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Underground > Comic Books >

The Woman Is Occasionally a Superheroine

07:23 / 26.11.06

This is making the rounds at all the online comic blogs and sites and little news-hubs. I highly recommend the entire thing. I thought I would have to brace myself to dive into it - frank discussions of sexual harrasment, big-name creators being assholes, crushing tales of childhood letdowns and betrayals - but she's an amazing writer and made it sadly easy to process some of the horrible things she talks about. It's billed as a Farewell To Comics but this woman's autobiography is tighter, funnier, sadder and more interesting than 95% of the titles I've seen at my local comic book shop.

Good god. Why would you want to loose someone who can write like this?

As for the bedroom accident, I'll let you discover the details but I'll just say she copes with it in a way that's funny and sad and ties back into her entire life story. (I have to refer to the writer as she and nothing else since Names are being Withheld. I have heard that it's not too hard to suss out the identities of some of the people mentioned if you're really familiar with the comics industry personel but I'm not the one to do it.)

14:08 / 26.11.06

I don't have much to say but I started reading out of curiosity amd have now read many, mamy times more than I intended to and am unlikely to be able to move from the screen until I've finished. I'm only able to type this because my finger slipped and the window popped up.

Read it.

14:54 / 26.11.06

Jesus Christ, now more than ever I want to go over there and burn that place down.

17:51 / 26.11.06

DavidXBrunt: It keeps boggling my mind that they had her as an editor of all things when she can write like this.

Qalyn: Since you say "that place" it sounds as if you might know exactly what place she's talking about. Am I right in guessing that "Gilgongo!" is DC and Vicky Victim is Sue Dibney? (Can we just come right out and name names or is it too nebulous to guess at?)

A beautiful tunnel of ghosts

18:22 / 26.11.06

Rich Johnston began last Monday's Lying In The Gutters with a reference to this blog, which also apparently revealed the author's identity.

miss wonderstarr

19:36 / 26.11.06

Her parody of how Frank Miller and Alan Moore respectively would handle a "rape" story, and how it would be promoted, was very sadly, wryly true, I thought.

20:27 / 26.11.06

I think it's fairly clear that it's D.C. and Sue Dibney. As for the paternal figure whos tribute she put together after hearing the rumours...well how many candidates are there for that? I have a short list of one...

21:41 / 26.11.06

Yeah, Graeme's got the rundown of reactions and the LITG reveal, so her story's pretty much in the public domain by now for sure. Harrowing stuff, really, and illustrative I'd think, however much I might want to kneejerk that this is 'ruining the fun' or whatever, of just how endemically fucked this corporation is; some of the blame can be laid at the feet of American labor laws, I'm sure, but jeezus.

I've read Byrne talk about the Marvel bullpen of the seventies, probably in his own defence or some bullshit, (nonetheless...) and Priest on the same in the eighties and really we don't seem to have come far, judging by the piece - okay there's no outright racism and the sexism's more underhand - and still have an industry run by, by and large, fucked up little boys.

I am so glad I have never looked at Identity Crisis.

09:11 / 01.12.06

Well, that was really really upsetting. That I sometimes need to be reminded of the force, horror and banality of womens' oppression makes me feel thoroughly ashamed.

Those of you that haven't read this, stop fucking about and follow the link.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

11:47 / 01.12.06

Some of the comments on the site, supportive though they may be, are equally depressing. "Hey, not all men are like that- I'm not, for example. If you met me..."-type shit.

11:58 / 01.12.06

...well, I'd get hard for you like no other guy"

That kind of thing?

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

12:05 / 01.12.06

Not quite, more the "then I'm sure you'd really like me" kind, but I can't have been the only one who detected a dodgy subtext, surely?

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

12:09 / 01.12.06

OK, now I'm going back to find examples, I can only find one, and that's nowhere near as creepy as I remembered it being.

13:03 / 01.12.06

It's funny -- I kept thinking the words would be much better if accompanied by pictures. I mean, it seems meant to be a webcomic. Alas.

13:39 / 01.12.06

that was fucking fantastic! I'm so glad I followed the link and dug around to find the first entry.

amazingly great writing and I'm excited that it appears to be making an impact.

thank you for starting this thread!

14:24 / 01.12.06

I wouldn't say the writing was amazing, but it was an abosutely gripping and stomach-churning read. Quite a lot of good material in there, I especially liked the info about the company culture at DC and the way the 'rape scene' was handled editorially in Identity Crisis, which was most interesting (and disgusting).

I'd really like it if Occaisional Superheroine started up her own indie-press book. The subject matter seems to really suit the market, and hopefully she'd see that the whole industry isn't completely fucked up (well, at least I hope not).

06:06 / 03.12.06

>>I wouldn't say the writing was amazing, but it was an absolutely gripping and stomach-churning read.

Maybe amazing is a bit much but I really loved her style. Punchy, darkly funny, bubbly one moment and heart-breaking the next.

I can't help but keep comparing it to the stilted dialogue and awkward polemics you get in what, 80 to 90 percent of mainstream comics and how people keep talking about how we need fresh blood. And she was working in the industry for a while and they just overlooked her completely.

Maybe some of the power of her writing stems from its autobiographical nature, but I can't help but think that this was such a waste. Maybe, maybe one day she'll return to comics and as a writer this time. I hope she does.

15:33 / 03.12.06

This is all a bit "Birth of a Feminist" as it's probably worth recognizing that Video Store Girl at Occasional Superheroine has been accused in the past of defending misogyny. She's taken down her old posts, but you can still read Karen Healey's rebuttal and Kalinara's blind caps-lock abusing rage at a defense of the industry she wrote in October.

Everyone has different breaking points, it seems. I'm amazed she's held up for the establishment this long, but systematic abuse does tend to do that.

16:59 / 03.12.06

To be honest, I've found her style really hard to follow, there are certain things that I still don't know who, what, why, when etc, which leaves me feeling a bit perplexed. I do know that a) the whole idea of disfunctional OCD comic book fans has become something nasty in my mind now, and that b) she seems to have had a rough time of it. But at the same time, I feel kind of off comics at the moment - one main reason is the whole rape a character makes us tough and gritty angle making me feel just a little uneasy about what the message is.

17:01 / 03.12.06

(I found her style very gripping)

17:05 / 03.12.06

I agree that it grips - I read the whole thing - I just had real trouble following it.

17:19 / 03.12.06

b) she seems to have had a rough time of it.

Hitler also dabbled in real estate.

17:26 / 03.12.06

What the fuck is that supposed to mean?

17:31 / 03.12.06

Does anyone have Qalyn off their ignore lists? What's he saying?

17:48 / 03.12.06

I genuinely don't understand what you meant in that post tripple and would appreciate an explanation. The Hitler thing? What?

17:49 / 03.12.06

Oh, right. I see. No, he's not on ignore but that was very oblique.

20:16 / 03.12.06

I imagine that Triplets means Video Store Girl has had a very hard time of it, just as Hitler invaded loads of countries, claimed territories, etc. I'm willing to be corrected, howevs, but well done for vaulting onto that high-horse so quick, chums.

20:20 / 03.12.06

Yeah, I was saying "that's an understatement". Bit knee-jerk there, Q.

01:00 / 04.12.06

Bit of a shitty metaphor there, T.

03:01 / 04.12.06

bit pointless as well - are you saying that I should drop my underplayed style of writing and shout about the hardships of superheroine? Been done throughout the thread so seems a bit redundant - my points were more that I'd read the piece and agreed with what had gone before, but at the same time didn't find it an amazing piece of writing (gripping yes) and did actually struggle to follow the narrative somewhat.

08:20 / 04.12.06

Can't say I did, but I can see how you could. It's not exactly linear.

08:21 / 04.12.06

Er, last comment wasn't supposed to be patronising, Benny.

08:26 / 04.12.06

not taken as such - I know exactly what you mean.