Just another blog from a thirtysomething sociology, comic book and video game nerd. Make yourself comfortable under my corner of sky. Minority culture to Zombie Apocalypses- its all game here.
While it would be unkind to speak ill of the dead, it bears noting that Forrester's handiwork seems poised to do some very real damage to domestic partnerships of both heterosexual and same sex couples due to (vague wording of the amendment) well after his passing. A legacy tarnished by the looming prospect of enshrining hate legislation into the North Carolina constitution. I don't think Forrester is a bigot of the same caliber as Jesse Helms...but there are grave discriminatory implications to the bill he rammed through the house that make it harder to look favorably upon his body of work as a whole.
The damage he's done to the state's image and its credibility as a progressive place to live will likely outlive him by quite a bit. Especially so as the vote for the state constitutional amendment goes forward in May. Stay tuned.
Speaking of loss, Six Feet Under's series finale still manages to trump any other as one of the most memorable and sweetly satisfying in television history. It makes death and dying seem somehow less crushing.
Okay okay. Honest nerd moment: Despite how little I care for Wolverine and his "I'm the best at what I do and what I do is show up in every single Marvel book there is" level of overexposure, I fully and totally love the "Mutant Hogwarts...on crack" tone new writer Jason Arron has taken with a book I was frankly planning on skipping altogether. But the early reviews were so good it was hard not to reconsider, and am I glad I did.
Why Wolverine and the X-Men #1 worked:
The titular character actually comes off a bit out of his depth in his sudden role as Headmaster, which might be a first.
The staff (Yay for underused characters like Husk getting a glossy new coat of paint) and the students are getting fleshed out, as well as the nature of the school in a way that is both organic and...thanks to Chris Bachelo, rather adorable. Also (poor, sweet, disturbing) Idie is so layered and complex she manages to creep out and endear all at once ...and Rockslide in a school uniform with shortpants is just too cute to miss.
The snappy, archly biting dialogue of the members of the school board and their thinly veiled contempt just comes off so amusingly snide I almost hope they stick around in some capacity.
The tone and feel of the book, with the creative team churning out some incredibly fresh and innovative work, comes off as new and full of the Hogwarts for Mutants weirdness a school housing young mutants should be.
What doesn't:
Professor Xavier being out of play during the X-Men:Schism event and being blithely okay with it (making a few admittedly fun one liners and giving the thumbs up and dottering off again) all of it seems an oversight.
Kade Kilgore was ...interesting in Schism, and yes, the idea that the methaphorical mustash twirling supervillian is a 11 year old meglomaniac is fascinating. He's the flipside to the coin, self interested and utterly unconcerned with Wolverine's newfound "save the children" mandate. Mutant hatred = his business model, so he's going to make sure it thrives. Bachelo's rendition of him made him seem much older than the artists in Schism and it took a bit to figure out who he was in the story (especially with so many other teenagers in suits and pithy comments around)
So what we have is a new number one in a series that could have easily been a pass for me if not for the incredible treatment. While I'm not always over the moon about Wolverine, and find his involvement in X-Force counter to his sudden humanitarianism as a headmaster and educator... this is a great introduction to what might actually be an even greater series. I'm...begrudgingly going to keep an eye on this one.
Honorable Mention goes out to Jason Asmus on his one-shot Astonishing X-Men issue. Danger and Emma Frost was a team up so random I didn't even know I wanted it. Having read through the issue I have to say a.) Emma when written well is always a joy read snark from, but her developing bonds with other characters seems somehow rare inbetween crisises. Her place in the X-Men is often dominated by her relationship with Scott, so it seems pretty interesting to watch her actually connect to others. b.) I'm looking forward to Asmus' run on Generation Hope given this interview.
Pretty great comic book day between the two issues.
Here's some new comic book day nerdy music to accompany your reading.
Ladies and nerds, the effervescent Toro Y Moi "Still Sound"
Its that time of year again kiddies; the few weekends of the year we're culturally encouraged to party like its 1999, dress inappropriately and make general nusinces of ourselves, parrot our favorite obscure pop culture references and turn them into costumes...or at the very least (if you're female) get your tits out and call it ironic.
And yes, I've made some ado about the stripperific problem with costumes for women once before...but it bares repeating. When "Sexy superheroine" costumes are quite simply struggling into high boots and a frilly skirt whist arching your back and popping through a boob window...it says way more about what we expect when it comes to women and sex appeal than it does about anything heroic. Good luck fighting crime in this, Supergirl, least of all without some serious wardrobe malfunctions.
If I'm interpeting Halloween properly, its supposed to be fun, mirthful and campy. Does it speak to deeper problems when you're costume channels "Sexy Squaw" (which according to some sources, is a slur against native women in the first place), constitutes dressing up in blackface or fetishizes Asian women to the point of chariciture? Not always, but if you don't want to come off as a blithely unaware, unenlightened clod at your next Halloween mixer while in the "Ghetto Baby Mama" costume, you might want to parse this very helpful checklist Gawker has comprised to help you not make an ass of yourself. Here to help, avoid being "that guy".
Update: A friend pointed out a really impressive psa about cultural parodying in costumes, and it really resonates. On the response the blogger has gotten, its something I've seen a lot when it comes to racism, sexism (the Catwoman post for example) and homophobia and why we can't seem to have rational conversations in public about them. Primarily because those outside of the "dominant cultural" perspective aren't impacted or moved by it and feel that its somehow trivial or unimportant to have to be made to care. Its disgusting how common this reaction is...but whenever anyone tries to point out that an ethnic or cultural minority might have a valid perspective outside of "sexy squaw"...well, then you're a party pooper that nobody wants to hear from or wants to be shouted down to the point of silence. All indications that these cultural issues are inherently linked to power, and the ability for the group that benefits from the trivialization being able to not be called out, or held accountable for doing so are typical and breathtakingly sad. Willful obliviousness always is.
Now hear this from the Mates of State- "Unless I'm Led"
This should come as little surprise. When a society creates law and policy that reinforce underlying prejudices we often very quickly see this reflected in more open hostility towards people perceived as part of the group.
Of course its a shame that anti-imigrant sentiment has driven politicians of the state of Alabama to do, perhaps, what seems normal in their circles, and create laws that make treating other people like equals impossible or criminal. What generally follows, when one institutionalizes cruelty, is that people become cruel and discriminating towards anything aproximate to the blighted group in question. We're certainly seeing this here.Human decency and fairness take a backseat to policing the overt cultural biases.
Comicsalliance has quickly become one of my favorite places to go for alternative takes on comic book news. It not only has some gorgeous art by indie artists, and clever re-interpretations of some of the more mindbogglingly dense comic book continuities.
Lately, a writer (Laura Hudson, whom Ive developed a lot of respect for) has been raising the occasional question about gender/sexism and the comic book industry. Valid questions about whether the depiction of female characters in popular culture as written by, drawn by, and consumed (presumably) men can come off as objects instead of characters...and proceeds to shed light on a lot of evidence why this might be.
An earlier commentary on Catwoman, who is often described as a woman who is "sex positive" and a "femme fatale"(I reference it here), debuted in a new DC comic where she spent numerous pages walking around in a bra being oggled by the p.o.v of the reader before we even see her face. Compartmentalization and framed by her "t&a" before we get to finding out who we're talking about. Thats just one of the more popularized points of evidence indicating recent sexism in comics that've come out of the dialog.
Now there's a relief. I was beginning to wonder if it was just me... One of the most persistent experiences I've had with online "meet up" sites, and hipster havens like OkCupid is overt and covert racism, biases and disdain generally being wrapped up with a tiny bow and conflated with "preference".
The negative language so prevalent on Craigslist and Grindr seems to signal that the culture of sexual liberation has been replaced by sexual segregation.
Gay sexual oppression is catalogued painfully on the Douchebags of Grindr blog, which sorts prejudiced profiles based on everything from racism and sexism to self-hating homophobia. But even though we see it everywhere, most people are as willing to admit to the exclusionary aspects of their desires as Lindsay Lohan is to submit to drug testing — statements are qualified by “Sorry, that’s just what I’m into” or “No hard feelings, it’s just my preference.”
Sycamore says that while people have the right to say what they’re attracted to, they have a responsibility to watch how they say it. “On the one hand, people are stating their preference, but on the other, these are not neutral terms. If we were living in a culture where everything was the same, it wouldn’t be a problem. But when sexual preference reinforces dominant systems of power in an unquestioning way, that’s when it becomes problematic.”
The introductory chapter of the text I'm using this semester deals with the Megan Meier case and yes, I usually have to explain what Myspace is by know. It rather craftily explains the gravity of understanding social problems. Given the decidedly morbid topic, i've spent days tying this into the recent spike in teen suicides (and blogged about it a few times here) ...and have, as of this moment hit the wall. Still ANOTHER dead gay kid.
I believe we're officially way beyond individual issue and way into social problem territory.
My heart aches for anyone who feels this alienated, this cut off from everyone and everything. I don't have the stomach to look into this more right now. My deepest sympathies to the boy's friends and family. My deepest disdain for a culture that ultimately failed him.
He was adorable and the world will be dimmer for his passing.
