Comics post everyone can enjoy
This one's for the LADIES!
This article over at Comic Book Resources is pretty embarassing for any number of obvious reasons, but I certainly don't take umbrage in trying to get your girfriend to read Sandman, or Bone, or Moore's Swamp Thing, since those are all fine reads.
I'm just saying that back in college, most of my friends were girls, and the comic they all read voraciously, without a single exclamation of "Ew! A comic book!" was Preacher.
Yeah, Preacher. The swearing-est, violent-est, naked-est, more-than-a-little chauvanist book to come down the pike in I don't know how long. They could not get enough of it. The trades were still coming out at the time, and whenever I got a new one, it would make the rounds of my friends-that-were-girls. My senior year my girlfriend was a semester ahead of me (she was a transfer student), so she technically "graduated" in December. It just so happened that her last classes coincided with the week they released "Alamo," the last Preacher trade, so I got it for her as a graduation present. She was elated.
I guess what I'm saying is that you should find comics you thing your girlfriend might enjoy because of who she is as a person, rather than just by her gender.
This article over at Comic Book Resources is pretty embarassing for any number of obvious reasons, but I certainly don't take umbrage in trying to get your girfriend to read Sandman, or Bone, or Moore's Swamp Thing, since those are all fine reads.
I'm just saying that back in college, most of my friends were girls, and the comic they all read voraciously, without a single exclamation of "Ew! A comic book!" was Preacher.
Yeah, Preacher. The swearing-est, violent-est, naked-est, more-than-a-little chauvanist book to come down the pike in I don't know how long. They could not get enough of it. The trades were still coming out at the time, and whenever I got a new one, it would make the rounds of my friends-that-were-girls. My senior year my girlfriend was a semester ahead of me (she was a transfer student), so she technically "graduated" in December. It just so happened that her last classes coincided with the week they released "Alamo," the last Preacher trade, so I got it for her as a graduation present. She was elated.
I guess what I'm saying is that you should find comics you thing your girlfriend might enjoy because of who she is as a person, rather than just by her gender.
posted by Jeff at 3:16 PM
9 Comments:
That book IS more-that-a-little-chauvinist. That's why I couldn't ever get through it. Maybe I should give it another try.
I'm also always amazed that Transmetropolitan has such a large female following, since I find the female characters in that book remarkably thin. Although I can see how the male protagonists in both series could have pretty strong female appeal. (This was Leslie's argument, which prompted her to then lay out how funny it was that you could make the same argument about two characters as different as Morpheus and Spider Jerusalem.) And I liked Tulip. And Death.
For the record, it was a girlfriend who talked ME into reading The Sandman.*
*That's a lie. Laura Grey was not actually my girlfriend.
I haven't finished Preacher (though I do want to someday, finances and time have interfered) but on numerous occasions I have totally soaked into a hot bubble bath with burning candles, Etta James, and "Until the End of the World."
Hilariously, when I was at the WeHo Book Fair, I went up to Heidi MacDonald and talked to her for five minutes, then tagged along and met some other comics folk, including (hilarious coincidence!) Johanna, who wrote the article you linked to.
Johanna is totally nice and totally bewildered by the world into which she has found herself in. She did get saddled with a way-too-done topic, though. At least she didn't recommend Watchmen right away.
Watchmen is a terrible book to start with, since its appeal is so reliant on recognizing how it is playing with the standard conventions of Golden Age superhero comics. Which isn't to say that my girlfriends didn't read it, too. They liked it a lot.
Liz, I can lend you Preacher if you want.
I think Preacher is chauvanist in a pretty charming "I-know-I'm-chauvanist-but-I'm-trying-to-change" sort of way, that gets played up more as the book goes on.
Ellis has a pretty significant female following for his work as a whole, although certainly Transmet is responsible for a big chunk of that. But I'm sure characters like Jenny Sparks and Jakita Wagner didn't hurt.
It's not just the attitudes of the characters, though; it's the worldview of the narrative itself. I found the Vietnam stuff, for example, just gross.
Watchmen was probably the second graphic novel I ever read (right after Dark Knight returns, probably) and I loved it. (Of course, I did have you and Paul and Emory to explain certain conventions to me.) I think the strength of the narrative, even just on its own, is enough to carry most readers, even without a comic history primer. (Also, I think someone with even a rudimentary knowledge of the path of twentieth century popular culture can identify how the history of the Minute Men parallels the evolution of the superhero, at least on a basic level.)
It's funny, because I think the argument you're making about Watchmen being reliant on a certain knowledge base is doubly true of Planetary; and yet Jess LOVED that book without a shred of that knowledge.
I certainly think Watchmen can be read on its own, it just wouldn't be the first thing I'd suggest. As I said, it made the rounds. I just think it gains something if you have that comics knowledge. As does Planetary, although I was just as amazed as you were when Jess reacted so strongly to it. So what do I know?
Yeah, I'd say Preacher is not so much a take on a worldview so much as it is Garth Ennis' actual worldview. It's hard to argue that Jesse Custer isn't Ennis' Ideal Man, especially when you take Ennis' complete ouevre (sp?) into account.
Agreed on all points. Especially that Jess's love of Planetary is hysterical. And sweet.
And also the spelling of "ouevre." Which I have not bothered to look up.
More on why Preacher might appeal to girls is that while all the women involved are attractive, they aren't cheesecake in terms of art and Tulip, at least, is really well-drawn.
(Sign that Tulip works as a Hero For The Average Girl: Just spent five minutes wondering if I could be her for Halloween. I have never gotten up the guts to contemplate Black Canary in that way.)
Also, and this is so very shallow and girly but whatever, Jesse? Totally hot. Hot and dark and tortured. But a really good guy! He just needs a girl to heal him. With her LOVE.
I don't recall thinking that it was chauvanist at all. No worse than a typical action movie, at least. And while the world is, in a realistic sense, somewhat chauvanist, it's also got a LOT of strong women characters. Tulip, Featherstone, Grandma (she's crazy evil, but oddly believable)... Oh, I know I thought of others.
Point is, girls like good characters and stories. Like, you know, most humans. And they also like hot men. Like, you know, most humans. *g*
Well, sure. That was more or less my original point. And really, I find Preacher's chauvanism to be pretty quaint and chamring, especially considering Jesse's desire to change (which again, gets played up more towards the end). And Liz is right, pretty much all the female characters are strong (more show up in "Salvation," if anyone's read that far).
Liz, how far did you get? You should read these books so we can talk about the whole thing.
I think I stopped reading (because the Virgin Megastore was closing) right after Jesse finds Tulip and she's with Cassidy. I think that's book 6. I should probably start there and plow through it.
With all that time I have.
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