A couple of posts about sexism in comics

Some months ago, I wrote a post called "Sexism in The Walking Dead: An Ongoing Discussion" which to this day remains the most popular post on this blog, still getting hits every week and the occasional comment. Which makes me very happy, because that's exactly what I intended when I titled it "an ongoing discussion." I never felt that I'd come to any definite conclusion or verdict in terms of the sexism found in both the comic and the TV adaptation. I do feel pretty confident that there is sexism in the work(s), but dismissing all of it as sexist without further analysis doesn't really do it justice either.

A comment from earlier this week by Missus Goodveggie does a pretty good job of highlighting how complex the work is when it comes to gender issues. I'm going to quote her comment here, unedited:

Ok I know this is really late in the day but I was so excited to come across this post. I was given the walking dead comics (not seen the show yet) by my brother-in-law and have since had some very interesting debates with him over this sexism issue. I thought the two scenes you mentioned (the laundry and the voting) were appalling precisely for that reason that it's kind of the writer going "this isn't sexist...because it's totally true mwah ha ha ha". I also want to point out that Michonne can hardly be used as a 'strong' female character because about 3/4 of the way through we discover that her uncompromising violence has been under the influence (real or imaginary) of her dead boyfriend - if you then go back to the scenes where she's talking with him you can see that Michonne herself is arguing against violence. I'm not saying violence is right, but it's overwhelmingly portrayed as the 'strong male' role here and therefore the woman can only engage in it under the control of some ethereal, omnipresent male. That she's unable to resist his influence even after he's passed on is troubling. Even her revenge on the Governer for raping her is actually her 'boyfriend', so the rape of the woman is more his issue than hers? Andrea I'll give you, I could nitpick (would Dale have been shown happily shacking up with her if she were the elder, physically dependent partner) but that's all it would be.

However, if you examine the portrayal of masculinity in the book it's not actually much more positive. It could be argued that Rick is equally constrained by the hyper-masculine role he takes on. He's the white, straight alpha male, aggressive and decisive, perceived as the natural leader by all the 'lesser' (ethnic minority/old/young/disabled) men as well as the women. And he perceives himself that way. Rick's biggest tragedy is not just that he's actually s**t at leading, but that this role is so ingrained into his and everyone else's minds that nobody (including him) will accept the fact. They follow his inane, off the cuff, moral hypocrisy through death after needless death. They question his leadership, but they vote him onto the leadership council. He is tormented by self-doubt, but is convinced by his own and others' misconceptions. The only time Rick's effective as a leader and sympathetic as a character are the moments when he's engaged in the ostentatiously 'feminine' art of relationship building and nurturing. Given that one of the key themes of the series seems to be that the morally ambiguous, post apocalyptic dystopia they're living in is more the result of the survivors' own behaviour than that of the zombies, you could see the whole thing as a damming indictment of what a world regressed to traditional gender roles would look like.

I thought this was a really great comment and it has made me want to revisit the comic and continue thinking about how these issues operate within it. For more discussion on the topic, check the original post and the rest of the comments.

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Meanwhile, over at The Beat, I got involved in a discussion about a different kind of sexism - the one that affects real people in the comics industry, including both creators and fans. The post was about the lack of visible female presence at Mark Millar's Kapow! comics convention, and his response to that criticism, although the discussion that followed got a bit derailed into a semantics-heavy argument about whether or not Millar can be called a sexist because of it (which, frankly, is besides the point).

Anyway, I won't quote anything from that one, but feel free to head over there and read the discussion. There are a few good points being made (and not just by me, haha), and it manages to remain fairly civil, so it's worth a read.

Quick Reviews: Secret Avengers, Neonomicon, Traveler, Superior, Superman/Batman, Batman Inc

Secret Avengers #8 

I never seem to have anything to say about this title, but it's pretty solid, in terms of both story and art.

Neonomicon #3

I really wish this book wasn't published by Avatar. Rick Johnston's infantile attempts at hyping it up on Bleeding Cool annoy the hell out of me. It's disgusting that he's using rape as a selling point for this title, while simultaneously denouncing the popularity of rape as a plot device in contemporary super-hero comics. Regardless of what Alan Moore's intentions are with this title, there something really disingenuous about this sensationalistic promotion that relies on shock value while at the same time claiming that there's more going on than just sensationalism.

I realize that none of this actually has anything to do with the quality of the comic book itself, but it does have an effect on my enjoyment of it, because I'm not reading this in a vacuum. As for what it all means and whether or not it's any good, I'm going to continue to reserve judgement until I've seen the conclusion, in the next issue.

The Traveler #2

This second issue is a lot less confusing than the first one was. Plot and characters are starting to fall into place, hinting at a larger mystery that's probably going to to be gradually revealed as the series continues. I like the fast pacing of it and the story, but some of the dialogue really grates me. Especially when the protagonist is speaking out loud about what is happening during the fight scene. "And now I will punch him while slowing down time. Oh, I see that didn't work. In that case, I will try this different approach - speeding up time while kicking him in the face! Yes, that seems to work better." I'm paraphrasing, of course, but it's almost that hackneyed. Is it because the art is so bad that the fights wouldn't make any sense without this kind of exposition? Or is it some kind of self-conscious meta-commentary on comic book conventions and the type of dialogue Stan Lee used to write? I'm not sure.

Superior #3

This is good. I want to write more about it later, but for now I'll just say that I'm really enjoying it and, after the twist on the last page, really looking forward to the next issue.

Superman/Batman #79

I was disappointed that Robot Robin from the future only makes a brief appearance in this, despite being prominently displayed on the cover. But otherwise this was really good. And I love the old-fashioned thought bubbles! I wonder if these are coming back in style. Anyway, conclusion in next month's issue.

Batman, Incorporated #2

Still not convinced. Not that this is a bad issue. Nice art and nothing blatantly wrong with the writing. I'm just not sold on the Batman going international premise at all. Something about it stinks. The American hero going to other countries to show local heroes how it's really done. "My people have to be better than that." What does this all lead to? Some kind of global homogenization of super-heroes? Batman is not just hiring heroes to join his team. Mr. Unknown ceases to exist and is replaced with Batman Japan. It all makes me kind of uncomfortable. I'm giving this a couple more issues, but I think I might drop this one. I think Detective Comics is the only Batman book I'm really interested in at the moment.