The trouble with Memin Pinguin.

I read Journalista in a sort of daily basis, but this is the first time I've felt compelled to write a long post over a story I found there. The story in question is the Top Story of yesterday, where a woman in Texas found an old Memin comic being sold, bought it and promptly declared it racist and offensive.

Sigh.

This is not the first time that Memin has caused controversy on the states, but last time I held on hopes that someone from my country would step up and explain what Memin is about, but no one did. Most of the posts in México were about how hystericals americans were at some stuff, not delving in the fact that there's a huge cultural difference between the States and México, and that most of the problem American's have with Memin is due to those cultural differences.

First point in fact: There's not that much racism in México against PoC. We have our own problems against the indigenous habitants, but not against PoC, and that makes us have troubles to relate to the situation north our border. What we have is a huge problem of class discrimination. Upper class looks down on Middle Class, who looks down on the poor. You could have green skin and purple hair but as long as you don't stray away from your own economical class, no one would bat an eye at you. If pressed, I'd say we have a huge discrimination trouble against Spainards in a very intricate level, mostly because a little over 200 years after our Independence from them, we still haven't forgiven them for Hernan Cortes.

Second point: No one in this huge complains against Memin has ever tried to actually read the whole story. I know it's daunting, as last I checked it ran around the 200 issues, but they could ask about it to people who had read it. Because when you get Memin in context, the story is quite different from what you might guess at the covers, or at a single issue.

The Wikipedia entry on Memin touches it a bit, but it doesn't quite goes in depth enough to explain why Memin is so popular here, or why no one in their right minds see him as a racist caricature. (I am aware of the history of the depiction of PoC in the States, and that Memin does borrow from those stereotypes, but again, history of both countries is completely different, and in 1940's, when Memin was created, even in America people didn't bat an eye to those representations. We have to remember that Memin is not being re-drawn, but reprinted. And knowing Sixto Valencia's art (the man behind Memin) if he had designed Memin now and not then, the kid would look completely different)

Created by Yolanda Vargas Duché, the first woman writing comics in México, hailed by many as the Queen of soaps, Memin Pinguin usually tackled social problems but it was very rare that Memin's skin color was actively addressed. In the very first issue, his classmates and professor are shocked to see him there, but it's not due to his skin color, but because he's very small, and thus, they all assume he's very young so he should be in another class. Once that mix up is cleared, Memin is just another student, nothing more and nothing less. To the seven year old reader that I was -and to many like me- it was Ricardo, the blond blue eyed rich boy, who was out of place in that class room. He was a rich kid who was going to public school because his father wanted him to learn to fend for himself, snobish and standoffish at first, and he seemed like a sore thumb in a class filled with brown haired kids. They all also made him know it, and here's where we go back to class discrimination. The poor 'good' kids wouldn't give the rich 'bad' kid the time of the day, because he was rich. He didn't belong there, and he would never belong there.

Until Memin decided to befriend him, that is, and he became the fourth in the gang conformed by Memin, Carlos, the rude mouthy kid raised by a single mom (Like Memin himself, only due to very different causes), and Ernesto, the quiet, smart kid who was the very end of the social scale, being the poorest of the four.

In the run of the comic, only the villains of the piece tend to try and make Memin feel bad for his skin color. Ernesto's father starts the story being an alcoholic carpenter, so poor that his son has to go to school without shoes, and who spends most of the time completely out of his mind. At one point, in the middle of delirious tremens, he calls Memin 'the Devil'; later on, after Ernestillo almost dies due to alcohol poisoning, the father reforms, never drinks again, and becomes one of many Memin's friends, never mentioning again that particular bout of delirium. Carlos's paternal grandmother, who is a very rich woman set in never letting Carlos's father marry his mother (Carlos's mother is a prostitute, even when the comic calls her a cabaret dancer, it's obvious what she does. Carlos's father is upper class, and left her before Carlos was born, and there's a bit of soap-operaish plot going on that leds to Carlos and his father being reunited). However, the old grandma is more concerned about Ernesto stealing her silver, than about Memin being roaming around the house, and after a very tear-inducing issue, Memin also wins over the old woman and she repents of all her previous cruelty, little before dying.

Here I'd make a pause to mention that the only real happy family of the whole thing, the ones who didn't had a soap-operaish past, and whose only problem was the lack of money which is still true to this day for many Mexican families, were Memin and his mother, who was also the most important figure of authority for the gang, over their teacher and Ricardo's father. Even the teacher and Ricardo's father would bow down to Eufrosina's authority at times.

There are, however, three times when race does comes into play. At least, the ones I remember from the 200 and so issues. (In fact, they were short stories into themselves. Mrs. Duche spent far more time in Carlos's subplot with his mom, or with Memin confronting his own fat predjudice -although at the time it wasn't called that- than with race itself). The first one I remember, and I'd like to say it was the first chronologically speaking but I'm talking from memory so I might be wrong, was when Memin and the gang entered the Boy Scouts, with the help of Ricardo's father. The Troupe leader, upon seeing Memin, declares that in the Boy Scouts there's no place for those of 'his kind', and refuses to let him go with the rest of the group. Upon hearing that, Carlos first decks the troupe leader, then they smuggle Memin into the excursion and later, when the troupe leader still won't change his mind, they leave the camp because if the Boy scouts don't want Memin, then the gang doesn't want the Boy Scouts. (I think that was the time when Memin tried to wash himself with milk, under the belief that it would lighten his skin, but upon seeing his mother's dismay at that situation, he realized that the problem wasn't his skin color, but the hate filled mind of the Scout troup leader. If it wasn't that storyline, it was in one of the other two, but I honestly can't remember it right now)

The second one, and probably the most offensive to Americans was when, for some reason I can't remember, the school football team wins some tournament and is selected to go to play against an American team in Texas. The whole gang is on the team, and so they go. This cover, that I found thanks to Supermexicanos, shows pretty much the summary of that particular storyline when Memin faces for the first time in his young life institutional racism. While he had met some nasty people like the aforementioned scout leader, he had never been denied service in any place, or treated like if he was somewhat inferior until he had gone to the States. In the story, he and Carlos go to have a milkshake, and when the man refuses to serve Memin, Carlos gets angry, ends up hitting the man (A very common thing with Carlos, he always tried to solve things by fighting) and both Memin and Carlos find themselves in Jail, so Carlos's father, Ricardo's father and Carlos's texan aunt have to get them out of the mess.

The third one, and my personal favorite to explain why Memin isn't racist and in fact can be used to teach kids that racism is wrong, is when Memin and the gang are going to have their First Communion (Another cultural thing here. Even when we do have freedom of religion, and there are many different religions in Mexico, everyone is assumed to be Catholic until there's evidence that they're not, so seeing this type of religion storylines in comics is not even considered propaganda. It just is). At one point, another kid in sunday school points out to Memin that he is wasting his time, he's going to go to hell even if he has his first communion because there are only white angels in heaven. As a proof, he shows Memin all the paintings in the church where of course, all the angels are white and blond haired.

Memin gets so disheartened at that, that he really decides that there's no point in being a good kid, and so he starts not talking to his friends, being mean to people, talking back to grown ups, not doing his homework and so on. It takes a bit of sleuthing from his teacher, his friends and the priest to figure out what is the problem, and the solution presented by the priest is simple: He sends the gang to buy some brown paint, and task them to paint some of the angels in the murals black, because of course, even if they weren't painted by the artist, there are angels of color in heaven. That gives Memin hope, and he finally makes peace with his friends. The kid who started the problem though, if I recall correctly, is expelled from Sunday school.

Now, Memin was created back in 1940, and it hasn't changed since then. Should he get a revamped version, that draws less from the old design? Maybe, if they were paying Mr. Sixto Valencia, the artist (Mrs. Duche died a while ago) for redrawing his old work. As things stands now, what Editorial Vid is doing (And had been doing for a while even before the stamps controversy three years ago) is just reprint the old material, exactly in the same way as it had been published back then. There is no modernization, no attempt to make the material more current (And trust me, there's more than just Memin's appearance that reads dated when you start reading the whole story, for instance, the much critiziced corporal punishment against Memin by his mom. In 1940, mothers were expected to do that. Or have we forgotten all those Superman covers where Superman is spanking someone, or getting spanked?) and I don't think there's any interest for it to be. While Memin is a very loved character, and his comic has been reprinted at least 5 times if my memory serves, mexican comic books aren't treated with much importance by Mexican business, mostly because they 'don't sell' and thus, a modernization of Memin is probably seen as a useless risk. Reprinting makes money with very little cost for them, so it's seen as risk free.

Oh, one final word. There's a lot said about the language used against Memin (I've even read a blog that translated parts of it, by a man who claims to be fluent in both languages but obviously fails at contextual reading), but most of it forgets one thing: In Mexico, 'Negro' is not an insult, and, when used by members of your own family, or very close friends, is usually a term of endearment. So when Memin's mom calls him "condenado negro" (lit. "Damn Black") what she is saying in spanish is equivalent to a mother calling his kid 'naughty boy' even if the words literally say something different. But then translation is a tricky business, and usually, a literal translation will only translate words, but not real meanings especially if those meanings are culturally charged.

ETA: I sent my post to Journalista, because I feel strongly about finding solutions to cultural differences, and I see that it's been posted on other sites, sparkling discussion in them. I am now thorn between going there and explaining one point that seems that I failed to make clearly, or just editing, so I will do the editing. Hopefully, the people who already read the post and didn't comment here will read it. If not, at any rate, it is a point that should be cleared.

I am completely aware on how anyone living in the United States (Or, I'd even risk to say, outside Latin America) can be offended by Memin's looks (and, by extension, how his mother looks). He is, after all, drawn in the same fashion as many people of color were ridiculed back in 1940, and yes, that is offensive, and, even if I'm pretty sure that neither Mr. Sixto Valencia nor Mrs. Duché intended it to be, racist. That should not be up to discussion, and I'm really ashamed that I couldn't make that clear. I wish Editorial Vid (Because the Mexican Goverment has nothing to do with Memin or its publication) had the good will to ask Mr. Sixto to re-design Memin and redraw the old stories. It would be a win-win situation. We could keep the anti-racist message that Mexicans love so much, lose the ugly stereotypes that make that same message get lost, and Mr. Sixto would get paid more, but I honestly doubt it will ever happen due to the bad shape the comic industry in this country is in. My only point with all of this was to put a bit of perspective on the history of the comics, and to why so many mexicans defend Memin. Mostly? They aren't talking about the art, but about the story.

In any case, I also like to thank those commenters I read in those other blogs (That you can see in posts linking to this blog), because they have made me think a lot about not only the issue of Memin, but also how we all see our cultural neighbors. And that maybe a good subject for another post.

Misa Misa. The not so dumb blonde.

One of the main criticisms against yaoi fangirls (and by this I mean the type of rabid fan who will chase guys around in cons to hit them with a 'yaoi' pallet, or will say that a cute guy is 'rapeable' and not see how creepy that is) is that they will call *any* female who comes between their guys (Or, in the most extreme cases, any female) a whore, a bitch, a slut, and an idiot.

Unfortunately, that one is not so much a stereotype as it's the truth, and sometimes, not only with the most rabid type of fans. Setting aside the 'but she's not as important/strong/cool/interesting as the main character' complains, that might be true as sometimes, secondary characters don't get as much development as the main characters, I'm talking about people that complain that the daugther of a Foreign Minister doesn't has the same combat skills and military know how as a Gundam Pilot. Or, in the particular case I'm going to discuss, that a pop singer isn't as bright as the best detective in the world, and a guy who fooled every single government agency in his country. And here I make a pause to warn you, I'm going to pretty much spoil a couple of very important plot points of the Death Note manga.

Misa Misa, whose real name is Misa Amane, is, at first glance, hated by many fans and critics of Death Note alike. In secret communities, is fairly easy to find 'I know my friends will kill me, but I like Misa Misa' secrets, as easy as is to find people who complain about Misa Misa fanart (Even more if she's paired with one of the main characters of the series). On the other hand, I've also read in at least two forums (One a community in live journal, another was Girl-Wonder.org) that people where hesitant to pick up Death Note because while the two main male characters were genious level smart, the main girl was the equivalent of a teenaged Britney Spears, who talked about herself in third person, and only cared about dates. Tom S.Pepirium of IGN even compared her to Jar Jar.

Because at first sight, yes, Misa Misa could be considered at best dumb, and at worst stupid. After all, she's a struggling idol singer wannabe who, as I mentioned before, talks about herself in third person (a sign in manga of 'cuteness' and 'childlike personality'). From the moment she appears, she declares her absolute love for Light Yagami, and not only she manages to put him in danger of being caught a couple of times, she also seems to be only interested in getting him to date her. She's like a psychopathic Silver Age Lois Lane in that aspect, and yes, I understand how that can be a bit jarring.

But in a series where the main characters spend most of the first volume playing complex cat and mouse games, second guessing each other, and correctly predicting the other's actions without even meeting face to face, where L is apparently the best detective in the world at the tender age of 25 (And the second and the third best too, because he sockpuppets), and Light is a top student, who is called a genious by his teachers and is so smart that he gets bored by school easily, anyone else can come up as stupid. A good example is Naomi Misora, an FBI agent that comes incredibly close to discover Light without the help of the FBI or L, but committed the one fatal mistake of telling Light her real name because even if she knew that Kira used the real names of their victims to kill them, she had no reason to suspect Light.

Thing is, and most people forget this, that there was one person who managed to not only find that Kira was Light, but also managed to trick him into revealing his identity without revealing hers. If you've read the series, you probably will say that of course she managed to find him, since she had the Shinigami Eyes that reveal a person's name and lifespan... unless that person has a Death Note. However, the planning that went into assuring that Light would be within her eyesight without her being recognized was quite solid and she managed to fool everyone except for Light and L.

She also has a very strong personality, at least in the sense that she will stop at nothing to get what she wants. When Light tells her he will have to see other girls, she doesn't hesitate to announce that she will kill all of them if he does that. Where at that point Light still refrained himself from killing too many innocents (He killed all those who were directly a threat to him, but not random cops just to show off his powers), Misa simply views those causalities as steps on the way to make Kira's perfect world. In that way, she's far colder than Light, and one would thing that if she had been the first Kira, that is, if she had been the only possesor of a Death Note, she could've been far more dangerous than Light because even when she didn't had the intelligence that Light had, she was far more willing to kill, and had something that Light never had: A completely loyal Shinigami at her side.

Another great example of her personality is on volume 4 of the manga, in what can be called one of the most disturbing sequences of the whole story (And that's saying a lot). After her first meeting with L, she is captured by the FBI and, since they don't know how Kira kills, but know that she needs to know her victims' faces and names, they cover her eyes with a metal mask, and put her in a straitjacket, and keeping her restrained in what many fans have come to call 'bondage Misa'. Misa then is kept without water or human contact (L talks to her through a microphone but no one comes near enough to touch) until she confesses that she's Kira the Second, and who is Kira the First. And Misa, the bubbly hair head who doesn't seem to think about consequences at all, who seems more concerned about make up and clothes than anything else, doesn't budge. There's a very chilling moment when, after three days of being deprived of food and water, Misa just asks 'Kill me'. It is her codeword to give up the Death Note, but at the time, we readers don't know that. For a moment, we're witnessing Misa's suicide, and it's a very poignant moment for her, as it's the last time we'll see Kira/Misa for a while.

That same torture scene brings forward another thing that most readers overlook: Misa is far more stronger than Light in front of adversity. Following his (Incredibly complex) plan, Light gives himself up to be locked up just like Misa was. Only that he isn't troused up like Misa was. He's just handcuffed, and someone puts headphones on him, ostensibly to keep him from finding out where he is just by the sounds. He waits seven days, according to his plan, before giving up the notebook, but we never know the exact situation of his confinement. We can figure out he's being fed and given water, since there's no indication to the contrary. And when he loses his memory of being Kira, the first thing he does is to ask for his immediate release, and keeps insisting that since he's innocent, he should've let go. Misa, on the other hand, stays tied up like Hannibal Lecter's female version for 50 days. And in those 50 days, with no clear memory of how the hell she ended up like that, she doesn't cry, or begs. She comes to the conclusion that she was taken by a stalker, and starts negotiating for her freedom in a way that keeps L puzzled. She calls him a pervert, she acts as if she's bored out of her mind, and the only time she asks for something not biolgical (namely, going to pee, so we can imagine she's being fed now), is to see Light. In L's own words 'the only thing I see is the abnormal strenght of Amane's love for Light Yagami'.

After that, Misa is shoved in the role of Light's girlfriend by Tsugumi Ohba, so she gets less and less to do. But even so, she still manages to make her opinions heard and, in many occasions, she proves to be braver than the super smart guys because while she knows she can't second guess everything, she jumps into the situations life throws at her willingly, ready to make the best of them.

So sure, she seems like an airhead, only interested in Light as a romantic partner even if he doesn't love her, and at times, she can be certainly annoying. But all those things don't make her an unnecessary character, or a weak one.

If you ask me, she's one of the most multidimensional characters of the whole story, just because of that.

My issues with manga. (part I)

Ok. First of all, anyone who has seen my deviantart account, or my webcomics, or even my banner will be puzzled at the title of the post. After all, I must like manga, if I'm so heavily influenced by it, right?

Well, of course. I do like manga. I have a pretty big collection of manga in my house, have read even more manga due to my wok, and admire a lot of japanese artists, as well as the people who are influenced by their style* But that doesn't mean that I don't have certain issues with it, and with the assumptions people make about people who like manga, and about people who don't like manga.

When I decided I was going to use this blog to write about comics and such, I originally said (I don't remeber if I actually posted that or not, but let's assume I did) that I wasn't going to talk about manga. I do that in my work. I review about three manga every two weeks for my job, and that's a lot of manga, especially if you take in account that there are some mangas that I read for review purposes that aren't picked for publication. So I was totally against the idea of doing even more reviews for my blog, even for those manga that I had already read.

There's a lot to be said about the idea of 'too much of a good thing', especially when half of those manga aren't that great to begin with.

Now, obviously I've changed my mind, mostly because due to the nature of the reviews, my personal opinion isn't important. I've got to be as impartial as I can, and sometimes, that can be a bit frustrating **

And that's my first issue with manga. That, for many fans, if you like one manga (or even, say, twenty), you must like all manga. Every single genre, every single author, and not find any possible flaw in comercial hits like Naruto or Death Note, and if you don't think the hit of the season is the best thing since sliced bread, then you're a hater. Maybe it's not that extreme with fans from the USA, but in Mexico, you can't say that you like, say, Saint Seiya, but you find its treatment of Greek Mythology and female characters reprehensible (True story, a friend of mine was actually threatened with physical violence for daring to say that she found plot holes in Saint Seiya, and that she didn't like Evangelion. And not just threats. She was actually followed to the bathroom during a convention, and barely managed to escape getting beaten. For not liking an anime, if you can believe that). You can't like Tokyo Babylon but find CLAMP's treatment of cross generation romance sickening at best and problematic at worst, and so on. The almost cult-like following that some animes get is one of those things that actually put me off anime and manga, and the reason why some titles are in my 'only if boss asks' list.

This of course, goes hand to hand with the idea that some fans have that somehow, manga is inherently superior to comics. I have no idea where that one came from, or why is so popular. Of course, there's also the opposite, and t comes to a point where manga-fans don't talk to comic-fans and vice-versa, and, even worse, they sneer at each other. It's like superhero readers and independent comic readers all over again. And meanwhile, there are hidden jewels that go unnoticed due to this attitude.***

Finally, or at least for this part, is the eternal idea that 'Girls love manga' and 'Girls draw manga'. Sure, I'm a woman, and I like manga. But my best friend is a woman, and she doesn't like most manga. And there's a thousand women like her. I don't know if Nicola Scott likes manga, but I can swear her style isn't manga no matter how broad your definition of manga is (Well, unless it is so broad as to include every single comic style). On the other hand, I'm pretty sure Adam Warren isn't a woman and whatever else you may say about him, his style is very manga-influenced. And the problem with this particular stereotype is that it alienates women. Both as readers and as artists. Sure, offering a particulary good manga to someone isn't alienating, but if said someone is a woman who happens to be saying that she wishes there were more strong female characters in, say, X-men or Avengers... it's not going to go well. It's just like saying "No, you can't play with this toys, but here, have a Barbie."

There's also a lot to be said about the myth that manga is somehow more 'girl-friendly'. Yes, it does has a lot more genres than the mainstream american comic industry, and yes, it appears easier for a female author to publish and become popular, however that doesn't mean that there aren't problems, starting with the division of stories 'for girls' and 'for boys'.

But I already went way too long, so that will be for another post.

*I'm not going to go now in the whole mess that is the whole debate about if manga can only be done in Japan or not. That's for another post, another day.
**That is not to say that it doesn't slip from time to time. But my editor is cool with that and understands that there's a point in which no one can find something good to say about a title, no matter how much you're grasping for straws.
***And that's not going into the art style situation, and the thousand of 'how to draw manga' books that are around now. Because, yes, if you're only copying manga you're doing it wrong, and it will take years to unlearn what you're doing now. Oh, I know. I'm still on the process of unlearning many things.

Dear Joss, please stop.

I just read a couple of new scans on the latest Buffy comic, and I've never been more glad that I never listened to peer pressure and spent money on them. Even with the gorgeous covers.

And this is not about the whole 'Buffy is now experimenting' thing from last issue, although that still makes me groan. No, this is about how, once again, one of Xander's girlfriends has ended up dead. Or, at least, impaled from behind with a very big spear.

Now, I'm pretty sure that Rene is not going to even count as a WiR, because that particular trope is not about just being a female character who dies, but you also have to be a female character whose death (or rape, or depowering) is used just to further a male character's story and let's be honest, Xander has never been one to get in the warpath because one of his girlfriends dies. And he's got some experience on that.

What pisses me off is that yet again there's another romantic relationship in the Jossverse that is doomed. And while I get that perpetual happiness won't sell books, coming this close to the whole Brand New Day mess, and with so many mainstream comics showing break ups and separations its getting tiresome.

Seriously, is there any romance in the Jossverse that hasn't ended in disgrace, death, or both members of the couple hating each other?

Othello, an interesting manga surprise.

I am not a very big fan of shojo manga. I liked it back when I was 16 (Sailor Moon and all CLAMP works were my favorite back then) but lately, all the girls in distress and drooling over misterious masked guys were getting on my nerves. However, this week I had to read the first volume of Othello for reviewing, and I have to admit, it was not at all what I was expecting.

Sure, the plot sounds a bit contrived: a girl who is too shy to even stand for herself develops a second personality who goes on avenging wrongs and beating bullies, and, in the middle of it, finding love and a music career for the original personality. It's like modern maho shojo 101, but without the sparkly transformation.

But in practice, Othello ended being quite different. The first thing that I noticed was that there was no sparkly trasnformation in sight, not even when the original 'gimmick' to go between Yaya (the shy, quiet personality) and Nana (the outgoing, and a bit violent) was Yaya looking at her reflection in a mirror. Yaya never remembers what Nana does, and in fact isn't even aware of her existence, while Nana knows everything that Yaya thinks, and at first just works to avenge those who made Yaya feel bad with herself.

There is a cute guy on all this, Matsuyama, who knows Yaya's secret, and swears to protect her all the time, but in truth, he ends up being moral support for Yaya when she finally realizes what's going on, and just stays in the sidelines while Yaya/Nana fix things for themselves.

The art is very shojo-standart, but I'm amazed how you can distinguish perfectly between Nana and Yaya even when Nana is dressed like Yaya. There's no change of hair color, no change of eye shape, just attitude. And while one could dismiss Othello as a 'makeover story' with a gimmick, I can honestly say that it was a worthwhile read.

Sorry for the lateness. Friends of Lulu nominations

Long, long story. In the meantime, in case you haven't heard:

It's that time of year again -- time to nominate the best and brightest for the 2008 Lulu Awards!

Nominations due May 14!

The Friends of Lulu annual Lulu Awards bring honor and recognition to the most inspiring and noteworthy women in the comic book industry, as well as the efforts, achievements, and works that reflect Friends of Lulu's goals. Nominations for the Awards are open to anyone. Once the nominees are chosen, only current members of Friends of Lulu will be able to vote for who should win each award. The Lulu Awards will be handed out this year during the MoCCA Art Festival in New York City, Saturday June 7.

The Women Cartoonists Hall of Fame nominees must have published work, whether self-published, company-published, or Web-published. An individual cannot win more than once.

Women of Distinction nominees must have worked in the comic industry in a non-creator role, such as editing, publishing, reporting, or retail.

The Lulu of the Year Award honors the creator(s), book or other project whose work best exemplifies Friends of Lulu's mission.

The Kim Yale Award nominees must have published work, whether self-published, company-published, or Web-published. Nominees must be nominated for this category within three years of their first published work. An individual may not be nominated more than twice, and cannot win more than once. The award is named for comics writer Kim Yale, a founding Lulu member who passed away in 1997.

The Volunteer of the Year award was introduced in 2002 to recognize those people who have volunteered time and effort to advance Lulu's goals. Current board members are not eligible. The Volunteer of the Year award is nominated by and voted on by the National Board.

To vote -- and read more details about the awards -- go here

LULU AWARDS MOVING TO NEW YORK CITY FOR 2008, WITH THE HELP OF MOCCA, IDW, DC COMICS AND ARCHIE COMICS

Friends of Lulu is moving the organization's Lulu Awards event from the San Diego Comic-Con to the popular MoCCA Art Festival (aka Artfest) this year!

The annual Lulu Awards, which recognize the efforts women make in comics, will be held at the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art in Manhattan on Saturday, June 7 at 8:30 p.m.. Light refreshments will be served, and there will be a suggested donation of $7.00 at the door.

The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, along with IDW, DC Comics and Archie Comics, is sponsoring this major event.

"We are excited to bring an award event to MoCCA Artfest, and just as excited not to be competing with the multitude of great events at San Diego Comic-Con this July. We are able to reach a larger group of people eager to see wonderful creators recognized for their hard work in this field," Treasurer Marion Vitus notes.

On the schedule to present awards are the previous years' award winners, including Rachel Nabors and Abby Denson, and on the roster to emcee the event is Lulu Eightball creator Emily Flake.

The new Lulu Awards date, in June instead of July, means the nominations are right around the corner; nominations will be open to non-members this year and begin at the joint MoCCA/Friends of Lulu table at the New York Comic-Con starting Friday, April 18.

Look for more details on the Friends of Lulu blog:

http://www.friends- lulu.org/


About our sponsors:

Founded in 2001, the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (MoCCA) is one of a small handful of not-for-profit organizations dedicated solely to the collection, preservation, study and display of America's favorite art form. In addition to a year-round slate of on-site exhibitions and programming, the museum holds an annual fundraiser, the MoCCA Art Festival, which has grown to be widely recognized as one of the major events of the comic convention season. MoCCA's Website is located at http://www.moccany. org/

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I miss Murphy Brown

I haven't got cable in a couple of weeks (long story) and to be honest, I like having the tv on as 'white noise' when I work, so I decided to put on some of my DVDs in order to, well, get some white noise, and also, remember why I bought them in the first place. Also, a very good friend of mine lent me some of his copies of the different shows he has been watching, so I'm pretty much set.

But after checking The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and Burn Notice (Which I loved, being a Bruce Campbell fan), and Buffy, I made my way to my lonely Murphy Brown season I set, and with the first episode something struck me.

There is no 'modern' Murphy Brown.

Sure, there are a lot of great female characters in the new tv series I've been watching (and I'm sure in some of those I haven't been watching). While I wish I could wring Jhon Connor's neck, the interaction between Sarah and the new Terminator are interesting and intriguing, if it wasn't because the new Terminator falls in the 'strong, tough young girl' category that seemed to kindle after Buffy. Fi, the female co-lead of Burn Notice, as well as Mr. Weston are quite strong in their own way, but sometimes Fi strucks me as a bit of a pshyco, and Mr. Weston... well, her role in the show is basically be Michael's mother. I won't say the female detectives, DA's and judges on Law and Order aren't great, each in their own way... but even so, I still feel like there's something missing there.

Another series I've been watching is Damages, starring Glenn Close. Now, one could argue that if I wanted the slot of 'tough, no no-sense, strong lead female', Patty in Damages is pretty much it. Except that, unlike Murphy (And, in her own sitcom, Ellen, and probably a couple I'm missing from the 90's), Patty is a very manipulative and cruel woman. I'm hooked with the series, I won't lie, but I wouldn't like to be Patty's friend, the way I would've loved for Murphy to be my aunt back when I watched the series the first time.

I'm not saying there aren't great female characters in today's TV, and maybe it's the kind of shows that I watch, the kind of shows that get released in my country. But I spent the last 24 hours trying to come up with a modern equivalent of Murphy, and the closest I got was... well, House. But he's a guy, so it's not quite the same.

If anyone has any suggestions for a modern Murphy, I would love them.

Oh, and btw... does anyone knows if Season 2 was ever released on DVD?

Broadening one's point of view.

I haven't been posting a lot, but I've been reading a lot, and thinking even more.

See, when I joined Friends of Lulu's Directors board, one of the things I said was that I could bring a different perspective to the organization, as I'm a very new person to the american comic book industry, but have a lot of experience in the Mexican comic book industry (What little is left of it)

Of course, the opposite is true too. And while one could make a point about anglo-centrism, and how many things on the internet automatically assume that a) the reader can read english, and b) the reader is in the USA, there's a lot to say about what we, as in everyone who lives outside of the USA, can learn from that anglo-centrism.

In the case of women and comics, for instance, I think we're in a pretty even territory to speak about the problematics we face. There aren't many mexican comic books being produced right now, but the "women as object" problematic is as notorious here as it is in America. I think that might be true everywhere, although I suspect places like Japan have a complete different set of problems to deal with.

In the case of the industry, and the sad death that some people like to annouce for it, with the eternal 'big summer events' and the trace artists, and porno-faces, and continuity problems... well, we (and by we, I mean Mexicans who live in Mexico) might be only able to contribute as readers. Our industry is completely different, we don't have 'corporate owned characters' and so all the attempts to revive the industry here can only be likened to the independent american comics, even when our comics may or may not be supported by an editorial. In that field, our opinion matters as much as any other reader. We're consumers, but our industry, and our country, has a lot of different troubles that I think makes it difficult for us to relate. Unless, of course, we're talking about those who work on both industries. Humberto Ramos, for instance, can talk with a lot of authority about how is both places are different because he has worked professionally in both. He wouldn't be speculating, he would be talking from experience.

Censorship, on the other hand, is that field in which I don't think anyone can find an even field when we take in account different cultures. Forget about what is pornography or not (Nipples? Boobs? underwear?) we cannot even agree in age of concent. UK has one, USA has another, México has a very strange policy about that. And once we field that one hurdle, we get in deeper waters as we try to define what is 'acceptable' and that changes from country to country. Talking about that would take us years.

And then we get to the on the one subject that I must confess that I was completely ignorant about until I started reading other blogs, especially Cherry Lynn's via When Fangirls Attack, and that is race in comics.

Living in Mexico, I had the luxury of living in a sort of bubble when it comes to racism. I am not saying that Mexico has no racial problems, but they're not in the same league as the USA. It does help that most of our population is mestiza, mixed, and thus we've got a bigger trouble with class issues than with race issues. At least where I was growing up, what mattered was the money you had, not the shade of your skin.

That is not to say, of course, that we, as a country, are not aware of the racism problems in the world. It's just that we see them a bit different than what is seen outside our country (And for that, you can google the Memin Pinguin incident. That was a very good example of different contexts). The most sexy woman in mexican comics has been, for a long time, considered to be Rarotonga, who, while she could be seen as the 'femme fatale' stereotype of a black woman, at least was always drawn as a black woman.

So it's been enlightening to read every post I've read in different blogs about diversity in comics, mostly because it's helped me to challenge my own views and my own attitudes about it. I was raised upon the principle that people are people, no matter their gender, race, economy status, or religion, and for that I've always thanked my parents, but until I got into the internet, until I got into publishing, I started realizing that no, not everyone has been raised the same, and the problems are very real.

And so far, the best education I've gotten is from reading, reading the comments, and being able to recognize that educating one's self is the best way to start solving that problem.

Femisism, Comic books, and percieved images.

There is a new storm brewing in the usual comic blogosphere. As far as I know, it started when Grant Morrison wrote a dream scene where Batman saw a case for the fallen Stephanie Brown. Some people saw it as a triumph, some people saw those people as a threat, and somewhere in between, Dirk Deepey from Journalista grouped every single female blogger as part of the 'Girl Wonder crowd'.

While reading those, I also found an old 2006 post about the Wizard 'How to Draw' segments, where men were portrayed super heroic and women sexy and 'sultry'. Amazingly enough, that old discussion still has some posts where guys insist that if 'fat femnazis don't like that, they shouldn't read comics'.

Now, a bit of a digression. I was talking to a friend about old dubbing. When that happens, I get nostalgic since when I was little, Mexican Dubbing was among the best (Or was the best) dubbing in the world. I watched all Disney movies in spanish, and I know most of the songs of those old movies by heart. It's still odd for me to hear The Bare Necesities in English, and I really can't relate to many of the old dubbing actors for Disney in English as I have no idea who they are or how do they sound like. Same with old series. I know Richard Dean Anderson has a rough, manly voice, but for me MacGuyver will always have the smooth, polite voice of Mario Castañeda (Who, incidentally, was also Benton Fraser in Due South, another show that sounds alien to me in english). During this talk, I remembered who had been my first exposure to feminism. Although my mom has always been a feminist, when I was 6 I wasn't exactly aware of that. My dad agreed with her, and thus I wasn't aware of the real struggle outside the house. She was my mom, not a feminist.

And I wouldn't know about the 'man hating, bra burning' feminist until much, much later, when I started arguing about women rights on my own, way into highschool. No. My first feminist was none other than Disney's Mary Poppins Mrs. Banks.

Played by Glynis Jhons (Who, btw, was also Lady Penelope Peasoup in the Batman series), Mrs. Banks serves as a comic relief in the movie. She's a suffragette who balances the act between going to march to ask for women's votes, but whose lines inside the house are usually 'Yes, dear' to whatever her husband says.

Still her song, Sister Suffragette, is the first one of the movie, and it was always the one I remember first when talking about Mary Poppins. I remember the original translation, that, re-transtaled, would be something like "I'm a brave soldier with a skirt, who is chasing the right to vote. Today is the day we break our chains, in a hard fight to be free, and our dignified successors will sing when they're older At least, the women can vote." The new translation is more faithful to the original english but it lacks melody in my humble opinion. Anyway, Mrs. Banks is as far an image from the usual fat, unkept, hairy man hater lesbian that is the usual strawfeminist on internet debates.

Thing is no matter how much we insist that there is no such thing as a hive vagina and that no two feminist are exactly the same, critics will never believe us. Because we might disagree on the small details. Not every woman cared about Stephanie Brown, or about the Mary Jane statue. I find Maya, from Heroes, incredibly offensive, but I'm sure that for many people that's a not-issue.

And as I write this I realize that the problem is quite similar to the other problem we usually argue with the good old boy's club. All women look the same. All comic book women must be a certain shape, and dressed in a certain way. All feminist must be of one mind, and look roughly the same, despite evidence to the contrary. Which is one of the reasons why we keep arguing about that. Maybe if they realize that not all 2d women are exactly the same, they'll realize that not all 3d women are the same either.

Heroes as Celebrities. My two cents on the Wonder Woman thing.

When I saw the Wonder Woman Playboy cover, the first thing that crossed to my mind was 'Oh, shit'. Basically because it was the confirmation of an idea I've been bouncing around for a long time now, and seeing it in print, and just in the magazine I said was wrong for Wonder Woman was quite a shock.

I'll explain. I'm convinced that, in our world, if superheroes existed there would be no secret identities. Take a look at our celebrities. Unless they're in the D-list or lower, they can count on a paparazzi stalking them. This triples when they're A-list, or they bring scandal to their lives. Some of them seem to be unable to get one really private moment. So if we had a man flying around New York in bright prime color tights, you can bet that before six months were up someone would've gotten that elusive picture of Superman turning into Clark Kent. Superheroes could possibly exist but the double life they have? That would've almost impossible.

On the other side of the coin, the same magazines that now fight for getting the latest picture of the hottest hollywood star would be fighting for getting the chance of having a member of the JLA or the Avengers pose for them. That was my reasoning on doing a Vouge mock cover with Wonder Woman, and can you imagine Bruce Wayne on Forbes? With an interview explaining why he is Batman? Or Booster Gold on GQ? I would bet that Wonder Girl would appear in Sixteen or Teen Vouge, while the Supergirl who was portrayed at the beginning of her newest series would shock Clark and the Kents by doing a Maxim photo spread. And Playboy? I can think of a number of heroines that, the way they've been written more or less constantly and as part of their personalities, would jump at the chance of appearing in Playboy.

That list starts with Powergirl, since I honestly think the 'secure on her sex appeal' part of her personality is not only an excuse to draw the hole in her chest bigger. She Hulk would be another who wouldn't say no. Emma Frost. Starfire. Fire, who canonically had a website of her pictures naked (although in powered form). Storm, pre-T'challa's marriage. Psyloke, maybe the Wasp.

Wonder Woman, though, I'm not sure. When she just arrived to man's world? Probably, as I doubt she had any taboos regarding nudity living on Paradise Island. After a couple of years in the USA? Doubtfully, especially as she grew in her role as an ambassador and realized the difference between Themiscra and the rest of the world.

But all in all, I can't blame Playboy for their photoshot. I don't particularly like the comparison in text to Lynda Carter but that's not because I hold Lynda Carter in a high pedestal, but because I hate the way in which new comers have to be 'the modern' anything.

What I do wish, though, was that Wonder Woman wasn't the only high recognizable superheroine so every time someone does something like this, it has to be Wonder Woman, or, in a lesser degree, Supergirl. I understand how many people think that the photoshot is somewhat demeaning to a femenist icon, and why they're offended. Someone has mentioned the fact that Wonder Woman is the only superheroine for women and girls, at least in the view of the public eye. And I can't shake the feeling that if that wasn't true, the Playboy cover wouldn't have been such a huge deal. If we had more superheroines visible and, lets admit it, maybe less cheescakey in their original medium, then maybe we wouldn't have this kind of problems.

That or, as someone else pointed out, let's have at least one Playgirl photoshoot with a model painted on as Batman. Or any other male superheroes. They have plenty to choose from.

Desing-A-Lulu Initiative

We at Friends of Lulu are looking for talented artists to donate their talent to Friends of Lulu's Design-A-Lulu Initiative, a fundraising and increased public awareness effort in which we ask artists to dream up their own interpretation of our Lulu mascot.

If you can find the time to help Friends of Lulu by contributing your own unique "Lulu" design, we would most appreciate it.

Here are the specs & pertinent info:

* Our preferred deadline is by the end of January, but we will happily extend it where needed.

* Colored art is preferred but B&W is fine.

* Art should be scanned at 300 dpi.

* Torso-and-head shots preferred, though if you're inspired to draw full-body that's okay.

* Though your initial inspiration can be our original mascot Lulu (and the original Little Lulu, but not too close to her design), unique interpretations are welcome and encouraged.

* Who is "Lulu?" She's the Everywoman who reads and/or creates comic books.

* A variety of ethnicities, races, and body types for your Lulu are welcome as well.

* A request will be made for original art so we can auction it all off in a Lulu fundraising event.

* Selected art will be used for a variety of Friends of Lulu fundraising/ promotional purposes, including website & flyer art, T-shirts, stickers, and buttons.

* We will initially post the art on our blog as it comes in, then later set up a permanent gallery on our site.

Growing up with Wonder Woman.

The very first superhero I can remember knowing in my life was Wonder Woman. I'm pretty sure it was in the campy TV show starring Linda Carter, followed pretty closely by the Superfriends cartoon, but there were a lot of others in the Superfriends cartoon, so my first contact with the whole comics/superhero thing had to be Linda Carter with the invisible plane, the spinning change and the Nazi villains.

And I loved Wonder Woman. I used to run around the house in my underwear yelling that I was Wonder Woman and my jumping rope was my magical lazo (I was four at the time. My cousin was Supergirl and by joint decision, Grandpa was Lex Luthor.) I didn't miss an episode, and I loved to watch Superfriends too, just to see Wonder Woman.

As time went by, I found a lot of other Superheroes. Marvel, in particular, became my favorite, but I still kept that deep love for Wonder Woman, catching her in reruns when I could. But since at the time Wonder Woman was in licencing limbo down here in Mexico, I didn't get the chance to read her until later, when a local editorial printed the first Post-Crisis issues in a magazine entitled "Superman presents" (This is, btw, a very common practice here to avoid having to register a hundred titles you're not sure will sell. So everything is showcased by the titles that do sell. Justice League, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman and Hawk and Dove were showcased by Superman. Batgirl, and some other minis were showcased by Batman. Every single story of the Marvel Universe was showcased by Spiderman. But that's for another post). I got to read the whole beginning, ending with Ares' original defeat and then... well, a couple of mixed issues. Because when you have to share space with other six or seven titles, plus Superman... well, there wasn't a lot of space for Wonder Woman to shine.

And since the Superman title was weekly back then, well, by the time that Wonder Woman had finally managed to defeat Ares, Superman had had a couple of adventures with a more experienced Wonder Woman. So actually *following* Wonder Woman was a bit hard for me.

So, despite her being the first ever superhero I loved, I have never continuously collected her comic. When getting the originals became easier, I did try to follow her, but as it was around when Zero Hour hit, well, continuity was an absolute mess and to make things worse, not only Diana wasn't Wonder Woman, but also I had no idea who the Banas were, why Hipolita was acting so weird and in general, what the hell was going on (I think the only thing that I didn't found strange was that Diana didn't had a secret identity, but that was because after loving Diana Prince, I had finally become used to the non-secret identity having Princess). I would flip through the comics I found at the LCS, and be absolute puzzled at what the hell was going on and not a single story made me want to buy the comic and say "Ok, from here on, I can try and figure out what went before as I keep buying the monthlies". Except for the story where she cut her hair. Not because of the story, I honestly can't remember any plot points of that particular story, but I loved the idea of a short haired Wonder Woman. It made for an interesting visual change.

Now. A little less than a year ago I stopped buying DC comics completely. My decision came from an interesting string of events. With Identity Crisis and the rape retcon, I decided I would only buy DC comics if they weren't written by Meltzer and there was one of my favorite characters on it. With Countdown and Blue Bettle's death, I decided that next time a favorite character of mine died, no matter the gender, that was it. No more DC comics. And then... they went and killed Kon, who was the one responsible to getting me back into reading DC. So, no more DC comics.

Except that Wonder Woman was always first, and if there was someone who could make me go back and buy DC would be a *good* Wonder Woman comic. When Allan Heinberg was named as the writer for the relaunch, I was pretty happy as I loved his Young Avengers, but I decided to cautiously wait. After all, while I hadn't bought Infinity Crisis, thanks to the good people at Scans_daily I had a pretty good idea of what had happened and that it wasn't exactly nice for Diana. And while I don't particulary hate the new secret identity or the idea of a romance between Diana and Nemesis (Mostly because until now, for me, Nemesis was a non-character. I knew he existed, but that's about it), the whole late schedule sort of made me glad I had waited. Then came Jodi Picoult, who, at least for me, was also an unknown since I haven't read any of her novels. And even for a sort of newbie like me, the characterization seemed off. I will not say anything about Amazons Attack! since I think everything about it has been said. Lets just say it was the mini that made me glad I had stopped buying DC a year before.

Gail Simone's first issue has been met by mostly positive criticism. I think every critic I read has loved it, and what I've read, I liked. But I'm still unsure. Mostly, because this has been a year where editorial mandates can mess up the work of any writer. Just look at One More Day, and that's pretty much the whole argument. Gail can, and is, amazing as a writer, but if word comes from upstairs that Wonder Woman has to have a retarded storyline, no matter how much she shines, the final idea will still be terribly bad.

And I'm through giving money to terrible bad ideas.

Guess what? It wasn't a joke. (Yes. Wizard again)

I went to the FLCS today, after a week or so of not going, and they had the latest Wizard out. The one with the 300 cover. And, despite what everyone had said on the subject, that it was just a one time thing, that it was a joke that had backfired and so on... well, Wizard is still claiming to be the #1 Pop Entertainment magazine for men.

What I found ironic is that, at least around my country? 300 was a lot more enjoyed by women than by men. Sure, the spartans were manly men who did manly men things, but they still were manly half naked men. Eye candy, you know?

And it doesn't really change anything, except that, well, they sort of lost the right to say it was a joke. Unless they're trying for that 'three times make it funny' idea. And if they are? Sorry to say, I doubt it will work.

Can we lay this particular trope to rest, please?

This is both about movies and comics, so bear with me. We're probably all aware of the Women in Refrigerator's phenomena by now. And we're probably all aware of the most usual complaint about it "But it happens to men too! It's not misogyny!" To which the answer is usually "But it doesn't happen to men as often as it happens to women." And that can't be denied because there's more male characters in comic books than female. And when a fridging happens to a male, more often than not is either a C-list character or a character who happens to be a minority. (To be an actual fridging, by the way, the character in question can't return from the death or the injury. So Batman and Superman do not count.)

Now, I am a fan of crime movies. Detective movies with grizzly crimes and machiavellian serial killers are one of my passion, so as soon as someone mentions the word "detective" in a review, I'm more often than not inspired to see it. So today I was about to watch Along Came a Spider, with Morgan Freeman, and I was quite ready for a good movie after Law and Order SVU.

The beginning of the movie, for those who haven't seen it, follows Alex Cross (Freeman) and his team as they are getting ready to capture a serial killer/rapist with the help of Alex's partner, whose name I forgot, who is working undercover as the serial killer's date. During the bust, the killer discovers that his date is a cop, she tries to arrest him but as he hits the brakes, she accidentally shoots him when she's thrown off her seat (Although she's wearing a seatbelt, so I'm not sure of how does that work) and he loses control of the car, breaking of the bridge dangling just so that he falls to his death, and she's alive for enough time as to let Freeman try and save her and lock eyes with her as she finally plummels to her death.

Which was about the moment when I turned off the tv, went to make iced tea, and then came back to pop the Fracture DVD that I had rented.

Now, I didn't got annoyed because it was yet another female character killed just to create angst for the male character. I got annoyed because right there I knew I was going to suffer through two hours of Alex emoting because he couldn't save his partner, feeling inadequate and then finally getting his act together to catch the bad guy.

As I've seen in dozen of other cop, action, and horror films, as well in a thousand comic books. It's called Dead Sidekick in tv tropes, it's called WiR when it's a woman, and it's been around more or less since Achilles decided to reenter the war after Patroclus was killed.

Honestly? Enough is enough. Let's find someway else to motivate our main characters, someway else to make them angst for an hour before kicking ass in the second act. Dead sidekicks, girlfriends, boyfriends, gay neighbours are way, way overdone. Hell, they parody that on the Simpsons already! And in Naked Gun. I guess that by the time a particular trope becomes a joke, is well past the time it can't be used seriously in an argument, at least not in its most straightforward way.

In my mind, I ended up reminding another movie that starts with a huge catastrophe for the main hero, who ends up angsting to the point of attempting suicide for the rest of the movie. The Bone Collector, which leaves Denzel Washington's character paralytic from the neck down. And that's different because the catastrophe happens to the character directly, so one can understand how it affects him (And not in a 'you touched my stuff' way) and not think "Hell, get over it. Cops die. It's sad, but it happens." every time the dead sidekick is brought up.

The thing is, in those 10 or so minutes of Along Came a Spider I perfectly understood the problem with the WiR and dead sidekick situation. I love those type of stories, I have a huge collection of crime movies dvds. And as much as I love Morgan Freeman's acting, I just couldn't bring myself to keep watching it, just because I knew how it was all going to end. When the hero's wife gets killed, we know he'll stop at nothing for a (temporary, at least in comic book world) revenge. When the sidekick gets shot, we know that we're up for a couple of years of angsting until we get a new sidekick. When a family member gets killed in a dark alley, it will get repeated so much that it will end up in a bad joke and a tag line (Anyone remember when the old saying about comic book death was 'All comic book deaths are temporary except for Bucky, Jason Todd and Uncle Ben? Or, more recently, the current batman meme "My parents are dead"?)

When things get to the point where your audience can figure out the ending in ten minutes or three pages of your comic, well, then it surely it is the time to stop killing sidekicks, family members and girlfriends just for a couple of minutes of angst and a shocking splash page, isn't it?

Comic book magazines and the people who read them.

I've been thinking about the whole Wizard situation for all week, but I haven't been able to sit down and write my thoughts on it until now. Maybe it's a bit too late, or whatever, but I wanted to add my two devalued peso cents.

First, a disclaimer. I've bought two Wizards in my whole life. When I honestly cared about getting the news from the industry in a print form, I wasn't exactly swimming in money and for one Wizard I could get three comics so... guess who won? And when I finally got to read one, I found it quite lacking. That was in 2004, and I honestly didn't notice or cared if they had a match the rack feature or not, and I'm not going to go there and look for them to see if they had. What I do know is that there was absolutely nothing in them that would make me want to buy another one.

During all this discussion now, I wasn't thinking about Wizard and their new/old readership. I was thinking about how people on both sides of the debate seems to think that Wizard is dying, and that it needs either to secure its readership or find new one. And then I thought about the situation of information magazines in my own country. Although there's a long tradition of comics in Mexico, going from the fifties, both translating american comics and creating our own (although there's been less of that lately), and of course, manga, there has not been a successful comic book magazine in almost as long time. We've seen imported Spain magazines, and at least three attempts to do a similar magazine to Wizard, of which only one has been somewhat successful of late, called Comic Zone (I am not sure of how well is it doing, but I know it's still on print). On the other hand, manga-only magazines are quite a business, and many editorials have not one, but up to four magazines dedicated only to manga (And that's not counting the Hentai manga magazines), which range from the heavy fan-service images, to the heavy on the shonen ai side of the images and they all sell. Sure, the ones with more fan-service sell better, but even those have a somewhat balanced content for both female and male readers.

And neither Comic Zone, nor it's predecessors like Cuas! Comics y más, were as heavy on pandering with the T&A as Wizard has become of late. I am not a constant buyer of Comic Zone, but there has only been one Wonder Woman cover, as far as I remember, and there are honest articles with critical information. And for some reason, the Wizard in spanish didn't sell as well as it's precedent, and it stopped being shipped for Mexico. I do remember that most of the criticism against it was that it had no information, just hype. Which is, of course, the one criticism even die hard fans have against the original Wizard.

I've heard a lot of stories about why a comic book magazine doesn't work in Mexico, ranging from 'there's no interest', to 'there's no industry to support them'. But on the other hand, manga magazines keep coming out, keep selling, and keep getting new readers.

So maybe, just maybe, Wizard -and any comic book magazine- should take note of that. The manga information magazines aren't lacking in the sexy women department, the fan-service is quite high in them... but they still manage to be all inclusive, adding some fan-service for the women who read the magazine, adding actual information that can be of interest to anyone, not just to a small group.

(BTW, I'm not in any way proposing that Wizard should start including more information about manga. Or a 'match the package' game as the one I've seen somewhere in the discussion. I don't have the answer of what Wizard should add to be more inclusive. I just know that I don't want to read about how Infinitive Secret wars or whatever is going to be the greatest thing ever just because one cover, I want to read exactly what kind of *real* impact would that storyline have in the end. Or maybe, a critique *after* the crossover to see if it really was as good as the publishers promised)

The tale of one brave little hobbit

I'm suffering from insomnia, and the whole bruhaha with Warner Bros. and female leads in action films reminded me of something I wanted to write eons ago.
When I was in junior high, like many others of my age, I read Lord of the Rings. I can at least say that I did read it at the same time as all my class, at it was mandatory reading for that course. And, like many others, I fell in love with Tolkien's careful constructed universe.
But for some reason, call it bad translation, call it that by the end of the first chapter , my version of Lord of the Rings had a very particular difference.
See, I was throughly convinced that Merry was, in fact, a girl hobbit. Not only that, but that 'she' was Pippin's wife.
(Later I found out that I wasn't the only one. A lot of my friends here in Mexico made the same conclusion. So I can blame translation.)
Now, I went through the whole Fellowship and part of the Two Towers with this idea in mind, following brave Merry as she did exactly all the same things that Pippin did, sometimes being braver than he was, and being utterly terrified when the orcs took them, and all that jazz. It wasn't until the beginning of the last battle, when I found out my small mistake.
The thing is, it didn't matter. Merry was equally cool for me as a man as 'she' had been as a woman.
Of course, it was just my childhood version of the Lord of the Rings. But sometimes I wonder, if there had been a woman in the Fellowship, would it have been any less successful? I'm not talking about gender-bendering Aragorn, Frodo, Sam or Boromir -I believe those four really have to be male to work as characters. One of the strongest moments -for me- on the books is when Eowyn kills the Witch King, so we know that Tolkien could write strong women. And while I understand why there weren't any women in the fellowship, I can't stop wondering what if?

In fact... how much of the succsess of some of the great adventure and action epics we all love would change if one of the characters was a women instead of a man?

Because women don't sell.

It's a bit ironic that after my last two entries that were about the cool leading ladies I had found in the two last movies I saw (A trend I plan to continue as I have a couple more 'cool movies' in the to watch list), I come to the net to read that an exec in WB is saying that the company won't produce any more movies with female leads.

It is even more ironic as I had just seen the new Jodie Foster movie trailer, and upon watching it I thought "Wow! that looks like I movie I will love to see in theaters!" (And I'm still on line to see Invaders, just for Nicole Kidman, so there :P)

Now, I'm going to say something someone probably said already, and probably was said better, but I won't feel good with myself unless I say it too. And this is: "What? So the policy changed from 'very few films with leading women characters to no films with leading women characters?" Because a simple search at the IMDB showed that there hasn't been that many films with leading women characters lately distributed by WB, much less 'action' films with leading women characters.

Looking for movies with only a female leading character, that is not equal, or secondary to a male character led me to find... well, Wonder Woman, theoretically for the 2009, but honestly, who can believe that? The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, for 2008, which I guess would be cataloged as a 'chick flick', PS I love you, that is also a romance film, The Invasion, that is one of the quoted films as cause of the decision, Nancy Drew, another family film, The Reaping, and of course, The Brave One. In the 'female lead and male lead' category I can find One Missed Call, unless they seriously change the original script, I guess Sweeny Todd, judging by the trailer. Out of the first 130 titles, not counting tv series like Gossip Girl. So, in truth, this ain't really a change of politics.

But with such a small percentage of movies with lone female protagonist, how can they decide it's a female protagonist the thing that makes those movies go unseen? Doesn't that go against the comic book idea that you need a busty, usually half dressed female character to sell your comic? (Or is it that no Hollywood actress would agree to wear what the superheroines wear?)

I will be honest. I will go and watch The Brave One, and Invasion, not just because I want to see them, but because hell, anything that proves that it's not true that women in movies don't sell is good in my book. And I'll go and watch Sweenny Todd because there's at least one cool female in that trailer. And then? Well, thankfully Stephen King's The Mist isn't by Warner Bros, so I guess I can live without their movies.

Unless of course I find out they make no money out of movies shown in Mexico. Then, I'll have to look another way to vote with my wallet.

Dead and Breakfast Cool Ladies

Due to a lot of real life and work related issues, I haven't read many comics lately, so, my blog posts can't be about comics unless someone really want to know my opinion on Elf Quest, ten years later. And I write way too much about manga in my job to come home and write a bit more about manga, right now.

Anyway, on to what made me start writing today.

Confession time: I love B-movies. It's my guilty pleasure, and the goriest, the better. If there's a chainsaw in there, I'm in heaven. I like good horror movies, Shaun of the Dead is my current favorite, but B-movies have a special something that makes them very special. And yes, that love makes that sometimes, renting a movie is quite dangerous, since we can end with something very, very bad. Near unwatchable.

So, Dead and Breakfast was a surprise. We (my friend Sam and I) saw the trailer when we rented Apocalypse Alien. Word of warning though, don't rent Apocalypse Alien. Not even a hard core fan of Bruce Cambpell could find something watchable there. But the Dead and Breakfast trailer looked fun, had zombies line dancing, and well... As my friend Au says, Pigeons learn faster than us.

It started bad, and cheezy, and so cliché filled that I felt like I was playing my Horror Movie bingo card. You had the group of young adults who may take drugs in a small van getting lost and going to a small little creepy town, you had your small creepy house, manned by your tall and creepy old asian guy (Played by none other than David Carradine, no less) and before you got any real feeling for any of the characters, people start getting wacked with axes.

(I just have to say, though, that the songs are hilarious)

Anyway, in the group there are three women. I had labeled them as 'the annoying one', 'the blonde one' and 'the one who won't keep screaming and I hope she dies before the first half an hour is gone'.

And while 'the annoying one', played by Bianca Lawson (Kendra from Buffy) didn't made me change my mind (Seriously, who starts discussing with her boyfriend about their relationship during a zombie outbreak?), the other two? Blew my mind.

'The blonde one', Sara, played by Ever Carradine, somehow passed from being 'the friend we brought along becuase... we needed a third' to 'the girl who actually went around the house looking for something to defend ourselves with' to, in a moment that totally strains the disbelief, but somehow manages to work, being the one who makes a shotgun out of household items. She also is the one who figures things out, and the one who gets the coolest fight scene in the movie when presented with the typical 'evil bad guy is coming to get you' moment. She's just that cool.

And the other one? Sure, she starts screaming. And she only starts doing something after she gets paired up with the cute guy. But she reacts in a way that's pretty natural for someone who is suddenly trying to survive getting killed by their best friends, then has to watch as someone opens a dead body, removes their bones, and cleans them to make stakes. All in all, the fact that she didn't faint, makes her a cool lady in my book.

Also, there's something quite odd with the male characters, and it's the fact that we never get a male hero in this movie. Or, rather, the role of the male hero keeps changing, as the guys drop faster than flies. The 'good guy' who prays over accidental roadkill is the first one to get zombified and thus becomes the evil guy quite early in the film, the 'rebel without a cause' starts quite well as the leader, trying to find his missing friends, until he gets beheaded just as the first big fight erupts, then the 'idiotic boyfriend' steps up as the main character, keeping the girls safe and in general acting like our stereotypical hero of a horror movie, Ash-school, until he too gets zombified way, way early in the second fight. Then the male lead becomes the sheriff of the town (Played by Papa Winchester, I wish I could remember his name), which is all good until he too gets killed less than half an hour after he became the one to listen to. Finally, we get the mystic drifter, the one who knows what the hell is going on about, who, although he survives, gets knocked out of the fight right before he can stop the zombies.

Who stops the zombies, do you ask? Well, the girl who kept screaming that they were all going to die.

And while I would've loved it if clumsy boyfriend survived (He had a nice death, btw, getting himself chopped with a chainsaw), it's an interesting take on why girls tend to survive horror films. It's not just because they run. It's also because they know when to run, and when to take a stand. (Or at least, my favorite horror movie lead ladies know when to do that)

Die Hard has hardcore heroines

Ok, this post came to be for two reasons. Reason number one, yesterday I went to see Live Free or Die Hard and I'm still on an adrenaline high. Reason number two, while answering an anonymous on my previous Girl Characters post, and chatting with my friend Leigh I remembered something that happened during the movie and it all makes sense in my head so...

Die Hard.

(Warning, there will be spoilers here)

If I tell anyone that Die Hard has kickass heroes, no one will doubt me. Maybe the plural part, but come on, Jhon McClane is worth at least two Batmans (Sue me, I'm highly biased). The man could take out 12 terrorists without shoes, and how cool is that?

However, if I say that the women in Die Hard are kickass, I will be meet by blank stares.

But stay with me. I'll make my point. I swear.

See Die Hard 1. We meet Holly Gennero, and just by that name we know that she's a take charge lady. She's married, yeah, but she put her career first. She loves her husband, but she had to do some hard choices, and her career came first. And she might sound a bit bitchy, compared to mr. I just bought our kid a giant teddy bear, but she's a take charge kind of woman. When the terrorists arrive, she doesn't lose her cool. She's the one person who confronts Hans, and in the moment she realizes that her husband is the one making short work of the terrorists, she makes damn sure she won't make things more difficult to him. She might not be out there shooting guns and breaking necks, but she keeps her cool, and even at the end, having a gun point blank at her face, she tries to stay calm enough not to be on the way of her husband.

Now that's a cool lady.

See Die Hard 2. She's still Holly McClean, she's still out of the action for most of the film, but then we realize that the one who actually took the idiot reporter to task for what he did was her. We saw her punch him at the end of the first one, mostly as a gag, but now we find that she actually broke two of his teeth, AND that there's a restriction order against her (Why, when he put her and her husband in danger, I don't know). Anyway, when everyone in the plane gets hysterical over the reporter's irresponsible reveal of the terrorist plot, Holly doesn't panic, she doesn't get hysterical. She grabs a taser and takes care of the idiot. THEN she goes to pray, and hopes as hell that someone down there is doing their job.

Man, she's still a cool lady.

I don't remember much of the third movie, to be honest. It's the one I like less of the three, but I do remember that there are no important women in that film, even when Holly is still an important part of Jhon's life.

Which bring us to Live Free or Die Hard.

While there was a woman henchmen in Die Hard 3 -and I honestly don't remember what happens to her- Mai, the girlfriend of the main baddie this time, is as take charge as her boyfriend. In fact, she's more of a take charge type of person, as we notice from the beginning that the henchmen report to her first, and later to her boyfriend. And when she fights McClean? That scene alone was worth my ticket.

Why? Well, for starters, it's a vicious fight.

Vicious in both parts. While the camera cuts and we never see his fist connect to her face, it is obvious that he does punch her with all his strength. And she answers in kind. She, in fact, throws him out of the window, forcing him to then have to use a van to stop her.

There was nothing in that fight that required that Mai was a woman. There was nothing in that fight that requiered a male henchman. Mai had to be there, because her character was the type that would be there, and the type that, after McClane did short work of her other henchmen, would take things in her hands. She dies, of course, but she goes down kicking ass, and even her last action is, in a mirror to that of Alan Rickman, an attempt to shoot McClane. (It also has to be noted that, of all the bad guys it is her the one who thinks of bringing up the file on Jhon McClane. Smart, strong, and evil. Cool woman)

Someone next to me complained that the scene was violent against woman. I answered "What? Did you expect him to ask her to surrender nicely?" Because that would've been a lot more disrespectful, and something seen in many action movies. The woman fighter gets the upper hand because the main bad guy (Or the main good guy, depending of the type of film) underestimated her. And of course 'gentlemen don't hit women' which is a perfectly good thing in real life (In my book, anyone who hits anyone else is an idiot. Violence doesn't solve anything) but in writing someone who is trying to save his own life... One can forgive a moment of not caring of the gender of the person pointing the gun at you.

So yeah, Mai dies. And she dies after the longest, coolest fight scene in the whole film. Because man, of all the henchmen that the main baddie had, she was the coolest. (Or maybe, second coolest. Spiderboy was cool too)

And then there's Lucy Gennero, Jhon's daughter who in her mom's tradition is now denying his surname. That happens to McClean a lot. And of course, the terrorists kidnap her. But from moment one is obvious that she's not that dumb, as she does ask for identification before trusting the fake FBI guys -so she can't distinguish a fake ID. So can't I. That doesn't make any of us dumb- and she is dragged kicking and biting to the main bad's headquarters.

And when the bad guy lets her talk through a walkie to her dad so she'll beg for her life, what does she say?

"There are still five."

At gunpoint, kidnapped, just having heard that she's going to die, and what does she do? She tells her father how many terrorist are still there. She doesn't scream, she doesn't cry, she doesn't beg.

That's a hard core heroine.

That's the kind of heroines I like to read about. If it makes sense for her to literally kick ass, then have her literally kick ass. If it doesn't make sense, if she has to be kidnapped and tied up, well, kidnap and tie her up, but don't reduce her to a drooling mess of quivering fear if it doesn't make sense for her to be like that.

I could guarantee there would be less complains from women readers if that happened, you know?