A little self-promotion is in order.
Prism Comics LGBT Guide to Comics 2008 is in the latest Previews catalog, and I wrote one of an article in it. It’s about mad scientists in comics and has little to do with homosexuality. But it is really funny ... if I do say so myself, and I do. I worked on it for much longer than I do most of the things I write. I think it’s better than my article in last year’s guide, which got really good reviews, or so I’m told. Also, it was on mad scientists, which are kind of an obsession of mine. Most of my favorite characters are mad scientists. I can’t pass up a comic with the Leader, Vril Dox, Wizard, or (of course) my absolute favorite, the Mad Thinker.
And any chance to make fun of Hank Pym is too sweet to pass up. Don’t you love the panel from his first appearance that I posted!?! Total mad scientist ranting! He makes Dr. Doom look like Gandhi. I’ve written a lot about poor Hank as you can see here, here, and here, among other places. His early adventures are completely loony.
So you should pre-order a copy of Prism Comics LGBT Guide to Comics THIS month ... preferably before April 12, which is the official deadline.
On page 389 of April 2008 issue of Previews catalog.
* APR08 4269 ... PRISM COMICS LGBT GUIDE TO COMICS MAG 2008 ... SRP: $7.95
I have some issues with the Women in Refrigerators theory as you can see here. But my biggest problem is that the theory is taken as fact by many people without any research done to examine it’s veracity. Another example of this problem has appeared in the pages of Bitch. It becomes increasingly apparent as one reads the article that the author, Shannon Cochran, has done little (if any) research to see if what she is writing has some connection to reality. I could point out the flaws in the article one by one, but I think we can see how very little research she did by looking at this statement: In the eight years since, few of the list’s characters have returned to life or regained their powers.
Below is a list of characters from the list who have returned to life or regained their powers. I might note that many of those listed actually had in the description of what happened to the character that she returned to life or regained her powers. I made this list off the top of my head, so there may be more from the original list who have sprung to life or been energized since in the last eight years that I’ve missed. And to be fair, we could also add some female characters to the original list of dead or depowered characters and we could quibble over a few on my list like whether or not this Supergirl is the same Supergirl who died. But that doesn’t change the fact that more than a few characters from the WiR list “have returned to life or regained their powers” despite what Shannon Cochran would have us believe. To me, articles like this are the foe of feminism despite the fact that their authors believe they are helping feminism. Feminism is not aided by knee-jerk, slapdash propaganda even if you call it journalism. It makes feminism look like an agenda-driven pile of bullshit, and I might add that it diminishes the credibility not only of feminism, but the feminist author of the article and the feminist magazine that published it. What has driven so many people, men and women, from feminism is not the people opposed to feminism, but the people who would smear it from the inside with ridiculous theories, male bashing, and erotophobia. If in fact, many female comic characters do return to life and regain their powers, what is the point of saying they don’t? To create a false sense of victimization? To smear the reputations of comic professionals? To make women sad or angry? How does complaining about something that is demonstrably false help feminism? If you are really concerned with women and super heroic comics, instead of writing about something you’ve imagined like that female characters don’t get their powers back, wouldn’t it make more sense to write about real issues like the lack of female writers and artists in the genre, the lack of female scientists in comics, or the fact that the exemplars of most attributes (e.g. strongest, fastest, smartest) in comics are male? Something real? Feminism does not need to be the bastion of stupidity or paranoia that some so-called feminists seem to want it to be. It can begin with research and then make theories based on that research instead of deciding on a theory and doing just enough anecdotal storytelling to support the theory. You can do actual research instead of just assuming that anything terrible men could do to women they have actually done.
I’m putting this response to Dane’s comment to my earlier post here because it is one of my typically longwinded blathering rants that I’m convinced is so very important that it needs its own pictures and such.
My main issue with Empress is when you want a black magical character then voodoo is the default answer. It's played out: Papa Midnight, Brother Voodoo, etc. There was one in Preacher, but he was modern. Maybe back in the 90s it wasn't so bad, but I don't want to see anymore of this archetype for awhile.
Ah, I see. You are looking at it backward from how I am. I'm seeing that if they want a Voodoo character, they make the character black. And you are seeing that when they want a black magical character, the character gets his powers from Voodoo. I kind of see your point, but...
A. Aegis, the Spectre, Bloodwynd, Dr. Mist, Freedom Beast, Jakeem Thunder, Vixen, Spawn, and King Peacock are all black characters who have magical powers who aren’t into Voodoo. Spawn is a more prominent character than any of the Voodoo related characters and his magical origins have nothing to do with Voodoo. He, the Spectre, and (to a lesser extent) King Peacock all have their origins in Christian magical traditions. So “default answer” seems overstated, and as I said above, it begins with the assumption that character was envisioned as black first and Voodoo second, and not Voodoo first and black second.
B. Empress is in the main DCU. Papa Midnight is in that Vertigo Universe with a lot of the other magical characters, but he doesn’t seem to crossover into the main DCU. Brother Voodoo is in the Marvel universe. So basically there is one Voodoo using hero in each universe. To me, that doesn’t seem like an overused archetype. While there are a few more villains around using Voodoo (e.g. Houngan & Black Talon), I'm not sure there are more Voodoo connected heroes. I guess one might count Simon William Garth, the Zombie, as being a hero, but calling him a hero is stretching things a bit. He was more of a plot device, IMHO. And there’s Voodoo from the W.I.L.D.Cats, but her powers are alien in origin more than they are Voodoo generated. And one might note that both of these characters are white. Personally, I suspect that the folks involved in Voodoo might appreciate more Voodoo practicing heroes, considering the bad rap Voodoo gets.
C. “Gets powers from Voodoo” seems to be a less common origin than “gets powers from mutation” or “gets powers from pseudo-scientific invention.” I’m willing to bet we could name far more black characters who got their powers from their own personal genius (e.g. Bill Foster, Night Thrasher, Steel, Mr. Terrific, Ultimate Falcon, Jack-in-the-Box, Nighthawk of Supreme Power, Prowler, & Technocrat) than we could heroes who get their powers from Voodoo. We could probably name more heroes who get their powers from rings than from Voodoo even if we count all the Green Lanterns as one. Hmm, Green Lanterns, Booster Gold, Freedom Ring, Insect Queen, and umm, come on – there have got to be more! I could site Webwoman, Shazzan, and the Thing from the cartoons (“Thing ring, do your thing!”), or would that be cheating?
D. Other religious traditions have quite a few heroes, and they are frequently more prominent characters. I would point out that virtually all magical traditions have some ethnic connection. For instance, there are tons of Native American magical types that all tend to use some (pseudo?) variant of shamanistic traditions of Native Americans. The whole devil obsession is pretty much an invention of Europeans and there are quite a few white characters what have devil connected background (e.g. Ghost Rider, Son of Satan, Satanna, Blue Devil, Kid Devil, the Demon.) And it seems to me you are saying that you'd like to see more black Satan-empowered characters (e.g. Spawn and to a lesser extent, King Peacock – his religion is complicated!) More of those generically magical blacks that don't have any connection to an actual religious tradition like Dr. Strange. I'm fine with that, but I'd point out that there are fewer Voodoo-connected characters than there are characters connected to Native American shamanism (e.g. Shaman, Talisman, Manitou Raven, Manitou Dawn, Forge, Puma, Flying Fox), Judeo-Christian magic (e.g. those Satan-related above and Zauriel, the Spectre – who is black now, Ragman, the Confessor, Hellboy, and even for a short time the Punisher), and Greek myth (e.g. Wonder Woman, Wonder Girl, Capt. Marvel and Marvel family, Hercules, Ares, Aegis – who is black, btw.) With all of these characters from other magical traditions around, why would the few Voodoo related characters be considered overkill?
I’m going to go a little overboard here and say that I think we could bring a little of Obama’s recent speech on race to comic related topics and say that we can look at black characters and get out of sorts about how this or that might be perceived as racist -- no matter how slight the evidence -- , or we can work for the broader goal of having more inclusive comics with out constantly squabbling about minor details that may or may not be evidence of racism. Frankly, by saying we shouldn’t have any more black Voodoo characters, we are limiting the roles of blacks in comics. There is no stereotype of blacks in the US as being into Voodoo. No one passes black people on the street and suspects them of being into Voodoo simply because they’re black. There isn’t an overabundance of Voodoo practicing blacks in comics. There are real issues of racism, stereotypes, and a lack of inclusion in the world in general and comics in particular, but “an overabundance of black Voodoo characters in comics” does not appear to be one of them. Calling out Peter David as a racist or an uncreative hack or whatever because he created what I believe is the main DCU’s first and only Voodoo-empowered, black hero is not helping to increase the inclusion of blacks or religious minorities in comics. It’s doing just the opposite.
Over in a comic discussion group I belong to, someone said that hiring a black actor to do the voice for Timberwolf in the Legion cartoon is evidence of racism because the casting director is assuming that black voices are related to anger and bestial qualities. I would suggest that telling casting directors they well be accused of racism if they cast blacks in roles where the character is angry or bestial is not helping to increase the presence of black actors in media, especially if the only evidence you have of the racism is that they hired a black actor. Wouldn’t not hiring an actor because he’s black for an angry or bestial role also be evidence of racism? Isn’t saying that the actor only got his role because he is black kind of a slap in this guy’s face because it implies that he didn’t get the role because he was the best actor?
Something similar happens with gay characters. If the character exhibits any traits that might be perceived as stereotypically gay, someone (who is frequently gay) says that the portrayal is offensive. However, if the gay character has no traits that might be perceived as stereotypically gay, someone (who is frequently gay) says that the portrayal is offensive because the character has been created to be palatable to straight guys by removing anything that might make the character seem too gay. If a lesbian character is added, we hear either that the character was created to be a beautiful lesbian sex fantasy for straight boys or that the character is homely because they are stereotyping lesbians as being unattractive. This kind of well-meaning sensitivity is not helping to get gay/lesbian characters into comics. Rather, the very people who want more gay/lesbian characters are frequently the same people who sabotage the sales of those characters by complaining about how offensive they are.
It seems to me that our well-meaning efforts to combat racism, our efforts to increase inclusion, are often backfiring by attacking people in comics who are actually increasing the level of inclusion in comics.
