Showing posts with label Rocket Girl. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rocket Girl. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
If You Could Only Pick One: Rocket Girl #1

I made a real effort this week to pick up some comics other than the usual Superior Spider-man, X-men, etc. This was, in part, because I'm so sick of watching Marvel betray the foundations of their characters week after week. Also, I've been having to take a hard look at how I'm spending my money on media these days; I want to read great content, but I specifically want content that features other types of characters. More importantly, I want content that is created by people like me who can't do much to stand up against juggernauts like Marvel and DC.

Having said that, I picked up The Shaolin Cowboy from Dark Horse, Rocket Girl from Image, and Coffin Hill from Vertigo, DC's adult imprint. I enjoyed all three far more than I thought I would, but Rocket Girl specifically stood out as a great book that promises to be fun going forward.

How do you suppose she got her name?
Source :http://bit.ly/1ebv3yW
The premise of the book is simple, but that's not a dig. Our young heroine Dayoung Johansson suspects that a company in her Earth's timeline of 2013 has been going back in time to rig things in their favor. Johansson, a time-cop from future New York City, makes her way back to 1986 where she begins her investigation to thwart the villainous Quintum Mechanics.

What I loved most about Rocket Girl #1, and why I recommend it for those looking for just one book to read this week, is the humor, the art, and the lack of dude's in spandex. Our protagonist is a 15 year old who is drawn appropriately and exhibits the certain, well, quirks of a teenage girl. She's sarcastic, witty, intelligent, and driven. How many other female characters are there like this in comics?

Appropriately, the humor is adult with middle-fingers flying around. The writing has a certain sardonically sarcastic tone to it that is equal parts refreshing and riveting. Clearly, Rocket Girl also takes inspiration from Japanese comics. Most notably, there are people falling over when they are flabbergasted.

There are other things to consider when buying your comics, of course. Namely, how much money you've lost if a book or two aren't for you. Well, Rocket Girl is less expensive than most AAA titles out there right now, with a price tag of $3.50. For my money, the risk was worth every penny.

Rocket Girl, the first issue of which was released on Oct. 9, has been added to my pull list. I'm looking forward to reading issue #2 when it drops on November 13. Give it a try, either digitally or traditionally, and let me know what you think!

What are you reading right now?

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Monday, October 14, 2013
Women in Comic Books: Why Not?

I remember being 5 years old and sitting, doe-eyed, at my grandparents house every Saturday morning. I wasn't there for breakfast. I'm sure in my parents mind I was there to visit and have family time. I knew, even at five years old, that I was there for the X-men.

Marvel's bunch of mutants from the Xavier school had recently enthralled me. I loved the smooth talking Cajun Gambit. The punchy, take-no-prisoners attitude of Wolverine appealed to me even then. I loved the near naked, strangely sexualized Jean Grey and Rogue.

And I think that's where the problem starts for most young comic book fans.
Seriously, how do those proportions even work?
Source: http://bit.ly/1en5ESX
When I was a kid, what I wanted out of my comic books could be boiled down to two things; boobs and battles. I wanted to see my male favorites kicking the teeth out of bad guys like Venom, Carnage, Magneto, and Juggernaut. I wanted my female favorites to stand there looking pretty in outfits that I could have no conception of just how impractical they were to female warriors. Admittedly, I was a kid, and, as all kids do, I eventually grew up. For me, the days of boobs and battles, whether we're talking in comics, classical literature, films, music, or otherwise, are long over.

I took a 12 year break from comic books. I just didn't have the money when I was fourteen, and my dad had grown out of the hobby; no more freebies. In August 2013, I made my way back to the books that had defined my conceptions of heroes as a child. Spider-man, the X-men, Batman, and more began filling up boxes that had only been collecting dust for a decade.

Yet, as I spent and read, I found that things haven't changed all that much. Female characters, for the most part, are still relegated to the role of love interests, catalysts through death, and eye-candy. Progressive, popular females like Batwoman and Captain Marvel have their books rebooted and their creative teams gouged. In the case of Batwoman, her being a strong, lesbian female who wanted to get married was too much for the comic world, inciting her AAA writer to leave the book when DC refused to let her commit to the woman she loved.

I admit, there was a time when I let myself shrug these problems off with a "that's just comics" attitude. Then I started doing some research.

It only makes sense in any business to play to what your customers want. With comic books, it seems only natural to assume, then, that big businesses DC and Marvel should be writing stories about buxom bimbos without brains; right? As it turns out, the majority of comic book readers are not teenage boys. In fact, most comic book readers are mid-twenties to their mid-to-late 40's. Yes, we are still mostly male, but recent statistics show that women represent as much as 25% of comic book readership.

With that being the case, why is it so damn hard to get an interesting female character? Why is it so tricky to write a woman that can be pretty or not, can be smart or not, yet compelling enough to get people to pick up her book week after week? Ostensibly, it's all about the cycle.

As I was told recently at my local comic shop, women simply don't make for interesting storytelling. As if looking into a darkened reflection, someone my age, someone who grew up reading comics for the same reason I did was telling me that women do not make interesting, compelling characters, and that, my friends, points to the issue.

The big two, Marvel and DC, continue to push out AAA titles that feature lame-brained, eye-candy that gives rise to this backward idea. A lot of men grow up and realize that poorly written female characters are simply that; a product of poor writing. However, too many more think it is symptomatic of the gender. The big two, just like any other form of role model--make no mistake; their characters are role models--has a responsibility to craft an open worldview for young men, old men, and women to draw from. We rag on Miley Cyrus for acting like trash yet its okay for one of the most popular mediums in modern entertainment to train readers to think that's how women act, should act-as a rule?

It's especially frustrating to me in the case of Marvel. The X-men were originally conceived as social commentary against bigotry and oppression. That team, black, white, blue, male, female, were all in it together. Spider-man was written to be this every-man; anyone who ever felt the sting of poverty and the pain of lost love, male or female, could connect with the Web-slinger. Unfortunately, Marvel has since betrayed the essence of those characters, both in their writing and in the company's inability or lack of interest in encompassing real characters of both genders.
Image's Rocket Girl features a female lead that A)looks like a real person and B)is a bad ass time-cop
Source:http://bit.ly/1ebv3yW
Look, I'm not going to make the change by myself. Me dropping a chunk of my weekly contribution is not going to topple Marvel or DC. Having said that, I hope taking my money to companies like Image, Dark Horse, and IDW at least helps keep their female lead books afloat.

Are you a comics fan? What do you think about the state of female characters in the big two's books?
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