Now if you know me in the real world or even if you just read this blog on occasion, that comes as no shock at all. However to most of the world out there, it might. Some might forward me one of those "entertaining" geek girl memes of a few years ago...assuming that I might be as clueless as she was:
Oh wait did I say entertaining I meant offensive have some improved versions which thankfully is mainly what you mainly find on a google search nowadays (I like the old ones in a weird ironic way but they do play into an awful culture):
Or you might assume that my love of comics comings from a) comic book movies (see above meme...the sexist one) or b) the fact I have brothers. Oddly the latter is in part true as my younger brother and I got into superheroes and the like at the same time via the amazing cartoon versions of X-Men and Spiderman in the 1990s, but this was mainly because they started on Australian TV at a time when we were both old enough to appreciate them- I was already a big Transformers, Voltron, and TMNT fan so them being marketed to boys was not a problem and lest we forget one of the other amazing cartoons of 90s based on a comic book was marketed to girls, that's right GO Sailor Moon! By the time I was born my older brother was already through his comic phase (if he had one) and into the car phase that has coloured his life subsequently (now over 30 years later he works with cars...his dream job), and my little brother whilst still loving the movies based on them never delved too deeply into the comic world after he entered his teen years or even prior to that. SO there goes the brothers theory...
In my teen years I got into the Batman: Animated Series and discovered characters I liked outside of Marvel (I'm still a Marvel girl but I do like some DC nowadays, though mainly just Batman). I had a few X-Men issues but not many, and for some of my early teen years a large collection of X-Men collector cards (I wonder where they went...they'd probably be worth something nowadays). All of that said I felt like I couldn't go into a comic store without being nerd shamed and looked with either pity or awkward nerd boy lust which wasn't something I was keen on at all (the latter was a bad stereotype on my part, sorry nerd boys from teenaged me). Ultimately going to comic stores or reading comics just wasn't something girls did as far as I could ascertain, especially in Wollongong. It wasn't until I moved to Sydney years later that rediscovered my sidelined love of comics (that weren't on the big screen) thanks to Neil Gaiman being an amazing novelist whose writing was of good enough quality to inspire me to buy my first graphic novel (Sandman Volume 1). My graphic novel collection has slowly grown over the subsequent years and I also have a few single issues (mainly of Buffy Season 8- I prefer graphic novel to single issue format as single issue is too short for me) and I think it was ridiculous that I ever felt shamed out of entering a comic store. Contrary to the geek girl meme many of my favourite comic characters are actually yet to appear on the big screen... Rogue (my favourite) has though I have long term big issues about her portrayal, ditto Kitty Pryde (though in Days of the Future Past she wasn't bad) and my only favourite who I've liked in all of her screen time is Mystique, BUT Psylocke and Harley Quinn are only due to make their cinema debuts in films due out in the next few years (I loved both castings, though I have concerns about Olivia Munn delivering an English accent (a non English Psylocke is no Psylocke!) and the publicity shots of Margot Robbie as Harley left me cold (the leaked shots of her in Harley's pre Harley days, they looked good)), ditto Gambit (yes of course I liked male characters too...he is the one I'm most worried about because Channing Tatum is WRONG for the part and I doubt he can do a Cajun accent)...and sadly I actually don't anticipate my favourite DC hero (Barbara Gordon though more as Oracle than Batgirl) ever making a proper appearance in a film...wheelchair bound characters are a hard sell. Anyhow where am I going with this rambling...first to say, girls out there it is OK to like comics! Secondly it was supposed to be a short segway to more books by women...whoops.
Oh well...a heads up next post about books by ladies is about a graphic novel and a non fiction book on the creation of Wonder Woman so much with the comics.
In this ramble, I will chuck in some words about Avengers: Age of Ultron. Avoiding spoilers as much as possible...
I loved it! It wasn't as good as Avengers or as Captain America: Winter Soldier but it was still pretty great. Whedon managed to make believable, relate-able characters out of two of Marvel's hardest sells- Quicksilver is an easy sell and X-Men:Days of the Future Past sold him already (I prefer Avengers Quicksilver as he was more annoying), I mean Scarlet Witch and Vision (granted Vision got very little screen time), and with one moment he sent the shippers of internet land wild (well those who know the comics, know that Whedon had to go there)....so keen for more of them if it is coming. I liked all of the newbies, and I liked Maria Hill appearing as a regular feature again. I would have welcomed more complexity from the buff guys- Thor and Captain America but also Iron Man- in the set up for Civil War, Tony Stark is becoming too much of a jerk a little too quickly, Cap had some lovely character development in Winter Soldier and it could have been hit harder (I LOVED the character development so much in Cap 2...it made me like a character I've always disliked), and Thor...poor Thor...no-one really knows what to do with him when Loki isn't around. My highlights from the old round up were Hulk, Hawkeye and Black Widow. Mark Ruffalo rose to the challenge of doing the motion capture for the first time and he really gave a big heart to both aspects of the character, also let me go out on a limb and say canon be damned, I really liked the Hulk/Black Widow romance because I do think they have similar issues to work through. Hawkeye was so wonderfully humanised and expanded from the bit part in the first film and you felt this was all Whedon and his love of this character. Now to Black Widow...you know I love Joss Whedon's work and I will defend him against anything. That said, do I agree with statements that he could have done more with Black Widow, yes...should we demonise him for this or call into question his work because of this, absolutely not! The thing is you cannot leap an alp in a single bound as much as you want to or as much as Whedon is the male writer/director most likely to pull it off. But think about this, Age of Ultron is still a comic book film and as much as I love them, comic book films often suffer the same plight as women used to in comics...limited back story, mainly eye candy, skimpy costumes and ineffectual powers...think all the women in Batman and Robin. When you think how far Black Widow has come from that, she is rich developed character now thanks to Whedon's work in Avengers and all the good work of Cap 2, she can hold her own in a fight and none of men question her presence in the fight or her ability to kick butt, AND she gets more screen time then half the men. The other things I loved were the development her relationship with Hawkeye in the way that it was just well they are best friends and that is normal and need not be about one of them getting into the other one's pants; the heart ache Johansson conveyed in the scene where Black Widow talked about her inability to have kids and her inability to fully reconcile her past; her sacrifice to save the day at the end of the film...she has the power there and she chooses for the good of the many not for her own desire; the flashback...it made me want a Black Widow film all the more; and just for minute pause and remember this, she has power over the Hulk!!!! Take that in...The HULK! None of the other Avengers can calm him down and Iron Man destroys a whole city in the attempt...but she can with just her voice and the touch of her hand! She is the hero in the romance between her and the Hulk...he is the Princess who is often mentally in another castle. So I say, yes people of the internet more could be done but for a moment recognise that what was done was still great. Big problems...as a long time Whedon nerd, I felt the hand of the studio in many parts of the film more than I would have liked or was necessary (before Whedon spoke out about it), and I didn't love that Loki ended up on the cutting room floor. Worst line of the film, Black Widow's about being a monster...didn't love that. Best line/ collection of lines, Iron Man and Thor talking about what their smart and successful girlfriends are up to whilst they put on silly costumes, and Maria Hill proposes that they skipped the party because it was a sausage feast (sadly can't find the exact lines online to quote). Other script highlights..."Language" and "Excelsior".
In closing have the best response to girl geek shaming I've seen...as Cap would say "Language" so you have been warned...
