Hello new readers! I hope you are enjoying the comics. Please check out the ABOUT PAGE and then check out the ARCHIVE PAGE so you can see the different types of comics I’ve created and posted here over the years. You might also want to read about THE EXPERIMENT, follow me on TWITTER (and TUMBLR) or join our FANCY BASTARD FACEBOOK GROUP where we mostly talk about what’s currently on TV and other geekery.

I saw a parody of the now infamous Wondercon “Coffee shirt” that replaced the bottom line with “I’m terrified of coffee.” It’s frustrating when the internet gets upset over the typical depiction of the “Standard North American Fedora (yes, I know the hat is called a Tribly. The PERSON IN THE HAT is called a Fedora.),” with their half-formed mustaches, their intense and undeserved overconfidence about their hysterically shitty opinions and their  general obliviousness to why everyone is always trying to escape their orbit. This is not a stereotype. This is a fixture of the world in which I have chosen to make my home and ply my trade. Mysogyny is real, it is rampant in comics and geek culture and it’s a fucking cancer on an otherwise lovely and inclusive corner of The Internet/real world.

The comics I grew up on, and honestly most all of the comics that preceded them… well, shit, and MOST all of the comics today, fed and continue to feed this systemic malfunction like dry brush to the fire. You don’t have to read many super hero books to wonder why “men” raised on them have a skewed view of a woman’s value and place in the world. The super men were/are just as laughable, but their portrayal is far less damaging. Despite being impossibly muscled murder machines and one-liner factories, at least they had stuff to do. At least they were more than a pair of super powered quadruple F titties, hovering above 8 pack abs, wrapped around a 12″ waste. Granted, they weren’t MUCH more, but they were more.

I will admit that I haven’t regularly read a super hero book in about 15 years. I’ll pick up the occasional trade or one shot, but the genre as a whole doesn’t do much for me. I guess, I don’t really know the current state of things. I know what I see at conventions, which is exactly what I remember from my childhood. I’ve kept up with the new Buffy comics (seasons 8, 9 and the current season 10), which certainly break the mold in terms of how super powered women are portrayed. Though Buffy (in whatever incarnation) has always done that, so color me not surprised (though still delighted).

COMMENTERS: Ladies: Do you feel welcomed in the world of comics and conventions? What aspects of geekdom have brought you into the fold? What still needs to change? Which books/titles/fandoms are the most inclusive and accurate in their portrayal of women?

Men: When did you realize that super hero comics were sort of misogynist and fucked up? Was it Frank Miller? I bet it was Frank Miller.

The next Patron-ONLY Google Hangout is Wednesday night, May 13th at 9pm central. I will post the link in the Patreon Activity feed when it goes live. We’ll talk and I’ll draw. It’s a good time!