Confessions of a Comic Book Guy is a weekly column by Steve Bennett of Super-Fly Comics and Games in Yellow Springs, Ohio.  This week Bennett takes us on a trip from Riverdale to an apocalyptic Little Women, to STEM, to STEAM, to "Steam" comics.

Last week I wrote about the Riverdale TV pilot (see "Confessions of a Comic Book Guy-- Jumping The Snark") that was being done by The CW.  What I found particularly interesting was the press release being circulated which made the show sound more like something that would find a home over at Fox ("bold, subversive take… darkness and weirdness bubbling beneath Riverdale’s wholesome facade") rather than The CW, a network that is generally known for its lighter fare, in particular, its young female-skewing dramas (Jane the Virgin, iZombie).  And then I discovered that when making the announcement at the "Archie Forever" panel at Comic-Con International, Archie CCO Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa talked about the pilot in terms of it being a "Dawson's Creek/O.C."-type teen drama.

I'm still not sure what Riverdale will be like, but I have to admit that my preconceived notions about The CW primarily showing "lighter fare" kind of got turned around when last week they announced another pilot, this one for a post-Apocalyptic version of Little Women.  To quote from that press release:

"Little Women is described as a hyper-stylized, gritty adaptation of the 1868 novel by Louisa May Alcott, in which disparate half-sisters Jo, Meg, Beth, and Amy band together in order to survive the dystopic streets of Philadelphia and unravel a conspiracy that stretches far beyond anything they have ever imagined--all while trying not to kill each other in the process."

I'm going to go on the assumption that somebody saw Mad Max: Fury Road and instantly came up with the notion of the March Sisters as total bad-asses in a depressing future.  I grew up hearing, and believing in, the canard that there was no such thing as a bad idea.  Well, lesson learned.  This, this is a very bad idea.

I have always been a big supporter of getting kids, girls especially, interested in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math), but I recently learned a couple of things myself.  First, starting on Friday streaming on Netflix is Project Mc2, a live-action tween series targeting viewers 7 to 12, about a group of four diverse super-smart girls who join an all-female spy agency headed by actress Danica McKellar from The Wonder Years (who herself  graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor's degree in math).  The girls are "smart, stylish and far from social geeks" and in their first serialized adventure they use their science skills to rescue a prince.  The show has a trademarked catch phrase ("Smart Is the New Cool") and a line of dolls (some of which come with experiments).  But so far no there are no books or comics; hopefully that will change soon.

And second, apparently there appears to be a concerted effort in the world of education to add "art" to STEM, making the acronym STEAM.  It appears to be a complicated issue, more complicated than I can handle, that has to deal with issues like the core curriculum and making science and math more attractive to kids by connecting them to the arts and humanities.  I have no horse in the race, but if I had to choose I'd have to go with STEAM because it's cooler.  And unfortunately, the first thing I think upon hearing "STEM" isn't education but stem cells.

If you need any proof that STEAM is a catchier name you only have to look at the comics being published by Antarctic Press.  Having figured out that X number of readers will apparently buy any comic with the word "steam" in it, they've created for themselves a neat little niche which has led to the seemingly endless number of "Steam" comics they publish.  I've almost certainly missed a couple, but so far there's been Sherlock Holmes, Steam Detective; Steampunk Snow White; Steam Wars; Steampunk Tales; Steampunk Fairy Tales; Steampunk Halloween; Steampunk Fables: The Little Match Girl; Steampunk Snow Queen; Steampunk Goldilocks; Steam League; Steampunk Corsairs; Steampunk Red Riding Hood; Steambusters; and (my personal favorite) Steampunk Palin.

Admittedly the publishers' willingness to slap "Steam" in front of any fairy tale or public domain figure to create a "new" title sometimes bothers me, as well as their inclination to do cheesy pin-up comics (Steampunk Swimsuit, Gearhearts Steam-Punk Glamor Revue).  But just about every publisher in existence has done one of those at some point.  I'll admit these aren't the first comics I read in a week but I have to confess I do sometimes find myself enjoying them, especially when they feature artwork by the always wonderful Rod Espinosa (The Courageous Princess, Prince of Heroes). The majority of these "Steam" titles feature role model-worthy, courageous, science-minded heroines, and if you've never given any of these titles a try you might be missing out on titles that could appeal to a wide variety of readers.

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.