Looking To The Stars - Clerks 2 and Civil War #3

First, A Few Words To The Wise…

There is a Clerks 2 Review here, but this is going to be sappy, emotional and above all thoughtful criticism for the most part. So if you just want to know if it is funny or worth seeing, the short version is Yes. It is funny. Jay and Silent Bob are in it. Randall is his usual crass self. And Dante is still Fate’s Chamberpot. If you want to learn something, stick around. If not, enjoy the flick.

Last week, in case you didn’t read it, I spoke a bit about how the movie Clerks changed my life for the better at a time when I was younger, more foolish and wondering what to do with my life while being trapped in a crummy job and lacking direction.

Now, nearly ten years after I saw that film, I am a little bit older, relatively less foolish and am trying to find a respectable full-time job. I’ve also found that I also have about the same hold on the direction I am going in as I did when I was 18. Which is, ironically, very much the same situation Dante Hicks is in as Clerks 2.

As the movie opens, Dante’s future seems fairly certain. Free of the Quick Stop and RST Video for nearly a year, Dante is going into his last day of work at the Mooby’s Fast Food place. He has a fiance who is getting ready to drag him down to Florida and an easy life in a house bought by his in-laws, managing a car wash owned by his father-in-law and generally getting away from the Hell that has been the first 33 years of his life.

It gives nothing away to say that naturally, things get complicated and that by the end of the film, everything has been put in jeopardy. Comic antics ensue, of course. There is much comedic geekery, including a much needed slam of the live-action Transformers movie, a view of Fantasy Fandom vs. Sci-Fi Fandom and a hilarious dissertation upon the accidental use of racial slurs.

But underneath the “stupid humor for smart people” as Kevin Smith once said when asked to describe his movies, there is a big heart and a big message to this film. Dante Hicks, like Hamlet, is a man doomed by his inaction and indecisiveness and Randall is his Horatio. If the first Clerks taught us that we are often the architects of our own prisons, this Clerks teaches us that life is too short to spend worrying about what you should do with your life if you don’t live your life, for good or ill, in the first place.

A less mature Smith might have illustrated this point with a Star Wars quote; “Do or do not; there is no try,” could have done the lackluster Dante a lot of good about 15 years earlier. But he is past that point and so is most of Smith’s audience. Instead, Smith offers more subtle tributes to his influences – including a musical montage to “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head” that hails rather than mocks Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and a black-to-white fade that suggests, much like The Wizard of Oz, that there is no place like home. And like before, the movie ends with a Soul Asylum song. And a very good Soul Asylum song, at that I should say.

In short, the movie is not just a laugh-fest. It’s got an important thought behind it as well. And you get to see a lot more of Jason Mewes than most people would want to see. If that’s not worth your six clams, I don’t know what is.

And since my review of Clerks 2 was a littler shorter and sweeter than I expected, here’s a bonus review – short version and a longer version – of Civil War #3.

Now, long time readers know that I’m not a big fan of Mark Millar. In the past, I’ve referred to him as a poor man’s Grant Morrison and as a pitiful hack who was plundering better storylines from DC Comics in order to continue his work at Marvel. His run on Spider-Man, for instance, being a poorly executed, continuity-ignoring parody of Jeph Loeb’s Hush.

It will probably be a surprise, then, for me to say that I liked the story of Civil War #3 very much.

Seriously, you don’t get better than this for sheer drama. Two groups of heroes, divided by a political dispute on the field of battle as indifferent politicians look on. And then a third party, who would benefit from the hero’s destruction, unleashes a magical, electric force that is capable of destroying them all.

Truly inspiring stuff. And I did love it… when I read that exact same story in Kindgom Come.

(Oh come on. You didn’t think I was really going to say something good about a Mark Millar book, did you?)

For the short review, I hand the podium over to my illustrious and illustrated fictional colleague, J. Jonah Jameson.

The Short Review

Tune in next week. Same Matt time. Same Matt website.

Visit our blog at: http://www.livejournal.com/users/looking2dastars/

Looking To The Stars - A Few More Of My Favorite Things

My first job was working as a generic clerk then as a video clerk in a books/music/movies superstore that shall remain nameless. It was a cool one at first but after a switch in the management it became more and more unbearable, but ain’t that always the way?

Well, while I was working there I got introduced to a little film that wound up changing my life for the better. It didn’t quite inspire me to follow my dreams (I’ve needed precious little motivation to do that) but it did inspire me not to let my crummy job get me down and to try and stick with college so I’d at least have a chance at a better day-job while I was doing the theater thing at night.

Well, eventually I got fired from that job, anyway and on the same day, I used my last paycheck to buy a copy of this movie which had inspired me so: Clerks.

So naturally, it got my attention when I walked into the comic shop one day and heard the owner complaining about how Marvel Comics had gone crazy. They were handing over the reigns of Daredevil to an unproven writer – guy who made a few movies and written a few indy titles for Oni Press.

Nodding in sympathy (I was a DC boy, what did I care?), I asked who this horrible hack was.

“Kevin Smith or something.”

Unthinkable as this may be today, Kevin Smith was not quite a household name among geeks. Chasing Amy was just barely in the video stores, the Internet was not yet the huge bastion of rabble-rousing message boards that it is now and Mallrats hadn’t yet become a huge cult hit with every comic-reading guy who saw a little of himself in Brodie Bruce.

I knew jack and squat about Daredevil but I knew who the guy who made Clerks was. And if he was going to take a hand at writing comics, I was going to give it a shot. So that leads us to #4 on our Top Ten Chronological Countdown…

The First Marvel Comic: Daredevil #1

Ironically, I didn’t wind up getting this book at the comic shop. In a blunder worthy of Walt and Steve-Dave themselves, the former owner of my first comics-shop ordered too few of the first issue. He expected it to be a critical flop. Instead, he sold out in an hour. Of course the reason he expected this was because of all the people who will buy a #1 anything… until the demand kept coming later in the week, as word of mouth spread among the small comic-reading community of that town.

Thankfully, I was able to get the last copy from the Waldenbooks in the mall.

Chagrined, the store owner wound up tracking down a line on some other things by this Kevin Smith guy, who it seemed was selling some things on that new-fangled Internet. And so it was that I was able to get…

The First Autographed Comic: Clerks: The Comic Book #1

Years later, I would get a book autographed by Kevin Smith in person. That’s a rather prized collection piece right there. And if a picture is worth 1000 words, then this is worth quite a bit.

(And for those of my friends who have commented upon my slight resemblance to Mr. Smith, just so you know- I’m the one in the back wearing the goggles).

What? I was cos-playing Jack Knight!

Anyway, as personally noteworthy as that comic is to me out of all the books I got autographed, simply for the way Kevin Smith indirectly influenced my life, it is not the first book I ever personally got autographed by a creator. No, that distinct honor goes to…

The First Autographed In Person Comic: JLA/Avengers #1

I had the good fortune to run into Kurt Busiek first thing in the morning, just as he was about to leave the DC Comics booth. I later got to spend a good while hanging out with him and George Perez in a signing room and got him to sign the book as well. Sadly, the first issue of Busiek’s Conan was just a few weeks away, so I didn’t have an issue of that to sign yet. But, there’s always the next convention.

Of course it is fun to look at all the significant first-time comics as a collector. But as we all know, a comic is only truly worth something if you read it. So the last four comics in my top ten are going to be books that all touched me in some way or another. They aren’t signed. They aren’t worth much on e-bay. But I won’t trade my copy of them for anything.

And I’m going to talk about them all next time, right?

Wrong.

I’m going to take a break on the reminiscing for a week. Take some time to really do some deep, soulful writing of the prose.

Besides, Clerks 2 comes out next weekend and I’ve just gotta speak my peace about that.

Tune in next week. Same Matt time. Same Matt website.

Visit our blog at: http://www.livejournal.com/users/looking2dastars/

Looking To The Stars - Some Of My Favorite Things

It’s something that every fan must do sooner or later. Maybe you need the money. Maybe you need the space. Maybe you just don’t want that complete run of Animal Man as badly as you once thought. Whatever the reason, we all eventually have to weed the comic box.

It’s not all that bad though. Because as you’re digging through all those comics, you find the lost treasures. The books you read once, put aside and forgot that you had all these years. All the old favorites you haven’t read in forever.

With that in mind, I’d like to take you all along a walk down memory lane with me as I share with you my ten most favorite comics of all time. They aren’t all necessarily classics. In fact, I expect one or two of them to inspire laughter and questions about my taste. But they all mean something to me, for one reason or another. Maybe you’ll find a memory or two as well. Or you’ll discover an old classic worth hunting down.

The First Comic: Nintendo Comics System #1

This was the very first comic I remember making an active decision to remember. There were some Batman and Green Lantern comics I remember from when I was a real little kid. But this one was grabbed up during the first and only time my mother ever took me into a comic book store. And that was only to kill time as we were waiting for a delayed movie to start.

Like most kids in the late-80′s/early-90′s, I was a Vidiot. I kept a home made scroll on my wall with an active tally of how many video games I had beaten. I took photos of myself with the end game screens and tried several times to get my name printed in Nintendo Power magazine. Good thing I eventually matured and moved into a much more sensible hobby like comic collecting.

Still, this comic… which collected a spattering of stories staring the Mario Brothers, Link from Legend of Zelda and Captain N The Game Master (ah for the days when cartoons were openly commercials for the coolest toys), while not fine art, was amusing enough for its subject matter. I still get a chuckle thinking about the comic where Mario keeps getting knocked out and starting his day over and over as the monsters around him are having a tea party, totally oblivious to Mario’s efforts to beat them senseless.

The First Serious Comic: Green Lantern Vol. 2, Issue #90

I’ve told the story before about how, as a young man of 19, while working at a book store, I first got into comics formally. In brief, Green Lantern had been my favorite hero when I was a tyke watching Superfriends. So one day, as I was unpacking magazines for the bookstore, I came across some new comics and noticed a Green Lantern comic among them. I also noticed something strange…

That is NOT Green Lantern on the cover.

I read the issue and was enraptured by the story, which luckily enough had been written as a sort of jumping-on issue for new readers. I read about Kyle Rayner, who has been given the last Green Lantern ring after a chance encounter in an alley. The story showed this in flashback and I would later find out there was some question as to why he had been in this alley in the first place – a question this issue neatly answered while delivering one of the few non-preachy anti-drug abuse messages I’d ever seen in any book. It also hit me kind of hard since Kyle had a lot in common. We were both artists without work (me an actor, him a graphic artist) who were coming off a relationship we were unsure about (him with Donna Troy, me with a girl who is best not discussed)

Before too long, I was looking at other books and trying to figure out what happened to Hal Jordan. That search for answers led me, eventually, to pick up…

The First Series I Put On Subscription: JLA, Issue #8

I shouldn’t need to tell anyone here about the glory that was Grant Morrison’s JLA. But if Ron Marz was the man who brought me into comics, Grant Morrison was the one to keep me in them.

This issue, which started off with a tableau of alternate realities – Superman as a Green Lantern – an older Batman watching his son fight crime as the new Robin – Aquaman playing Kevin Costner in a world full of water – was cool in of itself for that alone.

What really hooked me was a relatively new character: Connor Hawke. He had just come onto the JLA base as an honest new guy and he quickly found himself over his head, facing off against a telepathic bad guy with no weapons but his own body, base cunning… and eventually a whole lot of his father’s old trick gadget arrows…

It was a little corny, but it was enough to get me to buy issue #9 and to eventually start picking up Connor’s solo adventures just months before its’ cancellation. It also inspired me to start reading up on his dad, the original Robin Hood Hero, who I had only known as having had a Super Powers figure with easily lost pieces and having been in ONE episode of Superfriends.

I was strictly a DC Fanboy at first. Apart from Spider-Man, who was always a favorite even though my exposure to him was limited to the old Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends cartoon as well as the occasional tape of the old late-60′s cartoons at my local videostore, I knew nothing of Marvel Comics and from what I heard from my new friends at the comic shop, I wasn’t missing much.

But within a year, someone I was already a fan of would get me to jump ship and (gasp) read something from the Marvelous Competitor.

Who? We’ll talk about that next time.

Until then, two short films you all might enjoy as well.

I’ve mentioned the Flash movies of Mr. Matt Gardner before. This new one, I think, may be his finest yet. The title isn’t much but the story is greatness. So please. Give a view to: Fantastic Four: Doomsday

And for you DC Fans, or anyone who likes gratuitous Solomon Grundy cameos, why don’t you give a look-see to Power Girl: Classified?

Tune in next week. Same Matt time. Same Matt website.

Visit our blog at: http://www.livejournal.com/users/looking2dastars/

Looking To The Stars - Superman Returns - A Review

The first and last time I saw a Superman movie in the theater, I was nine years old.

It was about a month after my birthday and I had just gone through surgery for an abscessed tooth. I couldn’t eat anything for a day after and couldn’t drink anything except sugar-free lemonade or water. And yet, despite my mom’s protests, I insisted that we go and see Superman IV as soon as we left the dentist’s office. The fact that she allowed this AND took me to see the live action Masters of The Universe movie that same summer is perhaps the greatest testament to my mother’s saint-like patience.

Given that Superman IV was considered by most to be one of the worst movies ever made, some might argue that I was lucky to have had the pain of the surgery to make the movie more tolerable. Personally, I hold that Superman III was the worst of the Superman movies. At least Four TRIED for quality. Three was a comedy that wasn’t funny – a greater offense to me than an unintentionally goofy action film.

Sure, the effects were sub-par and the plot silly even for Superman… but the movie had its’ heart in the right place. And to a nine-year old Starman whose Novocain was wearing off, that was enough to take my mind off the pain and the feeling of helplessness that surgery always leaves me with.

So here we are; roughly 18 years and 11 months later. I didn’t have surgery but I did come off a painfully dull shift at work and a 20 mile drive to the theater that was having a 10 pm premiere of Superman Returns with tickets for only $4.00 American. I got one of the last tickets and was forced to take a seat on the front row between two groups of young boys.

Now, it’s worth mentioning at this point that I am a back of the theater kind of person. I hate sitting on the front row. And I hate getting stuck next to kids at the theater because of the inevitable noise when they get bored.

I shouldn’t have worried. The kids didn’t make a peep during the whole thing except to cheer or say “Woah!” And that was in the WHOLE theater. The only talking I heard came from an alleged adult three rows back who was making smart-ass remarks at about two hours in. But the first two hours…. Dead silence and awe.

That is perhaps the best complement and recommendation I can pay Superman Returns, which is also not perfect but it has its’ heart in the right place.

I have some more analysis for those of you who like to compare notes after a movie is over or for those who want a little more information before seeing the film. But before I conclude the spoiler-free part of this column, let me make three recommendations before you go see Superman Returns…

1.) Go see it on a day when you can be assured there will be lots of kids there. This will help put you in the child-like frame of mind that will maximize your enjoyment of this movie.
2.) If possible, see it in an IMAX Theater. This movie is gorgeous on a big screen but I can only imagine how amazing the flying effects and more look with the big planetarium screen.
3.) Go to Google and read about the tangled history behind the creation of this movie or watch one of the many videos where Kevin Smith gives his account of working with Jon Peters. Then give thanks to the deity of your choice that all Jon Peters was allowed to do to this film was put his name on it.

There we go. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Now… SPOILERS AHEAD…

The opening credits were the first sign that Bryan Singer and company had every intention of doing this right. The credits are equal parts tribute and teaser… with the original John Williams Superman score playing as the credits swoop toward us in blue block lettering. But now the blue is mixed with red. And instead of the static star-field of the original Superman credits, we also mix and weave between planets and asteroid belts as we move past the stars, towards the Earth.

As always, let’s define our terms and categories.

PLOT: The big SPOILERS BEWARE part. A basic summation of the story.

INFLUENCES: What are the comics that this movie was inspired by and/or ripped off of?

CHARACTERS: Are the characters written well and true to form?

ACTING: Separate from Characters, this is a measure of how skilled the acting is regardless of how “true” it is to the comic book personality of the character.

ARTFULNESS: Nice touches and beautiful artistic shots in the cinematography.

FX: The flashy whiz-bang material and how it looks.

COMIC BOOK GUY QUOTIENT: Another big SPOILERS BEWARE section. Nit-picking over anything relating to “how it SHOULD have been done” and general Monday Morning Quarterbacking.

OVERALL: The broad summary of how I felt about the movie in general.

PLOT: After a five year absence, during which time he was searching where Krypton was for some sign of survivors, Superman returns to earth. Most everyone is glad to seem him back, with three exceptions. Lex Luthor, who has a new plan to take over the world using Kryptonian technology looted from the Fortress of Solitude. Lois Lane, who was abandoned without so much as a goodbye by Superman and is now a Pulitzer Prize winner and mother of an asthmatic, allergy-ridden son. And Richard White, son of Perry, the new man in Lois’ life and supposedly the father of her son, who is somewhat uncomfortable that this man in Lois’s past is making her uncomfortable.

Give at 10 for 10 for originality. The subplots all flow together beautifully and this story is an original if nothing else.

INFLUENCES: Unlike X-Men 3, this movie borrows more from the previous films than the comics on which it was based. The first big action scene, involving a shuttle take-off, is a slightly more modernized take on Superman’s first appearance in John Byrne’s Man of Steel. And elements of the last 20 minutes of the movie draw upon elements of The Death of Superman. There is one fight scene that seems to draw off the concept of Intergang – the thug with an insanely powerful gattling gun. But the biggest inspiration is Richard Donner’s Superman I and II.

The film uses John Williams’ same musical score throughout and stock-footage of Marlon Brando as well as some of the more famous Superman lines of all time. This could make the film seem like a cheap rip-off but it doesn’t. The effect is one of respectful tribute; best summed up in the credit, after all the speaking-role actors are listed, dedicating this film to Christopher and Dana Reeve.

Singer set out to create an alternate-timeline sequel to Superman II and damn me if he didn’t succeed. 10 for 10 here, as well.

CHARACTERS: If you’re looking for a Pre-Crisis Superman, you won’t be disappointed. Fans of the evil millionaire, Donald Trump with better hair version of Lex Luthor may be saddened but Luthor is every bit the crazed mad scientist who would sell his own mother to the gypsies for an advantage. Lois comes off a little softer than usual but given the circumstances surrounding her conflict regarding the man she loves and the man who was always there for her (and which one is which, for that matter?) that is understandable.

Let’s call it 8 for 10. Lex comes off a little TOO manic, even for Pre-Crisis here and Lois’s writing could use a bit more edge.

ACTING: Character by character…

Superman/Clark Kent – Brandon Routh does not disappoint. He comes off a little stronger as the goofy Clark Kent then as Superman, but given the script does require Superman to be somewhat off-balance given the situation he comes back to with Lois, this actually fists the character somewhat. And in the moments where he has to be regal and strong, he is.

“You say people don’t want a savior. Every day, I hear them calling for one.”

That line may be paraphrased a bit. But I remember getting a little teary-eyed when he said that.

Lois Lane – Kate Bosworth has been slammed by some of the fans, but I think she did a competent job. Other critics have complained she looks and acts too soft. I think most of the blame for that lies in the script, not the portrayal. Because when she needs to be hard, like telling Superman why she wrote an article titled “Why We Don’t Need Superman” and chewing him out over leaving Earth without saying goodbye, she is hard. In the newsroom, she is a hardass. It is only when Superman or her child are in danger that she begins to melt and… well, I’ve seen strong women crumble a bit when they were worried about their child. Strong men too, for that matter. So I think any talk of Bosworth not doing Lois Lane, as she is in this reality justice, is horsehockey.

Richard White – Okay. James Marsden is playing Cyclops again. But this time, he’s allowed to try and make Cyclops a likeable character.

Seriously, that is his role in this movie. He’s the good, reliable man that the main heroine is drawn to even as she lusts after the main hero. But unlike the X-Men movies, Marsden is given a chance to show us why on earth he was able to win the heart of the woman he is sharing his life with. He is likable, he is heroic and he is secure enough in himself to not fuss about Lois being confused about her feelings regarding Superman returning. It’s a thankless task and in a lesser film White would have been killed off in a dramatic fashion so as to allow Lois to move on, guilt-free. Thankfully, Singer is better than that and so is Marsden.

Lex Luthor- Any actor will tell you that it is always more fun to play the villain than the good guy. Kevin Spacey is obviously enjoying himself here, playing everyone’s favorite land-snatching mad-scientist. And the fact that it’s Kevin Spacey enjoying himself in a role is all I need to say.

Jimmy Olsen- Better than the originals, if only because he’s actually a youngish, annoying redhead with a bow-tie.

Perry White- Skeletor says Great Ceaser’s Ghost. ‘Nuff Said.

Kitty the Henchwench – She’s no Miss Teschmacher. The one bad performance in the whole thing as her sudden change of heart is telegraphed WAY too early.

Let’s call this a 7. Parker Posey has done way better.

ARTFULNESS: Sadly, the film lacks a bit in this department. Many shots are handled too close and too quickly, like most of the action scenes and particularly the action inside the crashing plane in the first action sequence. There is much to admire though, but on reflection I find that most of it is Singer reshooting a classic moment from the original Superman. Still, the new flying effects and view of the city and the Earth from above more than redeem the lack of originality.

Give this a 6.

FX: There’s a few obvious CGI moments, but nothing glaringly bad. A solid 7.

COMIC BOOK GUY QUOTIENT: Old-School purists may balk at the idea of Lois Lane as a mommy and Superman as a potentially dead-beat dad. And I’m sure there is someone out there complaining that this alternate reality sequel is destroying the integrity of the Superman franchise and that Superman III was an unappreciated classic. Apart from that, there’s really not much for the purists to complain about apart from the duller red on the cape. 8 out of 10.

OVERALL: A solid 8. It’s a great movie and a worthy continuation of the Superman franchise. Not quite as good as the original, but it doesn’t really try to be more than a worthy sequel.

Oh, and one last bonus bit before I go…Click Here for NEXT Summer’s Best Superhero Movie

Tune in next week. Same Matt time. Same Matt website.

Visit our blog at: http://www.livejournal.com/users/looking2dastars/

Looking To The Stars: A Woman's Place Is On The Web

I pride myself on being an enlightened, 21st century man. But that doesn’t change the fact that I really don’t know how it is to be a minority. Apart from a good deal of teasing in junior high and the occasional loud-mouthed sort who equates my long hair and good grammar with homosexuality, I really don’t know how it is to be hated for what I am. I’m white. I’m male. I’m straight. Apart from being a liberal in Texas or a comic book reader, I’ve never really been oppressed.

As such, I was a little worried that after last week’s column that I would get a backlash of e-mail asking me what the hell right I had to talk about the subject of sexism in comics since I can’t really recognize the value of the issue.

Well, I’ll admit that’s a point. As a man, I can’t really understand what it is to be made uncomfortable by Supergirl being treated like a helpless bimbo and Scarlet Witch being turned into a psycho hose-beast just for the sake of a storyline. I can’t fully put myself in those stylish shoes. But I can appreciate the inherit issues at hand. Consider me the inverse Homer Simpson; just because I don’t understand, doesn’t mean I don’t care.

And I’m not alone in this. Many of my Comics Nexus Brethren have been discussing these issues in recent weeks as well. Consider Paul Sebert and his Words of Wisdom on Erik Larsen equating comic-reading feminism with small boobs and the problems with the new Batwoman. Take a look at Jeff Ritter’s Minority Report, now in three convenient parts! (Part One, Part Two and Part Three).

Still, there’s only so much that even we three enlightened folks may do. So as a service to the community and an effort to broaden my reader’s horizons as I have tried to broaden my own in the last two weeks, I present you with a list of links to the well-written words of some women who read, write and love comics as much as we merry men of the fandom set.



When Fangirls Attack!

A links list with several methods of receipt, this one gathers up some of the best and brightest of female comic fans’ blog commentary and serves it up to you in a nice little package. For those of you who, unlike me, don’t have time to sort through hundreds of links.



Dance of The Puppets

I was drawn to this blog by a link on the DC Comics message board. And damn me if this isn’t the best criticism of the hypocrisy of Judd Winick’s liberal guilt and his treatment of Kimiyo Hoshi (a.k.a. The good Dr. Light) I’ve ever read. There’s also some more humorous but no less well thought out fare, like the treatise upon Superskirt physics.



Gail Simone’s Personal Blog

Somehow, I missed out on this until I found it linked elsewhere. No surprise that this blog is as funny and witty as you would expect. And it’s worth checking out just for a look at some of Gail’s scripts, as well as a lost scene from Villains United.



girl-wonder.org

A fairly new site, this one has been making waves with the right sorts of people if the number of fetal piglets trying to crash their message board with porn and trolling is any indication. There are far too many good, well-written things for me to link to individually. Indeed, every feature of the site I’ve had a chance to look at so far is excellent and this is easily one of the Top 5 fan sites I’ve ever seen anywhere.



Pretty, Fizzy Paradise

The one that prompted me to rewrite this entry at the last moment when I saw an article entitled An Open Letter To Male Comic Fans that perfectly sums up the problem that many well meaning, but ignorant, guys try to reduce all feminist issues in comics down to skimpy clothing. Granting that there ARE a lot of complaints on the other side of the aisle about scanty costuming, it is about a lot more than that. And Kalinara sums it up beautifully.



Rangell’s Written World

There are links to so many other great places that you could almost miss the wonderful written world here. Rangell is thought provoking but more than that, she is funny. I burst out laughing at her faux sales pitch for The Cult of Aphrodite (Hourly Rates Available for the Tithe).



What Were They Thinking?!

While not strictly a feminist site, this humorous look at comic panels of long ago does have a lot of commentary upon some of the questionable treatment and costumes of female characters. Sue Storm, the icon for the “useless, until the plot requires her to do something” superheroine gets a particularly hearty examination.

And finally, because I also somehow managed to miss this, a live Web-Radio interview with Gail Simone. You see, most other writers would limit their Gail Simone pimping to ONE link. So I have to do it one better. Because that’s just the kind of guy I am.

Tune in next week. Same Matt time. Same Matt website.