Occasional Superheroine: Dave Sim

Showing posts with label Dave Sim. Show all posts

Friday, May 09, 2008

Fangirl Fridays: You've Come A Long Way, Baby?

Comics: No Longer A Second-Class Citizen?

"Will one day I really be a real respectable entertainment medium,
Blue Fairy?"
"Only if your movie breaks a hundred mil."

Sometimes I get the impression that comics are to the rest of the entertainment industry the way women are to comics -- or at least, that's the way the media perceives it. Let me explain.

A common post in the comics blogosphere is the "look, a major newspaper/magazine/television show recognizes comics exist." I've done these sorts of posts myself. The posts are well-meaning and informative, but somewhat patronizing. The movie industry blogs don't make posts saying "oh look, Time Magazine paid attention to us. That's significant!" But we do.

The same thing sometimes happens in reporting women in comics stories. "Oh, they're paying attention to us! We're legitimate!" The very fact that women figure somewhere in the coverage, either as the subject of a comic book or as a comic creator, is highlighted. Because it's a woman. It's a "see how far we've grown!" type sentiment. The same type of sentiment I see from the comics newso/blogosphere for the mainstream comics coverage.

I'm not saying that we should stop posting this way. I'm just saying that I feel both comics and women in comics have reached a certain level of success where the fact that they're covered by major media shouldn't be such a shock. "Iron Man" is an over $100 million dollar movie. Don't worry. The media is "on" to us. They're almost going to phase out the "Biff! Pow!" phrases in the articles. It's been over 40 years, but seriously, they're going to stop.

Why I Hate "You've Come A Long Way, Baby"

She's come a long way, baby --
she can wear a man's suit with a baby-pink jacket that doesn't match.
Thank you for 30 years of irony and lung cancer, Virginia Slims

Do we need all-women comic con panels and all-women comic link-dumps? Do we need an organization like Friends of Lulu? I've always envisioned Friends of Lulu as 1) A place to celebrate the achievements of women in comics, 2) A place for women in comics to network with and find support from their peers, and 3) A place to provide young women mentorship in comics creation. Within all that there is another component of promoting all-ages comic book material. But I never saw it as a "You've Come A Long Way, Baby!" Virginia Slims type thing. "You've Come A Long Way Baby" patronizes the hell out of me. I don't need to be told how far I've come. I f**king know how far I've come. I was there!

Glamourpuss #1 Review

I was going to just draw my review by tracing panels from old issues of Cerebus and then putting my review in the word balloons, but I decided against it.

Glamourpuss #1 has two components: 1) A meditation on photo realism in comics and Alex Raymond, and 2) Some fashion model s**t. The former is interesting, the latter is flat. Models are shallow, models have eating disorders, models wear too-expensive clothes that are impractical -- there is nothing new here, at least in terms of how this material has been traditionally presented before. This is coupled with the preconceptions going in based on Glamourpuss creator Dave Sim's reputation.

Yes, I know I shouldn't go into an artist's work with preconceptions based on their reputation. But I see these lifeless pictures of the models, I see how they're presented as empty-eyed self-absorbed materialistic cyphers, I read about "Skanko," and in all honesty I have to wonder what Sim is trying to say about women in all this.

And this page differs from what Greg Land does how???

But then I contrast that with all the reconstructed Alex Raymond panels in the book which also feature women. Most of those women are sympathetic, and ironically have more life in them than the actual real-life women Sim used to draw the models from.

I guess the biggest question I have regarding Glamourpuss -- and the answer would have an impact on how I ultimately review it -- is how much irony did Dave Sim intend for it to have? How much he expected us to laugh at things like sore feet and Skanko and how much did he intended for these things to be ironic would make a difference to me. It would mean the difference between the book being an avant-garde work of art and just an overly-hyped trip through one artist's psyche.

Monday, May 05, 2008

"Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been A Misogynist?"

Here's an excerpt of a Dave Sim letter that has been making the rounds, wherein he specifies that anyone who desires to interview him must sign a document acknowledging that he is not a misogynist:

"As you may or may not be aware, I've been called a misogynist for over a decade now. Several times I have tried to make the point that nobody stands up for me when this happens. Increasingly it has become obvious that standing up for someone else is an alien concept. Considering that a misogynist is viewed as the lowest, subhuman form of life in our society, however, this situation became untenable some time ago: something had to give..."

and

"If you want a response to your letter or submission all you have to do is return this form letter stating for the record (and I reserve the right to post your name on the Internet under the heading) "I don't believe that Dave Sim is a misogynist.""

For the record, I will restate my position that until never-talked-about-in-public misogynists in this industry are also publicly called to the carpet, I have no interest even considering jumping on the "Dave Sim is a misogynist" bandwagon. It's easy to brand Sim a kook and a woman-hater, because he's not connected with other people's livelihoods or wields a level of influence that could damage other people's careers. The worst you could do by bashing Sim is make Neil Gaiman sigh at you.

I mean -- the Sim critics have won. He's driven to the point where he has to issue letters like this. Is he ever going to change his opinions because people attack him on message boards? Probably not. But, he's actually felt so persecuted that he went through the trouble of drafting this odd document. So in that, I sense a victory for the anti-Sims.

Okay, now that this has happened, how has this industry concretely changed to benefit women? At least the furor over that Open Source Boob Project Guy resulted in more awareness of the way females are occasionally physically accosted at conventions.

What positive thing comes out of all this? Is it possible to have anything constructive or positive come out of all this? The only effect I see it having is convincing those selective misogynists in the industry to become even more selective and covert, seeing Sim as the example of somebody who got publicly crucified. Then they can step back and laugh at Sim along with the crowd.

original Dave Sim letter scan available at Ink Studs.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

The Dave Sim Post I Never Wrote

I just read a stirring and heart-felt post by Heidi MacDonald on Dave Sim, and it occured to me that I never really touched upon his views on this forum.

I wrote a comment to Heidi's post, and I thought I would share it here. I hope it explains in full why I have never posted about Dave Sim.

To be honest, while I have heard of the controversy surrounding Sim, and I am familiar with Cerebus, I have not sat down and read either his philosophy on women or his work. I know, with the stuff I write about on my blog, it's a little shocking that I never touched on the topic before.

But I will say this:

There has been a great deal of coddling, protecting, and willful blind eyes turned away from rampant misogynists in sectors of this industry. It has disgusted me deeply.

If Gaiman is guilty for supporting Sim, there are a lot of people out there who are just as guilty.

Sim, by virtue of his apparent outspokenness, just seems to have the biggest spotlight shined on him. He's just not "cuddly" (sorry, Dave). He solidifies his views within quotable words, instead of committing a series of actions that friends can explain away and cover up.

But I would argue that it is exactly those men who actually act upon their misogynist thoughts, unconsciously, destructively, impacting other women's lives, impacting the lives of women within the comic book community -- those men who have long histories of such behavior, yet whose actions are only spoken of in whispers -- who are far more a danger to females than Sim's comments.

And until I see those persons brought into the spotlight and talked about and chastised for their actions, I just don't have the heart nor the energy to get too upset or even delve in the Sim situation. Not because what Heidi wrote about her concerns are not justified -- because they are! -- but because I, by virtue of my own experiences, have my attention directed elsewhere.

That said, I realize that Sim's Cerebus has come highly recommended, and plan to read them at some point. By necessity of being a blogger covering current comics culture, I have had to not only read but purchase with my own money books connected with people I despise. I am all "toughened up." I can handle Cerebus. My only question is, what collected volume shall I start with; would it make more sense to just start from the beginning, or is there a particularly good arc I should try first?