Good Morning folks!

I hope everyone got their share of turkey, family and shopping this weekend. If not, there’s always leftovers and cyber-Monday. Anyway, today I thought I would share a few various nifty-cool things I found floating around the internet:

There’s a fun little article over on Comic book resources interviewing Christos Gage about his new book: DANTE’S INFERNO. A comic based on a video game based on a book? Crazy! The cover art looks awesome though…

Of late I have been gushing over how much I like J.H. Williams III. Over at Thought Balloonists, Charles Hatfield does a much better job of gushing than I do. Very pretty pictures!

Ron Perazza, one of the big wigs over at Zuda comics compiled a bunch of tweets about creating comics for all those aspiring creators out there. You can find it on his website here.

There is a great list over on Comics Alliance about the Punisher’s most ridiculous moments. Priceless!

If you liked my little Black Friday special over the last week, IGN has actually put together a nice comic and toy buyer guide video.

A few other notes for everyone:

MYTHOI Births: VITO is almost here, and it looks (and reads) fantastic! I know it’s still a few weeks away, but I’m all geeked about it. What will you do with yourself for the next few weeks? Well you could always go back and check out MYTHOI Births: WIGLAF again, you might have missed something…

Finally, I’m going to be giving out awards for the year, but I’m looking for categories. If you have any ideas, feel free to let me know.

Thanks for stopping in folks, see you tomorrow!

Happy Sunday Folks!

On Wednesday I threw down some cheaply priced hardcover and over-sized books you could find on the cheap. Sometimes though, you don’t need a whole bookshelf full of huge GNs, sometimes just a softcover will do. Today lets talk about some softcover bargains that will help round out your bookshelf nicely:

SHADE THE CHANGING MAN: Probably the best work that Milligan and Bachalo have ever produced. Both of these creators can be very hit or miss, but they were on fire in this early Vertigo series. The cover price says $18, but instocktrades says this gem can be yours for only $11 and change.

BATMAN: YEAR ONE: One of the most defining Batman works ever written. This collects the Frank Miller/ Dave Mazzucchelli version of the birth of Batman, and is is just flat out awesome. the cover price for this bad boy usually will run you $15, but Amazon has got it for just over #10.

CIVIL WAR: One of my favorite Marvel comics events, this book usually costs $25 just for the softcover, but you can get it much cheaper (only $16.50) from

PREACHER Vol#1: One of the greatest comics of all time, if you are into vampires, secret organizations, religion, and men who do dirty things to big statues made of meat. Volume number one is a great place to start, and while this beauty will cost you $15 bucks at the LCS, its just under $8 over at instocktrades.

IRREDEEMABLE Vol #1: Mark Waid’s new series over at BOOM! is lights out. Solid art and a great story about a super-man type who goes rogue make this one a must read. The first volume gives you just enough to make you want volume two. This baby starts off cheap at only $10, but  you can get it for $7.50 from the discount comic book service.

That’s about it for today, thanks for stopping by folks, and have a great Sunday. See you tomorrow!

Hello everyone I hope you all survived the giant feast and then the black Friday craze. I had a lot of things I wanted to post today but I figured that a good laugh was in order. It has been a while since I posted any really good YouTube crap so today is the day and I have a goody, House Of Cosbys.

Created by Justin Roiland, House of Cosbys is a funny show that takes liberal use of Bill Cosby and his character played on the Cosby show.  Here is the plot as stated so eloquently on the great wiki:

The cartoon features main character Mitchell Reynolds (voiced by Jeff Davis) who invents a cloning machine in order to create his own personal Bill Cosby to entertain him. He then begins cloning several more Cosbys to help him around the house, much like in the plot of the 1996 film Multiplicity. However, the quality of the clones seems to deteriorate as the process is repeated, and he decides to stop using the machine, but when one of the clones subversively activates it, he discovers that every tenth Cosby he clones has super powers. At the suggestion of Data Analysis Cosby (the first super-powered Cosby) they decide to continue cloning Cosbys so that their super powers can be used to help the world.

The show was first aired on an internet streaming service called Channel 101 and only lasted 4 official episodes. I say official because a 5th unnoficial episode was made in retaliation. Retaliation to what you ask? Well it turns out that Bill Cosby got wind of this show and he was uterly appalled to say the least. So he did what any comedian would do that lost his sense of humor. He got a lawer. Here is the actual cease and desist letter that was sent.

Dear sirs, we are counsel for Mr. William H Cosby, Jr. We have just learned that you offer a deeply offensive animated film that you created, entitled “House of Cosbys”. […] As you are certainly aware, none of you are licensed or in any way authorized to use Mr. Cosby’s voice, name, or likeness. […] Therefore, we demand that you immediately cease and desist from any use of our client’s name, voice, and likeness, including the development and distribution of the “House of Cosbys” series.

So what about this 5th unofficial episode that was made. Well Justin Roiland the show creator was not allowed to create anymore episodes because of that letter above. That however did not stop a third party from creating the episode on their own. This final episode looks nothing like the previous 4. This final show was created solely for the purpose of attacking the lawyer and Bill Cosby. They also wanted to let fans of the show know what the reason was that they would no longer be able to see new episodes.

Very truly yours,
John P. Schmitt ^[1]

So here they are in order from 1 to 4 official and 5 unofficial.

That was the end of what could have been a really funny and successful show. I thought this show was hilarious and I hope you do too. Until next week I’m Street Fece and I’m out! Boop boop boop beep boop. Haha yeah I thought so to Robot Cosby.

Thanksgiving marks the beginning of the the end of the year.  After today we’ll start hearing even more Christmas music, seeing neighbors string up gaudy decorations and become targets of the marketing plans developed through millions of dollars.  Yippee.

We all have different ways of celebrating:  Some of you will join family and friends for turkey and camaraderie, while others of you will drink alone, watch football and eventually go outside when you fart your microwavable dinner and gag in your lay-z-boy.  No matter what you do this holiday season, be sure to avoid these five Thanksgiving faux pas:

1.  Don’t bring something new to dinner.  We don’t care if you’ve gone vegan or if you’ve vowed of a particular cheese — if you’re in charge of the mashed potatoes, bring the f*cking mashed potatoes.  Nobody here want to try your new “Organic yam chews,” or the “carrot stuffed onions” that your neighbor told you about.  We want potatoes.  That’s why, when we called you the other week and you asked what you should bring, we said, “bring mashed potatoes.”  If you want to put garlic in them, or maybe some cheese: fine.  But if you blend broccolli or tofu and put that in the goddam potatoes you make your self immediately slapable by everyone who was counting on your hippy-ass.

“My friend says it’s delicious…”

2.  Don’t ruin the game.  Do you know why football is played on Thanksgiving?  Because at some point during the Thanksgiving festivities, we all realize why it is we only see the entire family during holidays: We can’t actually stand each other!  With football on some of us can leave the room once aunt so-and-so starts rambling on about her “perfect child” (who, by the way, always turns into a slut or serial killer) without making a scene and punching her.  If somebody is watching the game, don’t enter the room and try to spark up conversation.  They know you’re there.  If they wanted to converse they would’ve stayed in the room with you and started speaking.  They didn’t so go away and respect the pigskin.

“Man-gunt?”

3.  Don’t talk about how great you and or your children are.  There is always one person at Thanksgiving who has to relate every single topic of conversation back to what they (or their children) are doing “so well.”  I didn’t come to Thanksgiving dinner to learn about you or your child.  I came to eat a lot of food, probably watch some football, and be thankful that I only need to listen to your bullsh*t once a year.  Your child is 4 and they’re not special because they figured out that 2 fingers and 2 fingers equals 4 fingers.  And what you need to figure out is that your child walks crooked, whines too much and eats boogers after picking his butt.  Go away.

“Your kid is a moron.”

4. Please, please, please do not be the person who brings up the big family secret in the middle of dinner.  I don’t care if Uncle Chester rubbed up on little Johnny when he was three and Johnny has had to attend years of therapy to come to grips with his sexuality.  The turkey is delicious so shut the f*ck up.  Mommy and Daddy are cheating on each other?  Not the venue.  Grandpa’s been parading around the town in a sequins dress?  Doesn’t matter.  Thanksgiving is about many things to many people, but it’s not about divulging or making known the secrets of your family to anyone — that’s what Halloween is for.

“And now it’s awkward…”

5.  Finally, keep your kids under control.  I don’t care if he is family, I swear to the Pilgrim and Indians I’m going to celebrate the holiday authentically and scalp my nephew if he tries tickling me one more time.  Whether balls have dropped or not, a kick in the sac hurts and that’s exactly what I’ll do if your kid hits me with his toy one more time.  It’s not that hard:  Take your child, give them hot chocolate (spiked with Kahlua), take them upstairs and lock them in a room.  When the government-recognized adults have finished eating and celebrating we can let the bastard out.  And for a real good time, we can tell him that he’s adopted, which is why he wasn’t allowed downstairs (that doesn’t break rule 4 because it’s after dinner).

“Bad Turkey! Goooood Tuuuurkeeeeey…”

Be safe folks.  Don’t drink and drive.

Mr. Wolff

PS:  As Christmas gifts go, MYTHOI is a pretty great idea…

Greetings folks,

Thanksgiving is tomorrow, but what I want to talk about something just as important, Black Friday. That special day after Turkey day where people go crazy and get up at oh-dark-hundred to go shopping. In theory, this is the day to start Christmas (or other holiday) shopping,but more often then not, people just wind up buying themselves the TV they have been looking at for the past year. In honor of Black Friday, I thought I would share a few good comic book deals out there if you want to get something for yourself the comic book lover in your life.

1) Absolute PROMETHEA: Absolute edition books are always beautiful, but pricey as hell, running between $50-$99. However, at amazon.com, all of the $99 books are cut down to $62.99 (a 37% discout according to the fine folks over at amazon). Absolute Promethea, being a Wildstorm book, probably wont be around for very long, so grab this book while you have a chance.

2) HELLBOY Library Edition vol#1: The oversized format really works for Mignola’s artwork, and Volume 1 has some great work in it. Normally this book runs $50, but you can get it right now for just a shade under $35.

3) OLD MAN LOGAN HC: A great story that deserves the hardcover format. This one isn’t oversized, but it still normally runs for $35. You can get it right now for the low low price (well, more reasonable price) of $23.

4) ASTONISHING X-MEN OMNIBUS: Joss Whedon and John Cassaday put together one of the best x-runs of all time. There are two collected editions of their work that are very nice, but this bad boy has the entire run. Normally this hefty tome will run you $75, but you can get it from the discount comic book service for only $45.

Now, I know that these were all Hardcover books, but fear not, as we get closer to gift giving season, I will spotlight some good softcover deals as well. Thanks for stopping in today folks, and have a great Thanksgiving. Oh, and sleep in a little bit on Friday.

Sgt. Angle reporting for duty!

This is not our standard uniform.

Up till now, I’ve avoided the obvious tactic of giving you orders. However, as this holiday is upon us, I now believe it is my duty to tell you what to do. And this is it:

Do NOT, by any circumstance, go see the films Old Dogs or New Moon.

DO spend your time and money on either The Road or Ninja Assassin. “But, sir, it’s Thanksgiving, a happy time for family and turkey and cranberry sauce and –and-and”–Zip it. I’m like Donald Duck, I don’t give a fu –

Why these films? Why see a movie about a post-apocalyptic tale about a father and son on a journey to find civilization? It’s dreary, it’s gray. It’s Viggo Mortensen. Well, that’s it right there, isn’t it? Here you are on Thanksgiving Day, absolutely smitten with touch football in the morning, a light fluffing of snow in the afternoon, and a giant, decapitated tasty bird in the evening. Throughout the day, you are surrounded by friends and family, an occurrence that happens once, maybe twice a year. You are happy, in the end, for, despite the quarrels and quirks, you make it into your bed in the evening realizing that you are not alone, that somebody else loves you, and happiness cuddles you to sleep.

We all get along so well.

Counter those happy feelings with the dark and the dreary, then. The opposite will make your heart grow fonder of the spats and arguments over which cranberry sauce to put on the table — the chunky homemade with rum, or the canned Ocean Spray, seal-slick kind.

A movie like Old Dogs will jettison itself to number one this weekend, because it hits a couple of demographics: older folks who can relate to an aging John Travolta and a hairy Robin Williams, and the kids because, well, Seth Green gets held by a gorilla.

every boy’s dream.

Meanwhile, if New Moon hasn’t taken a dip in box office numbers already (expected, as it did have a record-breaking debut) then Thanksgiving Weekend will mean a minor resurgence as tween girls hope to enter the fantasy one more time to escape the horrors of spending time with human families. (Anyone else taking up bets on a faction of kids out there whose new life goal it is to discover a way to turn themselves into glittering vampires?)

So, you’re only logical options are The Road and Ninja Assassin (trailers below).

With Ninja Assassin, you can see some stylized ass-kicking in a movie that “knows what it is.” Two things come with Ninja movies: fast fighting and throwing stars. Throwing. Stars. Thanksgiving is an American holiday, and as an American Patriot I say to you, go there. Venture into an Asian world of Martial Arts. You will become the warrior you need to be.

Back to The Road. It’s based on a book by Cormac McCarthy, who also wrote the book No Country for Old Men. The film adaptation is directed by John Hillcoat, whose other notable credit is The Proposition, the Australian Western starring Guy Pearce, written by Nick Cave.

For TV watchers out there, Hillcoat also resembles the Observer from Fringe.

You are dismissed.

Sgt. Angle

Happy Sunday folks.

For today’s spotlight, we are going to be covering one of the most prolific franchises in all of comics, The X-men. Let’s get started shall we?

The X-men were created in September of 1963, debuting in X-MEN #1, which was written by Stan Lee, with art by Jack Kirby. The original name for the series was THE MERRY MUTANTS, which Martin Goodman (the publisher of Marvel Comics at the time) rejected, stating that no one would know what a mutant was. The X in X-men stands for the “x-gene” which is what separates mutants from regular humans, giving them special powers. The idea behind the series is that Professor Charles Xavier recruits a small group of young mutants to help them defend a world that hates and fears them. Professor Xavier runs the Xavier institute of higher learning, a school that is set up to teach and train young mutants, under the guise of being a boarding school. The original group of X-men was comprised of five members: Cyclops, Angel, Beast, Iceman, and Marvel Girl. When the series launched in the early 1960’s, the main threat to the X-men came in form of Magneto and his brotherhood of evil mutants. While the series had the usual comic book battles, the early issues of X-MEN dealt heavily with the ideas of racism and prejudice. Over the first few years of the series, there were very few roster changes, with only one new member, Mimic, being added, and he left shortly after joining.

The end of the 1960’s saw Lee and Kirby leave the title, and Roy Thomas and Neal Adams took the reins of the title. Thomas added two members to the team, Havok (the younger brother of Cyclops), and Polaris. In 1969 the X-MEN title was not selling enough copies to warrant new stories, so from issue #67–93 the book just reprinted earlier stories. As crazy as the idea of simply reprinting old issues may sound today, this was a fairly standard practice in the late sixties for comics.

In 1975, the X-men were given new life in GIANT SIZE X-MEN #1 by writer Len Wein and artist Dave Cockrum. Wein and Cockrum introduced an all new line-up that reinvigorated the franchise and the adventures of this new X-team began in issue #94. This new team featured characters from a variety of nationalities and age groups, giving the team a much more diverse flavor. The new team of X-men consisted of Cyclops, Jean Grey (formally Marvel Girl), Storm, Night Crawler, Colossus, Banshee, Sunfire, Thunderbird, and Wolverine, who would become the breakout character of the series. While many of the original X-cast didn’t make it onto the new roster, they would often make guest appearances.

Soon after X-MEN was relaunched, scripting duties for the title moved from Wein to a young writer named Chris Claremont. Claremont stayed on-board with the X-men for a while, lasting from 1975 until 1991. Art chores would pass from Cockrum to John Byrne in 1977 with issue #108. Claremont and Byrne put X-men on the map, crafting stories like “The Phoenix Saga” and “Days of Future Past”. The title would also change names in issue #94, becoming THE UNCANNY X-MEN.

The X-men increased steadily in popularity, and as a result, the series began to spawn a number of spin-off titles such as EXCALIBUR, X-FACTOR, ALPHA FLIGHT, THE NEW MUTANTS, and a solo WOLVERINE title. In 1986, there were enough X-titles to have a mutant-specific crossover, MUTANT MASSACRE. This was the first crossover to feature mutants specifically, and the first of many “X-overs” to come over the next few years.

The cast of the X-men continued to grow throughout the 1980’s as well, intorducing new characters such as Dazzler, Longshot, Forge, and Psylocke, as well as a whole new alien race, the Shi’ar. As the 1980’s came to a close, the X-men had gone from a series on the edge of extinction to a major comic franchise. Many of the artists who would go on to start Image comics were working on X-titles at the end of the 80’s, including Rob Liefeld, Marc Silvestri, Jim Lee, and Whilce Portacio.

In 1991, UNCANNY X-MEN was so popular Marvel comics launched a second X-men specific title. This new comic would be known simply as X-MEN. The title was scripted by Claremont, and penciled by Jim Lee. X-MEN #1 sold a ridiculous 8 million copies. Creative differences between Lee and Claremont would eventually lead to Claremont’s departure from the X-titles.

The 1990’s would see the X-franchise continue to grow in popularity and size. More spin-offs would come as well as more crossovers. Some notable new characters from the 1990’s included Bishop, Cable, Deadpool, and (inexplicably) Gambit. As popular as the X-men were, the end of the Millenium saw the X-men’s popularity begin to dwindle.

In 2001, the X-franchise got a shot in the arm from writer Grant Morrison. Morrison took over X-MEN with artist Frank Quitely and set about changing the image of the X-men. The team moved from spandex to leather, and a new status quo was set up. The title of X-MEN was changed to NEW X-MEN. In 2005, the number of Mutants in the X-verse was greatly diminished due to the HOUSE OF M crossover, which saw the Scarlet Witch de-power all but 198 mutants. Currently the X-men have moved to an island off the coast of San Francsisco, and set up a home for all the remaining mutants.

The X-men have also had a place in Hollywood, with three X-MEN movies being made, as well as a solo WOLVERINE movie. The First X-men movie was released by Fox in 2000 with Bryan Singer directing. Singer directed the Sequel in 2003, a story loosely based on the 1982 graphic novel GOD LOVES, MAN KILLS. Brett Ratner directed the third installment of the series, which flat out sucked.

The X-men has always been a platform for social issues. Given the genetic and racial make-up of the characters, themes like diversity, racism and equality have been an easy fit for the comic. The difference in ideologies between Xavier and Magneto has often been seen as an allegory for the difference between civil rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Stories like GOD LOVES, MAN KILLS focus on the dangers of religious fanaticism, and groups like the purifiers are analogous to the KKK.

From a writing standpoint, the X-men are different from other team books. While most teams might have protagonists gathered together to fight a common enemy, the members of the X-men are gathered together for protection. There has often been a soap opera-style approach to writing the x-men, with Chris Claremont using romantic subplots to great effect. Another strength in the x-writing has been the ability to utilize the whole family of mutant characters to keep the series fresh. The rotating cast of characters has also been a drawback at times, as the books will sometimes become overcrowded and confusing. Writers like Joe Casey and Peter Milligan (both of whom are very good comic book writers) have often struggled to find a coherent voice with such a large cast of characters.

The art in X-MEN has long been a strong point of the series. In the 60’s, 70’s and early 80’s, the book had constantly solid, if not dynamic art from comic book hall-of-famers. Since John Byrne left the art chores on the book, in the early 1980’s, X-MEN has been a showcase for rising stars and industry hotshots. There was a good 15 year period where one could find the next big artist in comic books by picking up the latest issue. John Romita Jr got his start on the series. Marc Silvestri had a sketchy, angular style that was visually arresting. Joe Mad made manga cool. Jim Lee was Jim Lee. With the wide array of characters and locales in X-MEN artists have a chance to flex their creative muscles. Not every artist on the X-men has hit the mark however; Ron Garney was bland, Ian Churchill couldn’t handle deadlines, and Igor Kordey failed on every level an artist can fail on (except for hitting deadlines). Not every artist is cut out for a book with a large cast, and some artists can’t handle the pressure of producing on a monthly basis.

Throughout the ups and downs of the series, the X-men have always been a book about evolution: The evolution of man, the evolution of the team concept, evolution of ideas and art styles. There is at least one X-men story out there for everyone, the question is, what’s yours?

Hello again. Today it is all about Designer Con 09. What is Designer Con you ask? Here is some brief history in their own words.

DesignerCon was founded in 2006 under the name of Vinyl Toy Network. The show was created to bring together the artists, manufacturers, distributors and retailers of the vinyl toy/collectible figures market. When it first started the show was brought to Pasadena Convention Center in one of their 1100 sq.ft. meeting rooms. Even since the first show the artists and collectors came out to support the show.

This is a pretty cool event that I am bummed I have to miss. A lot of artists come from around the world to show off their works and mingle with fans. If you are in the area you should check it out. While your their stop by and say Hi to one of our comic sponsors Spanky Stokes. He has a booth down there and is streaming the whole event live via web cam.

Here are some pics of events past to give you an idea of what you will find at this event.

All in all this is a really fun event with lots of great art and great people. Until next week, Street Fece

Greetings folks!

It is time again for our cover of the month feature, so lets get crackin’!

Our big boy cover of the month belongs to:

Marvel’s SIEGE #2 by Gabrielle Del Otto. Painted covers can often look stiff or bland. This one does not suffer from either problem. Thor looks like he’s going to kick someone’s butt.

Our little guy cover of the month goes to:

This cover to ALIENS: MORE THAN HUMAN is just awesome. When are aliens the scariest? When they hide out in the dark waiting to eat you! Awesome job by Raymond Swanland.

Finally, thanks to everyone who has checked out MYTHOI Births: WIGLAF. The response has been great! For those who haven’t read it yet, you can check it out here.

Thanks for stopping by folks, and have a great weekend!

Women in comics is a touchy subject.  Some people think women are objectified, other feel like they may be objectified and still others want women to be more objectified.  Opinions are over the place, but as a general consensus, everybody agrees on one thing:  There should be more objectifying women in comics.

As a critique to last week’s blog on CW’s fecal kryptonite-powered fecal receptacle Smallville, Alex wrote, “Future, feminist-approved rant idea: Comic books should feature more scantily clad (and preferably bearded) men, and then maybe more girls would read comic books and blog for Semantink.”  Many of you may be thinking that I’m going to disagree — but I’m not.  I think Alex is on to something…

Up to this point women have been considerably objectified in comics.  Most female characters have large breasts, small waists and butts worthy of quarter bouncing.  This is all largely in part to the predominately male following of the comic book world.  Recently the demographic has shifted — while it is still mostly boys reading the books, some girls are taking a more active role in what used to be a male-focused medium.  As far back as I can remember the art depicting women has fallen under one of two categories:  Good Girls and Bad Girls, but not like you’re thinking…

Good Girl Art (GGA) is defined by Richard Lupoff in his book The Great American Paperback as, “A cover illustration depicting an attractive young woman, usually in skimpy or form-fitting clothing, and designed for (mild erotic interest).  The term does not apply to the morality of the ‘good girl,’ who is often a gun moll, tough cookie, or wicked temptress.”  So, what’s so “good” about them?  The way they look, of course!

Women are always standing naked in the window, right?

“Two at once? No! NOOOO!”

So many stereotypes here; taboo-delicious.

Well, if “good” girls are bad, or at least good in the sexually motivating sense of the word, what are “bad girls”?  “Bad Girl Art likes to feature all the women as perhaps even more scandalous while retaining a tough persona, like Elektra. The era of this particular art is most commonly seen as the 80’s-90’s and one of its most famed publishers is Chaos! Comics, with Brian Pulido’s line of numerous ‘bad girl babes.”  Okay…  So Good Girl Art features sexually attractive and morally ambiguous women, while Bad Girl Art highlights even more scandalous, bad-ass women?  Awesome.  For purely scientific purposes, here are some examples:

Sexist? No. She seems…talented.

Yes. Even with the green hair, yes.

Bad Girl OG.

The feminine role in comic books has evolved quite a bit in the last few years — sort of.  There have been lesbians, feminists, independent women and even some truly bad ass attempts at breaking stereotypes, but more often than not, at one time or another, they are presented (for at least a moment) as a sexual stimulant for the overwhelmingly male readers (see below).  And sex isn’t the only way women are used in comics — Women in Refrigerators has a list of women whose deaths, rapes, submissions or other forms of punishment were used as plot devices and that’s pretty much it — but how else do you piss off a male super hero?

Huzzah for feminism and strong female characters!

Okay, so we know how women were used, but now that comics are building a more girl-friendly fan base, what will change?  Probably not much…  Comic books are not about sex or stereotyping.  They are merely a format for both writers and artists to engage in storytelling and at times, political, social (or other) agenda.  Just like any other form of media there will be trashy books and books that aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on, and these books, more than any other will feature sexist, stereotypical and misogynistic images/story lines devoid of any redeeming quality.  I’m here to tell you now that good comics are already avoiding these things to a certain degree.

We may see more men drawn as sexually as the women, but I’m thinking you’re still going to get more scandalously clad women than men and you know what?  That’s fine with me.

So, back to Alex and her “feminist-approved idea” that, “Comic books should feature more scantily clad (and preferably bearded) men, and then maybe more girls would read comic books and blog for Semantink.”  I say, why?  Personally, I don’t need more women to read comics and I definitely don’t want more guys staring at me all sexy-eyed off the pages.  Don’t get me wrong, I think someone should create the comic you’re suggesting (I bet if we looked it already exists), but I’m happy with comics and where they are.  I like beautiful and impossibly-shaped women and tough, blood-soaked battle hungry men.  Misogynistic?  Yes.  But I am also a fan of books without the sex-drive; take the deceptively titled Bone, or the thought provoking American Splendor. I don’t need the provocative women to get me to read a book, but I certainly enjoy them when it happens.

And as far as more women reading comic books?  Well, here is a list of the women involved with the creation of comics and here is an article on some women who currently read comics (despite the current state of the female role), and as I already linked, the female fan-base is already growing!  I believe that the reason women are objectified as they are is because it works — like selling HUMMERS (side note: if you drive a HUMMER you are a douchebag) for public consumption — they’re out there because people spend (a lot) of money on them.

A woman writing for Semantink?  That’s actually a great idea!  I think the feminine voice should be heard more clearly.  It’ll help keep us nerd boys in check.  But before she gets to write she’ll have to vacuum, wear a french maids costume, makes some food, finish our laundry, scratch my back, dust something…

Mr. Wolff

PS:  This is Megan Gale, she was going to be Wonder Woman in George Miller’s never-made Justice League and she’s a fine actress.  Why am I putting the picture here?  Because she is a woman who loves comics.  There, you see, I’m not misogynistic at all.  I’m almost a feminist.

Not at all sexual.