17 more tidbits from the con!
1. The creators of Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade and doing a more adult comic for Image called “Danger Club” about superheroes beating the hell out of each other.
2. The protest against the DC reboot garnered an incredibly tiny turnout. Not that it’s super surprising.
3. Avatar: The Last Airbender is getting a sequel called the Legend of Korra, which is getting a ton of buzz. Here’s a link!
4. In the tradition of DC hiring apparently “the best” here’s some of Leifeld’s Hawk and Dove artwork. Feh.
5. Shannon Wheeler won the best humor Eisner for his GN “I thought You Would be Funnier.”
6. Gail Simone, through the magic of the internet, got to meet up with the woman who was asking DC all of those awkward questions about female characters and the percentage of women who are creators in the New 52.
7. Marvel introduces their Spider Island story which gives the other Spider-Man cast Peter’s powers. Including Mary Jane.
8. The Dark Phoenix Tonner doll is over priced, but fabulous.
9. It’s being rumored that the real break out hit of the New 52 is going to Justice League: Dark, which features Zatanna, John Constantine, and awesome magic.
10. Kevin Kellar, Archie’s first ever openly gay character, is getting his own series.
11. The bottom half of Supergirl’s new costume looks psychotically uncomfortable.
12. There’s going to be a Fables spin-off entitled “Fairest” that follows the adventures of some of that series’ princesses.
13. The Supernatural panel garnered the usual levels of internet hate toward show runner Sera Gamble. Tumblr is full of people asking her to step down, and joking about going to San Diego to slip something in her drink. HOW FUNNY! Keep in mind most of the Supernatural fandom are women, but I can’t help but think if she was a dude like former show runner Eric Kripke, they wouldn’t say these things.
14. IO9 has the comic con scoop on the new Snow White and the Huntsmen movie that’s going to start filming, plus pretty photos! Despite my loathing of Kristen Stewart’s work (Thanks, Twilight!) this looks pretty fun.
15. Check out some fabulous Marvel cosplay, guys!
16. The big Avengers movie poster is boy heavy, but cool-looking.
17. Dan Didio dodged more questions about equality today. I know we’re all so surprised. But at least Gail Simone seems to be treating Barbara Gordon with some respect, and she hinted that two very cool, underrated female characters might show up.
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Re: 13 – they wouldn’t. I mean, when I dipped my toe in SPN fandom at large, it was very much a Kripke-is-God kind of mentality (which is one I never share, because everyone screws up and I’ve been painfully aware of how BADLY Kripke screwed some things up). Imagine if, say, the reins had been passed to Ben Edlund or something. People would be in hog heaven, and I would have given up entirely.
Not that I think Sera walks on water, just that she’s not really doing any worse than her predecessor. So, if people are hating on her, they should have been hating on Kripke for years. And the majority didn’t.
sbg(Quote) (Reply)
I have to say, I’m VERY excited about ‘Legend of Korra’. It has all the potential of greatness like it’s predecessor. And the fact that it stars a female lead makes it doubly special.
I hope you all turn in. And if you haven’t yet done so, check out the original ‘Avatar; The Last Airbender’ animated series. You won’t be disappointed.
Red(Quote) (Reply)
sbg,
Ugh. I have not finished season 6 t(through no fault of Gamble; I stopped actually enjoying Supernatural around season 3, when Dean started being unable to do wrong (despite him being one of the most unappealing characters to me morally), and all Sam did was wrong no matter his intentions. (Because WHY SHOULD every sing demon be automatically evil? And WHY ON EARTH bring an overpowering Christian canon to a show that has already established a pantheon of gods and goddesses? Urgh. I could go on all day.)
Red,
If Korra is HALF as good as ATLA I will be incredibly happy (as ATLA is pretty much my fav), and considering how epically spectacular it looks from even just a few pictures and that teaser…I’m pretty much so excited for it I can’t even stand it. Haven’t been this anticipatory about a show since…well, since I was waiting for the last season of ATLA.
The Other Anne(Quote) (Reply)
Yes! I’m so excited for the Fables spin-off! And Snow White looks…not terrible? I’m definitely intrigued by Snow White in armor…and armor that actually provides protection!!
On that note…
Supergirl’s costume: Just, ew. Maybe her first issue should be titled “Supergirl and the Case of Hypothermia”, because that’s what she’s going to get with a costume like that. The lower half of her costume pretty much kills any believability this image might have had.
Dani(Quote) (Reply)
I will never understand why it is so bloody hard for DC to pick out a decent design for their female characters and just stick with them.
Wonder Woman: I don’t think she needs pants OR bikini briefs. I think she looks plenty badass wearing that star-spangled Greek battle skirt (Pteruges, as wikipedia call it).
Supergirl: Blue leotard with a red skirt, not unlike something a figure skater would wear. Cute and something I imagine little girls would love and could emulate easily enough. Also: it looks like she’s wearing a Jack Kirby-inspired crotch flap in that picture you linked to. I’m not sure how I feel about that.
Harley Quinn: Bruce Timm pretty much perfected her design nearly twenty years ago. Seriously.
Huntress: Just… Just give that poor woman some body armor. Please.
DNi(Quote) (Reply)
Given the creators, I have every reason to believe it’ll be awesome! Chances are it will surpass expectations.
What I love most is that fact that Mike and Bryan are breaking every conventional rule about female superheros and making Korra into a very strong, bad-ass gal who isn’t reduced to the overused stereotype that’s so often seen in many shows and comics. The fact that they don’t believe in that ‘conventional wisdom’ shows just how much they actually care about the story and characters they’re writing. They took a risk and it’s paid off in spades with ‘A;TLA’. The show tackled mature subjects without losing it’s honest humor and light-heartedness. And given how it’s own ensemble of female characters, no question Korra will have the same care applied to her.
Dan Didio and Grant Morrison should take notes from these guys. They created a successful series and well-rounded characters WITHOUT resorting to the same old overused tropes that have been recycled over and over again. And are doing it AGAIN with a female lead.
Red(Quote) (Reply)
…Does Supergirl’s bottom half look like it’s encased in a chastity belt to anyone else?
Maria(Quote) (Reply)
Maria,
*raises hand* That’s why I posted it…
Leigh(Quote) (Reply)
Maria,
Yes, it really does.
It’s being rumored that the real break out hit of the New 52 is going to Justice League: Dark, which features Zatanna, John Constantine, and awesome magic.
I’m not keen on that. I’ve only ever seen Zatanna in the Vertigo titles – which are technically in the same world as the superhero stuff, but it doesn’t generally show – and that’s where I’d rather see, as a more morally upright analogue to Hellblazer.* (Speaking of which, I can’t even begin to imagine John Constantine in any sort of Justice League).
SunlessNick(Quote) (Reply)
In the Marvel photo set, I really love that somebody cosplayed Stan Lee.
Supergirl… yeah, no. Would a Kryptonian even be able to achieve the bikini wax necessary for that costume? Would doing so require kryptonite? Also, y’know, why in the world would anybody wear that for crimefighting purposes? It’s really difficult to take down bad guys when you have a wedgie.
I’m kind of intrigued by the new take on Snow White…
Robin(Quote) (Reply)
That shot of Supergirl’s costume is a little different than the first one I saw, which was http://www.blogofsteel.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Supergirl-Issue-1.jpg
Admittedly, I think it’s an improvement on the mini-skirt, which always seemed demeaning and exploitative to me, especially since Supergirl is nearly always pictured flying. But the shot from the link here looks like the red part is affixed on the front of the leotard (which is presumably a thong or something with that cut) while the other one makes it look like it’s just part of the single piece. I don’t know which is ‘canon’ at this point.
Also the chest S looks strange and jagged in both which I didn’t really notice before, probably to differentiate her logo from Superman’s.
Lindsey(Quote) (Reply)
14 — the pictures are pretty, but its going to take a lot for me to forgive the Snow White casting & subject myself to watching. Sigh, but its really nice to see a Snow White in armor, a characterization that on the surface appears to be empowering her. We’ll see if thats true eventually I guess.
The pictures of Supergirl and the earlier linked one of Catwoman remind me of why I never really got into comics (tho i did love the Firestar mini-series in the 90s?). I mean really?? I was more into Epic Illustrated, which while featuring women in improbable costumes still seemed to make more sense.
KLee(Quote) (Reply)
Supergirl: Even Kara on Smallville sometimes slipped out of her hotpants and put on some trousers, a shirt and even a jacket. (Kara in all her glory: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfWMsjmyj1M)
Gah, I never would have thought I’d miss that show!
Fuck you, DC Comics, for making Smallville look like a masterpiece next to you!
M.C.(Quote) (Reply)
Robin,
I kind of want to say that Supergirl achieving her bikini wax for her costume by exposing herself to toxic chemicals could make a wonderful allegory for the modeling industry if they wrote it right, but from what I’ve heard that would be too deep for them.
It’s too bad, really– make it a plot point that people have been conditioned to want a certain look from their superheroes, and she’s bought into the myth, and then point out that the kryptonite is killing her for prettiness and have her discover that people still love her heroism even without the ridiculously revealing costume…
It’ll never happen, but it would be so cool!
Ara(Quote) (Reply)
I personally have been hugely disappointed in Serah Gamble on season six of Supernatural. Maybe I expected more of a female show runner; maybe I am being unfair but…
Seriously, SPN have had problems with female representation before, but this season was “kill a female character for shock value” EVERY F-ing episode. Oh look, they brought back that girl, ohh she died in a scene that was merely there to chock the viewer and had nothing to do with her.
SPOILER!
Look at Dean’s cousin for example. So we have some vague character build up and then she disappears. When she returns you think, wow, maybe she´ll get a personality? But nooo, she is killed. And not only is she killed, she is killed in a way that had nothing to do with her fight or her beliefs. Her death was so typical girl in refrigerator so I nearly threw up.
That vampire girl returning: death as chock value.
Eve: quick anticlimactic death used as chock value. She didn’t even get a struggle. NOTHING.
Castiel gets a girl angel pal. Killed of the second or third time we see her to show how eeevil Cas is becoming.
Get back Ellen but hey, everyone knows she will be dead again at the end of the episode. She is just there for Dean and Sam to angst over. And you know, I know they killed her off earlier, but the at least she was allowed to die fighting in something she believed in. Here it was nothing.
And hey, there actually was an episode when a recurring character which died was not a woman, it was a black man instead. Yeah.
END OF SPOILER
Sorry, had to get that of my chest. Like I said, it is very possible that I am being unfair, but I have not been happy.
Kex(Quote) (Reply)
Kex,
While I agree that season 6 had plenty of problems, and that Sera’s direction may have problems, which could be seen as the fault of it being a transitional thing, her first time at the wheel of this show…
It is never okay to threaten someone. No matter what you think of their work. It is never okay to even joke about flying to San Diego for the sole purpose of “putting something in her drink.” That’s not okay. Think what you will of what she’s doing on the show, but that has nothing to do with the fact that even joking about threatening someone, because you don’t like what they’ve done to you show is not cool.
And Kripke’s run had just as many problems with killing women as Sera’s.
Leigh(Quote) (Reply)
Oh absolutely not. I do not in any way shape or form condone any threats against Serah Gamble. I find it horrible! And I must admit that I think that she would be receiving those threats no matter what she did with the series. The SPN fandom is one of the most misogynistic ones there is. I am avoiding it like plague. I was responding more to the first comment of this post than the post itself. Though I must admit that it is troubling that I totally bypassed the whole threat situation to whine about her direction. Sometimes you notice things that are not so pleasant about yourself:/
Like I said, it is totally possible that I fell in the trap of expecting more from a woman than I would from a man. I’ll rewatch the other seasons to see if I have been willfully ignorant.
Kex(Quote) (Reply)
@Leigh and Kex
This kind of makes me think how sometimes people are so intent on blaming a woman for a show’s problems that they’ll blame anyone, including fictional characters (Buffy fandom, we need to talk!)
Maria(Quote) (Reply)
The bottom half of Supergirl’s costume looks like a steel diaper.
Why couldn’t she wear the old miniskirt with a pair of bike shorts underneath? As in, “I like the way the skirt flips in the wind, but I don’t like a healthy breeze round me privates and the color of my panties is nobody’s business but mine?”
Is she still supposed to be a teenage girl? What about drawing her in, oh, 5 different tops and 3 different bottoms, which she mixes and matches without fanfare, because she’s still figuring out which combination works best?
Jenny Islander(Quote) (Reply)
Kex,
I’ve only seen the first eight or so episodes of the 6th so I haven’t seen most of those (I read anyway since spoilers don’t bother me) and it makes me think I should not continue. I was planning on watching the rest today and tomorrow. It’s so sad because years ago Supernatural was my favorite and I couldn’t WAIT for the next week…and the last three years I’ve just been “meh.”
I would think your reaction is like what they say at Shakesville all the time: “I expect more.” It’s easy I think to put expectations on women in Hollywood that we might not have at the same level for the men of Hollywood. I WOULD think that a female showrunner would do a better job–but at the same time it may be overcompensational, in reaction to the VERY rabid (and troubling, IMO) fanbase and fandom (which SPN tends to cater to WAY to much). I don’t want to make excuses for Gamble, but I can’t blame her for the incredibly awful gender and race issues in SPN because precedent was set with Kripke and in a way she’s kind of forced to carry on some things he set up.
That said, no. Just no. I cannot stand the way women are just slaughtered in that series. And whenever I’d bring it up in my old forum ExIsle, people would make the excuses: “white men die too! Stop overreacting! It’s a show! Just enjoy it! You’re too sensitive!” (And yeah, the only people saying that were the MALE fans at ExIsle….)
So I’m torn. I don’t WANT to make excuses for Gamble, because I EXPECT BETTER, but I have studied way to much Hollywood to be able to focus in on her as the only cause and reason without context.
Gah. Screw SPN. I’m done with it (unless my sister and I watch it and rip it to shreds while we do).
The Other Anne(Quote) (Reply)
Robin,
I know that in the comics Superman has been shown “shaving” by use of his heat vision, reflected off of something (I think it was a shard of some Kryptonian metal, but it might have just been a mirror, because writers always seem to think that anything in “ray” form bounces off a mirror like light). So… yeah. That, uh, that just makes the whole thing worse, I should think.
Skemono(Quote) (Reply)
Ara,
I want to share with you: Comics on the Internet http://nonadventures.com/2011/03/18/how-now-loud-trou/ (gets a wee bit raunchy in a few places)
That’s related to Wonder Woman’s costume changes, but they’re all kind of related trend wise. It’s my way of saying that I really like comics, but I’m not familiar with the comic book industry.
Quib(Quote) (Reply)
The Other Anne,
I have such an absolute love/hate relationship with SPN. I give it a pass, even though I know I shouldn’t. I hate the way they kill off women in that show, but I keep watching because I find the rest of it entertaining, and I do love Ackles and Padalecki’s chemistry.
I honestly think that Sera Gamble is quite terrified of the SPN fanbase. They are so rabid and they cross so many lines they shouldn’t, and they get away with it because they keep the show on the air.
These are the people that send hate tweets to Ackles’ wife, and the reason Padalecki’s (who was on the show for a season) had to pull out of a con due to threats.
If you watch the con footage from over the weekend, you’ll see that Sera seems kind of nervous, because I’m sure she knows the kind of hate she gets, and it was the first con that Kripke wasn’t there at.
In season 6, though, they introduced a number of female characters you knew were just going to die, and it was so disappointing because quite a few of them were pretty fab. But the creative team is really guilty of catering to the fanbase, and it all has to be about the brothers and sometimes Castiel the Angel, so all other characters suffer the same fate. But mostly women.
Leigh(Quote) (Reply)
Leigh,
Yeah, the only women I remember from the show that DIDN’T die were the woman in the hunter duo in ep1 of s3, and Amy Acker’s character. I’m sure there were more, but those are really all I remember. OH! And Brooke Nevin’s character. There were probably more but I only remember those because I like Nevin, Acker, and it stands out when there is any character on the show who is not white.
I did the love hate thing for so long I can sympathize with that. I’ve just gotten a little TOO contemptuous, in large part because of the people who criticized ME for having the GALL to bring that up. Hah. Maybe the 7th season will be better…..?
The Other Anne(Quote) (Reply)
Leigh,
*sigh* Remember the MotW days, when they actually saved people (often women) instead of getting them dead?
I’m a lot like you. I know I shouldn’t love Show, and in many ways I don’t. But I do love the chemistry between the two leads so much. I am starting to seriously wish they’d let it end with Sam sacrificing it all, though.
We’ll see how S7 fares.
sbg(Quote) (Reply)
The Other Anne,
Yeah, the only women I remember from the show that DIDN’T die were the woman in the hunter duo in ep1 of s3, and Amy Acker’s character.
Please tell me they’ve not brought back and killed Hailey and Sarah…
(I used to long to see one of them again, now I hope the show never brings them back; not that I should care, since I gave up on it too).
SunlessNick(Quote) (Reply)
SunlessNick,
Every time a female character comes along I wish and wish they’d be regulars who don’t just end up dying (come ON surely there are other fates than THAT they can give these people. It stopped being original after the first five minutes of the pilot when their mom died. And even that wasn’t an original origin story.) and yeah, it’s gotten to the point where now I hope they never do so I can keep pretending those characters are alive and happy somewhere out in British Columbia.
The Other Anne(Quote) (Reply)
The Other Anne,
You know, you are right. I do expect more! And perhaps I have been trying to ignore it because there are so many things I love about the show, but this season really hit it home for me. So now I am desperately conflicted.
And yes, when I see a returning female character I go “nooooo”, because I know she is going to die in a way that is supposed to shock the viewers but does not, because gee, women dying in SPN, supriiisee! If you want to chock me kill Dean, Sam, Bobby or Cas and make them stay dead. THAT would shock me.
I do think you are right that Gamble desperately is trying to please a fandom that full out hates women. There is no place for a fully developed female character who plays a central part in the show because fandom would hate her.
You know I wish
SPOILER
that they would have the guts to keep the world when the Titanic hadn’t sunk. We would have to awesome female characters returning (Jo and Ellen) and it would be so interesting to explore the differences between “our” world and the new one
END SPOILER
Kex(Quote) (Reply)
SunlessNick,
There are actually oodles of survivors we’ll never see again, probably because there’s a new swath of writers and they aren’t likely to bring back characters they didn’t create. There’s Charlie from Bloody Mary, Becky from the first and best shapeshifter eppie, Missouri Mosely, Sarah, Cat, the hunter woman from M7, the sheriff from the cannibalistic hillbilly episode, etc.
My hope for S7 is honestly that they remember the “saving people” from the old “saving people, hunting things” motto they started out with.
sbg(Quote) (Reply)
Here’s an interview with the ‘awkward’ questioner up at dcwomenkickingass: http://dcwomenkickingass.tumblr.com/post/8130151171/bgsdccinterview
It’s funny how simple questions can be blown out of proportion.
P.S.: People who booed her at the panel, really? Really now?
Re: Wonder Woman and Supergirl’s costumes.
WW: Ya know, I don’t mind that she switches up her pants for what ever situation calls for them. (Hot area = short shorts, cold area = long pants…bet Supergirl wishes she had that lol )
Supergirl: *sigh* The one that really didn’t need the bathing suit. At least Wondy is an adult but Supergirl usually stayed in the teenage range. I hope they bring back the skirt. It just suits her more.
Ebb(Quote) (Reply)
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