We have asked Gail Simone, the first lady of US comics, about the top 5 mistakes people make, when
creating comics. Here is her answer.
Illustration by: Vladimír
Schmidt
Layout + portrait art: Martin Plško
Art direction: EMPAYA Comics (Vladimír
Schmidt and Martin Plško)
More useful answers can be found here: http://empaya-comics.tumblr.com/tagged/top-5-mistakes-people-make-when-creating-comics
TMS Exclusive: rad ladies making rad things!
Click through to watch our brand-new video format for Pull Wisely, featuring our own Teresa Jusino, and join the discussion thread! What did you pick up this week, comics fans?
Fun question, and go check out the site, it’s very cool!
Comics advice from one of our faves!
This just in: women can look sexy and badass at the same time!
I always thought DC should have a second Wonder Woman title based around the book that she originated in. I don’t know why there hasn’t been a Sensation title up ’till now, so I’m excited that we get to spearhead a new series where people who love Wonder Woman as much as we do will get to come in and have the freedom to tell the Wonder Woman stories that they want to tell outside continuity. It’s just a privilege, a great privilege.
Can I tell a funny story about Red Sonja covers?” interjected Simone. “So Jenny does the main covers for Red Sonja, and all the variants are done by female artists. And we were sitting at a convention just talking, myself and some female artists, and it was the best conversation ever. It was all about how to draw the boobs. And listening to these female artists talk about it was completely different from how a lot of male artists talk about it. They kept saying things like ‘the weight of the underboob,’ and the shape, and if she’s flipping up in the air where would those really be? And I was just sitting there thinking, ‘This is the best conversation that has ever existed.’"
Gail Simone’s twitter feed from this morning. I decided it must be captured for posterity. Don’t ever stop being awesome, Gail.
[Part 1 of 2]
My twitter feed got taken over by a wild woman!
Commissioner Gordon has it out for Batgirl, convinced that she’s responsible for the death of his son… not knowing that the true identity of that caped crusader is his daughter… who’s deeply messed up over the fact that she accidentally caused her psychopath brother’s death… and terrified of how her father might react if he found out it was her. Right in the feels! Exclusive preview of Batgirl #23!
Gail Simone was teasing a new project on Twitter yesterday but I’m sure no one guessed this one correctly. Simone and Freddie Williams II will produce, The Movement, focusing on the 99% of the DC Universe while Art Baltazar, Franco, and Ig Guara will team to represent the more affluent 1% in The Green Team. Sound familiar?
Today, DC Comics offers us this preview of the cover and seven pages from Batgirl, Vol 2.: Knightfall Descends, the second hardcover collection of Gail Simone’s New 52 run on the title. That’s issues #7-13 and issue #0 (issue #0 was released after issue #12 but is a stand-alone story …look, I don’t make the numbering decisions, I just report on them), stories that include the introduction of the Talon Strix, now a member of the Birds of Prey, and a two-issue cameo by Batwoman, two of my favorite moments in the series so far. The book will be out everywhere next Tuesday, but until then, you can pick it up in comic stores starting today!
…about the wonderful http://eschergirls.tumblr.com/ and http://thehawkeyeinitiative.com/ .
I think these sites do something hilarious, something I’ve tried to do my whole online history, which I think of as ‘mocktivism,’ that is, activism by mockery. You showcase how absurd something is, you take away the excuses and the labeling and you nakedly show how ridiculous some things are that desperately need changing. It’s a way of getting at the entrenched nonsense by making fun of it.
Making the egregious laughable.
All well and good, I’m thrilled these sites exist.
But what’s bugging me is that there are still goofballs out there who are taking away the wrong message. The narrative is growing that, contrary to all indications, the people behind these sites are just humorless feminists who hate anything sexy.
GUYS. WAKE THE FUCK UP.
That is NOT what’s happening. These people are exposing something that is intrinsically disturbing, but they are doing it with more humor and wit than the original drawings EVER displayed.
But beyond that…it’s irritating and incorrect to imply that pointing out something stupid makes you anti-sex, anti-sexuality, or anti-sexy art.
Most feminists I know LIKE beautiful women in their comics, they LIKE sexy characters and sexy content. Every con I’m at, women line up for sketches of women by artists like Adam Hughes, Amanda Conner, and other artists with a gift for drawing gorgeous, sexy pin-ups.
I for one love when a gifted artist draws a beautiful, sexy woman in a comic (guys too, obviously, but this topic is about female portrayal).
It’s just that the definition of sexy isn’t broken-back swivel-torsoed caricatures of balloon-esque underage demi-teens with perpetually frozen sex doll expressions and Penthouse poses. Usually while they are making coffee or turning on the television.
It’s not the SEXY that is at issue. It’s the competence. It’s the lack of understanding of how women work, the lack of concern about alienating huge chunks of the readership. It’s mistaking ‘ugly’ for ‘sexy.’ It’s taking empowered characters and displaying them like a standing rib roast at the butcher shop. It’s making women adornments instead of characters with souls and will and agency.
It’s bad comics. It’s bad illustration.
And most of it even fails on this basic goal…it is bad cheesecake.
No one wants to take away the sexy out of comics. Most would be fine with a lot MORE sexy in comics.
They just want to be included and not actively discouraged, they want to see women treated with the same kind of care and fun that the males are, they want to see good art done well instead of distorted for a market that never grew up.
Making fun of bad art doesn’t take away the sexy. If anything, it encourages artists to do sexy BETTER.
Like it or not, women are going to have a voice in comics. And in this case, that means making fun of stuff that absolutely deserves it.
GOOD.