attention everyone! (and the world will feel the fire and finally know)
The following entry is a call to all of fandom, and that means everybody. Even if you aren't into comics, and even if you aren't into women's issues.
Yesterday, monkeycrackmary announced her plans for Girl-Wonder.Org, a domain dedicated to the women of mainstream comics.
Thinking about what I'd do with webspace, I had a thought. Wouldn't it be neat to have a centralized database that looks at women in mainstream comics from a historic angle? Knowing the history of one's cause is always beneficial, and a site like that could provide a good resource for fandom. In addition, it could be a source of optimism-- we're not just cataloguing the bad and the ugly for superheroines, we're cataloguing all the progress made, too. So I formulated all of these ideas into an application for webspace, and lo, Mary provided.
The Atalanta Wiki? Are you smoking the Classics crack again?
Firstly, I am always smoking the Classics crack. Secondly, it's only a working title, but I'd love to work Atalanta into it somewhere. If Achilles and Herakles and Theseus are the prototypes for the modern superhero, then Atalanta is the closest thing to a superheroine that we've got.
Okay, I'll bite. So what is this Atalanta Wiki going to be anyway?
It's going to be an encyclopedia-style database, similar in appearance to wikipedia if we can swing it, that catalogues the history of women in mainstream comics. Right now, my plan is to organize it into the following sections:
-The Mission Statement, which explains why the wiki exists.
-The Database, itself, which has articles written about female characters in comics. These characters can be superheroines, villains, or civilians. The articles will not re-hash the character's continuity, but look at the character from a historical angle. For those characters who've been around forever, the focus can be on how they've changed over time, and for those characters who existed only for a few years, it might be nice to see how they are products of their time.
-The Special Features section, which has articles based on themes instead of characters. Examples for themes might include constructions of motherhood or the portrayal of lesbians in comics.
-A Timeline of important events in the history of women in mainstream comics.
-A Links section so people can read up further on their favorite girls. I also might e-mail my graphic novel professor and see if he has any links that we might be overlooking.
Sounds like you're going to need research monkeys help.
Quite a bit, actually, though it's the sort of work where if I can get a lot of people to each do one or two little things, no one will be drowning in stuff to do.
What I need, more than anything, are articles, whether character-based or theme-based. Right now I've made the character-based ones more of a priority, and am considering possibly making the theme articles into "Special Topic of the Month", or something. That said, LET ME KNOW WITH COMMENTS HERE IF THERE'S ANYONE OR ANYTHING YOU WANT TO WRITE ABOUT. You don't have to make a commitment yet, just let me know what you're interested in doing.
Here's the people I've bugged so far (as well as myself, since it's good to bug myself), and who they're thinking of writing for.
littledarkvoice:
Black Canary
Carol Ferris
Harley Quinn
Renee Montoya
ocdgirl
Sue Storm
Paige Guthrie
poisonivory
Supergirl(s)
Arrowgirls (Cissie, Lian, Mia)
Poison Ivy
rabican
Mary Jane Watson-Parker
Gwen Stacy
various other Spider-man girlfriends
Kate Bishop
strangepowers
Power Girl
If someone's already picked someone you want to write for, try collaborating! Especially with the characters who have been around for years, there's a lot of history that one person might not know alone, but that two people could learn from each other by comparing notes. Also, if you have a theme essay you'd really love to write, leave me a comment about that, too.
Finally, even if you can't write something, please pimp this everywhere that you can. The more people I can get working on this, the better. I need both DC and Marvel people. Also, just because this project is women-focused, it doesn't mean that guys are excluded from writing. I'm going to need all the help I can get.
So. Comments are good!
Do you have a color scheme in mind for this wiki-type-thing?
...I am tempted to say pink. Unless that violates some law of feminism.
Are you done yet?
As a matter of fact, I am. -falls asleep-
REMEMBER: Those of you who pimp this out will be granted special status on my own private lesbianocratic island, once I finish seceding from the US.
Yesterday, monkeycrackmary announced her plans for Girl-Wonder.Org, a domain dedicated to the women of mainstream comics.
Thinking about what I'd do with webspace, I had a thought. Wouldn't it be neat to have a centralized database that looks at women in mainstream comics from a historic angle? Knowing the history of one's cause is always beneficial, and a site like that could provide a good resource for fandom. In addition, it could be a source of optimism-- we're not just cataloguing the bad and the ugly for superheroines, we're cataloguing all the progress made, too. So I formulated all of these ideas into an application for webspace, and lo, Mary provided.
The Atalanta Wiki? Are you smoking the Classics crack again?
Firstly, I am always smoking the Classics crack. Secondly, it's only a working title, but I'd love to work Atalanta into it somewhere. If Achilles and Herakles and Theseus are the prototypes for the modern superhero, then Atalanta is the closest thing to a superheroine that we've got.
Okay, I'll bite. So what is this Atalanta Wiki going to be anyway?
It's going to be an encyclopedia-style database, similar in appearance to wikipedia if we can swing it, that catalogues the history of women in mainstream comics. Right now, my plan is to organize it into the following sections:
-The Mission Statement, which explains why the wiki exists.
-The Database, itself, which has articles written about female characters in comics. These characters can be superheroines, villains, or civilians. The articles will not re-hash the character's continuity, but look at the character from a historical angle. For those characters who've been around forever, the focus can be on how they've changed over time, and for those characters who existed only for a few years, it might be nice to see how they are products of their time.
-The Special Features section, which has articles based on themes instead of characters. Examples for themes might include constructions of motherhood or the portrayal of lesbians in comics.
-A Timeline of important events in the history of women in mainstream comics.
-A Links section so people can read up further on their favorite girls. I also might e-mail my graphic novel professor and see if he has any links that we might be overlooking.
Sounds like you're going to need research monkeys help.
Quite a bit, actually, though it's the sort of work where if I can get a lot of people to each do one or two little things, no one will be drowning in stuff to do.
What I need, more than anything, are articles, whether character-based or theme-based. Right now I've made the character-based ones more of a priority, and am considering possibly making the theme articles into "Special Topic of the Month", or something. That said, LET ME KNOW WITH COMMENTS HERE IF THERE'S ANYONE OR ANYTHING YOU WANT TO WRITE ABOUT. You don't have to make a commitment yet, just let me know what you're interested in doing.
Here's the people I've bugged so far (as well as myself, since it's good to bug myself), and who they're thinking of writing for.
littledarkvoice:
Black Canary
Carol Ferris
Harley Quinn
Renee Montoya
ocdgirl
Sue Storm
Paige Guthrie
poisonivory
Supergirl(s)
Arrowgirls (Cissie, Lian, Mia)
Poison Ivy
rabican
Mary Jane Watson-Parker
Gwen Stacy
various other Spider-man girlfriends
Kate Bishop
strangepowers
Power Girl
If someone's already picked someone you want to write for, try collaborating! Especially with the characters who have been around for years, there's a lot of history that one person might not know alone, but that two people could learn from each other by comparing notes. Also, if you have a theme essay you'd really love to write, leave me a comment about that, too.
Finally, even if you can't write something, please pimp this everywhere that you can. The more people I can get working on this, the better. I need both DC and Marvel people. Also, just because this project is women-focused, it doesn't mean that guys are excluded from writing. I'm going to need all the help I can get.
So. Comments are good!
Do you have a color scheme in mind for this wiki-type-thing?
...I am tempted to say pink. Unless that violates some law of feminism.
Are you done yet?
As a matter of fact, I am. -falls asleep-
REMEMBER: Those of you who pimp this out will be granted special status on my own private lesbianocratic island, once I finish seceding from the US.