"Holy Hot Flash, Batman!" ...whaaaat?

You can't win for trying, as my mother would say. Still, why is it that so often when one cries "Yay, women!", there is a slight aftertaste of belittlement?

Jennie Yabroff of Newsweek has expressed just that with her well intentioned (I assume) article on Gail Simone's recent assignment to Wonder Woman.

Yabroff reports:

When the novelist Jodi Picoult was approached in 2006 to write a few installments of the "Wonder Woman" comic-book series, her impulse was to dress the character in something besides that clearly unsupportive red and gold bustier. "As any woman writer would know," she opines in the introduction to a collection of the comics, "it's impossible to fight crime without straps." The editors at DC Comics vetoed her request, but Picoult sneaked in her point anyway. In a scene set in a bar frequented by comic-book fans, a tipsy customer muses about how Wonder Woman manages to "fight crime in a freaking bikini." Such is the irony of the planet's premier female superhero. Though she was featured on the first issue of Ms. Magazine under the headline WONDER WOMAN FOR PRESIDENT, she's been written, for most of her 66 years, by a man.

But now women are finally breaking into the boys' comics club. With the release of this month's "Wonder Woman" No. 14, the superhero gets her first permanent, ongoing female scribe, Gail Simone...

Traditionally, comics have been by, for and about men. DC Comics won't release reader demographics, but industry insiders agree the readership remains overwhelmingly male. (The Web site comicsworthreading.com claims that DC's leadership was 92 percent male in 1995.) Dan DiDio, DC's executive editor, describes its audience as "college-aged men who are looking for high adventure, a level of risk, fantasy." "Wonder Woman" fits that mold, with its fantasy-based storyline and action-heavy, cleavage-filled plots. But it remains to be seen whether the increasing number of female voices such as Simone's will win superhero comics more female readers.

You really should read the whole thing for yourself before making a judgement, but after you do, check out some response on Occasional Superheroine:

If the point of this recent article in Newsweek on "Wonder Woman" & women in comics was to reassure me about the current place of females both in terms of readership & within the mainstream comics industry, it didn't do a particularly great job. Consider me underwhelmed.

If most of DC's readers are indeed "college-aged men who are looking for high adventure," part of that is a lack of out-of-the-box thinking & laziness. Women and girls enjoy tales of adventure as well. You can't make a comic book that appeals to a girl who likes "Pirates of the Caribbean," "Harry Potter," "Firefly," and your own "Smallville?" Then you've failed. There are hundreds of thousands of females out there that are rabid fans of this adventure/fantasy stuff in other media or in manga. I refuse to believe that the superhero genre by itself only attracts male fans. It's the presentation, the characters, and the story.

And the title of the article: "Holy Hot Flash, Batman!" Wow. Just wow.

Be sure to check out the comments.

While I have to question the 1995 statistic implying that only 8% of it's readers were female, especially with ladies like these out there, my initial reaction was "Yay, Gail!" I truly hope there is no belittlement in that exclamation as I loved Gail on Birds of Prey (and miss her dearly there- what is UP with the bitchy superman?), loved her Villains United (and have dedicated an entire jazz suite to the Secret Six) and agree with masses that Wonder Woman will finally be given the respect that has been absent for the past few years.

"Strong, female characters"

This weekend I had a massive copy job to finish- over 50 pages of music to input into Sibelius by Sunday. Since the Hungarian Pastry Shop was still closed for renovation, I decided to just stay at home to do the work- I’m faster on my desktop anyway. Plus it would give me to a chance to watch (listen) to my newly acquired Wonder Woman Season 2 DVDs.

I was a bit apprehensive about Season 2; I didn’t want my childhood favorite to be tainted by watching through grown up eyes. That is what happened when I eagerly bought Season 1 a couple years ago when it was first released to DVD. I remember popping in that first disc, and 5 minutes into the pilot thinking, Who are these boring WWII military dudes, and when are they going to show Paradise Island?!? I’m sorry, but that first season is BORING. How did I love this show as a kid? I don’t even have the attention span for it as an adult! And what’s more, Diana is annoying! Will she ever stop swooning over Steve Trevor and doesn’t she find his swooning over Wonder Woman a bit demeaning? To be honest, I found that season to be a bit sexist! (and that is a word I use sparingly; as a female jazz musician, I have experienced too much testosterone to cry “sexist” at every small offense).


Nonetheless, I hoped that with the revamping of the show out of the 40’s and into the 70’s, there would be improvement. And after watching (listening to) almost the entire season on Saturday, I was not only pleasantly surprised, but greatly relieved. THERE was the Diana Prince and Wonder Woman that inspired me as a child. Sure, WW’s costume was a bit skimpier, but Diana Prince was just as bad ass as WW! For starters, she was no longer Steve’s assistant, but his associate (love that Themyscirian hypnosis!). She no longer bat puppy dog eyes at Steve, and while he still held an infatuation for WW it is balanced by his respect for Diana. I appreciate how Diana/WW was the same character from the first season and this story just literally toke place 30 years later. And while I feel like the comic’s version of Wonder Woman is more serious, down to business, and even a tiny bit jaded, I love that the TV series portrays Diana and Wonder Woman as very optimistic and eager to find the good in every person or villain (which were constantly getting no more than hand slaps!). It’s just refreshing.

Watching this season brought a wave of nostalgia and realization of how strongly this show influenced me and is at least partially responsible for my current career path. Like many whose childhood was spent in the 80s, I grew up on those WW reruns. I idolized Diana Prince and thought Wonder Woman was the most beautiful woman in the world. I wasn’t really into TV, but I have distinct memories of running next door to my neighbor’s house to get my friend Jay because “Wonder Woman was coming on.” I remember forcing Jay to play “Wonder Woman” with me. I would make him be Steve Trevor (I was a very bossy little girl) and I would be Wonder Woman and would save him from whatever bad thing our 5 year old minds could think of (as we lived on a military base, I’m sure we were able to think of many “bad” things). At the time, Wonder Woman was just a fun game, but looking back as an adult, I see how strongly the show and more over, the character of Wonder Woman influenced me.

To begin with, she was someone I felt I could relate too. I remember fretting that because I had brown hair, I could never be as pretty as those with blond hair (lets blame Barbie for that!). But here was this woman with brown hair and blue eyes, just like me, and she was beautiful! And not only beautiful, but strong, kind, and a hero. The daughter of a Marine, and living on a Marine Base at the time, I was very aware of “heroes” and the concept of saving lives. But, the majority of the Marines I knew were men. To see a female hero, and at a such a young age where I didn’t completely recognize the difference between fiction and reality, taught me a sense of equality between men and women that I never bothered to question thereafter. Of course, I would be remised if I didn’t point out that my mother was also a very strong, independent woman and growing up, it never occurred to me that women could be viewed as lesser beings than men.

That crucial exposure as a child set a precedence: I still today find myself being influenced by strong, female characters. Any given day, I may gain motivation from characters such as Buffy, Sydney Bristow, Veronica Mars, and Lara Croft as well as Black Canary, Oracle, and Donna Troy (whose history of having to restart her life repeatedly I could relate to the most, as I was constantly restarting my life every 2 years as a military brat, and whose story inspired the partially autobiographical song “Serenade for Donna Troy”).

It’s not that I feel oppressed or heavily discriminated against, in fact, most men I know and associate with are very comfortable with women and our role in society. But as someone who loves finding reality in art, I can’t help but be inspired when I read about Oracle out-smarting the Calculator, complete the Bolivia level of Tomb Raider, or watch River Tam beat down the Reavers and Diana Prince spin into Wonder Woman.

It used to be that I only had those fictional characters to look up to, but now my world has been opened to the genius of Maria Schneider, Asne Seierstad, Gail Simone, Joan Stiles, Ingrid Jensen, Paula Radcliff, Deena Kastor, Twyla Tharp, and Pam Pietro, to name a few.

A few years ago I had the privilege of attending a benefit for Equality Now. The organization was honoring men who made an impact on women’s equality. Joss Whedon, among others, was being recognized. Joss’s speech on “strong female characters” brought chills to my arms and tears to my eyes (as did the incredible stories of the ordinary men who were also being honored). Afterwards, I sheepishly introduced myself to Joss, got a photo with him (below), an autograph on Astonishing X-Men #1, and slipped him a CD of my Infinite Crisis inspired Master’s Recital (hear it here). He was a super nice guy whose sincerity in his beliefs were clear by his willingness to meet and greet all of his female fans.

If you have a few minutes, watch this video of his speech:

Living life, male or female, and pursuing art, can be extremely challenging. I feel lucky that I have such a large bag of inspiration to pull from when it is needed. I will always feel grateful that I was exposed to a strong, female character at such a young, impressionable age, whose influence continues to assist me down this sometimes cold, NY, coffee driven path.

Time to finally get that star tattoo...

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Thanks for the link, Ragnell.

Spreading the coffee cheer?

A view on how Starbucks actually helps mom and pop coffeehouses (thanks, Andy!).

Wonderman

From Just Past the Horizon via When Fangirls Attack:

Did anyone feel like punching something after reading the last Countdown special?

No? Just me?

I mean, I love the concept of a gender-reversed world. I picked up the Countdown Presents: Search for Ray Palmer: Superwoman/Batwoman special overjoyed at the thought of Earth-11. It’s just such a wonderful tool when analyzing gender in stories, to run through a familiar story with a woman instead of a man and consider how and why things could be different. Would they think differently about their actions? Each other? Why? And how does the reader react differently?

Granted, there was an option to screw up, but I figured we were beyond writing alternate universe female characters as less capable than their male counterparts. I wasn’t worried when I read it.

I was partially right. We are beyond writing alternate universe female characters as less capable than their male counterparts. All of the female characters were very well done. The dialogue and the way the story was set up suggested that the gender stereotypes were still the same, and that the people meant to be heroes just happened to more often be female than male this time around (probably due in no small part to the most inspiring hero on that planet being the Last Daughter of Krypton as opposed to the standard Last Son). I’d love to see a Kylie Rayner story (or find out what’s going on with Jordan’s counterpart) or a few World’s Finest adventures with Superwoman and Batwoman. The art was lovely, the designs were feminized but not sexualized (I especially liked the effect with the Flash’s long hair). The characterization in general was that the characters were themselves as men or as women.

There was one exception.

One big hairy exception.

Read the rest of Lisa Fortuner's proof that feminists don't hate men, then go buy the book and decide for yourself if Wonderman is an accurate representation of a gender-reversed Wonder Woman.

"Where are the Velvets?"

Just announced: Tori Amos’ Comic Book Tattoo

According to my weekly letter from MOM (the Men of Midtown), Image Comics plans to release a 400+ page anthology of full color comic stories based on Tori's narratives. It's reported that collaborators include Pia Guerra, Hope Larson, Colleen Doran, Lea Hernandez, Chris Arrant, Star St. Germain, Derek McCulloch, Neil Kleid, Leah Moore, and John Reppion. Neil Gaiman is not confirmed, but still listed as hopeful.

I cannot imagine a comic book about Tori that did not involve Neil. Theirs is a relationship I find absolutely intriguing! From hearinmyhead.com:

After including a reference to Neil and to the Dream King (the main character in The Sandman series) in the lyrics of Tear in Your Hand, Tori had a friend deliver a tape of the song to Neil at the San Diego comic convention. Neil, who receives many tapes from fans which he says usually "magically become blank tapes" remembers, "I listened to the first three or four tracks, and I was in love. It wasn't Little Earthquakes, it was sort of half Little Earthquakes and half what wound up being B-sides--things like 'Flying Dutchman' and 'Take to the Sky' and 'Sweet Dreams' and 'Upside Down.' but it was very obvious that musically I was a fan by the time I'd finished listening to the first few tracks. In fact it was ages before I spotted the 'me and Neil'll be hangin' out with the DREAM KING Neil says hi by the way'--that came much later." After listening to the tape, Neil, who lived in London, called Tori up, and the first of many wonderful conversations commenced. Tori now insists that the two knew each other in a past life. Neil states, "we were old friends immediately. Whether you want to view that as fact or metaphor, that is very much true."

Tori "winks" at Neil in several of her other songs and he "winks" right back by writing Tori and her lyrics into his stories. Tori wrote an introduction to his trade of Death: The High Cost of Living, and Neil wrote the liner notes to Strange Little Girls. The two have a mutual creative adoration and seem to gain continuing inspiration from each other.

In an interview Tori explains how she draws inspiration from Neil's Sandman character Delirium:

Yes, she [inspires me]. There are times I've spent with Neil where you know, we're toodling around and things you think you say in confidence end up in a comic book, you know? And then of course there are things that she says that I start saying. There's a strange sort of stealing going on.

Neil puts it a bit simpler saying, "I think she's absolutely magic."

I have long since been a big fan of both Tori and Neil. Favorites include Scarlet's Walk, Under the Pink, Neverwhere (which gave me pleasant nightmares), American Gods, and Stardust (the film is great, too). I have big plans of somehow convincing Tori to collaborate with me in a musical tribute to Neil's creations.

If that doesn't work out, perhaps I'll just write music inspired by the comics inspired by Tori's music.

...And maybe a few about Neil's stories, too!

Going the extra (beer) mile

Runners and beerophiles unite!

Most runners I know love downing a nice cold beer (or two, or more), especially after a long hard run or race. Some runners, like my good friend Pat (a.k.a. "the white kenyan"), are so hardcore, they enjoy a good brewski during the race.

The Beer Mile is the extreme sport for those whole love "digestive athletics." According to the official website beermile.com FAQs, any mile that is run in combination with beer consumption can be considered a Beer Mile. However, thanks to the runners of Kingston, Ontario, a set of rules were defined and must be adhered to in order to have your Beer Mile time posted on beermile.com's official results page, which is organized not only by location, gender, and age, but by brand of beer.

In compliance with the "Kingston Rules," the format of the race is as follows: Start - beer/lap, beer/lap, beer/lap, beer/lap - finish. Restrictions require that the beer be an untampered, unopened 12 oz. can (or 1 pint in the UK) and must contain a minimum of 5% alcohol by volume. Each beer must be completely consumed before starting the next lap (and yes, the drinking time is part of your overall race time). In the (likely) event of regurgitation, the offending runner must complete one penalty lap immediately following their 4th lap, which is also included in the overall race time.

Currently the world record is held by Jim Finlayson of Victoria, British Columbia, at 5:09.

There are some variations to this extreme sport including the Soda/Pop Mile, the Chocolate Milk Mile, the Ben and Jerry's 4x4 (4 pints of Ben and Jerry's ice cream per lap!), and the Vodka 2-Mile (8 shots, 8 quarters).

I'm not sure I could participate in any of the above because frankly, I hate vomiting. However, I think I may submit to the NYRR suggestion box a request for an Espresso Mile. I'd love to see my mile time for that race!

RIP Oscar Peterson

The holidays this year are tinged with a bit of sadness; Oscar Peterson passed away this past Sunday. Unfortunately, not many seem to know. Such is the curse of a major holiday.

Thankfully, blog newbie Gregory Dudzienski was on top of his game, which is how I found out.

I never feel comfortable eulogizing such greats as Oscar Peterson, so I will direct you towards those who are better at remembering this beautiful jazz pianist:

NYTs

CNN

Settled in Shipping

The Toronto Press

Season's Greetings

designed by Kevin Fenton

I apologize, again, for my lack of activity this past month.

However, while Ethan plans to cut back, I endeavor to become a more active blogger in 2008. I've been testing the bloggy waters these past 10 months, and I think I've finally identified the voice I wish to wield, but more on that later... It's time for me to once again put the blog on hold, and go wrap some presents!

Facing a deadline? Join me in some procrastination...

The Church of Coltrane

I assume we are all familiar with the St. John Will-I-Am Coltrane African Orthodox Church. This morning, as I sat down to (hopefully) finish this project that's got me dirtying up all my favorite coffee mugs, I was hit with this article on the first (online) page of the NYT. I only skimmed the article (hey, I've got music to write), but definitely took time to look at the slide show (hey, I've got ALL DAY to finish up!).

Hated the thought that anyone out there might miss this informative (I assume) blurb (or that I'd have to start writing so soon after waking), so I am sharing it here.

In the process of posting, I stumbled upon this revolting bit of news:

The McMocha


It's not at all surprising that McDonald's is considering entering the over caffeinnated over priced ridiculously trendy you-think-we're-high-end-and-sophisticated-but-really-we're-just-a-franchise-with-good-advertising coffee drink phenomenon (she says as she sips her excessively strong home brewed Starbucks "Christmas" blend). What's surprising is that it's taken so long for them to jump in.

At a time when Starbucks is hurting (supposedly, according to this article, that again, I only skimmed), will McDonald's step up to keep us satisfied? ... (sorry, just fell out of my chair laughing at the thought). Maybe not, according to this report. Apparently we snobby upper upper UPPER westsiders aren't the only ones who are appalled at the thought.

Decide for yourself.

Now really, I must get a get back to work- stop distracting me.

But first, I need another cup of coffee.