Girl-Wonder.org Accepting Webcomics Submissions

Girl-Wonder.org is now seeking webcomic submissions. That makes yet another site/organization who are turning to webcomics. Five or ten years ago, this might have been a printed collection or series of comics.

From the press release:

Feminist fan organisation Girl-Wonder.org, as part of its mission to support and encourage women in the comics industry, permanently opens submissions to webcomic artists.

We're looking for webcomics created by women or teams that include women, and we offer space, tech and publicity support, and a sub-forum devoted to your work on our thriving forums.

There are absolutely no restrictions on the genre, setting or sexual content of your work - we've hosted/are hosting Regency-style spy romance, slice-of-life autobiography, Wild West adventures and fairy-tale fantasy wordless comics. Your comic can be an on-going tale, or a complete story, and work previously published in other venues (in part or in whole) is welcome, providing you possess the rights to re-distribute it.

Your work need not explicitly promote feminist ideology. However, we envisage that it won't be explicitly anti-feminist or otherwise contrary to Girl-Wonder.org's aims.

If this sounds like something you (or your team) might be interested in, please email karen.healey@gmail.com for submissions guidelines!

ABOUT GIRL WONDER – Girl Wonder is a collection of websites dedicated to female characters and creators in mainstream comics. Our goals are to foster an attentive, empowered audience community and to encourage respect and high-quality character depiction within the comics industry.

The OS Hot Ten For 2/7/08

10. Firestar (because David & Rich asked for it)















9. Zuda's Strangle/Switch



8. Barry Kitson on Amazing Spider-Man





















7. Bedard Back On Birds Of Prey (or so they say this month)



















6. Dirk Deppey Vs. Girl Wonder
















5. Gail Simone Vs. Dave Sim
























4. Colbert Vs. O'Brien Vs. Stewart












3. Doctor Who Season Four Trailer
















2. Iron Man Superbowl Trailer














1. Wolverine and the X-Men Trailer

Batman #673: Requiem For Stephanie Brown?

Okay, I know everyone's talking about the (sort of) cameo a certain Robin-suit made in the latest issue of Batman.

But is this indeed a victory for Stephanie Brown/Spoiler/Girl-Wonder supporters? Or, because it's really a dream sequence, is it just much ado over nothing?

Here's why I think it is all damn significant:

1. Grant Morrison wrote it (as opposed to expendable young writer #5).

2. Regardless of the fact that it was a dream sequence, it shows what Batman really felt, if only too stubborn to admit it.

3. Regardless of the fact that it was a dream sequence, it shows what DC probably recognized as a mistake about at least a year ago, if only too stubborn to admit it.

4. Batman gets menaced by a power-drill at the end of the issue, just like what happened to Stephanie Brown -- indicating that the trophy-case/Stephanie thing wasn't just a cheap gimmick, but part of the texture of the story

5. It's damn hard to get DC to admit they were wrong on anything, so I have to consider this a major victory on the part of Girl-Wonder.org.

That said, a possible return of Spoiler in Robin kind of waters down the emotional impact a bit.

But folks, with Batman #673 we might just be seeing the beginning of the end of DC-dickery.

Stay tuned.

Post-Script: I wrote this before reading Dirk Deppey's scorching commentary on the topic this morning...

Girl-Wonder Auction Opens

The official Girl-Wonder Art Auction to raise money for the organization has started on eBay:

Overcoming technical difficulties, Girl-Wonder.org is proud to officially open the Art Etcetera Auction for bidding! A listing of all items can be found here, and a catalog of item previews here. Bidding will close on Oct.15. All proceeds will be donated to Girl-Wonder.org.

The Girl-Wonder team has collectively produced some wonderful writing and have a lot of enthusiasm both for the topic of women in comics and the comics themselves.

Up for auction is a cavalcade of awesomeness with something for every price range:

(Get the Supergirl doll. C'mon. It's cooler than that chick on "Smallville.")

Reflections On Stephanie Brown's Inability To Stay Dead

design by Joel Carroll

Looking at these awesome Stephanie Brown/Robin/Spoiler costume designs on the Project Rooftop blog, I cannot help but think the following:

The more you try to bury or deny something -- pretend it never existed -- the more it reasserts itself.

Let's face it: had Stephanie Brown gotten her trophy case, or didn't die horribly but cast off the Robin costume for one of a number of banal reasons, she wouldn't have captured the imagination of so many fans as she did.

But by making it a point to deny her the case, and by having Batman be so incredibly dismissive of her, and by doing so much to marginalize her and "make her go away," she's now drawn and redrawn, talked about, redesigned, reimagined, and discussed and discussed again. And not just by comic readers, but comic creators.

There is a law of physics somewhere in there.

design by Dean Trippe

Supergirl, Power Girl, Girl Wonder:
Want To Make It 3-For-3?

via Lying In The Gutters:

Old PG Boobage:

New PG Boobage:
Ah, the wonders of Photoshop on a tight printing deadline!

So, did "fangirl" (and fangirl-friendly fanboy) online pressure get these Turner mammaries pulled back?

If so, can they get Stephanie's trophy case put in and make it, in addition to PG and the Supergirl switch, "3 for 3?"

Hint: You will have better luck with your "Stephanie" letter/e-mail writing campaigns if you write to the Top first. Your letter-writing order should be as follows:
1. Heads of corporate offices (for example, Time Warner)
2. Heads of comic book publishing offices
3. Editors

Editors alone are pretty powerless to implement such changes on their own even if they wanted to. These changes are made either by the top guns of the publisher or by the top guns of the publisher under direct pressure from the corporate office.

Postscript: PG's breasts still look like a butt on that cover.

I'll Say It One More Time About Spoiler...

Does Spoiler/Stephanie/Girl-Robin not have her own case in the Batcave because DC hates women?

She doesn't have a case in the Batcave because DC screwed the pooch and used a female Robin as a quick cheap promotional stunt instead of milking the character for all it was $$worth$$.

A female Robin would have been a perfect subject for the DC promotions dept. to blast press releases up and down the mainstream media.

Picture the headlines:

"Bang! Zow! Robin A Woman!"

"Holy Gender-Switch, Batman!"

etc.

It would have been the perfect story for the media to pick up.

It also would have resulted in a bump in sales, some interesting storylines, and lots of licensed product.

But instead, the "Girl Wonder" was conceived as a finite entity, a gimmick, something to be used for several issues and thrown out.

It was an editorial blunder, a wa$ted opportunity. And to have a case for Stephanie in the Batcave would not only remind everyone of the waste, but it would overshadow any future attempts to have a female Robin.

Because say DC decided to do it right. They couldn't damn well have press releases touting: "first girl Robin!" Because they had already screwed it up with Stephanie.

I have no doubt that one day, when sales are low, when pressure to have more female characters increase, when Bats is in another slump, there will be a female Robin. If and when that happens, will there be a female Robin for more than a few years tops?

No.

I'm cynical.

Post inspired far too early in the morning by this post.