Summer Movie Roundtable

womenwriteaboutcomics:

This was supposed to be the summer of the comic book blockbuster, and certainly Avengers, Dark Knight Rises and Amazing Spider-Man performed as expected. But those were just the tentpole flicks. I put together a list of geek-relevant films that came out this season (May-August), and then I cut it down and cut it down again, and still it was staggering. To wit, With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story, The Avengers, Death of a Superhero, The Dark Knight Rises, Battleship, Men In Black 3, Snow White and the Huntsman, Prometheus, Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, The Amazing Spider-Man, Total Recall, The Bourne Legacy, Brave, ParaNorman, and Chicken With Plums. Whew.

This was a genre-heavy season, and one that I honestly couldn’t keep up with. There was a Stan Lee bio? And what was Death of a Superhero? Chicken With Plums finally came out? Goddamn.

I chatted with Claire (WWAC), Maddy (3 Chicks Review Comics), and Skalja (Fuck Yeah Spider-Wife) about the State of Geek Culture at the Cinema (This Summer).

Read more.

And it’s sooooo long.

Review: Captain Marvel #1

womenwriteaboutcomics:

Megan Byrd of Comic Book Candy reviewed Captain Marvel #1 for us—check it out!

The character formerly known as Ms. Marvel, though having been introduced over forty years ago, has had a rocky road through obscurity. She’s been in Avengers, Defenders, and X-books, with long absences in between. Though she’s had a larger presence in the the Marvel U since the early 2000′s, her biggest claims to fame are still a fight that gave Rogue her powers and a story line where she gives birth to her rapist (only in the silver age). With two ongoing series spanning thirty years, why hasn’t the female namesake of Marvel stuck? Ask any casual reader to describe the character of Ms. Marvel and they will probably describe her various costumes, her job titles, or the aforementioned moments of her history. That’s not to say there haven’t been writers that have done her justice, but no one version stands out as definitive amongst a wider audience.

Did you guys catch our review of Captain Marvel #1?

Harassment

*Repost as Tumblr ate the last one. I won’t lie though, it’s been massively rewritten.

*TW: discussion of harassment and rape threats.

This post is part of the Women Write About Comics blog carnival: Harassment and the Geek Blogosphere.

It’s funny. I linked to my first Women Write About Comics interview on Facebook. My friends and family were complaining that I didn’t post enough about my blogging exploits, and that it was hard to keep up. So I posted a link, with a short note about how exciting I found this moment—not just that’d I’d had the chance to interview Corrina Lawson, but that I’d given myself the opportunity to do it. It’s a small thing, but it was a long time in coming.

The WWAC interview project is designed to help women in comics, find other cool women in comics. But I also started it for myself. I needed a reason to take the leap from commenting on other writer’s work, to engaging with it more meaningfully. I also needed to learn how to interview people. I’m not a journalist. Through trial and error (and imitation), I taught myself how to write reviews, but interviews were a whole other terrifying kettle of fish. Maybe I wasn’t good enough, is the thing. Maybe this whole WWAC thing would backfire on me, and I’d have to deal with hordes of trolls. Maybe I’d embarrass myself in public, or fail, or, attract the wrong kind of attention.

I came of internet-age in pseudonymous fandom. Blogging under my own name, first at Toronto Comics Review, and now on WWAC, is still a big deal for me. In giving up my pseudonym, I gave away a layer of protection, in exchange for—hopefully—new opportunities, personal and professional. I’ve done a few email interviews now and things are going great. I’ll be doing some in-person interviews later this summer, and in the process, peeling back another layer of protection, and with it, another layer of anxiety.

The first comment I received on that interview was a trolling sideswipe. Someone came by, via that Facebook post, and told me to quit while I was ahead. Or rather, to quit now, before I could fail any harder than I already was. Typical trolling, and not something I’d usually take to heart. It hurt though, coming from someone I know, maybe a friend or a colleague. The next comment I received was incredibly nice and encouraging, and everyone else in my life has been sweet and supportive. They understand that posting my first interview is a big deal. Chances are, my troll got that too—that was the point, wasn’t it? Trolling doesn’t work if your target isn’t invested.

Read More

An interview with Saranga of New Readers... Start Here!

womenwriteaboutcomics:

I talked to Saranga of New Readers… Start Here! about Supergirl, LGBTQ representation in comics, and how the Big Two could do better at reaching new readers.

Check it out:

They don’t advertise enough. They especially don’t advertise outside of comics fans. In the UK, many people don’t even realise you can buy regular monthly Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, X-Men comics. It’s not advertised. With all the recent superhero films DC and Marvel should be advertising their websites as part of the pre-movie trailers. They should be giving sample comics away at the screenings. They shouldn’t rely on Free Comic Book Day, because the only folks that go to that, are already reading comics.

The comics industry should advertise themselves in magazines, on TV, on national or local news sites. Not on internet comic forums, or in their own books, or on the Big Bang Theory. They should advertise in arenas where people who have never heard of DC and Marvel will see the adverts. They should send samples to school and public libraries.

And when they do that, they should widen their target market. Don’t restrict themselves to 18-35 year old males (they are already buying the comics). Don’t create covers of iconic characters that look like Catwoman #0. Concentrate on telling good stories without succumbing to crossover hell. Create comics for young children, older children, teenagers, adults and old adults. And then tell them about the [rest of their] comics.

Read more.

This was fun.

The Revolution Will Not Be Digital (Only), an interview with Corrina Lawson

womenwriteaboutcomics:

Corrina Lawson is a journalist-turned-blogger who’s written extensively about comics and the comics industry. She’s a contributor to GeekDad and Sequential Tart, and a senior editor of GeekMom. Corrina is also a fiction writer, and has just had her first comic book story published by Greyhaven Comics.

We talked about her writing and blogging, women’s spaces in the geekosphere, and about the future of the comics industry.

Here’s an excerpt:

One of the things I’ve noticed on the internet is that while men tend to talk to each other about stuff and keep it there, women build communities. They connect, they react out to each other emotionally, they build friendships and support each other. I was a weird kid in high school. I was a geek before it was cool and I was a girl who was a geek. Doubly problematic. It wasn’t until the internet that I found other groups of women who shared my interests, in writing or in comics or geeky pop culture. The moment when I realized that there were others like me out there and they were as glad to meet me as I was glad to meet them…it was huge for me.

All women may not need this but I think a great number of us feel the need to spend time with people who speak the same language, whatever that may be. I’ve found the best female friends in my life through the internet.

Read more.

Our first WWAC interview! There are lots more (seriously, LOTS MORE) coming.

Google group? Hashtag? Round four is coming!

womenwriteaboutcomics:

We are two weeks out from round four. Let the countdown begin!

Harassment in the Geek Blogoshere

July 7-8

Have you started on your submission? Are you struggling with your approach to the topic? I know I am. (What a shock!) Tell me all about it in the comments, or on Twitter. (@womenoncomics, #wwcomics).

When I was proposing this topic on Twitter, a number of people said they’d love to participate–but only if they felt like other people had their back. I totally want to have your backs. We have two options here:

  1. Use the carnival hashtag (it’s #wwcomics now, ladies) to point to trolling comments, and request support, hugs, Valkyries, and what have you.
  2. Set up a Google group so that we can chat about this stuff (relatively) behind the scenes.

So please head over to the blog to tick an option in the poll, and share your thoughts in the comments!

Follow WWAC on Tumblr to get regular updates without leaving your dash (and make my life easier)!