I decided to try an experiment where a lot of the topics I planned to blog about during the week -- but was too crazed schedule-wise to get to -- I post here. A catch-all of controversy, musings, and personal ephemera. Let's give it a shot, shall we?
First they came for my Supergirl knicker collection, then my Alan Moore
Technically, if a group of people pressure a comics publisher to not publish art or images of a certain prurient nature, and said publisher capitulates: does that mean that censorship has won? Or is the high-brow or low-brow nature of the art in question a factor? I believe that in the comics industry, some advocates for free speech remain conveniently silent when Supergirl's knickers are successfully covered up. Are there no tears shed for Supergirl's thong among those passionate advocates for our innate rights to self-expression? How about from the crowd who says they are so hyped about freedom of expression, they would even defend the rights of neo-Nazis to have free speech? The buck stops at so-called "trashy" comix. Oh, I'm sorry:
comics, not comix. If it was "comix," then that would be different.
Not that I care, I'm just playing devil's advocate. Whatever floats your boat is fine with me. Especially if it Twitter trends.
The Day NASCAR Killed Comics
I love when pundits insinuate that because a webcomic is sponsored by a major publisher, it is somehow not a "real" webcomic. I love the controversy surrounding the Harvey Awards nominations, because it brings the topic of what is and what is not "art" in comics to the fore, and along with it people's prejudices. Not that I don't believe in one being a discerning comic book aficionado. But I think there were no bigger instigating factors regarding the public outcry over the noms than two facts: 1) NASCAR is a red state icon, and 2) Zuda is owned by DC "Cue The Imperial Guard Theme Music" Comics.
"WE NEED TO CANCEL THE HARVEY AWARDS BECAUSE NASCAR WAS NOMINATED!"
I mean, holy crap. I love that. Can we do that for all nominations that we don't like? I wanted to do that when I was a little kid and Gandhi got the Oscar instead of E.T. I was really pissed off. I loved that f**king animatronic puppet.
You know what was considered low-brow entertainment back in the day? E.C. Comics.
You know, what I don't get sometimes is how the E.C. Comics horror line could be seen as so edgy and modern now when they were basically your old standard blood-and-guts fire-and-brimstone morality plays. I used to wonder if it was possible to make a comic or a movie that is both highly gory and moralistic. Yes, and yes. I saw this cheap direct-to-something movie the other day that was like boobies, boobies, blood, and intestines more than halfway through, and then became really moral towards the end. Complete with a busload of Jesus Camp children. I kid you not.
Anyway, I'm up for creating a new comic book award: The Liefelds. But it doesn't award best comic book talent. Instead, the Liefelds are given to those bloggers and pundits who can come up with the best bitching about comics that they think suck and are beneath them. I mean, truly epic bitching. I have stuff to submit for this year, perhaps from this very column. I'm also up for the morality play about the busload of Jesus Camp children. I'm very versatile.
Wing-Head Versus The Boy Scout
I'm really hyped for Independence Day, but I don't want to seem like a yahoo about it. I don't want to seem passé or hopelessly unhip. I mean, even GI Joe has dumped the "Real American Hero" angle in that new movie that's coming out. And I heard that's really working out well for them.
The truth is, if you go out on a blog and say: THANK GOD FOR AMMMMMMERICA and stuff like that, some people think you're a yahoo, ascribe to you all sorts of sinister agendas. The only one who really can get away with it is Captain America. I sincerely think that's the last stars-and-stripes icon that doesn't provoke immediate derision among the cognoscenti. I think ol' Cap is less bashed by the postmodernist comic book writer than Superman is. Both stand for the Red, White, and Blue. Literally. But why do the deconstructors of our childhood mythologies hate on Superman just a bit more?
Notable: I have no photo of Rocky Balboa on my wall, but I do have one of Apollo Creed in that full red-white-and-blue Uncle Sam boxing outfit with the top-hat. I have it next to Tony Manero from "Saturday Night Fever" and Nosferatu.
"Zowie, She's Gay!"
Wow, there are still new mainstream online news outlets finding out about "Lesbian Batwoman" after how many years? What can you say, the story's got legs. And the rest of her isn't too bad either (Ed McMahon: hahahaha).
Does that sound kinda offensive to you? "Lesbian Batwoman?" That's pretty much the tone of the majority of these news stories: "LESBIAN BATWOMAN!!!!" In one of those articles, Greg Rucka was described as "growling" when asked about the lesbian angle. He was so offended about any insinuation that the lesbianism was a gimmick, or that it was being used as a selling point, that he was described as growling. That was a very dramatic moment in the history of LGBTs in comics. I think we've come very far.
DC's shocked (simply shocked!) that the media is picking up on the lesbian angle. And more than shocked, they are dismayed and embarrassed. That was not what they meant to happen at ALL.
The most refreshing thing I've ever seen was a movie where there was a gay main character and nobody made a big deal about it. You may not have heard of this film. I think that's the point.
Oh, the fine line we have to walk between promotion and excess. But we have to walk it, don't we?
Marathon
Last Sunday I think I wrote the best thing I've ever done in my life. Finished the entire project in one day, 12 hours straight. Given the scope of the project, that was way too intense a time-frame to pack it in. But I just couldn't stop. It frightened me, because I wrote it and I felt like:
this is it. Like all these years I worked and worked just to get to the point where I committed this particular thing to paper.
Wouldn't you like to know what it is? Maybe, one day, I will tell you.
Like I said, it's a fine line. ;-)
And This Has Been...
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Valerie D'Orazio is a former editor at DC Comics, is presently president of the Friends of Lulu and is probably best known as the Occasional Superheroine
Comics-Op is ©2009 Valerie D'Orazio
