Something I’ve always found very interesting in the comics industry is something I’d call “mirroring.” If Marvel, for example, has Civil War coming up, well, DC is not far behind with Infinite Crisis. If the Sinestro Corps War is tearing up the spaceways in the DCU, well, so is Annihilation over at Marvel. Ultimate Universe, meet All-Star Universe. And so on.
So I’ve seen some interesting announcements over the past few weeks, which I thought I’d share. Over at New York Comic Con, DC announced one of the more untraditional titles to be coming out of their Battle for the Cowl event: Gotham City Sirens. Starring Catwoman, Harley Quinn, and Poison Ivy, the Paul Dini-penned book is meant to be a “bad girl team-up book” as the three fight for their lives, which to me is an interesting premise in the wake of Birds of Prey’s finale. Check out the cover via the Source:
But remember what I said about mirroring? Last night, over MySpace’s My Cup O’ Joe (with Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning taking over for Joe Quesada — hey, is that mirroring when somebody took over Jimmy Palmiotti’s column?) had an interesting announcement: a new title called Marvel Divas.
Writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa described the concept as such: “The idea behind the series was to have some sudsy fun and lift the curtain a bit and take a peep at some of our most fabulous super heroines. In the series, they’re an unlikely foursome of friends–Black Cat, Hell Cat, Firestar, and Photon–with TWO things in common: They’re all leading double-lives and they’re all having romantic trouble. The pitch started as “Sex and the City” in the Marvel Universe, and there’s definitely that “naughty” element to it, but I also think the series is doing to a deeper place, asking question about what it means…truly means…to be a woman in an industry dominated by testosterone and guns. (And I mean both the super hero industry and the comic book industry.) But mostly it’s just a lot of hot fun.”
So — two books with different casts and very different premises, but also two books filling similar niches in their universes, and trying to capture that most elusive of markets: women. What do you think — is there one particular series you dig more? What do you want to see?
April 10th, 2009 at 11:00 am
Doesn’t having Black Cat and Hell Cat on the same team seem like overkill? Although it’s interesting that you need two “Cat” women to equal Catwoman.
April 10th, 2009 at 11:26 am
I’ve been really excited for Gotham Sirens. And I am interested to see how Marvel Divas play out. I am glad to see Firestar back as I’ve liked her since the 90’s in New Warriors
I just hope they are written well and not like a soap opera as most men tend to write women books :/
April 10th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
… well, Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn are at least actual friends already, whereas the Marvel team seems like a bag of four superheros everyone kind of likes who don’t currently have books.
April 10th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
I’m a hell of a lot more interested in Marvel Divas based solely off the fact that it’s Aguirre-Sacasa writing and not Dini.
His blatant Zatanna fetish aside, Dini’s Harley/Poison Ivy storylines tend to read like masturbation fantasies. One top of that, putting an artist as T&A-centric as Guillem March on this book basically confirms that Gotham City Sirens is meant to be read one-handed.
April 11th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
The idea that either of these series are aimed at women is more than a little insulting.
April 12th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
*facepalm* why would anyone think that the “sex in the city” model is appealing to female readers of comic books? i love that they can’t just go beat the crap out of things, they have to be defined by their “romantic trouble”. I don’t know what crazy ideas they have about women.
I’m always a little wary about things so clearly aimed at women but then the women are super sexualized?? I guess I trust Dini way, way more and it looks like they’ll actually have adventures and beat the hell out of things so Sirens wins.
April 12th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvel_Divas
After reading the wiki-link and learning more about Hellcat and Photon I’m tentatively on board with Marvel Divas. I love the premise I just fear the concept idea, to hear it described as “hot fun” and “a parody of Sex & The City” is not the best way to sell it. But because of Roberto I’m willing to give it a shot.
As for Gotham City Sirens, I’m a lot more familiar with how they’re connected so even before reading it I kinda get it. I’m in- I’ll give both a shot and reserve judgment for later.
April 26th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
Geez, Marvel finally got that Sex & The City type book out that’s been talked about since Jemas was around and had She-Hulk in it.