The Ditz is seldom a serious contender for the hero, with occasional exceptions like Ranma 1/2, where Shampoo (an unusually aggressive Ditz) puts up a good fight. Her primary function is to provide random, unmotivated fanservice, and therefore she is essential to harem manga

§ Also at Comixology, Kristy Valenti interviews Aimie Major Steinberger:

This exploit perfectly encapsulates the flavor of Steinberger’s experiences, most of which were mediated by her (and her friends’) fangirlness[1]; but what’s refreshing about the way that Steinberger presents her geekiness is that she’s confidently un-neurotic about it: she’s aware of others’ reactions, but she never lets that stop her from playfully having her fun. There was no sense of oxymoron when she described herself to me in a personal interview as “just a normal geek girl, you know?”

§ At NYCC, DC was giving away this very cool poster by Adam Hughes of the various ladies of the DCU with the headline, “The Real Power of the DC Universe.” Online response that we’ve seen has been positive, and it’s definitely a smart take-off on the Annie Leibovitz Vanity Fair-style covers of the past year. But it still seems so…homogenous. Adam Hughes draws the way he does, so it’s no surprise that all the women of the DCU have giant boobs, identical frames and all appear to be about 5′9″. Not like, say, this:

Or even this:

§ It turns out that large boobs are such an important factor to the superhero life that their absence is cause for a breaking news item in itself:

DC is also launching several titles with an eye toward capturing a younger audience. Editor Jann Jones announced the upcoming Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade, with art that features a flat-chested, prepubescent Supergirl. The upcoming kid-friendly line also includes Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam. DC is excited about recreating the entry-level comic experience, no doubt anticipating the the kids who will grow up to fill future Con audiences. As for Supergirl, the first to be released, it’ll have “all the fun of life in Junior High,” Jones promised, which to me sounds menacing. DiDio added, for the benefit of the room: “And no boobs.”

The new Supergirl will be by Landry Walker and Eric Jones, apparently.

§ Finally, Elayne Riggs deals with the occasional waves of low self-esteem that convention going regularly creates:

That’s when this odd feeling came over me that, after having been involved with the comic convention scene for over 20 years now, I didn’t really fit in any more. As far as Team Comics was concerned, I was the nobody I’d always suspected myself to be. Out of work, out of practice, out of favor, I succumbed to the enemy of every fanboy and fangirl, the overblown sense of entitlement. Everything I experienced was suddenly All About Me, which precipitated a dangerous downward spiral. On some level I knew it didn’t correlate with reality, but I’d managed to make a complete disconnect between “wasn’t that nice finding the pros-only curtained-off area with its own friggin’ oxygen bar on Saturday so we could catch up with Bryan Hitch during his one free half-hour” and “poor poor pitiful me nobody loves me pass the worms.”

Special Beat Correspondent Steve Bunche went to the closely-watched “Women Who Kick Ass” panel and explains what happened:

Is there any more tired panel that gets regularly dusted off at comics conventions than the totally-beside-the-point “women in comics” forum? When it comes to creating comics, and most other things for that matter, gender is irrelevant and the main factor to consider is the validity of the creator’s vision and intent rather than whether or not the talent possesses twig & berries or “the Holiest of Holies,” as Pulp Fiction’s Jules would put it. Honestly, I’ve long thought the only way to kick start some life into that moribund mainstay would be if I were to put on a taffeta ball gown, pad my bra a little — believe me, it wouldn’t take much — and haul my high-yellow tuchas onto the podium and began to rail on about how Stan Lee was an unsung feminist whose unknowing depiction of females was actually a subtle call for empowerment. Of course that’s complete and utter horse hockey, but then again so was the “Girls Who Kick Ass” panel at the Javits Center’s New York Comicon.

Billed as a sounding board for women in the funny books biz, the panel garnered a bit of controversy for its placement of former adult film star Jenna Jameson among the likes of Colleen Doran, Louise Simonson, and Amanda Conner. Jameson, a funny and intelligent speaker, is quite lively in her own right, but her presence was guaranteed to detract from the other panelists and attract a legion of devotees of “one-handed” cinema, many of whom couldn’t have cared less about the creative process of comics and paid their admission fee in hopes of worshipping at Jameson’s tenderloin flick altar. I have absolutely no problem with Jameson’s porn past, in fact I’m a staunch advocate of such fare, but the inherent sensationalism that comes with her simply doesn’t jibe with a panel aimed at women being taken seriously in the medium. No matter how sincere her intentions may be, the vast majority will most likely not be able to embrace Jameson in any real capacity as a creator and see her as anything other than a “tainted” woman who splayed her naughty bits on camera for the, er, amusement of folks living in a hypocritically anti-sexuality culture. Just ask Traci Lords.

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Follow up: Colleen Doran on her panel-mate:

PS: I’m sorry, I can’t help myself…”constantly blowing us away with the most outrageous and provocative titles?”

Yes, I used to do Power Pack and Louise [Simonson] created it.

Utterly over the top. Left ‘em panting in the ailes.

Good lord, this panel is like some kind of sociological experiment.

Bring rubber gloves, and a clipboard.

MR imaging scans will be conducted before and after the panel to observe changes in test subjects, but my hypothesis is the major anomaly will be in the male subject’s primary visual cortex.

Dark Horse editor Rachel Edidin also has some tart comments:

Want to know how the ladies creating comics do it? THEY WORK THEIR ASSES OFF—just like the guys. The biggest difference is that we have to deal with this shit.

UPDATE:

Doran now reports a potential scheduling conflict:

In other news, I am scheduled to be on a panel at 6 PM that day, then this panel, then an event at the Empire State Building at 8 PM. So, something’s got to give, and it looks like this panel may be the sacrifice to the Gods of decorum.

AND Craig Yoe writes to tell us there IS a Men in Comics panel:

I’d like to announce the “Men in Comics” panel at the New York Comicon…

*Al “Mad Fold In” Jaffee
*Glenn “Hotwire Comix’” Head
*David “Entertainment Weekly caricaturist” Cowles
*Danny Hellman , cartoonist and editor of the upcoming anthology “TYPHON”
*Craig “Arf book series” Yoe

We will discuss what it’s like being a man involved in the cartoon and comix world of incredible female funnies giants like Marge, Hope Larson, Rose O’neil, Francoius Mouly, Wendy Pini, Grace Drayton, Marjane Satrapi, Françoise Mouly, Heidi MacDonald, Collen Coover, etc. And we will be discussing the new “Arf” book, “Comic Arf”, debuting at the con and unknown genius old-skool cartoonists, Milt Gross, Horror comics, New Yorker cartoons, Fine Art vs Comics, Fold Ins and, knowing men: Fold Outs! It’s on Sunday April 20 at 3pm in room 1E03. There is a signing of the debuting book, “Comic Arf”, at the Fantagraphics booth Saturday April 19 from 11am-1 pm, and Sunday, April 20 from 1pm-2:45pm.

Laura Hudson spots a real howler from the NYCC panel descriptions:

Friday
7:00 PM-8:00 PM
1E15
Girls Who Kick Ass
How do the ladies creating comics do it? They’re constantly blowing us
away with the most outrageous and provocative titles. Jenna Jameson
(Shadow Hunter), Colleen Doran (Distant Soil, Reign of the Zodiac),
Amanda Connor (Birds of Prey, Painkiller Jane, Lois Lane ), Louise
Simonson (New Mutants, X-Factor, Superman) and special guests reveal
why they know what Fan-Boys want.

It’s nice to know that after a lifetime of fighting to be taken seriously, you can still be lumped in with a former porn star who once read a comic book as an equal.

Seriously, this is why “women’s panels” suck are a dated, useless idea whose time has come…and gone. I would love to hear Colleen Doran’s thoughts on art history and freelancing…Amanda Connor’s ideas on design and the current state of superheroes…Louise Simonson’s unsurpassed viewpoint on storytelling and creating lasting characters…and sure, what the hell, even Jenna Jameson’s ideas on why celebrities are flocking to comics to get their next optionable property. But when all these people are grouped together solely on the basis of gender it’s dumb, patronizing and, frankly, sexist. Will we soon be seeing a “Men in Comics” panel featuring Gary Groth, Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, DJ Coffman, Bill Black and Nicolas Cage?

Talon helpfully faxed our post on Dave Sim’s current output to the non-internet using creatorand reports Sim’s response:

“I have never commented unfavourably about women, my opposition is directed toward feminism and the way it has turned our society in an extreme misandrist direction.

“I haven’t responded to Heidi MacDonald because I consider any analogy drawn between the pampered, cosseted and universally capitulated-to North American feminists and what European Jews experienced between 1933 and 1945 to be among the worst examples of trivializing the Shoah that could be imagined and to be, quite literally, beneath comment.

“Heidi and misandrists like her should be ashamed of holding such views but I realize that trying to point this out is a futile task in our society as constituted. They are, quite literally, shameless in their obsessive focus exclusively on their own extremist political views.” — Dave Sim, March 31, 2008

We’re left wondering how anyone could think this passage refers to “North American Feminists”:

Sometimes, these beefs are expressed through petty personal slights. Other times, they take over entire societies which condone everything from female genital mutilation to “honor” killings to rape as the tool of ethnic cleansing to a woman being arrested for sitting next to an unrelated man in a Starbucks. I’m not trying to equate the petty with the cruel and inhumane. But until we understand the sources of these feelings and social conventions, we cannot help, we cannot cure. We cannot progress.

[Thanks to Special Agent Roundy for the Link]

Our experiment in parsing the superhero trends of today ended in disarray as the discussion devolved into the kind of sock puppetry and name calling we find so odious. However, it did spawn a rather interesting post from Michael Climek in which he talks about how he got into reading comics. We find these origin stories of comics readers in their 20s (Climek is 26) very interesting because we were one of the many observers who thought that the superhero market abandoning comics for younger readers in the 90s would sound the death knell for their readers down the road. While the feeder stream was definitely cut off a bit, the appeal of comics to youngsters still managed to shine through. And there is no shame in acknowledging that superheroes and superhero comics can have an honest appeal to children:

Regrettably I cannot remember the first time I was exposed to comics. I know that many other historians and bloggers can cite a specific issues, and moments, and stores, but I cannot. I’m barely old enough to remember the last death throes of the newsstand concept as the Direct Market took over, so comics were ‘around’ so to speak. Actually, now that I think about it, the first ‘sequential art’ I was ever exposed to may very well have been the little comics that used to come with every He-Man toy. This has just occurred to me as I write this but it makes sense. I was a HUGE He-man fan as a child. I had most of the figures, and many of their accessories, and I watched the cartoon as if my life depended on it. He-Man really clicked with me as a young lad, so one of those many tiny 8 pages comics is probably the first taste I had of sequential art.

Another issue of a comic is one that really haunted young Climek, and appalling as it sounds, there is perhaps a lesson to be learned in knowing that a comic by Peter David and Todd McFarlane had the power to scare a child so much that he threw it behind the couch.

Still, the comic in question did come out in 1987, when there were (arguably) more “regular” comics that were aimed at youngish readers. As many have pointed out, what will be even more interesting is the demographics down the road when today’s manga-reading tots seek more mature fare. When you’re trained from birth in one style, the expectations are far different.

The “Brave and the Bold” discussion did show us one thing: “decompression” is a term a lot of readers throw around without having any idea what the hell it means. For us to figure it out ourselves would necessitate reading a LOT of comics from Marvel and DC…something we may not have time for any time in this epoch, alas.

When Marc Oliver Frisch asked why Brave and the Bold by Mark Waid and George Perez had been sliding in sales, it seemed to touch a nerve, and Graeme at Blogorama kept the ball in play. Surely Waid and Perez were fan favorites? (Perez has left the book, but Waid continues on.) Shouldn’t such a book be right in the wheelhouse of the presumed 40-year-old fanbase of DC Comics? But is that really who reads DC comics any more?

We’re always suspicious of comment threads as a barometer of any kind of valid demographic or marketing information, but the one at Blog@ is worth looking at for the widely varying reasons readers have rejected the title. The overall picture is a reminder that just because it was hot for the Tweeners who now run comics, doesn’t mean the current audience likes it. For instance, Ryan Dunlavey, artist on Action Philosophers writes:

Why I don’t buy Brave and the Bold:
1 - It’s boring.
2 - I don’t like George Perez’s artwork.
3 - Super heroes.

“Don’t like George Perez”???? Wha–? That’s heresy! Ed Ward has a even more stark assessment:

The fact that it reads like older, pre-decompression comics is, I’m pretty sure, one of the reasons it’s a tough sell to contemporary readers. The storytelling is very much a part of a different era of comics and, I suspect, doesn’t ‘click’ with a lot of people explicitly because of that.

I also think that people who may not innately respond to that style of storytelling make adjustments when they are reading older work, because they expect that storytelling style going in, but will not make that adjustment for new books.

I know that it definitely takes a lot more effort for me as a reader to find an ‘in’ to a book by George Perez than it takes me for almost any other contemporary books, and it it’s more work for me to stay involved. The adjustment in my headspace feels very similar to the adjustment in headspace I need to make as a film viewer when I’m watching something from the silent-era as opposed to something contemporary.

Given the constant exumation of every facet of both Marvel and DC history, the idea of “contemporary” isn’t one that necessarily tops the list of current comics selling points. (Other readers in the thread say that the overall storyline wasn’t strong enough to keep their interest.) But seeing this brought up several times shows that it isn’t just John Byrne who’s out of touch these days.

Johanna also links to this thread but picks another pull quote

B&B appeals to intelligent readers who appreciate the history of DC’s universe and the caring attention Waid and Perez give to the characters they use in their stories. Such readers have by and large stopped reading DC comics, since the bulk of the DCU is now run by overgrown fanboys with dismemberment fetishes.

This comment reflects the general consensus of many respected observers on who reads superhero comics and why, but there is no denying that the Ultimate/Identity Crisis/52 generation of superhero comics readers IS a generation of superhero comics readers, and not just the lingering survivors of an older tribe.

While old timers–like The Beat–turn up their noses at this “decompressed” storytelling — rejecting what seems like plotlessness and a lack of pacing, for today’s readers, this is what they expect from comics. And for old timers with any sense of taste, the difference in quality between a Millar/Hitch comics, say, and the average rush job corporate comic, is fairly obvious. In the same way that the Image style drove out John Byrne, the “decompressed” style is throwing dirt on the grave.

What’s interesting from our own viewpoint, anyway, is that in a quest for new comics that satisfy in less widescreen ways, the only place to go is indie comics. The average Oni, D&Q or Top Shelf book has more “traditional” storytelling than corporate comics these days, and are created by young cartoonists with completely different sensibilities.

Looked at another way, a few posts back we linked to some gobsmackingly beautiful old comics by Reed Crandall. Crandall’s heydey as an artist would have been 20 years before those Harris comics were published — a shorter time than George Perez’s heydey was from now. Looking on the Crandall pages today we’re stunned by their artistry and timeless skill. Had they been published 10 or 20 years ago the style would have been seen as hoplesssly old fashioned, however.

But the 20-something comics reader has got his own bag now. What do you think, kids? Who are the greatest storytellers of the “decompressed” era?

CBR takes a look at comics on MySpace and concludes that Marvel is very buzy there. However the most popular cartoonist on MySpace is a Seattle-based animator named Siya who has over 47K “adds”:

In keeping with cries of joy, top-ranked indie comics artist Siya told CBR News she first set up shop on MySpace to share her artwork with folks who may not necessarily find themselves in comic book shops. “A few years ago, MySpace wasn’t really known for networking amongst comic creators,” she said. “I just put up my artwork in hopes that people who wouldn’t usually read comics would be interested, in both comics and art. Some people liked what they saw and I just starting getting a lot of friend requests.

It may not hurt that Siya is a MySpace-friendly young lady of great attractiveness, but she is seemingly aware of the pitfalls of this tack:

DO NOT add me, if:

1. To add to your “hot chicks” list - I’m not a model, and I highly doubt I rank on the hot list. (its much appreciated, but doesn’t say much about me) I’m a big dork, you’d be very disappointed if you expected otherwise.

This is the moment of manga. I mean, I know you all knew that, but it’s not just a fast growing comic book category; when people look back at Aught Nostalgia, this well be remembered as the Manga Decade. Or at least that’s what our link round up tells us:

Let us being with Chris Butcher’s photo of what 5000+ manga look like (check link for full sized picture) and continue with this story about Hollywood’s J-Pop mania:

“It’s become a veritable feeding frenzy,” one young and enterprising American producer said of Hollywood’s anime and manga craze over a dinner of German sausages in Silver Lake, a hipster enclave in Los Angeles. “In fact, we’re now looking to other Asian countries like South Korea, China, even Singapore. There are just too many people focused on Japan.”

Last summer’s Transformers movie–whose toys and anime series originated in Japan–was one of the biggest box office draws in an otherwise mixed or dreary 2007 for big-budget Hollywood productions. Appleseed: Ex Machina, about which I’ve written in this column, smashed all previous anime DVD sales records upon its release earlier this month, selling 100,000 units in only its first week.

This story (originating in a Japanese newspaper) can be seen as a bit of hype, but it’s unquestionable that the Manga Look is the look of the moment. And Japan is trying to export more of its cultural influence according to this article:

“Japan is a giant in animation and there’s many things that we can learn. There’s still a huge gap in skills,” Zhou Feng Ying, president of the Beijing Glorious Animation Co, told a seminar at the Tokyo International Anime Fair on Thursday. “It’s very important for us to grow through cooperation,” she added, referring to the animated “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” currently being produced by her firm and Future Planet, a Japanese company. That cooperation brings Zhou’s company access to international distribution and Japanese animation know-how honed over decades, while Future Planet gains a sharp cut in production costs and a chance to tap the potentially vast Chinese market. Such ventures are now seen as key for the industry, since despite decades of global dominance and a boom in the popularity of anime and manga comics, Japan’s foreign anime profits are still surprisingly small compared to the money made at home.

Meanwhile, previously normalized Manchester, Uk has been turned into Manga-chester thanks to a major manga art exhibit:

Urbis displays all of the above, from cutesy to violent, erotic to commercial, informative to distinctive, exploring the way Manga has permeated everyday life in the 21st century. There’s even a photo-gallery of how teenagers in both Eastern and Western countries are dressing like real-life Manga characters. Naturally, Japanese girls adapt the characteristic look with ease. Anyone else looks like they’ve had an unfortunate accident with Crayola and a fancy dress box.

In Florida, Bleach and Naruto vie for supremacy:

The two hottest manga series are undeniably Viz Media’s Bleach and Naruto. Both have been battling it out for years in Japan and in America, and neither is willing to give up the top slots in the manga translation ratings. Tate’s Comics is a store in Lauderhill that caters to manga, anime and comic-book fans. “Some series like Fullmetal Alchemist gain a lot of popularity quickly but don’t last long, while these two lose some of their fan base every now and then, but always manage to find their way back,” store manager Joann Minieri said. “Even then, they never get bumped out of the top five.”

Funimation has been making some of its anime available on iTunes, and now Starz’ Manga Entertainment channel joins suit:

In the other corner, the Manga Shakespeare project is examined once again.

Larry Olson, vice president of marketing for Wiley, says that because of manga’s popularity, these books might get youngsters fired up about Shakespeare in a way more traditional texts or performances cannot. Also, because of their shortened passages and stimulating visuals, they might reach a wide range of ages and be especially helpful for visual learners (who account for as much as 30 percent to 65 percent of the students out there).

Finally, this may be the most important link of all, as nerd-friendly parents attend Anime Expo with their young children, and remain mindful but accepting

As I wrote about yesterday, my wife and I spent the weekend at the Anime Boston show at the Hynes Convention Center, but it wasn’t about connecting with our kids directly — that’s something we do as a couple. And part of the reason is because we like to scope out what’s hot and what’s new on the anime and manga scenes, so we can vet the content for our kids. I do the same for video games. I’m lucky enough to actually get paid (at least partly) to review video games, so that helps me justify keeping different console systems in the house and subscribing to various magazines, and even taking a couple of trips a year to trade shows to really get some good exposure.

David Hajdu’s The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America has been getting a great deal of press. The story of how the government investigated then all but destroyed comics, spurred by the pronouncements of psychologist Dr. Fredric Wertham, is an incredible story that needs to be told. In this weeks issue, the suddenly comics loving New Yorker presents a superb essay by Louis Menand that not only recounts the main points of the congressional witch hunt, but analyses the views in Bart Beaty’s Fredric Wertham and the Critique of Mass Culture, which paints a more favorable picture of Dr. Wertham — if not for his views on comics than for his other writings, which were pioneering efforts towards the well-being of children, the end of racial segregation and even the benefits of fandom subculture.

The fall of the comic book in the ’50s has a much larger social context given what else was going on in the US, as Menand writes:

If it makes sense to speak of a Cold War culture in the United States—and it’s a concept that would have to accommodate a pretty wide assortment of artifacts, from Partisan Review to the transistor radio—then one of its classic moments was the comic-book inquisition. The event took place on April 21, 1954, at the Foley Square U.S. Courthouse (now the Thurgood Marshall Courthouse), in New York City, where a subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee charged with investigating the causes of juvenile delinquency took on an imminent danger within: the comic-book industry. The hearings were televised.

At a guess, most of the people reading this blog know the name Wertham; not as many, surely, know exactly what happened in 1954. For those who don’t, Menand’s piece offers a brisk summary:

The hearings went on for another two days, and some experts questioned Wertham’s methods and conclusions, but the industry was badly wounded. According to a Gallup poll taken in November, 1954, seventy per cent of Americans believed that comic books were a cause of juvenile crime. From the fall of 1954 through the summer of 1955, laws restricting the sale of comic books were passed in more than a dozen states, and there were also public comic-book burnings.

The article is online, everyone should read it. Understanding the effects of Dr. Wertham and his book Seduction of the Innocent is key to understanding much of the subsequent history of comics. While the obvious effects — the establishment of the Comics Code and the end of dozens of publishers and the ends of hundreds of careers — would cast a pall over comics for a long time, some other effects were more self-inflicted; Dr. Wertham would act as a boogieman who scared comics out of doing anything groundbreaking for years to come.
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Must reading: Brave Kristy Valenti starts a methodology-based (or as much as it can be based) series entitled Gender and Reading Habits . In Part One. she looks at the well-known factoid that bys stop reading at a certain age, and looks at how this demographic is affected by superhero comics:

If one visits ERIC, the Education Resources Information Center, on the Internet, he or she will find scores of articles on why, in the U.S., boys lag behind girls in reading. Many of these articles suggest using graphic novels as a lure for boys, [2] but it is Christine Welldon’s popular “Addressing the Gender Gap in Boys’ Reading,”[3] that’s of particular relevance. Welldon’s “school literacy initiative was to help close the gender gap in reading,” so she invented a club aimed at the older elementary school grades.

Valenti marshals as much statistical evidence as she can and talks to librarians to explore the topic, which shows that for teen boys, books are as great a marketing wasteland as superhero comics have been for adult women.

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On the fifth anniversary of the start of America’s dumbest war ever, Public Enemy #1 Osama bin Laden reportedly dissed the Mohammed cartoons in one of those messages he periodically releases.

In the message, addressed to the ‘intelligent ones’ in the European Union, bin Laden said that publishing the ‘insulting drawings’ was a greater crime than Western forces targeting Muslim villages and killing women and children.

And the ‘reckoning for it will be more severe,’ he said, according to a transcript of the message provided by the Virginia-based IntelCenter.

Referring to a series of cartoons published in Danish newspapers, the Al-Qaeda leader also warned: ‘if there is no check on the freedom of your words, then let your hearts be open to the freedom of our actions.’

We’ve got to hand it to the big cheese of Al Qaeda, he’s on the right track here. Publishing cartoons IS a far worse crime than killing women and children. You can kill a man (or woman or child) but you can’t kill an idea.

Let freedom ring.

Many rumors abound that democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama might show up at this summer’s San Diego Comic-con. Obama, an avowed comics reader at one point in his life, may still be campaigning in July (the Democratic National Convention takes place August 25-28) and one blogger has imagined how he would fit in with the crowds.
Personally, we think he’s be there for the Jack Kirby tribute panel.

[Thanks to MG for the link.]

Don MacPherson talks about DC’s decision to print only one price on its comics for the US and Canada. The move has made Canadian retailers unhappy.

So DC’s announcement, though incredibly late, is welcome news for retailers and customers, yes? Well, not really. The manager at my local comic shop, for example, is annoyed at the development; his preference would be that U.S. publishers leave the Canadian price off their comics and graphic novels altogether, allowing for easier adaptation to fluctuations in currency values. That’s what Dark Horse does and many others as well. Anecdotally, what I’ve been hearing is that many Canadian comics retailers have been disregarding the Canadian price for some time, even more the dollar achieved parity with the U.S. buck.

…and…Noah Berlatsky wonders why comics never got with the program:

It got me thinking a little bit about how comics have done, and continue to do, so poorly in this regard. Why wasn’t there ever a blaxploitation equivalent in comics during the seventies — a series of titles starring and aimed at black people? Why are there still so few black comics professionals, and so little black representation in the industry in general? I know it’s not because black people don’t like comics — every time I go into my local bookstore, I see black folks sitting in the comics section, reading away. So what’s the deal?

My point here isn’t that American comics aren’t racist or segregated; I mean, clearly they are in terms of who you see in their pages, who works on them, and, in general, who reads them. It’s just kind of interesting to try to figure out why comics are so much worse about race than other media (movies, television, music.) It’s also interesting to think about what the consequences have been.

This YouTube video has a weighty theme:

The American civil rights movement opened possibilities of empowerment to a new generation. Feminism simply extended that to include equity for the 51% majority of the human race, namely women. 1970’s pop culture reflected society’s struggle to grasp a new, modern, full-range woman. Comic books were in a renaissance through young counterculture creators with more sophisticated stories, art, and outlooks. What better place for higher concepts of new female power than the turbo-amped fantasyscape of superheroes?

But we suspect you will just enjoy its nostalgic, kick-assness. Commentary by blogger Kali here. Via When Fangirls Attack.

At Edelstein boarding school, the schoolboys wear lip-gloss, the headmistress has a weakness for homoerotic comic books, and there is only one subject: how to serve female visitors.

Yes it is another story on those maid cafes for women in Tokyo. Pullquotes galore.

“Most of our customers are office ladies in their twenties and thirties, women who are fashionable but normal,” said Emiko Sakamaki, Edelstein’s 27-year-old manager, herself dressed in a loose mini-dress over skinny jeans and knee-high boots.

What do I think of Dave Sim? I think he’s one of the world’s greatest living cartoonists. You can use that as a pull quote, like this.

“One of the world’s greatest living cartoonists.”
–Publishers Weekly

Go ahead. It’s true. Through 30 years of Cerebus he proved himself a craftsman, writer and artist with a vision unsurpassed. His comedic timing, inventive storytelling, expressive lettering, humane, nuanced characters, and epic world-creation…all unsurpassed.

Like many great artists, Dave Sim is also a complex, nuanced human being. But alas, he’s also something of a philosopher, and as most agree, as Cerebus went on, it became increasingly engrossed with these philosophical concerns, to the detriment of storytelling dynamics.

And the bottom line is that, just as the anti-Semitism of T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound and Richard Wagner will always be an asterisk to their great artistry, so will Dave Sim’s narrow-minded philosophical concerns always provide the asterisk to a great career.

That’s the short version. If you want more…plunge on, brave, brave Concorde.
(more…)

For a while now, Dave Sim has been mentioning Secret Project #1, of which it was only known that 1) it would debut at the SPACE indie show, 2) Sim would not promote it, as he has Glamourpuss and 3) it made Neil Gaiman cry. Gradually word leaked that it was Holocaust-themed. Well the word is out, it’s Judenhass, which, we’re told, means more or less “Jew Hatred.” But it’s not what you think.

An examination of the historical roots of the Holocaust through quotes from historical personages drawn in a photorealism style from period photographs. Begun in response to the sixtieth anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz (2005) it will be released during the sixtieth anniversary of the founding of Israel.

Judenhass is a stand-alone one shot comic book, perfect bound and 56 pages long. It’s published by Aardvark Vanaheim Inc. for release in May 2008. It will be kept in print, and it’s hoped that the title will be kept in stock by retailers and supported by them as a perennial title.

Okay, show of hands: who saw this one coming?

Available in May.

[Via Panel & Pixel]

Technorati Tags: Dave Sim

If you’ve been dying to ask Dave Sim a question about Gender Issues, today’s your last chance, as for one day only, he takes on questions at Sequential Tart. Enjoy!

There is an intrinsic nobility for a man in working hard to provide for himself and for his family, to improve their lot and give them every advantage in life. But I think I’m safe in saying that for most husbands and fathers, The Job was the means to the end, The Job was not an end in itself. The end was the home and the family. “This is why I work this hard.” And on the part of the wife and mother there was an ancillary motivation. He is working terribly hard to provide for us, so I, too, will work terribly
hard to make A Good Home with all that that entails, a place of rest for him from the dog-eat-dog world. This is what he is doing it for, so I have to do my part to live up to that.

Your grandmother and your great-grandmother didn’t see it as being “stuck at home all the time.” The idea of “stuck” and “home” being used in the same sentence would have struck any good Christian woman as ludicrous. How dare you say about My Home -the home I have made for my family, with all that that entails with regards to aesthetics, decor, cleanliness, craft, cookery,etc. etc. etc. that it is a place to be “stuck” in? It is a never ending challenge to maintain and improve, certainly, but “stuck” in? Never.

Of course our grandmothers and great grandmothers had centuries of tradition that were handed down carefully: how to do this more effectively, cooking and baking secrets and so on. They couldn’t have conceived of being “stuck” at home: every season had its own attendant problems and disciplines to enact as they had been enacted for untold generations.

It seems to me that the huge success of Martha Stewart illustrates that those instincts are dormant, not dead. She certainly never seemed to run out of things that could enhance, maintain or improve the home. Of course she was preaching to a generation who just wanted to know where they had to go to hire a Martha Stewart to do all that stuff for them.

More at the Archive of Golden Age Romance Comics.

Found whilst surfing today, a site called OtakuBooty.

OtakuBooty is open to everybody. Anybody can browse the profiles, and find out about other single otaku.

Registered members get extra benefits like being able to post their own profiles for the world to see. Becoming a member is cheap and easy, just like Shilarva’s mom.

Related: Tonight, Brave New World in Newhall, CA hosts Singles Night:

Mark your calendars and plan ahead,
it’s Brave, it’s New, it’s
SINGLES NIGHT!
The response, so far, has been tremendous, and I’m feeling more and more confident that you single folks, and you know who you are, will all be able to meet each other in the warm and loving environment known as the pop culture superstore that you adore: HERE!
I know what you’re thinking, but there will be
representatives from ALL genders here @ The World, as well as food, drinks, fun, and….oh, yeah….the opportunity to meet someone who you already know won’t think your Spidey/Wolvie/Cobra Comander tattoo is weird. Heck, they might even have one of their own. A conversation starter!
Give this a chance, people….it’s gonna be great.
Friday, February 8th ~ 8pm

The event is co-sponsored by Geek monthly magazine.

A new exhibit kicks off to look at the sociological implications of comics:

OPENING RECEPTION of THE COLOR OF COMICS EXHIBITION: A Look at the Images of People of Color in Comics

When: Friday, February 8, 2008

Where: Bronx Community College (Bliss Hall Art Gallery)
181st Street & University Avenue
Bronx, NY

Time: 5 to 7 PM

Dave Sim makes an unannounced appearance at the Sequential Tarts board and starts chatting it up with Gail Simone, Pia Guerra and a few other regulars:
Dave:

Well, my views on feminism are, I think, foundationally the same: that is, I think that women are by nature and inclination wives and mothers for the most part. I don’t think and have never thought that women should all be forced to be wives and mothers exclusively but I think our society has gone to the other extreme and starts with the assumption that all women should go out and work and if they want to be wives and mothers as a secondary interest they’re free to do so. I think as a result that a lot of very good wives and good mothers are being subjected to working world pressures that are probably more than a little cruel given their natures and inclinations. This is an extreme minority viewpoint but it is the viewpoint I hold. My impression is that homemaking skills, as an example, are being permanently lost because they are viewed as being sexist or patriarchal or demeaning to women. Girls pick up on that and parrot the party line but I wonder how many of them are looking at movies from more traditional time periods and secretly longing for the “old way of doing things”. In today’s political context I don’t think we’ll hear from anyone who is thinking that way. She’d be denounced as a dupe unable to recognize her own victimization.

I do think that society is moving more and more in that direction and I think one of the net effects of that is going to be worldwide feminism moving in that direction that will basically attemptto steamroll Islam as constituted.

Gail:

Wow. Okay, well, here again, I have to say, maybe you needed to talk to a bigger sampling of women, that time you spoke for the ‘first time’ to women you didn’t want to sleep with, Dave.

I mean no offense, but the idea that domestic skills are disappearing…is that purely anecdotal, from personal experience?

I work mostly at night, I have a considerable workload writing comics, film, and other projects. I get up at 6:00 am each day to get my son (whom I adore, along with my darling husband) to school, I generally make breakfast, do most of the cleaning (they do help out considerably), and I do almost all the cooking. I’m damn good at it, in fact.

Working at the salon, I saw women poring over the recipes in the women’s magazines and often borrowing them, and talking about cooking and keeping house, and we’re not talking some small sampling, we’re talking dozens of women coming through the door every day. My sister does all the cooking in her house, and she has an advanced degree and runs a museum.

I don’t get it. Where exactly did this theory come from, if you don’t mind, Dave? What was the basis for such a conclusion?

[Link via Dirk]