Girls With Comics

Raise your hand if you were under the notion her strip ended a few decades ago.

After 85 years, her strip–which has only been in select newspapers for the past few years–is being pulled from the comic section. Instead she will be transformed into an internet comic strip, in hoped of alluring new fans! I do like Annie, but I simply don’t see her appeal to kids these days. I just don’t think she can hold up to say, Archie, who has proven to be able to maintain a steady readership for 60+ years.

However, I wish her all the best, and I hope that at some point in time she gets a set of pupils.

http://www.argus-press.com/news/national/article_e380da02-1741-5c79-ae67-090f7fd039a9.html

-Lauren

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/13/iron-man-2-continues-to-s_n_575503.html

-Lauren

I didn’t want to put “conservative”, but the two almost go hand in hand. 

Since Kevin, the new gay Archie character, is still a hot topic for fans, I sat and thought about how anyone could mistake Archie Comics as being conservative, or Christian based comics. And then I opened one of my long boxes, and pulled out a few Spire Comics featuring Archie and the gang. I remember when I bought these. Dad and I were at a shop an hour away from my house. I pulled out a comic from a rack that looked like Archie, flipped through it, saw him talking about Jesus, and promptly put it back. Now, for the record, I am Jewish. I never thought Archie was religious. I had never, in my young life, seen him mention any kind of God (well, he does celebrate Christmas) or act in any religious way.

Frankly, the comic shocked and even scared me. Archie was just a person, with no religion, nor was he liberal or conservative; Riverdale was just a magical place where everyone belonged. No one was nothing but a person with a name and a personality. Seeing Archie mention Jesus threw me for a loop. Needless to say, I bought the book for a buck, took it home, and read it front to back. The internet was still pretty new at the time, so Google didn’t exactly exist.

Eventually I asked the owner of my local comic shop. He told me about Spire, and how they were allowed to use the characters since Al Hartley, the Spire artist, also worked at Archie. I was still pretty upset, but since it wasn’t published by Archie, I got over it. However, this may have triggered the thought process–in many people–as to Archie being a good conservative/Christian comic. Simply put, they are not.

In an early Archie’s Girls Betty and Veronica, there was a story where Betty, Veronica and Jughead go to eat at a Chinese restaurant. The waiter, who is inked with enough yellow ink to last a few years, asks them if they need more “lice”. That would not fly in today’s comics. I bet 10 to 1 that if you’re bitching about the gay character–who is not being stereotyped–saw that in today’s Archie comics, you would be offended. Well, so would I! However, given the time frame when that story was published, that was acceptable in society. Seeing as how Dan Parent is doing the whole Kevin thing, I’ll go out on a limb and say he will not be written or drawn in a rude, stereotypical way. He will simply exist in Riverdale, where everyone can be accepted as a human being. And really, isn’t that a beautiful thing we want to teach our kids?

-Lauren

Well, so far the ongoing blackest night saga has been pretty good. I’m still not sure how I feel about the ending of Blackest Night, but I certainly did enjoy it.

I like that DC somehow tied in Bruce Wayne’s “death”, by spinning it into him being lost, rather than dead. While it was a little predictable, I’m also glad Bruce Wayne is not dead. However, that being said, why the fuck did Aquaman come back. Mera was so much more interesting as an angry mermaid bitch then someone who actually loves that assclown Aquaman. They could have kept him dead. I really would have been a lot happier with Mera being miserable and taking it out on people. How cool would that have been!?

Oh, and Deadman coming back. That was also stupid. But he did bring a dead baby bird back to life, and that was kind of awesome. Aside from that, I have nothing else to say about Brightest Day. Hopefully it will be awesome and blow my mind.

-Lauren

Honestly, if children never get exposed, or gain an interest in comic books, this hobby will die. I happily give out comics to kids I know (their parents are usually co-workers of mine) just to get them interested. Some parents are against their children reading comics. To them I propose this:

Chances are you have a young child who does not want to read traditional books. They are boring, no pictures, ect. However, they do want to read comic books. Don’t stop them. They are still reading. While some comics are truly not meant for kids, there are LOADS of kid friendly books–Archie, Tiny Titans, Batman: The Brave And The Bold, Shazam, Sonic, Owly, and more. If it gets a kid to read, I don’t see the problem. And be pro-active in what your child reads. Do not just hand them a stack of Batman books and say “Good luck.” Read them as well. When I was a kid, my reading level was 3-4 grades ahead because I read comic books very actively. Even my dad read the books with me. I still catch him flipping through a Jughead every now and again!

To those of you who are totally for your kids reading comics, bravo! Keep up the good work!

-Lauren

On Sunday I was being interviewed at the D.C. Comic Con. One of the questions the guy asked me was why women like comics. It took me by surprise. My love of comics is as natural as breathing or sleeping. I’ve been surrounded by comics my whole life, starting with Batman. I would say it was genetically programmed in me, but I was adopted. I stumbled around for an answer, and came up with zilch. I don’t know why women like comics. I know why I like comics books, but I don’t want to speak for every woman out there. My reasons are pretty simple; I grew up with them, and I can’t imagine not having them in my life.

Growing up with a character might also be the key. I’ll always love Batman and Archie because I grew up with them. Superman I have no attachment too; Aquaman can die in a fire. But Jughead Jones will always have a special place in my heart. I’ll admit I also have his crown tattooed on me, and I also have the Batman logo on my shoulder. My love of comics might run a little obsessive, I guess.

But still, why does anyone like comics? Saying I like them for the art, for the story, seems like a no brainer. It’s so much more. My dad loved comics as a kid and still loves comics as an adult. I share this hobby with him. And whenever he leaves this planet, I’ll still have all of the fond memories we made together, and all of the comics. It sounds remarkably cheesy, but it’s all I can come up with.

So ladies, why do you like comic books?

-Lauren

And I think it went well for myself, and my friend Julie!

We went to 4 stores. I managed to get the comics I actually wanted (well, except the Lady Gaga one), and since this was Julie’s first FCBD, she was just in awe. The first store we went too, Collectors Corner (all of these stores are in or around Baltimore) was out of all of their FCBD books. However, they did have free books, and loads of artists, which made up for it! I got a Batman sketch done by Josh Lyman (www.artisticenigma.deviantart.com), which totally made my morning!

We then headed to Alternate Worlds, which had the books I was looking for. Alternate Worlds is one of the best shops in Maryland, hands down. They had nothing really going on, so we rolled out to Cosmic Comics. They were having a 25% off sale in the entire store, so I picked up two Iron Man variant covers (one for me, one for a pal) and a Flash bust.

Finally, on a whim, we landed at Cards Comics and Collectibles. This is also one of the best stores in Maryland. Mark, the owner, also runs the Baltimore Comic Con, and co-runs the D.C. Comic Con. He actually sells GA books inside of his store. That’s bad ass. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Steve Conley and J.G Jones were giving away free sketches! That’s amazing! However, time was not on our side, so Julie and I could only get one from Steve. Somehow, Jughead was thrown into my Wonder Woman sketch. Not that I’m complaining.

And now, pictures!

 Steve Conley (left), J.G Jones (right)

 Josh Lyman’s sketch

 Steve Conley sketch

All in all, this was a great year. I can’t wait for next year!

-Lauren