Category Archives: Announcement

Fantastic Fangirls Call for Staff Writers

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Changes are afoot here at Fantastic Fangirls, changes of an exciting nature!

We recently marked the departure of Jennifer Margret Smith to her new job at Marvel Comics. Congratulations, again, Jennifer! This shift in staffing has provided an opportunity for us to examine our organization and its goals. The time has come to expand Fantastic Fangirls.

Fantastic Fangirls is soliciting applications for both new Staff Writers and Guest Bloggers. Both Staff Writers and Guest Bloggers must be women — cis, trans, or something more complicated — who are enthusiastic about some aspect of comics. In addition, the duties of each are as follows:

Staff Writer duties:

+ contribute one essay per month
+ contribute at least twice a month to weekly Q&A
+ be available for 4-6 Skype calls a year for podcasts
+ contribute to 4-6 book clubs, round-robins, or other group posts per year
+ edit and proofread all of one’s own work
+ read and respond to comments on one’s posts

Guest Writer duties:

+ mail pitch to Editor with concept, 2-3 sample paragraphs, and intentions
+ write essay
+ edit and proofread essay
+ be available to read and respond to comments on the day of posting
+ may be asked to participate in podcasts, book clubs, or round robins

If you are interested, please send your application to sigrid@fantasticfangirls.org with the following information:

Legal Name: Your actual legal name, please.
Demographic Information: We’d like to know any demographic information that you feel is important, such as:
ethnicity, race, gender, orientation, ability, etc.
Work Sample: This can be attached essays, links to your blogs, or other ways you can share your writing.
Relevant Work Experience: Have you done podcasting? Do you manage a group Tumblr? Have you written book reviews? Are you a veteran cosplayer? Do you run conventions? Tell us about your experience working in or discussing geek culture.
Sample Q&A Questions:
Favorite Star Trek captain?
What was your first fandom?
What dream comic do you pine to read someday?

***

Please feel free to link this, tweet it, or send it to people you feel would be a good fit for Fantastic Fangirls. If you have any questions, email Sigrid at sigrid@fantasticfangirls.org.

A Fond Farewell

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Loyal Fantastic Fangirls readers may remember that last summer I took an internship at Marvel Comics in the X-Men editorial office. Today, I’m here to announce that I’ve become a part of that office in a more official capacity: as a full-time assistant editor.

As you might imagine, I’m thrilled to be starting this job, and I want to extend my thanks to anyone I’ve talked to through this blog over the past four years as I shored up my comics knowledge and sharpened my ability to think critically about the medium.

Unfortunately, my acceptance of this position means that my time at Fantastic Fangirls has come to an end. Continuing to review or even make silly comments about comics would be a major conflict of interest for me in my new role. I’ll still be active on twitter (now @jenmargretsmith), and you can always e-mail me at throughthebrush@gmail.com. Caroline, Sigrid, and Anika remain some of my closest friends, and I can’t thank them enough for being a part of this crazy journey with me.

Thanks, everyone, for following my words. I hope you’ll do the same for some of the comics I’ll be working on.

Posted by Jennifer Margret Smith
Twitter: @jenmargretsmith
E-Mail: throughthebrush@gmail.com

Chicks Dig Comics Release Day!

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Chicks Dig Comics cover art

Today the essay collection Chicks Dig Comics is available for sale! And your Fangirls are represented within!

Here’s the full Table of Contents:

Introduction by Mark Waid
Editors’ Foreword, by Lynne M. Thomas and Sigrid Ellis
Mary Batson and the Chimera Society, by Gail Simone
Summers and Winters, Frost and Fire, by Seanan McGuire
Cosplay, Creation, and Community, by Erica McGillivray
An Interview with Amanda Conner
A Matter of When, by Carla Speed McNeil
The Other Side of the Desk, by Rachel Edidin
An Interview with Terry Moore
Nineteen Panels about Me and Comics, by Sara Ryan
I’m Batman, by Tammy Garrison
An Interview with Alisa Bendis
My Secret Identity, by Caroline Pruett
The Green Lantern Mythos: A Metaphor for My (Comic Book) Life, by Jill Pantozzi
Vampirella, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Page Turn, by Jen Van Meter
Confessions of a (Former) Unicorn, by Tara O’Shea
The Evolution of a Tart, by Sheena McNeil
Kitty Queer, by Sigrid Ellis
The Captain in the Capitol: Invoking the Superhero in Daily Life by, Jennifer Margret Smith
Burn, Baby Burn, by Lloyd Rose
Tune in Tomorrow, by Sue D
An Interview with Greg Rucka
Comic Book Junkie, by Jill Thompson
From Pogo to Girl Genius, by Delia Sherman
I am Sisyphus, and I am Happy, by Kelly Thompson
Captain America’s Next Top Model, by Anika Dane Milik
An Interview with Louise Simonson
Me Vs. Me, by Sarah Kuhn
A Road That has No Ending: Revenge in Sandman, by Sarah Monette
Mutants, by Marjorie Liu
You’re on the Global Frequency, by Elizabeth Bear
Crush on a Superhero, by Colleen Doran

Thank you, readers, for supporting Fantastic Fangirls. I hope you enjoy the book!

Girl-Wonder.org is Seeking New Members!

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"We Can Do It!"

Though regular Fantastic Fangirls readers may not be aware, I (Jennifer) am currently a member of the Board of Directors of Gworg, the governing body of the feminist comic book website collective Girl-Wonder.org. Though the other three Fantastic Fangirls aren’t associated with the site, I wanted to take the time to personally spread the word about our current elections:

Girl-Wonder.org is pleased to announce that it is holding elections for the Board of Directors for its governing body, Gworg.

Gworg is an incorporated non-profit feminist organization dedicated to fostering an attentive, empowered comics fan community, to encouraging respect and high-quality character depiction, and to assisting the professional development of women working in the field of comics. Anyone who supports these aims is eligible to become a member, and all members are able to vote, stand for office, and nominate others to the Board.

Becoming a Director is an excellent opportunity to support and direct the progress of Girl-Wonder.org! Moreover, since Gworg is a registered non-profit organization, this also makes a great entry of volunteer work on your resume.

We will be accepting new members and Board nominations from Monday, January 9th through Monday, January 30th. Elections will be announced on Monday, February 6th. Members will then have until Monday, February 13th to vote for this year’s Gworg Board of Directors.

If you’re interested, head over here for more information, particularly regarding the types of open positions, or go straight to here to throw in $5 (or volunteer time!) and become a member. It’s a great activist organization that is really looking for new blood to shake things up and make a splash in 2012, so if you’re at all interested, I’d highly encourage you to become a member, run for office, and/or nominate others who fit the bill. We’d love to have you!

REMINDER: Fantastic Fangirls (Comic) Book Club #7: Finder: Voice, by Carla Speed McNeil

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Just a reminder, we’re working on the next installment of the Fantastic Fangirls (Comic) Book Club! For September, we’ve chosen Carla Speed McNeil’s original graphic novel Finder: Voice.

Voice cover

Our round-table discussion for the book begins on Monday, September 5th. We hope you’ll join us in the comments!

Readers’ Survey

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Hello Fantastic Fans! This Friday I’d like to interview YOU — by which I mean I have put together a Readers’ Survey about our site. We would love to get some feedback from you about what you like, what you don’t like, what you want more of, and what you think about what we do. So if you wouldn’t mind taking a few minutes to answer some questions we would really appreciate it. And you could even win a Heroclix prize pack. I will choose one lucky winner (and a couple runners up) next Thursday June 30.

Thank you for being absolutely FANTASTIC and I look forward to reading your answers!

Anika on behalf of the Fantastic Fangirls

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*Name and Email are required for the drawing; Fantastic Fangirls will not use your information for any purpose other than contacting you and will not sell it to any third party. If you wish to be anonymous, use MARY SUE and MAIL@FANTASTICFANGIRLS.ORG.

Charity Drive – Toga Party for MS

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Posted by Jennifer

Toga Party for MS

My friend Isa of IzzieBytes.net and TalkTyria is participating with Gamers Give Back in the “Toga Party for MS”, a charity event being held tomorrow, April 16, to raise awareness of multiple sclerosis and solicit donations to the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada.

We here at Fantastic Fangirls aren’t affiliated with the charity and don’t have any association with the Guild Wars in-game aspects of the donation drive, but since some of the non-Guild Wars prizes are comic books and other geeky items, we thought we’d pass the information along. If this sounds like something you’d be interested in and you have some money to spare tomorrow, head over to the site and check it out!

The 2nd Annual Fantastic Comic Book Awards Nominees

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It’s time again for our very own Fantastic Comic Book Awards! To announce this year’s nominations, we have a special guest most recently seen in Thunderbolts, and a nominee last year. Please welcome the beautiful and talented — Karla Sofen:

Hello.

So we have five awards for four individuals and a team. Winners will be announced by Selina Kyle and Harry Os — what, really? That’s an odd twosome. Hm, where was I… Winners will be announced by Selina Kyle and Harry Osborn on March 1. So you have a month to vote. Okay? Right, here are the nominees.

In the category Best Character in a Supporting Role, Male the nominees are:

Rick Bradbury in Ex Machina
Ben Grimm/The Thing in New Avengers
Hank McCoy/Beast in S.W.O.R.D.
Peter Merkel, Jr./Ragdoll in Secret Six
Damian Wayne/Robin in Batman and Robin

Wow, what a group of weirdos. Oh, I mean. Congrats to you lot. My category’s next —

I was robbed last year, you know. Public can’t see past Perfect Pepper Potts being up on the big screen. I’d be better in film, too. Anyway.

In the category Best Character in a Supporting Role, Female the nominees are:

Atlee/Terra in Power Girl
Rikki Barnes in Young Allies
Barbara Gordon/Oracle in Batgirl
Jessica Jones in New Avengers
Robot Lois Lane in Action Comics

. . .

I’m not even nominated? I was shut out by a robot and a — What is this —

Fine.

Good luck ladies! At least fat Ms. Marvel didn’t make it either. On with the show —

In the category Best Character in a Leading Role, Male the nominees are:

Clint Barton/Hawkeye in Hawkeye & Mockingbird
Luke Cage in New Avengers
Michael Carter/Booster Gold in Booster Gold
Dick Grayson/Batman in Batman and Robin
Thor in Thor: The Mighty Avenger

Ooooooh. Hot, hot, hotter, and hottest. And Clint.

Just kidding, Clint. Call me.

Okay, this is boring.

In the category Best Character in a Leading Role, Female the nominees are:

Stephanie Brown/Batgirl in Batgirl
Anya Corazon/Spider-Girl in Spider-Girl
Bobbi Morse/Mockingbird in Hawkeye and Mockingbird
Pepper Potts/Rescue in Invincible Iron Man/Rescue
Karen Starr/Power Girl in Power Girl

Oh, now she’s a lead is she? Huff! Seriously, what do these women have on me?

Last one.

In the category Best Ensemble the nominees are:

Avengers Academy
Batgirl
Hawkeye & Mockingbird
New Avengers
Teen Titans
The Thanos Imperative
Tiny Titans
Young Allies

Yay.

So, I guess you vote now. Write-ins are entirely acceptable. It’s spelled M-O-O-N-S-T-O-N-E. See you in March.

For this entirely made up Award, over one hundred individuals and 20 teams (all mentions listed below) were nominated by a committee consisting of the four Fantastic Fangirls and ten guests. Everyone is invited to vote for the final winners. To vote send an email to anika@fantasticfangirls.org with the Subject Line Comic Book Award Ballot. Vote for ONE individual character or team in each category. You may vote in any combination of categories but only one ballot per person will be counted so please do not email until you are ready and please send only one email. You will receive a confirmation email when your vote is counted. Please be patient and give me 2 days before emailing that you have not received the confirmation. Votes will be accepted through Sunday February 27. We will tweet reminders!

Anyone and everyone is encouraged to vote; invite your friends and readers and feel free to campaign on your own blog (remember to link back) and Twitter. Do not feel you have to have read all these comics in order to participate, though we encourage everyone to pick up the books. This is a popularity contest, a fun way to honor some of our favorite characters. Please remember it is all for fun and save the drama for the movies! Comment or email with any questions. Thank you!

Honorable Mentions

Supporting, Male: Bart Allen (Various Titles), Deadman (Brightest Day), Dead Shot (Secret Six), Bobby Drake (Ultimate Spider-Man), Dominic Fortune (Hawkeye & Mockingbird), Ghost (Thunderbolts), Ken Hale/Gorilla Man (Atlas), Gavril Inanovich/Rocket Red (Justice League: Generation Lost), Jack (Joe the Barbarian), Jules Verne’s Brain (in a Steampunk Robot) (Mystery Society), Erik Lensherr/Magneto (Avengers Children’s Crusade), Humberto Lopez/Reptil (Avengers Academy), Peter Parker (New Avengers), Hank Pym/Wasp (Avengers Academy),Jamie Reyes/Blue Beetle (Justice League: Generation Lost), Julio Richter/Rictor (X-Factor), Rocket Racoon (Thanos Imperative/Guardians of the Galaxy ), Skeets (Booster Gold), Dr. Stephen Strange (New Avengers), Twitch (Hawkeye & Mockingbird), Johnny Storm (Ultimate Spider-Man), Sam Wilson/Falcon (Captain America), Wong (New Avengers)

Supporting, Female: Bambi Arbogast (Invincible Iron Man), Maddie Berry (Avengers Academy), Helena Bertinelli/Huntress (Birds of Prey), Danielle Cage (New Avengers), Etta Candy (Wonder Woman), Knives Chau (Scott Pilgrim), Xi’an Coy Mahn/Karrna (New Mutants), Carol Danvers/Ms. Marvel (New Avengers), Ramona V. Flowers (Scott Pilgrim), Cat Grant (Supergirl), Wendy Harris/Proxy (Batgirl), Lizzie Hexam (Unwritten)(, Maria Hill (Invincible Iron Man), Angelica Jones/Firestar (Young Allies), Lana Lang (Supergirl), Lyra (She-Hulk), Gosalyn Mallard (Darkwing Duck), Kim Pine (Scott Pilgrim), Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat, Ivy Raven (Echo), Rogue (X-Men Legacy), Squire (Knight and Squire), Squirrel Girl (New Avengers), Norah Winters (Amazing Spider-Man), Lori Zechner/Black Alice (Secret Six), Zinda (Birds of Prey)

Lead, Male: Barry Allen (Various Titles), Bane (Secret Six), Chip (Chip and Chip: 2nd Crack), Daken (Dark Wolverine), Brás de Oliva Domingos (Daytripper), Tim Drake/Red Robin (Red Robin), Kon-El/Superboy (Superboy), Mitchell Hundred (Ex Machina), Billy Kaplan/Wiccan (Avengers Children’s Crusade), Lex Luthor (Action Comics), Drake Mallard/Darkwing Duck (Darkwing Duck), Norman Osborn (Osborn), Peter Parker/Spider-Man (The Amazing Spider-Man), Peter Quill/Starlord (Thanos Imperative/Guardians of the Galaxy), Steve Rogers (Various Titles), Drake Sinclair (The Sixth Gun), Tony Stark/Iron Man (Invincible Iron Man)

Lead, Female: Abigail Brand (S.W.O.R.D.), Gwen Dylan (iZombie), Pearl Jones (American Vampire), Lieutenant Anna Kharkova (Battlefields: Motherland), Dinah Lance (Birds of Prey), Jubilation Lee (X-Men Curse of the Mutants), Scandal Savage (Secret Six), Dex Parios (Stuptown), Mary Raven (Ignition City), Natasha Romanova/Black Widow (Black Widow), Tex/”Cout 5 or 6″(CBGB), Janet Van Dyne (Her-Oes), Kara Zor-El/Linda Lang/Supergirl (Supergirl)

Ensemble: Birds of Prey, Darkwing Duck, Invincible Iron Man, Justice League: Generation Lost, Mystery Society, Secret Six, Stumptown, S.W.O.R.D., Ultimate Spider-Man, X-Factor, X-Men Legacy, Young Avengers

Announcing: REVISIT

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It’s the end of the Summer, it’s the start of a new school year and a new television season, it’s a four day weekend for many and yesterday was 90210 day — it’s that time of the year when we feel both driven and nostalgic. It’s the perfect time for:

REVISIT!

This September the Fantastic Fangirls will be re-reading and reviewing a trade paperback, story arc, or graphic novel of our choice and we invite you to join us. The parameters are simple: pick a story you haven’t read in a while and for whatever reason want to revisit — maybe it was the first comic you ever read, maybe you want to be sure you really love it (or hate it) the way you think you do, maybe you want to revisit a simpler time, or a darker one, or compare it to the movie version that has since come out — whatever reason, pick it up and read it again.

We will be posting our thoughts throughout September. If you do participate send us a link to your blog post — or you can use our comments to tell us your Revisit experience.

Enjoy and spread the word!

Fantastic Fangirls (Comic) Book Club #3: Power Girl

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We got a great response to our last book club discussion, on Ghost in the Shell, and we want to thank all the readers who contributed to the conversation and provided different perspectives. You guys are awesome!

This month, we’ll be doing our third book club, and this one is a bit more in our normal superhero wheelhouse: the first volume of Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti, and Amanda Conner’s Power Girl.

The six issues contained in this first volume, A New Beginning, feature DC superhero Power Girl dealing with all the trials and tribulations of her civilian and superhero lives, and the problems that come from trying to balance the two. Power Girl has strength and sass in spades, and both are amply displayed over the course of the volume — as is her sincere friendship with fellow heroine Terra. While the book appears light, there’s a lot going on beneath the surface, and we here at Fantastic Fangirls feel it’s worthy of serious discussion.

Power Girl: A New Beginning, available here on Amazon and here on InStockTrades.com, is a great jumping-on point for readers unfamiliar with the character, or even the DC universe as a whole, so I encourage everyone with even a passing interest to check this out. If nothing else, it’s an excuse to gaze lovingly at Amanda Conner’s gorgeously expressive art!

We’ll begin our discussion of Power Girl: A New Beginning on August 24th, 2010. Get your copy, read up, and get ready to join the conversation!