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You may remember my reviews of superhero romance novel Karma Girl and its sequel Hot Mama, and my previous interview with their author, Jennifer Estep. Hot Mama prompted more questions! If you have questions of your own, good news Jennifer has volunteered to answer them, and offers two copies of Hot Mama and one of Karma Girl as an incentive. All you have to do is ask a question to be in to win.

Hot Mama‘s Fiona ‘Fiera’ Fine is a very different character from the more mild-mannered Carmen, the star of your first book. Was writing from her perspective a different experience? Who do you like best?

It was a different experience because Fiona Fine is a lot more confidant and outspoken than Carmen Cole. I hate books (especially first-person ones) where it feels like you’re reading the exact same character again, just with a different name. So, I tried to make Fiona completely different and distinct from Carmen. I gave her a different personality, different powers, different quirks, likes, dislikes, etc.

I also gave Fiona a completely different perspective on superheroes. Fiona loves being a superhero she loves the perks, the attention, the superpowers. She likes being able to cook a pizza with her bare hands. Sure, it can be a drag having to run out on your date to save the city, but Fiona realizes it’s a small price to pay when people’s lives are on the line. Being a superhero is her job, and she enjoys it. That was a lot of fun for me to write.

Honestly, there are things I like about both characters Carmen’s attention to detail, her dogged determination, her bravery in the face of impossible odds, her massive T-shirt collection.

Then, there’s Fiona. I like a lot of things about her, too. She says and does exactly what she wants to, no matter what the consequences are. She’s not afraid of anything, and she’s not going to let anybody get the best of her. She’s Fiera, for crying out loud. The best superhero around. J
I found the way you engaged with body image in Hot Mama to be really interesting. Fiera, unlike other superheroes, doesn’t have to work on her body to keep model-fit, because her fiery metabolism burns off the massive amounts she has to eat every day so, of course, everyone in her civilian assumes she’s bulimic. Was this inspired by anything in particular?

I think we’ve all struggled with our weight and fitness at one point or another. Letting Fiera eat whatever she wanted to and never gain a pound was my own sort of wish fulfillment. Who wouldn’t love to be able to pig out on pizzas and burgers and fries without any consequences? Cheese fries are a particular weakness of mine. Sigh.

Except I started thinking there would be consequences. Instead of ‘with great power comes great responsibility,’ my thinking is ‘with great power comes great annoyance.’ Having superpowers would be really cool, but they’d also impact your life in good and bad ways. For my characters, I try to think about some of the bad consequences. Plus, it’s just fun to torture my characters. J

Fiona doesn’t eat so much because she loves food she eats because she has to in order to keep up her strength and, ahem, firepower. And there are plenty of downsides like her hefty grocery and restaurant bills. She spends thousands of dollars a week just on food. And Fiona says more than once that her eating so much grosses people out and puts a damper on her dates. So, there are social consequences as well.

As for the bulimic idea, what would you do if you saw a woman eating buckets of fries and dozens of burgers without gaining any weight? You’d think there was something wrong with her. But since this is Bigtime and a superhero send-up, people jump to the wrong conclusion instead of the more obvious one. Fiona must have an eating disorder, instead of being a superhero with a high metabolism. Sort of like Lois Lane always assuming Clark Kent was off polishing his glasses instead of being Superman.
Fiera’s fashions are bright, crazy designs, which read like they were a lot of fun to create. Do you have a favourite Fine fashion?
Hmm … this is a toughie. I suppose my favorite would have to be the ‘short, sleeveless, silver lame number with lots of cowgirl-like fringe in strategic places’ that Fiona wears to meet the Bullucis for dinner. Dazzling that borders on tacky I would so want to find a dress like that in real life!

But all the fashions were a lot of fun to come up with, and let me unleash my own inner designer a la ‘Project Runway,’ but without the judges’ bitchy comments. J
I really love your sex scenes I think they’re fun, hot and not weighted down with tiresome stereotypes about what good girls do and don’t. Author Tate Hallaway once said something along the lines of ‘You can tell it’s a feminist romance when he goes down.’ Would you agree?

Well, I write female characters who are just as strong, smart, self-sufficient, and screwed up as men. I really like to focus on the woman and her journey to find out what makes her strong and smart and special. Self-acceptance and embracing your inner superhero is a theme in my books, along with getting your dream guy. If that makes me a feminist, sign me up.

Women like sex just as much as men do whether they’re so-called ‘good girls’ or not. I’ve always wondered what makes people ‘good girls’ or ‘bad boys.’ What is it exactly? Leather jackets? Motorcycles? Knee socks and pigtails?

I’m not writing the next great American novel, and I don’t want to. I’m writing female-centric comic books campy, superhero fantasies. I want everything about the books, including the sex scenes, to be fun and sexy and entertaining. Writing the same old sex scene is boring for me, and I’m sure it would be boring for readers to slog through on the page. It’s a fantasy so why can’t there be chocolate whipped cream involved? J

You’ve said that you’ve taken care to make the cast of the Bigtime books diverse. Would you like to elaborate on that? Why is diversity important to you?

I do try to make the characters as diverse as possible and not just when it comes to race. I give them different nationalities, ages, jobs, body types, flaws, etc. I think diversity is important because the real world is diverse we don’t all fit into those cookie-cutter demos that advertisers love. We all have our own strengths and hang-ups, and I try to make my characters and world as well-rounded as possible, amid all the brightly colored spandex and over-the-top action. Basically, I want anyone to feel like they can be a hero or villain (or at least relate to them) when they pick up one of my books.

So, I’ve got folks like Henry Harris (African-American technology reporter and superhero); Lulu Lo (Asian computer hacker and information trader); and Piper Perez (Hispanic chief financial officer and superhero fangirl).

There are fashion designers (Fiona Fine and Bella Bulluci); journalists (Carmen Cole); event planners (Abby Appleby); businessmen (Sam Sloane); cops (Chief Sean Newman); and restaurant owners (Kyle Quicke).

There are middle-aged men and women (Berkley Brighton and Joanne James) and seventy-something men (Bobby Bulluci).

Irish folks (Fiona Fine and Chief Newman); Greek folks (the Bullucis); Southern folks (Carmen Cole); and Northern folks (Sam Sloane).

People with money (Sam Sloane) and people who work for a living (Carmen Cole).

Cool, buff superheroes (Fiera and Striker) and geeky, out-of-shape superheroes (Halitosis Hal and Pistol Pete). Smart villains (Frost and Intelligal) and not-so-smart villains (Scorpion and Siren). Aging superheroes (Granny Cane) and young villains (the Tween Terrors).

The one thing I’m pretty consistent about is that everyone has a college education, works, and supports themselves (even the villains). Because I think that’s an important message to send.

I know I’ll never make everybody happy when it comes to diversity or the books in general no writer can do that. But I do my best. That’s all I can do.
The heroes of Bigtime seem almost as concerned about their merchandising as they are about saving the world. If there was to be a collectable made out of the story of your life, what would you like it to be?

Great question! Hmm … all right, I’m going to have to tell you two things because I just can’t decide. I’d love to have my own Pez dispenser, either of me or some of my characters.

The other thing that would be cool would be a bobblehead doll, but with clothes/accessories you could put on it, sort of like a Mr. Potato Head. That would be really great for my superhero characters and show both sides of their personalities.

Now I really want these! A girl can always dream …
You’ve written that you ‘don’t like stories about people, especially women, being victimized’, of which there are sadly a surfeit in superhero stories. What would you like to see more of in superhero fiction in relation to women?

I’d like to see more realistic depictions of women who aren’t superheroes. You don’t have to have the power to shoot lasers out of your eyes to be strong or worthy of being a hero. I’d like to see more women who consistently do normal, rational things, like use their cell phones to call the cops and not walk down dark, deserted alleys by themselves late at night. More smart, professional, college-educated women of all ages, ethnicities, and sizes. And I’d love to see more superheroines who don’t have any powers (a la Green Arrow), but go out and kick ass anyway because they want to make the world a better place.

I’d also like to see a really good female villain. Somebody who is not maniacally crazy or otherwise a head case. A female villain who knows what she wants and is determined to get it no matter what. Someone who is smart and capable and ruthless because she wants to be not because something in her past (abuse, murdered parents, etc.) made her that way.

And the angst. I think everybody, even the male characters, needs to tone down the angst a bit. You guys all have superpowers, cool costumes, and immunity from prosecution for destroying public property. Enjoy it a little!

But maybe the thing I’d like to see the most are more realistic body types, especially when it comes to women. I know I’m banging an old drum here, but most of the women in comic books would put the buffest supermodel to shame. And some of them are scary, especially the ones with the ripped thighs that look like tree trunks. Creepy, not sexy. And I swear Wonder Woman’s costume gets skimpier every time I read a new issue. She’s going to need a Brazilian wax before long!

And the boobs. Can we please get rid of the big, bazooka boobs so many of the women have? Those women would tip over in real life! They’re just boobs. Every other person has them. Get over it, guys.
The third Bigtime book, Jinx, is due to be released in 2008. Would you like to tell us a little about that? What else is on your writing to-do list?

Well, my publisher plans to re-release Karma Girl and Hot Mama in mass market paperback form in July and August, and then Jinx will hit shelves on Sept. 2, also in paperback format. So, folks can catch up on the series all at once.

Jinx is about Bella Bulluci, a fashion designer and wannabe artist. Bella’s superpower is luck, which manifests as a form of static electricity. (Which means Bella has very big, Einstein-like hair). Since luck can be good or bad, for every good thing that happens to Bella, so does something bad or at least awkward and embarrassing. Like finding the last seat in a crowded movie theater, but sitting down in a puddle of soda.

Bella hates her power especially since it gets her mixed up with Debonair, a suave art thief. Also, there are two new ubervillains Hangman and Prism, who are determined to steal a priceless sapphire from a museum for their own nefarious purposes. Danger and explosions follow. J

I’m also working on the fourth Bigtime novel, titled Nightingale. That one will be about Abby Appleby, an event planner whose supersenses drive her super-crazy.

And I’ve also finished two new urban fantasy books, which I hope to turn into series.

The first book is called Live & Let Spy, and it’s about Abby Tome, a Druid who’s forced to become a spy to stop a ring of magical terrorists. It’s not quite as over-the-top as my Bigtime novels, but it’s still a bit of a spy spoof and a lot of fun. Think the TV show Charmed crossed with the James Bond movies. In addition to being a superhero fan, I’m probably the biggest James Bond fangirl around. Then again, Bond is really just a different kind of superhero, isn’t he? J

The second urban fantasy book is called Gin on the Rocks. It’s about Gin Snow, a professional assassin who gets double-crossed and framed for a murder she didn’t commit (for a change). But Gin is one cool customer, especially since she’s can control the elements of ice and stone. Gin on the Rocks is darker and grittier than what I usually write and set in the South, so it has sort of a Southern Gothic vibe. But I think fantasy fans will enjoy it, especially folks who like kick-ass heroines.

I’ll be posting more info and some chapters from both books on my Web site soon. So, check out www.jenniferestep.com for more. Until then, happy reading!

Student Mindy Owens fulfilled the dream of many a comic fan when, as the webmistress of Runaways The Comic, she was approached to co-write Runaways Saga #1 with comics scribe C. B. Cebulski. Mindy has since gone on to write several other Marvel comics with Cebulski, and braved finals, the holiday season and a giant storm to answer some questions. Thanks, Mindy!

KH: In case any of my readers are tragically ignorant of one of the best superhero comics out there, would you like to inform them why they should be picking up Marvel’s Runaways?
MO: Everyone should be picking up Runaways because it really is a unique title and a breath of fresh air. Back when I first started reading comics, I ended up falling out of love with them as I didn’t find one that really spoke to me. I stumbled across Runaways and became more in love and obsessed with comics than I ever had before. The premise itself was exciting and fun: a somewhat normal group of kids finding out their parents are super villains and then trying to take them down when they are on the run/in hiding. Another aspect that pulled me in was that Runaways is very character driven rather than plot driven. Not to say nothing happens, but I love the down times as much as the action sequences. These were characters that you could enjoy reading sitting in a van waiting for bad guys to show up or having an epic fight with their parents
KH: It’s always exciting when people go from being fans to creators (who are also fans!). How did that play out for you?
MO: It was and still is a surreal experience to think about. I started the fansite as a way to help promote Runaways, which has all had critical acclaim but lacked readers. I knew Runaways could catch on and have a stable fanbase, but it seemed almost impossible to get people to read the title in the first place. I was really worried for a long time that Runaways was about to be canceled at any moment so I spoke about how much I loved the title and why everyone should be reading it.
Going to comic cons, I’ve met a lot of people who’ve all told me that it was my constant pimping of the title that got them to give Runaways a try. While it’s nice that people say that, I never wanted to have comic fan notoriety or become known as the mega-Runaways fan, much less did I ever think that it would get me into writing comics. I just didn’t want Runaways to be canceled. When C.B. sent me an e-mail asking if I could help him with the Runaways Saga, I figured he just needed an answer to a continuity question. Instead it turned out he wanted me to help him co-write it. And it’s all been snowballing from there.
KH: Sadly, Runaways the Comic hasn’t been updated for a while. Any plans to revisit the website?
MO: Runaways the Comic hasn’t been updated due to me now being a freelance writer for Marvel (conflict of interests and all of that). I love the website and I’m actually looking for someone to take it over for me. If anyone is interested please let me know!
KH: For Runaways Saga, you wrote the narrative through the voice of Molly, the youngest Runaway. Was she a hard character to get a grip on?
MO: Molly was extremely tough to write. With an adult or even a teenage you have so much flexibility in what a character would say and also how they would say it. When it comes to writing a twelve year old, it’s easy to write her voice too young or too old. You are constantly writing between those two and also keeping it in Molly’s speaking style where she misuses words and says things that shows that she can easily misinterpret everything that’s going on yet she’s also got a very sharp mind at the same time. Writing forty-four pages of only Molly? Joss Whedon and Brian K Vaughan had it easy
KH: You’ve mentioned before that one of the things that appealed to you about Runaways are the varied and realistic female characters. What else would you like to see more of in comics?
MO: Stuff I wold like to see more of in comics? There was this old X-Men comic with the whole group eating breakfast and the entire scene was funny (I remember Iceman froze Beast’s pancakes and Gambit was talking to himself) and a really nice break from the action, action, action. Don’t get me wrong, I love comics where there are huge fights, stuff blows up and sound effects galore but I also miss the downtime and all of the character interactions.KH: You’ve done some more work for Marvel. Would you like to tell us a little about that?
MO: I’ve also co-written the Ultimates Saga and an issue of Spider-Man Fairy Tales with C.B. We’ve got some other projects lined up that we’re both pumped up for. The Ultimates Saga was a retelling of the events of the first two volumes of the Ultimates as told by Tony Stark. The issue of Spider-Man Fairy Tales I co-wrote involved Spider-Man meets Cinderella with art from Mike Allred. That one was really fun to write and a real treat.
KH: Some critics read the recently-released Ultimates Saga as a sexist work. Among other points raised, the most damned section appears to be the depiction of narrator Tony Stark hiring publicists whose job descriptions apparently include having sex with him. Do you have any response?
MO: The whole issue was written from Tony’s perspective and he was written by Mark Millar to be rather womanizing and a lush. Tony has shown a great deal of love and concern for his female teammates, so I don’t find him anti-women. Are womanizing and sexism the same thing? Both do blur into the other quite a bit. We also have to remember that Tony has six months to five years to live, so that’s also affecting his character to ‘live it up’, hence the heavy drinking and copious amounts casual sex. As far as the publicists, Tony would mix business with pleasure as much as possible. As long as it’s consensual between all parties….
I think there are a lot of ways to analyze all the Ultimate characters as none of them are black and white but varying shades of grey. I love to see people discuss the characters and their actions and Tony’s actions can be read many different ways because he treats lots of different women in lots of different ways. I don’t think anyone is really wrong how they see Tony as there is plenty of evidence to back up any claim.
KH: Do you have any plans for the comics-writing future?
MO: I have some more comics lined up to co-write with C.B. (Avenger Fairy Tales) and I just got an offer to write a self contained story for an anthology from Image Comics. There are also some pitches that I almost have done (let’s keep our fingers crossed) that I think will go over really well. More info to follow!
KH: Finally, Brian K. Vaughan vs Joss Whedon: Cage Fight. Who walks out?
MO: Brian K Vaughan. Fun fact: the K stands for Killer.

Ah, summertime, and the living is easy! For you, it may well be a good deal colder, but I hope you enjoyed your own celebrations, secular or religious, and managed to steal yourself some peace and joy from the hectic stresses of the holiday period. For me, it’s a time for food, family, arguments over whether ‘qis’ is an acceptable Scrabble play, and other classic pursuits of the season.
I’ve also come down with a bad case of Holiday Brain, where one’s mind, devoid of its usual stimulus, lazes and settles into considering no thought more complex than whether one should have a glass of chardonnay, or one of riesling.* If you are also afflicted with this crippling condition, I hope that the 19th Carnival of Feminist Science Fiction and Fantasy Fans might provide a sovereign specific.
Games.
The January edition of women’s gaming magazine Cerise is out and, as ever, is jam-packed with items of interest. My favourite is Richard Pilbeam’s article Choosing Innovation Over Imitation, where he examines the sexist tropes perpetuated in the RPG Maker community:
This generally appalling handling of female characters would be understandable, if no less annoying, were these professional products with money and careers riding on their success; game developers are often pressured into playing it safe and recycling a formula which allegedly been successful in the past. But we’re dealing with amateur productions where the success or failure of the product is quite literally immaterial, yet the creators remain so heavily influenced by the commercial games they play that their approach is often even more conservative than the mainstream commercial industry itself.
Speaking of perpetuating sexist tropes in games, BomberGirl of Girl In The Machine writes A Strictly Female Affliction, which examines that tired old trope of rape as convenient backstory for female characters in the context of a game based on a Harlan Ellison short story:
However, what makes me uncomfortable about the inclusion of rape in a woman’s backstory is that it’s such a go-to motivation for fleshing out female characters. She’s weak because she was raped; she wants revenge because she was raped; etc., etc. We see it so often (admittedly more in written fiction and comics rather than video games) that it’s become cliche.
Mighty Ponygirl reviews BioShock as an end result of objectivism, paying special attention to the philosophy’s disdain for the disenfranchised, and the game’s much-discussed ‘moral choice’ over whether one should kill or rescue the little girls who are being used as incubators for a power source:
There are some interesting analogies you could draw from the Little Sisters. After all, we have problems already with people who want to use women solely for incubation as it is in this world outside of the videogame. I don’t know that BioShock is trying to make some statement about abortionthe removal of Adam could either kill or save the little girl so there’s no clear platform on the matter. But there is a very clear point that what’s happened to these little girls is very wrong, and that it’s wrong to treat a human being as just another resource; no matter what the end result isafter all, Adam is ‘life,’ but it is life that is only possible through the enslavement of another’s body, and that there will be consequences to such an action.
On the topic of real world little girls, Bonnie’s Heroine Sheik writes about the appalling sexism of Ubisoft’s line of ‘games for girls’, but takes a deeper look at the Imagine Babyz game:
Lots of children ‘play mother’ to their dolls, their friends, etc. That in and of itself is nothing new. What’s interesting is to see the role played in a structured, game format with preset gameplay rewards. Rock the cradle well, gain points. Forget to feed your charges, lose them. Oddly enough, what we’re being reminded of here is that motherhood itselflike genderis a role to be played, not an inherent state. For such a sexist game, it’s a strangely feminist message.
In the same vein, Sara M. Grimes connects the Ubisoft games to a more academic analysis of the way adults seek to direct the play of girls towards ‘useful’ (and traditionally feminine) pursuits, and the strategies of resistance girls sometimes adopt in response:
Although dolls are often seen as obvious ‘vehicle[s] of feminine socialization,’ recent ethnographic research, as well as historical analysis of memoirs, diaries and oral histories, reveal a long-standing tradition of gender role subversion and rejection of adult authority within girls’ doll play (Formanek-Brunell, 1998; Gussin Paley, 2004). This emerging research reveals the familiar, but academically neglected, practices of brutal doll torture, doll-body modification, doll bashing and doll funerals.
On a lighter note, Robyn Can’t Jump reviews Mass Effect, and is impressed with its portrayal of female characters, human and alien:
The great variety of characters in the game, including lots of women who do and say lots of different kinds of things, and lots of people of color. I raised my eyebrows at a couple of costuming decisions for some female characters, and I felt that it was unrealistic to have (apparent) female sex workers but no male ones on a planet that’s the center of everything important for many species of aliens, but overall I was exceedingly happy with the representation of women in the game.
Comics.
The Ormes Society has branched out to a livejournal community, Torchbearers, where links on race and comics/manga may be posted and read. Add it to your list!
Absolutely essential reading is the And We Shall March series on the Golliwog appearing in Alan Moore’s The Black Dossier. A brief snippet from her coda to the series:
Thematically in the League so far, all indications are Moore cares and has thought a lot about sex and gender. His approach to the story so far lends evidence to an argument that he cares and has thought a lot about the sexual liberation of heterosexual white people, particularly white women of a certain level of economic comfort.
It’s a lot of reading, but that’s because there’s an awful lot to say.
Cath Elliot of the Guardian‘s blog Comment Is Free responds to a recent report from Britain’s Department for Children, Schools and Families:
I trawled through the new guidance from the Department for Children, Schools and Families about how to improve educational outcomes for boys, desperately searching for the bit where it says: ‘All boys must be allowed to bring replica guns into the classroom or they will grow up to be serious educational underachievers,’ but I couldn’t find it anywhere. However, one sentence that did leap out at me in the report was:
‘Images and ideas gleaned from the media are common starting points in boys’ play and may involve characters with special powers or weapons.’
Sorry? In what year was this report written?
Lisa Fortuner at Just Past The Horizon writes of the DCU’s gender-swapped Earth-11, as revealed in Countdown, and is disappointed that in a world where, for every other character, only gender has changed, Wonderman is a boorish, warmongering jackass:
Every other Justice League member does just as well as the opposite gender, except for Wonder Woman. The point seems to be that Wonder Woman’s peaceable character traits are incapable of manifesting in a man. The refined level-headed conscientious warrior who always tries the diplomatic route when the option presents itself is a blunt, hairy brute with a simple gender change. … The understanding woman who worked hard to regain the trust of the world after she’d lost it becomes a bitter man who brings an army to attack when that trust is lost — a bitter man who betrays his friend’s reputation where the female version would not. The defining characteristics of Diana, her confidence, her wisdom and her loyalty are not inherent to the character, they’re a side-effect of estrogen and a uterus. Traded in for male parts those characteristics disappear and all that’s left is pride and a thirst for vengeance.
Seeking Avalon discusses ShadowLine’s competition to create your own superheroine, wherein the winner will write three issues drawn by artist Franchesco:
Have you looked at Franchesco’s art? I saw in his gallery a picture of a proud, gritty, Moon Knight. But all his images of female characters are the kind of things that immediately turn me off investigating a comic; overly large breasts, odd body compositions and unnecessary crotch shots. And Franchesco, because he will be defining the character’s look (with input from the writer) will own 50% of the creation. There went any idea, any thought, any possible urge I had of entering the contest.
Brigid Keely discusses the sexism of this portrayal of one comic strip mother in Get Back In The Kitchen:
In a world where women do all the cooking/baking/caretaking, Jeremy is apparently completely unable to do a basic baking task. Instead, this almost-adult manchild turns to his mommy to cook him something sweet, he asks his mommy to do work that he will be graded on, because he is apparently unable to do it himself. And mommy? Seems very willing to give up her time and her sleep to sweep in to his rescue, teaching him that his poorly planned and uncommunicated needs are more important than hers are.
Fortunately, there are comic strips that address gender stereotypes instead of meekly conforming to them. If you haven’t already, check out Something Positive’s take on Women in Refrigerators.
Books.
Holidays are definitely a time for curling up with a good book, and appropriately, we’ve got some great sff books links this carnival! Let’s begin with a lament for the decline of the feminist bookstore in the USA by Tacithydra:
In 1993 there were 124 feminist bookstores in the United States. Now only 12 remain. They provided access to feminist books, but more importantly, they offered physical safe spaces and gathering points for like-minded people. Political action groups, support groups, and book clubs flourished in these stores in ways that would be impossible in the modern-day Borders or Barnes and Noble.
Now one of the last remaining independent feminist bookstores in the U.S., and the only one in Texas, is in trouble.
Podblack Cat is concerned by the decline of the feminist science hero (such as that of Carl Sagan’s Contact) in A Girl Called Ellie:
I know that many people who enjoy Contact boldly proclaim Ellie as a role model for any woman considering the sciences. But I also know that I don’t find this novel easy to locate on the shelves anymore. … I worry about the potential death of ‘Ellie’s’ as a sympathetic and iconic figure in fiction. The dearth of science heroines in the same mold.
The Hathor Legacy’s Melpomene ponders Laurell K Hamilton’s mestiza vampire-killer Anita Blake and her troubling implications on issues of ethnicity in her review of The Laughing Corpse:
A curvy trail of rationales leads Anita to the door of Dominga, the ‘grandmother of voodoo,’ a woman who’s feared all over because of her magickal skills. She’s also incredibly evil, and will do anything for money, including some really unscrupulous things involving human sacrifice. She’s everything Anita’s not… including totally Mexican. Anita describes her as ‘the Mexican grandmother of [her] nightmares’ (265), and Anita’s differences from her (Anita’s Christianity, her inability to speak Spanish, and her scruples) are all emphasized as crucial signifiers demarcating the line between a particular type of ‘Latin darkness’ and the deracinated, supernatural cowboy identity Anita performs as the Executioner of the undead.
On a brighter note, Miss Print has a ‘mildly feminist’ review of YA fantasy novel Ella Enchanted:
There are several reasons that I love this novel and recommend it to everyone. The first is that it’s an imaginative retelling of Cinderella which makes the story exciting for readers familiar with the original version without making it too abtruse for readers who have never heard of Cinderella. Also, the book is full of great role models for girls. All of the female characters are strong, self-aware womenthings seen far too rarely in the fairy tale genre.
Femsfaward is a livejournal community for reviews of sci-fi and fantasy fiction by women, with an eye towards well-deserved awards:
This is a place to mention works you’ve read that were published this year by female authors, so that we can all throw in our thoughts in the comments. Thus we will be able to find the best stuff and nominate it for various SF awards, or just enjoy the heck out of it.
And Ben Payne provides a tongue-in-cheek guide to why aspiring writers might want to put more women in their stories:
Check out this example. In sentence one we have one of the ‘foe pars’ of writing: the ‘As you know Bob’.
‘Nice work on that device, Mark,’ said Karlos to his colleague. ‘Thanks Karlos,’ said Mark. ‘I used physics and chemistry and made quantum variables of the connector ribbon.’
Don’t be bamboozled by the science!! Now you’ll notice that Mark is explaining something to his colleague that his colleague should already know!! Incongruous!!
But if we introduce a woman to this scenario, all of a sudden the ‘infodumper’ is less intrusive. Because the woman probably wouldn’t understand what Mark was talking about!!
TV and Film.
The Hathor Legacy’s Scarlett is impressed by the competence of Battlestar Galactica sort-of villain Admiral Kane in Kane is Able:
Yes, Kane was a tyrant. Yes, in some regard, she fitted the stereotype of female leaders being either incompetent or, in this case, heartless. But they also took the time to show the heart she might have had, in different circumstances. They took the time to show us her achievements as a military leader. They took the time to show us her bravery and courage.
Less positive is the news that BBC writers deliberately sought to make black, female Doctor Who Companion Martha second-best to white, female Companion Rose (don’t forget to read the comments!):
Davies is a touch defensive when he explains that Martha was always going to be second best to Rose. ‘That’s how we played it, rather than fight it. It would have been an awful moment if the doctor had said. ‘Oh, you are like a new Rose to me.’
I personally like to play a game called Imagine If Will Smith Was In It, which is where one thinks of a movie, and then imagines Will Smith in it, whereupon the movie is instantly improved. I Am Legend is a movie with nearly the maximum possible level of Will Smith. It is also, according to Feminist SF: The Blog, an excellent example of post-apocalypse done right, including its take on gender:
As far as gender goes, the two main women in this film didn’t get to do as many cool things as Smith’s character. They largely served as maternal figures, but it didn’t seem especially out of place in the film because Neville as much love for his daughter and dog. I did like that fellow survivor Anna never became a romantic partner for Neville, too. She had her own reasons for being in the film.
My own review of Disney’s Enchanted was a row of ascii hearts and smiley faces, but Dana Stevens of Slate.com has a much more in-depth analysis, focusing on one of the more troubling aspects of the movie’s feel-good fantasy:
But there was something that depressed me about Enchanted, a grim reality that occasionally peeped through the whimsy like New York City glimpsed from the animated fields of Andalasia. This sinking feeling had little to do with what could be seen as the movie’s retrograde affirmation of true love and happy endings—after all, if you’re going to start complaining about marriage as a plot resolution device, you have to throw out every comedy from Shakespeare on down. No, that intermittent sense of yuckiness sprang from the movie’s solemn celebration of a ritual even more sacred than holy matrimony: shopping.
Finally, two vastly exciting recent announcements that cross media lines!
YA Fantasy author Tamora Pierce and Julie Holderman have announced that they will work towards the establishment of a Teen & Kids Fantasy & Science Fiction Convention:
[w]e decided it would be a grand thing if we could pull together the talent and funding to organize a convention for the fans and creators of teen and kid fantasy and science fiction.
The organizers are looking for volunteers and supporters, but even if you can’t help right now, the livejournal community is certainly worth watching for anyone with an interest in the field or the eventual con!
And if that wasn’t enough New Year excitement, January also brings the launch of io9.com, a wonderful concoction of links, musings and manifestos exploring the bizarre future we’re living in and the one just around the corner. It’s perfect for all those who are ‘strung out on science fiction’.
Edited by cyberfeminist extraordinaire Annalee Newitz, with the assistance of a keen and smart bunch of others, io9.com has over 700 backdated entries more than enough to completely cure your Holiday Brain. Given the talent behind the site, it’s not unexpected that many entries have feminist content and/or reflect feminist concerns: I went prowling through the archives and am barely able to restrain myself to recommending a mere two gems: Children: A Sinister Threat To The Future (which explores the personal choice of environmentalist women not having babies, and the hilarious, horrified response of the conservative press) and World of Warcraft’s Strange Rules About Cybersex, which ‘[j]ust goes to show that you can move to a new cyber-world packed with an international population of millions, and still be SOL if you want to find a decent tranny bar. ’

• – –
  And that’s it from me! Be sure to check the Carnival homepage for the date of the next Carnival, and consider signing up to host yourself. And if you’d like to say anything about this Carnival, here is the place!
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• Both, obviously.

Huzzah, summer is here!
I’m just about to return to the loving embrace of my family and friends in New Zealand for a month. Sadly, my access to the internets and comic book stores will both be somewhat limited during that period*. I shall doubtless be around from time to time, and I have a couple of interviews lined up, but my loose weekly schedule will become a little looser.
Right now, some housekeeping.
One:
I have shamefully neglected to mention that Girl-Wonder.org has a new comic: The Tower, by Saki Miyamoto and Brendon Bennetts.
The Tower is a wonderful wordless comic about a fairytale princess who refuses to accept the restrictive ‘safety’ her father imposes. Instead, she approaches the world outside the titular tower with joy, courage, and a willingness to improvise in the face of dragons, bee swarms, tree monsters, thunderstorms, and true love.
Saki’s art is beautiful, with characters’ expressions and actions depicted so clearly that no words are needed, and Brendon’s story is an extraordinary tale, delightfully twisty, and with some of the best pacing I’ve ever seen in comic form. Best of all, the whole thing is completed! There’s none of that awful waiting for the next page that you sometimes get with other great longform webcomics, with the even worse horror that maybe the creators will get bored and stop.
You can’t read this comic as I did: sitting in a cafe in Kyoto’s Pontocho district while rain pattered on the roof, turning the pages in a plastic binder with fingers that trembled with delight, and every now and then looking up at the creators and gasping ‘You guys! You guys! You have to submit this to Girl-Wonder. You GUYS!’. But you can read the first six chapters right now, and the other four are coming in whole chapters, one chapter per week.
I like it extremely. Recommended to all humans.
Two:
I am delighted that I’ve been given the opportunity to host the next Feminist Science Fiction and Fantasy Festival here at GRC. The festival will appear here on January 5th. Please get your submissions and links to me by January 3rd, via email or use this submission form.
The most recent festival was truly excellent. Hosted by Anna, it contained so much awesome commentary and linkage that it had to be divided into three parts: Women, Gaming and You; These Things We Love And How We Interact With Them; and Reviews, Reactions, and Recommended Further Reading. Also recommended to all humans.
And that about does it for now. May you have happy holidays, whether they be unnaturally cold and wintry, or in the entirely appropriate glorious sunshine!

Dolls and So Forth Week: A Coda! Check out the Thunderbolts preview at CBR.
tboltsbp001_int-8.jpg
Oh, that is a beautiful swipe at the ‘tasteful’ pandering of the Mary Jane statuette.
Well-played, Christos Gage and Brian Denham!

And now for more fun adventures with Dolls and So Forth Week at GRC, which I really might just have well called ‘Look! No One Wears Pants.’
An argument often leveled at anyone who protests against the sexual objectification that finds expression in statues where women don’t wear pants for no good reason whatsoever, whereas their male counterparts are fully-panted, is: ‘Whatever! So she’s presenting at the viewer! You know what’s really bad? Figures in JAPAN!’
In JAPAN the breasts thrust outward at more perilous angles, the legs bend ever so more coltishly, the expression conveys either hapless shame or a desire to be instantaneously mounted, and of course, the pantlessness is even more pronounced! Why are you wasting all your precious and finite caring on AMERICAN figures you cultural imperialist when in JAPAN everything is so much worse?
Having visited the Action Figure Museum in Nagahama, I can say that there is some truth to the assertion that some Japanese action figures display truly revolting levels of casual misogyny. I wasn’t in there for ten minutes before I developed the urge to fold my arms over my chest and hunch past the viewers enthusiastically gazing at the tiny facsimiles of enormous-breasted fourteen-year-old girls in tiny scraps of black leather.
Of course, not every Japanese figure is like that something the ‘but-it’s-worse-in-JAPAN’ commentator sometimes appears to conveniently forget any more than every American figure is like the infamous Mary Jane comiquette. There were plenty of female figures that were cute, or tough, or sexy without being objectified in Nagahama; but the collected effect of so many pointed nipples and so much lovingly detailed cameltoe made my stomach roil.
So I’m willing to concede that in Japan, things might be worse. What I fail to see is why that should have any effect on my criticism of American figures. The possibly greater vileness of Japanese figures doesn’t mean I’m obliged to give comparatively -less-digusting-but-still-gross American ones a pass. Gosh, I’m not even American, and I write this whole darn column about American comics every week.
I am perfectly willing and able to criticize the cultural products of any nation whenever I find those products endorsing degrading sexual objectification of the female body.
And I see it way too fucking often.

Apparently, we need some ground rules.
Perceive this.
If you think that there is no such thing as sexism, you are either stupid or ignorant. If you are aware that there is, and it is a-okay with you, then I hope you die in a ditch. You are a pus-filled sore on the ass of humanity.
If you are aware that sexism exists and that it is also, like, kinda bad, but assert that there is no sexism in comics, then stick around. You are wrong, and I intend to demonstrate how, but I reserve judgement on your inherent value as a human being.
Note that this is not a column about hating skimpy costumes in comics, but a column about the varied and sickeningly common instances of misogynistic tropes in superhero comics, superhero comics fandom, and the industry of superhero comics. The initial post on the blog was meant as manifesto/introduction instead of the thing and the whole of the thing, and thus did not go into great detail about specific injustices. I randomly selected five examples of misogyny in comics as illustration:
1) Stephanie Brown’s sexualised torture.
2) Her lack of a memorial case.
3) That the default costume for women is to show as much tits and ass as possible.
4) That Greg Land uses porn stills to depict a teenage superheroine.
5) That Land’s female faces are well-nigh identical
Oh, and I called Frank Miller a weasel-fucker*, but didn’t get specific as to why. Don’t worry, I will.
This didn’t prevent people from assuming that a) my only problem is the costumes and b) assuring me that men are just as objectified as women, costumes-wise, to which I respond with A. Hunt’s excellent article, Talking Points. (I disagree with the article’s conclusions, since I believe that in this nutbag cultural paradigm objectification of women is automatically easier to read than objectifying men, and thus “equal” objectification will still be biased in favour of the male gaze.)
The costumes, while frequently painful, are not the everything. Rest assured, misogyny-haters! Actual detailed and specific rage is a-coming. I have plenty to work with.
But before that, the following:
I am profusely irritated that such clarification is necessary, but I shall point out that this isn’t Feminism 101. Nor is it a place to whine about how feminists want to take over the world / they’ve already taken over the world / men are raped TOO! / you can’t get a date.
This is a place for pointing out sexism in comics with white-hot rage and acid-tongued venom. I am not required to explain feminist principles, theory, or aims to you, much less endeavour to wearily soothe your ego while I explain that I don’t hate men. I am not obliged to do your homework for you.
But for you, noble detester of sexism-but-not-in-comics-because-comics-aren’t-sexist, I have some pointers for where that homework might begin! You don’t have to do it. There will be no pop quiz. However, going up against feminist academics with the intent of proving how wrong they are without some basic groundwork in feminist theory is much like a hacker battle with Oracle when you are armed with an abacus and your hazy recollection of tenth-grade mathematics. You are destined to fail.
For men, especially, I recommend that you look into and think seriously about the concept of male privilege.
The patriarchy (or patriarchies) is not a conspiracy. It doesn’t have to be. It is an insidious creator of and creation of culture and the ideal of male domination is so deeply embedded in the collective consciousness of humanity that it is occasionally difficult to recognise its slimy appendages.
And for men, this recognition is substantially more difficult, because of male privilege.
Please read this article.
Okay, now take a look at the Male Privilege Checklist. Here are later amendments to and discussion of that Checklist by the author.
If you are a guy, you have male privilege. If you are white, you have white privilege. If you are straight, you have straight privilege. The same goes for being able-bodied, able-minded, and non-elderly. It’s not your fault. However, as a presumably decent person, it is up to you to acknowledge that it exists, and mitigate, insofar as is possible, the effects such privilege has on both your view of the world and your discourse.
Feminists of every stripe have encountered many arguments which are centred not in logic, but in male privilege (women can and do also endorse male privilege). Many female feminists are sadly familiar with even well-intentioned men patronisingly telling them how best to advance their cause from their privileged position.
In particular, regardless of your gender, you are advised to avoid the following arguments:
1) Don’t be so angry!
Don’t be an idiot. Rage is an entirely appropriate reaction to injustice. Being angry about something doesn’t invalidate one’s argument.
2) You should be doing something more important for feminism than criticising comics.
a) Criticising a manifestation of sexism in any media is a contribution to feminism.
b) Why assume I’m not?
3) You feminists-
Feminism is not the Borg. There are, in fact, feminisms, and a great number of feminists with whom I strongly disagree on many points. I do not speak for all women, all feminists, or all feminist superhero comics fans. It says that down at the bottom of the blog and always has, but it apparently bears repeating.
The following links offer illumination on these topics, and are mostly also damn good reads. Much thanks to Ragnell for her assistance in link-gathering:
Anger:
Heo Cwaeth In Defense of Bitterness
Mickle Masquerade
Privilege:
Andrea Rubenstein Think Women Have Achieved Equality? Think Again.
earlbecke Political Correctness and Privilege
Defining Feminism(s):
Ilyka Damen Help Me Out What About Actual Feminists?
The Happy Feminist Feminism 101 What Is Feminism?
Andrea Rubenstein Feminism Is About Choice
Misogyny in Language:
earlbecke On The Use of Language
Objectification:
earlbecke But Don’t You Like To Be Objectified Sometimes?
Mickle Monday Rant
This Is Important:
Andrea Rubenstein De-Bunking the Myth of Frivolity
Comics Specific:
Ragnell I’m Not Cleaning That Out (Discussion of Women In Refrigerators)
Ragnell Where’s My Adolescent Power Fantasy?
Kalinara Not All Female Comic Readers Like Sandman
Kalinara Women, Comics, Biases and Ramblings (Rebuttal of the “You should be doing something more important!” argument.)
Kalinara Men *Never* Sacrifice the Sluts: The Virgin/Whore Dichotomy in Comics
Dan Jacobson Refrigerator Culture and Privilege (Most male comic book fans aren’t assholes, but that’s not the point.)
heykidzcomix They Said It Could Not Be Done(Parody of those ridiculous and demeaning “How to Get Your Girlfriend To Read Comics” articles.)
Aaaaand we’re officially done with the feminist primer. From now on, ignorance is not an excuse.

• This is a metaphor, wherein I liken weasel-fucking (an unpleasant activity) to Frank Miller (an unpleasant person). I know nothing of Miller’s sex life, and would rather eat my own eyelids than learn.
  —
  Comment on this post.

To continue Dolls and So Forth week at GRC, I ask you to inspect the following selection of DC Direct action figures, Series 3 of the Green Lantern sets:

Sing along, folks!
One of these figures is not like the others
At one of these figures I look askance
One of these figures is a female villain
One of these figures is anti-pants o/~
I have previously remarked on Star Sapphire’s Nakedest Costume Ever and how inappropriate it is in view of her history as the metaphorical representative of a female-only alien race deeply concerned with injustices against women and who occasionally enter outright misandrism. Yes, she hates men so much that she dresses like the stereotypical Western pop culture representation of the most debased feminine object of masculine sexual desire and colour-codes herself as immature/babyish/feminine/soft*! Wow, what a bitch.
Anyway, it’s always icky when female characters are constructed to pander to the male gaze, and particularly so when they also represent an entire race of pseudo-feminist women, but tonight I’d like to draw your attention to the main source of my BOO. The above, as mentioned, is Series 3.
Here is Series 1 (Ganthet & Guardian, Black Hand, Kilowog, Hal Jordan, Parallax: better views of each figure here.):

And here is Series 2 (Manhunter Robot, Guy Gardner, Sinestro, Salaak, Shark):

I find it curious that all the other action figures are male, of varying body types and species (though no John Stewart, BAH), all bar one of them fully-clothed. The sole female figure is conventionally Western-style sexy and wearing a showgirl outfit.
How representative.
BOO, DC Direct, BOO!

It’s Dolls and So Forth week at GRC, folks, because the DC February solicits are out and I spent half an hour this morning going ‘YAY! BOO! YAY! BOO!’ at the action figures and busts.
As I’ve mentioned before, I like running around World of Warcraft and hitting bears with an axe, although lately I’ve been ignoring the whole axe thing and just punching the bears in the face. It is a rush! No wonder the Punisher likes it so much. (WARNING: silhouetted ultra-violence).
To my general delight, Wildstorm is releasing a World of Warcraft comic. At first glance it is all terribly exciting: story and script by Walter Simonson; art by Ludo Lullabi and Sandra Hope; covers by Jim Lee. That’s a definite ‘YAY!’, right?
Oh, so close! It would have been, but unfortunately, there are two things that make me go ‘BOO!’
One: There are five Horde (bad guy, more or less) races. Four of them are ugly or downright repulsive by conventional Western beauty standards. One of them is very, very pretty. Guess which race is represented by the sole female character named in the solicits?
Two: The main characters have DC Direct action figures. This is hers:
valeerahasnopants.jpg
Oh look! She isn’t wearing pants!
Valeera Sanguinar is apparently a rogue, a class of sneaky bastards who stab bears in the back. Their talents lie in being invisible until they shiv the bear, but after that point the bear is usually displeased. Rogues aren’t hardcore healthwise, so they really need the additional armour bonuses that come from wearing as many pieces of clothing as possible to protect them from their target’s ursine fury. Like, say, pants.
The lack of wisdom inherent in a pantless policy is borne out by the statue itself, which lovingly displays what appears to be a scar on her bare ass:
valeerascar.jpg
Of course, the practicality of pants-as-protection is totally outweighed by the aesthetic imperative for Valeera to be sexy, sexy danger. I am delighted by the raised weapon and the determined expression; I am driven into despair by the low bodice and thong; and I am wearily furious about, once again, the disproportionate sexual objectification of female vs. male characters*.
See what I mean? YAY. BOO.