My Thoughts on Marvel Divas

[ficwize]

likeadeuce asked me to explain why I'm enjoying this story. So, that's what this post is about - and let me just start out by saying a few things.

1. I didn't intend to buy it or read it. But then I started thinking about how few comic books really featured women, so I read the first issue in the store. Then I read the second issue right afterward.

2. I still haven't bought it and likely won't.

3. I am 100% unfamiliar with any of these characters. I have NO idea whether or not the stories are authentic or OOC. I have no history, no background info, nothing at all. I am literally judging this story based on this story alone.

4. I got the Sex and the City reference without reading any interviews, a few of which I've since read. I enjoyed Sex and the City, but I didn't love it. My thoughts on Divas thus far are about the same.

5. My personal background, which is relevant to my thoughts, is that I'm a single 30 year old lawyer. There are more details that some of you know, but that's the gist of it. And that should explain why this comic is relevant to my interests, when you read my thoughts below.

First, an observation that I think will likely offend some people, but I'm going to say it anyway. I find that a lot of people who criticize women's literature (and thereby women's story lines in other things) criticize them for including too many romantic story lines. They don't like the fact that women never sem to carry a story on their own without it involving men in some way.

I think this is a valid criticism. But I don't understand why, after that criticism is made, whatever work under discussion is somehow devalued. I"m 30 years old and I went to a women's college, and believe me, I work and fight in a man's world. And still, relationships, marriage, babies, boyfriends, etc. come up all the time, in every friendship I have with every woman I know. (It also comes up with all the men I know, too. Perhaps it should play bigger roles in male-centric fiction to make that more true to life.)

So the fact that this comic is about four women who share a common bond in that they were/are/might be heroes and deals in large part with their love lives doesn't bother me and I don't find it degrading.

Instead, I find it fascinating. It's asking the same question every woman I've ever met asks: Is it possible to have it all?

The four characters, whom I barely know by name, are all dealing with different major points in their life, but they share something in common with each other - and with me. They worry about work - is it taking too much of their life, will their past decisions haunt them, have they made wrong decisions about careers, have they put themselves in a corner?

They worry about health - and as someone without insurance who has been struggling a lot this year with health problems, I can relate. Do I need to go to the doctor, what if it's bad news, what do I do then, who is going to help me, am I strong enough to bear it if it's the worst, am I doing something to make myself sick, am I being irresponsible?

They worry about relationship - what do I do when my bad ex shows up, if I'm attracted to this man and sleep with him without wanting a relationship, does that make me a slut, are my friends judging me, will potential employers judge me if they find out, am I making a mistake by being interested, am I making a mistake by being uninterested?

They worry about finances - and good God is that hitting close to home right now. Am I financially stable, what do I need to do to make myself financially stable, is my credit good, do I buy property, do I go into business for myself, do I keep struggling to find a job somewhere else, do I change fields altogether?

I have heard criticisms that the cancer storyline is trite and overdone, and I say fie to those people who say that. I dare them to tell someone who has had a friend diagnosed with breast cancer that it's trite or overdone. I dare them to feel that way if they are diagnosed with breast cancer.

And I find the reactions thus far very normal. Anger, second opinions, self-blame, bargaining with the devil/god (maybe not in such a literal way, but still).

As far as I can tell, with only half the story and no background to look at, this comic is dealing with a lot of very real women's issues.

Are the characters all making smart decisions? No, but then, looking at my circle of friends (and in the mirror), I can safely say that's fairly realistic, too.

At the end of the day, I simply don't find stories about women claiming their sexuality while still having outside lives to be misogynistic. And I'm not saying that anyone reading this thinks that - but according to wikipedia, that was a criticism made of the author. Why shouldn't women want to have sex? Why shouldn't they want to have boyfriends?

And in this case, I really am at a loss. One character is dealing with her ex-husband (who is the son of Satan!???? I missed something there.) showing back up and causing drama. Check. I've seen that happen a lot in my own little world. One woman is agonizing over whether or not she's actually interested in a man who is interested in her after she already slept with him. Oh, yes, I can tick off the women I know who worry about this. And one is dealing with the arrogant, though probably well intentioned, offer of her boyfriend (ex?) to bail her out and give her money to start a business. While I don't know anyone exactly who fits this, I can look at her situation, and look at my own with a friend of mine who is male, and see startling and striking similarities.

So, while I hardly think this book is the best thing I've ever read, I do find it kind of amazing. On many many levels, it addresses things that are relevant to my life, and to the lives of the women that I love and care about.

As an almost afterthought, I'm going to also address the art and the authorship. The art has been criticized for being misogynistic and I'm not 100% I know why. As far as I can see, it really isn't that different from the art of any comic woman heroine - tight uniforms and big breasts. Okay, we get it - all comic book heroes have amazing bodies. But that applies equally to men as to women. It's rare to find female characters not dressed in ridiculous clothes (Brand and Daisy to name a few), but it's equally rare to find male comic heroes not dressed in ridiculous costumes (I *hate* Scott's condom head uniform. I liked it better when he didn't wear that ridiculous head covering. And yellow spandex?? Yeah. Like I said...)

The author, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, is doing something that I actually think is fairly rare- he's writing about a gender not his own. I overheard local Atlanta comic book artists discussing writing women once and was appalled at the number of them (mostly men) who said they wouldn't even really try because as men, they would never "get it." In my opinion, that was ridiculous. I'm not a man, and I don't shy away from writing male characters. And when I have received criticism that I write men like a woman would write them, I try and follow up on it to find out what I did wrong and how I could do it better.

My hat is off to Mr. Aguirre-Sacasa for at least being brave enough to try, and in my opinion, not doing a horrible job. Anyway, I welcome comments - even if you do disagree with me. ;)

Comments

[ficwize.livejournal.com]

It's just not my thing.

Well, there is that. *lol*

I have to say I find the background stories and real life stories of the superheroes far more interesting that the superheroing stuff. That's one of the reasons I'm drawn to fanfiction - primarily it is about the people and not their big fights.

If the book didn't talk about their superheroing at all, I wouldn't like it either, though. But we see these women acting as heroes - fighting skrulls, cleaning up after Katrina, etc.

I think it's an interesting blend. Also, just so I'm clear, I never thought that you were dismissive of this story. After you asked me to talk about it, I went to the internet and was dismayed to find the overwhelming reaction - even before the story came out - was people crying misogyny.

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

Though 'misogyny' is taking it a little far, I think 'sexism' (which to me is a rather different thing -- as it can mean thoughtless inequity without outright nasty feeling toward women) is at least part of the marketing.

It's not so much that I need the books to be about superheroing as that I'm not holding my breath for 'a book about the domestic lives of male superheroes.' Or, for that matter, a book about a team of female heroes kicking ass.