"...and we are a hell of a lot more diverse than you might think."
May 2, 2014 8:49 AM   Subscribe

We are comics. When former DC Comics editor Janelle Asselin wrote a scathing critique of the art on the company's new "Teen Titans" book, the response she got was depressingly predictable; a deluge of insults, some anonymous rape threats and even one (less predictable) attempt to hack her bank accounts. But after much of the online comics community rallied around Asselin, a tumblr-based project to show off the true diversity of comics creators and fans took off.

We Are Comics is the brainchild of writers/fans/editors Rachel Edidin, Arturo R. Garcia, and Elle Collins.

An epilogue: In the wake of Asselin's abuse, Comic Book Resources - the Eisner-winning news site that hosted her original article - has locked its community forums and started over fresh, with a brand-new civility code.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish (60 comments total) 28 users marked this as a favorite
 
(Reposted and expanded with permission from Kitteh, who posted the main link a few days ago when the thing hadn't quite played out yet.)
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 8:51 AM on May 2, 2014 [2 favorites]


In an interview with Vulture (no, not The Vulture), Spider-Man scribe Brian Michael Bendis had this to say on the subject:

"Just yesterday, a woman wrote an article analyzing what she thought was a poor comic book cover, and she was met with just a bunch of shitty anonymous people being awful to her online. I think that a huge problem is people who read comics and don't understand the point of superheroes, which is to be the best version of yourself. You love Captain America? Well, you know what Captain America would never do? Go online anonymously and shit on a girl for having an opinion."

Emphases added, True Believers!—Zany Dok Zed
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:59 AM on May 2, 2014 [64 favorites]


I read about the Janelle Asselin stuff yesterday only because of the reboot of the Comic Book Resources forum that you mention, which is kind of a big deal: all the boards wiped, users have to-register. Imagine if you turned up at Metafilter to find it all beginning again at zero - all comments, favorites, usernames vanished.
posted by cincinnatus c at 9:02 AM on May 2, 2014


I had been sort of following this story, but I had not heard about the bank account thing. I've gotten used to hearing that a bunch of dudes issued online threats because some woman dared to express an opinion they disapproved of, but I didn't know trying to hack bank accounts was the new thing for shutting people down.

That's not just not being a superhero, it's being a not-so-superVILLAIN.
posted by immlass at 9:03 AM on May 2, 2014 [1 favorite]


Nuftattoo Teen Titans is about the biggest squandered opportunity in recent DC memory. You had a blockbuster mainstream TV hit, poised to bring in new, regular customers - and women and girls, no less! And you had a fresh chance at the reboot that could cement it into a cornerstone franchise, something you could get movies and merchandising out of for decades, but they decided, "Nah, success isn't for us" and went all sexploity.
posted by Slap*Happy at 9:07 AM on May 2, 2014 [11 favorites]


The RTs involving CBR's community reboot seems to imply that if you are a male fan/comics writer/comics illustrator/etc that supports this, you have been neutered or are a coward.
posted by Kitteh at 9:10 AM on May 2, 2014


I really do appreciate that CBR is doing this now but it's been a very long time coming.
posted by kmz at 9:12 AM on May 2, 2014


extremely misogynistic nerdrage!
posted by ChuckRamone at 9:12 AM on May 2, 2014


Wow! Well done to CBR. Yes, it could have been sooner, etc., etc., but there's a nice mea culpa in the announcement by the site owner, and it's great to see such a bold step forward.

Regardless of whether it's due to sincere dedication to goodness or a growing recognition that the mouthy 5% asshole quotient does not a stable userbase make, it's one less soapbox for shitheads on the Internet.
posted by Shepherd at 9:16 AM on May 2, 2014 [3 favorites]


I got an email from the folks at First Second about this a few days ago, urging creators to take a look at the project and maybe contribute. It's been great to see whole editorial staffs of major imprints posing together. I hope this continues to pick up steam.
posted by Narrative Priorities at 9:28 AM on May 2, 2014 [1 favorite]


that brian michael bendis article is awesome and i suggest everyone read it.
posted by nadawi at 9:29 AM on May 2, 2014


I dunno, I think DC is playing it smart with the new fresh look of Teen Titans. I mean, who else is creating characters where the girls are all equally sexy and wearing clothes that just make no sense, but are titillating to young men? And where else can you find male superheroes who are just crazy-ripped beyond all understanding of anatomy? Is there a single other book out there doing that? I doubt it, because if they were doing that, then all of these comics would be crazy-successful, just like Teen Titans will be. They won't need tv shows or movies or action figures to make their money: they'll just be able to put out funny books with art of middling quality, where perspective is something the artist read about once, and any time anyone dies, they can just resurrect the character after six months, with maybe six or eight new titles dedicated to that character and/or his/her team. The stories will be mostly forgettable, and we'll have lots and lots of crossovers to make people buy a shit-ton of books that they don't like just to get an extra three pages of a story that doesn't exactly go anywhere, but can Change Everything Forever, until they reboot the series again.

Good show, DC. Way to take a chance on something different.
posted by nushustu at 9:31 AM on May 2, 2014 [12 favorites]


Mod note: A couple comments removed, let's not do the Here's My Simplified Take On Why Other People Should Be Upset About This Complicated Topic thing in here. Engage with the specifics of the situation or give the thread pass, please.
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:43 AM on May 2, 2014


Regardless of whether it's due to sincere dedication to goodness or a growing recognition that the mouthy 5% asshole quotient does not a stable userbase make, it's one less soapbox for shitheads on the Internet.

I actually think this should start extending to cons and other real-world venues as well. If someone has publicly harassed women, sent death and/or rape threats, or been a virulent racist/sexist/homophobic/etc douchebag online, cons should start barring them from attending. Many already do this for those who do that IRL, and there's no ambiguity when there's the potential that thousands or millions of people saw you doing it while your name was attached to it.
posted by zombieflanders at 9:47 AM on May 2, 2014 [6 favorites]


The RTs involving CBR's community reboot seems to imply that if you are a male fan/comics writer/comics illustrator/etc that supports this, you have been neutered or are a coward.

Yeah - I write about stuff like this sometimes, and the comments generally show this surprising thing where the angry, leave-us-alone dudes literally cannot imagine that men might not feel as they do about this. So, they construct these very complex systems where men who aren't also telling Janelle Asselin to stop ruining comic books forever are only doing so because they are scared of the consequences of speaking out, or trying to get laid, or have been ordered to by their publisher.

These are all considered more likely than the possibility that it might be possible for men to come to different conclusions on an issue.

It's a bit of a tautology, but idiots are stupid.

If someone has publicly harassed women, sent death and/or rape threats, or been a virulent racist/sexist/homophobic/etc douchebag online, cons should start barring them from attending.

Most of this stuff is anonymous, unfortunately, done from twitter and email accounts created specifically for harassment, although idiots are often not great at anonymizing themselves, and sometimes people do identify them, often out of concern for their own safety. Model View Culture has a guide to finding out information on harassers (and minimizing your own exposure to doxing by same) here.

Of course, you then have to hope that con organizers are going to be sympathetic. Cons are getting better about having harassment policies, but only this week there was a story of abuse and sockpuppeting directed at someone attending an upcoming con who asked about the gender mix of the marketing for the cosplay element by one of the organizers of the con. So, yeah.
posted by running order squabble fest at 9:57 AM on May 2, 2014 [14 favorites]


I was confused at first, as the linked cover looked like a typical American super hero comic book cover. But that's the point!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 9:58 AM on May 2, 2014 [1 favorite]


The fact that 90% of the internet needs a "Civility Code" makes me very sad.
posted by DigDoug at 10:37 AM on May 2, 2014 [1 favorite]


Related: Company's response to outrage over its sexist T-shirt only makes things worse
“I like fangirls how I like my coffee. I hate coffee.” Three days after being spotted on a T-shrt for sale at WonderCon, this idiotic slogan is still making waves in the geek community.

Why? Well, for one thing, it seems like a perfect example of the hostile environment many women have to deal with when they attend fan conventions. However, the T-shirt’s manufacturer, Tankhead Custom Tees, has just come forward to explain why the shirt isn’t sexist. First of all, they’re careful to point out that they also produce a “fanboy” variant. “Apparently it's only sexism if it is insulting to one gender,” Tankhead posted on Facebook, along with a photo of the shirt.
“Anyways, the fangirl/fanboy shirts can best be explained like this: fangirls/boys =/= fans. Fans are people who like and genuinely respect a fandom, and it's creators. Fangirls/boys are like those creepy fedora wearing neckbearded bronies, or hetalia fanfiction shippers, who make us all collectively cringe in pain at what they do to the things we love.

No one should ever defend these kinds of people. Seriously, they make the rest of us look bad.”
So, just to be clear here, the shirt isn’t insulting toward all women, just the ones who are the wrong kind of fan. And that’s totally not a gendered insult because bronies (i.e. male fans of a media source that’s traditionally aimed at girls) are repulsive as well. Right?

This is a textbook example of the “fake geek girl” phenomenon, a concept that just will not die. One commenter even claims that “fangirl” isn’t a gendered term, because you can use it to insult men as well—as if it’s not sexist at all to use “girl” as an insult when making fun of a dude.

The idea that it’s OK to be disgusted by certain types of fan is pretty widespread in the geek culture community, and it’s ridiculous to suggest that this habit isn’t connected to sexist prejudice. In the nonsensical social strata of geekdom, “serious” sci-fi literature fans are somewhere at the top, Trekkies and comic book nerds are somewhere around the middle, and anything women are interested in is invariably right down at the bottom. Popular examples: Supernatural, YA novels with female protagonists, fanfiction, shoujo anime, and pretty much anything that’s popular on Tumblr.

It’s no coincidence that “fangirl” is a name that’s most commonly used to describe the women and girls who read and write fanfiction. By the logic of people who use fangirl as a pejorative term, fans who spend hours reading and collecting superhero comics are at the cool, respectable end of the geek scale, while “fangirls” who write tens of thousands of words of superhero fanfic are embarrassing weirdos. In other words, if you conform to the old-fashioned, male-dominated form of fandom then you’re fine, but if you prefer to join the subculture that was primarily founded on the work of female fans, then it’s acceptable to publicly mock you at an event like WonderCon—a place where people go to geek out and spend time with like-minded fans.

Obviously, this Mean Girls-esque view of the fandom community is total nonsense. Writing Hetalia fanfic is no more or less frivolous and embarrassing than learning to speak Klingon or playing D&D or waiting in line for six hours to get into the Marvel panel at Comic Con. When you start writing off entire subcultures for “ruining” fandom for everyone else, then the only person being a Bad Fan is you.
posted by zombieflanders at 10:45 AM on May 2, 2014 [16 favorites]


From that Bendis interview Doktor Zed linked to above:

"You shouldn't want to be Peter Parker because you want to sling webs and punch people. It should be because you want to be someone who lives with the idea of "with great power comes great responsibility. And that means that the power of the internet and the power of your ability to interact with people, should be treated like a power. You should treat it like a responsibility." (emphasis mine).

Man, I want that EMBLAZONED on the top of every internet forum/comment section.
posted by KingEdRa at 10:46 AM on May 2, 2014 [23 favorites]


So many comicbook-guys take that MCU Cap quote "I don't like bullies" to heart with the belief that "bullies" are anyone with a public opinion you don't like, especially if they're female.

If only Internet forums had signup questions like the Super Serum screening doctor. "So, why do you want to join the Comic Book Army? So you can punch feminazis? Okay, back of the line for you."
posted by nicebookrack at 11:50 AM on May 2, 2014 [6 favorites]


For further reading: Janelle Asselin also addressed the immediate aftermath of the article on her tumblr blog.
posted by FreezBoy at 12:08 PM on May 2, 2014


Speaking of power and responsibility, did Brett Booth, the artist whose targeting of Asselin seems instrumental in kicking off the harassment, make any comment about this after the extent and ferocity of the harassment became clear? It feels like that's a really good example of not responsibly using the power some level of status among comic book fans confers...
posted by running order squabble fest at 12:34 PM on May 2, 2014


"“I like fangirls how I like my coffee. I hate coffee.”"

“I like fangirls how I like my coffee. With misogyny.”
posted by klangklangston at 12:37 PM on May 2, 2014


Huh. I really like coffee.
posted by el io at 12:40 PM on May 2, 2014 [3 favorites]


running order: I don't see anything on his blog, but there is a link on the sidebar for an anti-bullying online campaign, so that's a thing.

There is also this note (which may pre-date this controversy): "Due to the current troll infestation we will be requiring you to sign in to leave a comment."
posted by el io at 1:32 PM on May 2, 2014 [1 favorite]


It's not surprising to me that this was kicked off by a DC book and that a really great response was written by a Marvel architect. DC feels really retrograde compared to Marvel now and I think you can see a split in the intended fanbase that is going to keep widening: DC will keep catering to the misogynist MMA enthusiasts, while Marvel and Disney will aim for the wider Marvel movieverse fans. Things are going to get better from one side of the aisle and worse from the other.
posted by painquale at 1:33 PM on May 2, 2014 [4 favorites]


It's not surprising to me that this was kicked off by a DC book and that a really great response was written by a Marvel architect. DC feels really retrograde compared to Marvel now and I think you can see a split in the intended fanbase that is going to keep widening: DC will keep catering to the misogynist MMA enthusiasts, while Marvel and Disney will aim for the wider Marvel movieverse fans. Things are going to get better from one side of the aisle and worse from the other.

As a former lifelong diehard DC fan girl, I can say it is true -- I used to exclusively read it until there came a day it just didn't click for me and I dropped it entirely -- their attitude is more dated than an actual Golden Age comic...
posted by Alexandra Kitty at 1:40 PM on May 2, 2014 [1 favorite]


I'm sorta kinda getting back into comics via a few titles from Image (encouraged because they have DRM-free digital downloads). Stuff like this isn't going to get me back into DC. On the Marvel side, I'm just gonna hang in the movieverse.

Although Teen Titans has been up and down on the weirdly sexualized teen front. I think what stands out as one of the worst examples was having Raven in a painted-on costume and a boob-and-butt pose virtually oggled by Supeman and Lex.
posted by CBrachyrhynchos at 1:43 PM on May 2, 2014


Some good long-form writing by Edidin on why GRIM N GRITTY rape scenes and general oversexualization make people want to punch things. Not directly on point (which is why I didn't link it in the post) but related.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 1:52 PM on May 2, 2014 [2 favorites]


"It's not surprising to me that this was kicked off by a DC book and that a really great response was written by a Marvel architect. DC feels really retrograde compared to Marvel now and I think you can see a split in the intended fanbase that is going to keep widening: DC will keep catering to the misogynist MMA enthusiasts, while Marvel and Disney will aim for the wider Marvel movieverse fans. Things are going to get better from one side of the aisle and worse from the other."

It's a weird flip from the '90s, when Marvel went through their X-Grimdark Universe phase, and DC was the home of a lot of broader, more iconic and traditionally heroic comics. Not to say that there weren't some weird things in there, or that they were any great progressive bastion, but I'd have let my hypothetical kids read DC before Marvel or Image back then. Like, Marv Wolfman's runs were pretty solid, and JLA was anodyne to the point of being stodgy. Now it's Marvel being progressive (as much as any big comics publisher is, or, not tremendously).
posted by klangklangston at 2:13 PM on May 2, 2014


Although Teen Titans has been up and down on the weirdly sexualized teen front. I think what stands out as one of the worst examples was having Raven in a painted-on costume and a boob-and-butt pose virtually oggled by Supeman and Lex.

It's not in the Teen Titans comic, but see also Starfire, a charter member of the Teen Titans, being revamped in Red Hood and the Outlaws as a series of poses from Sports Illustrated's swimsuit edition, with a new costume in which her shoulders are decorously covered.

(David Willis, writer of Shortpacked, did a played-straight comic about it here. And then, later, Scott Lobdell, the writer of Red Hood and the Outlaws, turned out to be the subject of this cartoon about a young female artist being creeped on while on a panel when he apologized for his "failed attempt at humor".)

In short, argh.
posted by running order squabble fest at 2:26 PM on May 2, 2014 [5 favorites]


There's been a direct flip in the philosophies that drive the writing at each company, too. When Marvel fell into its pit of teeth-gritted, bepouched nonsense in the 90s, it was driven by tight editorial control and a strong (and Liefeldian) house style. Meanwhile, DC had the mediocre corporate-driven tentpoles like Death of Superman, but it was also the home of all those awesome books that were products of creators getting a really wide berth to write and draw what they wanted. Thence came Starman, Sandman, Morrison's JLA, etc.

Flash forward to today, and now it's DC with a strong, super-gory house style and an iron editorial fist (remember when they published a book where Batwoman got engaged, and then kicked out the entire creative team because DC heroes aren't allowed to get married?), while Marvel puts together its big plotlines at writers' retreats rather than by editorial fiat; they're hiring artists whose work couldn't look more different and letting them go nuts; and they have this whole Hawkeye-inspired line of comics where offbeat creators get to do whatever they want with B-grade characters; Jonathan Hickman gets Avengers and Fantastic Four as a stage for his crazy SF stories, etc.

It's almost like you get better stories when you find good writers and artists and let them create, than by giving marching orders to whoever's willing to take them.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 2:27 PM on May 2, 2014 [6 favorites]


It's a weird flip from the '90s, when Marvel went through their X-Grimdark Universe phase, and DC was the home of a lot of broader, more iconic and traditionally heroic comics.

This article makes a pretty compelling case that DC has basically been playing catch-up with Marvel since the 60's. Marvel went grimdark and DC followed, but then Marvel cleaned up their act and it does not look like DC is following.

Marvel has a slate of comics that I'd call genuinely feminist in art, character, and content: Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk, Silver Surfer, and Hawkeye. Each has an indie and progressive sensibility with a strong female lead. It's pretty shocking that they're coming from the Big Two. (People tend to also list Captain Marvel, but I haven't read that.) The flagship titles like Spider-Man still tend to have regressive art, but in content they're at least sensitive to gender issues. There's nothing like that coming from DC. The current Batman is the bro-iest Batman ever.
posted by painquale at 2:34 PM on May 2, 2014 [5 favorites]


I'm almost a decade out of date, but BKV's Runaways managed to have three sexual relationships among teenagers without much of anything that sticks out in my mind as "cheesecake." That Teen Titans image I posted was from about the same time. Maybe it's because I'm a middle-aged fart, but I'd like to see better writing about sexuality with less cheesecake.
posted by CBrachyrhynchos at 2:41 PM on May 2, 2014 [1 favorite]


Damn it people! I've been quite happy sticking to webcomics! Why you have to make me want to spend money on Marvel again?

I've been seeing one argument against completely destroying the forums, and that's from people wanting to keep it archived as a historical document. Because historians down the line might want to see people's reactions to comics, or fund our how bad the sexism was.

It's an argument that bugs me, frankly; allowing harm to be fine to people currently around, so some historian down the line can write a better paper.
posted by happyroach at 3:33 PM on May 2, 2014 [1 favorite]


There's been a direct flip in the philosophies that drive the writing at each company, too. When Marvel fell into its pit of teeth-gritted, bepouched nonsense in the 90s, it was driven by tight editorial control and a strong (and Liefeldian) house style... Flash forward to today, and now it's DC with a strong, super-gory house style and an iron editorial fist...

It's probably not a coincidence the group editor of the X books during that period of the 90s (and later Editor In Chief at Marvel) Bob Harras is now EIC over at DC Comics.
posted by peteyjlawson at 4:31 PM on May 2, 2014


Tangentially related: Rachel Edidin of We Are Comics also just started up a podcast about the X-Men, and so far it's pretty awesome.
posted by epersonae at 4:53 PM on May 2, 2014 [2 favorites]


I spend way too much time in a comic book store for someone who doesn't work in one (I have legit reasons to be there, mind you) and the differences between DC and Marvel covers is ... striking. Marvel is doing some things that are eye-catching and intriguing. DC is just making colorful messes.

At this point, every so often, I'll pick up a superhero title (like the recent Black Widow and Elektra series) but they don't hold my interest too much. I'm OK with that.

I am not down on superheroes at all. If you like them, more power to you. But comics is so much bigger than that and I do hope We Are Comics shows off that fact. The gross fanboy stuff will probably sadly always exist to some extent, but I know so many awesome people who are fighting the good fight when it comes to opening up comics to everyone. Comics are not just this one specific, narrow thing. They're a whole bunch of things.

(Next month, I'm going to a day of the Graphic Medicine conference and I love stuff like that. There are enough people making enough comics that deal with physical and mental health issues that they have an entire conference about it! That's awesome!)
posted by darksong at 5:49 PM on May 2, 2014 [2 favorites]


Tangentially related: Rachel Edidin of We Are Comics also just started up a podcast about the X-Men, and so far it's pretty awesome.

Oh, she was doing so well until the 36th minute. But then she said Morph first entered the comic books in Exiles, when, as any real geek knows, it was the Age of Apocalypse limited series.

J'accuse! Expel the fake geek girl!

(No, but seriously, that was a lot of fun! The standards and practices notes from a clearly deeply existentially dissatisfied standards and practices board to the makers of the 90s X-MenL The Animated Series are brilliant. "The villagers should not burst when Mister Sinister blasts them. They can melt or some such." Guest co-host Chris Sims is great, also, and has spoken out about sexism in the comic book industry, to bring it back ontopic...)
posted by running order squabble fest at 5:52 PM on May 2, 2014


In a related story, How Censors Killed the Golden Age of Comics.
The comic books of the Golden Age were also significantly more diverse in terms of genre than today’s comics. On newsstands across America — in an era when the newsstand was an urban hub and an economic juggernaut — comic books told tales of True Crime, Weird Fantasy and Cowboy Love, Negro Romance, and Mystery Men. And Americans bought them all.
posted by jeather at 6:17 PM on May 2, 2014


Marvel is doing some things that are eye-catching and intriguing.

In retrospect, when I listed those four Marvel comics that I think are especially noteworthy, I wish I linked to the art. They are all have really inventive, joyful artstyles. So let me do that now. Compare these to that Teen Titans cover.

Silver Surfer
Ms. Marvel
She-Hulk
Hawkeye

And these comics all passed the Bechdel test pretty much immediately.
posted by painquale at 6:33 PM on May 2, 2014 [12 favorites]


Related: Company's response to outrage over its sexist T-shirt only makes things worse

Greg Rucka Has Something Important To Say About Your Gatekeeping Of Women In Geek Culture
posted by homunculus at 6:41 PM on May 2, 2014 [7 favorites]






Here's what grinds my gears about that issue: those comics already exist. Marvel and DC have published hundreds of issues of kid-friendly comics over the years. They still exist, right? And they've already made back the artists' and writers' paychecks, or been written off as a loss. So you can afford to sell 'em for cheap. Print a bunch of issues as digests, put a $2 or $3 price tag on a 100-page book, and make some new readers. Why not? Hell, many of them are legitimately good comics. If I could buy my nephew a set of Marvel Adventures Spider-Man books when we go out for ice cream or whatever, I would be all over that. Why can't I?
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 7:21 PM on May 2, 2014 [2 favorites]


Is Silver Surfer a Mike Alred joint now?
posted by klangklangston at 11:58 PM on May 2, 2014


painquale: some of that art reminds me of Crisis (short-lived 2000AD spinoff published circa 1990). You've seriously tempted me to go buy some Marvel comics. I had no idea the period of muscles-having-muscles was so over.
posted by Leon at 4:56 AM on May 3, 2014


"You're trying to do it now, aren't you?"

I have not actuLOLed at something like that in ages.
posted by Eideteker at 5:14 AM on May 3, 2014 [1 favorite]


I am already planning to head out with some geekier friends of mine (incl. ladies), but reminder: TODAY IS FREE COMIC BOOK DAY

I am going to pick my friends' brains about these books and anything else that's on the same level.
posted by Eideteker at 5:16 AM on May 3, 2014


Today is indeed Free Comic Book Day. I read this thread over breakfast in a diner and walked back to my digs, passing a comics store on the way. Most of an hour before opening there was a small line outside -- maybe half a dozen people -- waiting to get in. As if in triumphant refutation to anonymous misogynist comic geeks, the entire line was made up of young women. Such a heartwarming sign for geekery.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:28 AM on May 3, 2014 [2 favorites]


Is Silver Surfer a Mike Alred joint now?

It sure is! It's gorgeous. Allred is invoking Kirby all over the place. This was a two-page spread. And it has a really unexpected tone: it's funny. Slott is writing it as a version of Doctor Who: a powerful cosmic do-gooder takes a quirky companion on weird adventures.

You've seriously tempted me to go buy some Marvel comics.

If you're going to try one, try Ms. Marvel. I think the first issue might be the single best first issue of a superhero comic.
posted by painquale at 9:56 AM on May 3, 2014 [2 favorites]


I just looked at the pages you linked for Ms. Marvel-- they're absolutely glorious! Thank you for showing me that comics are not just a boob-fest shitshow. I genuinely mean it; I would not have discovered those comics without your post.
posted by jokeefe at 12:31 PM on May 3, 2014 [2 favorites]


My FCBD haul included the first two issues of Silver Surfer, and holy crap, this book is great. I knew Allred was going to be a perfect fit, but even so, consider me blown away. At the least, every Doctor Who fan should give it a shot.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 1:21 PM on May 3, 2014 [1 favorite]


There's also a Slott/Allred Silver Surfer story in the All-New Marvel Now collection, which I think is the same as the Silver Surfer Infinite story that you can download on digital.
posted by painquale at 9:16 PM on May 3, 2014


Picked up the first 2 Silver Surfers, the first 3 Ms. Marvels, the first two Fraction Hawkguy graphic novel/collections, and the first few collected Miles Morales Ultimate Spider-manses. Haven't had a chance to dig in, but I can't wait!

(Everywhere I've looked IRL seems to only have Vol. 2 of the Marvel Essential Luke Cage: Power Man collection! Grrr...)
posted by Eideteker at 3:12 PM on May 5, 2014 [1 favorite]


omg you guys I already love Kamala (Ms. Marvel) and I'm only one issue in I just want to hop on the PATH train and give her a hug already #growingupinnorthjersey #nerdybrownandawkward #imaybehavingsomefeelshere

Thanks to youse guys, I may have gone a little overboard...
posted by Eideteker at 7:45 PM on May 5, 2014 [2 favorites]


Happy Expensive Comic Book Day!
posted by running order squabble fest at 3:17 AM on May 6, 2014 [1 favorite]


Are any of those recommendations in trades yet? I'm the terrible person ruining the monthly racket by waiting until stuff's collected so that I don't go through that 15-minute high to 29-day low cycle every month.
posted by klangklangston at 11:22 AM on May 6, 2014


The Matt Fraction Hawkeye is; I just picked up the first two collections.
posted by Eideteker at 11:58 AM on May 6, 2014


Marvel's five new books with female leads.

The Matt Fraction Hawkeye is; I just picked up the first two collections.

It's worth noting that the title was originally predominantly about Cliff Barton, male Hawkeye, but it has gradually shifted into being predominantly about Kate Bishop, female Hawkeye. The third collection is the one that is all about Kate. And she is awesome.
posted by painquale at 5:08 PM on May 6, 2014


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