-Alyssa Rosenberg on the limitations of DC’s female roster in the new 52.
-A defence of Thor as a feminist movie.
-Those sexy, sexy “liberated” superheroines (how far does Catwoman’s suit zip down to?!).
-Bad Reputation has been doing a series, ‘Revolting Women’, on famous women from the history of protest. Here is their piece on Dolores Ibárruri, who resisted Franco.
September 25, 2011
Link Roundup
June 27, 2011
June 12, 2011
Linkspam!
There’s been a lot of buzz recently about the decision by DC, in the upcoming reboot, to make Barbara Gordon Batgirl again instead of Oracle, taking her out of her wheelchair in the process and removing one of the only high-profile disabled superheroes. Here’s a round-up of some of the best writing on this:
-Jill Pantozzi’s personal account of her reaction really brings home how important Babs is, and her interview with Gail Simone (writing the new book) about the reboot is essential reading.
-Andy Khouri’s ComicsAlliance editorial provides a look back over what makes Barbara Gordon so iconic.
-The ever-brilliant DC Women Kicking Ass recaps previous attempts to get her walking again.
-And finally the Oracle Create-A-Thon, a tumblr set up in response to DC’s decision, collecting fanart of Oracle “to support visibility for disabled characters in mainstream comics, and comics in general”. Some amazing stuff in there.
And a couple of non-Oracle links to round you off:
-I just found this handy illustration, from last year, of a particularly irritating sexist trope.
-And I fell in love with Cliff Chiang’s rendition of Wondy as Joan Jett, with Black Canary, Zatanna and Batgirl backing her up.
I doubt this will be the last from GW on Barbara Gordon’s reboot – watch this space. And if you’ve got anything for us on this, just send it to submissions@girl-wonder.org.
May 29, 2011
Return of the Revenge of the Bride of Gwog
Gwog rises once more from the deep! With our new Board in place, we are returning Gwog to its old status of a weekly roundup of Links Of Interest, with ad hoc guest posts by the mysterious Directors. If you have any links you want us to publicise, or anything else you’d like to contribute to Gwog, send it to us: submissions@girl-wonder.org. Our operators are waiting for your call.
This week’s links, first the comics-related:
- Colin Smith’s detailed and engaging essay on FLASHPOINT #1.
- More FLASHPOINT fail: DC should really consider how this shit looks.
- Laura Hudson, Blair Butler, Heidi MacDonald and Jill Pantozzi form a roundtable on the “Geek Girl Phenomenon”.
And the non-comics:
- A pair of insightful posts by ginmar on rape culture and the myth of false rape accusations.
- The reprehensible decision by the equally reprehensible New York Post to publicise an alleged rape victim’s alleged HIV+ status.
- An Open Letter to Nice Guys of the World.
November 7, 2008
Links for October 10th through November 7th
A selection of links for October 10th through November 7th:
- Myriad Issues: Jiro Kuwata! The Secret Author of Bat-Manga in America! – Round up of reaction to Bat-Manga's author credits: "It’s not even clear whether they contacted the Japanese publisher! … I don’t think “hey, check out these craaaazy comics I found on eBay” is a good idea for a book — not when the artist and publisher are still around and accessible. When you think about the care and dignity with which Tomine and D&Q have treated Tatsumi… it’s not a flattering comparison." Via bookslut
- Comic Art Indigène – Via Racialicious, this exhibit is on display in New Mexico until January.
- The Women of Parkour – Link to a NYT video feature. It's far too short, so after you watch it, you can go rent District 13.
- Advanced Style – Their blog says, "Proof from the wizened and silver-haired set that personal style advances with age," but the best part of this chronicle of elder-fashion is its warmth towards its subjects. via BoingBoing
October 3, 2008
Links for August 28th through October 3rd
A selection of links for August 28th through October 3rd:
- O. Henry Anthology of comic adaptions – I'm not sure why people find themselves compelled to adapt O. Henry in so many forms. Via Bookslut
- I don't think you're supposed to blog about your secret identity, though. – Via Reappropriate, I learn about the blog for the forthcoming book "SECRET IDENTITIES[, which] uses the conventions of the superhero comic book to expose the real face of the Asian American experience, usually hidden behind the mask of misperception and stereotype."
- Our gendered environment – "Most of the things in our built environment are designed on a male model," says Wendy Davis, director of the WDS, before noting, "There are differences between men and women in terms of ergonomics. Women are generally smaller, they have less reach, they are less strong." But designs that are hostile – or useless – to women still make it through.
- hair hats – All the Japanese I know comes from an ill-starred and brief romance with anime in grade school, but I believe these are an art exhibit, and not a fashion statement, as they appear.
August 16, 2008
Conversation Starters
In honor of the return of When Fangirls Attack, I am making a devious post of links that wouldn’t be linked directly, but can inspire posts that will be. So read! Get angry! Blog! Troll!
Comics Waiting Room 3.0 Reviews: COMIC ARTIST’S PHOTO REFERENCE: WOMEN AND GIRLS
Pictures of Real Women to use when drawing? They’re not hyper-thin, but at least the sample pictures are definitely stingy on the plus-side. Of course, so are traditional comic book women. Which is kind of the point…
Rob Zombie’s Werewolf Women Of The S.S. Comic Book Cover!
Umm. I don’t really know what to say about it. But SOMEBODY has to. So, here it is. Go for it.
San Diego Comic-Con 2008 – A woman’s perspective . | CollectionDX
Posted for the novelty value. This is a woman who didn’t seem to have any problems with oversexed idiots at SDCC.
Portrayal of women in comics – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This and the link of women comics creators should probably be a perma-link on most of our personal blogs.
The Hackenblog » Middle-aged women in comics shops rock
Just because I hadn’t seen this last year. Yes, they do.
Bored now! See you later!
August 11, 2008
Links for July 27th through August 18th
A selection of links for July 27th through August 18th:
- Women in science – A compendium of female scientists in fiction, mostly SF, at the moment. I assume it's so short because it's a work in progress, not because there are only several dozen female scientists in fiction.
- Sir Nils Olav the Penguin Inspects His Troops – Did you know that a penguin is an honorary member and Col.-in-Chief of the Norwegian King's Guard? Yeah, me neither, somehow.
- Drawing-board confessional: 22 unflattering moments from autobiographical comics – When you make a comic about your life, I always thought you were supposed to leave out the nosepicking.
- Revealed: one third of Brooklyn Museum’s Coptic collection is fake – The title says it all. There's something schadenfreudelicious in learning that even the experts can be duped.
- Imperial Alpacas – via Cute Overload, this youtube video is about forty seconds of editing away from pure genius. (warning, video)
July 27, 2008
Links for July 21st through July 27th
A selection of links for July 21st through July 27th:
- A Critique of Muslim Women in Comic Books – Part two here. You will almost certainly find yourself unfamiliar with some of the characters.
- The comic Bardo Thodol – Via metafilter, the Tibetan Book of the Dead in comic form. I bet the original doesn't have layout this bad, though.
- The racial truth inside fiction's lie – Using the X-men to talk about racism and prejudice is old hat, but Mikhail Lyubansky wants to talk about how X-men gets it wrong.
- Video – Ill Doctrine explains why 'you're racist' is a losing move.
July 21, 2008
Links for July 14th through July 15th
A selection of links from the internets.
- Free comics? – Why yes! Although they are in PDF, a file format I regard as ‘like html, except suck.’
- Obligatory penis linking – I know what Freud would say about me, but what would he say about the culture that produced this? I hope the NSFW goes without saying.
- Black Feminist Legacies – A post of Black feminists, most of whom I hear very little about in the mainstream discussions of feminism.
- Women face bias worldwide – The UNHCR says, among other things, that rape within marriage is still legal in 53 countries. Your barf bag is in the seat-pocket in front of you.
One More Insult
It’s this week’s links, and the big story is DC’s explicit confirmation that the “target audience” for their giant relaunch is “men age 18 to 34″. You’ll hear much more from Girl Wonder on this – we are still co-ordinating our response, but this is exactly the sort of problem we face in mainstream comics today. A round-up of good responses:
-thegeekifiedgirl drops some stats and backs them up with a solid argument.
-It’s interesting to look at which books CBR’s readers are actually interested in buying.
-… and Johanna at Comics Worth Reading’s personal take on the new titles from earlier this month also merit a read.
-Maid of Might highlights the fact that this relaunch (like most other relaunches?) was allegedly meant to bring in new readers rather than the same-old gradually shrinking group DC had been catering to for years. She and DC Women Kicking Ass both remember getting male friends and partners into comics.
More on this issue soon. In the mean-time, keep sending in your suggestions for links!