(you get a cookie if you get the reference.)

1. This is more of a public service announcement, really: Peter Milligan is joining the already-packed-with-goodness Standard Attrition blog. Like G. Willow Wilson, Brian Wood, Jason Aaron, Cliff Chiang, Jock, and David Lapham weren’t enough. (There’s also a link to a LOCAL short film over there, so this is a two-for-one. Go already.)

2. Smart comics writers writing about other smart comics: Kieron Gillen takes apart Scott Pilgrim 5, peers at its insides, pokes at it a bit, and then still leaves me wanting to read it more than I ever have in the past. This is what good criticism does, people. It improves the reading experience.

3. Speaking of smart people writing about comics, Leigh and Laura are still killing it at the Cereblog. (Cerebus being yet another thing I haven’t tackled yet, and taunts me from the same sort of place that Finnegans Wake does: “Do you have the ovaries to do it, kid? Do ya? I dare you…”)

4. Girl-Wonder.org needs your help! Some of the best comics criticism I’ve read has come from the bloggers at Girl-Wonder, and they aim high. I don’t have a lot of time to help volunteer with them, but if you do, drop on in and let them know. At least I can help out by spreading the word, right?

5. In news that shocks no one, Becky Cloonan is still awesome. In news that made my fangirl heart go “Squee!” Becky Cloonan is writing a Buffy comic. (Yeah, I’m late to the game on this one, but shush. Becky Cloonan is awesome.)

6. As much as I loved Wednesday’s Child’s recap of the Graphic Novels and Academic Acceptance panel, I did not love the writeup on the Women in Comics panel. First a person who is admittedly not a comics fan slags the panel off, and then Paul, who did not go to the panel, agrees? I was at the panel, and while yes, I had my own problems with it (some of the questions, yes, were a bit obvious) I certainly didn’t share the writer here’s utter contempt for it.

I’ve stated before that I don’t think “strong” women characters are the answer, nor that feminine has to be obliterated, but the gender-essentializing here grated on my last nerve. Citing one’s female friend saying “she knows there are clear differences between her and a man” doesn’t make the argument any less annoying. I don’t want women in comics “masculinized,” but neither do I want anyone making arguments that to make them central characters or action heroes is necessarily making them masculine. Picking on Abby Denson’s portrayal of Aunt May as the entire focus of the panel is not only wrong, but conflating two arguments. If you want to read Denson’s Aunt May comics and critique them, fine. Don’t claim that everyone on the panel wanted to turn every female character in comics into Spider-Man, because that was pretty clearly not the case.

I am picking here because I enjoyed Paul DeBenedetto’s other writings so much that I clearly think he could do better than this. (I also think women in comics panels would be better with a larger cross-section of the industry represented, and that was reflected in the comparative difference between this panel and the Men are from Krypton, Women are from Paradise Island one.)

No, no, it will never end!

Actually, Graphic Novels and Academic Acceptance was one of the panels that I didn’t catch and desperately wanted to. It was at the same time as another panel I needed to catch, and so when Dean Haspiel passed along this link to the Wednesday’s Child blog and this excellent recap of the panel, I was thrilled to read it.

This passage in particular caught my eye, but I urge you to read the whole thing.

One person commented that when he teaches comics he uses them as a pedagogical tool. For example, he makes his students read Watchmen, which in turn prepares them to read Plato; it teaches them the way they SHOULD read. Comics can teach you how to see the world in different ways, yet its really easily accessible to a lot of people. This was an interesting point to me, because first it implies that the way one reads comics is the “correct” way to read. If this statement is true its a pretty big step in the right direction for comics as far as academic acceptance, though I suspect its a bit of a stretch. Secondly, it presupposes that comics are so accessible, yet I’m not completely sure that’s the case either. Just the idea of it as niche culture, as it is in our society today, creates a sort of inaccessibility that the average person may find frightening.

As a somewhat overeducated comics fan myself, and a huge supporter of teaching comics, I find all of this fascinating, and I really wish I’d been able to catch the panel. Still, this blog captured so well the feeling of being there–so thanks, Paul!

The best panel I saw all weekend was titled “Men are from Krypton, Women are from Paradise Island.” Moderated by Barbara Randall Kesel, and featuring Jimmy Palmiotti, Colleen Doran, Abby Denson, Jamal Igle and Randy Stradley, the panel was designed to discuss whether both men and women were being served properly by comics.

That may sound dry, but what ensued was a lively discussion that touched on all sorts of subjects relating to gender in comics. The panelists wisecracked and disagreed with one another, but the conversation stayed civil and more than that: it stayed productive.

The panelists started off discussing the common assumption that girls will read books featuring boy characters, but that boys won’t read books starring a female. Doran corrected, “Boys will read comics featuring girl characters if they get an upskirt shot.”

She continued, noting that “Fantasy is usually narcissistic in nature,” and that people want to read about characters they can identify with.

Kesel pointed out that she’s seen the depictions of women in comics stretch dramatically, and noted that the con atmosphere is different now. “I have to share my private restroom,” she joked, and indeed, her panel was so full that the aisles were lined with people sitting on the floor, and the door was held open so that those who couldn’t fit in the room could stand in the hallway and listen.

The best part of the debate, for me, though, was that the panel and the crowd were diverse. After all, gender issues affect men and women, gay and straight, and everyone.

Igle noted the need to “recognize that there is more than one type of girl. People are not so easily quantified.”

Palmiotti agreed, and said that “Painkiller Jane was our reaction to characters based on big boobs…I don’t want to do it about her body. I was just writing something that I wanted to see.”

Doran noted that Palmiotti, and other male writers who do a good job with women characters, actually like women as people. “Only men who love their mothers should be able to write women,” she cracked.

Doran spoke about her earlier experiences with A Distant Soil when it first came out, noting that “I went out of my way to make the men attractive to women and I was excoriated for it.”

Kesel asked the panel if they agreed with the gross generalization that women are more interested in how the events of a comic affect the characters. Palmiotti and Denson both disagreed, and Stradley noted that he asks all his writers to give him one sentence on plot, one on characters, and one on story. “Story is why we care,” he said.

Kesel agreed. “If you create strongly evocative, complicated characters, people can get into it.”

“I don’t necessarily want to see muyself in it. I just don’t want to see anything stupid,” Doran said.

An audience member asked about Y the Last Man as a good example of women in comics, but Kesel actually disagreed. “Y the Last Man put on the table every possible annoying cliche of what women are. It was fascinating and wrong.”

(As a personal aside, I agree with Kesel about Y and I see it most often put forth as men’s idea of what women want to see in comics, and that’s missing the point. We don’t need books to be 100-to-1 female-to-male characters if the male character is still the focal point and best character.)

The panel was then asked if the artist has a responsibility to project a positive image.

Igle said, “It depends on the story. I never want to see Supergirl’s panties again.” He noted that when he first took over the book, the first thing he did was to change her uniform.

The panelists joked about Power Girl and her…assets, and Kesel joked “You can use that against villains! If their eyes are going right there…”

Doran said, “I feel absolutely no responsibility to uphold somebody else’s values…I do what is appropriate for the story. People bring their own baggage.”

She also noted, “Just because somebody doesn’t buy your book, that’s not censorship.” All fans have the right to vote with their dollars, to read what they like and avoid what they don’t.

Kesel noted that with characters like Supergirl, “You have character and commodity, and you have a corporation that is very protective of the commodity.”

Another audience member asked about the portrayal of transgender and bisexual characters, now that gay and lesbian characters are starting to break into mainstream comics. Kesel pointed out that there is one category of comics that don’t deal with sexuality at all, and so the presumption of heterosexuality covers all of that.

The panel agreed that as the field of comics writers and artists gets more diverse, more diverse characters get into the books and get treated as normal–and that this is excellent for comics. Beyond different categories of characters, different styles of art and writing, comics can widen perceptions of what is normal and introduce readers to people and places they’ve never been.

“This is how we start,” Igle said. “We have these conversations about gender and about sexuality.”

And if this panel was any indication, there is not only an audience hungry for those conversations (and willing to stand in the hallway to hear them) but every possibility of having them and having them be productive, helpful, supportive, pleasant environments to exchange ideas.

Bravo to all the panelists. I would LOVE to see more discussions like this in comics.

Hello, darlings. It’s 9:30 on Monday evening and I’m finally sitting down on my own couch for the first time since Thursday.

Each time I come back from a comics convention, I’m even more in love with comics. We have such a bizarre, beautiful little community and it’s full, for the most part, of sincere love, not irony and posturing.

I see grown-ups letting loose and playing in costume like kids, and I hear panel discussions on everything from all-ages comics to Vertigo Crime.

In addition, I get to see people I’ve met before, catch up, and I get to meet people whose work I’ve loved for years (shaking Colleen Doran’s hand was a personal high). I get to discover new artists and new comics, and talk to people from the smallest indie houses and the biggest names in the industry.

I’m not trying to brag that I have great connections. The point is that anyone can do all that stuff, just by going to the convention. We have a uniquely accessible world, and it’s a wonderful thing.

Hey everyone. Now that the doors are closed and the crowds have dispersed, I thought I’d share a few of my best pictures from the convention with you. Hope you enjoy!

The Watchbanana!

(more below the jump)

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DC’s NYCC ‘09 Batman panel focused on the franchise’s plans post-Cheap Batman Stunt Event 2008/2009 post-Batman: R.I.P. During the panel DC announced a slew of new titles debuting in June, and the one that piqued my interest the most was Detective Comics, by Greg Rucka and J.H. Williams, and starring Batwoman.  So far DC hasn’t done anything with Batwoman to make me really give a damn about her, but I am all over this. Rucka’s run on Detective back in 2000 was some really great stuff, and hot damn a 12-issue run by Williams is cause for celebration.

The Q&A session of the panel featured a couple of interesting tidbits as well:

Since there’s no Nightwing book, does that mean there’s no Nightwing? Rucka: There’s a character in Action Comics named Nightwing.-

When will we see Nightwing’s lair again? Tomasi: Unfortunately, the lair is not going to be around. Sattler: Along with Nightwing, possibly.

Oh man, I hope DC isn’t trying to work everyone into a frenzy of anxiety by teasing Nightwing’s death again. If they’re really planning on killing off Nightwing, that makes me think that they have no idea what their fans really want. Nobody wants Dick Grayson dead, except for Dan Didio.

On the other hand, the hints Rucka, Tomasi and Stattler dropped likely just mean that Grayson is briefly retiring the Nightwing identity. With another character named Nightwng appearing in the Superman books, and with Grayson the leading candidate to assume the Batman identity something had to give.

What’s the motivation of those three characters who are battling for the cowl? Why isn’t Dick Grayson the obvious choice?   Daniel: Well, Grayson doesn’t think there should be a new Batman. He thinks he’s irreplaceable. But they all realize that without him, Gotham is a mess. But Tim might have a different idea, and think maybe he should step up before someone else takes over Gotham.

It’s funny, but I was just thinking about this the other day. Batman’s “leave of absence” puts the Bat-family in a tough spot. Batman can’t and shouldn’t be replaced, and I don’t think that Tim or Dick would really want to accept the mantle. But Batman has become such an important symbol for justice in Gotham City that without him, the criminal element would grow overly confident and inspire them to run rampant throughout the city. Gotham City needs a Batman to keep all hell from breaking loose. The fact that Tony Daniel understands that gives me confidence that allowing him to write the Battle For The Cowl series is a good idea.

And finally:

How did Tim Drake grow his hair back?   Marts: Fabian has an answer for that and it will be addressed.

I’m sure that by that point in the panel, all the really good questions were already asked, but gee whiz… was this something that was keeping the inquirer awake at night? And is there a really more compelling answer for that than “He waited for it to grow back, and it did”?

This morning, I hit the Friends of Lulu-sponsored panel on the representation of women in comics, moderated by writer Abby Denson.

Robin Furth, writer behind the Dark Tower Stephen King adaptations, Mariko Tamaki (writer of the Minx book Emiko Superstar, among others) and her cousin, artist Jillian Tamaki, editor Calista Brill of First Second books, and Chris Butzer of Rabid Rabbit.

The Tamakis agreed that there were lots of amazing, incredible, diverse voices of women in comics outside of the superhero world.

Mariko joked, “Cheers if you’re wearing a homemade catsuit here today,” and Robin Firth agreed. “It’s how you wear it.”

The problem, in other words, isn’t the outfits. “The frustrating thing is when you never see yourself in comics,” Mariko said. “The power of being in this position is that you can put yourself out there.”

Furth noted that the range of body types in comics is expanding.

Jillian noted that even when male writers write sympathetic female characters with a range of body types, the bodies end up being fetishized to some degree (for example, the Hernandez Brothers’ work).

“I got really good at being a boy,” Furth said, pointing out that she grew up on adventure stories and she was never in them. She said as well that when she appeared at a con in England, people expected a man and were surprised to see her show up.

The authors noted that women and men should all be able to write for women or men, and of all ages.

“What is pushing the boundaries in one time period then becomes the norm in another,” Jillian said, pointing out that there are lots of women in underground and indie comics. She compared it to cooking, an interesting metaphor, because many women are cooks but top chefs tend to be male.

Chris Butzer, the only man on the panel, noted, “Comics have always been an outsider’s art form.”

Butzer said that he wants to work on a historical comic about Harriet Tubman geared at an adult audience, rather than children, so he can properly deal with the real historical complexity of the character.

Furth noted that the culture is changing and the popular perception of women and what they can do is changing as well.

Mariko pointed out that the women at the indie shows are doing comics on their own, not being supported and making a living at it. “The question is, how do we filter these stories into the mainstream? Because it would be nice to see women making a living at comics,” she said.

The first big piece of news from NYCC that caught my eye was the announcement the Chris Claremont, the architect of the modern X-Men universe, would once again return to the franchise that is, in the eyes of some fans, synonymous with his name in X-Men: Forever.  The series, which will feature artwork by Claremont’s New Exiles partner, Tom Grummett, will take the seminal mutant team forward in an alternate continuity that uses X-Men #1, the point where Claremont initially ended his original run in 1991, as a starting point.

Claremont: Coming back to the X-Men is never difficult. Quite the contrary, it’s a true pleasure, like visiting old and dear friends. [X-Men] Forever allows me not just to pick up where I left off, but to show the reader the unexpected. Forever allows me to pick up where I left off with the freedom to take the series in whole new—and unfettered—directions. The characters here are totally up for grabs. All of the presumptions that we’ve gotten used to over time no longer apply; relationships that we’ve come to take for granted are suddenly cast in question.

Think about that a moment—say we’re used to a romantic relationship between a couple of characters. But suppose that applecart gets overturned, suppose one of the characters finds themselves attracted to someone new and unexpected, what then? Suppose we go down that road, where might it lead?

Reaction from the fans has been… well, let’s just say “mixed” and keep it civil. Chris Claremont’s best work is behind him, partly due to sweeping changes in the way comics are written since Claremonts heyday, and partly due to uninspired ideas in Claremont’s own scripts (what’s the over/under on how many issues until an X-Man goes on a mind-controlled rampage?).

But this book isn’t for the average comic book fan, or even most die-hard X-Men fans. X-Men: Forever is for the fans (like me) who grew up reading Uncanny X-Men, New Mutants and Excalibur; the fans who’ll buy any X-project with his name on it in the hopes that it will recapture even a spark of the old glory the X-Men once had under his direction. For us, the accusations that Claremont is washed-up are way off-base. His X-Treme X-Men run was good more often than not, and his previous returns to the main X-Men titles have been better than he’s been given credit for. X-Men: Forever is the kind of book that’s right in Claremont’s wheelhouse; he can cherry-pick the characters he wants to use and not have to worry about editorial mandates gumming up his plans. He could even go back and finish some of the ongoing storylines that were abruptly ended with his initial departure. Remember how Gambit was a shady, conniving rogue when Claremont first introduced him? Rumor has it that Claremont originally intended for Gambit to be a henchman in Mr. Sinister’s employ, acting as a double agent in the X-Men. Wouldn’t that be a lot more interesting take on the character than the emo, Rogue-loving pansy he became in other writers’ hands?

True, X-Men: Forever is going to cater to a specific fanbase, but if nothing else, it couldn’t possibly be any worse than a majority of X-Men stories we’ve seen in the past eighteen years, right?  (I’m looking at you, Draco and Onslaught.)

*What is it with comic conventions and kitty cat ears? Is it something I miss out on by not watching enough anime/reading manga? Clearly, must investigate further.

*Paid $4.25 for Vitamin Water. I now cannot afford to eat.

*Panel rooms look vaguely like holding cells. Giant cement pillars, greyish-beigeish walls, rows of chairs…

*Lots of women, at least at the Disney panel. This is a Good Thing.

*Still seeing giveaway bags with Hellboy II: The Golden Army on them. Left over from the summer cons?

*Apparently the things that look like toilet seats around people’s necks are promos for Dead Like Me.