(Untitled)

[xoverau]

So, buddleia linked ratcreature's scan post about how to draw female comic characters. If you have been awake at some point since nineteen fifty-three, you will find it offensive.

Afterward, amandazillah and I had this sultry, cute discussion:

Comments

[dryad_duinath]

hear hear.

[xoverau]

I do want to see Gerard write female characters, because I can see him getting really enthusiastic about their stories and their pasts and their cool powers and shit--I don't think he's ever thought of women as anything but people.

[dryad_duinath]

which is part of what makes him so damn awesome.

[xoverau]

*draws hearts around Gerard*

[normalhumanbein]

See, the reaction most guys I know have to the 'super women' is "Holy shit, that is not right."

Know what's even more annoying? When they do draw a realistic woman, only to have her turn into some kind of balloon-breasted gazelle as soon as she takes her clothes off (although this could be one of the strange powers that a Real Woman has over the common or garden variety. Seriously, since when was "average" such an insult?)

[xoverau]

I'm the same way about male superheroes, though. I look at them and I'm like, that's just...that--HE COULD NOT MOVE LIKE THAT!

And I could even dismiss the actual drawings of males and females as typical of an unrealistic medium that aims its books at adolescents--the guys pose flexed and half-clothed or with their fists upthrust, their manhoods carefully shadowed and outlined, and the women pose in C or S shapes with their nipples hard and their clothes clinging--without the commentary and instruction that accompanied them. The artist draws the male figures to be hyperexaggerated versions of the male ideal, and thus appealing to women and gay men--but to treat that as nonexistent and spend pages detailing how you need to draw women so everyone who sees them wants to nail them? Spork!

[normalhumanbein]

*proffers the cast iron Spork of Justice*

Your time has come.

[xoverau]

Nifty!

...but I can't spork anyone because my back is in this funny S shape.

[tricksterquinn]

Look! It's a good number of the reasons I don't read superhero comics, conviniently laid out by the artists. *sighs deeply*

I, too, am not shocked - I knew that already - but am angry, irritated, and a touch violent. Arrrg.

[clumsygyrl]

beer cans... hah.

[xoverau]

*snerk*

[clumsygyrl]

cans... hehe.

[msktrnanny]

not a surprise word or picture in the whole thing. I'm no where near as offended as I am saddened that the industry continues on that way and that women have not come in and made a path of their own through it to show it can be done differently and successfully.

[xoverau]

I'm annoyed that the few women-driven comics I've read have featured women almost as stereotypical and exaggerated as the ones crafted by men. I always want a quiet revolution, you know? Where everyone finally goes, "Dude, we're all, like. People." and starts acting like it.

[astaria51]

I recommend Dykes to Watch out For and How Loathsome for women-centric. They're also very queer-centric, but that's primarily because...uh, I like slash and am bi. HI.

How Loathsome isn't necessarily particularly "have a better body image", it's just more real-seeming to me. It's very cynical but down to earth. Lots of people in it are pretty, but that's because it's from the point of view of a GLBTQ, indie, artsy, somewhat bdsm subculture that loves beauty, not because everyone is beautiful. And it addresses that. It's just a wonderfully crafted book, and Tristan Crane is awesome.

Dykes To Watch Out For kicks some serious ass. That's all. Seriously funny sarcastic political humor, but often not just political.

I love Strangers In Paradise as well. It's written by a man, and it's coming to an end now, but there are graphic novels of it that you can catch up on. Sometimes it's seriously weird and often it's frustrating (OMG KISS HER DAMMIT) but it's always very "real", I think, even when it's talking about a...gang of whores...and

[xoverau]

Ooooh shininess. Maybe it's time to return to ye olde college town and search up the comic store.