I originally posted this as a face book update but it was this post that made me think “Hey, maybe I should make a blog?” so here I am.
I've edited, spell checked, and added to this, so it's like the director's cut.
I both love and loath the Power Girl trade I just read. I'm going to get all 4 in this series, but I know what to expect soon. What the trade DID do for me, though, is make Power Girl a character I can take seriously. The first real exposure I had to her was in the animated feature Batman/Superman: Public Enemies and, to be honest, see seemed like a total joke. I was never able to take her a serious character before, mostly because of her design and that animated feature, but she's a pretty cool character. Atlee (Terra) adds to it with her charm and innocence. I'd like to read more about Terra (all forms, why shouldn't I?).
There is a lot of sexism in Power Girl (surprise, surprise, amirite?) but most of it seems to be there for Power Girl to overcome. Every wants her (or just her body) and every girl... well, we don't see how women react to her, really. She gets hit on, asked out, ogled, and jokes are made at her expense (and expanse... if you know what I mean, which you do, because this is Power Girl we're talking about). She takes them all in stride.
I also read Batgirl: Batgirl Rising, which is the tale of Stephanie Brown taking the Batgirl mantle from Cassandra Cain. Batgirl is another super heroine that I've always had an interest in, as was lady Robin and Spoiler. I have this thing for strong female characters. Or just female characters in general. Anyway, I bought the trade on my local comic shop's recommendation and enjoyed it but I couldn't help pick out all the weird sexism in that too.
I'm not reading Batgirl and Power Girl to watch super powered ladies in tight suits hitting other ladies. Well, that isn't the whole reason I'm reading them. I am doing this sort of personal research into sexism in comics, all on my own. As an independent comic writer (Oh, you're too kind, I'm hardly even that, but thank you!) I think it is important that I get my characters right. Maybe I do. Maybe I don't. I don't want to rely on stereotypes and sexism to make my characters likeable to a given demographic, I just want them to be realistic. You don't have to like a character, or want to “do” a character, for them to be a strong female that pushed the story.
Quick tip I was given by a wonderful artist, who got it from somewhere else, once told me;
“If you can't put a man in that position without it looking awkward you shouldn't put a woman in that position.”
Speaking of Batgirl, Power Girl and Terra trades...
So I got into comics about 10 months ago (I had to look at what issue of Mega Man was the most recent) when I started reading (as you just read) Mega Man by Archie Comics. Since then I have dove, head first, into the world of sequential art. There are TONS of trades I need to go back and read and story lines I've been wiki'ing, but I sort of have a problem.
See, I buy trades on a whim and almost never buy something I intended to buy. I grabbed Power Girl: Old Friends off the shelf and bought it without much thought. I later learned that it was the fourth and last trade in a set. I then, of course, obtained the first trade and read it... thus this entire endeavor. Now, I had an interest in Power Girl from the start, and it wasn't just because she was falling out of her costume. No, it was an interest beyond that, but not one I really ever thought I would go too deep into. After all, how many Batmans and Supermen do I have to read before I am well versed in their tales? How many Spider-Men and X-People do I have to sift through before I am on my way to comic book expertism?
So, I diverged and bought Power Girl. I'm not saying that I should only read the aforementioned caped crusader's stories, but that I had this mental list of stories I wanted to read before anything else and have completely ignored. I've had All-Star Superman sitting on my shelf for at least six months and I've hardly cracked it. Power Girl on the other hand I tore through like she would tear through something soft and squishy. Maybe a sponge.
Nothing wrong with this. All-Star Superman is said to be the greatest Superman story ever told, and as I am still a newborn in the world of comics I can simply only go off recomendations. I'll get to it. It isn't going anywhere. I just have this problem of not doing what I want to do, or what I think I want to do, and very easily doing other things that I wasn't expecting to do at the moment. I procrastinate on things I enjoy doing, is what I am trying to say.
Anyway, the point of this blog isn't to discuss comics but to pretty much write any crap that comes to mind. That is how I work, after all. I can't write a comic blog. I'm new to the world of comics. When I enter the shop on Wednesday afternoon with Jerry I buy my box and stand to the side while Jerry, who hasn't been reading much longer than I, will have these detailed conversations with the guy behind the counter about these fantastic worlds and the Elder Gods who pen them. I am jealous of his ability to discuss these nerd values the way he can. He named artists and writers and styles... I like when Animal Man punches the bad guy.
See what I mean? He is articulate and informed. I am spending lots of money on a hobby that I feel, no matter how much money and time on Wikipedia I throw at it, I can never fully understand. But maybe I'm setting my sights too high? I should just enjoy these things instead of obsessing over where my knowledge is.
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