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Why The Dark Knight Rises Made Me Rewatch Supergirl

WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE DARK KNIGHT RISES

As a Batman fan, one of my favorite things about Nolan’s trilogy is the variety of comic story lines that he draws inspiration from and weaves into his own vision of the character. Watching The Dark Knight Rises, I ticked off the same mental checklist as plenty of other moviegoers. The Dark Knight Returns, Knightfall, No Man’s Land, etc.

But there was one element that reminded me of something else altogether. The hero defeated by the monster that had taken control of the city, while their love interest stood by and watched. Banished to a distant, inescapable prison, helpless and powerless in the dark. Advised on the the only means of escape by a friendly fellow inmate who helped them survive. And finally, the hero ascends (against all odds but never doubted by the audience), climbing up sheer stone towards a circle of light high above. They escape out into the world for the final battle, much to the shock of the villain.

I’ve seen that in a comic book movie movie before: Supergirl.

For those who haven’t seen it, Supergirl was a 1984 spin-off of the Christopher Reeve Superman movies. It’s one of the better female-led comic book movie out there (though that’s really really not saying much) and is a bit of campy eighties superhero fun. I’d rank it as slightly better overall than Superman III (also not saying much). It’s one of the reasons I became a superhero fan early on in my life.

After watching The Dark Knight Rises, I had to pull out my Supergirl DVD to see what other similarities there are. Several jumped out:

- The trouble starts when a woman stumbles across and steals something precious to the hero—an object that played an important part in motivating the hero to put on a costume.  (Selina in TDKR, Selena in Supergirl)

- Said thief lives in a what is supposed to be a bohemian dump (but it looks pretty awesome) with a rather annoying roommate/bff. (Holly in TDKR, Bianca in Supergirl)

- A city is threatened when a sphere with a bunch of lights that was intended to be used as a source of power is utilized by the villain as a weapon, putting the hero on a ticking clock counting down to doom. (fusion generator core in TDKR, Omegahedron in Supergirl)

- The female lead by turns plays meek as a disguise and maims men who offer unwanted come-ons. (Selina and Kara)

- Said female lead never actually refers to herself by the alias that most fans know her by. (Catwoman and Supergirl)

- The hero falls for a romantic interest that comes from a whole different class/world. (Selina and Ethan)

- Said romantic interest strikes a key blow in the final battle with the villain. (Selina shooting Bane, Ethan releasing the Omegahedron)

- British guys who are treated like crap by the people who are supposed to be their closest ally. (Alfred and Nigel)

- Science-savvy mentors/father figures with a mischievous streak. (Lucius Fox and Zaltar)

- League of Shadows vs Power of Shadow

Another interesting link? Helen Slater, who played Supergirl, also voiced Talia al Guhl in Batman: The Animated Series.

Granted, many of the ties are either superficial or common superhero movie tropes (Bruce knew that cutting-edge science is ALWAYS used for evil at some point). But even even with that in mind, even considering how different in tone these two movies are, there’s something wonderful about those little reminders of the stories that made you fall in love with superheroes in the first place.

Yet Another Female Fan Weighs in on Catwoman #1

One of my favorite announcements out of the DC Comics New 52 launch was news that Catwoman would be getting her own series again. As a kid, the Jim Balent-drawn Catwoman series was what really made me a comic book reader. I’d picked up a few issues of The Batman Adventures (the Batman: The Animated Series tie-in comic), but Catwoman was the first book I actively hunted down in the bookstore spinner month after month.

I wasn’t particularly a fan of the recent Gotham City Sirens, even though it did have some good moments. While I do like all three of the leads, the “wacky roommates” thing always read more like a gimmick than solid storytelling. A new series for Catwoman seemed like just the thing for a character who had become bogged down in an often-bland ensemble book.

And then #1 actually came out and everyone everywhere exploded into a big frothy mass of rage.

The thing is, there’s actually a lot of good stuff in Catwoman #1. We have the first new supporting character for Selina in years, a retired showgirl-turned-fence named Lola (and you have to love Selina’s delight in a showgirl actually named Lola). The coloring is gorgeous. So is some of the art; I’m not a fan of Guillem March’s bodies when they go wonky, but I really dig the character he puts into his faces. There are plenty of seeds planted for both backstory and future plot threads.

And then we have Selina herself, who in most of her recent incarnations has had a childhood crappy enough to make Bruce Wayne’s early years look like Leave It To Beaver. That looks to be the case in the latest book too, judging by the brief flashback we see. And it’s pretty clear that the end result is a very damaged individual. Selina clams to have “people” in her life, but all we see is her deflecting when it comes to making a genuine emotional connection. Her friend (her word choice) Lola asks how she’s doing? She brushes it off and focuses on business. Batman shows up to check on her? She wants to keep their interactions strictly on the physical level. Paired with the image of child Selina crying in the corner as someone she cares about is gunned down, you have some really meaty, heartbreaking characterization.

So why didn’t issue #1 focus on that?

The problem isn’t that Catwoman wears lacy bras and has anonymous masked sex. The problem is that the breasts and the sex splash are emphasized at the expense of the actual story. The first issues of Batwoman and Wonder Woman both showed far more skin than Catwoman, but people aren’t up in arms about those books because of the way it’s presented. It’s there, yes, but it’s not the focus. It doesn’t feel artificial or gratuitous. And it’s not being sold as sexysexydirtysexy.

For me at least, there was a disconnect between what was happening in Selina’s life and the way it was packaged for the audience. A person who has a violent breakdown in public, squats in a stranger’s apartment because they have no real home to go back to, and can’t even have a real conversation with someone they’re having an ongoing (if casual) relationship with is tragic, not sexy. And there’s nothing wrong with tragic! Characters who are obviously broken in some way are often the ones who have the most interesting journeys.

Look at Batman and Wolverine, who are both pretty screwed up by the trauma in their past. They’re compelling characters who don’t need sex to sell their story to readers, even when sex plays an important role in said story. Why can’t Catwoman be granted the same courtesy, especially when DC Comics themselves refer to her as part of their “pantheon of remarkable, iconic women characters”?

If you’re relying on shock value and titillation to sell your story, you’re doing a disservice to your story and your audience. It’s certainly not only women who are alienated by bad portrayals of female characters. It’s insulting to imply that male readers will only read books about women who are “sexy enough”, regardless of the quality of the writing. I have plenty of straight male geek friends and they care just as much about good storytelling as I do. This is an era where guys across the Internet proudly admit to watching My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, after all.

There has been plenty of fantastic commentary about some of the more troubling portrayals of women in the DC Comics reboot. But I tend to approach comics (and pretty much everything else) as a writer/fan of good writing first and foremost. The frustrating thing for me was how damn close Catwoman #1 was to being a solid launch. Ironically, it was all of the “adult” packaging made it feel much more juvenile than it should have.

There’s the potential for some really intriguing stories in this series. Just tell them instead of hiding the plot behind lingerie and awkward-looking sex scenes. And everyone already knows that Catwoman is supposed to be sexy. Show us something new. Isn’t that what a reboot is all about?

The morning after … by Eric Canete

dcwomenkickingass:

I don’t have much to add to this … except Canete rocks.

New preview pages from Catwoman #1 

dcwomenkickingass:

Here for your reading pleasure, courtesy of DC Comics, are new preview pages of Catwoman.

Catwoman, as you can see, has a lot of bras. They are one of her few possessions. I am not making this up. To quote the dialogue about what some bad guys will find when they toss her home:

“The won’t find anything except bras, books, wine and catfood.”

embiggen here

embiggen here

SEXY!!!!!!!

I am so looking forward to seeing Anne Hathaway as Selina.

Of all the possessions she listed, bras probably are the hardest to replace. Can’t get them at the library. (I’m assuming here, I’ve never actually checked.)

I actually really, really like this preview. There’s more of a sense of fun and personality than I’ve seen with Selina for a long time, but it doesn’t really feel like a 90s rehash either. It feels new. Can’t wait to read more.

Also, Selina’s face on that last page is killing me.

Thoughts on Justice League #1

Last night I went to the midnight launch event at my regular comic book store, House of Secrets in Burbank. The place was more packed than I’ve ever seen it, which was really a fantastic sight. There’s life in the direct market yet.

I hung out and chatted with friends for a while. Drove home. Changed into PJs. Brushed my teeth. Checked my email a few times. It was only then that I finally opened up my shiny new copy of Justice League #1 to read.

Why wait so long (“so long” being about an hour) to crack open the comic? There’s been so much doomsday talk about the New 52 being DC’s last resort and DC as one of the big two being a cornerstone of the entire comic industry/direct market. And DC only launched one new title this weeks. So at 1AM, my very tired brain somehow boiled it down to the fate of all comic books everywhere forever and ever depends on this single issue.

Of course, that’s neither accurate or fair. Still, DC did make a bold statement letting Justice League #1 stand alone. Honestly, I didn’t really feel like the issue is strong enough to justify such treatment (or the $3.99 cover price). But I thought it was a fairly fun read.

Spoilers ahead!

Pros:

• Batman’s first line in the New DC (calling the GCPD idiots).
• Green Lantern using the ring to make interesting, detailed constructs.
• Batman palming the ring and smirking about it.
• Hints of an origin for Cyborg.
• Pretty Jim Lee art.

Cons:

• Some of the dialogue just didn’t work for me, GL’s weird leap of logic to Batman lacking superpowers in particular.
• It just didn’t feel like there was an issue’s worth of story here (my typical issue with decompressed storytelling). Write for the monthly and worry about the trades later.
• Having only one aside to one other character.

I have personal issues:

• Superman looks younger than me now and that’s just wrong wrong wrong.

Overall, I am looking forward to the other new DC titles I’m picking up and I know I’ll be reading a few others that my friends are buying as well. I’ll give Justice League at least one more issue (I doubt I’ll be buying very many monthly books over the long run; I usually prefer to wait for trades). And at the very least, it is nice to see a comic that’s trying to be fun again. I’d definitely be interested to hear what brand new readers think of Justice League #1.

It’s 2011 And Yes, Girls Read Fraking Comics

I’ve been online long enough to know there’s no shortage of crappy, hateful people out there. As much as I like to pretend the internet is comprised entirely of kittens and babies, all you have to do is scroll down to the comments on those YouTube videos to lose a tiny bit of faith in the human race.

So I knew that with all the coverage that Womanthology is getting, there would be some less-than-positive reactions out there.  After all, if everyone was super duper supportive of women making comics, there wouldn’t be a need for a project like this in the first place.

I knew that. But when I saw the comments here yesterday, I was still pissed off.

Not so much by the “get back in the kitchen” crap. Old, tired cliches are easy to ignore. But the comments that promote inaccuracies and incorrect assumptions as absolute fact aren’t quite as easily brushed off. Crap like:

Trying to specialize comics is not a good idea. This is an “open to all” medium and them presenting this isolative material will just wind up on the 75% off shelf. Hiding this publication behind it’s curtain of charity to promote “hey we are women in the comics industry”. Good for you and no one gives a shit.

Either it’s a good story with great art or it’s crap. No one cares what gender you are. We are wanting to be entertained. We are willing to pay for it. This is an insult to the industry.

Clearly there are people who care, looking at both the massive support for this project and the ire over details like the small number of female creators in the new 52 DC titles. People don’t just want characters they can relate to (and that’s a whole other bag of blogging right there). They want creators they identify with.

These days, with a very thin line between producer and consumer thanks to social media, the conventional wisdom is that a company or brand needs to have a real face that the public can connect with. And that’s coming from the straight commerce world, not the entertainment world that offers something consumers can develop deep and emotional connections to. Entertainment (even that outside of the realm of the ubercelebrity) doesn’t exist in a vacuum anymore, if it ever did.

Oh, but according to this commenter, girls wanting female comics creators isn’t really an issue because:

Majority of the women think comic books are silly. When you go to the theaters for a [comic book movie], this site, and a comic book store the majority of the supporters are males. If you see a woman at any of the three, it’s probably because their boyfriend or husband dragged them there

Oh, this is the one that really made me froth. I’ve been reading/collecting comics since I was thirteen. To the best of my recollection, I wasn’t a child bride. But I did watch cartoons like Batman: The Animated Series and X-Men (when I was really little, it was Wonder Woman in syndication) and started off with tie-in comics. One of which was the brilliant Mad Love. That’s the one that got me hooked.

X-Men in particular was really popular with my circle of friends in middle school, all girls. We’d read comics together after school sometimes. I remember the bonds of our friendship were tested dearly when it came to trading for the X-Men Fleer Ultra chase cards. I managed to put together a complete set and was ridiculously proud of it.

I grew up reading DC and Marvel superhero stuff primarily. I remember borrowing Watchmen and a couple Sandman volumes from a friend in high school. I can’t remember which friend. I had too many of both genders who were fans.

In college, I worked in a comic book shop for a while. That really deserves its own post.

And now as a responsible adult, I have a ton of female friends who are comic book fans. Some are dating or engaged or married. And that doesn’t have a damn thing to do with what they read or what movies they like. One of my friends is even ditching her husband next weekend to come to Comic Con with us.

I once dated a guy who was shocked that I, a girl, wanted to stop in a comic shop. Needless to say, that didn’t last long at all.

Speaking of comic shops, about half the staff at my local one are female and all of them treat their female customers with respect. Because hey, we buy stuff too. Girls love shopping, after all…

I could go on and on, but I have a graphic novel script (superhero-related!) that needs revising. What it boils down to is that the only thing “isolative” is the idea that narrow-minded guys are the only members of the comic book audience who matter. Sorry, but you don’t get to say what female readers care about and why we care about it. We also want to be entertained. We’re also willing to pay for it. But some of us really do care who’s creating it.

And some of us want to be the one holding the pen.