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§ New York Comic Con unveiled it’s 2013 poster. It is the work of Stephane Roux, and feature Superman and Wonder Woman in a tribute to the new World Trade Center. Rock on, as they say.

§ How many millions of job seeking journos applied for this job opening for associate editor at MTV Geek? Although “associate” implies a somewhat more junior position, this job description mentions only responsibilities and no reports. Such is the internet world of 2013.

Associate Editors have 3+ years of experience in new media managing a writing staff and building web content for major brands.
They are specialists in the areas under their supervision, possess a strong knowledge of best-of-breed practices and keep abreast of industry developments.
They are creative individuals whose expertise allows them to concept and develop features.
Strong written and verbal communication skills ensure they coordinate and focus efforts between departments, external partners, companies and team members.
Ultimately, they are directly responsible for the coverage and quality of the editorial team.
Applicants should be College graduates and have 3+ years previous online editorial experience.
Candidates must have a deep knowledge and passion for comic books, games, toys, science fiction, and animation and strong connections within those communities.
To be considered for this position, you must live in the NY metropolitan area.

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§ P. CRAIG RUSSELL’S GUIDE TO GRAPHIC STORYTELLING VOLUME 3 is out, with Russell examining sequences from THE RING OF THE NIBELUNG, THE JUNGLE BOOK, SANDMAN: THE DREAM HUNTERS and more. It’s a video series, but if there was ever anyone to tell you about graphic storytelling, Russell would be near the top of the list. More here.
Here’s a sample:

§ Proposed George Takei fragrance:
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§ Oni editor Charlie Chu is also a photographer of some note, and he shot, er, photographed the people at Periscope Studios with excellent results.

12 COMMENTS

  1. There’s nothing confusing about an alien raccoon with a raygun. There is something confusing about a woman from an ancient Amazon culture with an invisible jet.

  2. The basic concept of Wonder Woman is super simple:
    Woman from matriarchal society finds herself in patriarchal society. The geography of Paradise Island and her means of transportation are secondary to a basic “stranger in a strange land” story with a feminist twist.
    Anyone who says WW is too confusing is missing the forrest for the trees.

  3. Anyone who says WW is too confusing is missing the forrest for the trees.

    But her matriarchal society has been existing for thousands of years. Making the Amazons immortal to avoid dealing with human sexuality is at the core of the problems with handling Wonder Woman. Eliminating the immortality eliminates the connections to Greek mythology. Entire novels have been based on the difficulties of handling immortality, but the Wonder Woman concept uses it as a kludge.

    SRS

  4. In some versions the Amazons went out to let off some steam every once in a while and babies are the result. In some versions the males are killed. Seems harsh and misogynistic.

    The problem I have is with a kid getting frightened by a bat and then deciding to dress as one to fight crime. Seems very unrealistic.

    Also, how would a baby survive in a tiny spaceship for the amount of time it would take to travel to Earth from even the closest galaxy? He would have been full grown by the time he arrived.

    Those concepts are unworkable, IMHO.

  5. Those concepts are unworkable, IMHO.

    They’re unworkable if the writer intends to write the characters as people. The conceptual weaknesses are simply inconveniences if a story is being written to promote a product or to put a property on stage.

    SRS

  6. Synsidar, luv ya, but you might wish to google the word “sarcasm” and come back here in a bit.

  7. The point you were making would be lost on many people who don’t think there’s anything wrong with the heroes’ origins, or that writing them as people isn’t necessary. But writing characters as people is an essential baseline. If a screenwriter starts out with the belief that writing the characters as symbols or as caricatures will be fine for the purpose of getting the damn script done, comics fans would readily agree with him. But people in the general public who don’t read comics and never will will be turned off.

    SRS

  8. Why would you have to get rid of immortality to make the stranger in a strange land story work, or to make WW palatable or something more than a symbol? Superman seems more-or-less immortal. Ditto Wolverine. As for the “where do Amazon babies come from” question, I’m not buying it’s something anyone needs to deal with, and even if they did, there are any number of work arounds (clines, test-tubes, kidnapping, whatever).
    I actually think that comic fans sometimes forget that the contradictions and complications that arise from 50+ years of ad hoc world-building is only a problem if you’re hung up on making all of it count. Most of these characters are simple at their core. For example…
    Spider-Man: Driven by sense of responsibility after uncle’s death.
    Batman: Driven by anger at death of parents and out of responsibility for city.
    Superman: Wants to use his powers to help his adoptive planet.
    Hulk: Gets mad and turns into a monster.
    Wonder Woman: Daughter of matriarchal society compelled to protect a patriarchal society that by dint of its culture treats her as a second class citizen.
    X-Men: Mutants compelled to protect a society that by dint of its culture treats them as second class citizens (see what I just did).

  9. Why would you have to get rid of immortality to make the stranger in a strange land story work, or to make WW palatable or something more than a symbol? Superman seems more-or-less immortal. Ditto Wolverine. As for the “where do Amazon babies come from” question, I’m not buying it’s something anyone needs to deal with, and even if they did, there are any number of work arounds (clines, test-tubes, kidnapping, whatever).

    Writing characters as people is important because doing so takes skill and knowledge of what people do in real life. If a writer doesn’t treat the characters as people, and isn’t writing for fans who already know everything there is to know about them, then he’s treating them as objects. That results in terrible stories or, at best, morality plays suited only for children.

    Immortality is an extremely unnatural state. If someone is immortal, a reader needs to know why and how the character deals with it, since life itself becomes boring after n years. There’s no rational way to understand how Amazons could live on an island for even hundreds of years without being bored out of their skulls and driven to commit suicide.

    If a writer decides to ignore immortality and the Greek mythology because dealing with it is too difficult, then he’s ignoring what makes Wonder Woman different, for better or worse. There’s no reason to use her in a story except for exploiting the property to satisfy corporate demands.

    There’s no reason to think that immortality is important re Superman and Wolverine, because they’re not written as people anyway. Superman is a symbol; Wolverine is a caricature, a parody of what a nerd fantasizes of doing if he has indestructible claws and a magical healing factor.

    SRS

  10. Aren’t shows about vampires, who are also immortal, fairly popular precisely because they focus on the way that their immortality places them at the margins of society?
    And as for the Greek Mythology thing, there’s a long tradition of stories about gods walking the earth, none of which disrupt the stranger in a strange land thing I keep coming back to…

  11. Aren’t shows about vampires, who are also immortal, fairly popular precisely because they focus on the way that their immortality places them at the margins of society?

    Vampires aren’t immortal. They’re undead, and routinely regard their blood lust as a curse and death as a blessing. Vampire erotica is junk.

    And in the case of Wonder Woman, even if it were possible to find workarounds for the immortality problem, is it worth the effort to do one “stranger in a strange land” story about her? Who would find that new or entertaining in any way except for people who had never seen the character before?

    SRS

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