Don’t Think Of It As A Slow Week, Think Of It As Awesomeness Concentrated Into Fewer Items
The final word on Women In Refrigerators, by Randy Milholland. I’m starting to think he’s got a better grasp on the fundamental idiocies of the superhero genre than anybody else on the planet.
And new meme! Go here, and add your drawing of a bear in an ill-fitting hat (special thanks to The Strike-Breaking Dreamcrusher both for the tip-off, and for showing his skills of an artist).
That’s just silly. How is the superhero genre as a whole inherantly sexist just because one woman was shoved into a refridgerator once? I just read 25 JSA comics where men and women alike were killed by villians. And aren’t there female superheroes? A handful of sexist writers don’t make up the entirety of a genre. And don’t pretend you’re “above” it and are the arbitrator of taste if you write a comic that debuted with an abortion joke.
By Mitch Clem on 12.28.07 9:56 pm
Mitch,
1) Women and men get killed in comics often, yes – but generally male characters aren’t subjected to torture, humiliation, and rape. Also of male characters who die or are depowered, many return – female character are generally less likely to do so.
2) “One woman in a refrigerator” – women are generally the sacrificial lambs in comics. It’s not just Kyle Rayner’s girlfriend. At the time I gave up on it, every girlfriend of Savage Dragon had been murdered. The death, and sometimes torture, of a women is constantly used as a motivation for heroes to “become serious.” For female heroes, you next to never see that.
3) Yes, there are female superheroes. And? Many of them fall the similar fates as non-hero women.
4) Oh, so because I did a joke about back alley abortions I can’t be fed up with seeing the torture and death as an overused plot device to spur male character development? I s’pose if I’d spent six years making fun of women, you might have some point. It’s like me saying you don’t have the right to bitch about pop-laced punk rock because you once said you liked a band I think is bullshit.
By Randal Milholland on 12.29.07 9:30 am
Mitch, either that was an awesome bit of sarcasm or you’re part of the problem.
By GregC on 12.29.07 3:56 pm
Maybe we’re just reading different comics. I’ve never been a Savage Dragon fan, admittedly. Then again, maybe this is something truly prevalent I just never noticed and it’ll start popping out at me more and more as time goes on. Who the hell knows. I’m part of The Problem. Though I still honestly doubt superhero comics commit such feats more frequently than any other medium.
By Mitch Clem on 12.29.07 7:08 pm
As for the abortion joke, my point wasn’t to say you can’t joke about whatever you want. Who cares. But you’re speaking out against comics that torture or demean women. You ever get a girl pregnant? You ever take your girlfriend to the clinic for an abortion? You ever deal with that car ride home afterwards? Have you ever talked to a woman who’s had an abortion about how that made her feel? Again, I’m not interested in debating what is and is not in good taste, I think we should all be allowed to make comics about whatever we want. But I don’t see how it’s better if the intended outcome is comedic rather than dramatic.
But whatever. I don’t have anything against you or your comic. I don’t even know why I keep posting. I need a social life or something.
By Mitch Clem on 12.30.07 12:08 am
“Though I still honestly doubt superhero comics commit such feats more frequently than any other medium.”
On this I agree 100%. But that is a poor excuse for letting it happen in comics – “because everyone else is doing it”.
This is why I avoid spandex comics and their fandom. Bored now.
By GregC on 12.30.07 12:24 pm
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