the words she knows, the tune she hums…

Submitted without comment:

The point of Satanic rock was to scare the Normals while fucking with the minds of its pimple-faced, predominantly male (nerdoid) audience, who needed to create a counter-world, with counter-morals and counter-aesthetics, to empower the nerdoids against the cooler, more successful jocks. But metal had its rivals for the hopelessly angry nerdoid: punk, hardcore and metal’s own competing mutations. The competition forced metal’s leading edge to metamorphose into harder, faster and more violent forms, reaching its apex with the rise of Death Metal in the mid-80s. Death Metal was as violent, Satanic and musically inaccessible as metal could go, or so it seemed.

And here is where Norway, the comic straight-man character in this dumb, bloody saga, comes in. Norway is not only a completely humorless society (it banned Monty Python’s The Life of Brian for being too offensive, leading to ads in rival Sweden boasting that the movie was “so funny it was banned in Norway!”), but worse, a deeply oppressive society, in a recognizably bland, caring, pious, Social Democratic way. Which raises an interesting question: Do boredom and blandness “count” as real suffering, and if so, do they justify murder the way other forms of oppression make murder seem a likely, even understandable response? The Black Metalists of Norway think so.

The humor and empty boasts inherent in Death Metal were lost on Norway’s youth. They took Death Metal literally, and quickly discovered that it wasn’t “evil” or “authentic” enough. There were too many “poseurs.” And more important, too few genuine corpses for a scene that claimed to be so obsessed with death and violence. So Black Metal offered up one of its own as its first sacrificial corpse: the lead singer of Mayhem, who ingeniously had changed his name to “Dead,” offed himself with a shotgun. His friend and lead guitarist, Euronymous, discovered Dead’s brains splattered all over their apartment. So the first thing Euronymous does is run down to the village store to buy film, run back, snap a whole bunch of photos of Dead’s corpse, boast to all his friends about it, then call the cops. Now that is fuckin’ cool, dude.

…

Where as the nerdoids in Lords of Chaos were vainly trying to recapture the lost, centuries-old glory of their Viking ancestors in a diminished modern Norway, uber-nerdoids Richard Perle and David Frum seem hell bent on destroying contemporary America’s glorious imperial war machine right at the very peak of its power. Their plan for leading America, lemming-like, over the cliff of self-destruction is laid out in their sparsely-worded manifesto, An End to Evil. The title alone shows how very Black Metal these grown-up war nerds are.

(via)

“But in the past ten years that’s really changed. Things like Japanese anime have really brought a lot more women and girls to the show.”

The ultimate submitted without comment:

I was more than a little surprised when my friendly neighborhood comic-book-store clerk told me she was looking forward to this year’s New York Comic Con because “conventions are all about the sex.”Yeah, right, I thought. In other news, the world is flat and simultaneous orgasms occur readily outside of Smallville fan fics.

“Really,” she said. “It’s all these people you see only a couple of times a year at hotels, you’re all into the same things, people are dressed up, you’ve been flirting online for months…It’s pretty hot.”

Hmm…it seemed logical, as Spock might say, but all those clunky costumes, those awkward people—was it even physically possible? There was only one way to find out: I had to don cape and cowl and infiltrate the nerd hordes to see for myself if these geek gatherings are actually hook-up havens.

There are more than 100 fan-based sci-fi-related conventions each year in the U.S., but the granddaddy of them all is San Diego Comic-Con. The not-for-profit show began in 1970 with 300 comic-book junkies gathering in the basement of the U.S. Grant Hotel, according to David Glanzer, the event’s director of PR and marketing. While notable guests did include legendary comics creator Jack Kirby (Captain America, the Fantastic Four, The Incredible Hulk) and sci-fi legend Ray Bradbury, it seems safe to say that that show was not “all about the sex.”

Its name and venue varied, but the event became an annual shindig, eventually finding a permanent home in the San Diego Convention Center. Other media have gradually moved in on the action, too, including the videogame industry and movie and television studios, all of which use Comic-Con as a launching pad for anything with a sci-fi angle. The show has generated bona fide star power in recent years, with actors making the rounds in superhero garb. Tickets for last year’s event sold out weeks in advance, and attendance reached 126,000, according to Glanzer.

Sure, but was that 126,000 paunchy men with goatees giving Vulcan nerve pinches and re-enacting epic lightsaber battles (the literal and, quite possibly, the figurative kind)? “It used to be pretty male-dominated,” says Glanzer. “But in the past ten years that’s really changed. Things like Japanese anime have really brought a lot more women and girls to the show. Last year attendees were about 40 percent female.”

…

“A friend I’d met at SDCC introduced me to this illustrator online and we started talking, mostly about graphic novels,” says Cathy, 30, a lithe brunette photographer who loves indie comics and attends several conventions a year. “At Wizard World in L.A. a few months later, I felt someone brush my arm from behind, and—it was so weird; we’d never met—I knew immediately it was him.“The attraction was instantaneous,” she continues. “Within an hour of meeting we were full-on making out behind the convention center. I went back to his hotel room an hour after that, which is something I would never normally do if I met a guy in a bar or wherever. We ended up dating for three years.”

A similar chemical reaction occurred between writers at rival comics publishers DC and Marvel when David Gallaher saw Valerie D’Orazio speaking on a panel at the 2007 New York Comic Con.

“She was this cute blonde, and I was just captivated by what she had to say,” Gallaher says. The feeling was mutual: When Gallaher, 34, stood to ask a question, D’Orazio says she made a silent bargain with God that she would never ask for anything again if she could get with Gallaher.

After the panel the two started chatting, and D’Orazio—a writer for Marvel’s upcoming Cloak and Dagger title—told Gallaher that she, uh, wanted to discuss some scripts. Gallaher, a DC writer currently working on High Moon, was a little slow to get the hint, but eventually the two got together. On their first date, they saw Ghost Rider—a movie based on the flaming-skulled Marvel hero. For date No. 2, Gallaher had an artist draw D’Orazio a custom picture of Supergirl. “Our third date was more intimate,” says Gallaher. “I don’t think any superheroes were involved.”

Two years later they’re still together, but not all hook-ups at these events have to blossom into true dork-love. After spending their convention days hawking illustrations in Artists’ Alley, or standing in line to get autographs from the cast of Heroes, attendees have a chance to get their intergalactic freak on once the lights go down in the exhibit hall.

The big cons—SDCC, NYCC, and Alternative Press Expo—all have VIP parties with open bars, which can lubricate the social interaction for sure. You’re not going to go home with Jessica Alba in her fuck-tastic Fantastic Four garb, but as Vic Holtreman of ScreenRant.com notes, “There’s a lot of hitting on people and flirting; there’s a feeling of community.” And any celebs in tow are well aware that a review from a popular fan site can make or break a sci-fi movie, so they’re at their most approachable.
The VIP rooms are nice, but percentages are better if you cast your line in more local waters. “There are a lot of hotel parties in people’s rooms. You just bring some booze; everyone is always really friendly,” says Eva, a 27-year-old who works in publishing. “My friends and I want to do things on the cheap, so we often cram a bunch of people—six or more—into a room, and sometimes we take shifts sleeping.”The Do Not Disturb sign gets a workout all weekend, says Eva, who was a very naughty elf at I-CON last year. (That’s short for Island Convention, an eclectic annual event held in Suffolk County, Long Island). “I’d been dressed as an elf from Lord of the Rings, and went back to this guy’s room,” she says. “All of our clothes were gone, and we were sort of crashing into walls, then I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror, and I noticed that I’d left my pointy ears on, and I just started laughing. It kind of broke the mood.” This, friends, is the fantasy-nerd equivalent of black dress socks.

Mary, an 18-year-old college student and longtime conventiongoer, sums up the Comic-Con hook-up phenomenon most succinctly. “People who are awkward feel more comfortable at conventions because they assume all comic-book people are awkward as well,” she says. “So they’re like, ‘I’m awkward, you’re awkward—let’s flirt.’ ”

…

“There’s no denying that you get hit on constantly when you’re in costume,” says Kristin, a 21-year-old paleontology student poured into the court-jester costume of Joker’s gal, Harley Quinn. “I love being able to wear interesting, sexy outfits that appeal to me aesthetically while also showing off my body. It’s the best of both worlds; you can be a geek and still look hot!”

Lauren, an investment banker who’s dressed in DC heroine Black Canary’s black leotard and signature fishnet tights, agrees. “It’s different than being out in the real world, even if you’re wearing something revealing, because people are assuming you’re a character,” says the 27-year-old. It also provides readymade opening lines. “One guy just asked for my number. He said, ‘I don’t see Green Arrow [Canary’s on-again/off-again love interest] around, so I figured you’re free.’ Hey, it’s better than, ‘What’s your sign?’ ”

A high school student named Jill spends a good ten minutes explaining that her costume—from some Japanese anime cartoon—is actually a variation of a male character’s costume, which makes the skimpy top a little confusing. “Guys find gender play really hot,” says the 16-year-old, with a frightening amount of authority. “I always hook up at conventions.”

And by doing nothing more than donning a feather boa (fandom unclear), Bill, who writes indie comics—and who, feather boa notwithstanding, is into girls—informs me that he met his “24-hour lover” during a preshow party the night before.

“She just came over and said, ‘Don’t you look fabulous,’ and then we went to her place,” he says. “I think she took ‘24 hours’ quite literally; we didn’t make it to the show until a 5 P.M. screening.”

(via)

Stay classy, Brian!

Brian Michael Bendis on Wonder Woman v. Spider-Woman:

Spider-Woman is cooler than Wonder Woman in every way possible. Wonder Woman’s got a pipply ass! she’s the pipply ass of comics!!

Here is Bendis expanding upon his argument:

Spider-Woman has better hair, better costume, frank cho implants and a fucked up origin. Wonder Woman is a walking std farm!!

I know this is part of the whole Marvel v. DC PR male privilege fanboy outrage machine something or other. But still. These sort of things are an insult to Bendis’ dignity.

Really, such things are just horrible – even about fictional superwomen.

(via)

Superman, optimism, & DOOM…

Did you know that optimism and Superman are DOOMED in America?

While, its true! Or at least Valerie D’Orazio and Erik Buckman would like you to think so. Here’s Buckman:

So let’s break this down into superheroes and its current trend in film. “Superman Returns,” the 2006 Bryan Singer dirge, didn’t fail because audiences no longer resonate with a super being that can fly, shoot heat from his eyes and is immune to bullets. It failed because Superman is the epitome of good morals and justice, which today’s audience find boring and childish.

It’s hard to give that kind of guy an edge unless he’s under some sort of spell. Perhaps if Clark picked up a crack whore and painted her with feces, then he’d be approaching “cool” again. “The Big Blue Boy Scout” as he is called by cynical fanboys and Guy Gardener, only works in a patriotic America. Changing him through some sort of rebranding effort or Warner reboot won’t make things different.

All of that seems a little (a lot?) shrill to me.

I mean, couldn’t Superman Returns have failed not because  Americans are over morals and justice but because Superman Returns was a shitty movie?

Could it be that people didn’t want to watch a movie where Superman spends most of his time stalking Lois Lane? Perhaps they didn’t want to watch a movie where Superman knocked up Lois and then left for space for like 8 years? Or maybe they didn’t want to watch what was essentially a remake – with better special effects – of the original Superman movie? Perhaps a movie about a man who has awesome powers yet barely uses them through the 2 hour + film isn’t going to be a blockbuster smash? And seriously, is a movie where Kumar beats the shit out of Superman really going to make waves?

Yeah. It was movie goers and the American people who failed Superman Returns, not Bryan Singer who failed movie goers. Optimism and morals are dead in America!

Or maybe things aren’t so bleak. Perhaps optimistic, fun movies can succeed along with dark, brooding films like The Dark Knight. Well, if those movies don’t suck.

If only there was a recent film that could prove my point… hmm…

Oh wait, there is.

Clearly, we are DOOMED.

DOOM or could a person be more wrong?

I don’t think I’ve read something as full of shit as this article about the incoming DOOM of the comic book industry. Honestly, I found myself wondering if a person could so misunderstand what they are talking about more than Devin Faraci.

His piece does not start off well:

In the years that I’ve been writing for CHUD I’ve gone from a guy who bought a lot of comics on a weekly basis to a guy who was a trade waiter to a guy who buys almost no comics at all. I may pick up a highly regarded trade when I need something to read, but the only book that I actually follow anymore is Scott Pilgrim, and that is almost over. I could attribute some of this to growing up, and certainly my intolerance for the bullshit that is superhero comics is a side effect of waking up one morning and deciding that being an adult isn’t the worst thing in the world.

Here’s a rule: if a writer spends the opening paragraph(s) of their piece talking about how they are at once an insider and an outsider about some topic you can pretty much guarantee that the rest of whatever they write will be full of shit. If they precede to insult whatever they are discussing as they distance themselves from it then you can pretty much bet the farm on their missing the mark.

Things don’t get much better as we move further into the piece:

And this is very, very bad. Superheroes are very, very bad. They’re like 50 year old hookers chainsmoking on the corner: used up, their best days behind them, appealing only to the most debased, most awful people. The fanbase for superhero comics in this day and age tends to be a devolved group clinging to degrading psychosexual power fantasies that take them away from their daily powerlessness. White males on the sidelines of society who are attached to juvenile escapades and repetitive, stunted storytelling. I’m beginning to look at adults who are deeply immersed in superheroes the way I would look at a grown man eating baby food for lunch. Except that I would say the baby food guy is at least getting some nourishment.

*YAWN* Man working for a website dedicated to obsessing over films insults comic fanboys… pot calls kettle black. News at eleven! Look at how cool and smart Faraci is. He can take cheap shots at fanboys and their “psychosexual power fantasies”. This retorical move is so obvious and overplayed it really takes away from the delicious irony of an employee of CHUD going after comic book fanboys for their obsessions.

But really that’s all just fluff, the crux of his argument is the following: (the sentence in bold is my doing)

When Marvel and DC fall (and for me it’s when, not if. I guarantee to you that ten years from now the idea of going to a comic shop to buy part 17 of a universe-spanning crossover event will seem as bizarre to readers as it would be for readers today to go to a grocery store to pick up Night Nurse), the world of comic books is going to be in serious disarray. Local shops that haven’t already branched out into geek interests beyond comics will be destroyed almost overnight; hybrid stores that offer everything from video games to baseball cards and maybe have a social element – coffee shop for instance – will be left standing, but barely. Spider-Man will go on to star in five more movies, and there will be some sort of comic tie-in for them, but that’ll be tertiary marketing. The Big Two will still be publishing something, but it won’t be monthly pamphlets in the way we know them today – maybe we’ll get endless reprint trades and occasional new graphic novels.

STARBUCKS will save us! Comics are doomed and baseball cards and turning your local comic shop into Barnes and Noble save the medium. Baseball cards! BASEBALL CARDS. I wonder if Faraci really has stepped into a comic book shop in the last decade. As I understand it the sports card industry is actually doing worse than the comics industry. I worked in two comic book stores (that were successful and had a diverse stock) and sports cards were treated on the same level as Marvel Masterwork cards  from 1997. I don’t see how diversifying your stock into another failing product will save comic book stores Faraci is predicting.

There’s more:

The comic world will seem like a wasteland for a while, but those independent mammals will have positioned themselves perfectly for the next phase. I don’t think these books will become suddenly profitable overnight; I know that many creators struggle to make ends meet while producing their books. That won’t change. People will still have day jobs and will write and draw on the side. But suddenly, without the superhero choking everything, these books will find the opportunity to grow. The artistic drive that makes people want to tell stories will continue, and a new economic model for these books will be created – hell, it’s already being created. And I don’t think that this means comic books will suddenly become an endless series of stories about being abused by your dad or about having no luck with girls; there will be adventure and science fiction and horror and romance. Getting into writing and drawing mainstream comics today is like being in a cover band  – you want to do your version of Aquaman. When the superhero dies, it’s going to be like being in a garage band. You do it because you love it, because you have songs to sing. And maybe somebody will take notice and you’ll make some bucks off it. And just as it is with music today, the ways that you sell your art to people will be different. Just like bands  no longer rely on Sam Goody to carry their CDs, comic creators won’t be stuck with Diamond and comic stores. Again, this has already begun.

It may take a decade or it may take a year, but eventually the connection between superhero and comic book will fade, at least to the point where we’re going to find ourselves in a place where the idea of mainstream publications, critics and readers taking notice of comic books will no longer be astonishing. When superheroes die comic books will have finally left behind their long, ugly, awkward adolescence and will be ready to join television and movies as mainstream storytellers. And just as movies and television encompass many genres, it will become widely accepted that comic books can tell stories of all sorts, for many different audiences.

The bottom line is that Faraci wishes the comics industry would just die and a new one rise in its place – one that better serves his tastes. My heart goes out to Faraci because I to wish much of the shit published today would vanish and be magically replaced by things more in-line with my tastes – I wish the same thing on the music, film, and book industry too. But such terrible hopes are a delusion and have no bearing on the future doom (or success) of the comic book industry.

Basically, Faraci’s article is a waste of time. There is a lot wrong with the comics industry and a lot about its future is up in the air. But Faraci’s piece does nothing – not a fucking thing – to contribute to the discussion. It is just bunch of hot air about fanboys and their “psychosexual power fantasies” and the coming indie revolution (a revolution that has been coming since time immemorial). There’s not real – i.e. substantive – discussion about sales numbers, the strengths of Marvel and DC in these difficult times, the second coming the speculator market or any of the other productive angles one could take on what Faraci is supposed to be “discussing”.

What we get from Faraci is an article that his film buff (film fanboy?) editors can nod and smile remorsefully while Faraci gets to feel cool and smart for his “insights”. What a waste of bandwidth.

(via)

Super-women in bondage

Ok, so now another issue in my continuing – and increasingly less sycophantic – coverage of Final Crisis up to and including Issue 6. So far, I have read every issue at least four times, though some of those times were more like excited skimming between pages drawn by Jones, Manke or Pacheco. Not thrilled with the other artists, but meh, I’m a journalist, I get deadlines. I’m also awaiting with bated breath Superman Beyond #2, which is really the only other tie-in besides “Submit” that I’ve cared about.
In speaking with friends and reading other blogger’s takes on the story so far, I’ll agree that it’s a bit disjointed and the plot a bit frenetic. I wish that Morrison and co. could have followed a better plan/schedule, but I think I will lay this at the feet of DC editorial (DiDio!!!) who strayed from Morrison’s original, cooler idea of having the Big Seven leave this plane to transform into the New Gods of the Fifth World. Besides that, Countdown to Final Crisis was a fucking atrocity, especially after they were able to make 52 interesting at least half the time, and finish in an incredibly strong way that made me forgive them bringing back the multiverse.
But I digress.
The real point I wanted to make here is this: I’m displeased with the way the female characters have been used in this story. Really displeased.
And most of my ire focuses on the visually interesting but emotionally devoid battle between Supergirl and Mary Marvel. Honestly, Jones’ art is fantastic, but I could not care less about this battle, and especially because of the sorority-girl manner of speech they display. I don’t want my super-folks to resort to calling each other “slut” while pillow-fighting with buses, buildings and innocent bystanders. While I nearly had a geek-gasm over the deliberate visual references to Miracle Man issue #15 – the single greatest superheroic dust-up ever. Period. Don’t pretend you haven’t read it, Grant. – And I like the (attempted) reversion of traditional gender roles by staging the climactic physical battle between two female characters, something about this wasn’t working for me. It was way too much like foxy-boxing, or a match between two WWE “Divas.” There was no emotion.
I love the unnecessarily Judeo-Christian overtones in having the “evil” combatant – a very-literally demonically possessed Mary Marvel, who is usually as chaste as a nun – dressing like a dominatrix with a stupid punk-rawk-grrrrrl hair cut and making numerous, uncomfortably sexual comments. I feel like Grant could do something a bit more cerebral to make her a threat to the reader’s sense of right and wrong.
Tie this in with the already increasingly unnecessary treatment of Mary Marvel-as-sex-object by, you know EVERY CREATOR IN THE DCU, and it just pisses me off. It’s not like she was ever anything but a symbol for traditional female virtue, but again, if she’s going to become a bad guy, it’s too obvious to make her evil-superwhore.
Supergirl also is under-utilized. She doesn’t do anything except beat on Mary without any apparent sense of concern to damage she might cause to Bludhaven, which still has living residents. While this again is a story of superheroes at war, and a deliberate nod to Miracleman, I feel like if you are going to have Supergirl in a story, let her stand for things as well as her cousin would, or at least let her try. Don’t have her threaten to break the bad-guy’s neck. (This I actually would be willing to forgive in the sense that “evil is winning,” and superheroes who stand for Truth, Justice and … you know, are acting like Jack Bauer).
Still, Freddie Freeman has to save the day. Though we’ll give Supergirl the chance to bend gender roles by becoming a macho super-bruiser, we won’t let her worry her pretty blonde head about morality or a rational solution to a threat.
Grant I thought you could do better than this.

Holy charred corpse, Batman!

Warning: If you don’t like spoilers, you should really buy event books on the day they come out.

[Editor - I'm going to be nice to people who don't read Final Crisis and put the spoilers below the cut]

The frown song…

[Note: I was going to name this post "Why So Serious?" before I realized I'd already done that. Another working title was Smith Michael's Completely Arbitrary Fanboy Theory...]

This piece by Nina Stone about Baltimore Comic-Con raises some interesting points. Essentially Stone is noting a “death of joy” among fans and creators at the con.

Stone thought that at Baltimore she would encounter – for lack of a better term – an “empowering” culture. She thought that:

[Baltimore Comic-Con] would be full of comic book people fully embracing their inner geekiness and nerdiness – I don’t mean to offend, I’m totally going with the stereotype here – that they would all be feeling so at home surrounded by all things “comic book and cartoon.” I figured there’d be this party vibe. And, yeah, of course, costumes! People just gettin’ down with their wackness. A full meeting of minds. Creators and fans being psyched to meet EACH OTHER. Everybody making friends! All these clever people, meeting up and creating clever scenarios and making each other laugh!

Stone then goes on to note the disaster that was this year’s DC panel:

Uh-huh. I feel like the entire panel was out until 6 am drinking, rolled back to their hotels for a quick shower, met for breakfast and Bloody Mary’s and rolled into the panel. And I feel like every night is that way for them. I can’t tell you how many times the seemed to allude to coming up with plots and twists while out at the bar. You get the feeling that they are just pissing their pants laughing while they come up with plots. And their laughing AT EVERYBODY IN THE AUDIENCE. And the Geoff Johns guy is laughing all the way to the bank. These guys–ugh.  They define the word “smug.” Dan Didio slightly addresses how people are complaining that comics are targeted at an older, male audience and not at kids. Then he smirks and seemed to use the demographic of the audience who showed up for the DC Panel – mostly grown men between 22 and 45 – to then pat DC on the back and say something to the effect of, “well, just take a look around this room – look who’s here. Seems like we’re doing the right thing.” Yeah.  No.

There is a direct correlation between the behavior Johns, Didio, etc at the DC panel and the lack of an “empowering” culture among fans at Baltimore. These fans were not seeking “empowerment” – a positive connection between each other – but instead sought “superiority” – a negative association against certain “others”. Geoff Johns and Dan Didio were certainly laughing at fans but the fans themselves were laughing with Johns and Didio. These fans elevated themselves to the “superior” position of Johns and Didio and were laughing at other fans – women, kids, manga fans, whatever.

This sort of thing – to paraphrase Stone – is “comics as a frat house”. The culture of “superiority” among fanboys – and it is usually among fanboys – I feel is becoming the dominate strain among superhero fans. This strain of fandom I think is driven not just by the attitude of the fans themselves, but also by creators and comic companies and the work they produce. I can say this for a several reasons; observing fans while working at a comic shop, going to conventions, reading the internets, and from fighting such impulses within myself.

I think this attitude of “comics as a frat house” or culture of “superiority” is marked by several characteristics:

1. Fetishizing “seriousness”. That is to say an uncritical acceptance of supposedly “adult” themes, like sexuality, violence, etc. as the “proper” – or sole – subject matter of modern superhero comics.
2. A lack of self-awareness about the state of superhero comics or the comics industry more generally. To clarify, the belief that either current state of the industry is how things “always” were or the current state of the industry is the nadir of a “natural” evolution. Basically, the belief that things today are as they “should be”. This ties into (1).
3. A crippling fear of “camp” which helps drive out lightness and humor. This too ties into (1).
4. An unwillingness to accept types (read: non-”serious”) as equally valid storytelling techniques. This unwillingness tends to turn discussion among fans into a self-reinforcing echo chamber as other storytelling troupes are progressively excluded as “non-serious” and degraded.

There are others characteristics that could be noted – I am clearly painting with a broad brush – but I think they generally give one the impression of the sort of fanboy I am talking about. The market reenforces and stregthens these characteristics. Such deeply “serious” fare as All-Star Batman and Robin, Secret Invasion, Teen Titians, Civil War, and whatever (I could go on) is just laped up by these fans; thus Marvel and DC make more and more of those sort of books. The saturation of the market with “serious” books drives out fans looking for an alternative – or at the very least limits their options. As economic times tighten this cylce is only likely to get worse; why take a chance on something different when you can have Dark Avengers or Terror Titans?

I think that mainstream (read: superhero) comics are like to say as a “frat house” for a good while. There is likely to be a reaction of sorts, I’m sure. Perhaps some genius will find away to balance adult themes, with a fun self-awareness, all without descending into camp. Perhaps not.

What is definite – from my point of view – is that we aren’t likely to see any sort of “empowerment” to dominate among fans – especially fanboys.

(via)

In the history of ideas…

…this certainly has to be the worst.

I mean, really! Why would you think this is a good idea? The creator of this grope-a-thon is playing has some sort of beautiful continuation sexual liberation. Playboy meets cos-play, if you will.

Reading the post by the creator of the “Open Source Boob Project” is kind of creepy. There’s a lot of sexual liberation as  a cover for sexism language throughout the post. Which kind of makes it painful to read. And kind of hilarious too. And so very strange. For example:

For a moment, everything that was awkward about high school would fade away and you could just say what was on your mind. It was as though parts of me were being healed whenever I did it, and I touched at least fifteen sets of boobs at Penguicon. It never got old, surprisingly.

I’m exactly sure how all of this related to making awkwardness of high school go away. Did “theferret” have a lot of boobs he wanted to touch in high school and was finally able to make up for lost time? Creepy.

The post at Occasional Superheroine really sums up way this is a terrible idea better than I could.

But basically, the question should be for the people who think that an “Open Source Boob Project” is a worthy idea is; would you support an “Open Source Balls Project” were women and men were to cop a feel of your balls?