Two weeks ago (see "Confessions of a Comic Book Guy--Comics To Look Forward To") I was writing about upcoming comics I was looking forward to, among them, Zodiac Starforce by Kevin Panetta and Paulina Ganucheau. I wrote that the most amazing thing about this magical girl series was "that we haven't seen something like this before." It only later occurred to me that what I should have written was we've never had an American comic book in the magical girl genre before.
America has had a couple of imports, other than manga series like Sailor Moon, etc., such as Disney's W.I.T.C.H. and Winx Club, both of which are probably better known for their animated incarnations. And DC almost had such a group back in 1992 with Wonder Woman and the Star Riders, an ill-fated attempt to create a Wonder Woman-centric toyline/animated series around a female group of superheroes. Which frankly still wouldn't be a bad premise if DC ever decided to do a Wonder Woman comic specifically for girls. In it I'd like to see Diana dressed in that kicky Katy Peters-looking number she was sporting in the first sketch H.G. Peter ever did of the character (which, by the way, is up for sale).
While we're still sort of on the subject of Wonder Woman, on April 13 the online version of The Washington Post put up a piece titled "Woman Woman: South African writer wants to help empower young girls of color" by David Betancourt. It concerns South African author Lauren Beukes (Broken Monsters), who's been writing for Vertigo (Fairest: The Hidden Kingdom). She was asked by DC Editor Kristy Quinn if she wanted to do a Wonder Woman story for Sensation Comics.
According to the piece, Quinn wanted to do a "South African take on Wonder Woman," "a kid-friendly story my 6-year-old daughter would appreciate." Quinn is also quoted as saying "I wish there were more kickass heroines of color that young girls could aspire to be. I'd love to see a black Wonder Woman. And hey, more kickass heroines who are more than their sex appeal--in comics that are kid-friendly for girls." Drawn by Mike Maihack, her story appears in Sensation Comics featuring Wonder Woman #9, along with one written by Cecil Castellucci, drawn by Chris Sprouse and inked by Karl Story. I've already read that part of the comic via the digital edition and it alone makes the comic worth $3.99. It's shipping this week.
I also discovered that on Sunday, April 25, in Broom Hilda, exasperated by the lead character’s "unending, appalling ignorance," Gaylord the intellectual vulture buys the titular witch a graphic novel. Which is nice, I suppose, except he's only doing it because he's tired of constantly helping her with her reading. But he shows his own pitiable ignorance by saying a graphic novel is "told entirely in pictures."
And finally I've noted with some surprise just how quickly the term "fan-fiction" has become a part of mainstream culture, part of the surprise being that not only does the author of the works know the word, they fully expect their large, general audiences to know it. Like on a recent episode of The Big Bang Theory, it was revealed that the character Amy Fowler writes Little House on the Prairie fanfic, and on the sitcom New Girl, Nick, the would-be writer of the group, asks his then girlfriend if she's read his Walking Dead fan-fiction. And on 4/11 in the comic strip On The Fastrack the office’s resident nerd admits to writing "Dr. Who/ Nancy Pelosi" fanfic. Also featured in this strip is another example of Geek Culture gone mainstream, Dethany, the office's remarkably inauthentic "Goth." I'm no expert, but with her extremely high forehead she looks more like someone cosplaying Dr. Frank N. Furter from Rocky Horror than a Goth.
The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.
