Buffy the Vampire Slayer, for a show set in a high school in southern California, was always pretty darn white. Over the course of seven seasons and a wide array of stars, guest stars, Big Bads, little bads, Initiative members, fellow students and an army of potential Slayers, the show boasted a massive ten substantial characters of colour*, half of whom only showed up for the final season and none of whom ever made it into the theme song credits. The core cast and major villains? Whitey McWhitersons.

Karen, you say, this has nothing to do with comics. Get to the comics.

Dear readers, I shall!

I had great hopes for BtVS: Season 8, because when one can draw characters instead of needing to cast them, one has a better chance off sidestepping the massive inertia of Hollywood in regards to casting characters of colour. And indeed, my heart soars every time I see one of those gorgeous Georges Jeanty, Andy Owens and Michelle Madsen spreads that show dozens of Slayers, because there are very definitely large quantities of Slayers of colour hanging out at the Scottish base.

Two of them so far have had multi-issue speaking roles: Satsu, who is the best fighter among the new Slayers, fell in love with and briefly slept with Buffy. Renee, apparently a tactics chief, had a crush on and briefly dated Xander. “Huzzah!” thought I, all full of hope and joy. “At last, an expansion of the main cast to include characters of colour!”

By the end of issue #15, the final issue of a Drew Goddard-written storyline where the gang hits Tokyo to battle a goth vampire gang, Satsu decides to stay in Japan and Renee is dead.

“Huzzah!” thought I, but this time with extreme sarcasm.

I don’t criticize this comic because it’s irredeemably awful; I’m annoyed because it was going so well. I can see how these decisions get made. In terms of the story, a sudden death mid-romance is an excellent way to provoke horror and demonstrate the effectiveness of the bad guys**, and Satsu’s decision to stay behind was both a well-deserved promotion to field officer and a decent way of dealing with a romance neither she nor Buffy were ready for. But in terms of the meta-narrative, Buffy’s inner circle became abruptly all-white. Again.

In issue #16, Buffy heads to NYC, where Kennedy’s in charge. I’m really hoping she sticks around. But this time, just to protect myself, I’m not hoping too hard.

- - - - -

Comment on this column here.

- - - - -

* “Substantial” being defined as “turned up in more than one episode with lines”, which is a pretty wide net, I get the following: Kendra, Mr Trick, Forrest, Olivia, the First Slayer, Principal Wood, Kennedy, Rona, Caridad and Chao-Ahn.

** Even though this is now a Buffyverse cliché, and getting very tired, I try to recall that for someone, this might be their first Buffy text.

SAN DIEGO — A $125,000 donation in support of an anti-gay marriage initiative by a San Diego hotelier has drawn the ire of gay and lesbian activists and local labor unions who are now calling for a boycott.

Organizers held a news conference in front of the Manchester Grand Hyatt, near Seaport Village, on Thursday. A coalition of LGBT community leaders and the labor movement spoke out against Doug Manchester, who contributed a donation in support of Proposition 8, which would allow only men and women to marry in the state of California. The group opposes the ballot measure because it threatens the recent state Supreme Court decision that allows marriage between men and women.

Another day, another bigot - but one where comics fans definitely have a chance to make their feelings known. If you’re going to San Diego Comic Con, you may want to consider the homophobia of the Hyatt’s owner and his active opposition to the establishment of legal marriage between same-sex couples* before drinking at the Hyatt (and possibly at the Marriott, where Manchester also has an ownership stake).

Chris Butcher makes his opinion clear.

Tom Spurgeon points out the illogic of some of the ways people try to justify continued patronage.

And Lisa Jonte asks you to collect receipts from the other bars you patronise.

* I don’t GET these people. “We want to protect marriage: by delegalising a whole bunch of them!”

(Cross-posted to GWOG)

I noticed something interesting in Iron Man which is that, despite that movie’s shoddy use of women-as-sex-objects (which echoes, of course, Tony’s view of women-as-sex-objects, although I am internally divided as to whether the movie ultimately considers this one of the things that makes Tony a jerk, or one of the things that makes him a badass) is the backgrounded presence of women in scenes where they could easily have been overlooked.

In the military coms centre, for example - there she is, uniform pressed and blonde hair in a neat bun. As the Stark Industries scientists wrestle with the task Obadiah gives them, there she is, a pale woman in a labcoat.

It’s not enough, but it’s a start.

I watched The Incredible Hulk with half an eye out for this representation, and sure enough, something similar happens there. However, I belatedly realised something else, which led to the following conversation with a friend who works in film. We’ll call him… Tom.

Tom: So I just went and see me some Hulking. It was explosive.
Karen: Right? Lotsa smashing!
Tom: So damn much smashing.
Karen: Here’s a question for ya.
Tom: Yes sir.
Karen: Where are the American women of colour in that movie?
Karen: I mean, there is like MORE THAN ONE WOMAN in the army! And one of them has a major role, which is fucking great.
Karen: And there is MORE THAN ONE WOMAN in the sciences! Which is also great!
Karen: But how come they’re all white? I know that’s not the only skin tone in the USA. I have been there. And even Iron Man did better on speaking roles for women of colour, by which I mean it had one. And she had a British accent.
Tom: Well, we in the straight white male arts tend to feel that if we have one of any given non-us group, nobody can call us out on avoiding them. This is why we give Cliff Curtis so many roles.
Karen: Oh, that Cliff Curtis*. He’s so dreamy.

This is not just gross; it’s frankly embarrassing. What goddamn century is it, anyway? Even if we haven’t sorted out the jet-packs and the teleportation windows, you’d think that we could handle getting some American women of colour in American-centric cinema, in speaking and non-speaking roles. When an actress as accomplished as Gabrielle Union says:

I still hear things like ‘Gabrielle, you gave the best read! If we decide to go black, you’re at the top of the list.’ I’ve actually been told, ‘Gabrielle, you’re absolutely perfect for the role, but the role is a girl who’s most popular in school.’ I’ve been to the point where I brought in my yearbook. ‘See how popular I was? It really can happen.’

well, then, I want to throw up.

TV tends to do better. I am cautiously optimistic about the new ABC series The Middleman. Not only is it cute, funny and drenched in comic book geekery, but the female lead is played by Latina Natalie Morales. In the show’s first two episodes, women of colour have speaking roles – a variety of speaking roles! - as temp agency managers, as police officers, as artists by day/brown-suited-destroyers-of-villainy by night. They are not there to be Latina or Black, but women of color, present in the world.

It’s not enough. But it’s a start.

- - - - -

Comment on this column here.

- - - - -

* Cliff Curtis, who is Maori, of Te Arawa and Ngati Hauiti, has played Shi’ite Iraqi, Spanish, Cuban, Mexican, African-American** and, occasionally, Maori characters. He is totally dreamy.

** Well, your reading may differ, but you know how all the Die Hard movies have at least one Black man (note: man. That is what I am talking about) who works with McClane? In 4.0, that guy’s position is occupied by Justin Long***, who is extremely white. When I noted this to another friend, she said “But the head of the FBU unit! He was the Black guy!” This guy? Cliff Curtis.

*** Also totally dreamy.

Got something to say about comics?

Perhaps you have a particularly awesome LJ post that no one commented on even though it was particularly awesome? A paper that your prof smiled at, but no one else will ever see? A really good piece of unfinished fic or fanart that’s been languishing on your hard drive, waiting to be unleashed upon the world?

Orrrr, do you just love caption contests and the opportunity to win fabulous prizes?

Then Girl-Wonder needs you!

Our brand-new newsletter is hitting the internet with the power of ten thousand exploding suns, and you can be a part of it. Check out the submissions details linked above, suggest a title for the newsletter, and seize your chance to shine!

Today you get a guest column, courtesy of the fantastic Hannah Dame. You are probably already familiar with Hannah as the producer of Girl-Wonder.org’s podcast, Four Color Heroines. You can also learn more about Hannah from today’s Meet The Board interview, up here.

Avid comics readers know how to recognize a good book: it engrosses you and interests you, teasing you along and challenging you to figure out the answers it is hiding before it gives them away. And the end is still satisfying even if it wasn’t the outcome you’d have preferred.

Until you get the answers in the last way you expected, ruining any possible enjoyment you had previously gotten from the work.

Looking at this situation, it could be describing that one fight between Superman and Batman, wherein even prep time couldn’t save Batman from being hurled into the sun at Mach 3.

Or it could be describing the moment for any minority reader when they find out their paper mirrors may not be as durable or reflective as they thought.

In this case, I’ll be considering this moment from the perspective of a trans reader. This column breaks down into three sections: first, to set the stage, an examination of the two archetypes for presentation of gender transgressive characters; a consideration of the climax of the trans narrative and its problems, relative to the breakdown of the trans reader’s paper mirror; and an example of this problem in a comic, American Virgin.

In narrative, there are two types of gender transgressive characters, broken down by general characteristics: magical, or genitally gender transgressive, and realistic, or socially gender transgressive. Before going further, as with any other archetype, it’s important to note that neither of these constructions is true all the time for any given story involving genital change or gender transition; many of the best stories are ones that defy such simple breakdowns.

Magical genital change stories are by far the most common. In them, a character somehow magically finds their body with genitals and attendant secondary sex characteristics such as build and musculature which do not match their identified gender. The character is then forced to undergo the ‘trial’ of presenting as another gender. Throughout, they tend to react by superficially accepting the social connotations of their new genitals and present the gender they are “supposed to be” in culturally stereotypical ways. And more often than not, hilarity ensues.

And that hilarity stems from the fact magical genital change stories tell the experience of a cisgendered person’s gender identity being forcibly violated. But it is a violation readers sympathize with, because the character does not (at least initially) want the change. Magical genital change excuses the character from the social realities of gender transition and thus excuses their gender transgression, often making it impossible for a trans reader to see themselves in the character. Realistic representations of a transperson’s emotional experience may appear as a character develops, but often by that point it is too late for the trans reader.

Magical genital change when the character identifies as trans places a trans reader, who would presumably identify with the trans character, in a difficult position. After all, said trans character is having their body match their mind without trauma, without pain, without realism. It is that lack of realism which makes a magically transitioned trans character nothing more than a mirror of impossibility for the trans reader.

Realistic trans stories, by contrast, provide not only a touchstone for a trans reader, but representations of their actual life. Realistic trans characters go through and are affected by the process of physical and mental transition, with all of its attendant pains, anxieties, and problems. Whereas a magically transformed character may find themselves a social and gender outcast not of their own will, realistic trans characters willfully socially transgress by presenting as a gender which they were not assigned at birth.

Realistic trans characters appear by and large in transition narratives. Like other similar minority-owned narratives (ex. the coming out story), the transition narrative is the only story structure wholly unique to trans individuals, and the only one wherein realistic trans characters can exist without the reader fearing they will turn evil, vanish into invisibility, or be killed off.

Compared to magical genital change, realistic trans characters often have less problematic elements because they are reflecting real-life. No representation is flawless, however. Realistic characters can sometimes run a fine line between the standards of gender presentation and performance of drag performance and transpeople, confusing and conflating the two.

Drag, at its best, creatively challenges, questions, or remakes established gender norms; at its worst, it is “drag clowning,” turning trans people into foppish parodies for the amusement of the privileged. Also, drag performers are, well, performers. They often wish to be showy, noticeable. Passing as their presented gender is less important than publicly and openly challenging the existing gender norms.

For the trans individual, passing as their preferred gender is not an act of challenge but a part of daily life, regardless of whether they are open about their birth gender. Their presentation in and response to any given situation is an act of personal choice, not an essential characteristic of their persona.

Key to both archetypes is the “moment of genital reveal,” more colloquially (and facetiously) known as the “oh my god, it’s a tranny!” moment. In magical change stories it comes early, often soon after the change has occurred. For the first time, the character is forced to experience a violation of self in front of others. Whether or not nakedness is involved in this violation will vary from story to story; sometimes, just the existence of breasts underneath clothing on a former penis owner is enough.

It is far more complex in the realistic trans character’s story. It’s the moment of accepted deception, wherein the trans person reveals that they have been ‘deceiving’ the audience all along as to their ‘true’ nature. Unfortunately, it seems in most stories that a slip of the tongue and using a ‘wrong’ gender name or pronoun just doesn’t have the same impact as full-on, naked genitalia.

The nakedness is an essential element, since the transperson is ‘hiding’ something underneath their clothing. In stripping off the transperson’s clothing, one strips off their chosen gender and reduces them to their biology. And in violating the trans character, the trans reader is themselves violated. If the reader cannot find an image of transpeople in media that does not even a little bit reinforce the ultimate supremacy of physical biology over mental well-being, how can they expect to ever fully achieve their own well-being?

Now, to move beyond the archetypal to an example of “transpeople: ur doin it wrong.” In Steven Seagle and Becky Cloonan’s American Virgin, Mel is an Australian mercenary who helps the main character, Adam, seek revenge on his girlfriend’s killers. He gradually gets more involved with Adam’s family, eventually dating Adam’s sister Cyndi.

The reader only gets a single hint to Mel’s transness, a throwaway line from a past lover. Until the time to get intimate comes, and the reveal clumsily lumbers across the page: big naked boobs bound with bandages, one nipple hanging out awkwardly.

Mel’s moment of reveal was, for a trans reader like me, a slap in the face. I’m supposed to believe this is a realistic transman who passes for both characters and readers while binding his breasts in such a sloppy, unsafe, and unrealistic manner? And given Mel’s constant, conspicuous stubble, one can safely assume he’s been on testosterone for a fairly notable amount of time, but I, the reader, am also to believe he has not yet even had a partial mastectomy?

After so much refreshing, unsensationalized realism, the reader of American Virgin gets a poorly done moment of shock value that retreads the single greatest problem with the depiction of trans characters, if I may make such an assertion, with clueless abandon.

Insult added to injury, Mel is one of the few major transmen in comics, which have by and large tended to prominently feature transwomen. Before the big boob flash, Mel was an admirable portrayal, which eschewed emphasizing the genital self over the preferred gender identity in action and art. One could even argue Seagle included references only someone familiar with the process of transition would get (In example: Mel also makes a joke about “Thailand? Best damn week of my life was in Thailand.” (#17, p. 7) Though this appears on the surface a casual joke, many trans individuals must go abroad, often to Thailand, for surgery).

I won’t say all the good of Mel is erased by the reveal; Mel is still overall a good, non-stereotypical portrayal of a transperson. But I haven’t been able to find a copy of the final volume of American Virgin locally to purchase, and I’m not sure it’s worth it. About three-fourths of the way through reading the series, I mentioned to a friend that I was working on American Virgin and asked if he had read the series. Though he said he’d read parts of the first seven issues, he’d never picked the series up because (paraphrased), ‘I know people who talk like [Adam]. I don’t need to read the story of my life.’ (Adam is given to thoughtlessly passing judgment on the sexuality and sexual practices of other cultures from a position of privilege and can condescend to non-Christians.)

As a trans person who also grew up and lives among ‘people who talk like [Adam],’ I know all about the resistance to acceptance, the negativity, and assumption of deception Mel faced. And I live the life of a transperson who consumes media, wherein transpeople are reduced to their barest elements.

And that is, by far, the biggest hurdle for transpeople in comics and all media: moving characters and plotlines beyond the easy archetypal cues writers and artists are comfortable with. It’s about getting beyond the boob on the page and reaching the core of the boob owner, be they male or female. It’s not about the genitals but the person.

- - - - -

Commenting on GRC Guest Columns: A Guide.

1) Please assume good faith on the part of the guest. I invited these writers because I am familiar with their work and I think it’s good. I don’t edit their columns, and I may not agree with them 100% on every subject, but I think they say smart and thoughtful things. You are free to disagree with them, but please consider them my honoured guests in this space that I host, and be polite in your disagreement, as per general forum rules. The columnist, if they respond, is naturally bound by those same rules.

2) If you have questions for the columnist, address them to the columnist (who may or may not respond). If you have ideas related to the topic, discuss them the same way you would discuss them had I written the column.

3) Guest columnists may write in styles and discuss topics I don’t or haven’t. That difference is almost certainly one of the reasons I invited them here. If you have objections to the guest’s style or choice of topic, you may voice them - politely - but you may like to consider whether you are actually adding anything to the discussion, or performing the equivalent of saying “Karen, your column would be great if it wasn’t written from the point of view of a girl reading comics and getting pissed.”

With all that in mind, you may well like to discuss this column here!

I’m not going to even pretend to journalistic objectivity here: I think Kate Beaton’s work is fantastic. She has gained internet renown relatively recently, and you are most likely have seen her fantastic webcomics at her website, or her livejournal. She’s probably best known for her history comics, where humanity’s ridiculous, wonderful past is neatly skewered in six panels, but there is so much more to her work. Enjoy!

So, did someone honestly send an email saying you were pretty funny for a girl?

KB: Not in those words exactly. I used to get some emails saying that it was unusual for humor to come from a girl, or implied that. They really did mean it as a compliment, I just don’t think they knew what they were sounding like.

What is it like to be suddenly internet famous?

KB: I’m not really sure! I don’t know if it’s the same for everyone. I am the person who sees the most of the attention directed at me, because of emails and comments, so it’s hard to know what anyone else has taken note of. I don’t have a traffic counter or anything on my website and I think I’d prefer it that way.

That being said, I understand that I have become relatively well known as a webcomic artist in a short amount of time. I’m not certain what to attribute this to.

Awesomeness?

KB: Dang, I wish it was that. I’m not sure! But it is welcome in any case. I had no idea anything I made would be so well received, and for the most part, people who read and write to me are so delightful. I’m bad at answering letters though!

The thing is, I would have been doing this anyway. Maybe not so much on a large scale but I would be making comics; I have been for a long time

You’re probably best known for your history comics. What’s your favourite period of history?

KB: Good question! When I took my major, most people specialized - Canadian history, British, Asian - what have you. This was probably a good idea. I didn’t do it. I was interested in all of it so I took a lot of courses that were all over the place, and had an Anthropology major besides, which was similarly non-specific.

So I don’t know if I have a favorite time period. Although if you look through the comics, and some people have noticed this, there are a lot of scenes in and around the Regency period. They are pretty fun to draw.

Did you watch Blackadder the Third as a kid?

KB: No! I have seen one episode of Blackadder a few years ago.

Damnit, here I was thinking I had hit the perfect influence.

KB: Hah! Nope. People list my influences for me a lot. I get a lot of ‘this looks like Quentin Blake’. I get a lot of comparisons to other webcartoonists like John Allison or KC Green It’s all pretty flattering, but I can’t even tell you what my influences are. There is so much talent out there.

History, especially the history of the Western world, is largely perceived to be the domain of white men. Do you feel any responsibility to correct this bias in your work?

KB: Not responsibility. Most of the history comics so far are topics that I didn’t choose. I asked readers on two separate occasions to submit topics and I took the first 20 each time. It’s a bit of a challenge, but I also enjoy the topics they choose! They are a sharp lot.

But then, when I am making comics on my own, I tend to go for a lot of obscure figures who I personally think are interesting and deserve a bit of attention. History now is increasingly being written for the people who were once left out of it, which is excellent. I’m glad when I can bring something to light for one of those people.

When you are talking about comics that include figures that everyone is going to ‘get’ though, you are talking about a lot of old white dudes. That’s okay too because they are easier to poke fun at.

I am realizing in making comics the lack of knowledge I have of very many things. I say that I took courses all over the place in university, but it was a tiny university, so really I was still rather restricted, and I gravitate towards countries and figures I know a lot about, so you see a lot of British and Canadian figures.

As it happens, I live in Melbourne, and there are Monash buildings all over the place, but I had no idea who this Monash guy was until you did that comic.

KB: He was such a neat guy. Really impressive.

If anything I like very much that doing history comics is driving me to learn again, since I have been out of school for a while. It’s easy to fall in a rut of not reading, which is something I would normally like to be doing all the time. And I’d say the greatest pleasure is when people tell me that something I have made inspired them to look into it and read about it themselves. Sometimes you have to do that to get the joke but still.

You’ve said that your history comics take days of thought, followed by a quick production process. Is that true of your nonsense comics?

KB: Oh! Sometimes the history ones take days of thought. A lot of times they don’t. It is different for every one. And by days of thought I mean I think of something and let it sit back there until something hits.

The comics in the nonsense section take about a half a minute. I have to say, if there is one thing I am very pleased to be able to do it is writing and drawing something that will make people laugh.

What are your plans for the future of Kate Beaton comics? Merchandise? A Jane Austen biocomic? Finding a name for the site?

KB: Probably finding a name for the site. When I began, it didn’t matter that the website I built wasn’t very good as nobody knew who I was. Things happened fast: I had a website and then I had a lot of people reading it. What are you supposed to do with that?

It all happened just after I moved to Alberta to finish off my student loan payments. During this time I have had very little time to myself, so I haven’t really sat down and made a plan. But I will do that in the coming months, as I am moving to Toronto at the end of the summer.

As for what will happen, your guess is as good as mine. I guess the regular route for webcomics is to sell things and to fix an update schedule and hope for the best. I don’t think I would perform well with a forced update, though I won’t stop making comics.

Herodotus vs Thucydides. Naked oily wrestling cage match. Who walks out?

KB: For some reason I imagine Thucydides being the angrier one so my money is on him. He slammed Herodotus in writing. He’d probably want a piece.

- - - - -

Comment on this interview here.

Top Cow are running Pilot Season 2008, where eight new comics get a chance to attract reader votes. The most popular two become on-going series. The rest, presumably, go to a farm in the country. A nice farm, where they can play all day!

One of the comics in this year’s line-up is Genius #1, written by Adam Freeman and Marc Bernadin, with art by Afua Richardson. It charts an explosive introduction to the world’s newest and greatest military genius - a 17-year-old female LA gangbanger who unites her neighbourhood against the LAPD.

It’s often hard to tell if something’s solid from a single issue, but Genius shows a lot of promise. It has a killer premise, an intriguing cast, and addresses some really interesting points of race/class/gender dynamics in its few pages. And Richardson pulls out all the stops - her art is gorgeous. Oh man, the colours.

Anyway! I was hence eager to take up the opportunity to interview co-writer Adam Freeman.

Genius is your entry in the Top Cow Pilot Season, where success depends on audience appeal. What audience do you envisage exists for Genius?

AF: Hopefully, the audience that is always so vocal about wanting different kinds of stories told. I love super heroes but the genre can only wield so much. In the 1950’s the Western was the most popular movie genre and some amazing films came out of that, but like anything it reaches maximum saturation. Genius is definitely not your average comic story. If readers have an open mind like they claim to I think they will enjoy the ride.

The eponymous genius, Destiny Ajaye, isn’t your standard comics superscientist, but a charismatic military genius, capable of farsighted tactics and strategy. What kind of research did it take to create such a character?

AF: We did research but oddly enough, a lot of it didn’t find its way into the first issue. Being a Pilot Season book it has to serve several masters - not only set up the story and give you a satisfying 22 page read, but also tease what the series will deliver if you vote for more. Before finding a home as part of Pilot Season is was originally designed as more of a slow burn - intercutting the seemingly random violence of an LA gang with this lone police analyst trying to piece it all together. Once the story telling was condensed a lot of the research - specific battles Destiny unknowingly recreates, gang hierarchy etc. was shifted into future issues which hopefully we will get to write. This story has an unbelievable arc that I promise NO ONE will see coming. I hope we get to tell the story - so vote!

Excessive police violence is a realistic concern for communities of color, and LA in particular has a terrible and well-publicised history in this regard. Did this play a part in the creation of the story?

AF: The story was born out of two concepts. First, a documentary about these middle America militias that are training for the inevitable race war they see coming. In their minds the inner city “animals” - as they poetically like to refer to these minorities - are going to break out of the zoo and it will be up to these homemade militias to save us from them. Second, the idea that child prodigies can be born anywhere and have no choosing as to what form their savant-like gifts will come in. We combined these two ideas into the premise: “What if the greatest military mind of our generation was born to a female gang banger from South Central L.A.?”

It is also important to point out that, ironically enough, we don’t consider Genius a political book. It does not take sides, it does not pass judgements. In our minds we created this event or conflict and are documenting it through the eyes of characters on both sides of the fence.

Those aware that there’s a military genius on the streets, but unaware of Destiny’s identity, continually refer to her as “he”. Do we get to see more of this ironic approach to standard gender portrayal?

AF: Definitely. This whole book plays off of stereotypes. Who says a military genius has to go to West Point? Who says it has to be a “he?” Who says economic status determines raw intelligence? Destiny defies the preconceived idea every character in this book has as to the identity of “Suspect Zero.”

To get non-specific for a moment; your comics are co-written. How does that process play out for you and Marc?

AF: Marc and I have known each other since 5th grade. We quickly realized that our interests in comics, movies, books etc. went beyond the fan boy stage. Our friends would see a movie and talk about how awesome the action sequences were. We would huddle and try to figure out HOW they did it. Point is, we always looked at these things with a creator mindset, always knowing one day we wanted to be making these things. All those decades of conversations developed into a creative short hand we share. I now live in L.A. and Marc is back east and our working relationship has never been more productive because of that shorthand.

An idea usually starts as a one liner from of us, “What if…” and then we both run with it from there. We work over the phone, IM, e-mail etc and it is like we are in the same room - minus the distractions. Our work sessions become all about the work - incredibly focused and impervious to the video game gods that want nothing more to suck us into GTA. We do outlines together, then I will write 5 pages and send it to Marc who makes tweaks, adds five pages, sends it back etc. In the end we have a creation that is 100% both of ours down to each line as opposed to “Frankensteining” things together like other teams work.

One of the military geniuses referenced in Genius is Hannibal. Is this a hint? Are you promising us elephants?

AF: No, but we will have fava beans and chianti. Actually elephants marching down Fairfax is pretty fucking cool.

- - - - -

Comment on this column here.

You can get the Genius preview here, or pick up a copy of the real deal from your local store. Sadly, it is elephant free. Voting starts in August!

Occasionally, I commit baking.

This evening, while I waited for orange chocklit cake to cool enough for glazing (Chaz Villette: the best cook on my LJ friends list), I pondered, as one does, the portrayal of gender in Marvel’s most recent studio products, Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk. There’s a hefty chunk of material in there, but for now: what is it with Pepper?

As portrayed by Gwyneth Paltrow, Pepper Potts is someone I can both admire and wince at. Despite Pepper’s unfortunate loyalty to a truly awful (if charming!) boss, there is no doubt that she is brave, hypercompetent, intelligent and resourceful. She successfully performs what amounts to open-heart surgery while her boss/patient gives her poor and badly-timed instructions. Then she commits industrial espionage (on the side of righteousness, naturally), uncovers an attempted murder, and conceals her deed and escapes from the murderer by recognising and grasping the opportunities in her immediate environment.

Then she blows up a reactor. It’s actually she, and not Iron Man, who ends up saving the day.

On paper, that’s pretty fucking awesome.

The problem with Pepper is that she doesn’t ever own her awesome. Instead she does a lot of (perfectly understandable) shrieking, breathy pleas for Tony to tell her what to do, and constricted running in wretechedly high heels that have the salutary effect of being an instant reference point for why shoes like that on actual superheroines are ridiculous. Although Pepper avoids being relegated to the same captured damsel-in-distress role poor MJ Watson ends up with in every Spiderman movie, she doesn’t seem to be aware of just how great she is, and she gains no self-confidence as the story progresses.

Instead she ends the movie doing the typically feminine things of fixing up Tony’s concealer and thanking Agent Coulson for all his help. Excuse me, what help? I’m glad Coulson survived, but he disappeared somewhere during the brutal entrance of Iron Monger. Was it he who blew up the reactor? No, it was Pepper! For, even though she doesn’t know it, she is awesome!

A little more gumption is all I ask. A little more spunk. Perhaps even some moxie.

And while I stuck my fingers in chocolate-orange batter to “test the spices”, I came up with a solution for the problem with Pepper. After all, this isn’t unfixable. Iron Man 2 is on its way, and an Avengers movie hovers tantalisingly on the geek horizon.

Dear readers, Pepper is brave, hypercompetent, intelligent and resourceful. May I make a humble suggestion for future films?

Pepper Potts: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Oh, I believe I may.

- - - - -

Comment on this column here.

I would love to tell you all about WisCon, but someone already has! Robyn Fleming of Cerise magazine writes her pre-con and con write-up, including an account of the most excellent Capes and Consoles party run jointly by Cerise and Girl-Wonder.org.

Check out the costumes - I’m the redhead in the green dress and labcoat, hair festooned with ivy leaves. Since I spent the evening mixing concoctions at the bar, this costume choice was deliberate, and entirely awesome.

(Note: When I say that high heels are not suitable for most superheroic endeavours, I do speak from experience. Crouching and swivelling to grab bottles of merlot in three-inch heels is not particularly challenging, but I woke the next day with aching quadriceps, and I am gifted with Thighs of Steel.)

After this and a wee trip to NYC, of which more later, I returned! To be immediately swallowed by a pile of essays to grade and things to review. Life always seems a little flat post-WisCon, but being handed a number of thoughtful critiques of contemporary Hollywood cinema and excellent comics and books is a sovereign specific against what ails me.

Also invigorating: Mistress, the new webcomic hosted by Girl-Wonder.org. Author and artist Andrea M. Bell pitched it to the Board as “Jane Austen meets Die Hard“, and I was instantly adamant that this was exactly what the universe required.

Mistress is “the story of Mardigale Beauchulle and her romance with the crown prince of Raeuca, Kamreide Renlauther”, and is full of assassinations and drama and delightful hats. It updates Mondays.

Girl-Wonder.org’s forums are currently running a survey, where we ask for input from you, the forum user. You have a wonderful opportunity to win fabulous prizes and an even more wonderful (though slightly less potentially lucrative) opportunity to make the forums a better place. Have your say; win my gratitude.

And finally, of that NYC trip. Last year, I wrote a novel, and in May my lovely agent Barry Goldblatt sold it to my lovely editor, Alvina Ling of Little, Brown, both of whom I met in New York. Alvina’s take on this event is here; my joy-filled burbling is here.

Guardian of the Dead tells the story of young New Zealander Ellie Spencer, who discovers that certain of the creatures of Maori mythology are a) not mythological and b) fully intent on mass murder. Traumatic journeys, romance and kickbuttery ensue!

It has nothing to do with superheroes, but it does have teenagers and theatre and Tae Kwan Do and taniwha and all that other good stuff, and at the moment it looks like you will be able to read it sometime in 2010. That’s in the FUTURE.

- - - -

Comment on this column here.

Ahhh, WisCon. The discomfort of sitting in a flying metal box for 18 hours is as nothing compared to the joys of participating in a feminist con for geeks. This year, Girl-Wonder.org is co-jointly hosting the Capes and Consoles party (Saturday night! Room 623!) with our sister organisation Cerise, the women’s gaming magazine.

That is going to be awesome, and I shall be reporting on the riotous celebrations - with pictures! - later in the week.

But for now, to give those going to WisCon an indication of where I’ll be (and to engender in those who are not the fierce desire to come next year, which I like to encourage at every opportunity), my panels:

“The “”Real City”" of Urban Fantasy”

“John Clute proposed the idea of a Real Year for some authors — the idea that some books are actually set in a year that was significant to the author, rather than whenever they’re purported to take place in. We’d like to know what the Real City is for fantasy stories that stake claims to city-geography and attitudes. How are these cities sometimes not as plausibly citified as they might be? What’s a city? Is it possible to be a child of the suburbs and still write believable, inhabited cityscapes? ”

Saturday 10-11.15
M: David Levine
Ellen Kushner
Richard Bowes
Karen Healey
Julia Starkey

Terry Pratchett: Bend That Trope Until It Breaks

“A discussion of how Terry Pratchett has taken tropes and cliches and twisted them, making something completely ‘Diskworld’. Starting with Equal Rites through Hogfather and the more recent books, Pratchett has worked over tropes, cliches and stereotypes to the point that his books were excluded from the discussion of cliches last year. So let’s do it now! ”

Sunday, 10:00-11:15 A.M.
M: Vito Excalibur
Madeleine Reardon Dimond
Karen Healey
Shweta Narayan
Penny Hill

And in an attempt to make my tooling around the internet instead of reading lit theory academically justified, I’m presenting a paper entitled “When Fangirls Perform: The Gendered Fan Identity in Online Superhero Comics Fandom” on Sunday at 4pm. It may be reasonably supposed that I will drop an unholy number of blogger names and be asked at least one question that will change the focus of my research for a month.

Oh, WisCon. You make the other 362 days worth the effort.