Small Shift: Ring The Bell!

This week has been a little slow for me comic wise.  Probably because I just can't match the intensity seen by last week's Marvel live event.  It's not like there's nothing exciting this week for comics.  Harley Quinn #14 from DC, Deadpool #41 and Inhumans #11 from Marvel, and just a gigantic slew of great comics from every independent publisher.  However it's just a bit slow or just unappealing to me for some reason this week.  It's sad, and probably because it's just too hot where I'm sitting right now I can't get hyped for much.  However, for some reason....  There is a series which has come back to nag me for a re-read.

I've talked about manga previously, and like all comic book mediums I find something I like everywhere.  In manga there are the obvious ones like Toriko, early Naruto, Rurouni Kenshin, Monster, Kekkaishi, Yu Yu Hakusho, Shiki, and several others.  (Even History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi makes it into manga I enjoy).  Even though, there's one I like probably above all others.  I speak of course of Hajime no Ippo.

Hajime no Ippo isn't exactly a comic most would assume I like so much.  It's not a heroic or supernatural manga really that would fit the mold of superheroes like Bleach or One Piece.  It's not a big psychological magazine like Death Note or anything.  It's a boxing comic.  Seriously.  It's about a boy named Ippo Makunouchi and his life from a humble bullied kid to boxing champion.  Known as "The Fighting" here in the good ol' US, home to Bryan Hawk and David Eagle, the story just more or less follows Ippo and his comrades at Kamogawa Gym as he trains and fights opponents making his way to title matches both at home and abroad.  But every series offers that, so what makes this one so unique to me?

Well, it's a toned down series to be honest despite it being a shonen series.  It can be pretty flashy, and some of the fights can go out of hand (and extremely long), but overall it definitely shows an understanding of the boxing world and how fighters work in it which you don't see too much of in other manga.  You could almost say it's a more toned down version of another popular sports manga Kuroko no Basket in how everybody has special moves and traits, but rarely would you say anything borders on the supernatural.  Everybody has their natural talents be they physical, psychological, or simply personal.  Unlike most other shonen series, Ippo is only special due to his extremely resilient body and extremely powerful blows.  "But Mak, you just said-" I know, but this is what I meant by the author, George Morikawa, having a sharp sense of boxing.  Ippo's great strengths are also great weaknesses and are more or less non-repeatable by Ippo himself.  While Ippo is greatly skilled, he is greatly limited as a performance boxer and most of his fights come down to his ability to weather beatings while making other fighters crumple under his power.  Basically he can take their best shots and they build up damage from his powerful, if sometimes just glancing blows until their weapons are gone while Ippo's full power is still available due to his resilience.  It can make many of the fights somewhat predictable, but you definitely feel the excitement and you pretty much get the sense Ippo can only pull this off once per opponent (except Sendo).  When it comes to more skilled boxers, Ippo tends to win just because they're taken off balance by his ridiculous stamina and power, but you know if there was ever a rematch Ippo wouldn't fair as well the second time.  It's not that Ippo can't, because like any other shonen comic Ippo trains like crazy and becomes stronger and varies his arsenal, but it's more like Ippo lacks the true versatility you see in his opponents.

And my what opponents Ippo has.  Mashiba the "Grim Reaper," Sendo the "Naniwa Tiger," and the ultimate rival Miyata, all of whom reflect weaknesses in Ippo.  Mashiba is a very long range combatant with a lethal flicker jab that Ippo struggles with due to his very short range, Sendo is basically more brutal Ippo with less skill, and Miyata is the ultimate in skill with flawless technique.

But still...  Why is this different?  It's not like same/opposite/similar rivals and determinator protagonists are rare in shonen.  What makes this one so much different?  Sure, Ippo fights, but is it the more played down realism I enjoy?  Is it the come back excitement of a KO?  Not exactly.  It's the characters.

"You're kidding me you sick f-" No no.  Hear me out.  Every book has characters, of course.  Supporting and main characters exist in all shonen comics from Naruto's background case in his entire ninja village, to Ichigo Kurosaki's shinigami and non-shinigami allies, to supporting story characters in Yu Yu Hakusho like Koenma and Botan.  But the difference is Naruto's village is filled with fodder you care less about, Ichigo's allies completely overwhelm Ichigo despite not being much, and Koenma and Botan rarely if ever seem more than plot advancing characters.  They all interact, but it just doesn't seem to match a good flow.  Not like HNI's cast.

From Kamogawa Gym itself:

Ippo Makunouchi

Ippo is the determinator and main character.  He fights hard, trains harder, is an all around great guy, isn't stupid, isn't too smart, isn't smug, sometimes is a bit too humble, a bit oblivious, but all around is a character you root for.  You literally find yourself rooting for his win, inevitable or not.  Unlike Ichigo where you're in it for the fast style, Luffy who you feel is righteous, and Naruto to see him save a world, Ippo genuinely captures emotion and pushes the reader to hold their breath.  He's funny, awkward, and just a joy.  Unlike others who carry natural confidence, Ippo requires training to build up confidence and will often overwork himself to get there.  His Sunday Punch is the Dempsey Roll, though he's well known for his devastating Liver Blow, Right Uppercut, and Gazelle Punch.  And he's the tip of the iceberg.

Ippo practicing his fatal uppercut

Takamura Mamoru

Takamura is the guy who pulled Ippo in and is the resident unrepentant and unsympathetic jerkass of Kamogawa Gym.  In the story he is the ideal boxer who will conquer eight weight divisions and has never EVER lost a fight.  He's beat up rooms full of people, outmonstered even the most unbeatable of monsters, and punched a bear so hard he knocked it out.  His ferocity is matched only by his jerk nature.  He commonly picks on his youngers in cruel ways, and particularly Aoki.  He plays pranks, gets in the way, insults, and is well known as an overaggressive pervert.  He molests Aoki's girlfriend while Aoki and said girlfriend (Tomiko) are on the beach, and apologizes to Aoki by claiming she has nice breasts.  It actually starts a hilarious back and forth between Aoki and Takamura which as to be read to believe.  He also outdoes a title holder named Bryan Hawk who is a sickening champion who you can easily hate.  Hawk claims if Japan wants champions he should impregnate all Japanese women.  Takamura comes back after the match and simply says the same thing.  This behavior is recurring as Takamura is commonly in papers with compromising pictures of him potentially assaulting women.  It even happens in the ring with a news reporter when he grabs her and holds her underarm while yelling at the crowd she loves it despite her terror.  It's all played for laughs, but Takamura gets worse every time he pulls these stunts.  The bit where he gives Ippo porno videos interspersed with an actual boxing match is hilarious when it fails to help Ippo and Ippo's mom sees it.  Also, when Takamura gets angry you feel the fear everybody else describes.  It only really happens once, but it leaves an impression.  He hasn't really shown much in the way of special moves to rely on, instead having inhuman strength and instincts.

Takamura making Bryan Hawk look good

Kamogawa Genji aka the Coach

Kamogawa aka the Coach is Ippo's trainer and a great source of inspiration.  He doesn't have to be strong to teach Ippo.  He isn't weak, but he's by no means as strong as everybody else.  He was powerful back in his day, what with PUNCHING LOGS INTO THE SIDES OF HILLS, but those days are past and nobody else has ever done anything that ridiculous.  He serves as Ippo's will, pushing him higher and higher through tricky means to help right Ippo's sometimes wavering attention, helping him as a father figure.  All in all the Coach is inspirational to the reader and helps build up tension and excitement as he talks through matches and delivers intensity with his gruff demeanor.  His old Sunday Punch was the Tekken which was so powerful it shattered a man's ribs in two blows, but also shattered his fist and forced him to retire.

The Coach in a rare smile

Itagaki Manabu

Itagaki.  Alright, I don't care much for him.  Young upstart speedy type who is a bit too big for his britches, even if he will probably someday surpass everybody but Takamura.  He and his family practice horrible puns.  He sort of just picks up moves as he goes along, adopting Miyata's Jolt Counter, Kimura's Dragon Fish Blow, the "Itagaki Shuffle" which was adapted from the Ali Shuffle, but his Sunday Punch is the Hedgehog, which mixes his inhuman speed by landing several precise punches which stack up damage to his opponents and seals their weapons.

Itagki getting a much better scene than he deserves

Kimura Tatsuya

Kimura is a journeyman fighter who helps teach Ippo techniques in defense and footwork.  Described as having zero weaknesses, he also possesses zero strengths and that's what makes him stick where he is.  Alongside Aoki, he reflects the sadness of a veteran who just can't quite make it, several times contemplating retirement and once actually retiring, though he comes back.  He helps to represent the inevitability of boxing for most boxers and plays a lot of the straight man to everybody else in the gym.  When he feels sad, you feel sad.  When he struggles with girl problems, you laugh with the rest of the cast.  You want to see him win, you cheer for him, and you feel your heart stomped on when he loses tragically or laugh hysterically when he draws.  Almost never seen without Aoki, Kimura carries a maturity without being too serious and is always down for fun.  Of all fighters, he is easily the most "normal" in terms of combat style.  His only Sunday Punch is the Dragon Fish Blow which he devised due to pressure of not having a Sunday Punch and relies on a near suicidal mix of diversion and capitalizing on his opponent's focus. His only other high technical skill was a Counter, but even despite his high skill with it, others have better counters including Itagaki.

Kimura really doesn't have any iconic stuff, so here you go

Aoki Masaru aka Broccoman aka the Frog

And finally Aoki who is probably my favorite character.  If Ippo defines the straight forward boxer, Itagaki represents pure unbridled natural skill, Kimura represents strong form and a good mind, and Takamura represents perfection of power, instincts, and natural talent, Aoki represents the tricky veteran.  Aoki is truly the buttmonkey of the entire gym with the shiftiest of records.  He's over the top as a personality, commonly becoming overexcited, perverted, or simply overconfident.  He's the quickest to become overly sad, quickest to start a fight, and quickest to move on the ladies.  In fact, in a manga where every guy is either too shy or unsuccessful with girls, Aoki is the only successful one to have a girlfriend, but it's still a joke.  His girlfriend is considered unattractive, but with a great body.  When the boys go on a multi date, Aoki is the only one who goes home with the girl Tomiko.  Ippo is too shy to make a move on his love interest Kumi, Itagaki wants Kumi but knows Kumi doesn't like him, Takamura is feared by women for his reputation, and Kimura is just unlucky with women.  Aoki has a healthy relationship in contrast, and it's always funny.  He and Takamura actually have an ongoing side story about picking on one another and it is as simple as beating on each other, making fun of each other, or when Takamura gropes Tomiko and Aoki makes Takamura think he's cursed with parasites in his intestines.  Takamura shaves his eyebrows and even gives him a terrible haircut, which backfires when it makes Aoki successful as an advertisement named Broccoman.  But truly what is the most unique of Aoki is his fighting style.  Aoki is an extremely unconventional boxer who specializes in screwing up other boxers.  By this I mean Aoki uses tricks to succeed, tricks so dumb and so far out there it just catches others off guard.  While Aoki has a Sunday Punch, it's more of a trademark and Aoki is simply well known for a variety of tricks.  His best known attack is the Frog Punch which has him crouching all the way down and leaping up like a frog with a powerful uppercut. Playing Dead where he fakes being out of steam so his opponent burns up all their energy trying to KO him and then strikes back during his "Swamp."  The Double Punch where he just sends out both fists.  The Spinning Corkscrew which is a perversion of the Corkscrew punch in how it's not powerful and Aoki turns away.  And what is quite possibly the most dastardly of Aoki's techniques, the Look Away, where Aoki takes advantage of a fighter's focus and sort of looks off in a, "Look over there!" sort of fashion and the opponent (and often the audience) looks to see what it is only for Aoki to cheap shot the opponent.  Commonly people pay to see his matches for a laugh and to see him lose, and it's not even uncommon for the crowd to turn on him and complain about him.

A move so powerful, Takamura even used it once

In truth, the characters make up the entire series for me.  Their interactions out of the ring are absolutely superior to inside the ring.  Fun, heartfelt, energetic, intense, all sorts of things you feel as a reader since the characters are perfectly balanced with one another.  It isn't like many other shonen where people get left behind and are relegated to background, all of them constantly interact and play out their own stories and help each other in different ways.  And this extends to opponents.  I mean it.  Commonly the opponents Ippo fights are as fleshed out and well rounded as the main characters.  You feel for them, you even sort of root for them or feel like you should.  They have heart and soul.  And don't let me fool you, all of the characters are wildly different in "power."  Ippo fights near equals and sometimes fights more powerful/less powerful opponents and trickery makes up the difference.  There isn't the, "MY POWER CANNOT BE SURPASSED!!" which is somehow surpassed by random power ups.  The fights all carry through and it becomes chance or skill or innate toughness which wins.  Usually a single technique cannot solve a fight, and it isn't just Ippo growing in power so much as it is him growing as a fighter.  It's very hard to explain but very different from what you see in comics like One Piece where Luffy outright becomes stronger than his opponent.  Ippo commonly fights fighters who have different stats and there are younger fighters who carry stronger natural abilities beyond that of Ippo in destructive power and stamina.  The world he's in isn't move on from one opponent to the next and "level up," because Ippo's world is in flux all the time due to training and adapting.  Opponents he fought before stay relevant usually.

Another big part is the semi-realism.  From Ippo's very first hard punch you are told about how boxers accumulate damage, that you don't just eat a bunch of meat and sleep to recover.  Ippo is told flat out several times his way of fighting is leading to a short career.  Commonly jaws are broken, careers are ended, and spines are damaged.  Several techniques Ippo uses are explained as literally chipping away at his life as a boxer, and unlike Luffy's Gear Third or Naruto's Wind Shuriken Ransengan which are forbidden moves and have their drawbacks taken away due to new strength or abilities, Ippo's trade in his future and body for victory.  He trains to limit the damage, but the end result is inevitable.  The way he takes in punches has caused him concussions and even a loss.  People suffer the severe side effects of boxing such as dementia pugilistica, punch eye, deformed bodies, etc.  It's all alleged Ippo will face these as he continues, and they are all starting to take route.  It's a sad tale, and since you know Ippo doesn't have a magical friend or ability to remove these problems you feel the pressure.  How much more times can he punch from that angle before his leg tendons rip apart forever, how many more blows can he take before his retina detaches?  Will damage to his friends cause them to leave him alone?  It's all a very sad inevitable tale upcoming covered with a veneer of high hilarity and awesome characterization.  It's really a story you don't want to end because you know how it has to end and it forces you to enjoy the ride in a way other stories just can't.

However, this series is very long lived being around since 1989.  Due to it's age there is considerable art evolution and if you go back and read the earliest issues you might find the art hard to swallow.  But stick to it, because the art eventually becomes beautiful and energetic.  And the art actually changes around the mood the manga is taking.  You see in Aoki's fights that while there is movement, it's more or less comedic and in other scenes there is dynamic beautiful stills and breathtaking art meant to drive home the intensity like the Itagaki one above and the Ippo example below.  They're good enough that even though they're standing still, it's like they're racing from the page right at you.

Frog Punch!

Ippo sending someone to their maker

 

And honestly, I cannot do this comic justice in a blog post no matter how long I make it.  You should, for yourself, go out and read this.  Even if you aren't normally a sport comic fan, or couldn't imagine being one.  Just try it.  Much like Saga, I cannot recommend this one enough.

Marvel: C-C-C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER!!!!

So this week Marvel did a live announcement concerning Secret War and I'd just like to say one thing:

I was right.

Marvel is kind of sort of pushing the reset button on their universe.  They are breaking the long history combo with a reboot counter.  And I think this might potentially be a pretty good thing, but that's not what this is about.

Some people (read: ridiculous amounts of people) compared this to DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths when it's really a lot more like DC's Flashpoint.  Why?  Read on before you start flinging your poop at your monitor.

The event basically spells the end of several universes, two of which are definitely the standard 616 regular Marvel Universe and the 1610 Ultimate Marvel Universe.  Following the line of stories Jonathan Hickman has been writing, Earth will enter an Incursion and those two Earth's will definitely collide and sort of meld creating a new permanent Marvel Universe.  Of course several other universes will be part of this new "Battleworld" and most likely some of their histories will get tied up into this as well.  While I don't expect this hodgepodge world to exist as a puzzle, I do think it will most likely meld into one cohesive history like Nu52 (NuMarvel? Post-Flashpoint Marvel?) and become it's own world.  Now, if you followed the live feed you'd see some people just being dicks (like me) who kept claiming things about this being a reboot (like I did), and while they were right they represented the worst of the commenting crowd with most others either being wary or okay with the reveal.  Okay, about half.  But then Tom Brevoort said something, "If someone wanted to bring back Gwen Stacey, this would be the time to do it," or something to that effect about ressurecting Gwen Stacey.  

Twitter lost it's shit.

People who were simply posting along with updates became hostile, paranoid, sad, and/or angry.  Some decried the entire event. Some felt the event was irrevocably ruined.  Some felt the event was originally a great idea but now felt betrayed (which is funny since Marvel is on nobody's side).  In short, people actually turned against the event, but that wasn't the worst part.  People in a hope to establish some sort of normalcy began to turn on each other.  Some people were beyond furious their history of comics was possibly going to pot for what may potentially be a disaster, some were striking out in fear of losing ongoing books (which all ongoing books will be cancelled temporarily for the event), many were afraid of the Gwen example being evidence this event might just return comics to a state of horror.  

It was insane.  

Some poured their hearts out, some tried for calm, and everybody was so pitched it didn't matter since all sides could only field the extremes while trying to make sense of everything.  People followed and unfollowed.  People raged against walls they or others put up.  In one particular battle of names who won't be posted, one person tried to appeal for calm but did it in the worst comic fan position possible: Since he has read comics longer than the other person, the other person should get with the program and calm down.  While it's not what he meant (sort of) it's what he said, and that sent the other person into a furor because gee golly, she was definitely a comic book veteran at 12 years of collecting and with that much investment she was definitely entitled to her feelings.  Shocker, I know.  Others had similar experiences.  As an aside, I understand what the guy sort of meant because as one becomes older in any community they become dulled to the reality of that world like doctors and bill collectors and these things just don't effect them and the guy probably just wanted to share that (I hope).  If that is what he meant, he just shouldn't have been so crap about it and pull the, "MY POWER LEVEL IS HIGHER THAN YOURS!!" card, and probably should just realize the wounds were too raw to close right away. Discretion is the better part of valor and such. Some people didn't want to be told how to feel (valid), and some people felt that other opinions were the ones we should aspire to (touchy subject).  I honestly stayed out of it or just joked around by telling one particular poster "Look at it this way, maybe they bring back Gwen as Ultimate Carnage/Gwen."  Even though the person humored me with a witty "Lalalala Can't hear you!" I'm sure they were dreading this might be possible.  In fact, people were really worried the characters they've grown to love will be perverted in such a fashion.  One person claimed Peter would be outright replaced, and while he might, I think it'll most likely he'll be replaced with a MJ married Peter who is otherwise the same.  This leads me to a thought other than comic fans are the worst in any fandom.

Let's be perfectly honest:  In ten years, all the characters we know now will be different anyway.  I know people don't want bad change, but comics thrive on change.  I know I just said people's feelings are valid, but fans know this sort of thing is inevitable and this isn't at fans who are facing drastic change and are worried about their books.  This is pointed at the Gee Wun fans I also saw who probably believe comics went bad the moment Jim Hammond the Human Torch and Namor went toe to toe.  This is a chance for Marvel to spice up and shake up their roster and make changes they want but couldn't feasibly do without breaking a story ala Brand New Day. And let's face the facts that Marvel can't have Dan Slott write every freaking book to smooth things over with the fans.  People are really worried characters who just got their start will just go away.  But let's be honest:  The big examples of Ms. Marvel, Captain Marvel, and Squirrel Girl are here to stay.  You think they won't?  Ratings and sales (and the newness of Ms. Marvel and SQ) say otherwise.  Marvel is sly to the game and those three books represent some of their best writing currently.  The crowds they're attracting won't be forgotten.  Captain America (I wish was named Captain Falcon with an energy punch) and the new Thor will stay.  All recently changed characters get to stay, almost guaranteed.  Who might go?  Spidey, like I said, but will most likely be replaced with a similar Spider-Man.  Iron Man might be changed to a non-Extremis or just more jokey, less dickish Iron Man.  I'll bet thirty bucks vampire Jubliee is replaced by '92 X-Men Jubilee with the yellow jacket.  Hank Pym might get replaced/changed because he ALWAYS gets screwed in Big Events.  Maybe Scott Lang will.  The Fantastic Four are primed for it.

You know what might also happen?  A bunch of characters might get Power Girl'd, and not in the way you're thinking.  They might simply get added on to the universe.  Miles Morales I bet sticks around on the new world (Nu616?) as someone with a modified history to fit if Marvel goes full Flashpoint.  Spider-Gwen might stick around (ARGH!! HOW CAN I BETRAY PEOPLE BY SUGGESTING THIS?!?!?!)  Other long time dead characters, or minor characters, or really just anybody in need of a restart might get this treatment.  Alright, I'm joking about Spider-Gwen.  If she sticks around, she sticks to the shadows of L.A. and becomes ultra sparse.  The chance for Marvel to adapt characters actually becomes pretty unique and might potentially be good.

Clearly the next day everything more or less calmed down with some people feeling bad for their behavior, some feeling that their worlds were a little smaller from the fighting, some feeling better just simply for venting and thinking things out.  As always with comic fans life just sort of goes on until the next reboot or cash grab.  But really, we should argue and such but we shouldn't be terrible fans because of this sort of stuff.  Not when there's so much worse things happening to real people.

Did you know Dan Slott was put on Jury Duty this week?  Seriously.  And Slott had to explain what comics he worked on and a DA told him the DA knew what Slott did to Spider-Man implying possibly villainous undertones.  But that and Marvel's problem pales in comparison to Peter Simeti's cat who had to go to the vet.  Seriously, there is almost nothing more sad than a cat in a crate who needs shots. 

Do these look like happy cats?  No, they do not.  THESE look like happy cats:

Okay, so maybe cats always sort of look displeased with us humans in some way.

Don't be the reason these animals look down on us.  I'm sure they ponder why we got opposable thumbs when they're clearly more deserving.

Comics and Portrayal: Their Importance in Society

Good morning.  Another week, another problem.  Am I right?

This week I had a post lined up to be about comic allegiance and blah blah blah, but instead it's going to be about portrayal of transgender in comics and the recent furor over Batgirl #27 and what it means because some of us just haven't caught up yet.

Immediately I'm going to apologize if any of my language or naming conventions are offensive.  It's most likely I'm not sure what the proper name should be.  Please feel free to let me know how much of a philistine I am being. I do understand there are specific terms such as cisself and such cisgender, non-trans, and others to help describe people but since I don't clearly understand them I probably won't use them.

Now I'm not going to say I'm some professional in this because I'm not.  I usually stay out of these conversations, and yes I understand that means I silently condone anybody who speaks out in offense of trans people since I basically don't do anything to help, and that's because I largely don't know what I should say.  I don't personally know the struggles of those in the community, their daily lives, what they must feel, and largely what they want.  If that sounds negative, it really isn't meant to.  I want to say that I just don't know enough but feel that I really should say something at this point as a few people locally felt that "Since it's a comic it's harmless," and "Really what did people expect?"

I reject this.  Comics are serious and are a reflection of us not only as a fanbase but us as a society in general.  I've read people talking about, "In today's more civilized society this isn't a problem, and we really shouldn't treat it as something huge and turn it into something it's not."  I am conflicted in this because: 1.) Society has been "civilized" since the dawn of civilization and every year we've felt ourselves across the entire world to be the pinnacle of civilized living, understanding, and being overall moral pinnacles when we do have a lot of problems we have yet to fix and some to even properly address such as this. 2.) Not addressing any problems under the guise of, "Let's not turn this into a thing," is a way of saying, "This isn't my problem I'm affected by, so I don't see why I should have to do anything about it.  I definitely don't want to hear about it."  3.) Again, COMICS ARE SERIOUS.  They are.  Don't believe me?  You're being ignorant. Comics are serious as both a social engagement and a business with people making billions of dollars with them at movies, using them in social sciences, enjoying them at home, and even crying when characters are hurt.  If they weren't serious, we wouldn't be labeling Doug Moench a hack for his JLA: Act of God with it's heavy handed religion or feel anger over Rob Liefeld's very name due to his crap, Greg Land for his borderline plagiarism, get upset when Gail Simone is kicked off a book about women, or have such a division between fans on the subject of Brian Bendis.  To us, and to the world, comics are important.  So let's just dispel that notion right away.

Now that we can acknowledge that comics are both important and influential, we can now acknowledge more than just regular kids at the candy shop pick up comics and address that comics are really meant for everybody of all ages and creeds, not that Marvel and DC act like that all the time, but still.  People will talk about how comics are primarily marketed at boys and how this makes it okay for comic companies to pull the crap they do, and that's a load of bullshiznaps.  Comic companies complain about not strong readerships and having trouble getting into other reading pools precisely because of this reasoning, to the point I've seen girls put down the Red Hood title, stop reading X-Men, or other titles due to objectification of women.  This is just women, a group which makes up 52% of the world's population of all humans.  Imagine an even smaller minorities such as those who are non-white and LGBT.  You may ask, "Mak, we don't think ill of them.  Heck, I can't think of any black or gay people I hate."  And I'd commend you on not being an outright bigoted racist, but that doesn't mean we as a society don't marginalize and sometimes make fun of them in unwitting ways.   This was something of a big thing with Batgirl #27.  I'll post the screen below:

 

Look at the scene and tell me what you as a person think is wrong.  Most likely you're going to say, "Nothing, Mak.  Looks normal to me.  Batgirl is surprised Dagger Type is a guy.  Just tell me what you want to try and guilt me with already you dag."   Well, if you already know Dagger Type's name then you also probably have been reading Batgirl for some time and all it's awesomeness.  You also know that Batgirl has a very personal friend by the name of Alysia Yeoh who is the transgendered friend of Barbara Gordon who came out and it was all very good.  (In fact, DC has been making strides recently to be more inclusive in a bid to not only appeal to a wider audience but to show a greater understanding of other cultures in general.)  So why is the image above possibly offending?  Well, Barbara has previously and personally been exposed to someone who is transgender and then shows exaggerated shock to come across another.  This is where things get murky, confusing, infuriating, and saddening.  "Well, that's natural.  If you were chasing someone who was running around looking like a woman you would be surprised if this person pulled off their mask and was clearly a guy."  "Dagger Type is an artist, so I don't see the problem.  Anyway, he's more crossdresser than trans." "Babs was excited and in the moment." A sampling of things I've heard in response.  All of them wrong.  Let's go back over them.

"Well, that's natural.  If you were chasing someone who was running around looking like a woman you would be surprised if this person pulled off their mask and was clearly a guy."  This is something I somewhat understand.  If I were a costumed fighter tracking down my doppelganger in glittery clothes and I ripped their mask off just to find out they were another gender I would be legitimately surprised.  I'll agree with you there.  Would I throw up my arms in dramatic fashion with a, "You?  But you can't possibly be a girl!  You just can't!" No.  This is pretty much what Batgirl did there and it taps deep into a stigma we as a society carry towards trans people when we find out they were different in assigned gender previously.  "But weren't you a man?"  "I have to say you looked better as a woman."  etc.  These things get brought up when comic characters pull this stunt.  This was double damning given that Batgirl previously had a very positive reaction to a trans person previously only to go back to the ignorant shock and surprise later on in such an exaggerated way we're supposed to, as readers, also feel shock and not in a good way.  Finding out Dagger Type was trans should be surprising to us as Babs was looking at someone who was her mirror reflection in everything from body type to voice and could never figure it out, has fought with Clayface, and really just has had all sorts of oddities that this is just... It just should have been handled better.  When we look at this and identify with it and see it as nothing more than a problem, we basically say it's okay to show great shock and maybe even fear (given Bab's face) to trans people.  It's not like their lives are bad enough without us pulling this crap to them and making them feel like they're an oddity, an outsider, and potentially even a sideshow attraction.  Things they've definitely been told in life and have struggled with.  Some still struggle today.  Many will struggle tomorrow.  If we are going to be "civilized" we need to stop being so shocked when this comes up.  

"Dagger Type is an artist, so I don't see the problem.  Anyway, he's more crossdresser than trans."  I don't even... I can't... Where to start.  This is a crap storm excuse of monolithic proportion.  If you subscribe to this, you may think you're being level headed and understanding towards creatives and artists and you're not buying into any agenda or bias and you're just above it all.  You can definitely take that back because you're wrong on all fronts.  While there's nothing wrong with fostering creatives, this is truly just on the backs of those who suffer.  Sort of like Jean-Paul Goude shooting a bunch of pictures of Grace Jones in multiple sexually and racially exploitative ways including "tribal makeup" armed with whips, and directly being put into a cage, and then even saying he has "jungle fever," and then claiming it's art so it's okay.  Art should be expressible by all forms, and comic books ARE art, but when you're shipping this as not so much a personal expression as a professional one and it should meet up to the standards of society it should reflect that society.  Also, screw Goude and those who think it's okay to subjugate entire groups of people because you just want to.  Speaking of grouping or failure to understand groups, crossdressers and trans tend to fall under the same tent.  When we talk about crossdressers, and the example (however unlabelled to whom it is) provided basically means that because Dagger Type isn't the full surgical male to female sort of trans it's okay to make fun of him or paint him in such a way and... well... no.  There's no real reason to assume that since Dagger hasn't gone full surgery that what he is and what he does as identifying as a woman is any different.  That would be like saying it's okay to make fun of or insult those of Protestant descent because they've become or are training to practice Catholicism as opposed to just being Catholic.  While the weight of religion shift is nowhere near even close to the same ballpark as what the issue at hand is, it is a similar precedence in how choice and change can be scrutinized or even marginalized due to misunderstanding.  In this instance, Dagger Type is not simply dressing as a woman for fun, he sees himself and is portraying himself as a woman.  He's identifying as a gender, and that's what trans is.  There's a distinct difference between those who "dress up" for fun and those who crossdress to be comfortable with themselves.  Trans doesn't simply apply to those who have the funds and the courage yet to reassign their gender and not to those who still live a similar lifestyle without it.  Not everybody can truly part with their born gender, and some do not even feel that a particular gender even fits them.  Some crossdress by choice because being that way fits them best. 

"Babs was excited and in the moment."  Hahahahahahahahahaha.  Yeah, that would make sense if Babs also showed shock and extreme disjointed surprise whenever anybody dressed up in a costume, left explosive gifts, etc.  As someone who is actually fairly well adjusted from paralysis recovery to just being a costumed crime fighter, this really shouldn't be this surprising.  Even in the heat of the moment.  Now if they're going to assign this as a true characteristic for her, they need to have an issue where they address her shrieking and running from the bed during sex because during the heat of the moment her partner reached climax and surprised the hell out of her.  "She would expect that."  Yeah, screw off.  Don't try to justify and marginalize crap.

There is one bit I didn't quote and I could have gone back and done it but whatevs.  "Dagger Type is clearly unstable.  Look at that makeup and why he is doing this.  Babs was right to be confused and surprised by such an unstable person."  That's more or less spelled out from what some people have implied.  Well, this is more or less a real big part of what was wrong.  Tropes of how trans people are portrayed.  Now what I'm not going to do is get down with super specific examples and paste picture after picture of examples because if you really need me to do that, you're looking for an excuse to argue and then you're going to pull excuse after excuse and pictures of trans treated properly to say, "Aha!  See!  They can be treated right.  You're making a big deal of this!"  The truth is trans and the greater LGBT have been treated with disparity in a negative fashion over the years.  The crazed, deranged, unstable trans stereotype is one of the bigger offenders.  Trans people are often treated as crazed individuals unsure of their self identity or narcissistic and just otherwise crazy such as Dagger Type was.  When we look at these events and say it's okay and we don't see the problem, it's because we look at it and agree that trans people must be unbalanced because they don't feel comfortable with their bodies and that would make people unbalanced.  Trans people are rarely crazy unbalanced people.  They may feel emotionally unbalanced at time while tackling just who they are, but everybody is prone to that for any reason.  Trans don't' get "extra crazy" because of this, and to say it's okay to portray them as unbalanced, or even to just say it's okay, due to their trans status is ignorant and perpetrates the trope.  This isn't to say we can't have unbalanced trans, or that no trans should be unbalanced as much as it is to say we should as readers and writers look at the issue and truly think and decide whether or not we're applying a personality to someone due to their status as a human or simply them as a person.  Because while yes, crazy mad people exist and plenty of them are not trans, it doesn't mean we don't evenly portray others as well rounded humans.  Trans people don't get that representation. 

Truly, there is a messton more to write about this and I'm definitely not the best representative to do it.  But I did want to talk and try to maybe help others understand why their feelings of normality might not necessarily be right.  And I definitely don't want anybody marginalized just because others believe comics are silly works and so they shouldn't receive any attention or recognition.  People are people, and the more we are exposed to our faults and strengths the more we grow.  Take this time to learn, to reach out, and to find out more about your fellow person.  It may just be you who makes their world a better place, even if just a little.

Also, as of writing this (the day it was released due to my compressed nature) I've found out Janine Schaefer's last day as talent scout for Marvel is tomorrow.  She was well respected and liked as a talent scout and her decision to leave Marvel to move with her husband to Los Angeles will be a loss for us as readers.  Thank you and good luck, Janine!

Women And Comics

In my last post, I started off ranting a bit about women and comics.  I will paste it below:

"As I get older, I, like many others, find myself in front of news stories about gender equality and see people raving back and forth about whether or not there is a problem, just what the problem is, and if there is a problem how should it be solved.  This is something which comes up a lot in entertainment mediums and particularly in movies, video games, and comic books.

The arguments generally are, 'Should women have greater representation?' 'Do women already have enough representation?' 'How should we represent women?' 'Should we cater to social pressure?' 'What about writer's rights?' 'Is it a comic distributor's responsibility?' and many others I'm sure you're already aware of.  Many people see this as a pretty simple question with simple answers of 'yes' and 'no.' In truth, the problem is far more complex and while some recognize that, many others simply make their answers more complex to fit the role rather than explore the situation at hand.  Some will give a 'free market' answer along the lines of, 'Men read comics predominantly, and so comics cater to men, and so long as men read comics then comic companies should cater to them.'  Others will respond, 'No, women are equal and are treated as second string.  Women don't read comics because there are no comics for women.'"

I finished it with a lame ass, "The answer... NEXT TIME!" sort of bit because I really wanted to talk about Marvel's Agent Carter.  But this is something I do wish to talk about.

Women and comics is something of a very sensitive subject for many reasons.  Some take direct offense, some just discomfort, some take it up as a sword, some take it up as a shield, and really it's just a very controversial subject to most who look at it.  As I quoted above, several questions are raised in regard to this subject both for, against, and even indifference to it.  These questions become more numerous, and in some ways more polarized, as women continue to expand their role in the comic industry and comic companies want more female readers, a market attempted and failed at several times.  And it's not because comic companies haven't sort of tried, from launching short lived series with female leads to launching the Tsunami imprint which hoped to attract manga readers which have a large female following.  The reason the comic companies keep falling flat is mainly because they keep relying on old formulas which have appealed only to young and just under middle aged men, or have had men write series they believe women would like, under-represent women in their ranks, and even fans just brushing this off.  This isn't to say only men write and like comics and related movies, but so few women do that I might as well be and some companies are worse than others.  Traditionally, the Big Two have been called out for lack of diversity with Marvel being yelled at harder for being the worse of the two.  DC has been a little better than Marvel with showcasing and continuing to hire premier female talent in the likes of the wonderful artist Amanda Conner and fantastic scribe Gail Simone, while Marvel's arguably largest female writer was Louise Simonson back in the 90's with some featured artists and writers here and there. DC has been very consistent with women having something of a large presence via Wonder Woman, the Birds of Prey with Oracle in particular, the current World's Finest with Power Girl and Huntress, Power Girl running the Justice Society, Black Canary as chairwoman of the Justice League, strong Batgirl titles. While Women in Refrigerators, Identity Crisis, and some other bits of oddities DC has come up with, they have remained not bad as far as women go.  They do have the most female characters, though one may argue they are generally female counterparts to male heroes, something Marvel doesn't do as often.  However, DC is more willing to press on and give these characters voices such as Batwoman, Batgirl, Black Canary, and well... Oracle, which are pretty much all people I mentioned above.  Renee Montoya got a lot of panels as the Question as well.  Marvel on the other hand tends to have brilliant female titles, but like all their more brilliant titles Marvel tends to fumble, forget to advertise, and quickly cancel books without real support.  She-Hulk has had at least two volumes which were both critically acclaimed and both were cancelled for under-performing because Marvel basically relied on word of mouth to get that sold.  It didn't help they didn't make them part of the larger Marvel Universe like they do with any other book they care about succeeding.  This is pretty reflective of how Marvel handled anything concerning women both in and out of books.

As Tim Hanley points out, Marvel's upcoming "Woman's Month" will temporarily increase how many women actually worked for them as creators and artists.  He goes on to say, "You can use one hand to count the number of women writing Marvel comics right now, and then use the other hand to count the number of female interior artists, and you won’t use up all of your fingers." And this is damning, because this is the state some people are outright content with.  Some people honestly believe that since some women are succeeding, the job is done.

Bust out the aircraft carrier with the "Mission Accomplished" banner, strap on your flight suit, and strut your stuff because the fact Marvel hires any women at all should be a sign of of a job well done and not simply just progress milestone towards a brighter future.

It pains me to see people who see things like this and say, "There. Are you happy?  We now have some women in comics and so the problem has been solved.  Can we stop complaining about this?" like some people did when a visually black man became president and some people felt that erased all the racial problems with the United States somehow.  Or when people defend the male focus of the industry because of sales statistics while pushing out the context in a short sighted way.  Early in 2014, Kevin Feige made a comment that Marvel wasn't making female centric movies simply because Marvel was just too busy making movies, and many fans pointed to the idea that Marvel had a structured idea and basically if a woman character wasn't really in it then Marvel really was too busy.  Smartly enough, someone did say that if Marvel did have this plan years ago why didn't they just simply plan a woman into it?  It's a good question, because Marvel simply put the Black Widow as second fiddle to Iron Man and the Avenger's movie and her representation in the Avengers was by far the worst of them when they could have had her tied into more movies like they did with Fury.  Maria Hill was just there to say there was a woman other than the Widow, and her part was negligible and pretty much there to make Nick Fury look smart.  Kevin Feige since then has gone on to talk about the responsibility of the industry to push diversity since the backlash of idiocy his excuses have generated (there's been more than just this one such as just not being sure when it can be done), and now there is a Captain Marvel movie confirmed a few months later.  But the explanation is crap because Feige claims it's been in the works as long as Guardians of the Galaxy was despite him saying before the idea of this movie was sort of kicked around but there were no plans at all.  This gives the idea that this Captain Marvel movie has been in work for a long time when it clearly hasn't and was only really pushed ahead after Marvel was getting barked at for its not making female oriented movies.

Now allow me to back up a few paces and talk about the good Marvel has done with women characters and comics.  Four characters jump right to mind: She-Hulk (duh), Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel, and Squirrel Girl.  The first two have been sort of in and out of the Marvel spotlight for years and years with everything from them being Avengers to them breaking down, to having their own series off and on.  She-Hulk has commonly been pointed out as a very smart book under Dan Slott and unfortunately was cancelled due to low interest.  Carol Danvers had much the same problem under her Ms. Marvel books, though the relaunch under Captain Marvel has been met with applause and whistles of glee for a strong woman. Ms. Marvel is a new book not about Carol Danvers, but about a teenager named Kamala Khan who is Marvel's first headlining Muslim character and something of a very unique character in how she doesn't necessarily fit the Marvel mold of women.  Finally is the recently launched The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl who both humorously and confidently goes about being a superhero with a conspicuously big and conspicuously awesome butt (though that's only in her disguise to hide her tail).  The latter two are great and perfect examples of what can be done with female characters at Marvel, and while I don't think they'll be supported and eventually cancelled, I do hope I'm wrong.  But four characters and four books aren't really enough to fix this problem, just enough to start us in the right trend.

But in short, the way women are still regarded isn't right, it isn't good, and this sort of problem will forever ensure a terrible projection for the future of comic books.  Women readership is growing, and if the industry wishes to maintain or further this demographic, it needs to better acknowledge this beyond the here and there bits and pieces. The debate, points, and solutions are far more complex and wide spun than this little article can have and I hope to talk about this more because I haven't even talked about the idea of responsibility, fan backlash and entitlement, why these problems even exist, and why we sometimes refuse to acknowledge them. 

Normally I feel good after ranting a bit (the point of the blog), but honestly I don't this time.  Heck, I just focused on Marvel when there is so much more across the comic spectrum to talk about.  So unfortunately I will have more posts on this.

Agent Carter: Secret Agent Woman

As I get older, I, like many others, find myself in front of news stories about gender equality and see people raving back and forth about whether or not there is a problem, just what the problem is, and if there is a problem how should it be solved.  This is something which comes up a lot in entertainment mediums and particularly in movies, video games, and comic books.

The arguments generally are, "Should women have greater representation?" "Do women already have enough representation?" "How should we represent women?" "Should we cater to social pressure?" "What about writer's rights?" "Is it a comic distributor's responsibility?" and many others I'm sure you're already aware of.  Many people see this as a pretty simple question with simple answers of "yes" and "no." In truth, the problem is far more complex and while some recognize that, many others simply make their answers more complex to fit the role rather than explore the situation at hand.  Some will give a "free market" answer along the lines of, "Men read comics predominantly, and so comics cater to men, and so long as men read comics then comic companies should cater to them."  Others will respond, "No, women are equal and are treated as second string.  Women don't read comics because there are no comics for women."

The answer?  For another post, because this one is about Marvel's Agent Carter.

Every once in the while a show comes along which transcends all boundaries and expectations and pushes past convention and argument to be something all it's own without need to cater or subvert any preconceived notions of what it should be.  Last night I witnessed this with Agent Carter, the miniseries which takes place a short while after the first Captain America movie and is focused on the titular (come on) character Peggy Carter.  In this little show Agent (not miss) Carter is an independent and very strong woman both physically and mentally who is continuing her work with the Strategic Scientific Reserve (SSR), which itself is the precursor to the cinematic S.H.I.E.L.D.  What is portrayed is her mission to stop a weapon from being released while dealing with the norms of her time such as sexism, lack of wireless communication, cloak and dagger business and so on. 

So is it a good show?  Well, only two episodes in and I can say I enjoyed them immensely.  The lovely Hayley Atwell plays a convincing and daring Peggy Carter who must be versatile, strong, smart, and even a little vulnerable as we must remember Peggy is still mourning the loss of Steve Rogers at this point in her life.  The mourning is a bit important because Captain America is still highly publicized and marketed and she is reminded of this in pictures and oddly on the radio as a radio drama of Captain America's exploits are played often.  It's actually a point of humor since Peggy is more annoyed with the portrayal of the stories, and in particular her part in them as her part has been replaced by a character named "Betty Carver" who is the breathy voiced triage nurse who enjoys hemming pants on her brand new electric sewing machine when she's not the damsel in distress for Cap to rescue as opposed to Peggy's actual role in the war and to Captain America.

The action is quick paced and how they portray Peggy in the rumpus is actually well handled as she looks like someone in that time as opposed to the "waif fu" action women we normally see doing high wire, high acrobatic stunts in the movies and film.  Notably she is very different from Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow in combat since the Widow prefers high acrobatics and twirling where Carter believably delivers a strong straight right to people's chins.  This can only really be done since Peggy isn't fighting superbeings, but it is still a very nice and separate way for Peggy to deal with action.  It's not to say Peggy is portrayed as strong as her male combatants, just that she isn't doing backflips and jumping six feet into the air to use her legs as choking tools.  No, Peggy wears a skirt and is an agile capable fighter, but in a way which is just enough for the viewer to see her as every bit equal a threat to her male combatants.

Personality wise Peggy is a stern, smart, incredibly capable Agent of the SSR who is able to do undercover work as a blonde party goer, switch to a mouthy health inspector, and oddly enough she commonly plays the role of slightly snarky but mostly obedient unofficial "office lady," which has her commonly taking harassment from the men aside from the one legged agent who sympathizes with her as an outcast.  Peggy is portrayed perfectly by Atwell as a woman who knows what to do, when to do it, and not in a way that seems forced or just shoehorned in.  Peggy is very much a capable Agent and it is very separate from her simply being a woman Agent.  She's an Agent who happens to be a woman, and is just damn good at it.  She doesn't walk into every scene as the immediate ass-kicker, nor does she show her authority and capability by walking in and ordering everybody around in a "bitchy" way like other strong female lead shows would have a leading woman should behave.  Peggy is smarter than her peers and knows how to manipulate her surroundings to accomplish her goal without being heavy handed and imposing.  Aside from her work as a false health food inspector where she instead invokes the "bitchy woman" trope to a T and still gets the job done.  What's nice is that she only plays that part as she needs to, without being an imposing authoritarian who must be a cold and headstrong jerkbag to get what she wants, and can achieve similar if not the same goals by relying on simply being smarter as opposed to smarter and meaner.  This isn't to say that I think women are better in this role and should "know their place under the man," but I would like to say it's refreshing to see women in more flexible portrayals in the same way I enjoy men playing roles which aren't machismo filled, gun toting, one liner spitting, death machine roles all the time.  Peggy's personality is very much a conflicted human being who wants to achieve deeds in a very self reliant way we would see in other roles attributed to male leads.  And when she pushes too far with the insistence of "I can do this myself, I don't need you," she is skillfully brought back down by Edwin Jarvis, played by the wonderfully charmful James D'Arcy, who reminds the strong willed Agent that no man or woman can do her job alone, and that even Captain America had a world of support for his strength.  And namely that Peggy herself was what pushed him on.  A revelation which forced her into quiet contemplation and a brusque acknowledgement by telling Jarvis to get back to patching up her leg from a recent skirmish.

What's important and best is Peggy's portrayal.  As I've talked about it is unique given how most female leads either are not just unflinchingly strong, but almost offensively so, must have quirky personalities, isn't emotionally fragile, and more or less is just isn't reacting to the world around her as it happens to her, but moves with her world to best figure out what needs doing and simply does it.  In short, Agent Carter isn't a one trick pony who is not some scorned and hurt woman who lashes back against the world, or a leading doctor in her field, or even some highly respected leader in her community due to personality and results.  She is both soft and hard without having to be too much in one way or the other.  She doesn't have to be strong to the outside world to protect her soft and fragile inside in the way some women characters are portrayed.  She isn't just good at her job and bad at her life because of some sort of defect in her biology.  She understands her world and bucks the convention when she knows it will work, not because she feels she has to, and knows how to navigate a world men lead at the time.  Peggy is a very unique character in this regard and foils perfectly to D'Arcy's much more softer Jarvis.

So who is Jarvis?  Unlike some reporter who said it was a shout out to Tony Stark's robotic butler, he is actually the adaptation of the comic character Edwin Jarvis who was the butler to both Howard and Tony Stark.  In this show he is portrayed expertly as a tight schedule keeping man who wants to help, both out of direction of his boss and of his personal desire to see Agent Carter not killed in her pursuit of stopping terrorism nor does he want to see her lose her sense of purpose through poor decisions.  "But Mak, you just said she ISN'T that!" What I said was Peggy wasn't one dimensional, she is actually very subject to complex human behavior, and this is perfectly pointed out when Jarvis responds to a comment by Peggy of her not needing anybody by saying to the effect, "I cannot tell if that was from ignorance or arrogance," and then following up after another comment with, "You wish to save the world by detaching yourself from it?" forcing Peggy to realize she needs to be more than what she currently is.  Perhaps his best deliveries are when he sees her pushing the "stiff upper lip" and reaches out an understanding hand as a fellow British when he hands her a handkerchief in the diner they talk back to back at to let her know it's okay to feel the way she does, and truly his best when he tells her about the line already mentioned about Captain America:  That she can accept him and those who wish to help her as support and strength as no person can do it alone, in the same way Captain America drew strength from her.  In truth, Jarvis plays the very entertaining and secondary comedy act with his naive nature and his comfort with being given precise direction and assuming servant.  In one scene Peggy radios him to pull a car around while she's escaping an implosion and he asks, "When?" as he's used to with Stark, which of course has her calmly giving "Now."  Another he is instructed to stay inside the car when he and Peggy go to find a milk truck and he foresees her need of help and disables a car because, "A good butler knows when they're needed without being told," or something to that effect.  His own vulnerabilities and sensibilities are just entertaining as all out and I cannot wait to see how they further develop. The show is a miniseries which means laser sharp focus, but I can already tell I'll miss this show when it's gone if anything due to the great characters I've thus far seen.

There's so much more to talk about, but I implore you to go watch this show yourself.