Women Write About Comics

Guest Post: Lois Lane: Hero or Villain?

Thu, 23 May 2013 14:57:11 -0400

Guest Post: Lois Lane: Hero or Villain?:

If these fantasy characters were real people, Superman would be acting like a complete lunatic. He wants a relationship with Lois, but sabotages any chance at that at every possible turn. Lois is at least consistent and understandable. Her anger towards Clark seems harsh at times, especially when she calls him things like “unbearable coward” and “spineless worm,” but she’s committed to her contempt. And she’s just as unswerving in her adoration of Superman. For that reason, she feels a lot more real than Superman does.
The irony is that she’s not the main character and not the one that readers are intended to identify with. And recognizing one’s self in Superman means seeing Lois as an obstacle. If one of Superman’s goals is to be with Lois, then he should be. Young boys aren’t going to see his dysfunctional nature as the problem. If there’s something preventing his relationship with Lois, it must be her. So she’s seen either as a judgmental harpy with Clark or a fawning gold-digger with Superman. Either way, she’s not worthy of him. The problem is her.

Stated another way, Lois is a victim of being the supporting character in Superman’s story. As she was introduced and written for decades, she wasn’t a fully developed character with her own dreams and reasons for doing things. She was just an obstacle in Superman’s getting what he wanted. And it wasn’t just that she got in the way of his having a relationship with her, either. She constantly tried to sabotage his career as a journalist by stealing his stories. She tried to undermine his superhero work by proving that Clark Kent and Superman were the same person. She jeopardized his mission to save the world by constantly getting in trouble and so monopolizing his attention.

Lois Lane Blog Carnival

Wed, 22 May 2013 15:19:17 -0400

Just a reminder that this week we’ll be rounding up all the submissions to the Lois Lane blog carnival. Because we got off to a late start, you still have time to put up your post and send me the link.

As always, your post can be on Tumblr, Facebook, Wordpress, Livejournal, or any other blogging/media platform, as long as it’s public. Submissions can be essays, linkspams, comics, vlogs, or some other manner of awesome Lois celebration.

In order to have your submission included in our roundup post, simply get a link to me asap. You can tag it #lois75 on Tumblr or Twitter, and I’ll pick it up, or send it to me directly on Tumblr, Twitter, or email.

The topic is simply: 75 years of Lois Lane being amazing (and you).

Lois Appreciation Begins!

Wed, 22 May 2013 15:10:09 -0400

Thanks to a series of strange and unfortunate events (some involving me weeping on the floor of a server room–the less said, the better), our celebration is getting off to a bit of a late start. But don’t worry, we’ve got a week of awesome Lois Lane posts queued up, and a blog carnival to share with you.

When I was putting together this week’s guest posts, I asked my aunt, a Lois & Clark superfan, if she wanted to contribute something. She sent me this email:

Thanks for asking me about Lois. I’d just like to share with you that Lois always seemed to me not dumb about recognizing Clark but subversive. After the second world war, the American-British culture slammed women back into the box–housewife and mother, not career. The removal of options was brutal in its pervasive, unexamined invasion of women’s rights. Lois could work, and incidentally have a voice as a reporter, only as long as she was single. Why would she want to give that up? So as long as she “failed”–ie refused–to recognize her “super” man, she could continue to be a real person. Lois & Clark was great to me, because it recognized the cultural change that made it possible for Lois to see and acknowledge the whole man but still have her life. The most cultural troglodyte of my acquaintance at the time of Lois & Clark only liked the first year when Lois was unable to see both Clark and Superman. Some people work hard to not grow.

Much love,

Claire Hess.

There is something more to Lois Lane, than being Superman’s girlfriend, or the archetypal plucky girl reporter. There is something more to her than her 75 year publishing history, or numerous screen and animated portrayals. She’s a character of tremendous cultural and personal significance for so many women, and we’re going to explore that, and celebrate it, this week.

(On the blog).

ourwhitehotroom: Hawkeye Mug DIY — Make Your Own! Now you,...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 17:04:04 -0400

ourwhitehotroom:

Hawkeye Mug DIY — Make Your Own!

Now you, too, can make embarrassingly coordinated kitchenware like Clint Barton.

.Wrong again, Clint.

—-

whitehotroom.com is celebrating hawkeye week so come party in purple with us

Maddy Beaupre made this amazing poster for our upcoming Lois...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 16:20:00 -0400

Maddy Beaupre made this amazing poster for our upcoming Lois carnival. As always, please reblog and share widely!

And of course, give the artist your compliments. http://mcbeaupre.com/

birdstump: Wonder Woman redesigns, by Shakir Khan

Sat, 06 Apr 2013 06:22:14 -0400

birdstump:

Wonder Woman redesigns, by Shakir Khan

Call for submissions: The history of Lois Lane

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 12:55:54 -0400

Call for submissions: The history of Lois Lane:

thewherefores:

Looking for a few good guest posts.

As part of 75 Years of Lois Lane (Lois 75, for convenience), we’re putting together a series of posts on the history of Lois Lane, but there’s so much history that we can’t cover it all! We’re calling out to all you Lois experts, to make sure Lois is celebrated as she deserves to be: thoroughly, provocatively… and only after fact checking.

Subject: Overview of a specific era or adaptation, thematic essays, comparative essays, or a spotlight on a particular relationship or aspect of the character. Or something else amazing.

Length: 1500-3000 words (but it’s negotiable).

Deadline: May 13.

Get in touch with WWAC editor Megan Purdy for more details.

Whoops, wrong blog.

Blog Carnival: 75 Years of Lois Lane

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 12:50:26 -0400

Blog Carnival: 75 Years of Lois Lane:

Celebrating 75 Years of Lois Lane (in May)

Action Comics #1 was released in June of 1938. It featured the debut of not only Clark Kent and Superman, but plucky, independent reporter Lois Lane. Love interest, competitor, sometime thorn in Clark’s side, and full time journalistic superhero, Lois has been an integral part of Action Comics, Superman, and the superhero mythos ever since.

In honour of the property’s 75th anniversary, Women Write About Comics is dedicating May 19-25 to a celebration of Lois Lane. 75 Years of Lois Lane will include essays, creator interviews, and a blog carnival featuring–we hope–you.

What’s a blog carnival, you ask? Basically it’s a giant blog crossover, where a bunch of people get together to share their views on a specific topic–in this case, a celebration and exploration of the long history of Lois Lane, and your relationship to the character. What we want to know is: what does Lois mean to you? The carnival is open to established bloggers and journalists, and especially to all fans. Just write, vlog, podcast, or comic, and get a link to us by the 19th. We’ll go live on WWAC with a master post on the 22nd, linking to all submissions.

It’s been awhile since we’ve run a blog carnival, and we hope you’re as excited about Lois 75 as we are!

Check out the carnival FAQ for more details on the mechanics, and our Back Issues for past carnivals.

Use #wwacomics and #lois75 to talk about the carnival on Twitter.

vintagegal: Girls pose by a jail that recalls the witch trials...

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 16:46:50 -0400

vintagegal:

Girls pose by a jail that recalls the witch trials of 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts. Photo taken in 1945.

Quick, someone pitch a comic based on this photo!

What is geek culture? What we talk about, when we talk about geek culture.

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 10:09:00 -0400

What is geek culture? What we talk about, when we talk about geek culture.:

“Meanwhile, what’s going on with geek culture? It’s hard to tell if mass culture is getting geekier, geek culture is getting more mainstream, or both, but it’s increasingly difficult to tell the difference between being a Star Wars fan, and not being one. The rules and rituals of being a geek are both more widely known, and less religiously practiced by fans as a whole. But what I’m describing, the Problem of Geek Culture, isn’t just cultural drift–it’s a lingual mishap, loaded up with territorial panic. There are two geek cultures obviously at play in the Problem of Geek Culture: old school geek culture, and this new geek mass culture. The Problem of Geek Culture is framed as invasion.”

Megan Purdy, in What is geek culture?

Our first podcast! Our SECOND interview with Hannah Chapman of Comic Book Slumber Party

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 10:58:01 -0400

Our first podcast! Our SECOND interview with Hannah Chapman of Comic Book Slumber Party:

Here at Women Write About Comics we’re unfailingly organised – mostly. Each moving through local comic connections Megan B and Claire both arranged interviews with Comic Book Slumber Party’s Hannah Chapman… and didn’t realise there was crossover until each were complete! Luckily we’re a gestalt of one thousand varied interests, and both interviews took different tacks, leaving WWAC with the hardest-hitting journalistic look at an up and coming comics event you would ever ask for. Check out Megan’s first foray here, or if you’ve already lapped that one up (good!) get your headphones out and prepare for: Women Write About Comics’ first ever podcast.

"As much as I hated it at the beginning that I was playing a really controversial character people..."

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 11:59:43 -0400

“

As much as I hated it at the beginning that I was playing a really controversial character people hated, I kind of like the way that Sansa comes into her own. She grows into this person that people like. I think she’s a really strong example of seeing someone grow up on screen, because you see her utterly transform.

Obviously, people don’t have the experiences that she goes through. But I can relate to her, definitely, because I was thrust into an acting world where I had no idea — I mean, it can be difficult at times, it’s a challenge. In a good way. But Sansa has difficulties and challenges in a bad way. She has the right intentions. And she’s so much in grief about her father’s death. She wants to be so much like her father was, but she knows that she can’t be, because that’s not what’s going to help her survive. That’s the heartbreaking thing about it; she wants to keep all these Stark traits, but in order to survive, she has to let them go.

…

The thing is, when people started to hate her was when she was confronted by the queen and the king, and they had Joffrey there, and she had to make a decision between her family and her future. She took a middle part and didn’t upset either of them. That resulted in Sansa having to sacrifice something that she loved. But people didn’t understand that. That frustrated me.

”

- - Sophie Turner once again understanding her character better than anyone. (via fyeahsophieturner)

OH MY GOODNESS I WANT TO GIVE SOHPIE TURNER A HUG FOR UNDERSTANDING HER CHARACTER SO WELL.

For reals though I am so delighted to read this because it’s spot on and perfect and I’m glad she loves her character and I wanna tell her that I appreciate the amazing job she’s doing and not to let the haters get her down.
(via notcuddles)

isupportfairuse: Mona and the Metal Men — Mark Bryan,...

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 17:53:23 -0400

isupportfairuse:

Mona and the Metal Men — Mark Bryan, 2006

Another piece based on the Mona Lisa, this one exemplifying a transformative use of Fair Use, recasting the Mona we’re all familiar with as a space helmeted protector of robots hellbent on invading a distant metropolis.

Tell me you wouldn’t watch this, and I’ll know you as a filthy liar.

ronchronchronch: gokuma: gildatheplant: npr: popculturebrain:...

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 17:49:07 -0400

ronchronchronch:

gokuma:

gildatheplant:

npr:

popculturebrain:

New Images: ‘The Wolverine’ | EW

OOOO oooo oooooo! — tanya b.

Anyone know who the blonde in green is supposed to be? I’m curious because the only Marvel characters she reminds me of are more connected to The Avengers not X-Men.

woman in green = someone from Hydra

That’s Viper/Madame Hydra. I’m a bit sad she doesn’t have green hair.

And yay, Mariko and Yukio!

Yukio is the absolute best.

stem-cell: Captain Marvel - “Don’t you ‘lady’ me, son. I’m an...

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 17:47:24 -0400

stem-cell:

Captain Marvel - “Don’t you ‘lady’ me, son. I’m an Avenger!”
—-

Hopefully coming to my WLF shop soon. Hopefully.
LW!

gameraddictions: artist: Loic Zimmermann set 1

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 10:47:18 -0400

gameraddictions:

artist: Loic Zimmermann set 1

"I get why Connor Hawke is gone. I don’t LIKE it, but I get why they got rid of him. I don’t really..."

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 10:41:55 -0400

“I get why Connor Hawke is gone. I don’t LIKE it, but I get why they got rid of him. I don’t really get why the spare Batgirls have been chucked out the window. I don’t get why they will go out of their way to recolor details like hair in the background to avoid even a nod of one of them. I’m not even a fan of her, but it sticks out to me. There seems to be an active dislike of certain characters, like Brown. Maybe like Queen Hippolyta too, since she gets offed so quickly and so often lately. And I think there’s a real strong antipathy towards Lois Lane. She’s just too well-known and entrenched in the franchise to erase from existence.”

- Ragnell in our recent DC Roundtable.

Organize: Making space for women in comics.

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 10:39:47 -0400

Organize: Making space for women in comics.:

Megan Byrd interviewed Hannah Chapman of Comic Book Slumber Party.

"Superior Spider-Man has done a huge disservice to MJ’s character. I can accept that Mary Jane, even..."

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 10:38:03 -0400

“

Superior Spider-Man has done a huge disservice to MJ’s character. I can accept that Mary Jane, even with all the superhero weirdness she’s experienced, wouldn’t immediately jump from “Peter is acting like a jerk” to “Peter is actually Otto Octavius in Peter’s body.” But the passivity with which MJ accepts Peter’s disrespect–addressing her as “woman” to her face, throwing a fit when she turns down having sex with him, stringing her along emotionally–is not only screamingly out of character, but uncomfortable to read. She thinks “Peter” is “stressed”–that’s not an excuse she would have accepted from the real Peter, so why she’s putting up with it from Ock is beyond me.

The elephant in the comic store is that MJ isn’t capable of consenting to sex or sexual contact with Otto, and his attempted seduction of her is actually an attempt at rape by fraud. At no point over five issues of this subplot is this acknowledged; you can practically hear the Benny Hill theme playing while Ock tries to get into MJ’s pants. Evil genius Doctor Octopus, foiled by the unspoken codes of the dating scene! Tune in next issue to find out if he succeeds! And hey, here’s a cover of MJ in a short, tight dress, being manhandled into a kiss while you can see her tits and her ass!

”

- Skalja in

Part two of our Marvel roundtable: Mary Jane, Miles, and the diversity dance in comics.

sniffleheim: Marvel Comics Meme: Nine Artists (06/09) - Stuart...

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 20:27:20 -0400

sniffleheim:

Marvel Comics Meme: Nine Artists (06/09) - Stuart Immonen

Love Immonen.