Dear Geoff Johns,
For the most part I enjoy reading Green Lantern comics, as I like the aspect of cosmo-spanning adventures and many different heros (in the form of the GL Corps) from different backgrounds coming together for a common goal. Plus, I'm an aero engineer, and space just sets off my inner fangirl. However something has started to bug me, and that is your treatment of the Star Sapphires and Carol Ferris.
I'll start with the Star Sapphires. Why is this corps entirely female, with no males? You could try to make the arguement that they are mostly aliens and so aren't necessarily male or female, however there is a certain prevalent stereotype of what a woman's and man's bodies are supposed to look like (which is quite common in comic books) and, as far as I've seen, every single member of the SS falls into this female stereotype, which leads me to conclude it is either all women or your presentation of men who follow this corps and this emotion (since the SS are part of the 'love' aspect of the 'emotional spectrum' that you are big on right now - and I won't even get into how stupid I feel that whole concept is) are not really men.
Do men not understand love? Is love, in your mind, only a woman's emotion, and thus only woman can be Star Sapphires? I am disappointed in you, Mr Johns, that what you feel is normal and perfectly acceptable to have printed in your comics would run so sexist.
Now we get to an interaction with Ms Ferris (who I used to think you had good things planned since she not only was CEO of her company but a kick-ass pilot, but then you got rid of that awesome aspect of her and made her a part of your lame-as-hell SS) and her former beau, Hal Jordan, taking place in Green Lantern #49. First off, her outfit is really terrible. A plunging V-neck down to her navel that shows off half of each breast? You can do better than that. Especially as it becomes a plot point:
Hal: ... the Zamarons dragged you into [joining the Star Sapphires]?
Carol: Actually, I volunteered.
Hal: You volunteered? Are you crazy?
Carol: Especially for wearing this uniform. (in this panel we have a nice angle of Carol's balloons, I mean breasts, which, individually, are at least 3/4ths of her head)
Hal: You look good in purple.
Carol: I know.
Supposedly Carol is a SS because of the love she bears for Hal, who obviously does not love her in return as he is not in the SS and has been a member of two corps at the same time before. My main problem with this is how Hal is bringing attention and trying to make the readers identify not Carol as a capable woman but as an object to admire, in the fact she mentions she 'looks good' while we are treated to a panel focusing on her breasts. From a media where I used to hear no end to it about Powergirl's massive frontal areas, this is just another thing that woman in comics don't really need. I don't see ANY peens or packages on the men in spandex for us female readers to enjoy, why do I need to be SPECIFICALLY SHOWN Carol's boobs, and devote an entire PANEL to POINTING OUT she has BREASTS?
It just screams at me that, even though she herself thinks the costume is dumb, she CONTINUES TO WEAR IT. Do you know how FAST comic characters change costumes? I'm SURE if she wanted to she could use her MAGIC POWER RING to CHANGE COSTUMES, but she doesn't! And continues to point out it's crazy to continue wearing it! No, it's not crazy to wear it if you want to. It IS CRAZY, however, to COMPLAIN about it but do NOTHING about it when it is 100% in your ability to do so.
Mr Johns - that panel I keep referencing... my point is, in that panel you do not point out how capable Carol is in her new job, how she is totally bad-ass and about to kick the snot out of some black lanterns, but instead how she LOOKS HOT and makes sure WE ALL KNOW IT. Because, as we know, woman cannot be good at their job as long as they look good doing it. Looking good is the most important thing.
Mr Johns, you suck. Your writing is bad and you should feel bad.
Now we get to the comic called 52, which is actually three years old. I am just getting to it now because I recently bought 3 of the 4 trades involved in this series ($5 each from SDCC on Sunday) In week 30 we have an interaction between Batwoman and Nightwing (who, until this point, I have lusted after pretty severely, with only Sean Bean to illicit more inner desire than Dick Grayson). I should note that 52 was actually written by four very famous writers with layouts done by Keith Giffen, also highly respected. However, from the four writers I have not seen the same degree of sexist dialogue except from Mr Johns, so I am going to go blame him for this even though I DON'T ACTUALLY KNOW who wrote the lines. I have seen some crappy shit from Grant Morrison, but I can't recall anything sexist off of the top of my head. I should probably address this to all the writers, as they did all have a hand in the creation of this comic.
Batwoman is kicking ass and taking names, but then suddenly turns and calls out:
Batwoman: You going to lend a hand here, or are you just planning on getting an eyeful?
To which Nightwing jumps out from the shadows where he had apparently been stalking/leering at her fighting.
Nightwing: You have to admit, it's quite an eyeful. What can I say? I've got a thing for readheads.
Stuff happens, badguys are taken care of, and then introductions occur:
Nightwing: Nightwing, pleased to meet you.
Batwoman: Batwoman.
Nightwing: Yeah, definitely not a batgirl.
So, Dick, Batwoman is in the middle of a FIGHT - where some of the badguys even manage to get away (you let her let them get away, I might add) - but it is MORE IMPORTANT for you NOT to HELP her, and, instead, gawk at her because you 'have a thing for redheads.' Wow, way to be an asshole. And, what is possibly worse, she doesn't call you out on your BULLSHITTERY. This is telling all those reading that it is A-OKAY to leer at a chick you think is hot because SHE WON'T MIND. NO. NO WOMAN, NOT EVEN BATWOMAN DESERVES TO HAVE YOU LEER AT HER. FUCK YOU, DICK GRAYSON.
Also, no thank you for the mention that she is not a girl, but a woman. What the FUCK is that even supposed to mean? That you've noticed she has boobs? That when you make advances at her you won't be called out for pedophilia? HOLY GODDAMN BATMAN. WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU.
Okay, I know it's not acutally YOUR fault, Nightwing, it's the writers. So, what the FUCK Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, and Mark Waid? Is leering at woman considered acceptable behaviour and behaviour that you want to encourage in your readers? You disgust me.
And don't think I've forgotten about you either, Stephen Wacker and Michael Siglain. You're the fucking EDITORS. You should have SEEN this shit, realized Nightwing is being a disgusting, sexist, offensive, perverted piece of SHIT and thought, "Hey, he's one of the GOODGUYS that many people look up to and emulate. Perchance you writers may adjust his dialogue so he doesn't come off as a huge skeev?" You are all responsible.
This has been a matter that has been sitting on my mind for awhile now, and I just wanted to get it out there and wash these gross feelings away.
I'll start with the Star Sapphires. Why is this corps entirely female, with no males? You could try to make the arguement that they are mostly aliens and so aren't necessarily male or female, however there is a certain prevalent stereotype of what a woman's and man's bodies are supposed to look like (which is quite common in comic books) and, as far as I've seen, every single member of the SS falls into this female stereotype, which leads me to conclude it is either all women or your presentation of men who follow this corps and this emotion (since the SS are part of the 'love' aspect of the 'emotional spectrum' that you are big on right now - and I won't even get into how stupid I feel that whole concept is) are not really men.
Do men not understand love? Is love, in your mind, only a woman's emotion, and thus only woman can be Star Sapphires? I am disappointed in you, Mr Johns, that what you feel is normal and perfectly acceptable to have printed in your comics would run so sexist.
Now we get to an interaction with Ms Ferris (who I used to think you had good things planned since she not only was CEO of her company but a kick-ass pilot, but then you got rid of that awesome aspect of her and made her a part of your lame-as-hell SS) and her former beau, Hal Jordan, taking place in Green Lantern #49. First off, her outfit is really terrible. A plunging V-neck down to her navel that shows off half of each breast? You can do better than that. Especially as it becomes a plot point:
Hal: ... the Zamarons dragged you into [joining the Star Sapphires]?
Carol: Actually, I volunteered.
Hal: You volunteered? Are you crazy?
Carol: Especially for wearing this uniform. (in this panel we have a nice angle of Carol's balloons, I mean breasts, which, individually, are at least 3/4ths of her head)
Hal: You look good in purple.
Carol: I know.
Supposedly Carol is a SS because of the love she bears for Hal, who obviously does not love her in return as he is not in the SS and has been a member of two corps at the same time before. My main problem with this is how Hal is bringing attention and trying to make the readers identify not Carol as a capable woman but as an object to admire, in the fact she mentions she 'looks good' while we are treated to a panel focusing on her breasts. From a media where I used to hear no end to it about Powergirl's massive frontal areas, this is just another thing that woman in comics don't really need. I don't see ANY peens or packages on the men in spandex for us female readers to enjoy, why do I need to be SPECIFICALLY SHOWN Carol's boobs, and devote an entire PANEL to POINTING OUT she has BREASTS?
It just screams at me that, even though she herself thinks the costume is dumb, she CONTINUES TO WEAR IT. Do you know how FAST comic characters change costumes? I'm SURE if she wanted to she could use her MAGIC POWER RING to CHANGE COSTUMES, but she doesn't! And continues to point out it's crazy to continue wearing it! No, it's not crazy to wear it if you want to. It IS CRAZY, however, to COMPLAIN about it but do NOTHING about it when it is 100% in your ability to do so.
Mr Johns - that panel I keep referencing... my point is, in that panel you do not point out how capable Carol is in her new job, how she is totally bad-ass and about to kick the snot out of some black lanterns, but instead how she LOOKS HOT and makes sure WE ALL KNOW IT. Because, as we know, woman cannot be good at their job as long as they look good doing it. Looking good is the most important thing.
Mr Johns, you suck. Your writing is bad and you should feel bad.
Now we get to the comic called 52, which is actually three years old. I am just getting to it now because I recently bought 3 of the 4 trades involved in this series ($5 each from SDCC on Sunday) In week 30 we have an interaction between Batwoman and Nightwing (who, until this point, I have lusted after pretty severely, with only Sean Bean to illicit more inner desire than Dick Grayson). I should note that 52 was actually written by four very famous writers with layouts done by Keith Giffen, also highly respected. However, from the four writers I have not seen the same degree of sexist dialogue except from Mr Johns, so I am going to go blame him for this even though I DON'T ACTUALLY KNOW who wrote the lines. I have seen some crappy shit from Grant Morrison, but I can't recall anything sexist off of the top of my head. I should probably address this to all the writers, as they did all have a hand in the creation of this comic.
Batwoman is kicking ass and taking names, but then suddenly turns and calls out:
Batwoman: You going to lend a hand here, or are you just planning on getting an eyeful?
To which Nightwing jumps out from the shadows where he had apparently been stalking/leering at her fighting.
Nightwing: You have to admit, it's quite an eyeful. What can I say? I've got a thing for readheads.
Stuff happens, badguys are taken care of, and then introductions occur:
Nightwing: Nightwing, pleased to meet you.
Batwoman: Batwoman.
Nightwing: Yeah, definitely not a batgirl.
So, Dick, Batwoman is in the middle of a FIGHT - where some of the badguys even manage to get away (you let her let them get away, I might add) - but it is MORE IMPORTANT for you NOT to HELP her, and, instead, gawk at her because you 'have a thing for redheads.' Wow, way to be an asshole. And, what is possibly worse, she doesn't call you out on your BULLSHITTERY. This is telling all those reading that it is A-OKAY to leer at a chick you think is hot because SHE WON'T MIND. NO. NO WOMAN, NOT EVEN BATWOMAN DESERVES TO HAVE YOU LEER AT HER. FUCK YOU, DICK GRAYSON.
Also, no thank you for the mention that she is not a girl, but a woman. What the FUCK is that even supposed to mean? That you've noticed she has boobs? That when you make advances at her you won't be called out for pedophilia? HOLY GODDAMN BATMAN. WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU.
Okay, I know it's not acutally YOUR fault, Nightwing, it's the writers. So, what the FUCK Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, and Mark Waid? Is leering at woman considered acceptable behaviour and behaviour that you want to encourage in your readers? You disgust me.
And don't think I've forgotten about you either, Stephen Wacker and Michael Siglain. You're the fucking EDITORS. You should have SEEN this shit, realized Nightwing is being a disgusting, sexist, offensive, perverted piece of SHIT and thought, "Hey, he's one of the GOODGUYS that many people look up to and emulate. Perchance you writers may adjust his dialogue so he doesn't come off as a huge skeev?" You are all responsible.
This has been a matter that has been sitting on my mind for awhile now, and I just wanted to get it out there and wash these gross feelings away.