Women in the New 52: Catwoman, Starfire, Wonder Woman

First, a confession.

I did not read Catwoman #1 or Red Hood and the Outlaws #1. I didn't read them because I didn't buy them. I didn't buy them because I didn't think they'd be any good. And based on the reactions I've seen online and on the several scanned pages from both books that have been circulating on blogs, I think I was right.

I don't need to have read the books to see some of the problems with them. But since I didn't read them, I won't review them. And rather than offer a big rant about them, I will just link to two very excellent and well-argued pieces about them:

• The Big Sexy Problem with Superheroines and Their 'Liberated Sexuality,' by Laura Hudson, at Comics Alliance
• 52 Problems, by Andrew Wheeler, at Bleeding Cool

Read them both.

Meanwhile, at Newsarama, Judd Winnick defends the sex scene in Catwoman #1 with this:

This is a Catwoman for 2011, and my approach to her character and actions reflect someone who lives in our times. And wears a cat suit. And steals. It’s a tale that is part crime story, part mystery and part romance.  In that, you will find action, suspense and passion. Each of those qualities, at times, play to their extremes.  Catwoman is a character with a rich comic book history, and my hope is that readers will continue to join us as the adventure continues.

Well, I hope they don't. Ugh.

But seriously, I'm baffled by how tone-deaf this writer can be about the character. It's weird, because when I first started following comics closely about two years ago, I kept hearing about this writer that people online really seemed to hate. I hadn't read any of Winnick's books, but the constant complaint about him on message boards was that he was using comics as a soapbox, constantly writing about gay or HIV-positive characters, and pushing his annoying liberal agenda down readers' throats. Those complaints made me really uncomfortable. It was the first time I started to realize just how conservative and bigoted comics fandom can be. There was something creepy about how much hate this guy was getting for writing about gay characters.

Now, two years later, I feel like his bad rep was largely unjustified. I haven't read a lot of his work, but he just seems like an average writer who sometimes gets it right and sometimes gets it wrong. Or at least that was my impression before this whole Catwoman debacle happened. From the early interviews in his whole take on the character boiled down to "sexy sexy sexy," to the awful pages I've seen from the actual comic, to his add-insult-to-injury response quoted above, I'm starting to think maybe he's just a terrible writer who doesn't know how to write female characters. And this is a guy known for his liberal politics?

I guess this serves as a useful reminder that even liberals can be sexist. (Or, if that sounds too much like an ad hominem attack, at least say or do or write sexist bullshit.)

Another thing that bothers me about this controversy is the way people who don't see the problem respond to it by caricaturing the criticism and reducing it to prudishness. I've seen dozens of comments in response to blog posts that go like this: "What's the big deal? They're two consenting adults. What's wrong with them having sex?"

There's nothing wrong with Catwoman and Batman having sex. None of the criticism I've seen has been anti-sex. It's about how this was portrayed, not the fact that it happened. It's about characters masquerading as "strong female characters" when they are actually male fantasies. It's about pandering to the lowest-common-denominator male fanbase, when this relaunch is supposed to be about attracting new (and potentially non-straight-male) readership.

While I was commenting on some of these issues on Twitter this week, someone told me I was basing my rants on two comics only and that, in fact, this doesn't reflect any widespread problem in DC's New 52. But, first of all, no, it's not just two comics. Do I need to remind you of Harley Quinn's new costume in Suicide Squad? Or Amanda Waller's sexy new supermodel look? I'm not saying every single book DC has put out this month has treated women like sex objects, but there's enough of a pattern here for us to really call them out on their shit and ask how that much-touted commitment to diversity somehow resulted in this.

Still. It's worth remembering that DC is also putting out some good books this month, including quite a few that feature really good female characters. I'm pretty sure that Batwoman is one of those books, but unfortunately I wasn't able to get my hands on a copy of the first issue. I had mistakenly left it off my pull list and it sold out within hours before I could make it to the store. I've ordered the reprint.

I did, however, get a copy of Wonder Woman #1, written by Brian Azzarello with art by Cliff Chiang, and I thought it was fantastic. I've seen some complaints about the level of gore and violence in the book, but I personally didn't have a problem with it. It's too bad that there isn't an all-ages Wonder Woman book that people can give to their kids and I agree that DC should publish such a book. But just because that book doesn't exist doesn't mean there's anything wrong with this one. It's violent and creepy and weird, and I loved it. The opening issue sets up some interesting villains while firmly establishing Wonder Woman's character, and Cliff Chiang's art is absolutely phenomenal. This might very well turn out to be the best looking book out of this month's 52 first issues.

So DC is getting it right some of the time. And I'm very thankful for that. Those books that I enjoy are all going on my pull list and I will continue to support them. But I'm not going to stop criticizing them when they fail. (And, no, the fact that "Marvel's not going any better" is no excuse either. I'm not "singling them out" by pointing out DC's failings. I'm just concentrating on what I know. How well Marvel is doing has nothing to do with it.) If we want DC to finally get the message and stop putting out books that alienate their (real and/or potential) female readership, we have to stay vocal about it.

Finally, check out this alternative take on Batman and Catwoman's relationship, by Mike Hawthorne. I like it a hell of a lot more than those last few pages of Judd Winnick's book.

Best and worse DC Comics covers of 2010

I have compiled my favourite and least favourite comic book covers of the year from DC. The rule I followed was that I couldn't feature the same artist of book more than once per category.  Vertigo and Wildstorm were not eligible.

TOP 10 BEST DC COVERS OF 2010

1. Phil Noto's Superboy #2

Phil Noto draws a very pretty Superboy. Add to that a nice restricted colour scheme, a stylish composition, and a little bit of bondage sexiness with Poison Ivy's vines, and you've got a clear winner. This is my favourite cover of the year.

2. Gary Frank's Atom Special

I love covers that depict the characters in action or in peril. This cover is full of movement and danger and it's visually striking.

3. Stanley Lau's Superman/Batman Annual #4

It was really hard to decide which of Stanley Lau's covers to pick for this list. His Batgirl covers are all stunningly beautiful and so is his double-cover for the Detective Comics and Batman annuals. But in the end I had to go with this one, because it features probably the best-looking Batman Beyond I've ever seen.

4. Amy Reeder Hadley's Supergirl #56

Amy Reeder did four or five Supergirl covers this year and they're all really nice, but this one was the most striking, making great use of the mirror imagery of the Bizarro world. Using the capes to emphasize the yin-yang motif was also a great idea.

5. Frazer Irving's Batman and Robin #13

It was a tough decision to leave out all of Frank Quitely's covers for Batman and Robin in favour of this variant by Frazer Irving, but ultimately this one wins hands down.

6. Cliff Chiang's Birds of Prey #3

The cover was so much better than this short fantasy scene was in the book. Cliff Chiang also did some really nice covers for Justice League: Generation Lost.

7. J.H. Williams III's Detective Comics #862

Wow. I don't really have to say anything else about this one.

8. Dustin Nguyen's Batman: Streets of Gotham #11

Picking only one Dustin Nguyen cover was torture. All of his covers for Streets of Gotham are amazing. He also did great cover for Detective Comics #866 and the first issue of his run on Batgirl.


9. Jesus Saiz's The Brave and the Bold #33

Although a lot of people had issues with the actual story in this issue, the cover is undeniably great in my opinion. It hinted at a lot of ass-kicking from these three great female characters, which unfortunately wasn't quite what we got.

10. José O. Ladrönn's The Spirit #1

And finally this one. Ladrönn's covers for The Spirit are all absolutely amazing. They're stylish, beautifully rendered and exciting. Unfortunately, the interior art by Moritat can't even compare. I got the first three issues of this new series before dropping it from my pull list and they were some of the worse comics I read all year. Which is proof that you should never judge a book by its cover.

BOTTOM 5 WORST DC COVERS OF 2010

1. Rodolfo Migliari's Green Lantern: Emerald Warrior #5

It was very easy to pick the worst cover of the year from DC. God, how much I hate this! Not only is it fucking disgusting and totally inappropriate to have a character puking blood and bleeding from his eyeballs on the cover of a DC book, but this is also terribly ugly art in my opinion. I hate absolutely everything about this.

2. Felipe Massafera's Superman: Last Family of Krypton #2

No. This is just wrong. First of all, Felipe Massafera is an obvious Alex Ross wannabe. I'm not even a fan of Alex Ross, much less some second-rate imitation. Second, flying babies are creepy. This cover is almost as repulsive as Guy Guardner puking blood, which is a remarkable feat in itself.

3. Billy Tucci's Red Hood: Lost Days #5

What the hell is this? I don't know whose arms these are, but they are surely not Jason Todd's. Billy Tucci is very hit and miss. Some of his other covers for this mini-series are actually quite nice, but this pumped-up-on-steroids version of the Red Hood is just gross.

4. Doug Mahnke's Green Lantern #57

The less said about this one, the better.

5. John Cassaday's Superman #706

And finally, a cover from what I consider the single biggest failure of the year from DC - the disastrously boring, delayed, critically despised, and ultimately abandoned "Grounded" storyline from superstar writer J. Michael Straczynski. On this ridiculous cover, I'm assuming that Superman is doing his best Dracula impression. It's an awful cover for an awful comic book. (At least it's not misleading, like some of those covers in my top-10 list.)

Review: The Brave and the Bold #33

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #33
Written by J. Michael Straczynski; art by Cliff Chiang

(This review contains spoilers.)

This is a really weird issue, and although ultimately my response to it is mostly favourable, it took me a while to make up my mind about it. Some readers will probably feel that it's a bit too gimmicky, or perhaps emotionally manipulative. The premise is deceptively simple: Zatanna, Wonder Woman and Batgirl (Barbara Gordon) take some time off from busting villains and go out for a ladies' night. The three women dress up in high-heels and evening dresses, go out dancing at a posh nightclub, flirt with guys, sing karaoke, and finish the night at a 24-hour diner.

This may sound silly and pointless, but of course there's something more sinister happening underneath the surface. The story opens with Zatanna waking up from a nightmare, which she knows was no ordinary dream. This is what prompts her to organizes this ladies' night, but the reasons why only start to become obvious when Diana mentions oracles at the diner. "The greatest burden of all was to be an oracle of prophecy, when there was nothing you could do to alter the course of the future because you had just enough information to know that something was going to happen, but not enough information to stop it from happening." It becomes clear that the vision was of Barbara's future (specifically, the events depicted in The Killing Joke, where the Joker shot her in the spine and paralyzed her for life), and the point of all this was to give her a special night to remember.

As many people have pointed out on forums and blogs, there are plenty of continuity details that don't hold up to scrutiny very well, like the mention of an iPhone or the Beyoncé song lyrics, or the fact that Barbara had retired from her Batgirl role by the time of her encounter with the Joker, or (the most jarring to me) the way JMS sets that encounter at her apartment, when I always thought that it took place at Jim Gordon's place. But unless you're a continuity freak, these details are easily overlooked.

The last few pages of the book cut back and forth between an earlier scene between Diana and Zatanna, and the famous scene from Killing Joke. It's a simple but effective device that packs a strong emotional punch. The panels and the dialogue from Alan Moore's story are reproduced here pretty faithfully, which creates a real tension as the fateful moment approaches. The two-page spread when it finally arrives is nothing short of brilliant: again, it's an almost exact reproduction of the art and dialogue from the original story, but it's laid out in such a clever way that it manages to make the familiar scene shocking even though we knew exactly what was going to happen. The very last page mirrors the first, only this time it's present-day Barbara waking up from a dream, and unlike Zatanna's dream, hers wasn't a nightmare. "I was dancing," she says. "It was beautiful."

Given how strong the art is in those last few pages, it's really too bad that JMS overdoes it a little with the dialogue. At this point in the story, we already understand what is going on and why Zatanna organized this night for Barbara, so most of the conversation between her and Diana is redundant. This is a case where he should have let the art do the storytelling. And Cliff Chiang's art really shines throughout the issue.