Category Archives: Introduction

Meet the New Fangirls: Jessica

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by Jessica

My first love has always been reading. When I was a child I used to gather up books and stack them around me long after my parents had told me to go to bed, and long before I actually knew how to read them. My first true fandom (Pokemon doesn’t count, right?) bloomed from this love—Harry Potter; oh, the tales I could tell about that obsession…but I feel like I was not properly indoctrinated into geek culture until the sixth grade, when my older sister bought me Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game for my birthday. I was absolutely blown away by that book. I made a Battle School diorama. I think this was the first time that I consciously realized that there was a real, live genre called “Science Fiction/Fantasy,” and I adored it. (In other news, I am anxiously awaiting the supposed 2013 film version of Ender’s Game…if it is terrible, I just might die. I say this while simultaneously acknowledging that it will probably be terrible.)

a photograph of Jessica's Journal

You should see the other entries in here…

Of course, it wasn’t long before this new-found adoration branched out in other directions, probably most notably into the Sci-Fi cannon of television programs. My entire family was (is) obsessed with The X-Files (Agent Mulder is such a Fox! lolz), and I personally devoured the entire Joss Whedon canon, Star Trek, Doctor Who, Battlestar Gallactica….you know, basically everything you need to get along at any nerd cocktail party worth its salt. In my current state, I am constantly impressed with my child-self for being unrelenting in my obsession for these genres: I once dressed up as J.R.R. Tolkien for a book report. Read: I once wore a men’s tweed suit and bowtie to sixth grade and talked to my class about Lord of the Rings.

a photograph of Jessica in sixth grade, dressed as J.R.R. Tolkien

Somehow this didn’t make me wildly popular.

I’ve never been quite as exposed to comics as I’d like to be, mostly because when I was younger economic issues prevented me from buying them. I’ve always been driven by the story, and it was heart wrenching for me to be left on a comic cliffhanger when I was a kid, unable to find out what happened next because I couldn’t afford to buy the next issue. It didn’t help that comics culture is virtually non-existent in the town of Maryville, Tennessee, where I grew up. Of course, I’m now at a point in my life where comics are more readily available to me, since I have comic-enthusiast friends I can borrow from (plus the super-helpful internet). Economic ability and geek culture is still something that really interests me, so if you have feelings on it, let me know!

And since I am currently expanding my knowledge of comics, I’m always looking for recommendations! Honestly, the extent of what I’ve read up to this moment is mostly television shows extended into comic form, Sailor Venus & Sailor Moon (Sailor Venus was way better, who knew?), Alison Bechdel, and my mother’s old Superman omnibus from when she was a little girl. I know this makes me a little different from many readers of Fantastic Fangirls, so please teach me your ways!

a photograph of Jessica wearing goggles and a plumed hat

Me at NYCC 2010

As for my existence outside of my fascination with Sci-Fi and Fantasy, I am currently in my senior year of college. I have three majors—Theater, Classical Civilization, and English with a concentration in creative writing. I’m working on a thesis which is monopolizing (or should be monopolizing) all of my time, so I’ll let you guys know how that turns out. I’ll admit that I’m currently in that terrified phase that comes when you are about to graduate from college but have no idea what you want to do with your life afterwards, or where you will live, or what you will eat…Maybe it will help if I think of it as embarking on a grand adventure. Or maybe it will help if I pretend that the Doctor is going to pick me up from graduation in the TARDIS. Alas, the only thing that’s certain is that I love talking and writing about books and television and comics! Talk to me about Diana Wynne Jones. Talk to me about the upcoming Hobbit film. Talk to me about the best comic I haven’t read yet. It’ll be great.

Meet the New Fangirls: Sara

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This is Sam. Sam, meet the readers of Fantastic Fangirls. Readers, meet the person responsible for every huge freak out I will ever have in reaction to fiction. Of which there are and will continue to be many incidents.

a picture of Sara's friend Sam in front of a case full of action figures

Okay, story time! I was a young lass of nine years when my twin sister (also a young lass of nine years, hence the twin thing), and I went to hang out with my dad and his friend at his friend’s pharmacy. I know, I know. What the heck are two nine year old girls doing hanging out in a pharmacy? To which I offer the following answer: Arabs. We’re Arabs and that is how Arabs spend their Saturday mornings. I digress.

a photograph of Sara and her sister Yara playing pirate

You know how else Arabs spend their time? They use baby blankets to dress up like pirates and swordfight…or maybe that’s just us.

Yara and I were doing our own thing (read: we were stocking shelves because we like doing menial labor and had not yet grasped the understanding of child labor laws) when one of the new pharmacy techs approached us. He was a young lad of nineteen and his name was Sam. Still is, actually. He’s actually the Sam I mentioned above. See, connections! I digress.

Anyway, it was actually not as creepy as a 19-year old guy approaching two 9-year old girls usually was. Sam was entertaining us and we, being the precocious children we were, graciously allowed him to do so. Then, the moment of truth finally arrived.

“Hey, so do you girls watch Batman or Superman?”

“Not really.”

“You should.”

“Okay.”

Done and done. Because we were going to be visiting the pharmacy every Saturday for the foreseeable future, Yara and I thought it would only be beneficial if we did our research and had enough things to talk about with the second youngest being in that pharmacy. Sam supplemented our education with VHSes of Batman: The Animated Series and every animated Batman movie made by that time.

This is Terry McGinnis, aka Batman of the Future, aka my first husband.

It was awesome. Yara and I were always fangirls, you see. At that age, we had been fans of Harry Potter for a year and fans of Nancy Drew/the Hardy boys for at least four. But, for the first time, we saw an older person loving something that wasn’t work or school or real world stuff so much that he devoted time, energy, and quite a bit of money on it. Whenever we had time and permission, Yara and I would go over to Sam’s parents’ house, which housed Sam’s altar to DC Comics—aka, his Batcave.

Action figures in glass cases lined the walls. It was incredible and a tribute to how far people will go to satisfy their obsessions. Some people might have found it pathetic or sad, but let’s be real here. It was awesome and anyone reading this site would have the same feeling I did: envy. Stacks of comic books littered the floors and the DVD shelves were filled with every sci-fi, fantasy, animated film that came out after 1980. It was dedication and it was beautiful.

Why did I spend all that time talking (er, typing) about Sam and his parents’ basement? Like I said, Yara and I were no strangers to fangirling. However, it wasn’t until we met Sam did we understand fandom and what it meant to be a part of a collective. Groups of people who loved the same thing enough to talk about it, write about it, even reinvent it! After Sam, Yara and I stepped up our fangirling and found other kids that loved Harry Potter and Batman. Yes, they were mostly boys, but the girls? They were the fans that were more likely to talk animatedly about fandom and more likely to work towards being more like their favorite fictional characters.

Our 21st birthday party was Harry Potter themed. Quidditch pong, “potions”, a Sorting Ceremony with Sorting cupcakes. Amazing. Ask me about Quidditch pong, I’m particularly proud of that invention.

Fandom and fangirling has been such a large part of my life, I honestly can’t remember the time before I had obsessions. Fandom brought me some of my best friends. There was a point in my high school life—four months of my junior year—during which I felt sort of ashamed by my complete and utter nerdom. But then I realized that people who did not have obsessions like me were really boring and had too much time on their hands.

a photograph of Sara hiding from her Slushie Cupcake

I made slushie shaped cupcakes for the Glee season 2 premiere. Oh god, Glee. You hurt me so bad.

Being a fangirl or a nerd means that you’re not afraid to love things. That’s what it really gets down to: a conscious decision to not let societal stigma tell you how appropriate your feelings are or are not. I put my whole heart into watching how Batman figured out who Hush was and how Harry finally defeated Voldemort and I’m going to continue doing so by watching how Cap is going to navigate the 21st Century and how Robert Downey Junior is going to make the final leap and actually become Tony Stark.

I am a fangirl and I am proud.

Meet the New Fangirls: Sam

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by Sam

Hello, I’m Sam and I like comics. (Hello, Sam.) I actually like a whole lot of things, but it’s because of comics that I’m here at Fantastic Fangirls at all. I have no idea when I started reading comics. My first comic was probably an Archie digest I made one of my parents buy at the grocery store, or maybe a He-Man tie in from the local toy store. I know I had Batman pajamas when I was around four, because I distinctly remember wearing them in a place our family only lived in when I was four. I know I used to watch the old George Reeve Superman TV show with my dad every night, just before we watched Star Trek.

I guess this is all to say that I don’t remember a time without superheroes (or Star Trek) in my life.

And though the first dozen years are a bit hazy, I will never forget the day I realized I was a comic book fan. It was the day Superman died.

a panel from The Death of Superman; Lois crying over Superman's body

I had just turned twelve. To this day, I couldn’t tell you how I knew that it was going to happen. I hadn’t read any of the tie-ins and I’m not entirely sure I knew who Doomsday was at that point. Nonetheless, I made my dad go out and buy it while I was at school, so I wouldn’t miss out on the commemorative edition.

This was all before I was older, wiser, and more cynical. I thought Superman was going to stay dead. I didn’t understand the concept of a Big Comic Event that happens every year to increase readership. I was a kid who loved Superman, and Superman was gone. Coincidentally, I was at the start a period I like to refer to as my dark ages, as I went through puberty and transitioned from a small elementary school to a big middle school, losing most of my friends in the process. And then my dad moved away.

Not long after this, a comic and game shop opened in my local mall, within walking distance of my house. That’s where I found Frank Miller and Alan Moore, and discovered a new kind of hero – and a new kind of comic – altogether. The shift in tone worked well for my teenage self.

V

I got back into superhero comics a few years ago, around the time of the 52 event in DC. I’m a lot more picky about art than I used to be, and pay way more attention to the creators of books. Even though I’m definitely more of a DC fan than Marvel, Anika introduced me to Carol Danvers, and convinced me to give Peter Parker another chance, and I don’t regret a single page.

But my life isn’t all comics! I know, craziness. I also love Doctor Who, board gaming, video gaming, and tv/movies. I went to law school, and I was a lawyer for a few years before I had a pretty bad bicycle accident and decided to change the direction of my life. I love puns. I spend a lot of time on tumblr (and if you get the reference in my tumblr name, let’s talk) and even more on twitter. I watch a lot of movies, and have a somewhat encyclopedic knowledge of lesbian pop culture.

I think I’ll echo Gabby a little here and say that my biggest hope for the future of comics is to see them reflect real life more. Not in the plots – I love me some ridiculous superhero contrivances – but in the characters. I don’t know why the industry is so averse to it, but I guess it is the industry that’s had the same superheroes for 70 years. Which leads me to my second biggest hope: change. I’ve said this a lot, in a variety of places, but I loved when Bucky became Captain America, while Steve was dead. The only time I’ve ever regularly collected a Batman title was when Dick was in the cowl. I am so excited for the new Green Lantern, particularly because he’s Muslim, but at the same time Green Lantern’s always been a title that’s made it easy for there to be new (men) in the lead role. Still, it’s a start. Then again, Barry Allen is Flash again.

But I digress! As with pretty much everything else in my life, I’m critical because I love comics so much. I’ll be around for the long haul.

Meet the New Fangirls: Gabby

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by Gabby

Television has been my introduction to geek and popular culture, and television remains my boyfriend.

Right now, though, I’d like to talk about my introduction to my lover, comic books.

When I was a first year Psychology student, I’d sometimes visit my dad in his office in the science building. On his bookshelf, I spotted The Sandman: Book of Dreams. I started flipping through it, and my father looked up.

“It’s really good. You may not understand much if you haven’t read The Sandman comics. Here, try Stardust, it’s written by the same author of those comics.”

So I read Stardust and started delving into Neil Gaiman’s work. I did everything backwards; reading Anansi Boys before American Gods, and reading The Sandman: Book of Dreams before The Sandman comics. But I was hooked.

The first time I walked into a comic book shop, my palms were sweaty. It was a little hole in the wall in Moncton, New Brunswick, in what passes for its downtown. I remember my voice cracking as I asked for “Prelude and Nocturnes”. The owner smiled, grabbed it for me and said this:

“I hope to see you again.”

And boy, did he see me again.

When I figured out that one of my favorite TV series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, was continued in comic book form over at Dark Horse, TV shows and comics started weaving themselves together, establishing a comfortable polyamorous relationship with my life.

a photo of Gabby reading a comic in a library

Reading Joss Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men and repping for the Ottawa Senators (Re: Lockout: my heart, it is broken).

As for me? I am just starting a Master’s in Social Work where I will be paying specific attention to linguistic inequities and women’s issues. Somehow I have found myself being an assistant for a professor who covers neither of these topics, but I’m fine with this. Diversity is my slice of paradise. I have been known to multitask; throughout University I held down a 20 hour/week job, made time for a boyfriend, friends, a full-time course load, maintained a relationship with my family, volunteered as a Big Sister for Big Brother Big Sister and as a dog walker for the SPCA, had yoga classes and STILL managed to watch at least 10 hours of TV per week. I hope to maintain this crazy (but fulfilling) lifestyle in my new city (Ottawa) this year.

My taste in various media spans all genres, mirroring my frantic life. At bedtime, my father would read The Hobbit to me one night (I remember asking him: “Are there any women in Middle Earth?”) and my mother would read Anne of Green Gables to me the other. I think this directly translated to my tastes later in life; I can wax poetic about Dawson’s Creek as much as I can Battlestar Galactica. Similarly, I appreciate comedy in my drama, and science-fiction in my romance. In terms of superhero comics, being a Smallville fan in my youth skewed me towards DC and Superman, but lately I feel Marvel appeals to me more. I’m currently up to and catching on Marvel’s Heroic Age. Being the Joss Whedon fan that I am, I have a weakness for Kitty Pryde, so early Uncanny X-Mens are also on my roster. In addition, I’ve returned to my roots and I’m reading John Byrne’s run on Superman.

a photo of Gabby reading comics in a library, in sepia tone

These Buffy Omnibi are actually pretty bad. In an awesome way.

A couple disclaimers:
1) I *love* suggestions. I’m always looking to expand my horizons, so if you think I should be watching or reading something, please let me know (in the comments or on twitter!).
2) I have a tendency to fall hard and fast for whatever media I’m consuming. This means I’m not a great critic. But I love sharing my enthusiasm and explaining where it comes from. I’m all for civil debates, though! So if you think I shouldn’t like Buffy for sociological reasons, I’ll be glad to hear them out.
3) My first language is french. C’est avec plaisir que je discuterai avec vous, chers francophones, si l’envie vous prend!

Finally, I’d like to sum up, in one word, my hopes and dreams for TV, comics and movies: DIVERSITY. And because I don’t abide even by my own rules, I’ll add: continued and further diversity in, amongst others, gender, gender roles, sexual orientations, sexual identities, cultures, places of origin, languages and ethnicities. In short, media to which myself and the people I love can relate.

a photo of Gabby pointing a television remote at the camera

Gimme an F-F-G…RELAUNCH!!!

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Cheri Spirit, a cheerleader, with pom poms
HELLOOOOOOOOO FANTASTIC FANS!!!!

I’m Cheri, your friendly neighborhood fangirl, and I wanna welcome you to the new and improving

FANTASTIC FANGIRLS
media blog!

First, a history lesson:

 

Previously on FANTASTIC FANGIRLS…
a report by Jo Casual 

Jo Casual, the leader of the Fangirls, in an oval frame

(She’s our fearless leader!! ^_^)

Four years ago this blog was started by four fans and friends because they wanted a place where female voices would not just be heard, but be leading the conversation. Comic books, video games, sci-fi dramas and all that jazz were and are still considered the purview of The Boys. But The Girls have just as much to say! September 23, 2008, FFG co-founder Caroline posted our first ever blog post, Icebreaker. It was our introduction to her and to the site. Over the next few weeks, the other founders (Jennifer, Sigrid, and Anika) introduced themselves and our longest running ongoing activity Q&A kicked off. Since then they’ve reviewed all sorts of media, started a (comic) book club, took on podcasting, given out awards, gone on convention field trips… more than four hundred posts were written and consumed. Now with a staff of five plus dedicated contributors, FFG is poised to double that number in half the time.

Cheri Spirit, a cheerleader, with hands on hips Hmmmmmm, that sounds like a challenge!! Now lemme give you the rundown of what’s what, who’s who, and where’s where!!

  • Check out the updated ABOUT US page to get to know all the Fangirls.
  • Follow us on TWITTER or RSS for updates to the site.
  • Follow us on TUMBLR for updates from our Fangirls elsewhere, as well as art, and updates to the site.
  • We also welcome questions from YOU over at our tumblr!
  • The FFG PODCAST is relaunching this month.
  • Finally, I’d like to introduce you to the other avatars* who represent the site. We are an all-girl superteam dedicated to spreading positivity in the sphere of girl-geekdom!! Left to right on the banner above we have Jo, T’Mid, Peta, Player 1, Quinn, Addison and me, Cheri!! We’ll be introduced over on tumblr in the coming weeks and will show up on the site whenever there’s a need for us. #positivity!!!
*Not literal representations of the writers!

Cheri Spirit, a cheerleader, posing

FFG isn’t a news site, it’s a conversation site so consider this your open invitation to JOIN THE CONVERSATION. We want to hear from you ♥

Meet the New Fangirls: Ali

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by Ali

Once upon a time, there was a girl who loved heroes and adventure. From Indiana Jones and Star Wars to Danger Mouse and She-Ra, she was mesmerized. There were rainy Sunday afternoons watching Superman: The Movie, tales of Wonder Woman from her mother and Hobbits from her father. But little girls grow up, and the childhood heroes are replaced by adolescent glossy posters of pop stars. Which inevitably leads to trying to be cool even though you have no idea what that actually means.

I was very much a late bloomer when it comes to comics and geek culture in general. It wasn’t until college when a certain boy wizard found his way into my heart that I got my first taste of fandom. And then the radioactive superhero bug bit me again and down the proverbial rabbit hole I went.

Things really started with Heroes. Yes, the TV series about ordinary people with extraordinary abilities that started out so strong and then went very far off the rails. But that first season will always be amazing to me. It was the first time in what felt like a long time that there were superheroes and villains battling it out on my television screen each week. And while I couldn’t get enough of the show, one of the things I loved most was the anticipation for the next episode. Each week I was on pins and needles waiting for what came next, speculating with friends, and adoring every minute of it.

From there, the jump into comics was very natural. And once I got here, so to speak, I really fell in love with the medium. I love the way a story unfolds throughout the panels. I love the way that layout controls pacing and mood and tension in such a way that it gives you a completely different experience than what you’d get from reading a book or watching a movie.

Comics were also the first thing I loved so much I actively sought out other fans. The comic community, on the whole, has just been so great and welcoming. There are few places in the world that I feel as “at home” as I do at a comic convention. Even when a con is insane and overwhelming, there’s just this genuine, fervent enthusiasm for this wonderful medium of storytelling, of heroic and not-so-heroic characters, of the awesome melding of art and words that is comics. I’ve made some of the best friends I have through comics, and I think my life is all the better having those silly funny pages in it.

Being a fangirl is part of who I am. It’s not all of me–I mean, I can go on and on about curling or marketing theory or my cat but I’m thinking that’s not why you’re here. I’m just very, very enthusiastic about the things I love. And really that’s what being a geek is all about: unabashedly loving what you love and wanting to share that with the whole universe. I think all of us at Fantastic Fangirls feel that way, and it’s why I’m so very excited and so very proud to be part of this team.

Go Team Fangirls!

New Staff Announcement

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Hello!

As mentioned a few weeks back, this is a time of transition for Fantastic Fangirls. I’m pleased to announce that we have three new Staff Writers, Ali, Sam and Sara!

Ali lives in Brooklyn with her adorably blind kitten, Minerva. When she’s not reading comics, talking about comics, or tweeting about comics, Ali spends her free time mixing or drinking cocktails, playing Lead for the Plainfield Curling Club, and watching old episodes of Supernatural and Gilmore Girls. She writes somewhat regularly for iFanboy.com, Book Riot, and her personal blog with the goal of becoming Lois Lane or Bridget Jones or Amy Sherman-Palladino. If Ali could have any superpower in the world it would be telekinesis, because even if she had super-speed, she’d still always be late. Her superhero boyfriends are Thor, Captain America, and Wally West, but she would most like to hang out with her super BFF Stephanie Brown. Ali’s favorite stories are about true love and high adventure.

Sam is a recovering lawyer in her early 30s. She considers it her life’s goal to see every lesbian(ish) movie ever made, even the bad ones. There are a lot of bad ones. She has a strong critical theory background that she got from studying Women’s Studies as an undergrad, which she honed in law school. She’s written about everything from Bollywood romantic comedies to monogendered aliens in the Mass Effect video games, and she has been known to livetweet (@retconning) her viewings of Pretty Little Liars. Her beloved dog is named Ollie (after Queen) despite being a female, because Sam thinks traditional gender norms are kind of annoying. She is an unapologetic anglophile, and has, since the age of six, secretly dreamed of being the reincarnation of King Arthur. She’s willing to settle for being Renee Montoya’s sidekick.

Sara is a 22-year-old recent college graduate and an aspiring doctor. She is absurdly proud of being from Brooklyn. Her parents are from Syria, making her fluent in English, Arabic, and Sarcasm. Sara has a twin sister, Yara, and together, they have made it their mission in life to wreak havoc wherever they go. So far, they’ve been fairly successful. If Sara were ever to be immortalized in comics, she would want it to be as part of the Batfamily. Her real aspiration is to be the Robin Beyond to Terry McGinnis’ Batman, who she has wanted to marry ever since she saw him at the ripe age of eleven. Her least favorite smell is that of moldy sponge and she is deathly afraid of cockroaches. Her favorite food is chicken shwarma and loves secondhand bookstores.

In addition we welcome two Guest Bloggers, Gabby and Jessica, who will be contributing essays and filling in on Q&As and book club irregularly.

Gabby is a 23 year old social worker in the making. Her bachelor’s in psychology gives her an edge in absolutely nothing, ever. As a francophone Eastern Canadian, her friends are her family and her family members are her friends, and that’s pretty much how she goes about everything in life. She is particularly obsessed with TV shows that make her pause and cover her face with her hands (i.e. a HUGE range of what’s on and what was on television). Incidentally, she found a lot more of her kind on twitter (@GloryisBen), where she geeks out and livetweets about TV on a regular basis. Her love of the small screen translated to comics when she started reading Buffy Season 8, and now she can’t get enough of the New Avengers. As a Smallville fan turned Superman fan, some days, she wishes he would save her, but most days, she just does it herself.

Jessica is 21 years old and getting ready to start her senior year of college, and thus is pretty much freaking out about everything. Being a triple major in English, Theater, and Classical Civilization, she doesn’t have a plan, or any job prospects, or, you know, hope for any type of decent career, but one thing that is sure to stay constant is her love of geekdom. This love blossomed many years ago when she first read Harry Potter whilst hiding in a closet, but since then has grown to encompass all manner of things. She’s written about many of them during her time as an editor on the student newspaper or on her fledgling blog where she confesses all her geeky secrets. Well, some of her geeky secrets, anyway. She hails from the Southland, from deep within the valley of East Tennessee, but spends most the year toiling away at a quaint liberal arts college in Connecticut.

Please join us in welcoming them all on board!

Q & A 16: Why do you go to comic book conventions?

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In Q & A, a weekly feature of Fantastic Fangirls, we ask our staff to tackle a simple question — then open the floor to comments.

Why do you go to comic book conventions?

Anika

I started going to cons for one reason and one reason alone — shopping. I live in a city that barely counts as a city and the passable comic and comic paraphernalia stores are nearly an hour away (at which point, I may as well go to Boston or New York, right?). So as much fun as getting the autograph of the guy who played Dr. Bashir on Star Trek Deep Space Nine (before he changed his name!) may have been, the truth is I came for the Dealer’s Room.

But once I was there, I was hooked. Not by the excess of stuff to buy, not by the opportunity to chat with “stars,” and not by the workshops, as fun and actually informative as they are. No, by the costumes. I am honestly just as happy to dress-up and go hang out with a slew of other dressed-up people as I am to “go to the con.” I love taking pictures of superheroes and I love posing for pictures as a superhero. It’s fun! And that alone is worth the price of admission.

Caroline

I go to cons primarily to spend time with my friends, something Jennifer and I wrote about last fall. As far as the attractions of the conventions themselves, though, my favorite part is almost sure to be a panel. Not the ones where editors and writers sit in front of the room and field questions about which C-list character is going to be resurrected in which D-list title (though those can be fun). I love to go to craft panels, particularly ones featuring writers, where they speak to some aspect of the creative process. I spent three years in a creative writing program, and I’ve been to my share of “literary” readings and conferences, some of which have been transcendent experiences. But I’ve rarely encountered such a group of enthusiastic, hard-working, and just plain interesting writers as I have in the comics industry. I never fail to come away from a con with some piece of unexpected inspiration, if only just the realization that I’ve seen a group of people who are working at something they love and having a great time.

Jennifer

Other than the social reasons Caroline mentioned, I have two other major reasons to go to cons. The first is my love of window-shopping. I’m not exactly a big spender — I’ve even been called cheap on more than one occasion — but growing up in New Jersey, I’ve spent large portions of my life wandering around malls with my friends, walking into stores to look at the merchandise and using that merchandise to spur and guide the conversation. It’s especially fun to do this in a comic shop — to rifle through back issues and laugh at ridiculous covers, to “ooh” and “ahh” at statues and explain, in painstaking detail, the history of a depicted character a friend isn’t familiar with. So comic-cons, being, in many ways, massive comic book shops, are the perfect opportunity to engage in that kind of window-shopping and conversation, with friends I don’t see as often. If I have nothing I especially need to be doing at a con, I’m guaranteed to be on the floor, simply wandering past the different vendors, and taking it all in.

But the other major reason I go to cons is a bit more altruistic. I go to cons to tell the creators of the comics I love just how much I love those comics. I’m a firm believer in the worth of a good compliment, and of sharing my appreciation of people who have impacted my life in some way. I don’t meet creators to get things signed — though I’ll usually bring an issue along for politeness’ sake, and to have a conversation-starter. But I don’t talk to the creators for my own benefit. I talk to them out of an intense desire to explain why I enjoy their art and writing, or at least to say that I do enjoy it. Some writers and artists may get that kind of feedback all the time, but I’m sure even the most jaded creators prefer a heartfelt compliment to signing 50 comics someone plans to sell on eBay.

It shouldn’t be a surprise, then, given these two reasons, that my absolute favorite part of any con is Artists’ Alley. As a place where I can share my appreciation of creators I love at some tables, and window-shop for comics covers and art as I pass others, it’s the best of both worlds.

Sigrid

I still don’t think of comic book conventions when I think of going to con. I came to conventions via science fiction and fantasy fandom. Minicon, Wiscon, CONvergence. World Fantasy. Relaxacons like Supercon or Omegacon. The only comic conventions I’ve been to are local — Fallcon and Microcon. (Oh, and Fiddler’s Green, which was a one-time local convention for Neil Gaiman.) I go to conventions to talk to people. I go to conventions to see my friends. I go to conventions to volunteer, to participate in the community of fandom. I sit on panels, I work operations, I badge.

My relationship with comics conventions is starting out differently. I’m going as a comics-blogger, as a comics-writer. I watch the tables wondering how to improve the presentation. I try to think of decent interview questions. I try to watch the crowd to figure out how they are deciding where to stop. I’m still, I think, going to be attending comic conventions for the same reasons I go to SF/F conventions — to talk to people. Volunteer. Participate.

What about you? Why do you go to comic book conventions?

Iron Girl

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Posted by Anika

My three year old daughter, AJ, can be a walking stereotype of a little girl. Her favorite color is pink, she does gymnastics, she loves ponies and princesses. When we go to the grocery store she will ask for things by saying “Princesses like bananas” and “Princesses drink pink milk.” Given the choice she wears her Barbie dress up shoes out and a crown on her head every day — and never pants, just dresses. “Princesses don’t wear pants.”

However, when we go on nightly after dinner walks AJ spends much of the time searching the skies for Iron Man. She imagines every vapor trail to be Iron Man and based on that idea has created her own in-depth toddler fanfiction in which Iron Man feeds the ducks and lives in a red and gold castle and is friends with Batman, Hermione Granger, and Barack Obama. My three-year-old daughter pays attention to her surroundings (though possibly not to Tony Stark’s political affiliations). And she is very clearly my child.

I am a Fangirl. More than that, I am a Geek. Hardcore. And I have been one forever. And not just a Comic Book Geek. A Sci-fi Geek. A Science Fiction Geek (of course there is a difference). A Fantasy Geek (and Star Wars is Fantasy, people). A Broadway Geek. An Anime Geek. A Literature Geek. A Web-Programming Geek. A Roleplay Geek. A Mythology Geek. A Psychology Geek. Etc. Recently my older daughter, Kiki, was given an assignment for Social Studies: bring in 5 items representing your family’s culture. She asked what our family’s culture is and my brother suggested Geek Culture. We are a family of Geeks and we are proud.

One of the 5 items my daughter’s school assignment was looking for was a fashion related to the culture. What might possibly represent the fashion of Geek Culture? Well, there is one other way AJ is clearly my child — I love to dress up, too. I am willing to wear pants and I skip the crowns unless it is a special occasion. But I still use those babydoll barrettes that were so popular in the early nineties grunge period. I’m a girly geek, not a geeky girl. I seriously have outfits I only wear to Disney World (and I live in Connecticut, it’s not as if I have a season pass). And so cosplay comes naturally.

I don’t look like Wonder Woman. But I don’t cosplay to show off my body or even my cute costume. Don’t get me wrong, I love to have my picture taken. But I cosplay because I love the characters and because I want everyone to know. I went to Wizard World Philadelphia dressed up as Jean Grey and when I asked Joe Quesada at a Q&A when Jean was coming back he answered, “She’s here – stand up!” I stood and the room applauded. But what matters most in this story is not the acclaim, the fifteen second of fame, it’s that the Editor-in-Chief of Marvel Comics noticed that some girl really loves Jean Grey.

I am lucky to be married to a costume designer. When I say I want to dress up like Jean, he says, “Which one?” Green. Dark. White. And Gothic. And Gothic with Brian Michael Bendis. Yes, I’m also a Bendis fangirl. I’m (usually) a redhead and most often Jean. My husband –- and Bendis –- prefer Wanda. Sometimes dress-up is as simple as something “inspired by” to wear to a showing of The Dark Knight. Sometimes it’s just funky hair. The first comic girl I loved was Rogue. The comic girl I love most is Polaris. My current most favorite thing to do is wear my own little arc reactor around. My daughter isn’t the only one who looks up in the sky for Iron Man.

I have three younger brothers and every one was supposed to be my younger sister. But as much as it hurts to say, if I didn’t have younger brothers, I may never have started reading comic books. Girls read comics but the industry tends not to acknowledge us. Hollywood was surprised that a full half of the audience for the first weekend of The Dark Knight was female — and while I grant Christian Bale is something beautiful to look at, Batman absolutely falls within the realm of what women can want in a story, regardless of eye candy. But the industry’s determination to advertise only to boys teaches parents to buy comics for sons and not daughters. Lucky for me, I have three younger brothers and they read Avengers, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Teen Titans, Batman, Sin City and Sandman — to name a few — and so did I. And now I am a parent who puts my three year old daughter to bed with stories of Iron Man.

Things get better all the time.

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Posted by Sigrid.

I take my kids to the comic store every week. We’ve been going together since my partner and I adopted them as infants five years ago. My kids and I show up at The Source Comics and Games on Wednesday mornings. That’s New Comics Wednesday, you understand. We get my pulls, I walk the racks and my kids walk — under strict injunction to not run — up and down the shelves of action figures and toys. They name all the ones they know, they ask me to identify others. I am called upon to explain maquette tableaux and inexplicable poses for characters I know nothing about, to the amusement of the clerks and other customers. My kids can identify a host of comic book characters. They are good little geeks. I’m proud of them. We go home and they tell my partner, their mother, about the characters they saw and the comic book swag the guys at The Source slipped them over the counter.

Many of my kids’ questions revolve around origin stories. I have a little trouble explaining some of these tales. They sound uninteresting to my ears. But comics began as, and still to a large extent are, the wish fulfillment fantasies of working- and middle-class white men. Traditional superhero comics are stories of the hopes and fears men have of power and powerlessness.

In the fall of 1992, six months after I came out as a lesbian, I was sitting in a stairwell window in my college dorm watching the women’s Ultimate Frisbee team practice on the quad. I was trying to list queer comic book characters. Vertigo Comics had just finished publishing the story “A Game of You” in the comic book The Sandman, by Neil Gaiman. The first two names on my list were Hazel and Foxglove, from that story. Wanda — also from that story — was the third. Maggie and Hopey from Love and Rockets were next. Then, Tristan and Isolde from Camelot 3000.

I was looking, in this medium and genre I love with all my heart, for someone like me.

You’ll notice that none of these characters were from traditional superhero comics. I had names with question marks after them. Northstar? Mystique? This was before Irene Adler and Raven Darkholme were an out couple, partnered for decades. I had a list of scenes, of moments. Individual panels where characters were drawn in intimate ways. Panels where the dialog was particularly emotional or caring. Most of my list involved Kitty Pryde, my favorite character at the time. (Excalibur #24, anyone?) But actual out gay, lesbian, transgender, and bisexual characters were few and far between.

In 1992, I could name all the not-white X-Men-related comic book characters. Storm. Sunspot. Mirage. Karma. Rictor. Riptide. Empath. Gateway. Jubilee. Bishop. Fabian Cortez. . . . There may have been a few others. The black superheroes in the Marvel Universe with serious name recognition were Storm, Black Panther, Luke Cage, and maybe Misty Knight.

If you enter “Black superheroes” or “Hispanic superheroes” into Wikipedia today you get pages of characters. Many of them are minor ones, certainly. But White Tiger, Victor Mancha, Nico Minoru, and Anya Corazon are all non-white characters I can name without thinking too hard. In the Marvel Universe the casts of Runaways and Avengers: The Initiative together just about double the number of non-white characters found in the X-Men comics of 1992. These days, entering “Gay Superheroes” into Google gets you The Gay League as your first result.

A few weeks ago the kids and I bought a set of Minimates figures — Batwoman (Modern) and The Question (Modern).

I picked up the Minimates box off the rack. My daughter, K, looked at Renee Montoya and said, “The girl has dark hair like me!” I agreed, and told K that Renee is Latino, like K is. That she has dark hair and dark eyes and her family is from the Dominican Republic where they speak Spanish. Just as K’s birth mother is from Guatemala, where they have dark hair and dark eyes and speak Spanish. I told my kids that Kate Kane and Renee Montoya had been dating, just like their mother and mom are together. The kids nodded at that. It was no big deal.

To my kids, gay, lesbian, and queer figures are normal. Not the majority, but normal. Non-white characters are in their books, their movies, and the free comics from the guys at The Source — Teen Titans Go! and The Batman Strikes!. Diversity is a part of their everyday life.

Kate Kane and Renee Montoya. Out lesbian superheros, one of whom is Latino, her parents from the Dominican Republic. Packaged together just like regular heroes. I read superhero comics; I always have. And I have spent my share of time criticizing the portrayals of women, gays, and minorities. But last month I bought a toy of a non-white, out, lesbian superhero. And my kids think this is the way of the world. Things get better all the time.