Geeking Out

I know I've been bad about posting things lately, Imaginary Readers, and I don't really have an excuse, other than a week in the North Woods without internet access, but I'm okay with that. Frankly, as I'm sure you've noticed, I tend to use this space as an outlet for my angst, which works, but means that I post more when I'm not doing so well, and, almost surprisingly, I've been feeling pretty good so far this summer. Having something productive to do every day (lab work) is good for me, as it keeps me from wallowing in self-pity at home all day, and when you add in having [Keeper Of All Knowledge] and [Totally a Cat] in town for the summer and hanging out with them, it makes for what is probably the best summer I've had in a long time, so far at least. Don't worry, Imaginary Readers, I am trying to still post things here, but I just haven't had much to say lately that isn't super repetitive of my previous meanderings, and I think it is better for now to only say things when I have something to share, rather than to force something more frequently. Anyways, on the the main event of this post.

Us with Tamora Pierce (middle)

This past weekend, [Keeper of All Knowledge], [Totally a Cat], and I went to CONvergence, a local sci-fi/fantasy convention here in the Twin Cities that serves pretty much the entire upper mid-west outside of Chicago, and it was awesome! While we had thrown around the idea of going when we were idly planning stuff to do this summer, we decided that we had to go when we found out that Tamora Pierce was one of the guests of honor this year. Sometime last year we all discovered that we had a mutual love of her books, to the point that we had a Tamora Pierce reading group last summer lovingly named "Ladies of the Knight" because we are just that cool, although I only made it through Song of the Lioness, the first quartet, and the first two books of the Wild Magic quartet before giving up on my reread. One thing that was quite apparent from the panels that we went to on her work and just our experience with it in general, is that she seems to have the quietest fandom ever. Over and over, people said that they thought that they were the only ones who liked her books, and they were pleasantly surprised to find that they had a decent sized following. This is unfortunate, because it's always better to have people to talk to about the stuff that you love, but understandable to me, in that, although she is one of my favorite authors, and the Tortall books were an important force in my adolescence, I rarely talk about them when discussing things like favorite books and fantasy series. I'm not sure why this is, other than an inherent assumption that no one else has heard of them, which perpetuates the problem. Her books are awesome, particularly for young girls who are into fantasy, because they are populated with strong female characters, who are sorely lacking in YA books, and I strongly recommend them to anyone who hasn't read them before.

Two Caps and a bunch of War Bond girls

Also, Tamora Pierce is hilarious to listen too. She's a great speaker, and can only be described as feisty. She never shies away from controversial topics, and makes her opinion quite clear. We were super excited to meet her, and managed to be the first ones in line for the book signing, without getting their ridiculously early or anything. I got one of [SisterBot]'s books signed, as well as one of my own, which pretty much means that she can never be mad at me again. We also got our picture taken with her after a panel on her characters, which was equally cool, and had the mystery of how to pronounce her name cleared up: the emphasis is on the first syllable, not on the 'o.'

Just some of the many Avengers present

While all the Tamora Pierce stuff was super awesome, the rest of the weekend was pretty amazing too. We went in costume, because it's more fun that way, with [Totally a Cat] going as first the Eleventh Doctor then as Liz X from that one episode of Doctor Who, [Keeper of All Knowledge] going as Zoe from Firefly, and me as Kel from Tamora Pierce's Protector of the Small series. People really get into the costumes, and there were some amazing ones, like the Madam Vastra costume that definitely made [Totally a Cat] and I squeal for about 30 seconds, and the super awesome Captain America who looked strikingly like Chris Evans, and spent the entire time in character as Cap, telling people to buy War Bonds and saluting people when he left. The main thing that struck me about the costumes was the sheer abundance of boobs. I really shouldn't have been surprised, given the types of things that female characters tend to wear in comics and other media, but the sheer number of corsets and what can only be described as bikinis on display was quite impressive, if somewhat distracting. There were some truly impressive displays of boobs defying gravity itself, as well as many other examples of somewhat questionable costumes, where I was left wondering if they were really a character from something or had just elected to wear bondage gear. Also, furries. This isn't to say that I have any particular problem with bondage gear or furries or any of the other somewhat strange things that people did, as CON is a safe place to let all of your particular geek flags fly, including some of the kinkier ones, and geeky and kinky do tend to go hand in hand, but there were times when I was left wondering about whether people had just used something like bondage gear to approximate the leather straps on a particular character's outfit, or if they had just decided to eschew costumes for their leather codpieces, because sometimes it was confusing.

The aforementioned squeal worthy Madam Vastra (from Doctor Who)

We also ran into [Nice Vest] and [The Cool CA] there, and we hung out with them a bunch, because we really haven't seen them much this year, and they're pretty cool. They had come with a whole group of people, and had at least three different costumes each, so they didn't repeat day to day. The panels and events were fun, and [Nice Vest] directed us towards an unscheduled sing-a-long screening of Once More With Feeling, the musical episode from Buffy: the Vampire Slayer, which was awesome, and at night the place basically turned into one giant party, with sketchy bottles of what was presumable mostly alcohol being passed around freely, although we didn't end up staying all that late. It was totally worth the ticket price ($60 because we bought them early enough) and the price of the hotel room we split, and they provided enough real food that outside of the ticket and the hotel, there was no need to spend more money unless you wanted to buy something in the merch room, where the wares were both high quality and reasonably priced. It was a super fun weekend, and we have already begun to come up with ideas for costumes for next year, because planning is necessary. Everybody was super nice, because when you put geeks in Minnesota you can't really have a nicer group en masse, which definitely enhanced the experience. I can't believe that I haven't gone before, and I'm super excited to go again. Really, if you haven't already, you should definitely check CONvergence out if you're in the Twin Cities area, because it is super awesome. Okay, I'll stop gushing now.

Comic Book Wednesday: Wolverine and the X-Men

I recently discovered Wolverine and the X-Men, an animated kids show about the X-Men produced by Marvel Studios. I have already discussed why I love the X-Men, and being the sucker for anything X-Men that I am, I watched it, although I had some reservation at first because Wolverine is not my favorite character because I think he tends to be rather one note and boring. I mean, how many times can you do Weapon X and him not remembering his past and have it still be interesting? Once. The answer is once. Yet they still do it all the time.

Despite some early reservations, I still watched it, and it was awesome! I was hooked from the title sequence, which shows everything that I love about the X-Men: them fighting against human oppressors for the right of mutants to exist and live freely while also fighting against other mutants who wish ill upon humans. Pure awesome with a hint of dystopianism. Yes, Wolverine is leading the team, in a rather unusual move, but it doesn't really center on him, and they actually make his attempts to be a good leader, which goes against his loner nature, interesting, all the while also focusing on the various members of the team. I really never should have doubted Marvel Studios to make a great X-Men show.

What really makes it great is how much the creators care about the characters and their stories. All of the characters are spot on to the best part of the comics, with the team being made up of Wolverine, Cyclops, Shadowcat, Storm, Iceman, Beast, Emma Frost, and Rouge, with Nightcrawler, Angel, and Forge in recurring roles. This line-up is fairly similar to the Astonishing X-Men line-up, which is my personal favorite, so that's a plus. It also works really well, because it hits some of the major characters, without being bogged down by a too large team. Most of the other great characters make cameo appearances in roles that fit the character or harken back to their backstory, such as Gambit as a thief and Polaris as Magneto's daughter. Most of the secondary characters are also from the comics in one way or another, either from various X-Men teams, such as Psylocke, Domino, and Marrow, or from various other storylines, such as Dr. Rao and Tildy from Astonishing, who both make a brief appearance, and even a mention of the Morlocks and the Badlands, both classic X-Men stories. It is really rewarding as a fan of the comics to know who most of the minor characters are and to see some old favorites appear in cameos.

While the plot of the show is it's own distinct storyline, with Professor X working from a dystopian future to help Wolverine and his X-Men to prevent that future from happening, with the present is in the grips of Senator Kelly's mutant registration program and anti mutant fervor, it has shades of some of the great classic storylines, like "Days of Future Past" and "God Loves, Man Kills."It doesn't just retell old stories, but it does adopt some of the best parts of the best stories from the X-Men's history all combined with some of the best characters, which is really awesome, and helps to make the plot really compelling. The plot is also fairly complex and it takes some time to develop, with it taking several episodes at the beginning for the team to assemble, and plot points taking several episodes to pay off.

I think the X-Men are at their most compelling when they are fighting against human prejudice for the right to live their lives freely, which is one of the overriding themes of the show, with Senator Kelly's Mutant Registration Act and Sentinel Program being the overarching villain. This gives the characters purpose beyond just being superheroes and really makes them interesting, because they are fighting for basic civil rights and not just to save the planet, which they also do. This plot also allows Magneto's Genosha to play a role, which is nice because it let's Magneto be featured in several episodes without necessarily being a horrible villain they are always fighting. They certainly aren't on good terms with him, and he has some machinations happening in the background that are driving the plot, but they aren't fighting him every episode, which is good, because that's something that has been done so much as to be boring.

Bringing in Emma Frost as part of the team is great, because she's a really fun character to watch, but it wasn't something I was expecting to see, because part of what makes her so enjoyable is that she really isn't a particularly likable character, at least on the surface. She's the head bitch, who makes no attempts to get alone with the characters she doesn't like or to hid her distaste for some of the X-Men's practices. She's a former villain, but redeemed is not an adjetive anyone would use to describe her, which makes her really fun to read/watch, but not the prototypical animated kids show character. Having her on the team, and staying true to her character, including her rather skimpy outfit and cold demeanor, really shows that the creators of the series really love the X-Men and are in it for the stories and the characters rather than ratings.

All in all, I think Wolverine and the X-Men is an awesome show, and if you're anything like me, Imaginary Readers, and have a somewhat unhealthy obsession with everything related to the X-Men, I think you'll like it. If not, well, if you at all enjoy the X-Men or comic books, you should check it out. If you don't like/understand comics at all, and have no idea what I just spend 6 paragraphs talking about, you can skip it, but if you give it a chance, you might like it. The only think you have to lose is just under eight hours of your life, so it's up to you.

Comic Book Wednesday: Nerd Culture

This article has been making the rounds recently (I qualify seeing two people link to it on Facebook as making the rounds), and for those of you who didn't read it, it's about male privilege in nerd culture and why it's a bad thing for geeky girls. The author makes some good points about how the geek culture caters nearly exclusively to men, particularly in the comics and videogame sectors.

I've already discussed my feeling on the portrayal of women in comics, which relies on arguments that the article dismisses as products of male privilege, which does have some merit, but I still think that comics are a business, and should not be vilified by for catering to their primary audience.

Anyways, my feelings about female comic book characters aside, the main gist of the article is that many women are alienated by the geek/nerd community because they are treated differently, and often weirdly, by the community because they are girls in a traditionally male only space. This is a fair point, and his arguments about why this is a bad thing are pretty solid.

I found this whole issue somewhat interesting, because while I know it's true to a great extent, it is fairly far removed from my experience in the nerd community as a female comic book fan (if you didn't get that by now, Imaginary Readers, you have obviously been skipping Comic Book Wednesdays, for shame, I am currently shaking my head disapprovingly at you). Only one on occasion have I ever felt like I was treated differently because I'm a girl at a comic book shop, and that only entailed a guy assuming I was buying manga rather than mainstream American comics because I was a teenage girl. I wasn't particularly offended by this assumption, because it seemed to me that The Source's extensive manga collection was what drew in most of their teenage girl clientele. Maybe that was my own concession to male privilege, but it does seem to me like making an assumption based on observed patterns is not necessarily sexist, it's just pattern recognition.

It is true that most times I have been in a comic shop, I've been the only girl there, also, very often the only person under 40, but it's never bothered me. Granted, I've never been totally immersed in the culture, as my interest in comics seems to follow a sinusoidal pattern with a period of about 2 years. And The Source, the store where I've primarily gotten my comics, is a mixed comics and games shop, so it serves a more diverse clientele than say, Big Brain, the exclusively comic book store I pull from when I'm at school, where I've only ever seen one other human being aside from the guy behind the counter.

I can't honestly say the male privilege isn't a problem in the nerd community, it's just something that I've never really experienced (at least to my knowledge; I'm not the most perceptive person). You should definitely read the article, because, if nothing else, it's food for thought.

Comic Book Wednesday: My Origin Story

Beware the power of CBW

I know that you have all been clamoring for the return of Comic Book Wednesday, imaginary readers. You've been reading this blog and wondering why I haven't discussed comics in lieu of my feelings in recent weeks. In truth, it's not because I haven't been reading them, there is a whole stack that I've read and am now waiting to get back from [Princess Leia Vampire], it's just that there is only so much I can talk about without doing reviews, and I don't think any of you are particularly interested in irregular reviews of the four titles I read. (So many commas in that last sentence; have fun parsing it).

So, I have decided to resurrect CBW, much like Jean Grey, this week as a welcome break from the depressing slog of my feelings/personal life which most of the recent posts have consisted of, but, because I do enjoy talking about myself (hence the feelings/personal life posts), this weeks CBW will be my origin story (read: how I got into comics). (Holy Parentheticals, Batman!).

I was alway a geeky child, with interests running towards fantasy and PBS from an early age. This should surprise no one. While other girls my age were having slumber parties and talking about boys (I presume) I was in my back yard duct taping lengths of PVC piping together to make swords or in my basement hot gluing pieces of felt together to make sheaths for said swords. They were awesome swords, and I probably made about half a dozen in total. I think that [BrotherBorg] still has some of them.

Around the age of ten I started spending inordinate amounts of time at my local library, and I would check out VHS tapes of old TV shows, most of which were British sit-coms, because, like I said, PBS. This lead to my discovery of episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation on VHS, which I immediately fell in love with. I quickly became obsessed with Star Trek in all of it's various incarnations, and decided that instead of actually watching any of the series all the way through, I should just read the novels/ fansites/ any other piece of content I could find. I ended up reading every Star Trek graphic novel/collection my library had, which wasn't many, but did serve to introduce me to comics, although I didn't quite like the format yet.

After about a year of being obsessed with Star Trek, [Nightcrawler] introduced me to the X-Men via X-Men: Evolution and the movies. I was instantly in love with the X-Men, which mean that I needed to consume every bit of content that existed pertaining to them. Once again, my library came to the rescue, as they had, and still have, a fairly large collection of graphic novels and trade paperbacks (collections of individual issues of comics). I quickly consumed every X-Men book they had, by which point I was pretty well bitten by the comic book bug. This lead to me reading every comic I could get my hands on, which an emphasis on Marvel comics, but a good helping of DC and Vertigo title as well.

This book is real and the most awesome thing ever written

After I had exhausted by library's collection of interesting comics, I started going to my local comic book shop (The Source Comics & Games for anyone interested) which was conveniently located two blocks from my house, and which I was familiar with due to my Pokemon card habit from a couple of years earlier (unfortunately, they are not paying me to shamelessly plug them). I spent countless hours there digging through back issues and reading trades (trade paper backs). Soon, I was reading weeklies and pulling multiple titles each week. This lasted throughout middle school and well into high school, although the number of titles I read continued to drop until I was only reading one or two books a month. I cancelled my pull sometime in 11th grade, and didn't reestablish another one until this year. It just got too difficult to keep up with the ever changing universes and events, as well as becoming prohibitively expensive, but I will always have a special place in my heart for Marvel and DC.

And that is how I came to be a comic book nerd. This is only a partial account though, because it is all tied up with libraries and Star Trek and my friendship with [Nightcrawler] and so many other stories which I don't have time to tell right now and that all have parts to play in my childhood and adolescence. The moral of this story is that comics are awesome.

Bat-Queer Theory

We learned about Queer Theory today in my GWSS class. Apparently it's all about breaking down barriers between societally imposed binaries with regards to gender/sex/sexuality etc. I found it mostly annoying, but shouldn't surprise you, imaginary readers. 

The details of what we learned aren't important. What's important is that my instructor drew an umbrella on the board, to illustrate how "queer" is an umbrella term, and while not paying attention to what she was saying, I noticed something peculiar. The umbrella she drew looked suspiciously like the Bat symbol.

This realization has lead me to formulate something that I like to call Bat-Queer Theory. Here's a helpful image to illustrate the overlap. 

Turns out Google Docs has a paint feature. More images to follow

Bat-Queer Theory (BQT) basically states that there is a socially constructed binary between the Bat family (Batman and his associates who operate under the Bat) and everyone else. BQT attempts to break down that binary by realizing that some people identify with the Bat. They may feel like they don't fit with the traditional societal roles, but rather, they identify as Batmen/women/other or as Robins/Nightwings/Spoilers or as Pennyworths.

I hope to establish BQT as a legitimate academic field, because it is important that no one's identity is marginalized, including Bats. Frankly, I'm surprised and appalled by the Queer and Feminist movements' lack of inclusion of Bats. I would have thought that they of all people would recognize the intersectionality of Bats and other identities. I hope to right that wrong, and I hope that you, imaginary readers, will help me in my endeavor. Bats have been othered for too long, and it is time that people recognize them for what they are: Fictional superheroes of Gotham City.

Comic Book Wednesday: Anatomy Lessons

I have a poster on my wall that shows a collection of female Marvel comics characters, which I like because I am generally a fan of both Marvel comics and female comic book characters, so it's a win in every dimension. On multiple occasions now, when people who aren't comic book nerds have seen it for the first time they've asked me why all the the female character have such large breasts, to which I don't really have a good answer other than that they're comic book characters.

In truth, I don't really think about the proportionality of comic book characters anymore, probably because I'm so familiar with the genre that I don't think about things like that anymore. I understand that some people are offended by the fact that nearly every single female character in mainstream American comics is a double D with a 15 inch waist, because I do get that women aren't portrayed in a realistic manner, which can contribute to body issues in impressionable girls. I mean, Power Girl is just ridiculous and I wish Emma Frost wore more clothing, but I find that the people who complain about them are missing something fundamental because they are ignoring what comic books are.

Power Girl: Superman's cousin from an alternate timeline which no longer exists, maybe.

Just looking at Emma Frost makes me cold. This is not a practical outfit.

Comics are entertainment, and, ultimately, escapism. I don't read comics to better understand the world I live in. I read comics because I enjoy the world of the comics. They aren't portraying real people, nor are they claiming to portray real people, so holding them to a standard that is defined by what is real is dumb. I would contend that people don't read comics to see themselves reflected in the characters. They read comics to see scantily clad women and ridiculously buff men with superpowers fight it out for 22 pages. Also, sometimes the stories are good too.

Secondly, comics are a genre written by and for men, nearly exclusively. The fact is, there are very few women who read mainstream American comics, so comic creators shouldn't be expected to write/draw things that appeal to sensitive women's sensibilities because they make up such a small portion of the audience. Comics are a struggling industry to begin with, and if they were to risk alienating a major part of their audience (who are very easily offended to begin with, just look at the hullabaloo over giving Wonder Woman pants) just to satisfy a really small group of people who aren't buying comics anyways it would be really bad for business. And, ultimately, it is a business. It exists to make money by selling comics not to promote good body image in girls.

Thirdly, men are equally as ridiculously proportioned as women in comics, a fact that people tend to ignore. It is routine for male characters to have the musculature of a 'roided out body builder who is half giant. The 90s were particularly bad for this.

His forearms are larger than a baby. Think about that for a moment.

 This can't be good for the body image of your typically teenage nerd who reads comics. But no one wants to talk about that.

Ultimately, I just think that comics are comics, and that as a genre, like everything else, they have their problems, but, in the grand scheme of the depiction of women in comics, cup size is really the last thing people should be worried about. In a genre where female characters are regularly used solely as a plot device for the male character (see Women in Refrigerators), and where female characters have fewer solo titles and team titles than men, and where it was a huge controversy among fans to put pants on Wonder Woman, I think that there are better things to try and change.

I may not be the best judge of these things, but as a comics fan, and as a woman, I don't think people are making a big deal out of the right issues. Realistic anatomy is never going to happen in comics, in no small part due to the stylization of the art, but depictions of female characters as believable people can and does happen, maybe not often enough, but it does, so that's where I think people should focus their efforts. I think it may be more important for Wonder Woman to be able to wear pants than for her to be realistically proportioned, but that's just me. 

Comic Book Wednesday: More #1s

It's Wednesday again, imaginary readers, which means that I have once again purchased comic books rather than being productive. This week, I finished out my pull for September, with Birds of Prey #1 and Wonder Woman #1, both from the DCnU's new 52, because I seem to have forgotten my Marvel roots, and transitioned full time into DC. Both of these titles came out last week, but I waited until this week to pick them up, because I didn't have cell bio lab this week, so I had some extra time to not be doing homework, so here are my thoughts, albeit a little be late.

 

Birds of Prey
Writing: Duane Swierczynski
Art: Jesus Saiz

While I've always really like the concept of Birds of Prey, an all female team headed by Barbara Gordon's Oracle and Dinah Lance's Black Canary, I'm generally kind of ambivalent toward the series' execution. Gail Simone's run was decent, but some of the changes she brought to the book, mostly all of the weirdness with Dinah and expanding the roster tenfold, just didn't work for me. I generally like Gail Simone's writing, and I really liked the idea of one of the few female writers in mainstream comics writing an all female book, but I think her talents were better served on Secret Six or Wonder Woman. 

I enjoyed the rebooted book, with it's small team of just Black Canary and Starling for now, and with the twist that Dinah is wanted for "murdering a man with a punch." It makes it a little edgier, which I think it should be. It is a Gotham book after all. Barbara Gorden even made a cameo, showing that they did keep some of the history between her and Dinah intact. I'm pulling this book again next month, and I'll give it a couple of issues to see what pans out, because it has potential, but I can also see it going nowhere.

Ultimately, I want the Birds to be Black Canary, Huntress, and Oracle, but they've gotten rid of the Oracle character, so I could deal with it being Batgirl, as long as Barbara Gordon is involved in some capacity. But,  I doubt they are going to do that with this book, at least not initially, so we'll see where it goes.

Wonder Woman
Writing: Brian Azzarello
Art: Cliff Chiang

Yet another Wonder Woman #1. I like Wonder Woman as a character, because I think she is really different from the run of the mill super heroine, but I think her stories aren't always handled well. She works when she is written as an Amazon, and when they have her dealing with the Greek Pantheon she emerged from. She doesn't work when they play her as a diplomat or a man hater, because then she's not interesting. She's too powerful to be fighting in the real world all of the time, and frankly, watching her play the diplomat is just plain boring. (Actually, I really like having Donna Troy as Wonder Woman, but that was never going to last. Diana is practically immortal, and she just doesn't work as a legacy character.)

All of that said, I really enjoyed this new story line, because it brought her back to her Greek mythological roots. There was stuff going on with the gods, which she got involved with. And they set up that this was a high stakes game, and that gods can die, which doesn't bode well for Diana, as an Amazon, not a god. A girl was pregnant by Zeus. Zeus is missing. And some other stuff I didn't really get. Centaurs? This is where I think that Wonder Woman really works, and one of the reasons I liked her in the first place. I also really liked the art, it was retro and different while still being intelligible and interesting.

I liked the first issue, and I can't wait to see what they do with this. It's refreshing to have a good Wonder Woman title again. I'll most definitely be pulling it again next month.

So far, I'm really enjoying the new DC stuff, as all four books I picked up this month were good. I can't wait for more Batwoman, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Wonder Woman. I never thought that there would come a time that I was only buying DC books without any Marvel (read: X-Men) titles to balance it out, but I think DC is just doing a better job managing its universe right now, and I'm not going to waste time and money on comic I don't enjoy. Yay Comics!

Comic Book Wednesday: The X-Men

It's Wednesday, which means it's comic book day! Despite the fact that the other two books on my pull list came out today, I didn't buy them this week because I had bio lab and then I had to study, due to a wholly unproductive yesterday (homework wise, at least). So the plan is to buy them next week when I don't have lab, and then to re-up my pull for next month. Anyways, in honor of it being Wednesday, I'm gonna write about comics today, specifically, my favorite comic series ever: X-Men.

I first encountered the X-Men on the animated TV show X-Men: Evolution when I was in grade school. It was good, and while I did have a certain fondness for the characters, it was nothing to write home about at the time. Then the movies came out, and, thanks to [Nightcrawler] I watched the first two shortly after the second one was released. Funnily enough, this is also how I saw the Men in Black movies, because I told my dad I wanted to rent X-Men, and he somehow managed to get MIB out of that.

Anyways, I loved the movies, and, in my attempted to find more content, I discovered the graphic novel section at my local library, which lead to me spending most of middle school consuming every comic book I could find, particularly every X-Men book. This, of course, lead to monthlies and pull lists, and spending hours at my local comic book store. I can credit X-Men for introducing me to comics, which are still a major part of my life. Even when I'm not actively reading and buying comics, I generally keep up with what's going on, because over the years I really have come to care about what happens to the characters and the world they inhabit.

Of all of the titles I have read, X-Men is the one franchise that I will always return to, no matter what stupid things Marvel does with them. This is mostly because I absolutely love the concept, which I think is one of the most original in all of comics. The basic idea, is the some people are born with a mutant X gene, which, during adolescence, manifests itself and gives them strange abilities. These run the gamut, from insane superpowers to physical changes to relatively harmless abilities. Because these people are different, mutants if you will, the world at large hates and fears them, and generally tries to oppress and oppose them at every turn. In order to show the world that mutants can be trusted, Charles Xavier gathers together powerful mutants at his School for Gifted Youngsters and trains them to fight evil doers as the X-Men. That's basically it, and although I could go into way more detail about the nuances of mutant-human relations and the political ramifications of M-Day, etc, I don't think that you, my imaginary readers, really care all that much about the specifics of Grant Morrison's run on New X-Men vs. Joss Whedon's run on Astonishing X-Men.

Seriously, I could probably talk about the differences between these two titles for day.

One of the reasons that I love the X-Men so much, is because I have always identified really strongly with the concept, and thus, the characters. This is probably because mutants are a near perfect allegory for homosexuality. I mean, really, X-Men, really? Could you have made it any more blatant? Something innate about you makes people hate and fear you for no reason. This something becomes apparent during adolescence, and is a reason that people oppress you. It's genetic. It really couldn't be more clear.

Even before I realized that I'm gay, I identified really strongly with the X-Men, which is probably because I always felt different, but I didn't have a reason why I felt that way for a long time. I was twelve; it was a lot easier to imagine that I was going to have superpowers than that I was gay. Honestly, I'm still a little bit bitter about not having superpowers, but that's what spending my formative years reading comic books gets me.

X-Men is the book that I will always return to, no matter what else I'm reading, or what's going on, it will always have a special place in my heart. Except for the third movie, because that was a crime against nature, and the First Class movie, because I don't care what anyone says, Havoc CANNOT come before Cyclops in continuity. IT MAKES NO SENSE. *grumble grumble grumble*

On a less abominable note, X-Men is awesome, and my favorite series ever, and everyone should love it as much as I do. Everybody should at least read the Dark Phoenix Saga, because it truly is amazing.

Same Bat(woman) Time, Same Bat(woman) Place!

I bought comics today, for the first time in at least two years. Day of release, single issue comics, not trades or graphic novels, which I do still buy occasionally, and DC title no less. I stopped reading comics, not because I stopped liking them, but because I find some of the industry stuff annoying. I really don't want to have to buy twelve titles each week just to understand what's going on in the one or two titles I actually want to read, because it get prohibitively expensive, and I hate having to read titles I don't actually like for the sake of some universe spanning cross-over event. Regardless of all of this, I have been missing my superheroes, and I've been looking for a good time to get back into comics for a while now. This is where the DC reboot comes in, because it is the perfect jumping on point for someone like me, a former reader who just lost track of the continuity and didn't want to have to work to catch up.

Also, Batwoman. Batwoman #1 is the real reason I have established a pull list at a store close to campus. I've been waiting for Kate Kane's Batwoman to have her own title since they introduced the character in 2006's 52, and today, I finally got to read Batwoman #1. This book combines all things I love in comics, short of the X-Men: Gotham City, hot redheads, and lesbians, so many lesbians.

Who doesn't love this?

The truth is that mainstream comics (Marvel and DC) really aren't that diverse. Each team usually has a token black guy, at least 1 woman, and maybe a gay guy, with overlap being pretty slim, and lesbians in comics are nearly nonexistant, so having a book with a lesbian lead, and one, possibly two lesbians in the supporting cast is really exceptional and exciting. The thing about representation is that, I don't just want to see characters like me in fiction in general, I want to see them in stuff that I enjoy and am going to read/watch anyways. Having gay women on a German soap opera is all well and good, but I don't really care, because I don't watch German soaps. What matters to me is when lesbian characters show up in something that I am already watching/reading, because then it means something to me.

The issue was good, if short. Exclusively reading trades made me forget how unsatisfying a 22 page comic can be. It was a little sparse on story, except for showing that it was going to pick up where her feature in Detective Comics ended, which, hopefully will be expanded upon. J.H. Williams III's art is really what drove the issue. I don't like how he draws faces, but he sure knows how to lay out a page, and how to tell a story visually.

Most elements of her continuity were essentially the same, and she wasn't really all that affected by the sort of reboot of the universe, except for a few minor points. Maggie Sawyer is back to being a detective in the GCPD, whereas she was previously the captain of the Major Crimes Unit and before that, a detective in Metropolis. This, I felt, was a little weird, but whatever. It looks like Maggie is going to be a love interest for Kate, and I am completely fine with that. Also, Renee Montoya is back in the GCPD is some capacity. I want Renee to still be the Question, but at least her history with Kate is still intact. I really like Renee, and I hope that she actually plays a part in the book eventually. Honestly, if I could be any comic book character, I would be Renee Montoya, because then I would get to be kick ass and also sleep with Kate Kane. It really doesn't get better than that.

Renee Montoya as the Question: My comic book alter-ego.

I also picked up Batgirl #1 this week, which was decent. I like having Barbara Gordon back as Batgirl, even though I really liked her as Oracle, and I've enjoyed everything I've read by Gail Simone, despite the fact that I don't think her writing is particularly deep, but I don't read comics for depth. I'll probably stick with Batgirl for a while, at least through this arc, and I have Birds of Prey and Wonder Woman coming out next week.

So far, reading comics again has been a win, for no other reason that I get to read about Kate Kane as Batwoman every month. I really hope that the book is popular enough to make it through the first round of cuts to DC's line-up, but I think it probably will be, because who doesn't love a hot lesbian protagonist? I mean, really?