No More Invisible Girls

"If You Could Change One Thing About Comics, What Would It Be?" (submitted by femmebotshaveemotion)

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:08:05 -0500

If it counts, I wish I could change most fans. Whenever I talk about comics to somebody I feel as if they are only judging me. Every word I say is wrong.

And I think it’d be nice if noir was a more popular style in comic books.

"How I got into comics" by H. Savinien, age 25

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 08:02:06 -0500

I love heroes and heroines. I’ve loved them since before I knew superheroes existed. I read every version of Robin Hood and King Arthur and every book of mythology I could get my hands on as a kid. A boy in kindergarten told me about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and X-Men, but my parents didn’t hold with TV, so I never got to explore them. They were geeky enough to foster it in my brothers and I, though. Star Trek was on the approved list of TV shows and Star Wars in 2nd grade or so was a revelation.

Our public library was pretty good, but they didn’t really believe in comics beyond some Peanuts and Garfield collections in the dark back corner of the Juvenile Fiction section. Somehow, it was understood, comics didn’t really count. I don’t know who changed their minds in the library hierarchy, but suddenly… There were TinTin and Asterix, who had adventures just as bizarre as the Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet, Lizard Music, and Outlaws of Sherwood. They were funny and they had pictures, but they weren’t picture books. A few years later, my brothers and I were very excited when the library picked up huge newsprint anthologies of early Superman, Fantastic Four, Spiderman, Batman, and X-Men comics. Even better! There were rocket ships and awesome costumes (bear in mind I was about 10) and wisecracking. The female characters sometimes weren’t that great and I was smart enough to know that the dialogue sucked a lot, but still, they were cool! Clark Kent (even as Superman) was kind of boring, but Dick Grayson was funny and Peter Parker was very relatable. Then there was Kitty Pride, who had an actual dragon and could step through walls and fly a plane. Kurt Wagner was a dashing swashbuckler just like in the old stories plus he could teleport! They had long detailed story-lines, and I could be “better” at comics than my brothers (I was older; this was always desireable) by remembering names and powers and histories.

I was homeschooled from 4th-8th grade and got a very good education out of it, but ended up an incredibly geeky highschooler, luckily with a protective shield of similarly geeky but more social friends. It was the time of Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. I rediscovered comics in the Elfquest series, Sailor Moon, and Saint Tail (thank you Japanophile friend), but always kept that fondness for superheroes, grabbing every Batman and X-Men collection that the library picked up.

In college, I became more self-confident in my geekery and started actively seeking out specific titles and characters, and came to the conclusion that I was missing a lot in the hit and miss library collections. Since then, I have acted as volunteeer comic/graphic novel advisor for my hometown public library and become a collection management librarian in my own right in a different library. I’m putting together some good collections, I think, choosing titles for various ages that highlight strong stories and fun characters.

In my personal life I haven’t put together more than a tiny collection so far, but I’m working on it, starting with Blue Beetles, old-school Booster Gold, and Birds of Prey.

Girl-Wonder Elections: Technical Issues and Extension

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:46:32 -0500

Greetings, true believers!

Unfortunately, we’ve run into some technical issues with our membership page, and nominations have not gone through. If you’d like to sign up for a membership or nominate potential Board members, please email info@girl-wonder.org. Membership fees will be waived during this process. If you’ve already paid your $5 membership, please let us know so that we can check to see if the payment’s gone through and refund it.

Extended nominations will be open until Friday, February 10th. Again, please email info@girl-wonder.org with your nominations and membership requests! We apologize for any inconvenience.

thedaddycomplex: donkeysalright: Batman Princess When asked...

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 16:36:05 -0500

thedaddycomplex:

donkeysalright:

Batman Princess

When asked what she wanted to be for Halloween, Mabel said “Batman Princess,” so that’s exactly the costume her mom made. This is the best thing ever in the history of everything.

How I got into comics (Submitted by drunkenbookworm)

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 08:16:05 -0500

My interest in comics grew gradually over the past 3 or 4 years and is mostly the result of peer pressure. It started when I read an article listing Rob Liefeld’s worst drawings. I laughed for days but still felt as though I could never be a “comic book geek.” At roughly the same time my online friend circle widen and everyone was reading graphic novels. I would randomly ask for suggestions and then look up them up on wikipedia. I’d go to my comic book store with a list of things I might want to try. It took at least 2 graphic novel series before I realized that this would be more than a passing fancy. The more I read, the more suggestions seem to come my way. Now my trade paperback and monthlies stacks are growing and I am still interested in finding new and interesting comics.

lulubonanza: Photo by Joe Green

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 16:42:05 -0500

lulubonanza:

Photo by
Joe Green

What is your favorite comic? (Submitted by H. Savinien)

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 08:17:06 -0500

I’m not sure whether you mean here favorite comic issue, story, or title, which makes it a little tricky. I don’t follow current titles too closely. Most of my comic-book reading is done via libraries, especially since I’m the purchasing librarian at a library in a town with no comic-book shops nearby, but access to a lot of other libraries’ materials.

I tend to get fed up with titles and mostly follow strong characters, often in series that were cancelled before I ever found them. My current superhero favorites are the original JLI series and the Jaime Reyes Blue Beetle series, both of which are made up of yay and win, largely because the characters rock. I enjoyed the first Kate Kane Batwoman collection a lot - the art rocked and the story really opened her up to a lot of possibilities. “No Man’s Land” is too cool to even begin to quantify, but the bits focusing on Gordon’s Blue Boys (and girls) were probably my favorites. I love cop stuff for a lot of the same reasons I love superhero stuff; done well, it’s people trying to make the world better and protect those who can’t protect themselves. (I wanted to be a Knight of the Round Table when I was a kid, which kinda still shows.)

For more indie stuff, I love Castle Waiting by Linda Medley. The story and worldbuilding are interesting and the characters are snarky and fun. Not so much-on-the-spot action, but plenty of exciting character histories to go through still. I own v.1 and 2, and am greatly anticipating more. Cairo by G. Willow Wilson (published by Vertigo, so sorta indie but not really) is an awesome adventure mixing modern-day regional conflict with Egyptian and Islamic mythology.

For manga, I like humor and/or interesting critiques of gender/sexuality. One of my current favorites is the Ooku series by Fumi Yoshinaga. I’ve only read v. 1-5 so far, but I’m planning to get hold of the rest ASAP. It’s an alt history Imperial Japan where 90% of the male population was killed by a plague, meaning a their social structure’s had to undergo massive changes. Ouran High Host Club by Bisco Hatori is a humor series starring a plain-spoken, motivated girl who ends up cross-dressing and serving as a “host” (male escort who provides romantic, but not sexual, attention to women) to pay back a debt with a bunch of her oddball (male) fellow students. I’m also fond of Kurada and Yamata’s Read or Die, about an absentminded bibliophilic superhero who can create weapons etc. out of whatever bits of paper she finds around her.

fuckyeahjli: thehappysorceress: contextisfortheweak: The SDCC...

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 16:36:06 -0500

fuckyeahjli:

thehappysorceress:

contextisfortheweak:

The SDCC Female Furies revisited, courtesy of cosplay photog extraordinaire LJinto.

Big Barda - Melissa Kay

Lashina - Jill Pantozzi

Knockout - Molly McIsaac

(This post dedicated to @idlovetobebardafree - she knows why!)

Amazing & gorgeous ladies.

wow

What is your favorite comic? (Submitted by andautomobiles)

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 08:11:06 -0500

My favorite ongoing is currently Captain America (now Captain America & Bucky), because it has been consistently well-written and well-drawn, and because Cap has been one of my favorite characters for a long time. I am always excited to see a new issue on the racks, and its one of the few books that I will brave running off between classes to pick up.

My favorite trade is certainly Marvels. Specifically, it’s the first few pages of the collected trade that detail the birth of the Human Torch. Beyond being about my absolute favorite character, the story is, itself, beautifully done, and a wonderful setup for the rest of the book.

What is your favorite comic? (Submitted by pluckyredhead)

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 22:22:54 -0500

The first series I ever read start to finish was DC’s Impulse and it’s still my very favorite. It was funny and smart and really heartwrenching at times, and easy for a noob to get into. The art was cartoony and the writing was joyful and I was pretty bummed to discover that not all comics are that good.

Honorable mention goes to the first Blue Beetle series starring Jaime Reyes (Blue Beetle v6, I believe) and the recently-canceled Stephanie Brown Batgirl series. (Clearly I have a thing for funny, heartwarming comics about plucky young people.) My favorite trade is The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, and my favorite comic strip of all time is Calvin and Hobbes.

If you could change one thing about comics, what would it be?

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 22:21:39 -0500

Sorry for the hiatus, folks! We’re back, and we want to know: If you could change one thing about comics - the format, the industry, anything - what would it be?

leskuh: gillykins: Have I mentioned how much I loved the BOP...

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 17:41:06 -0400

leskuh:

gillykins:

Have I mentioned how much I loved the BOP shoot at Dragon Con?

Flawless.

Where do you get your comics? (Submitted by pluckyredhead)

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 08:46:05 -0400

I really like the Wednesday ritual of heading down to the comic book shop (and I really like the folks at my LCS), but lately it hasn’t really fit into my schedule, so I usually wind up picking up a whole month’s worth on a Friday. I also try to buy trades at the LCS, but I will get them from Amazon if I’m in the hurry to buy my little brother a birthday present. ;)

girlslovesuperheroes: I would sometimes jump out at people and...

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 16:26:06 -0400

girlslovesuperheroes:

I would sometimes jump out at people and shout “I’M BATMAN, EVILDOERS!”

Where do you get your comics? (Submitted by menshevixen)

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 08:11:05 -0400

I get comics from a couple of places. First, I do have an awesome local comic shop (hey Read More Comics!) where I get whatever titles I’m reading currently (I keep a subscription list there). They also list their trades at 20% off all the time, so whenever I need a trade, I usually go through them as well. I do get comics from the library, too, usually older stories that I’ve heard are good; if they’re really good, I buy them after reading them. Occasionally I buy trades from Amazon, but I prefer to keep my money at my local comic shop.

What is your favorite comic?

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 17:16:22 -0400

It’s Monday, which means it’s time for a new question: What is your favorite comic? Is it a currently-ongoing series? Did it end years ago? Is it an indie or manga or webcomic or something else totally different from what the Big Two puts out?

And remember, past questions are always still open. We want to hear you talk about comics, ladies!

girlslovesuperheroes: Me, working at the Montreal Comic Con,...

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 16:15:05 -0400

girlslovesuperheroes:

Me, working at the Montreal Comic Con, meeting some awesome girls!

Where do you get your comics? (Submitted by morgandea)

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 08:10:05 -0400

I get my TPBs online - either via Amazon or via BookDepository.co.uk (free shipping worldwide!). Buying trades in store in Australia is usually expensive. I set up a Standing Order with my LCS though for the new 52, which I’ve been adding to every week as new comics get released.

I definitely prefer having the physical comic in my hands, but I recently bought all of “Kingdom Come” on my phone via Comixology. I’ll definitely be picking up the Absolute edition when it is available, but Comixology worked nicely as a must-have-that-comic-now alternative.

girlslovesuperheroes: from Erica —Last year for Halloween,...

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 17:10:06 -0400

girlslovesuperheroes:

from Erica —Last year for Halloween, Natasha (then 3 ½ ) left the house very proudly in her Bob the Builder costume that mama threw together in a few minutes. We went to London Drugs, and as soon as she saw the Batman costume (in size 12-18 months), she was taking her clothes off in the aisle. I was busy trying to talk her back into the Bob the Builder costume, until i saw her in the Batman suit. As soon as i saw my chubby little girl batman, i knew she had to have that costume.

She now also has Spider-Man and Superman pajamas, a Buzz Lightyear toy and pajamas, and currently two Super Friends books, three Spider-Man books and one Star Wars book from the library. Besides being a superhero, she also loves playing baby with Big Baby, Little Baby, Blue Baby and Tiny Baby.

How I got into Comics (Submitted by Marina)

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 08:10:06 -0400

Ok, well, I guess it all started when I was in high school. I was a girl who really liked Sonic the hedgehog and bought the comics the minute I heard about them. After, I started to see a lot of Spiderman comics here and there, I gave it some thought and bought an issue or two. Then I bought five more. Then maybe six more. So, I gradually started to get into the comic book swing. I eventually became a “comic book girl” when, after watching ATFW, I went to one of my favorite comic book stores at the time, and grabbed anything that caught my eye. I usually read anything that sounds exciting but I won’t deny that I am a huge Batman and Flash fan. Right now, I’m reading the old Young Justice comics and Impulse stuff and loving every minute of it.