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Comics Debbie Likes
By Debbie Lynn Smith
This week I thought I’d talk about a few of my favorite comics and why I’m hooked on them.
Lazarus
Written by Greg Rucka
Art by Michael Lark
My favorite comic right now is Lazarus. In a dystopian near-future, where there is no government other than the Families who have carved up all the world’s resources and those without, known as the Waste, have very little hope of improving their circumstances. A handful of Families rule, jealously guarding what they have and exploiting the Waste who struggle to survive in their domains. Forever Carlyle is the family Carlyle’s Lazarus, a cybernetic warrior pledged to carry out the family’s dirty work on their path to control their population. Forever is our protagonist and has far more depth than her role as coldhearted killer would initially suggest.
I absolutely love Forever. She is a complex character who is strong and lethal, and yet harbors a soft interior. She actually works against her “programming” as she begins to discover the truth of her heritage and question her allegiances.
Even though Forever lives in a dystopian future very different from our own, I find her journey realistic and compelling. I can’t wait for each issue to come out.
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl
Written by Ryan North
Art by Erica Henderson
Squirrel girl couldn’t be more different than Lazarus. It is clever, funny and, once again, has a compelling female protagonist.
Squirrel Girl comes from Marvel. Yes, you heard correctly. And yes, I’m not a fan of superhero comics, but this one is totally different.
Squirrel Girl herself, created in 1992 by Will Murray and Steve Ditko (co-creator of Spider-Man), but given her very own comic book only this year, is Doreen Green: a chubby-cheeked, awkward, yet preternaturally confident first-year student studying computer science at a college that looks a lot like NYU. She “secretly has all the powers of both squirrel and girl.” For example, she has a tail, and talks to squirrels, and they talk back. Doreen’s favorite pet squirrel, Tippy-Toe, came with her to college, though squirrels aren’t allowed in the dorms; Tippy-Toe lives in a nearby tree and gives Squirrel Girl advice.
What I like the most about Squirrel Girl is that she solves problems not through direct confrontation (squirrel powers vs. cosmic force: not a good match) but through the kind of cheerful turning aside of wrath, the playful offering of alternatives, that actual kids are often told to use in playground fights.
Finally, Squirrel Girl is softer, rounder, shorter and more realistic than your usual super hero. She’s a great role model for girls and women alike!
The Spirit
Written by Matt Wagner
Art by Dan Schkade
Growing up I was a fan of detective shows. I loved Mannix, Mike Hammer, Honey West, The Cat, 77 Sunset Strip… I could go on and on and I haven’t even mentioned Humphrey Bogart movies!
So when I saw that Dynamite had brought out a new The Spirit comic, I couldn’t resist. I was not disappointed. This comic has all the mystery, noir atmosphere and camp needed to delight that little girl in me.
Set in the classic period of The Spirit’s golden age, the 1940s, the first 12-issue story arc follows the strip’s most beloved characters, Commissioner Dolan, his daughter Ellen, Ebony White and Sammy as they attempt to uncover why The Spirit has been missing, and presumed dead, for the past two years. Has the famous blue-masked hero finally fallen victim to one of the malicious felons or beautiful femme fatales from his lengthy rogues’ gallery of enemies? In the words of Central City’s most prominent headlines: “WHO KILLED THE SPIRIT?”
There are only two issues of this comic out, but so far I’m a fan, though I am NOT a fan of all the advertisements in the middle of the book breaking up the story and assaulting my eyes with images of women with impossible bodies. But alas, that is the way things are these days so I simply let my eyes glaze over as I look for the next page of story.
I chose to give you an overview of just three of the comics I’m reading these days. I’m reading many more, some of which I’ve already mentioned in previous posts
A Shout Out to Men Supportring Women in Comics
By D. Lynn Smith
When I decided to found Kymera Press, I was somewhat hesitant because of all the press about online rape and death threats women in comics were receiving. I was afraid that might happen to me as well. However while some women continue be harassed, I have not been harassed at all. As a matter of fact, I have found men to be very supportive of what Kymera Press is all about.
At conventions I’m constantly talking to men who are looking for comics with strong, women protagonists that are drawn realistically to buy for their daughters. Recently, I got a letter from one of those men:
I am a long-time comic fan and have been enjoying this iconic form of storytelling since I was a little boy. I read the information you provided on your webpage and I find it fantastic that the medium has inspired you to create comics. I’ve recently realized the voice and experiences that people are not getting in the comic world due to the lack of women’s vantage points and style being present.
A woman’s ideas and vantage point are necessary to be able to get a full life’s experience and one of our greatest ways of sharing with one another is with storytelling. My daughters are amazing and I don’t want anyone, or more importantly any idea/culture breeding into their minds that they are supposed to be a certain way or have limits because they are females. I feel comics are a medium that can get positive, supportive, influential concepts, and cultural ideologies out there in our society even though so few people read comics. I admire and respect very much what you are doing with Kymera Press and the people who are doing it with you and I wanted to just say to keep on keeping on and to make more amazing female characters for women and men to appreciate.
Curtis Shellman
This is just an excerpt of a much longer letter. I can’t tell you how much it means to me to have men sending me letters like this. And I’m not alone.
I attended a panel at the Amazing Las Vegas Comic Con on women in comics. One of the women on the panel was Renae Geerlings, the managing editor of Darby Pop Publishing. When this issue came up on the panel, she also commented that she has received nothing but support from the men she works with and from male fans.
At the Amazing Las Vegas Comic Con, a Marine who was working at a recruiting station stopped by and picked up Gates of Midnight. He came back the next day and told me how much he enjoyed the comic. A marine! This told me I was doing something right with Raven’s character.
There is still a very real problem out there when it comes to women in comics. Just this past month at Gen Con a Women in Comics panel had all men scheduled on it. When women were added, the moderator interrupted and generally treated them with a lack of respect. So the fight for women continues.
However, as with all things, not all men are like this. But as with all news reporting, we only hear about the bad things that happen, and not about all the support many men are giving to the advancement of women in comics. So this blog post is a shout out to all you men who are supporting women in comics and are looking for a strong, women protagonist for your daughters. Thank you for your support, your comments, your reviews, and your letters. They mean the world to all of us.
A Chat With Pati Nagel
By Autumn Daughetee
For those of you who are not familiar with Pet Noir, it is a novel by Pati Nagle about Leon, a talking, genetically engineered cat who is indentured to a police department on an off-world space station. Leon works off the price of his creation solving crimes with his human partner.
Now, take my advice. As soon as you finish reading this post, visit Amazon, Barnes and Noble or your favorite online book retailer and purchase a copy. Then pull the blinds and pretend you’re not at home while you read this book.
After you are familiar with the antics of Leon, I know you will be unable to resist following his adventures in comic book format. Kymera Press recently released issue #1 of Pet Noir at Comic-Con International: San Diego. This special edition had a special numbered limited-edition cover exclusive to Comic-Con. Although it sold like hotcakes, there are a few copies left. If you are interested, contact us for more information on how to get your copy.
Now, without further ado, here is my interview with the author of Pet Noir—Pati Nagle.
Do you read comic books?
I read comics a lot as a kid. Less so now, because of other demands on my time (like writing), but as an adult I’ve enjoyed more sophisticated comics such as Elfquest and various manga. I also adore Sydney Padua’s 2-D Goggles. Ada Lovelace is a wonderful comic hero!
What made you decide to adapt Pet Noir into comic book form?
Cats in zero-g. Need I say more? Seriously, I think the stories that make up Pet Noir would really come alive even more in a comic. It’s got kind of a comic-book feel already, with the science fiction setting and the noir atmosphere. There’s a lot of rich potential for expression through visual media. I’m excited to see what happens!
Kymera came to me and I was absolutely delighted. I love working with other women, and I love the concept of a press that focuses on women’s creative efforts.
Where did the idea for Leon come from? A crime-solving, genetically engineered, talking cat isn’t something that one passes on the street.
Gosh, not sure I remember. Sometimes ideas and characters just come in fully formed from a side door and present themselves. I think Leon came to me that way. ‘Here I am, a talking cat who works as an undercover detective. Tell my story!’
I’m a cat-lover and I’ve thought about how they might (or might not) adapt to living in space. I love the juxtaposition of futuristic outer-space with the mood of old noir detective stories. All those fun ideas kind of jumbled themselves together in my brain and started coming out as stories.
Are there more Leon stories to come?
I definitely plan to write more Leon stories, and they’ll be prose first. There’s more to say, not only about the crazy adventures of a cat fighting crime in space, but about some of the more serious underlying issues, such as his indenture. He’s stuck fighting scummy space criminals until the expense of his genetic engineering is paid off. He would probably sympathize with a lot of college graduates these days.
Is there anything else you’d like to share about Leon or this project?
Just that I’m so pleased whenever a reader tells me they like Leon and his stories. People really get into it. I had one reader tell me, ‘That’s not how cats talk!’ I just had to laugh, because if they were that engaged in the story, that they had their own opinion of how a cat would talk, then I did my job.
What Fun Home and Bitch Planet Have in Common
By D. Lynn Smith
A while back, Fun Home won the Tony for best musical. And guess what? It’s based on a graphic novel written by Alison Bechdel. Here is what Fun Home is all about…
“In this groundbreaking, bestselling graphic memoir, Alison Bechdel charts her fraught relationship with her late father. In her hands, personal history becomes a work of amazing subtlety and power, written with controlled force and enlivened with humor, rich literary allusion, and heartbreaking detail.
Distant and exacting, Bruce Bechdel was an English teacher and director of the town funeral home, which Alison and her family referred to as the “Fun Home.” It was not until college that Alison, who had recently come out as a lesbian, discovered that her father was also gay. A few weeks after this revelation, he was dead, leaving a legacy of mystery for his daughter to resolve.”
In this world where superheroes dominate the cinema, it is exhilarating to see a graphic novel about a very real woman in a very real relationship garner so much public attention and accolades. It also lends credence to the fact that graphic novels aren’t just for kids, but are great reading for everyone. However, reading a graphic novel is not the same as reading a prose novel.
The other day, a friend of mine who had asked for copies of Gates of Midnight, but was not a comic book reader, told me he had a very difficult time reading the comic until he remembered what I had told him, the story isn’t told by the words, it’s told by the art. Once he remembered that, he went back and was able to enjoy the comic, though it was a lot slower reading than he expected.
Alison Bechdel is quoted as saying, “It’s very important for me that people be able to read the images in the same kind of gradually unfolding way as they’re reading the text. I don’t like pictures that don’t have information in them. I want pictures that you have to read, that you have to decode, that take time, that you can get lost in. Otherwise what’s the point?”
Graphic novels and comics are an art form that takes time to appreciate. It also takes time to learn how to read them in order to catch every nuance, every bit of storytelling on the page. Whenever I hear someone say that they don’t read comics because they don’t have the depth of story as a short story or a novel, I have to think that they simply haven’t taken the time to learn to read the art as well as the words.
Kelly Sue DeConnick’s Bitch Planet is a great example of the art telling the story. Bitch Planet is a women-in-prison sci-fi exploitation riff. Any woman who is noncompliant is sentenced to Bitch Planet. It also happens to be the place… “…where inconvenient women are disappeared.” It is unapologetically feminist and great fun to read.
In issue #2, artist Valentine de Landro draws three women running and talking. One woman falls behind. The action in the foreground revolves around the two women as they keep running; this is where the dialog happens. But in the background a guard is attacking the third woman. As each panel progresses, there are more guards and more inmates joining the fray. While we get important information from the women in the foreground, a full-blown prison riot erupts in the background.
So if you’re only reading the words, you’ll completely miss the prison riot, which adds loads of layers to the story, and is important in showing just how brutal Bitch Planet really is.
I’m still working on my ability to write layered stories like this. But when I read something like Fun Home or Bitch Planet, I’m inspired to keep working on my craft in order to bring a richer reading experience to Gates of Midnight.
On a side note, I highly recommend Bitch Planet not just for the awesome, in-your-face, no-holds-barred story, but also for the excellent essays included in each issue.