Phonogram
Y'all. I know. I'm blogging about comics again. But see, I'm a Heroine Addict, the title is no lie, and so I gotta get my fix somewhere. In a medium full up with people saving the world/the day/each other, you gotta find something sometime.
Unfortunately, I'm not at all sure I'll find it here. Phonogram seems kind of tired before it even starts; we've seen the protagonist-you're-supposed-to-hate before, we've seen male characters who think they're too good for women before, we've seen the Goddess who proves them fucking wrong before. I'm not saying that any of this shouldn't be done (ok, I coulda lived without the women hate; Jeezy Creezy, people, find a NEW way to make me dislike your character, because the hipster misogyny is SO last century), but if you're character is pretty much every other pretty boy magician ever, you might consider using your first issue to introduce something that makes your comic different.
I picked it up (OK, my cousin picked it up for me) because the premise is fucking awesome: music is magic. No, really. Not just in the transported, nostalgic metaphor sense but, apparently, in the *poof* you're a toad sense. I say "apparently" because after reading the first ish, I know no more about how this works than I did before reading. There are Phonomancers; they have a Goddess; she smites people in club bathrooms (er... minor spoiler there, but as I'm not sure exactly how the smitage went down or what its consequence is, I don't feel too guilty). The Phono-world remains impenetrable and unsatisfying. As this means that I'll likely stick it out through the second issue in order to find out more, I doubt my dissaisfaction matters much, but for something that's been rather well-hyped, it sure was a let-down.
Should you want to preview Phonogram, one of the folks at scans_daily has posted parts of it here. The poster is a lot more enthusiastic about it than I, so by all means read her review (and comments) as well.
Coming soon to Confessions of a Heroine Addict: In My Manpants, I Can Do Anything!, or, Why RenFest Nerds Should Stay the Hell Away From Comics. As soon as my weekend is over, because I've two out-of-town friends, two days of fest, and a post-surgical ELW to cram into it.
Unfortunately, I'm not at all sure I'll find it here. Phonogram seems kind of tired before it even starts; we've seen the protagonist-you're-supposed-to-hate before, we've seen male characters who think they're too good for women before, we've seen the Goddess who proves them fucking wrong before. I'm not saying that any of this shouldn't be done (ok, I coulda lived without the women hate; Jeezy Creezy, people, find a NEW way to make me dislike your character, because the hipster misogyny is SO last century), but if you're character is pretty much every other pretty boy magician ever, you might consider using your first issue to introduce something that makes your comic different.
I picked it up (OK, my cousin picked it up for me) because the premise is fucking awesome: music is magic. No, really. Not just in the transported, nostalgic metaphor sense but, apparently, in the *poof* you're a toad sense. I say "apparently" because after reading the first ish, I know no more about how this works than I did before reading. There are Phonomancers; they have a Goddess; she smites people in club bathrooms (er... minor spoiler there, but as I'm not sure exactly how the smitage went down or what its consequence is, I don't feel too guilty). The Phono-world remains impenetrable and unsatisfying. As this means that I'll likely stick it out through the second issue in order to find out more, I doubt my dissaisfaction matters much, but for something that's been rather well-hyped, it sure was a let-down.
Should you want to preview Phonogram, one of the folks at scans_daily has posted parts of it here. The poster is a lot more enthusiastic about it than I, so by all means read her review (and comments) as well.
Coming soon to Confessions of a Heroine Addict: In My Manpants, I Can Do Anything!, or, Why RenFest Nerds Should Stay the Hell Away From Comics. As soon as my weekend is over, because I've two out-of-town friends, two days of fest, and a post-surgical ELW to cram into it.
posted by Turtle at 1:53 PM
3 Comments:
Yeah, I'd tend to agree that the woman hating stereotype is a bit old and lame, but even more cliched nowadays is the "Idiot male protagonist who thinks women are inferior, with woman counterpart who is superior in every way and for some reason tolerates and sticks with him, solving all his problems and kicking ass."
Now dont get me wrong, I always prefer my women kicking ass and the ones who dont extremely disappoint me (unless there is good character development supporting why she doesnt, but she damn well better develop a spine later on!), however the point is that its so over done its cliched.
Of course, this is hypercritical of me, since I hate a weak female protagonist yet dont have as much of a problem with a weak male lead. Ultimately, the main point is that I'd prefer a story with both strong male and female lead characters, each with their own dynamic strenghts and flaws. Nothing irratites me more than a character not being able to do something because of a female "flaw", be it percieved or or not.
The comic that I'm currently working on lacks the male vs female, battle of the sexes mentality. Are my female characters strong? Of course, but not because they're female. Then again, this female needs to seriously start finishing up her website so that she can actually post them, but thats another issue all together.
Serena,
Well stated. I think one of the least acknowledged arguments against the Idiot Dude is that it's a fair disservice to men as well. Most men are simply Not Like That, and if they are they're usually Not Cool At All, no matter how hard they try. Certainly not cool enough that a Goddess would care enough about them to kick their asses.
As for your comic, make sure you tell me when it's up so that I can link to it!
(Here via WFA...)
Y'know, I really wanted to like this comic, because intelligent people with good taste like it. But then the main character spent four pages sneering at Ladyfest, and I wanted to smack somebody -- preferably him, but failing that (smacking fictional characters is quite difficult) the creators. I like Ladyfest. One of my friends was an organiser for Ladyfest Dublin. So, basically, I felt like the creators were sneering both at me and at my friend for being involved -- to which I can only say: fuck you and the horse you rode in on, smartypants, and what was the last music festival you organised?
Yes, yes, I know, protagonist not identical with author, blah blah blah. I don't really believe that either of the creators involved share this guy's opinions to any significant degree, but I'm not going to read the comic, because I'd still have to suffer through an insufferable misogynist prat being insufferably misogynist and prattish to get to the actual story, and life's too bloody short.
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