Hello again! Kate here to catch you up with the news you might have missed from last week.
The top story last week was, of course, Wonder Woman’s 75th anniversary. There were a number of exciting things that happened, including Wonder Woman being named a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador. That’s a real thing!! And DC Comics announced a new Wonder Woman-themed program on empowering women, which I think is pretty cool.
The @UN is with her–now it's your turn! Show your support for the empowerment of women and girls #WithWonderWoman. https://t.co/uZ7GMQQlNp pic.twitter.com/6EeyX5sHFZ
— DC (@DCComics) October 21, 2016
But for some reason it really annoyed some people who think she is too feminist, too sexy, and too queer. Of all the responses I’ve seen, I like this New York Times op-ed asking, “Is It Time for Wonder Woman To Hang Up Her Bathing Suit?” because it’s pretty good at pointing out the massive cultural disconnect between comics and the rest of society, which comics people need to be reminded of from time to time. I also like this Mary Sue take down.
On the Marvel side of things, mostly people have been talking about the Midtown Comics J. Scott Campbell variant cover of Riri Williams, which, as many people have pointed out, awfully sexualized for a 15 year-old girl. It also inspired MizCaramelVixen to create the #TeensWhoLookLikeTeens hashtag, and praise be, Marvel appears to have actually listened, and the cover was pulled (although the second cover by JSC which has Riri in the exact same pose except wearing non-canon boob-cup Iron Man armor is still available). Marvel also released artwork of the comics interiors, and the armor, just to further illustrate how far JSC strayed from Riri’s aesthetic.
Get a new look at Riri Williams from artist @St3Caselli for the upcoming "Invincible Iron Man" #1! pic.twitter.com/klILRWfJH2
— Marvel Entertainment (@Marvel) October 20, 2016
Moving on, people also celebrated the announcement at Melissa Rosenberg’s panel at the Transforming Hollywood 7: Diversifying Entertainment conference that season two of Jessica Jones will be directly entirely by women (it’s important to note that Ava DuVernay created this precedent by hiring only women to direct her series Queen Sugar).
In other news:
- The Check, Please! Season Two Kickstarter was an unprecedented success, ending at just shy of $400,000. Den of Geek has an excellent article in praise of the webcomic and its creator which may help to explain why, for those of you who don’t already read this series. (Read the series.)
- It was a very sad weekend for comics when we learned that Steve Dillon had passed away. There’s more than a few obituaries out there, including pieces in The New York Times and the Washington Post. I like this sweet (if misspelled url) Remembering Steve Dillon piece on Comics Alliance.
- And, perhaps proving that there is balance in the universe, Jack Chick, of Chick Tract comics infamy, also died this weekend.