First, I want to say how excited I am about our first trade paperback, MYTHOI Book 1: Birth being released tomorrow! It looks great, and for those who have ordered your copy, you will not be disappointed. Now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, let’s move on shall we? The other night I was reading through my STARMAN omnibi (I think thats the plural of omnibus) and came across the magnificent HELLBOY/BATMAN/ STARMAN crossover at the end of omnibus #4. I know what you are thinking, “Why were you reading STARMAN again? You read that book too much!” Well let me just say that some books are always going to kick ass, no matter how many times you read them (like, oh, say MYTHOI). However, I digress. Reading the crossover got me to thinking about how much I used to really love the inter-company crossover event, so today I am going to share my favorite crossover books.

Hellboy/Batman/ Starman: This crossover is just straight up fun. James Robinson (writer of STARMAN at the time) wrote this two-parter, with Mike Mignola (HELLBOY creator) providing the art. If you love angry ancient gods, witty dialogue, mystically powered super-Nazis, moody art, towns with large telescopes pointed at them, or random super-teamups, then you should definitely give this book a look.

Spider-man/ Batman: To be fair, I haven’t read this book in a few years, but I have fond memories of it. THere were actually two SPIDERMAN/ BATMAN crossovers that I know of, but the one that I am speaking of here was titled “Disordered Minds” and featured Spidey and Bats taking on The Joker and Carnage. The creative team was J.M. DeMatteis and Mark Bagley (who really should be considered as one of the seminal SPIDER-MAN artists). At the time I thought this one was dark and moody and cool. I’m afraid if I go back and re-read it I will be disappointed.

X-Men/ Teen Titans: This comic actually got me into X-men and the Teen Titans as a kid (well this and the “Pryde of the X-men” cartoon I got from Pizza Hut with Aussie Wolverine). Chris Claremont channeled his inner Marv Wolfman (TEEN TITANS writer at the time) and the always amazing Walt Simonson made both teams look amazing. This was a case of two books in their prime meshing perfectly. Darkside hunting for the phoenix force? Awesome. Wolverine vs. Deathstroke? Whatever is better than awesome, that’s what it was. Today, the book is somewhat dated, but still a fun and nostalgic read.

WildC.A.T.s/ Aliens: This one gets a mention for the sheer fact that I can’t think of another crossover that actually led to proper comic book continuity being effected. In the story (penned by Warren Ellis with art by Chris Sprouse), Aliens wind up on the Stormwatch space station and wreck house, only to be stopped by the WildC.A.T.s . Without this crossover, we never would have gotten THE AUTHORITY. So thank you Aliens, without your acid blood and face-hugging love, we might never have gotten one of the greatest comics of the last 20 years.

Batman/ The Darkness: You might notice that there are a ton of Batman-centric crossovers on this list. Why? Because they just seem to be the best. Deal With it. This one makes the list because David Finch and Marc Silvestri both draw a crazy good Batman AND an even better Darkness. The story is “meh” (Jeph Loeb and Scott Lobdell aren’t Alan Moore) but damn is it pretty.

Batman/ Planetary: Probably the best book on the list. This one shot from the regular PLANETARY team of Warren Ellis and John Cassaday chasing after a guy who can’t control his rather violent ability to change reality around himself. The hunt happens in Gotham City, so when the reality shifting guy starts to freak out and change reality, we get to see the Planetary team square off against several versions of Batman, including “Dark Knight Returns” Bats, “Adam West” Bats, and super-futuristic Batman. This is actually still available in the PLANETARY trade “Crossing Worlds”, so pick this up if you get a chance.

Spawn & Cerebus: Macabre and magnificent all at once, this special early issue of spawn was actually guest written by CEREBUS creator Dave Sim. In the book, Cerebus shows Spawn the “Hell of Comic Book Characters”. It’s basically a poke at Marvel and DC, but how can you go wrong with a Sim/ Todd McFarlane team up?

Superman/ Muhammad Ali: This isn’t really an inter-company crossover so much as an inter-awesome crossover. Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams (heavyweights in their own right) put together this titanic tale of triumph. The art is beautiful, and some of the script must have been written by Ali himself (“It’s the sweet Science, and I’m the professor!” “Im gonna whup him and spank him!”).  If you ever get a chance to check this one out, do yourself a favor and do so.

That’s it for today folks. If I missed your favorite crossover, please share! Did you love Darkseid vs. Galactus? Have a soft spot for Cyberfrog vs. Creed? Still have your signed copy of Warrior Nun Areala/Avengelyne? Let me know. Thanks for stopping in, and if you haven’t reserved your copy of the MYTHOI Book 1: Birth TPB yet, do so now! Oh, and make sure you cruise on over to entertheletters.com to play our MYTHOI BIRTH game. Great prizes await the winner!  Ill see you all next week!

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.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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.