curgoth: (Magic Missile)
([personal profile] curgoth Aug. 7th, 2008 09:44 pm)
Anyone want to take bets on Hollywood managing to make a movie out of Y: The Last Man and still have it fail the Bechdel test?

I'm having another of my "I want to read comics! But comics suck!" moods. Anyone have recommendations for comics starring women that aren't overwhelmingly cheesy or sexist, and yet still contain superheroes punching bad guys?

I am having an increasingly hard time not buying an iphone. Someone talk some sense into me! My blackberry is nice, but does not do the internetting I want it to.

From: [identity profile] corwin77.livejournal.com


You could always check out the Anita Blake comics. They are based on the first couple of books AFAIK.
Also the Dark Tower, again based on the books by Stephen King, strong female, but more shooting than punching. Assuming they stay pretty true to the books.

From: [identity profile] 50-ft-queenie.livejournal.com


Sort of OT, but I'm reading a short story collection by Stephen King and it contains a prequel to the Dark Tower series. If the books are anywhere near as good as the story, I think I'm hooked.

From: [identity profile] corwin77.livejournal.com


The books can be uneven. Most of them are as good or better than that story, which I assume is the Sisters of something or other?
The first three are imho amazing, the last couple are where they start getting less good sometimes. Again they fluctuate.

From: [identity profile] neeuqdrazil.livejournal.com


But, it's LKH.

And they're really taking the ethos from the later books, although the stories are from the earlier books.

From: [identity profile] pez-minotaur.livejournal.com


The i-phone is being carried by Rogers which is currently the most expensive phone company in the world. Their rates for the iphone in Canada are the second highest in the world, and once the introductary offer expires it will be the highest in the world. Also apparently Apple won't do tech support for the iphone in Canada because they hate Rogers that much.

All of that is hearsay, I can't back any of it up but it is what I've heard.

From: [identity profile] marev.livejournal.com


Promethea by Alan Moore. The Invisibles by Grant Morrison, not necessarily starring women but it does have female (and cross-dressing) characters. That's all I can think of off the top of my head.

From: [identity profile] notshakespeare.livejournal.com


Although I thought Morrison was confused as to whether Lord Fanny is a transvestite or a transsexual.

From: [identity profile] neeuqdrazil.livejournal.com


We do have the first dozen (or so) Promethea issues...

From: [identity profile] corbet.livejournal.com


Pulse and Alias. It's been a while, but I don't think they were cheesy or sexist. I just remember enjoying them. :)

From: [identity profile] evilmonk.livejournal.com


planetary. best series ever.
also astonishing X-men, which was written by joss whedon.
all star superman, winner of multiple eisner awards
scott pilgrim, canada centric 80's child aimed pop culture jam.

From: [identity profile] 50-ft-queenie.livejournal.com


Coincidentally, I was discussing the Bechdel test with a friend in her LJ recently. I can't say that I would refuse to watch a film that satisfied all the levels because that would eliminate some of my favorite films (My Dinner
With Andre being one of them).

It's an interesting idea though, and definitely raises awareness of just how often women are used as set dressing in popular culture.

From: [identity profile] 50-ft-queenie.livejournal.com


I don't.[1] There are many films out there - and books, comics etc. - that do not pass the Bechdel test that are nonetheless high-quality, intelligent, insightful and entertaining. I consider the Bechdel test useful, but not an absolute metric by which all media must be judged.

1 - But we already know that I am a DoublePlusUngood Feminist.

From: [identity profile] nuadha-prime.livejournal.com


The Whedon-verse comics (both good and featuring women heroes) Buffy Season Eight, Angel: After the Fall

Green Lantern Corps currently has one of my favorite Green Lanterns ever, a female doctor named Soranik Natu. It is another ensemble book like Buffy and Angel, but Natu does appear almost every issue.

I haven't been reading it lately, but what I have seen of the recent Blue Beetle comics has been really good and does a good job of using "Girl Thirteen," a mystic superheroine that was introduced in Superman years ago and is now dating the current Blue Beetle.

Of course, Birds of Prey has long been the place to go for not-sexist or cheesy female heroines, especially during Gail Simone's run. She is now writing Wonder Woman which I can't say that I have been as impressed by, but I would still recommend hunting down the TPBs of Greg Rucka's Wonder Woman comics, which is my favorite era of Wonder Woman ever.

On the Marvel Side of things, Runaways is a fantastic comic featuring several teenage super-people who find out there parents are super-villains and run away. The cast has more girls than boys (I believe) and the girls are very well written. (Sadly, the male characters are the flat and uninteresting characters in Runaways.) It is currently being written by Joss Whedon, but you would want to start with the early issues which have been collected in trades.

Sadly, a Y movie would have a strong chance of failing the Bechdel test since they could easily have all the women talk about Yorick.

From: [identity profile] mycrazyhair.livejournal.com


Do you really want to be talked out of the iPhone? Sit down and figure out how much it's going to cost you in total over the life of the contract. I'm willing to bet we could get, say, a really nice hot tub for that. Or, in your case, a decent downpayment on your Batmobile. *g*

From: [identity profile] the-doughboy.livejournal.com


Well don't read anything with Powergirl in it then.

Strangers in Paradise?
Runaways maybe? I kinda like the girls in it, Gertrude's my favourite of them.

From: [identity profile] the-doughboy.livejournal.com


And as for iPhone vs. Blackberry;
Princess has an iPhone, I have a Blackberry, Battery life is evil on the iPhone, you'll need that plus your current iPod if you want to listen for any period of time.
But the web browser on the iPhone is much better then the Blackberry, though the Bold and Thunder should recover a lot of that ground. The data transfer is much faster on the iPhone with the 3G and the Wi-Fi.
Blackberry has the keyboard, thats pretty much it. Though Blackberry can be synced with iTunes now.
If you are going to get it act fast, the 6GB for $30 a month is the best deal going in canada.

From: [identity profile] nxk3.livejournal.com


There is a Shiny New 3G Blackberry coming out this month-ish! the Bold/9000 -- I am getting one.

From: [identity profile] carpe_noir.livejournal.com


Have you tried Nextwave: Agents of Hate? It's certainly full of the punchy-punchy-kick-to-the-head.

From: [identity profile] corwin77.livejournal.com


Also, I don't know if they've been mentioned, Fray, by Joss Whedon, Powers and 100 Bullets. I've read the first and love it, big surprise. The last two I've read one issue of each, both SEEMED good.
.

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