So, this black girl walks into a comics store...

Gail Simone reblogged a post on Tumblr and wrote a response to the allegation that she’d taken part in something that was grossly racist and misogynistic. One of the panels is posted after the quote. Click on the picture to see it full size. I won’t go into the whole conversation, but starting from the post I linked, you can follow a trail that started ugly, but ended on a civil note. There was one thing of note that she posted that I really wanted to quote before continuing:

In general, for all the strides comics have made with female fans, I still get the sense that the fandom at large isn’t particularly inclusive to women of color. I mean it kills me when I see someone awesome like DCWKA recommending books to budding fans, and not a single one of them is a POC heroine or a team book WITH a POC heroine in it. And it’s not her fault, but it’s the sort of environment the industry has cultivated.

You can see tons of cute white girls with blue eyes and blonde hair, but black, Latina, Asian, and Middle Eastern heroines are few and far between. I would not be surprised in the least if a young black girl was excited about getting into comics but then backed out upon seeing how few people there were that look like her. And seeing as how it is the fanboys and fangirls of today who are the writers of tomorrow, that’s a big problem.

You can read that post in its entirety where she talks a little more about racism in the industry including the nastiness that followed Felicia Henderson, a black woman who dared to write Teen Titans and was disparaged by many “fans.” I know her run could’ve have been dreadful and deserved criticism (I’m in the process of finding out what she wrote specifically, so I can give an honest opinion). However, some of the insults hurled at her seemed to be another way for bottom-feeding racists to rear their heads and pretend that they were arguing in the name of the integrity of the series.

As a black woman who has been a geek all her life and is still very much a geek, how my race factors into an industry that seems largely to cater to the straight, white male has interested me intensely. When I was younger, sometimes, it was hard to reconcile my love of comics and video games with the fact that my face wasn’t the one they had in mind when creating them. Fortunately, I got into comics and games when I was young enough that race didn’t play a big part in my love for them. It wasn’t until I’d gotten much older that I started to pay more attention to sex and race in them.

After reading about how the #1 Street Fighter player in the United States, coincidentally also a black woman who goes by the moniker BurnYourBra, deals with sexism and particularly racism in the industry, I wanted to write something about what comics meant to me as a woman of color. Reading Gail Simone and comic fans interact with one another on the issue of misogyny and racism in comics reminded me that this was something I wanted to do.

I won’t lie to you. This is long, so if you’re one of those “tl;dr” types, you might want to find another blog post to read.

[Review] Wolverine: Old Man Logan by Mark Millar

Rating: 4.5 (out of 5)

Not sure what I was expecting when I went into this story, but I was certainly not expecting what I got from this story. This takes place in an alternate timeline fifty years in the future. The supervillains formed a coup putting aside their differences and masterfully executing a plan that leaves many of the world’s superheroes dead.  The ones who do manage to survive go into hiding to survive. There’s one exception to this story—Logan.

Logan lives in California, a place known as The Hulklands, with his wife and two children, and he’s taken a vow never to take another life, never to unsheathe his claws again. Sounds quaint, but it’s far from it. Life is hard for Logan and his family. During the conflict that led up to the demise of the superheroes, Bruce Banner took the side of the villains and was rewarded with California. Now, the Hulk offspring run the land ruthlessly, demanding rent from those who dare to dwell there.

After unsuccessfully trying to come up with rent money, Logan has a violent confrontation with the Hulks. He doesn’t defend himself and his family is spared, but the Hulks tell him that he must pay double rent next month. Logan takes a job accompanying Hawkeye, who is still in rare form, across the country for money. It’s during this journey that we learn more about what happened in this big battle and what led Logan to just give up the fight and live his days in peace.

Hello World... Again...

I thought I'd try this personal blogging thing... again. I was a pretty devout blogger back when I was still in college, and I mean devout. You could've even called me a blogging zealot. I was known for making multiple, long-winded posts in the same day. Then, l ife happened. I took a break from blogging  and fell by the wayside, updating mostly my friends only journal hosted on Livejournal.com and microblogging on Twitter. I'd made a couple of attempts to get back into blogging, but I mostly gave up on those efforts after a few days/weeks/month.

Recently, I'd gotten into Tumblr because of its easy format that made social blogging so easy. I'd had the page for some years, but only recently started using it for more than a few random posts. As I started doing more with it, I started to miss blogging, and while I like Tumblr and will continue to use it for quick blogging, I wanted something that would allow to me customize my page and posts a little more than Tumblr allowed. Most of my geek related posts will continue to be housed at Tumblr--along with some other side projects that I am doing on the site.

This blog doesn't have a specific purpose. It's my personal space to use as I see fit, so I'll blog about whatever catches my fancy, whether that be my kids, a trip I took, or some random movie I watched. I may eventually start posting the reviews I write here instead of on Tumblr. We'll see how long I stick to this, though.

R.I.P. Gil Scott-Heron

A legend has died, and it saddens me that so many young people today don't know who Heron is or how much of an influence he had on hip-hop. They know nothing of his story or the way he used his words to fight his battles. He was a spoken word artist, writer who had a message to spread--both political and social, who empowered people with his words. He was a conscientious rapper (or bluesologist, as he preferred to be called) whose style was blended with blues and jazz to create hard words flowing over smooth sounds to speak the truth of Heron's reality.

He challenged his listeners and readers to be passionate, to be angry, to better themselves, to rise above the things that held them down. And while his writing and music were a reflection of the shaky times of his era, they still hold true even in today's society. He was never afraid to say what others wouldn't. He didn't shy away from topics because they might offend someone. His words held so much conviction in them. He was one of many writers who had a strong impact in my life, who made me want to be more aware of the world and the happenings in it.

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, Gil Scott-Hero (ca. 1970)