→ Jan 2012 +

arseniccupcakes:

chromaticcomics:

Princeless came from a confluence of issues I had.  I’ve always had a lot of close geek girl friends and I’m always looking for strong female characters in comics to share with them.  I think there just aren’t enough.  When I married my wife, I got to know her younger sisters and some of her cousins.  As young girls of color none of them had ever picked up a comic book (except my wife) and why should they?  I can count on one hand the number of black women you can find on your comic book stand right now, not to mention the number who are positive portrayals.  The same holds true for women of color in fantasy stories.  I wanted my daughter to have comic books she could love the same way I’ve loved mine.  Not to mention, I’m a little leery about the princess culture and what it actually teaches girls.

-Princeless creator Jeremy Whitley x

oooh, i wanna read it

did anyone read crossgen’s Meridian or was i the only one? it seems to me at least when people make the argument of ‘few strong, female characters’ they never want to venture outside of the boundaries of the mainstream market, or even america’s independent comics market. the characters are there, it is just that we, as comics fans, don’t do enough to share them with other people, or to hype them enough so that other people become interested. and quite frankly? i’m tired of the complaints. you want strong, female characters? here are some comics that may interest you

Jeff Smith’s Bone (the later half of the series revolves around a young girl named Thorn and her battle against the Lord of the Locusts)

The Herandez Brothers’ Love and Rockets (although Gilbert’s stories tend to be over sexualized, it is never done in poor taste. Maggie & Hopey and the rest of the women from Palomar are very dynamic and well-written, with a lot of them achieving more than their male counterparts)

Terry Moore’s Strangers in Paradise (Moore has been praised for years on his female characters)

Alison Bechdel’s Dyke to Watch Out For and Fun Home (one of the first lesbian comics and the source of The Bechdel Test. I’ve read some of Fun Home and I can say that she’s also an excellent memoirist, as well as a well-read person in general)

Greg Rucka’s For Queen & Country (an excellent espionage comic that doesn’t pander to the “femme fatale” trope. Tara Chase is one tough chick and she’s very three-dimensional in terms of characterization)

Barabara Kesel’s Meridian (it focuses on a young girl who becomes minister of her own floating island’s city-state and herwar against her uncle who wishes to take over and kill her. It never got an appropriate ending since CrossGen comics went belly-up. It is still a great, overlooked comic and it pains me when people tell me they haven’t heard of it)

and of course, since this blog is called HIKIKOMORI GANG LIFE, have some manga to go along with it

Yumi Tamara’s Basara (a twin sister takes her brother’s place as “the child of destiny” and does a kick-ass job at it)

Studio Sunrise’s anime The Vision of Escaflowne (Hitomi doesn’t just sit back and relax and get in trouble all the time. Despite her not wielding a sword, or piloting a mech, she is an integral character and has more uses than “oh i can tell the future. The manga is decent from what I have heard)

Twelve Kingdoms (it’s all about a young girl from Japan being transported to a fantasy realm to learn that she is the queen of an entire country. She starts off shy, self-defeating and weak but ends up blossoming into a strong warrior and a capable ruler. It really is one of my favorite novels/animes and it really needs to be in everyone’s library)

The Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit franchise revolves around a wandering spearwoman and her task of guarding a young noble who is wanted dead by the emperor, the noble’s father. There’s plenty of fantasy action that will capture the interest of any young person, male or female.

Nadia: Secret of Blue Water (don’t even talk to me if you haven’t seen this i’m not kidding just watch this)

i mean really. the characters are out there. you just have to go and look for them. the mainstream market is always going to be the mainstream market. You have to stop looking for answers there. you have to be subversive and leave it behind and become kind of an enemy to it if you want to support your ideals in a medium that’s primary goal is financial gain!!!! i encourage those who want to write their own stories and use strong, female characters as protagonists, but it is 2k12 everyone it’s the internet age and we’ve become a lot more diverse. if anything, SOPA and PIPA show just how much of a threat the internet has become to the entertainment industry, because it allows those who may be interested in things that the dominant market cannot offer an avenue for purchase.

so please

let’s put this argument to bed already it is just annoying for me

rebagel for hate it feeds my heart machine

(via catacombkitten)