Comicsgirl

(“Hate” in this case being synonymous with “completely jealous of.”)

Autobiographical comics typically annoy me because they usually consist of a lot of uninteresting navel-gazing. I, however, love The Fart Party. Despite the somewhat off-putting title, it follows Julia Wertz’s adventures through love and life. She has a great self-deprecating sense of humor and her more poignant comics have a wistful sweetness about them. She’s someone I want to hang out with, except I’m pretty sure she’s much cooler than I am.

After years of self-publishing, the awesome Atomic Books is printing the collection of her comic. It’s currently available for pre-order and it’s a must-buy for me (although I may wait until Small Press Expo in October to get it so I can buy it from her and gush like an idiot).

If there’s two things I like in the world, it’s comic books and Mythbusters, so I am delighted that next week’s episode (Wednesday at 9 p.m. E/P on Discovery Channel) is “Superhero Hour.”

I’m guessing we’re probably not going to learn too much about if superhero physics work in real life, but instead, we’re going to see Adam Savage be a goof and possibly fall down. And really, I’m fine with that.

(I’m also guessing Savage is probably delighted to be doing this episode. He has, after all, built a replica of the gun from Frank Miller’s Elektra: Assassin.)

About three months late, Suzanne D’Amato reviews The Plain Janes for Washington Post’s Book World section. She doesn’t have the best things to say about it, although I understand her complaints (I do think she doesn’t quite understand the target audience for this book, though).

The Washington Post, fortunately, has Michael Dirda, a great lover of comic books and science fiction, who as recently as Aug. 8, was recommending The Sandman (question from “Friendship Hieghts, Washington, DC”) as what to read of Neil Gaiman’s books. I am grateful the Post has him.)

Columnist Andrew Smith typically writes about the most mainstream of the mainstream in comic books, although not in a bad way. His column is always intelligent.

So it was somewhat to my surprise when I read his latest column, ‘Batgirl’ Reprint Cover Renews Debate Over Sexism in Comics because it’s not a subject a lot of people of his stature would bother to tackle.

He says:

Comics often are really sexist, as a glance at various heroines’ assets can attest. While men’s physiques are often just as exaggerated, there’s little doubt that pandering to the adolescent male mind exists, metaphorically putting out a “girls not welcome” sign on many comics. This is a problem that needs to addressed, a debate that needs to be had.

While ultimately, he says he doesn’t mind DC’s choice for this cover in the context of the collection, it’s still amazing and refreshing to read someone who writes for a national news service bringing up these issues. I don’t know how widely his column is distributed, but I like that it’s out there, just the same.

(Smith’s website seems to be down right now. but I believe his columns generally move to his site a week later. I’m not sure how long Scripps Howard News Service links stay active, so if it goes dead, you’ll be able to find it on his site.)

Yeah, I’m a little late with this, but it’s been a busy time so we’re just going to pretend I was waiting for them to post all of it.

The A.V. Club has a bunch of comics-related interviews and features up right now, including interviews with Joss Whedon, Brian Michael Bendis and Bill Willingham, a Crosstalk on Are Superhero Comics Played Out? and a Random Rules with James Kochalka.

The A.V. Club is probably the best mainstream coverage of comics. I love the biweekly Comics Panel.

And yes, I saw Stardust. I think it’s worth seeing, but it’s also a disappointment. Neil Gaiman deserves better, but at the same time, I do think it’s the movie that everyone set out to make. It’s just not a very good one.