Loving comics doesn't mean ignoring their problems

swegener:

quintus5:

xekstrin:

lizawithazed:

beeftony:

This comic accurately sums up my feelings towards those who complain about The Hawkeye Initiative.

look, I am a huge David Willis fan. He is funny, brilliant, and bang on the mark.

But this? This is the single best and most important comic he has ever done and I am going to keep reblogging it until people stop making the argument in the first panel.

I will never get tired of this

Before I start complaining about people, I want to start with that I am a geek, a nerd, a collector of comics and action figures, a Star Wars fanatic, a Batman buff, and a guy who likes to look at facts and the history behind everything.

This post bothers be for a number of reasons, but the primary one is that it assumes that all comics ever are like the ones now, being released in this overly sexualized age.

The fact of the matter, is that comics were made for boys, back in the 30’s and 40’s when young boys had lost their fathers to war and needed something to stand in and teach them how to live virtuously, and to grow up as good, respectable citizens who would be willing to lay down their life for friends, family, and country. WWI had ruined soldiers’ lives because it striped them of their masculinity and any identity that they held, thus the 20’s was a huge party that ended in collapse and the most epic of economic failures in America. This led to the 30’s where Americans were trying to regain their values and identity, becoming more…American.

Thus, Superman was born. The Man of Steel. A man that could not die, could not lose, who had virtue oozing out his ears. He was to be the role model to a generation of kids growing up in a country that was sucking some serious dick. Superman taught courage, justice, and honor to kids who many times did not have a father to teach them these things. Not only that, but he was the personification of an ideal America. An America that stood strong in the face of all hardship, overcame any challenge, and defended the weak and innocent.

Superman is the character that formed the base of the future of the comic industry.

Then came WWII, and Captain America. A man who was given abilities to match his character. A super-soldier. Captain America stood for America (more obviously than Superman), and was the epitome of American ideals. Not only that, he gave inspiration to boys who would soon find themselves being shipped off to a foreign country to fight a great evil. Captain America was the man who could punch Hitler in the face, and overcome the entire German army. He was the fictional soldier that gave inspiration to the real ones. And if he wasn’t inspiring them, then he was inspiring the boys back in America who were lacking fathers and brothers to guide them. Captain America was a pillar of virtue that all boys could strive to be. Bucky, his young companion, was the connection between the young boy and the grown man (His death however, showed the stark reality of war and the fact that even the soldier is mortal). 

Captain America is the soldier that inspired the rest.

After WWII, Batman was the one to carry the torch. He was dark, fear inspiring, and human. He had no super powers, but relied on his intellect (and vast resources) to help him. Batman was the hero for a country that had fallen into darkness as the Korean War was starting and the Cold War loomed on the horizon. Batman wasn’t the fancy and undefeated character that Superman or Captain America had been, but was real, had weaknesses, could be beaten, but always came back and won, enforcing justice beyond what the law could do. Batman was the Dark Knight of a generation plagued by war.

Batman is the hero that blurred the line between the law and justice.

After the 50’s and going into the 60’s, comics lost their moral focus and became something of socio-political commentary and simply stories for pleasure, mostly just for pleasure. You have Robin taking off as Batman’s youthful side kick who brought an air of lightness to the dark stories of the 50’s (the Adam West Batman is a testimony to this). It was in the 60’s and 70’s that obscured the original intent of comic books, that being stories that could help boys grow up into virtuous men.

I would like to point out that there were female heroes, primarily Wonder Woman, who were the female counterparts to the predominately male cast of characters. However, these women were not overly sexualized, but followed in the same, moral vein as the other heroes, they were pillars of society.

In the 80’s, comics took a shift towards the darker themes of comic books, most notably A Death in the Family and The Dark Knight Returns (Batman comics that deal with death, loss, and the true corruption of society). At this time, there were romantic undertones between characters that had been established in the 60’s and 70’s, but that wasn’t the primary focus of these darker stories. Morality was being questioned and more adult themes were brought to the surface. Batman: Knightfall was another of these stories that changed the game. Batman had been broken and replaced by someone less focused on keeping people safe and more on ‘justice’. It was these themes that bled into the 90’s.

In the 90’s Superman died, and came back. Things became more whimsical and more heroes were introduced. This is the boom of comic book characters. Female characters began to reflect the social norms of women. Their costumes became more revealing and overly sexualized. The morality of the 30’s and 40’s had been thrown to the wayside, and pure entertainment ensued. Comic books were written for the enjoyment of the readers, not for the purpose of creating good citizens. Batman is caught in this weird place between the darkness of the 80’s and the entertainment of the 90’s (the Batman films of the era prove this point). Superman has become irrelevant after he is brought back to life, leaving fans feeling betrayed and lied to by the man who would never do such a thing. And Captain America…well…I’m not too sure what happened to the WWII vet other than that he was the leader of the Avengers. Either way, he had fallen to the wayside.

That brings us to the 2000’s and today, where tits are objectified and guys feel insecure about their masculinity.

I’ll say it right now, I don’t like how popular culture has objectified women, and I don’t like how that has carried over into the geek culture. It sucks, and personally, I hate it when people assume that because I look over an attractive female in a well made cosplay that I am some misogynistic asshole male who thinks women geeks are inferior to male geeks. It’s not true, and I speak for a number of guys who just want to be left alone because some guys are assholes. Which is a fact of life that women should understand because if you walk around a comic book convention in a skin tight, leather, Black Cat costume with plenty of cleavage showing, you’re going to attract attention, both good AND bad.

Anyways, I digress. The past 13 years have seen a nostalgic look back to the origins of comics, or at least to the origin stories of characters. Every single superhero story that has come out in the past 10 years has been an origin story, with the exception of the last 2 films in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy (still fucking pissed at the implications about JGL being Robin. They could have at least given him a lesser known Robin name. In fact, Tim Drake would have been the best because he is the only Robin to figure out Batman’s secret identity, much like Officer Blake in The Dark Knight Rises, and yes Johnny Blake was a character from the comics, but he only showed up twice, once while being saved by Batman and another time when the Joker stole his report card). Anyways, these stories have flirted with morality, dark themes, social commentary, and pure entertainment (Green Lantern sucked because they tried to make it just an action movie. That one Superman movie sucked because it deviated significantly from the comic books. Avengers was awesome because it retained the original flavor of the comic books. And the Batman Trilogy was amazing because it brought back the darker issues of real justice and what it means to be “The Dark Knight”). And in the background of these more popular depictions, is the simple fact that you can’t turn on the tv for more than 20 min without seeing a busty, attractive woman, flaunting her sexuality, or perfectly chiseled men without their shirts on. It sucks, but is the honest truth. the past two decades or so has put sexuality into comics, and that is what people see, and what girls “object” to.

Its also worth noting that the original superheroes weren’t perfectly sculpted men to play out a “power fantasy” but rather because HOW THE FUCK ARE YOU GOING TO PICK UP A CAR AND THROW IT WITHOUT MUSCLES???

So yah, female sexuality should be down played in comic books, but that’s not going to happen. Guys shouldn’t try to argue that male characters are anything other than practically muscled (I mean, I don’t think Batman would have the body of a slim dancer or acrobat, but would look more like male gymnast mixed with martial arts fighter). And women are portrayed as if they were in normal media, but women have every right to feel offended about that, but DON’T BLAME THE COMIC BOOKS OR GUYS WHO READ COMIC BOOKS.

And if you’re wondering how all that stuff about the history ties in, its this: Comic books were meant to teach/show young boys to virtuous. As time went on, the audience, or at least marketed audience, has stayed the same, but the art and themes have changed. Now, comic books no longer fulfill their role as role-models, but are rather a form of entertainment meant to please the young, male audience, which unfortunately upsets and offends women readers.

If you read this, I applaud you, and hope that you took some time to at least think about what I have written. It’s not all I have to say about the issue, but I think gets my main point across, that comics have changed, but that doesn’t mean you have to bash those of us that don’t support the current trends in geek culture.

I’ve mostly learned to leave the internet to it’s own silly devices but that is quite possibly the dumbest and most factually INCORRECT summation of “A History of Comics” that I have ever seen.

Brother, you need to read yourself some McCloud, some Eisner, and the Ten Cent Plague. Because basically everything you just wrote in defense of superhero comics is grossly wrong.

This guy

Dude, have you read what you wrote? And have you actually ever READ any Golden Age comics? The way they handled women was attrocious. HELL, Wonder Woman’s greatest weakness was HAVING HER HANDS BOUND BY MEN.

Mr. Quintus5, you are full of shit.

dcwomenkickingass:

Love it! 

(via ealperin)

ealperin:

eschergirls:

Sent my way by khantrapositive

This is a tumblr art project by artist Alex Law to draw superheroine pictures based on cosplay by little girls.  The results of what he comes up with is pretty cool. :)  People who like redraws/interpretations of superheroines, girls as heroes, and just fun art, should check it out. :)

http://bettersupes.tumblr.com/post/48447517084

http://bettersupes.tumblr.com/post/48447512089

http://bettersupes.tumblr.com/post/48447500031

Those are the links to the 3 posts I took the pictures from.  I just wanted to give a sample of what’s on the tumblr. :)

I love it