Broken Frontier

Women make up more than half the world’s population, but you’d never know that by looking at the world of comics. As a result of my completely non-scientific census of the October issue of Previews magazine, out of the hundreds of “mainstream” titles published by the “big four”—DC, Dark Horse, Image and Marvel—18 titles feature women as the star or co-star, 5 feature art by women, and 7 titles are written by women.

The lack of female writers in current superhero comics today is hard to define. Could there be some “glass ceiling” in play? Or is it that women don’t migrate to the capes and spandex as they do to other story types? Or, perhaps, a combination of both? Regardless, as hard as it is for anyone to break into comics, it appears to be much tougher for the ladies.

Of those 7 titles I spoke of in the first paragraph, three of them are written by the same woman—Gail Simone. And one of the titles she writes in that issue of Previews is Wonder Woman, a title she will start writing this week. Simone is the most successful women writer in comics today, and she did not become one overnight..

She rose up through the ranks, starting out writing Simpsons stories for Bongo before moving to Deadpool/Agent X   for Marvel and then to DC’s Birds Of Prey. It was on those last two where she made her name as a writer, being able to write pulse-pounding action mixed with a fair amount of humor. She became seen as more than just a good female writer. She became known as a great writer, period.

When it was announced that she would be taking over Wonder Woman, fans became excited. Simone provided someone who was skilled at writing great superhero stories while offering a female perspective on the greatest female character of all time. At last, Wonder Woman would be getting a little respect and love.

Wonder Woman, while being around for over 65 years, is a character which did not get a lot of respect. Arguably, she is DC’s most recognizable (and, therefore, most marketable) character next to Superman and Batman. But, over the years, the character seemed to pale in comparison to the other two, and the result showed in the stories she was given.

Her Golden Age adventures featured more scenes of bondage than was comfortable. Her Silver Age adventures often featured her swooning over Steve Trevor. While Superman faced off against Lex Luthor, Braniac and Bizarro and Batman took on the Joker, Two-Face and the Penguin, Wonder Woman was left fighting the Cheetah, Egg Fu and Angle Man.

In recent years, Wonder Woman has fared better from a creative standpoint, but still is looking for her definitive creator. George Perez came close, but his revamp of the character had the bad fortune of coming too close to John Byrne’s reinvention of Superman and Frank Miller’s “Year One” arc on Batman. Greg Rucka’s run was mostly setting the stage for the Infinite Crisis event. Allan Heinberg’s run was hampered by lateness and novelist Jodi Picoult’s run was hampered by her awkward adjustment to writing for the comic medium.

Hopes are high that Simone’s run on Wonder Woman could echo Wolfman and Perez’s on the New Teen Titans, Walt Simonson’s on Thor, and Frank Miller’s on Daredevil. Meaning, that her time on the title could bring the character to new heights, establish Simone as a bigger star than she already   is, and be the era of the title that fans years from now point to as the defining one for the character—inexorably linking the creator and character for all time. 

But if Gail Simone reaches that point of success, it could mean more than just that. It could mean that more little girls will become inspired to become comic creators and comic companies will become more willing to hire them. The comics field will become a little more equal, and that is a good thing.  

Also out this week:

Fantastic Four #550:

Dwayne McDuffie and Marc Guggenheim have become sort of “relief pitchers” of comic books. They both have come in to either close a series out (Guggenheim with Flash: The Fastest Man Alive, McDuffie with Firestorm: The Nuclear Man) or as a stop gap before the next creative team—Guggenheim on the Pre-Loeb/Bianchi Wolverine, McDuffie on this series.

McDuffie begins his preparations to hand the title over to Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch as Reed and Sue join the current line-up of Black Panther, Storm, Johnny and Ben to face a threat bigger than all six of them. They need the help of the Silver Surfer, but the Surfer isn’t on all that good of terms with the Black Panther after what has gone down in previous issues. But if he doesn’t help, all existence might come to an end.

Dwayne McDuffie (W), Paul Pelletier (A), Marvel Comics, $2.99. Ongoing Series.

Green Arrow/Black Canary #1:

The internet is a-buzz about the events of the Green Arrow/Black Canary Wedding Special. In case you haven’t read it, consider this a SPOILER WARNING!!! You may want to move on to the next description before you find out something you don’t want to know.

Anyway, Ollie attacked Dinah on their wedding night and got an arrow in his neck for his troubles. Now the new widow and Ollie’s son, Connor, hit the road in search of answers. Pity anyone that gets in their way.

Writer Judd Winick has said in interviews that Ollie is really, truly and completely dead. However, future solicitations of this issue hint at a kidnapping somewhere. I hope Winick is lying and that the real Ollie was kidnapped. Because killing off Ollie and replacing him with his son, only to bring Ollie back, have him try to kill the woman he loves, have her kill him off again and DC replacing him with his son a second time truly boggles the mind in the daftness of all involved.

Judd Winick (W), Cliff Chiang (A), DC Comics, $3.50. Ongoing Series.

Clockwork Girl #1:

Sometimes, something great can be created from the fusion of two separate, pre-existing concepts. We have an example of it this week. Part Pinocchio, part-Romeo and Juliet, this new series from Arcana is a hybrid fairy tale the whole family can love.

A curious robot girl, exploring the world for the first time, meets and becomes friends with a young mutant boy. The burgeoning friendship is threatened by the fact that her creator is at war with his family. Fate brought them together, but the sour history between the people who they love might drive them apart. That is, unless the power of their friendship can overcome the pressures placed upon them.

Sean O’Reilly and Kevin Hanna (W), Grant Bond (A), Arcana Studio, $.99. Four-Issue Miniseries.

King Lear:

A graphic novel adapting centuries old text comes to us from The Comic.Com. And it is done by a creator responsible for a prior comic adaptation of another ancient work, Beowulf. The creator’s name? Gareth Hinds.

King Learis one of William Shakespeare’s greatest plays. It deals with an elderly king’s attempts to set aside his crown and divide his kingdom amongst his daughters. Of course, this is not as easy as it may seem, and his efforts only result in treachery and madness. To bring it all home, Magneto himself, Ian McKellen, is starring in a production of the play running this month at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. I’m sure Sir Ian would appreciate the graphic novel’s ability to bring the Bard to new audiences.

Gareth Hinds (W/A), The Comic.Com, $15.95. Graphic Novel.

Brawl #1:

ACT-I-VATE is a community of noted independent creators who gathered together to create an internet venue for the work. Now, two ACT-I-VATE members have left the world of cyberspace into the more traditional comic book venue with this new anthology.

Dean Haspiel has brought his Billy Dogma trilogy to comics, and he is joined by Michel Fitte and his story, Panorama, a tale of a teenage runaway trying to deal with newfound superpowers.

Both creators have been compared favorably to legends such as Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko and through ACT-I-VATE have tried to bring comics into the 22^nd Century and beyond. If you want to see the future of graphic novels, you might just want to give this series a glance.

Dean Haspiel & Michel Fitte (W/A), Image Comics, $2.99. Three-Issue Miniseries.  

Deadlander #1:

Jacob Bierce is a gunslinger at a time when the Wild West was full of them. What separates Jacob from the rest is the fact that he can’t be killed—because he’s already dead.

But being a zombie gunslinger isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be, especially considering that his will is not his own. He is completely under the sway of an evil sorceress called The Bog Witch. She controls his every action and Jacob is in danger of becoming her slave forever. He has one last hope and he is acting upon it. If he succeeds, the witch is destroyed and he gets his soul back. If he fails, he will never rest in peace.

Kevin Ferrara (W/A), Dark Horse Comics, $2.99. Four-Issue Miniseries.

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William Gatevackes is a professional writer living in Mamaroneck, NY with his wife Jennifer. He also writes periodic comic reviews for PopMatters, is a weekly contributor to Film Buff Online and writes title descriptions for Human Computing’s Comicbase collection management software. Links to his writing can be found at his website, www.williamgatevackes.com.