Feminism takes its socks off
Quite a while back, I wrote about The State of Wonder Woman as an entity, spurred by yet another costume makeover. One of the sources I quoted said Wonder Woman should just come out as a lesbian already.
I give you video I cannot embed:
[adult swim]‘s Robot Chicken got there first. I believe that’s Lucy Lawless doing her voice–oh, the compounding implications!
Thank you, Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, for another good one!
from Zahra's Paradise
I’ve been reading this webcomic for a while now, but I didn’t think to write about it until my cousin brought it up this morning.
Zahra’s Paradise is the story of a man named Mehdi who goes missing in the recent post-election Iranian protests. He leaves behind a mother, desperate to find him, and a brother who turns to technology to help him understand what has happened to his family. The titular Zahra was an expatriate photographer who came back to take pictures of prisoners at Evin, the notorious Iranian prison. She was caught getting too close to her subjects, imprisoned, tortured, raped and then killed. Though it was initially covered up, a post-mortem quickly revealed the causes of her death.
Hark! A Vagrant is one of my all-time favorite webcomics. It’s by K. Beaton, who is clearly a giant history/literature nerd, and one rocking chick. Her comics are always delightfully madcap, often playing on historical figures, events, or famous books.
This past week she riffed on Dracula. Perhaps the best part?
Hussies!
You NEED to go read the whole set of Dracula strips (Mina, you vampire-baiting slut!) and the entire H!AV archive. (Anyone who does and sends me links to more we can feature will get a shiny sticky.)
You mad, liberated women, you.
This is not the whole comic, just the start.
Now go here.
Subnormality is an excellent comic exploring the human condition, through the sublimely ridiculous and a case study of assholery.
Draw your own conclusions from this one.
The Quintessential Cathy Freakout
I posted Feministe’s commentary about the end of Cathy on the board because it resonated with me — I’ve been an on and off reader of the comic myself. I find Cathy frustrating and endearing at turns. Endearing, because she always seems to habitual sufferer of her own failures, a sad counterpart to the model of feminist success. Frustrating because her character was never allowed to develop into anything multi-dimensional. Her failures were never allowed to step out of their own limits, and these limits were defined by characters and cliches.
Ultimately, Cathy was an icon unto herself. She was the most honest female character in comics. One of the best things about her was that other female writers saw the challenge of making the Cathy stereotype richer and more honest about women.
Always the idea of a woman, but never a real woman. That’s what I feel about Cathy.
Mikhaela E. Reade is one of my favorite political cartoonists. For the past eight years she has blogged weekly cartoons eviscerating the stupid, racist, sexist, homophobic, right-wing, trickle-down Reaganomics bullshit that goes on in the world. She’s been published in newspapers, magazines, and online, has won awards and was even elected Vice-President of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists.
She’s currently on hiatus, simplifying her life and taking time to regroup. Oh, and she and her husband have just had the most adorable little girl, born last month. As my mother says, life moves in phases, and you focus on different things at different times. We want to wish Mikhaela, Masheka, and Baby Z well.
Meantime, here are some excellent Mikhaela comics for you to enjoy. And please consider buying her book, as that would certainly help them with baby expenses.
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View her whole archive on Flickr.
Thanks for the comics, Mikhaela. We look forward to hearing from you again!
