Like every other former English major in the world, I love that song. I love The Smiths. I love Morrissey’s solo stuff a little less, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have piles of it.

Unlovable Vol. 2 Buy at Amazon.com

So do you remember how awesome you thought you were when you were 15? How you thought you were doing all of these totally awesome things and you were the coolest person alive? And then, as you grew up and go older, you realized what an idiot you were.

That’s exactly what Esther Pearl Watson’s Unlovable is like (you may remember some of her work from the back page of Bust magazine). Purportedly based on a teenager’s diary that Watson found, it’s funny and it’s painful in that “this is too true and it borders on embarrassing” way. It’s hard to know if you’re laughing with or at the characters here. You’re actually probably doing quite a bit of both.

Named after The Smiths song, Unlovable Vol. 2 (Fantagraphics, 2010) follows the latter half of Tammy Pierce’s sophomore year in the late ’80s. She gets in fights with her brother, hangs out with loser guys and her best friend Kim, who is always looking to borrow a dollar and, later, develops a crush on a senior named Ken, who may idolize Morrissey a little bit too much.

Watson’s art is exaggerated and sometimes borders on the grotesque, but it’s funny and ridiculous. I love the close-ups of the faces of the characters, done in hilarious caricature. There are also plenty of fun non-sequitur pages of ’80s motifs, like Cabbage Patch Kids and Max Headroom. This keeps from feeling too mean.

I have no idea how much Watson embellished the details in the diary she found (nor am I completely sure I buy her story — but I mean that with love. It’s great if it’s true but it’s great if it’s not), but so many things are dead-on here — the mixtape of Smith songs Tammy gets from Ken (and that she transcribes the lyrics incorrectly), how much time she spends trying to impress idiot 15-year-old boys through make-up and outfits and the digestion of cliques (including The Smokers, The Rappers, The Thespian New Wave and The Invisibles). Even if this wasn’t specifically Tammy Pierce’s high school experience, I think that doesn’t matter — it’s actually all of ours.

It’s a chunky book with glitter on the cover and inside pages done in black, white and green. The drawing spill off the page. The design of this book is delightful and does feel like something a teenage girl in the late ’80s would love.

If you want to relive part of your teenage years without much sentimentalism, Unlovable Vol. 2 is the way to go.

Now we’re going to watch another video:

Yes, that’s Neil Finn covering “There is a Light That Never Goes Out.” And yes, I’m including it just because I can.

Review copy provided by publisher.

—

I reviewed Hope Larson’s Mercury over at Geek Girl on the Street. I did link to it on Twitter, but since I won’t be reviewing it here, I just wanted to make sure I pointed to it in a more permanent manner. (Here’s the short version: It’s awesome and you need to buy it when it’s out.)

Given all of the above, do I really need to tell you I love this? I swear, it’s like someone went into my brain made a comic just for me.

But let’s get past all the initial giddiness and just get to how awesomely good all of this is.

First of all: Marvel, please please please make a poster of Colleen Coover’s intro piece. It deserves to be hanging in every girl’s bedroom. I will buy five of them if you make it into a poster. And it’s not just me — I have friends who also want it as a poster. I love it.

Starting with a lyrical, nearly wordless tale written by G. Willow Wilson with art by Ming Doyle, Girl Comics #1 definitely starts off right — it’s feminine and mysterious but not stereotypically “girly” at the same time.

The next story by Trina Robbins and Stephanie Buscema is, however, but playfully so. Robbins tells the story of Venus trying to return to her job on earth as a fashion magazine editor, only to find things have changed, and not for the better. Buscema’s retro-inspired art is a delight and all of this is cute and romantic and way too much fun.

Valerie D’Orazio’s Punisher story, with art by Nikki Cook is probably the most straightforward and traditional of all of the stories here, but these four pages do a lot with a little — an entire backstory is told through several, simple images — and the effect is very powerful.

Lucy Kinsley’s Doctor Octopus story is hilarious and adorable, and Robin Furth’s and Agnes Garbowska’s steampunkish retelling of Hansel & Gretel, featuring the Richards kids is inspired and different.

Concluding the issue is a dreamlike take on the Jean Grey/Cyclops/Wolverine love triangle by Devin Grayson and Emma Rios.

I absolutely adored the profiles on Flo Steinberg and Marie Severin (also, Marvel, when you’re making a poster of Colleen Coover’s intro image, will you also manage to collect some of Marie Severin’s work into a book? Please?). These were unexpected and fun bonuses.

This is an awesome showcase of the diverse talent of female creators — and just comic creators, period. I can’t wait for the next one.

It’s a wonderful little anthology, but it’s more than that.

I started Comicsgirl way back when as a teenager because I knew there was more to comics than what most people saw. I knew that comics had some great things to offer women. But even now, especially in mainstream comics, I often don’t feel like I’m recognized. Sometimes, I have to struggle to see myself in the comics I read. But Girl Comics makes me feel like I’m being acknowledged. No, maybe it’s not going to be everyone’s thing, but I wish I could go back in time and give this to my 17-year-old self. I wish I knew a bunch of 15-year-old girls I could buy copies of this for. And for me, that makes this is a beautiful thing.

NANA Vol. 1

I actually have no idea why you’re not already reading Ai Yazawa’s NANA (of course, I am severely behind on the series) and while, yes, I do think you should read all of it (which you’re going to want to), NANA Vol. 1 stands alone nicely.

Before all of the rock ‘n’ roll, soap-opera drama, the first volume is a beautiful pair of stories about two young women, each named Nana, who are each setting off in the world for the first time. Nana K. is naive and idealistic, but irrepressibly sweet and loving. Nana O. is a tough punk-rock musician who is individualistic but loyal.

Ai Yazawa’s art is beautiful — her women are gorgeous and distinctive and her boys are even prettier. She conveys a lot of emotion in the faces of her characters and page layouts. (And the clothes! The clothes are so much fun!)

They haven’t actually met by the end of this book, but that’s coming. And without a doubt, you’ll be hooked on the story of these two women.

(And if you get obsessed, there are movies and an anime series and music CDs and much more of NANA to consume.)

Like I said, there was a lack of your typical autobiographical, navel-gazing minicomics here. I’m sure they still exist, but I was pleased to see how few I came across.

In no particular order ..

The Ghosts – Matt Wiegle

Easily the most disturbing of the minicomics I bought, this retells an Inuit folktale. Wiegle’s scratchy art gives mood and atmosphere to the story. I can’t say I liked it – this isn’t really my thing – but I admire it.

How I Lost My S#?! at the Apple Store — Jim Dougan & Molly Lawless

Dougan’s story is all too easy to relate to – who hasn’t been annoyed at Apple’s tendency to put beauty above utility? — and Lawless can draw expressive faces like no one else. This is both delightful and entertaining. And Dougan is right – the D.C. area does have a ridiculous number of Apple stores. I have nothing to back this up, but I liked to pretend that this took place at the one nearest to me.

I Hate Mom’s Cat and Other Tails — Corinne Mucha

This is probably about as autobiographical as the comics that I bought get, but this lacks any sort of “I couldn’t think of what to draw so I drew a comic about not knowing what to draw” sense to it. Mucha’s art is playful and sketchy – it has a doodled, casual quality to it. This is a silly little comic, but it’s excellent for being just that.

Tales from the Forbidden Forest — Vanessa Satone and Eve Grandt

The anime-inspired art isn’t bad in either of these stories and I think both Satone and Grandt have potential, but this just felt like the product of minds that have played too much World of Warcraft. I think some of that is that there’s not much to either of these stories – they split the 20 pages between them, leaving little room for development of plot or characters. While I’d be interested to see if either of these storylines eventually go somewhere, as it is, this was mostly forgettable for me.

Breathers: Book One — Justin Madson

This is how it’s done. Taking place in a world where humans can no longer breathe the air outside without masks, this tells the story of a troubled single mother, a drug-addicted detective and a confused slacker dealing with family problems. It’s ambitious, sure, but Madson’s art is compelling and beautiful and I want the rest of these. And possibly the T-shirt. More people need to be making comics like this.

(And it’s worth noting that as I was discussing the awesomeness of this comic with another volunteer, a third volunteer piped up in agreement. Justin Madson is really that good.)

Man Enough: A Queer Romance — Bill Roundy

First of all, Roundy let me have this for $2 rather than $3 because he didn’t have change and I had two $1 bills. I think that was excellent of him, and if I had thought about it, I would’ve gone back and given him another dollar. But I didn’t. Sorry, Bill!

Roundy’s art is cute and animated, and despite that this is a story about a budding romance between a gay man and a transgendered man, it’s sweetly innocent. He has a lovely sense of humor. I know I will continue to seek out his work. He’s great.

PS Comics 4 — Minty Lewis

I absolutely, ludicrously love this. Telling the story of the adventures of a dog and a cat at a craft show, not much happens here, but what happens is absurdly funny. The art is adorably silly and I found myself laughing at every page. This is probably my favorite thing from SPX.

Rabbit Shadows — Jason Viola

This is ridiculously gorgeous. A wordless tale of a lonely rabbit who makes sculptures out of his shadows, it is surprisingly affecting. Viola composes each page perfectly – they are individual works of art on their own. His pen and ink style is beautifully detailed. This was an unexpected gem for me.

I have a few more things to review, but all those are a little longer and they may get a wrap-up or individual treatment. I will be gone this weekend, but I hope to finish up late Sunday or Monday.

Sure, I kept up with Diesel Sweeties for a while, but mostly, I have a hard time keeping up with them (this shouldn’t really come as a surprise, honestly, if you know I have trouble following monthly comics. That’s once every four weeks. Do you really expect me to be able to remember to read something every day or every week?).

But after seeing some of the creators behind ACT-I-VATE last night at Politics & Prose, I think I better start.

Featuring founding member Dean Haspiel and creators Jim Dougan, Joe Infurnari, and Simon Fraser (right to left in the photo above) this really surprised me.

Haspiel is obviously awesome, and I liked his story of how ACT-I-VATE came about — he started by showing a photo of himself, all alone, working at his desk. You see, he said, making comics is lonely, and he found out that if he posted stuff to his LiveJournal (yay, LiveJournal!) people would respond. It began that just his friends were saying things, but soon, people he didn’t know were leaving comments too.

He saw that some of his creator friends were experiencing the same sort of thing. He thought they could join forces and therefore combine their respective fanbases.

ACT-I-VATE is a noncommercial enterprise — it exists, more or less, to just promote these creators’ work. Infurnari echoed this sentiment, saying he liked having a portfolio of his work online and that he could get feedback immediately. Fraser liked that he got control over his work — as primarily a creator for 2000 AD, he said he didn’t often get a lot of say what happens to his creations. (That was actually a point that was brought up many times by everyone — comics, especially at DC and Marvel, are work-for-hire. Creator-controlled works are the exception and not the rule.) He said he travels a lot and likes that he’s able to point people to the site when they ask him what he does.

DC local Dougan’s story was a little bit more of an interesting one. He’s a writer of comics and not an artist, so he’s had to find people to work with, and while the point wasn’t so much made, it was clear that the Internet makes it easier for him (Hyeondo Park, the artist of his ACT-I-VATE comic, Sam & Lilah, lives in Dallas).

Haspiel also told the story about how he encouraged Dougan & Park to submit Sam & Lilah to Zuda first, with the understanding it probably wouldn’t win (everyone seemed to have words of praise for Zuda, though, and everything I know about Zuda makes it seem like it’s a good deal). They joked about how after Sam & Lilah lost, they actually scooped the winner with their press release saying the comic was going to be on ACT-I-VATE.

While the event was for the ACT-I-VATE Primer, that seemed a little secondary to most of the discussion. They wanted to do the book because there’s still a print audience (although Haspiel talked about how that’s probably fading) and that there’s not necessarily a crossover between webcomics readers and print comics readers (I’m probably somewhat of an example of that). It was a good way to push people to the site that may have otherwise not known about it.

Then they read from their comics, accompanied by Dougan’s wife Rachel. This was, for the most part, hilarious and utterly charming. Fraser did voices and Rachel sometimes playfully stumbled over her parts (she said she hadn’t rehearsed). Haspiel called for audience participation when it came to sound effects. I’m all for this and I now demand that everyone does dramatic readings of their comics during panels. This was awesome.

The Q&A section was better than most, and allowed me to realize much too late that I was sitting behind Mike Rhode of ComicsDC. (I seriously didn’t make the connection until a little bit later, otherwise I probably would’ve said hi. So I’ll just say it here: Hi, Mike!)

It was a good presentation and I left an ACT-I-VATE fan. I foresee spending many, many hours on the site now.

I realized when I took my seat the only other time I’d been in that particular theater was to see a harp concert with one of my friends when we were teenagers (more or less — I think we may have been in college at that point. And yes, we went for fun. We were — and are — rather odd people). I liked that this theater — and the University of Richmond — was playing host to these sorts of indie comic-book types. You see, there are two Richmonds — there is the “old money” Richmond, full of Southern society types that go to the University of Richmond (which is a good school, don’t get me wrong, but it’s private and full of money) and then there’s the Richmond that gave us GWAR.

I’d say the theater was probably less than half full for this event (I didn’t count so I’m not going to give estimates, but there were plenty of empty seats) and that made me sad. Yes, I know it was a Sunday night in a sort of out-of-the-way place, but to me, these people are famous. I’m guessing much of the audience was U of R students, but I did see some that seemed to have sought out this event, including a few older people. I thought that was pretty cool.

This was probably one of the best panels I’ve attended. Yes, there was some awkwardness, but comic book people are awkward. I mean that with the utmost love — after all, if these sort of people were outgoing, they probably wouldn’t be making comics but be actors or rock stars instead. It took a while for everyone to settle in. Deitch, who is considerably older than the other three, was really the one to break the ice, and I liked his perspective. He’s pretty much seen and done it all.

One of the first questions focused on each creator’s creative process. both Deitch and Nilsen tend to write and draw simultaneously, while Bell and Larson write their scripts first, then begin drawing. Larson probably had the most methodical process — she said she definitely finalizes her scripts first before drawing (and she mentioned she hasn’t drawn anything since March, I believe, since she’s working on some super-secret adaptation right now. Sadly, she wasn’t allowed to announce what it was — she said “people will either love me or hate me for it” — but I have some of my own “wishful thinking” ideas of what it might be).

Everyone had pretty harsh words for the term “graphic novel.” Deitch said it’s “just another name for comic book” and Bell said she felt there’s now too much pressure on young creators to create longer works that they may not be ready to do. Nilsen said he knows that publishers want books but he thinks the comic format lends itself better to shorts. Pitzer, a publisher himself, admitted he does make money off books rather than single issues or shorts.

Likewise, while everyone had appeared in anthologies (or Pitzer’s case, published them), no one really seemed to like doing them. Larson said that while she contributed to Comic Book Tattoo, she’s not really a Tori Amos fan. Bell said that they helped her develop her skills but she kind of resents them. No one really knew how much people actually read anthologies.

I am probably a different case, but I love anthologies. I buy them quite a bit and enjoy them. I find them a great way to discover new creators. But I guess I can see how they may not be the best entry point for people who usually don’t read comics.

At the end, Pitzer asked where everyone felt the comic industry was going. Deitch mentioned that there are now editors specifically for graphic novels. Bell says that it’s gone more to a “book” market and away from the floppies. Everyone basically agreed that most still hesitate when it comes to reading comics and that it’s a learned skill. There is a way to go before people accept comics as legitimate form of media.

I didn’t stick around for the signing since I had to drive back to Arlington that night, but I will now track down works by both Deitch and Nilsen. Everyone was lovely and awesome and I’m so glad I got to go.

If you don’t want to watch it, here’s the summary (please note that I do not watch Heroes, but I know enough about it and I did watch bits of this episode and this scene in particular):

Claire, the blond cheerleader-type, decides for various reasons to go get a job at a comic book store. Never mind she doesn’t read comics. The store owner/manager/whatever asks if she can work Wednesdays. When she doesn’t get it, he tells her that’s when new comics come out. He then asks her if she wants to fly or have invisibility. Claire is further confused and decides to leave. The manager-type says she can have the job because all the guys are looking at her and she’ll probably sell comics.

This scene was not nearly as bad as everyone made it out to be. The manager person seemed pretty patient in dealing with someone who didn’t know anything about the job she was applying for and while he was obviously nerdy, he just struck me as being a typical slightly awkward comic book guy. Maybe the line about “all the guys are looking at you” was questionable, but at the same time, maybe the manager thought it would be nice to diversify his staff a bit.

But instead everyone has decided that Heroes is making fun of their core audience and girls totally read comics and comic book stores are never ever like that. Ever.

Let me make one thing clear: I know there are a lot of amazingly cool comic book stores out there. I’ve been to a bunch of them. Isotope in San Francisco, certainly. Big Planet around here, yeah (I especially like the Georgetown one). Forbidden Planet in NYC is, of course, phenomenal. Vault of Midnight in Ann Arbor is fun. Everyone seems to adore Rocketship in Brooklyn. And a little stuffed bull really enjoyed his trip to Bergen Street Comics.

But I don’t think a handful of stores in major metropolitan areas along the coasts (and one in a liberal university town) is necessarily representative of all comic book stores.

Because for every one of these great comic book stores, there are probably dozens of comic book stores like Stories in Richmond.

One of the Stories is near my mom’s house in suburbs of Richmond. It is exactly what you think of when you think of a comic book store — tables covered with long boxes of back issues, old collectible toys hanging from the walls, dimly lit and packed full of stuff and the “adult” section a little too visible. Now, Stories is fine for what it is — it’s a comic book store and it’s not trying to be anything else. And while I never felt particularly uncomfortable going in there, it really wasn’t a place I ever felt too excited about going to, and given the choice, I’d go somewhere else.

And yes, it’s still there. It’s still like that today. Stories, to me, is much more typical of comic book stores than any of the others I mentioned above. Those are the exceptions. This is still, unfortunately, the rule.

I do feel like I should point out that the employees at the comic book store I went to as a young teenager were always really nice to me. The worst thing any of them ever said to me was to tease me about my hat and ask if I was trying to be “Blossom” (it was the ’90s, OK?). But I also remember going into comic book stores and feeling invisible and ignored. And this still happens.

Once, a year or two ago, I was in the Big Planet store in Vienna. When I first went in, there was a dad and his young son looking at Bone or some such, and then a young hipster couple looking at graphic novels. They departed and young men came in and started talking about typical comic book stuff. No one, to my knowledge, was really saying anything terrible or sexist, but I suddenly had the sense that I was an intruder in a boys’ club and I didn’t belong there. I left soon after.

And this was a store I like, a store that basically does everything right. It’s well-organized, bright and colorful and comfortable (it should be said that the Vienna store is probably the most suburban of the Big Planet stories). It was the underlying attitude of the patrons that changed that store for me.

Girls and women reading comics isn’t the novelty it used to be and I think that’s awesome. I love that. When I was teenager it did feel pretty lonely and I’m glad it doesn’t seem as lonely now. But there are still some comic book stores — and obviously, fans — that are slow to catch up with the changing times. If you thought that scene in Heroes didn’t represent reality, well, I’m glad that you see comic book stores and fans that way. But to me, even though I know there’s plenty of cool stores and cool fans, it still felt pretty accurate.

Screenshot taken from Heroes episode “Shades of Gray,” captured from Hulu.com

Tick: The Complete Edlund

The Tick was my first indie comic.

Back in the early ’90s, I had a couple of letters published in a couple of issues of a title I will not name, and this being the era when they would actually include your home address (it was before the Internet reached saturation, OK?), some people wrote me back. One became a very good friend. And he, among other things, sent me The Tick Omnibus and a few issues (I think I had at least through issue #9, if not through issue #12).

All of this was before the cartoon, before the live-action TV show, before creator Ben Edlund was writing and producing alongside Joss Whedon (all of which I’ll get to in a bit).

Edlund’s broad parody of superheroes, following an insane asylum escapee in a blue suit calling himself the Tick, still works pretty well. The Clark Oppenheimer bits in the earlier issues are a little obvious (who hasn’t made fun of Superman’s secret identity? Before or since?) but The Tick’s utter cluelessness is still fun.

Some of the references are a little dated — Oedipus serving as a stand-in for Frank Miller-era Elektra, the obsession with ninjas — but it’s still self-consciously delightful (and probably no more dated than Watchmen is now and people still love that). This was what comics were like in the 1980s and early ’90s. There was a lot to laugh at.

I was honestly surprised to see how well-paced this was. It’s not a gag-a-minute but it actually does tell a story (what it is, of course) and The Tick is fun to watch. Oedipus, even as a broad parody, is a likable heroine, and the ninjas are so goofy that they’re not much of a threat. The final issue in this volume, “Villians, Inc.” where superheroes hire bad guys to fight to create a reputation for themselves, does point to the preposterous nature of most comics and lets Edlund play with some bigger ideas.

It may not necessarily be the most relevant comic now, but it still works. It’s still fun. I was greatly entertained.

So back to all the other things.

Yes, in 1994, The Tick became a Saturday morning cartoon on Fox. At the time, I thought this was really cool but I don’t think it quite registered how bizarre it was to have this happen. I’d known about The Tick for a couple of years, after all, and it felt pretty much like common knowledge to me, even if it wasn’t.

In some ways, I think the cartoon worked better than the comic series. It was pretty faithful to the spirit of the series but it removed some of the darkness and just allowed the goofiness to shine through. It still had characters like Chairface Chippendale (and the Man-Eating Cow. I never got my Man-Eating Cow action figure, though, and I am still sad about that) but took away characters like the Chainsaw Vigilante, who always felt a little out of place to me. It gave us such villains like The Evil Midnight Bomber and awesome Galactus parody Omnipotus. The Tick cartoon was good stuff.

Here’s the opening:

The Tick live-action series started in November 2001 and ran for 8 episodes. People didn’t watch it because I don’t think too many people were in the mood to laugh then. I was one of the 10 people who liked it. Patrick Warburton was born to be The Tick and I liked that the series focused more on the mundane issues of every day life than the whole fighting crime aspect (because, after all, part of the point of The Tick was that none of the characters was really that good at being a superhero). It’s available on DVD or you can watch the entire series on Hulu.

This is my favorite episode, mostly because of the always-awesome Ron Perlman, but because of the hilarious gracefulness they handle the innuendo of superheroes and their sidekicks:

Like I mentioned, Ben Edlund went on to produce a few episodes of Firefly (and wrote one of my favorite episodes of the series, “Jaynestown”). He also co-wrote and directed the “Smile Time” episode of “Angel,” where our title character turns into a puppet. Sadly, neither are online. But I love that Edlund was able to take his sense of humor and translate it into these shows. He’s also worked on some episodes of The Venture Bros., which is highly appropriate.

I suppose none of that has much to do with The Tick as a comic, though, but I’ve loved following Edlund as a creator over the years. I still enjoy The Tick in all of its incarnations, sure, but I think it’s cool the diversity of projects Edlund is doing now.

In 1994, growing up in the suburbs, if you were a girl who liked comics, there weren’t too many options. I was quickly outgrowing Elfquest and I was no where near cool enough for Love and Rockets. I still liked the superhero stuff, but I was getting bored. Strangers in Paradise was just getting started and anyway, I had no way of knowing about it (this was pre-Internet). There was no Y: The Last Man, the was no Persepolis.

Basically, being a teenage girl (not to mention one of a certain sensibility) in the ’90s who liked comics, it was pretty much inevitable I was going to read The Sandman.

Nearly 20 years after it first began (and more than 10 after it was completed), the reputation of The Sandman as being a comic girls like continues to be pervasive, to the point there’s a growing chorus of women who are saying “I don’t actually like The Sandman.” And I can understand that: After all, in the decade and a half since I first started reading it, there are many more comics out there that easily appeal to women. It’s no longer quite the go-to “my girlfriend will like this” series it once was.

It’s been years since I’ve read the whole thing (at least five for most of it, possibly 10 for some of it). So, is The Sandman still good? Does it hold up? Do I still like it?

I’m pretty sure I know the answers to all of these questions. Mostly, I just want an excuse to read the whole thing again.

So: One of the 10 collections a week until I’m done, starting tomorrow, to see if The Sandman is what I remember it to be.

Update: Here’s all of them, conveniently linked below. The cover images are from the editions I have and are obviously not current.

Preludes and Nocturnes
The Doll’s House
Dream Country
The Season of Mists
A Game of You
Fables and Reflections
Brief Lives
World’s End
The Kindly Ones
The Wake
In conclusion

Wait. Comics badge? I’d never heard of such a thing. Nothing that cool existed when I was a Girl Scout.

It turns out that this is a juniors badge from the Girl Scouts of the Virginia Skyline Council and can be used by other councils with permission. You can read a PDF of the requirements.

I was fascinated by this so I tracked down the leader of the troop that developed this badge, Jessica Otis, and she was awesome enough to answer my questions via email.

Otis wrote she grew with comics — superhero stuff and her “mother’s old battered collection of Classics Illustrateds and Classics Illustrated Juniors which are still my absolute favorites” — but the badge’s origins actually started with a broken iPod. While in the Apple store, she played with Comic Life and thought it would be fun for her Scouts to use. She knew a lot of her girls read comics and liked to draw and figured this would be something they enjoyed.

After her Scouts loved the program, Otis wrote “I went looking for a badge I could slot the activities into, found nothing, then suggested we write up our own.”

Otis wrote she wanted to make sure the badge was “all-inclusive” and covered as many kinds of as possible, which is one of the things that struck me when reading through the activities. She wanted the requirements to “focus more on the actual creative process” of making comics than any one particular type of comic, allowing the Girl Scouts to find what they’re most interested in, whether its strips in the newspaper or manga or web comics.

If you’re involved with the Girl Scout organization, I encourage you to introduce this badge to your troop. I can only hope it will lead to a new generation of comic book fans and creators.

Image of the Girl Scouts Comics badge, taken from Girl Scouts of Virginia Skyline Council.