Construction Zone

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.

( My Thoughts - Unfiltered and Unadulterated )

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. ;)