Welcome back everyone to this week’s look at new stories and voices in comics. After a stellar week last time out, can this round of new No. 1 issues from some of comics best and brightest hold up? There’s a very simple and straightforward answer to that question.
No. Brace yourself. Continue reading
You guys, I just can’t anymore. I am tired of all these movies and TV series showcasing what has come to be known as the MPDG (Manic Pixie Dream Girl) aka Ol Quirky Bastard aka Ghostface Quinoa aka DJ Sheer Knee Highs And The No Bra Brigade aka Henrietta Pussycat Is My One True Idol. It is out of control. I think what pushed me over the edge was the recent release of the Steve Carrell helmed Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World and Paul Dano’s Ruby Sparks (which I will admit to thinking was called Ruby Sparkles until about last week). And honestly, at this point I think I might wake up one day in a daze surrounded by patterned tights and Play-Doh scented eau de toilette, and not know what happened to the last 20 years of my life.
Arrested for being too gosh darn adorable
The rundown: so, Carrell’s film is basically Deep Impact set to a soundtrack of folk rock hits. I’m almost kidding: an asteroid is about to hit Earth, resulting in the apocalypse, and the film includes some folk rock toe-tappers, but Elijah Wood is, sadly, nowhere to be found, and LeeLee Sobieski has grown into what appears to be Kiera Knightley in my Nana’s crocheted afghan. So yes, a rock is hurtling towards Earth; Steve and Keira are neighbors who go on a journey in a Smart Car and learn about life, love, and dogs. And Ruby Sparks (NOT a biopic about Robin Sparkles, sadly) is Stranger Than Fiction, and maybe also Harold And The Purple Crayon, but the jury is still out on that one. Paul Dano plays an author who writes a character, subsequently falls in love with her, and sub-subsequently she becomes an actual human person in his kitchen eating Grape Nuts, or whatever it is recently-corporeal beings eat.
And in that moment, I swear we were all vintage sun dresses.
My problem: It’s not that I’m saying either of these films aren’t good, or funny, or genuinely well made. My issue is this constant repackaging of the young, thin, White woman as not only the mainstream ideal, but as this pseudo-exotic, mysterious, interesting, life-changing, niche ideal as well. It is exhausting, and quite frankly, I’m getting pretty bored by it. As much as I enjoy films like this (I adore Stranger Than Fiction and the criminally under seen Away We Go, especially), I want more, I mean, “indie films” are supposed to be the vanguard, right? Well, BE the vanguard.
Just once I would like to see a Manic Pixie Dream Boy, or Manic Pixie Dream Non-Fetishized Lesbian. Manic Pixie Fat Girl? Magic Pixie Black Girl? Manic Pixie Dream Korean? However you want to go with it, they’re all totally realistic, I grew up in the Lisa Bonet 90s, I’ve seen ALL these people. And from a plot standpoint, it’s a pretty lateral move, these characters rarely ever HAVE to be thin White women, you know? Spice it up. Same goes for the men, but we’re talking within the MPDG trope specifically.
This is actually Lisa Bonet. This is not a spread from a Free People catalogue.
I think in recent memory, the closest we’ve come is Tom Hanks’ Larry Crowne, with Gugu Mbatha-Raw playing a free-spirited classmate of Hanks’ Larry. But get this: there’s no romantic sub plot between them. In fact, her boyfriend is ALSO one of Larry’s free-spirited college friends, played by Wilmer Valderrama. And through the power of friendship, Larry Crowne becomes more in touch with himself and all that, but it was way less creepy than an underdeveloped MPDG helping the main character through his mid-life man pain through a May-December romance and Urban Outfitters incense sticks.
So all I’m really saying is, step it up, make me believe in the dream again, stop disappointing me. How am I supposed to believe in artistic youth culture, when artistic youth culture doesn’t believe in me?
Please say hello to Ritch, guys! Ritch is an all around awesome blogger, who flippin’ loves Doctor Who. In fact, that’s how we were introduced in the first place. “Alice, do you know Ritch? He LOVES Doctor Who!”
Ritch has a great new project that he’s putting together, just in time for the premier of series 7 (and not too far from now, the 50th anniversary of the series): he plans to review every single Doctor Who episode, ever, but he needs some help. He’s put together a Kickstarter campaign to help fund this huge undertaking. (Nearly 50 years of episodes, I mean DAMN!)
As far as Kickstarters go, he’s not asking much, but I still wanted to get to know a little bit more and give Ritch an opportunity to talk more about his motivation for the project. Hopefully, after reading our little Q&A about his project and his love of The Doctor, he’ll get a few new supporters. Continue reading
If you’re just arriving, Part 1 of this series looking at the development of Gwen Stacy’s character can be found here.
Of the many liberties that the new film, The Amazing Spider-Man takes with the original Marvel comic book storylines, the one most readily apparent from the very beginning of production was the complete excision of Mary Jane Watson, Peter Parker’s most enduring love interest and future wife. It was an unexpected choice. Insofar as many casual fans are concerned, Mary Jane is Peter’s one true romance, and has almost exclusively been the love interest in the past thirty years of comics, a trilogy of movies, and any number of animated films.
The choice to have Gwen Stacy be the lead female role in The Amazing Spider-Man must have been, in no small part, an attempt to break away from the precedent set by the Raimi films. However, utilizing a lesser-known character afforded the filmmakers the ability to adapt the character to their vision of Spidey. Gwen must have been a terribly attractive option. Whereas Mary Jane’s function in Peter’s character arc was to bring him out of his shell, Gwen was the character he had the most in common with from the get-go. Like Parker, she was academically talented, quick-witted, and often misunderstood by her peers. Peter’s true self was hidden by his self-effacing manner and less-than-impressive physique. Gwen, on the other hand, was often dismissed as just another pretty face.
In the film, this leads to an easy chemistry between the two characters, once they get over their initial awkwardness. In the comics, however, it results in constant tension and misunderstandings. Bringing Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy together required an outside catalyst.
We’ll just call her Mary Jane.
Mary Jane Watson, perpetual motion machine. Art: John Romita Sr. Words: Stan Lee.
Our hearts go out to the victims of the Aurora shooting and their loved ones in mourning. We wish a speedy recovery to those injured in the shooting. We hope that those traumatized by the event are able to find some comfort with their loved ones, or with counselors and support groups, or perhaps even in discussions with compassionate strangers online. This is not the type of event that is ever easy to talk about, and there isn’t much we can say that’s not already being echoed all over the web and in various news outlets. We simply want to express our sympathy and shock over this senseless, horrible tragedy.
Bonfils Blood Center is currently urging volunteers to donate blood in the aftermath of the shooting. However, if you are not near Aurora or Colorado in general, consider donating to your local blood bank. It’s something that is always needed.
Our site is going dark for the rest of the day. Take care of each other.
Sincerely,
The Geekquality Team
While there are only a few offerings to look at, this has been a week of unbelievable artistic talent in some of the new offerings. This is clearly some of the best comic artwork to come down the pipe in a long time. It’s also quite the week for No.1’s from a feminist perspective in particular, so let’s get cracking. Continue reading
Did you know that it has been almost 20 years since Deep Space Nine first aired on television? Re-watching the series lately, I’ve been blown away by how consistently cool Captain Benjamin Sisko is.* He doesn’t always get as much love from Star Trek fans as he deserves. And as much as I’ll always admire Kirk, Picard, and Janeway for their own merits (and none for Captain Archer! Byyyyyye!) I think it’s high time we had a Benjamin Sisko appreciation day around here. So here are 9 reasons for you to love Sisko. (But if you don’t, that’s OK. I’m sure your favorite captain is awesome, too. Unless your favorite captain is Jonathan Archer and then there’s no hope for you.)
* Yes, I know he started the series as a Commander.
Actress Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy; Art: Steve Rude
One of the more remarkable and unexpected aspects of the new Amazing Spider-Man film is how much time and energy the movie puts into developing not just Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield), but also his love interest, Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone). In fact, I’d hesitate to characterize her as simply a love interest – over the course of the film, she is at turns his confidant, mentor, and crimefighting partner, as well as his girlfriend. This is refreshing in the general context of how romantic interests are treated in many superhero movies (for example, in the 2002 Spider-Man trilogy, romantic interest Mary Jane Watson remains something of a fickle cipher, despite ample screen-time), but it’s also surprising to me, as a viewer, having expected the familiar headband-and-go-go-booted blonde. After having my assumptions turned on their head by Stone’s performance, I set out contrast the original comics character with her film incarnation.
At first blush, it seems like a radical departure from her portrayal in the main-line Marvel Universe, as a kind but ultimately naive and shallow 1960’s hipster, whose true impact on her world is less about what she does, and more about what’s done to her. As I dug deeper into the character, I was surprised to find that the seeds of the new big-screen Gwen were already there, spread out over decades of issues, across multiple timelines, and often buried beneath layers of ham-fisted melodrama.
This week, we’re just stoked about so many things. Neil Gaiman expands on the Sandman storyline! A documentary about an all-high school-girl robotics team! A Universal remote to beat all other Universal remotes (except maybe the Universal Remonster)! Check out our links. Continue reading
Well, it’s a weirdly deep week for new comic series (can anyone say San Diego?), and we’ve got a lot of ground to cover. This week saw zombies, chickens, camels, Jesus Christ’s twin sister, and Tonto grace the pages of the new No.1’s, so let’s dive in and try to sort it all out.
The best of this weeks crop is the first book we’ll look at here, Revival No.1, from Tim Seeley (Hack/Slash, Withchblade) and Mike Norton (Runaways, Gravity). The first of two tales that seem to solidly tackle religious issues, Revival is the story of a small town in the frozen north of Wisconsin that has seen the dead returning from the grave. These zombies may walk among us, but they don’t seek our brains – they just want to live their lives, or so it seems at first. No one is quite sure what to make of them, least of all our protagonist, Officer Dana Cypress. A single mother, police office and daughter of the local sheriff, Dana is the first officer assigned to a small task force to investigate crimes relating to the “revived”, some of whom merely seem to want to return to work. They don’t drag their undead limbs through the streets, but they have sparked a nationwide discussion on religion, science and ethics that plays out in both the media and the townsfolk’s day to day lives. Dana, a tough and capable cop on the verge of promotion, doesn’t seem to think this is exactly where she wants to be going, but her mettle proves valuable soon enough, when Dana and her college age younger sister get mixed up in the first incident hinting there might be more malice in these re-animated small-towners than meets the eye: a surprise ending that makes for a fantastic first issue of any book. Continue reading
Full, sad faced disclosure: Geekquality staffers aren’t able to make it to San Diego Comic-Con this year.
Given that several of our staffers are in the process of moving or starting grad school, as well as saving our pennies for the weekend in August when we take Seattle by storm at Geek Girl Con, going to SDCC just isn’t in the cards. This isn’t keeping us from wistfully poring over the schedule, however. This year’s listing of panels, round tables, and special appearances shows a great selection of programming focused on diversity in geekdom, possibly the best year yet.
If only we had a TARDIS and an endless supply of caffeine at our disposal… We’ve put together our list of panels and spotlights we’d definitely attend, if we could. If you end up visiting any of these panels and feel like sharing your post-Con impressions and photos, please contact us! You can check out our full (but nowhere near complete, given the mass of choices) schedule here, which includes some obvious, big deal items like panels for Community, Doctor Who, The Walking Dead, Battlestar Galacatica, etc. Below are some highlights:
THURSDAY
10:00-11:00AM: Racebending.com: Creating Spaces for Diverse Characters and Representations (Room 23ABC) – This panel is how we’d have kicked off the Con, joining our friends from Racialicious. The panel on diversity in fiction, moderated by Racebending.com, includes authors Brandon Thomas (Archaia’s comic book Miranda Mercury), Sarah Kuhn (One Con Glory), and N.K. Jemisin (The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms).
10:30AM-12:00PM: Comics Arts Conference Session #1: Subaltern Counterculture and the Strengths of the Underdog (Room 26AB) – This is where the TARDIS (or some other way to be in two places at once) would come in handy. Blending pop culture and academia, museum curators, artists, and researchers talk indigenous representation in comics, Daniel Muñoz’s detective series El Pantera, Storm’s (X-Men) racial identity, and the concept of race in posthumanism.
12:00-1:00PM: Censorship and the Female Artist (Room 11AB) – Moderated by brand strategist and self-professed social anthropologist AdaPia d’Errico, the discussion will likely cover a lot of ground and address many concerns of censorship of female artists, both looking at specifics and as a broader cultural concern.
6:00-7:00PM: Rewriting the Rules of Queers in Comics (Room 32AB) – This is likely to prove a very exciting discussion, as Oliver Nome (Fathom: Kiani), James Robinson (Justice League), Nicola Scott (Secret Six), Gail Simone (Birds of Prey), Ivan Velez Jr. (Milestone Comics), and moderator Charles “Zan” Christensen (The Mark of Aeacus) discuss the rules (or need for them) when it comes to writing realistic yet diverse queer characters in comic books. Continue reading
It’s been an exciting week for us, what with several excellent posts up on our site and a lovely shout-out from friends at Coilhouse. This list of Geeking Out items is short and sweet, and now we’re ready for the weekend. (Second “weekend” this week for some of us, which has caused much confusion as to what day it actually is.)
What’s on your radar this week? Tell us in the comments!
It’s a widely accepted idea that music, like fashion, social movements, and menstruation, runs in cycles. Sometimes this theory runs less true than others, but right now I think it’s pretty applicable. Because right now, in the year of our Lord 2012, three things are making a huge media comeback: feminism, babydoll dresses, and female [presenting] emcees. This is important on several different levels, one being that the rise of the female emcee in 2012, and the performance styles they’ve adopted, gives us the chance to have some real conversations about race, class, and presentation in the role of third wave feminism.
You might say, “But Moxie, this is a blog for geeks by geeks! What does this have to do with my geek culture?” And I might answer, “Well, you beautiful newborn baby, geek culture is fringe culture, just like this is fringe culture. Music geeks are geeks too, and music geeks encompass a wider berth than just Flaming Lips fans, so get over it – hip-hop geeks need some shine too, and the issues we’re dealing with here are the same issues we deal with when we talk about representation of women of color in media in general, including comics, so double get over it, zip your lips and listen up, sporty.” And you might say, “Moxie, that’s mean!” And I might say “I don’t care!” So let’s continue. Continue reading
The following was originally published for The Delphi Oracle Lifestlye Section and is cross-posted with permission from the author.
Rigus Galen
Martius 20, YR00
Galactica Port Flight Pod
“Intersun Charter 1133, maintain your heading on approach to the port-side flight pod. Welcome to the Battlestar Galactica.”
It’s not often that your average Caprican has an opportunity to interact with living history. Unlike many of the other Twelve Colonies, we prefer to look forward, embrace change, and seize possibilities. Yet it’s impossible, when walking the angled, claustrophobic halls of the famed Battlestar Galactica, the last of the original twelve Battlestars, to not feel a connection to a time when our forward-thinking ways nearly doomed all of mankind.
So it is in this spirit of nostalgia and history that I’m here today to speak with Commander William Adama, hero of the Cylon War, last commander of the Galactica, and protagonist of the as-yet-unreleased biopic, Blood and Chrome. As I make my way through the narrow passages to Commander Adama’s quarters, the ship hums with activity around me. Continue reading
Director Mark Webb’s Amazing Spider-Man, starring Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone, opened at theaters nationwide last night at midnight. And while reviews have been generally favorable, it seems like audiences and critics are suffering from Spider-fatigue. After all, it was only five years ago that Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire took the wall-crawler for a spin. A new take on the franchise so soon after the last is practically getting into sequel territory in terms of timing (and, in fact, Amazing went into production shortly after Spider-Man 4 was axed in early 2010). In perusing the negative reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, it becomes apparent that the new film’s major weakness is in being a retread.
We’re getting another origin story almost exactly a decade after the first (ten years, two months, to the day). And by a director who is best known for a drama/comedy/romance about hipsters dating.
And yet.
I still want to see it. Badly.
