Graphic Misogyny

As readers of mainstream comics (read: superheroes) know, sexism in comics is nothing new. True, it exists in other media and genres, but it's always been a bit more noticeable in a world of fiction traditionally aimed at young males and populated by physical paragons in tight-fitting outfits. Hell, even Wonder Woman, icon of female empowerment, has a history of being tied up a lot. (Conveniently, she even carries her own rope around.) Anyway, the question of how women are treated in superhero comics comes and goes from time to time, and a recent comic event made me think a bit about it.

In the latest issue of New Avengers #35, C-list hero Tigra (sorry, tigrafan@comcast.net) is severely beaten by The Hood, a new supervillian and Kingpin wannabe. What's sexist about that, you say? Well, nothing necessarily, but a couple of things set this apart from your typical superhero battle and made it legitimately questionable. First, the beating happens in Tigra's apartment because she's been targeted for a beating. She's not beaten in the line of duty or anything like that -- The Hood breaks into her place, waits for her to get home, and jumps her. Second, perennial Punisher punching bag, Jigsaw, records the whole thing. Y'know, for home viewing pleasure. Creepy. It didn't help that Tigra's costume is literally fur skin and a bikini.

Reading that story made me wonder if it was okay. And judging from the online reaction, I wasn't the only one. Some readers thought it crossed the line and others thought those people were overreacting. Me, I'm not sure. Any story involving violence and women has to walk a very fine line. If you're going to accept female superheroes, then yes, they're going to get hurt. Like I said, as a home assault this was different than a slam-bang fight with a giant robot, but I wondered if it was any different than Luke Cage getting attacked in his home during Marvel's Civil War. Is it just that he escaped? Would people even be talking about this if Tigra had won? If not, why not? Shouldn't the point be that she was attacked, and not the outcome of the attack?

I have no doubt that there are plenty of examples of misogyny in comics, but I don't know if this is one of them. But I think we can all agree that hating on women is dumb. Chris Rock said it best: "I like women. My mom's a woman -- that helps."

Ken Ip

Where's the First Graphic Novels?

Okay, I need help.

I just got outbid on eBay for an old Marvel graphic novel I've been wanting for years now -- Dr. Strange and Dr. Doom: Triumph and Torment. Art by Mike Mignola (you may have heard of him). Story by Roger Stern (this guy -- not so much, which is a real shame, but that's another column). Anyway, if I remember the story right, Dr. Doom blackmails Dr. Strange into helping him on his quest to go into Hell and save his mother's soul from Mephisto, blah blah blah, they battle some really cool looking demons (Mignola, remember?), yadda yadda yadda, and the two learn valuable lessons about each other. The End.

But that's not important right now. No, what's important is the fact that I had to go online to try and buy this fondly remembered comic from my adolescence, because it -- and almost every other Marvel Graphic Novel from its period -- is out of print. Which is another shame, and the point of all this.

You see, the comics cognoscenti can debate all they want about what the first graphic novel was: Will Eisner's A Contract with God? Gil Kane and Archie Goodwin's Blackmark? For me, the words "graphic novel" will always be partly associated with the first comics I ever saw bear that label -- Marvel Comics' oversized, 64-page extravaganzas from the 1980s. We kids thought they were something special. Lookit how big they are! Whoa, they cost like, $5.95!

Looking back, there were probably a lot more misses than hits. (I mean, Super Boxers? For real?) But the hits were good ones, and hold up surprisingly well today. The aforementioned Strange/Doom team-up. The Death of Captain Marvel, which started it all. Spider-Man: Hooky. X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills. And so on. But most of these stories are long out of print, victims of the mainstream comics industry's unique sense of self-loathing that says, "Hey, this stuff is just disposable entertainment anyway! Who's going to want to read this in five years?" The answer? A lot of us.

Now, comics have left some of that self-loathing behind, and the trade paperback programs of publishers are light years ahead of what they were even 5 or 10 years ago, but there are still some holes to fill. For me, this is one of them. It's an absolute crime that there is work out there by creators like Mike Mignola, Bernie Wrightson, Charles Vess, John Byrne, Bill Sienkewicz, etc. that is mostly unseen. So like I said at the start of this, I need your help. If you want to read these stories, or if you want to read them again, let Marvel know. Their address is in their comics. Address it to Jennifer Grunwald, Collection Editor. Tell her you think the comic that oh, X-Men 2 was based on should be in print. Tell her that you and your grandmother who loved X2 want to read it.

Hell, tell her you want to read Super Boxers. It couldn't hurt.

- Ken Ip

Welcome Back, Tommy

So my most anticipated comic of 2007 comes out this week. That's saying something, considering the volume of material this industry produces. (I mean you've seen Previews, right? Retailer catalogue and blunt instrument of death in one convenient package...) Anyway, people who know me well might say, "Ken, Dan Slott's Amazing Spider-Man doesn't start shipping this week," to which I would just smile and reply, "I know [insert your mother's name here], but Tommy Monaghan is back in comics."

For those of you unfamiliar with the name, Tommy Monaghan was the star of DC Comics' Hitman, a defunct series written by Garth Ennis and drawn by John McCrea. It ran about the same time as Ennis' signature book Preacher (you may have heard of that one). The latter book got a lot more love than Hitman ever did, probably because Preacher had boobs, f-bombs and no stories guest-starring Green Lantern. But I've always thought Hitman was as good as/better than its big brother. It was the story of Tommy, a cocky, smart-mouthed Gotham City punk who was given super powers (don't ask) and proceeded to hire himself out as a specialized, meta-human assassin, backed up by his crew and buddies. But it was so much more than that meager description. It was Ennis and McCrea's love letter to everything from Hong Kong action movies and Clint Eastwood to zombie flicks, war stories and even -- just once -- Superman. It was sometimes scary, sometimes poignant and always funny. And since the book's cancellation in 2001, I've missed Tommy and his friends. A lot.

But all that changes this week, when the first issue of JLA/Hitman comes out. It's a two-part miniseries where Tommy presumably saves the Justice League from some threat that they can't handle because it can't be punched. And somewhere in it Tommy may use his powers to look at Wonder Woman naked. Again. So what are you waiting for? Read it. If you like it and you haven't already bought it, buy it. It just might convince the bean counters at DC Comics to put all the Hitman trades in print, and then your life will be just a tad bit better for it. I myself have all the single issues, but I want you to have all those stories too. And so would Tommy.

- Ken Ip

HOLLYWOOD HEARTS COMICS

So another summer season at the movies is winding down, and that means another year of Hollywood comic book adaptations is now mostly behind us. True, Neil Gaiman's Stardust just opened and there's still 30 Days of Night by horror writer, Steve Niles, on the horizon, but the big boys of summer are definitely specks in the rear view mirror by now, particularly given the shortness of the pop-culture news cycle.

For better or worse, it seems like comic book movies are here to stay. Oh sure, at first a lot of people (myself included) thought that the A-list characters and books would get their chance on the big screen, some would work, others wouldn't, and notoriously fickle movie execs would move onto the next fad. But it's been nine years since Blade karate kick-started the current wave, and when obscure stuff like The Metal Men is being rumored for a greenlight it looks like Hollywood won't stop until the well is dry or they don't like the water. (And if stinkers like Daredevil and Catwoman haven't poisoned the well, nothing will.)

The result of all this? More people being aware of comics. Naysayers can talk about some of the harm facing the comics industry that comes with all this mainstream interest (increased potential for censorship, works created solely to woo filmmakers, etc...) and they have valid points, but I think the good outweighs the bad this time. I mean, do you know how many copies of 300 we've sold to tourists? I'm not even sure some of them read English, not that that's required to read 300. I guess what I'm trying to say is that after years of cultural obscurity and irrelevance, I for one am glad that the masses know we're here. So they'll screw up some of our books now and again. So they'll miscast Kate Beckinsale in Whiteout and give Preacher to the guy who directed Ghost Rider. So what? Didn't like the film? Read (or re-read) the comic. They're not going anywhere because a bad movie gets made out of them. They're right here at Forbidden Planet where they've always been.

- Ken Ip

THE ASTERISKS RETURN?

So there I was last week, glued to the Internet looking for news from the San Diego Comic-Con like all of us comic geeks, unfortunate enough to be unable to go. As a big Spidey fan, the one thing I was anticipating the most was the official announcement that Dan Slott (She-Hulk, The Thing) would be one of the four new writers of The Amazing Spider-Man, which will be moving to a three-times-a-month schedule starting with issue #546. (I say "official" because Slott getting the job was probably the worst kept secret in comics.)

So anyway, the announcement gets made online, I'm giggling like a schoolgirl and reading the rest of the article when I come across good news of a different sort -- Bob Gale, another of the announced writers and the man who gave the world Marty McFly, plans on bringing back footnote captions and thought balloons. As he puts it:

"These are tools we have in comics that aren't available in other media, so I want to take advantage of them. Let's celebrate what we can do in comics, and not pretend like we're doing movies on paper."

Amen, Mr. Gale. Amen. I've been hoping for the return of these tools, along with cover dialogue and splash pages (whatever happened to them?) for quite a while now. Sadly, they've been deemed too "hokey" or "outdated" to be used in an art form that has been struggling for legitimacy for nearly its entire existence.

Well, screw that. I want them back, and not just for reasons of nostalgia. Thought balloons let us into a character's head in a more direct way than most movies (voiceover narrations are a very hit-or-miss affair in movies; they can come off as forced and clumsy as bad use of thought balloons). Captions give readers information they may need to follow a story or tell them where to get that information.

In my last article I made a joke about not knowing what S.H.I.E.L.D. stood for anymore. You can bet that wasn't the case when I was a kid and that little box in the corner said, *Supreme Headquarters, International Espionage, Law Enforcement Division, and appeared in every third Marvel comic.

I could go on, and probably will in the future, but I think you know where I stand. Used properly, all these things are NOT corny, but are what separates our funnybooks from all the other ways people pass the time. Embrace what comics are capable of, and be proud of it. After all, does it make any sense to be embarrassed by thought balloons while you're reading about flying people in tights who punch things real good?

- Ken Ip

S.O.B.

A real big (strangely enough) S.O.B. That's what the title character of Marvel's The Irredeemable Ant-Man is: a son of a bitch. Whether it's hitting on his dead friend's girlfriend, sticking a woman with the bill after a date or using his shrinking powers to spy on women showering, this ain't your daddy's superhero. (No, that would be Hank Pym, the original Ant-Man, also an S.O.B. for hitting his wife, the winsome Wasp. It must be the powers or something.

Remember kids, unless they're supervillians or are named Cynthia Rothrock, hitting women is a no-no.) Anyway, this new Ant-Man is one Eric O'Grady, a former S.H.I.E.L.D.* agent who steals a new Ant-Man suit developed by Hank Pym and ends up in misadventures way over his head, which isn't too hard when your main ability is being half an inch tall.

As you probably know by now, Marvel is canceling The Irredeemable Ant-Man as of issue #12. Now until recently, this wouldn't have mattered too much to me, as I'm late catching the Ant-Man train. Writer Robert Kirkman is pretty hit-or-miss with me (love The Walking Dead, wanna love Invincible more than I do, same with Marvel Team Up), as is artist Phil Hester, not to mention I never had much of an interest in Ant-Man outside of the occasional Avengers appearance, so I initially passed this book up despite the positive buzz it's been getting.

My mistake. This comic is an irreverent, highly entertaining look at what would happen if most of the guys we pass by every day in the real world ever got their hands on super powers. (If you're reading this and you've done any of the things I listed above, sorry -- but you're an S.O.B. Deal with it.) This book deserves to survive, skittering under the feet of the bigger, more conventional superhero books out there like its title character.

If you already like this title, let Marvel know. If you haven't tried it, the first six issues are collected in a dirt-cheap digest. Hell, even if you don't like it, write Marvel and ask them to save it for all those books you've loved in the past that did get the axe. If Spider-Girl can be saved 17 times, we can do the same for Ant-Man. We can even have a motto for our favorite son of a bitch: S.O.B., or Save Our Book. Now let's go!

* who knows anymore?

- Ken Ip

Talkin Bout the Bru

Any of you who've been following comics for the last few years has probably noticed the migration of writing talent from the "civilian" world, whether from movies, television, novels, or all of the above. And while some of these guys and gals have given us good work and increased exposure (which we should all appreciate), my favorite comics writers are those who've clawed and fought their way through this unforgiving industry, who've paid some serious dues to do something they love: creating comics.

Among the best of these good people right now is Ed Brubaker, or The Bru to… well, me I guess (I can't really picture his friends and family calling him that, but I could be wrong). He's one of those guys whose involvement in a project will get me to read things I would never otherwise contemplate. I bought Catwoman because of him, for crying out loud!

Why do I love The Bru more than is probably healthy? For one thing, I have a weakness for crime fiction and the man has had a big part in revitalizing an area of comics that's been long dormant, with his work on Vertigo's Scene of the Crime, the aforementioned Catwoman, Gotham Central and his newest series Criminal. I also like my superhero stuff street-level and down to earth, so his work on Captain America and Daredevil -- both titles enjoying some of the best runs they've ever had -- really does it for me.

Of course, I don't wanna typecast the man; he's even writing Uncanny X-Men, taking your fave muties up into space for some old-fashioned Shi'ar Empire action. The Bru does it all while giving us great dialogue, unexpected twists (Iron Fist masquerading as Daredevil?), inspired retcons (Bucky as badass Nazi-killin' assassin?) and action sequences better than most of what comes out of Hollywood. Hell, the man is gonna write Captain America without using the title character for the foreseeable future. Brass balls, I tell ya.

But, as Levar Burton used to say, you don't have to take my word for it -- check out our new Ed Brubaker section and see for yourself. Agree with me? Think I'm smoking the drugs? Come up to me and tell me (I'm the other Asian guy).

- Ken Ip