The news of the week as far as I’m concerned is the return of Ted Kord as Blue Beetle, my all-time favourite male superhero, to DC Comics. And yeah, Booster’s coming too. I am officially going to start reading Justice League 3000 now, because REASONS. Much love to Tara O’Shea, who let me know about this exciting development on Twitter, because I was one of only 2 people she knew who would care. YES I CARE.
And for those of you who share Friday Night is Arrow Night with me in real life, no I’m not gonna stop squealing with anticipation every time someone walks past a box labelled Kord Industries.
In other news, NY Mag put up a piece recently on the Most Feminist Moments in Sci Fi History. It’s a good list.
Bitch Magazine calls out the portrayal of Hollywood’s “strong female characters” as humourless. I think they might have a point about one particular type of geek-approved tough lady character, but the comments quite rightly point out the many exceptions. In particular, that they discuss all the main female characters in this year’s Marvel movies EXCEPT Black Widow, who combines stoic competence and toughness with wisecracking. (I’d also add Starbuck as a recent iconic ‘tough’ female action hero who was also pretty damn funny at times)
Having said that, if their point is that we need more female protagonists like Buffy and Xena, who get all the best jokes in their own show, I’m not going to argue.
Speaking of strong, awesome, funny women, Locus recently interviewed the amazing Nicola Griffith – here are some excerpts from her interview, talking about (among other things) women as characters, writing sex, violence and religion, the future volumes of Hild, and why science fiction isn’t a clubhouse full of just white guys any more.
At i09, the greatest black women in superhero comics (who aren’t Storm).
The Mary Sue looks at the interesting range of female protagonists you can find in Seinen manga and anime – where the target demographic is adult men. You mean male readers can enjoy good stories about women? GET OUT.
And at Boing Boing, What’s Right With Hermione – the continuing importance of a fictional character role model for smart, hard-working young women.
EDIT: How could I forget to mention that Alison Bechdel won a freaking MacArthur Grant? Because she is in fact a genius, but how brilliant is it that she is recognised as such?
The following video has nothing to do with anything in these links, but its existence makes me stupidly happy. Think of it as a slightly late throwback Thursday.