By Robin Jones and friends…
The Mail room… featuring @NoelCT, @alsoMike and @Seanfav1
I’ve had a fair few responses to my post, Get a look at her breast…plate. Some negative, some positive, but ultimately it’s getting people to discuss the problems of objectification and sexualisation. I wanted to do the age old comic thing and re-print a lot of my favourite answers and responses! Therefore welcome to the party Richter… I mean mail room buddy, enjoy the responses and thanks for reading!
“There’s a place for the boys’ fantasy exploitation superheroines, but that place should be on the fringes, not center stage. I don’t have an issue with the likes of Top Cow and Avatar doing what they do, but the big two should be above it by now. I think part of it has been that the air of the comic shop has limited female readership and pushed them from discussion, but digital availability has given them both access and a voice, and it’s long past time for them to be heard and included.”
Noel Thingvall
@NoelCT
Minnesota, USA
Noel makes a good point here, with the comic shop atmosphere, perhaps women have been pushed out of the medium for a long time, but now with the availability of digital comics, online shops etc, they are becoming more and more involved! Which can only be a good thing! Next up, is a fantastic piece I received from a regular reader Mikael. Mikael has given me nothing but balanced advice and recommendations for weeks now, and I’m delighted to showcase his response here!
“The problem described in ”PAPERCUTS AND INKSTAINS #010 – GET A LOOK AT HER BREAST…PLATE…” is real. Women are sexualized in comics. Robin asks for some suggestion and debate as to what can be done and even wonders if it’s possible to have stores separate comics with sexist art from other comics, drawing comparisons to adult entertainment being sold in a specific part of stores.
The specific idea of such a literal separation is problematic. Comics often change artists so it’s unlikely a title will remain “safe” or “unsafe” forever, which means there’d almost have to be a need to check every issue of every title, work shop keepers are very unlikely to do. Besides the way artists draw women could improve or worsen over time, so you wouldn’t have any guarantee any artist can be dismissed or approved by name alone, even if they have tendencies in their art styles. There is also the fact that not everyone get their comics from a comic book store, or a shop with large enough room to divide comics that way. Maybe there’s a way to look at the comics on a higher level, before distribution to the stores. That way stores could decide beforehand on policies and what to buy etc.
One idea could be a rating system for the art style. Comic companies already employ their own rating systems, replacing the self-censorship the bigger companies endured when they tried to get their comics approved of the Comic Code Authority created in 1954. However those current ratings seem to be concerned with content, rather than art style or the implications thereof. While the Comics Code rules was overwhelmingly creatively stifling and silly, one can’t help at seeing this in the 1954 criteria; ”Females shall be drawn realistically without exaggeration of any physical qualities.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comics_Code_Authority) Could there perhaps be a new type of Comic Code, designated for female friendly art? This would not be a type of censorship, think of it more as a Fairtrade stamp that encourages people to pick it up, but doesn’t dissuade those that doesn’t care. It might be hard to get companies to do this, because once they begin to get some issues approved, it will become very obvious that some won’t be. This kind of review also provides an extra step in the production chain, which I doubt companies will be happy about, especially since they often have a hard time getting comics out on time as it is. Still, the evident PR might provide a carrot for the comic book industry to strive for.
Now you might say that besides the already in place rating system, the big companies often use special imprints for mature audiences, like MAX or Vertigo. In these there is adult content and we see sometimes major characters involved with violence, sex, nudity on a different scale than normally. If people are specifically looking for those things then it’s great that there’s an outlet for that. But it’s not like the comics industry gets the “sexiness” out of their system by doing these sorts of things. The sexiness, which unfortunately all too often results in sexist art, remains in all the regular titles. It’s pervasive.
We sell cigarettes that come with packages that say “smoking kills” in big letters. Perhaps comics should have a page/half a page with the message “There are unrealistic body types in comics. It’s ok that you don’t look like them. It might not even be physically possible. Comics is art, not reality.”
Fortunately there are all ages titles, and comics specifically for kids. Marvel and DC for example have had titles such as Tiny Titans, Superman Family Adventures, Superhero Squad, and the wonderful Mini-Marvels and Marvel Adventures line. They need to be held forward as good initiatives by the comic book industry. People like Sue AKA @dcwomenkicknass are great proponents of these kinds of titles. The fact that these things exist, and are safe and easy to give to kids is great. It doesn’t fix the problem with regular comics though and we should try to fix it. We can complain and call out the worst sexist art and encourage and buy the best.
It can at times be hard to all out unrealistic portrayals of female bodies in comics. I think there’s a point at times to exaggerated art, which is something comics can do really well and is one of the few mediums that can do so. However there are non-harmful ways of doing that. For instance stylistic cartoons like Super Best Friends Forever or maaaybe even Batman The Animated Series (the ladies had curves). There are also artists who can do sexy art but have it be pretty non-exploitative like Terry Dodson or Amanda Conner.
It’s amazing when comic companies hire talent to produce these cartoons or artists who can draw sexy, not sexist. Maybe there’s more the companies could do though. It’s impossible to send all freelancer artists etc on a course but maybe when hiring (preferably the good artists) the contracts could come with a list of resources and guidelines. The editors could make sure the artists look at it. I think something like that could include information on how boobs, spines and spandex work as well as guidelines of when it’s not appropriate for a character to be drawn in a sexy manner (for instance when they’re being brutalized). I also think there should be a list of characters’ visual profiles, at least for the big ones. She-Hulk, Big Barda, Wonder Woman and Power Girl should always be buff and tall, whereas Kitty Pryde and Jubilee are petite (and have smaller boobs). Make these points must-adhere-tos. Wonder Woman should NEVER be the shortest or frailest looking one in the Justice League.
In closing, if we can both reward the good and complain about the bad and the companies realize we’re being serious about it, they might in turn become serious themselves and implement ways of controlling or influencing the art, meaning things might actually improve.
Here are some great articles on the topic.
http://comicsalliance.com/superheroine-sex-art-story/
http://comicsalliance.com/starfire-catwoman-sex-superheroine/
http://comicsalliance.com/superhero-beefcake-sexy-comics/
Also check out http://eschergirls.tumblr.com/ which displays how women are drawn and posed in ridiculous ways. It’s basically The Hawkeye Initiative without the Hawkeye although they do sometimes show ways how the art could have been fixed. The Drawing Resources tag http://eschergirls.tumblr.com/tagged/drawing-resources/chrono also teaches people how to do it correctly.”
@alsoMike
Sweden
I want to finish up with a view from the other side, a defence of the current climate. I am interested in balance, and want to make sure everyone’s views are heard, and so after a pretty interesting discussion on my twitter feed, I asked Sean Fav, contributor for Inter-Comics and friend of mine, to write down his point, as he argues a very strong case for keeping things the same. I don’t think he’s wrong either, and I’d like for you to read it and find out why.
“I am here today before you all to support the freedom of T&A not just only on the television or magazines but in our comic books.” Now if I was running for Prime Minister there is 100% chance that this would be my first unofficial statement. Well after unemployment, drug use, violent crimes & poverty etc… etc… I’m not saying T&A is more important than unemployment, drug use, violent crimes & poverty etc… etc… But it is pretty damn close. Who is anyone to tell me that on a horrible Monday morning, the daunting task of getting up to start the working week? That I am not allowed to view my favorite newspaper/comic book/porn site and treat myself to a sneaky peak at some T&A? Apparently everyone be it my boss, Robin Jones even David Cameron. So I am here today not as a blogger but as your friend. I am here as someone to say “It’s okay to have a sneaky look at some T&A when you feel down.” So let’s all gather up, grab your pitch folks and march on down to Robin’s house and let’s say “Robin… It’s alright. Boobies are alright!”…
Ok I’ll stop rambling… On a serious note mine and your friend Robin Jones (Papercuts & Inkstains) wrote a blog on over sexualized female characters in comic books. If you are yet to read that I recommend you do so, though I may not 100% agree with him I still say it’s a great article he has put a lot of effort into and it is something he believes in. For that I WILL NOT knock him or anybody else for that matter. We all have opinions and I’m not going to wade in on some childish hate crusade because of that. I’m just here to add my two cents to the discussion. If you follow me on twitter you might have noticed last Thursday after P&I went live a debate on the topic popped up. A lot of people got involved and everyone had something different to say about it, my only beef with that was 140 characters plus people tagged in said post is fucking near impossible to get a point across without sounding like a giant dick. It’s also near impossible to in the middle of a twitter debate throw in something that sounds daft just to get more of a reaction from people, which I’m guilty of time and time again. So when this all died down a touch Robin messaged me and asked if I would be willing to write up my say in full. I said ok straight away but I must admit when I tried to sit and fully speak on my side it was fucking tough to try and not come across as being a woman hating arsehole. I still think there might be a handful of people who will dismiss my every word after reading this and that is perfectly fine, I accept that. I just couldn’t sit back on this subject I just felt as a whole, is rather silly.
Before I wade in I will agree that there are some characters that are there just to be viewed as a sex icon. I can’t argue for every single character, I mean Power Girl is just a whole kettle of fish. Not even I could be on her side, that doesn’t mean I’m not a fan (She has lovely, impressive… Eyes!). Even I cannot stand here and say that her costume has a part in the comic universe. I’d expect it to be in a low budget B movie modeled by Megan Fox. As it stands though that is Power Girls costume and you stick her front and center of a comic book and people are going to notice. You only have to walk into a newsagent nowadays and your eyes almost immediately gravitate towards the magazines with the naked people on. It is like a guilty natural reaction we all have, especially if you’re in the que and you’re saying to yourself“don’t look, don’t look…” BOOM you look. There is nothing wrong with it, nobody is going to judge you, and it’s just fucking normal. But in the news this week was supermarkets are saying ‘Lad’s Mags’ need to have less raunchy covers if they still want to be sold in there chains. So what is the difference between a ‘Lad’s Mag’ like Zoo with Jodie Marsh on the cover (as example) such a taboo now when right next to it there will be a picture of a half naked man on Men’s Fitness? I can even go onto say why is it allowed to have David Beckham in nothing but his underwear on billboards to promote aftershave? Hell even yogurt have gotten into the action and hired Nicole Scherzinger too seductively, slowly, elegantly… Well you catch my drift. What I’m getting to is sex sells! It always has and it forever will do. So I don’t get the big kafuffle about it being in comic books.
In my eyes the women are being portrayed as smart & sexy heroes, just as the men are in your favourite comic books. Nobody ever complains that Superman’s costume is so tight fitted we can actually see the outline of his bulge, yet you hear cries that Wonder Woman is wearing a boob tube. I could understand if she was completely naked or even blow banging the JLA in an issue but she isn’t. She is just being a powerful sexy hero and what is wrong with that? Does it truly matter what outfit an artist chooses to draw on a certain character if the story is what keeps you involved in that book? And yes most have massive breasts but ‘COME ON NOW’(Spoken like Al Pacino) so do a lot of women in the real world and nobody goes round telling them to hide them. Women like to be noticed and they like to be thought of as beautiful, it’s not a crime. Everyone on the entire planet fucking loves a compliment now and again (ok me more then others) it really lifts your spirit. I know a lot of people might say but it is over sexualizing women in this medium but just take a walk around your town or city on a Friday night. You’re going to see a lot more flesh then you will even by Power Girls standards. To be fair Power Girl looks like a fucking nun when you compare the two. But the women and girls choose to dress like that, it is 100% their choice. You could say that you don’t think your children should have to see such filth on the covers of superhero books. To a degree I agree with you there but it is not as bad as people make out it is. If you think the comic is too sexy then do not allow your child to read, but in a couple more years I will put my house on it you will be going in his room when he is a teenager and finding a whole different kind of books. We have a freedom of speech but nobody ever talks about the freedom to look away.
What I’m trying to get out is sex is all around us selling us everything. From cars to yogurts holidays to kitchens. We will never be able to hide from it and why should we? Everything today is a lot more open then it was ten years ago and I have this conversation with older people all the time. They themselves say it is better this way as you can be more open about things and become closer to people because of it (not in a sex way you beasts). I am not writing this piece to go on an unholy crusade about nudity and attack what people believe in, I am just ranting on how I feel. If this is wrong, it’s wrong. This is just one guy’s opinion on the subject matter. Either way I hope you do not take any of this personal and just take it for what it is. Thank you for reading my rambling rant and enjoy the rest of your morning/day/night & be nice to bees. Those guys work like mother fuckers!”
Sean Fav
@Seanfav1
Liverpool,
So there we go, I’m glad I’m writing posts that engage you! Now, in P and I #011, I started off the DESIGN A HERO COMPETITION (Imagine that said in an echoey, American trailer announcer type voice) and I’ve had some pretty good entries so far! I thought I’d give you a taste of two I particularly like!
The Coconut
This…is The Coconut, he patiently waits for crime to happen…DIRECTLY BENEATH HIM! He was designed by Michael Sambrook aka @Rapiaghi…
Papa Lolly
And this is Papa Lolly, designed by Dennis Fogarty aka @PistolApostle, a humble lolly pop man by day, Papa Lolly is often heard to scream “Suck on this!” before dishing out his own particular brand of justice!
Keep them coming my minions! To up the ante, us here at Inter Comics have decided to sweeten the pot! We have loads of great prizes up for grabs already, however adding to the first prize bundle, we have had the services of Paul James, a hobbyist prop builder, offered to us, and he is donating a light up, realistic looking piece of a Kryptonite meteor he will be building himself. Paul has made all manner of props and is currently working on a Red hood cosplay costume ready for Thoughtbubble comic festival based in Leeds, which is happening in November! Here’s an example of his work (The finished product will be different to this one as Paul makes them all by hand)
I’m sure you’ll agree, Paul’s work is fantastic, and Lee Campbell, proprietor; temple runner; assassin and Inter-Comics head honcho and I are fully prepared to fight to the death with scorpion encrusted sticks over this as it is a fantastic stand alone piece. Follow Paul on twitter @paulpjames
One of Dan Butcher’s custom commissions
Soooo. Do you want to win that, The Walking Dead Vols 1 & 2, the custom commission from Dan Butcher, author of Vanguard, Marvel Megablocks characters, the commission from Red Bubble artist Ian Nesbit, the Headtrap album, the Top Cow comics, the War Machine keyring, all the original artwork I’ve done (I promise it’s good for kindling) and then anything else we decide to chuck in the pot as the month goes on? Then what are you waiting for? Design you own character, Hero or Villain, on paper, cardboard, digitally, dress as them or send us in a tapestry! Just tweet them to myself, @Hulksmash1985 or @InterComics, or drop them to me in an email at robtheyorkie@hotmail.co.uk! I look forward to your entries! And just to spur you on, here’s mine…The Man of Action!!
Until next time…
For more comic views and reviews follow Robin on Twitter at @Hulksmash1985
Posted on August 8th, 2013
Category: NEWS & VIEWS, PAPERCUTS AND INKSTAINS
Tags: Cosplay, Design a hero, Inter-comics competition, Papercuts and Inkstains #012, Podcast, Robin Jones
By Robin Jones
San Diego Comic Con is over for another year. We’ve had thrills, excitement, laughs, terror, upset and boobs. In fact, plenty of boobs. Too many boobs if I’m honest. I’m not here to talk at length about all the announcements at Comic Con, but I will mention some I find intriguing! Batman/Superman should be interesting, as it’s the first time they’ll have been on screen. Zakk Snyder said “Let’s face it, it’s beyond mythological to have Superman and our new Batman facing off, since they are the greatest Super Heroes in the world.” Plus it has also been confirmed that they’re looking at Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns as source material which could prove interesting! I felt that TDKR was the strongest DC animated feature that’s been released so far and the possibility of an already established Batman, older and pissed off at the establishment could be a very interesting premise. However, that’s enough speculation and conjecture on that, as I’m no professional. All I know is that I’m really looking forward to seeing it! And the same goes for X-Men Days of Future Past, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Thor: The Dark World, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Flash, Justice League, Ant-Man, Kick-Ass 2, Godzilla, The Wolverine, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Riddick, 300: Rise of an Empire, The Lego Movie, Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD, Arrow Season 2, The Walking Dead Season 4 and Avengers: Age of Ultron. Plus there’s also the Fantastic Four reboot, Iron Man and Hulk: Heroes United, Hulk and the Agents of Smash, Big Hero 6, Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel, Beware The Batman, Justice League: War, Son of Batman, Batman: Assault on Arkham. Add to this, DC comics announcing that their once troubled Vertigo imprint is being revived and revitalised, and the pick of their new crop of titles is a prequel to Neil Gaiman’s much coveted, and it’s a title on this writers wish list, Sandman known as Sandman: Overture. Also, IDW is rejuvenating Little Nemo in Slumberland. I honestly have never heard of that one, but apparently it was a very good, renowned comic. For a full list of Comic book announcement, check out io9′s list here. And now I have blisters on my fingers.
The sheer scale of SDCC has shown that what has happened is we have reached a zenith, a high point, a pinnacle or as Rob Salkowitz, author of Comic Con and the Business of Pop Culture, says, “Right now, we’re at what I [Salkowitz] call ‘Peak Geek,’ a moment when comics culture has taken over pop culture, including Hollywood. When you’re at the peak of a cycle, it’s hard to imagine the future as anything but a trend-line pointing ever upward.” That’s a scary thought, but also vindication for all those people who in their childhood were labeled geek, nerd, outcast, weird and fuckwit for liking comics, superheroes, games and other fandoms. As a culture, we, the comic book community have evolved massively over the past twenty years or so. In his autobiography, one of the contenders for the much coveted title of “King of the Nerds”, Simon Pegg, justifies this by saying “Being a geek is all about being honest about what you enjoy and not being afraid to demonstrate that affection. It means never having to play it cool about how much you like something. It’s basically a license to proudly emote on a somewhat childish level rather than behave like a supposed adult. Being a geek is extremely liberating.”
And extremely liberating it might be for the majority of us, there is still a major problem that I have with what I will now refer to as our, as in your’s; mine; his; hers; theirs; even the ginger’s, community is not that it doesn’t have strong, balanced female characters, because it does. My problem is that a vast majority of them are overly sexualised. I realise this isn’t a new topic, and has been greatly debated throughout forums, books, comics, twitter and others for years, however I like to stir up talk. Throughout the history of comic books, the industries main assumed target audience has been male, and there is no lack of female characters and leading ladies within the pages of comic book history. There is however, a trend of portraying these women as sex objects. Now, I’m not a prude, not by a long shot, but I think now, in the 21st century, we need to be moving towards much more gender equality across the board. I have children, as do many of my readers, and the thought of my daughter being viewed as purely a sex object scares me. Women’s experiences of sexism and abuse at the hands of so called “Boys will be Boys” behaviour is appalling, as highlighted by the Everyday Sexism project on Twitter, and I am always looking for strong, positive role models for my little girl. Our community is changing and evolving, and female characters are becoming much more grounded and stronger in characterisation, but there is still a long way to go. Laura Hudson, culture and entertainment editor for Wired has been quoted as saying “I have long maintained that to bring in more female readers, superhero comics don’t even need to specifically target women as much as they need to not actively offend them. This is not an insanely hard thing to do, and yet here we are.”
Before anyone ties a bandana round their head, and loads their ergonomically adjusted keyboard with venom and launches into a tirade against what I’m saying, I understand that hyper-visualisation is inherent throughout the comic book world, and that both men and women are objectified in comic books, therefore lets do this head on. Would Witchblade’s armour really offer her any protection in a fight? Did powergirl really need such large breasts? Or such a conveniently placed cut in her outfit? Do the Birds of Prey really need to look like they’ve just slipped off an overly greased stripper pole? If you can tell me that Withcblade’s nipple plates would stop a shotgun blast, then I will happily eat my beard. I love the morals that comic books generally hold aloft, truth, justice, honour, courage, maintaining good friendships and how with great power comes great responsibility. Comics have also been very forward thinking when it comes to homosexuality, racism, equality and encouraging tolerance. All it needs is to nip its boyhood fantasy models in the bud. Many readers have taken it upon themselves to do just that, taking to that Marvel-ous tool, the internet. We have such great sites like The Hawkeye Initiative, who’s mission statement is “How to fix every Strong Female Character pose in superhero comics: replace the character with Hawkeye doing the same thing.” There are also many writers and columnists who are arguing the merits of changing this objectification of women within comic books. I suggest Lowell McDonald’s argument here and Kelly Thompson’s great column for Comic Book Resources here. Women should be empowered and should be shown as strong characters. However, if you’re still insistent on having such objectified images of female superheroes, then lets take them all and put them somewhere where they can be enjoyed by those who feel the need to look at it. Maybe a more adult section in your local comic book shop? I’m not saying confine it to a pervy sex shop or carry it in brown paper bags, but I feel perhaps a more conscientious approach should be taken by comic book artists across the board to present strong characters without the need to pornify the subject matter. We don’t want people being chastised for innocent intentions. Therefore some form of different approach is needed. We’re all adults, and sex is natural, then lets be adult and reasonable about such things and appreciate the art and not the ridiculously huge breasts. I don’t have the answer, but lets debate the question and come up with one as a community. One which works.
Which leads me nicely back to Comic Con and a past time I have always found rather interesting and also raises similar questions. Cosplay. Now, I’m not about to launch into a tirade against those who do cosplay, I have no problem with it whatsoever. It’s no stranger than going out dressed up on halloween or for a themed night out, but strange nonetheless. I dress up, I’m happy to admit, for as many occasions as I can. Some of the costumes are phenomenal, and are the results of hours of hard work and dedication and some are not. But that freedom of expression and liberation to be able to dress up as characters you admire and put on a pedestal is fantastic. It’s also a huge compliment to our community that we are as accepting of it as we are. It again shows the forward thinking of the comic book community as a collective and how we are so accepting and understanding of our outpouring of expressionism. What I dislike is the way that cosplayers are also objectified! Celebrate the costume, the hard work and dedication, the passion and drive of the woman underneath the breasts! Instead of drooling over people who cosplay, why not find someone to include in your life to share that passion and excitement with? Embrace that freedom of expression with your partner, and build upon it in your relationship! Go here and enjoy the sheer dedication of these cosplayers. If you think they’re having more fun than you, then get involved in the action! If you’re single, then start exploring your creative side and meet a like minded individual! And so ends the sermon!
Anyways, I’ve asked you to vote on Hellblazer storylines for me to read! A lot of you were saying you haven’t read any Hellblazer, so perhaps we should read along together and share notes! If I used emoticons there’d be a winky face there…
Anyway, the votes are in. I counted them all on my own appendages, and the story line I shall be tackling is…
So keep your eyes peeled for my view on “All His Engines” and my second, dark wave inspired playlist!
Until next time…
For more comic views and reviews follow Robin on Twitter at @Hulksmash1985
Posted on July 31st, 2013
Category: NEWS & VIEWS, PAPERCUTS AND INKSTAINS
Tags: Comic-Con, Cosplay, Papercuts and Inkstains #010, Robin Jones
By Pete Barrington and Sean Favager
One day, just one day we will become the Ant & Dec of blogging....aspirations we all should aim for!
Welcome back to your new favourite blog on the interweb. Yeah it’s the one, the only…. The Comic Asylum (Really need theme music here..!). This week I have a special limited edition version of the Asylum which involves me doing as little writing as possible (Cash Back!). My good friend who I may have mentioned a little over in the first few blogs @Pete_the_Red went to the London Comic Con last weekend. So instead of me rambling on about nonsense I’m handing the Comic Asylum and this special #004 over to him. Before I do I have been doing some brain storming over future ideas of blogs to come and I think you’re in for a good read in the coming weeks. I would also like to note that Pete will be joining me to co-host the Asylum for good (or till we have a drunken falling out) starting next week. We will become the Ant & Dec of blogging, if you’re American that means we will try to be funny but fail and come across as slightly homosexual. So without further ado you lovely bunch of people enjoy the read and I’ll see you next week!
—– —– —– —– —–
London Film and Comic Convention July 6th – July 8th at Kensington Olympia
Take your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty geek!
OK I realise that titles a little long so let’s just say COMIC-CON BABY!! WOO-HOO. So when @SeanFav1 asked if I wanted to co-host the Asylum with him this week, I had loads of ideas but nothing solid enough to fill a whole blog. He mentioned writing about the upcoming Con I was going to and I agreed, but what part of the Con to write about, do I write about the costumes, the stalls, the celebs (of which there were many), all of which are very valid points to write about. So off I went to the Con seeing what caught my eye to write about. Then I arrived and I realised the sheer scale of the work that must go into one of these things was astounding so I just decided to write about the whole experience, from start to end, and obviously talking about the individual points mentioned above. So here are my thoughts on the first (and definitely not last) Comic-con experience.
So as you may have guessed, this Saturday I went to comic-con in Kensington in London. Now I come from the Wirral (just next to Liverpool, by the way), unfortunately meaning getting up at 05:30am and travelling for almost four and a half hours. Finally arrived at the scene of the Con only to be told that the ticket I had pre purchased did not allow us entry until 11am “Bastard!”. Now the mathematicians amongst you will realise that left me with a little over an hour to kill in a city that I hadn’t stepped foot in since I was 12 (I’m now 27), so there I was, in the middle of London, just me and my con buddy @SeanFieldstead, knackered and wondering what time the boozers open in London. We were contemplating waiting outside until 11am and taking in all the glory of the ‘Cosplay’ action going on (more on that later) but as is inevitable in these situations, it started raining, so we went and found a Costa and settled for a brew.
Soon as the rain stopped, we headed for the entry, ticket in hand ready to enjoy the splendour. As we turned the corner to where we previously stood, there was now a queue of about 300 people that had appeared from nowhere and were now all ahead of us in line. Now I consider myself to be quite an atypical English bloke so you would think that I’m used to having to queue for things, be it at the bank, at the supermarket, the local brothel, you get the idea! But this queue was slightly unbearable, weirdly the sun had come out and it had quickly become ridiculously warm and they had us crammed in. The only saving grace was the many costumes on sight; I saw Mega City Judges, female versions of Thor and Loki (HOT!). Many Bats, many Spidey’s and others far too random for me to know who they were supposed to be.
The collectors edition Loki Russian Dolls, a must buy for all you Tom Hiddlestone fans out there!
So we finally got in, walked straight in and there was a life size replica of the Bat mobile from Keaton’s/Burtons Batman right in the doorway, looked up and only then we saw the scale of the thing, I’m talking at least 3 football fields long and the same size wide as well, just full of stalls and memorabilia. Without sounding too mushy, it really was breath-taking. We decided to start around the outside and then work through the middle aisles. I could have spent 100’s just in that first aisle, the things on sale were just awesome, everything a comic and sci-fi geek could want, and ranging from original Star Wars collectables to Japanese Anime collections, there was even a stall for wrestling fans. Now what that has to do with comics and sci-fi, I don’t know but all I knew was it felt unreal, and this was only the first aisle!
"The flower children think we're cool, man. Like, we turn 'em on, you know."
Now don’t worry, I’m not going to go into detail about every aisle there was and everything that was on sale coz then this would go on for ages and @SeanFav1 might not ask me to co-host again. But just an example was an entire stall dedicated to swords and weapons, selling replicas of actual weapons used in movies and comics. There was a stall where you could take a picture of yourself and then your head could actually be put on the body of any superhero action figure. Great idea, but not worth £80! Especially when you think about it, how many superheroes only show their face without a mask or cowl, not many really. This same stall did sell actual replicas of the Rorschach journal though, which was very cool. The amount of stalls was something to behold too. The crazy thing is, no two stalls were exactly the same, and there was always something on a stall that you hadn’t seen in the previous 104 stalls. It was crazy good. I literally could have written this whole thing on the amount of random and amazing things on all the stalls. Maybe I’ll save that for another time.
Now costumes are a massive part of any Con. It’s a great excuse to show other people how creative you can be and also just be amongst other people who share your interests and rather than look down on you just coz you enjoy dressing up as a Borg or Jedi, but actually applaud the effort and queue to get a pic. Now I didn’t get involved in the ‘Cosplay’ (as I believe it’s called). I went with a Captain America armour t-shirt I got for Father’s Day, simple but effective. But some of the people there really went for it, and I mean massively. Now I’ve added a few pics as well so you can see just what I mean. The ones that I couldn’t take though just add to the story and spectacle of it all. As I said earlier, there were many Batmen, ranging from the Arkham Asylum Batman, The Dark Knight Batman and we even got a Batman/Catwoman double act from Batman Returns. The weirdest I saw had to be a grown woman dressed as a cat being led around on a leash by her owner. The best was clearly, from a male point of view, a lady dressed as the Silk Spectre II from Watchmen. The outfit was perfect and I will regret to my dying day not having the balls to ask her for a pic. [[Note from Sean: I will personally make sure he regrets this every-single day of his life…!]]
Check out the CGI on the Lizard, this is way better in 3D!
Apart from the stalls and the costumes, probably the most important part of any Con is the celebs (and I use the word loosely) that appears to do autograph sessions and give a talk too. Now in the build-up to going, I was constantly checking who was going to be there, constantly telling work colleagues and friends who I was going to see and get a picture with and successfully making them all jealous that I was going and they weren’t. This plan was still in effect until we got to the section of this massive hall where all the celebs were, now I had only read about approx. 10-15 different people that should be there, the ones that I was most excited about included Hayden Panettiere from Heroes (and a cheerleader dress) fame, Alex Winter (otherwise known as Bill S. Preston Esquire) from Bill and Ted and the queen of Sci-Fi herself, Gillian Anderson, famous of course for her amazing performance in Johnny English Reborn and playing the lovable Jenny in that one episode of Frasier back in 1999 (who can forget that right!). Of course I jest, I heard Scully was going to be there and was quite excited to see her and get a pic. I was of course expecting a charge for this, as nothing in this life is for free, but when I heard that she was charging £35 just for an autograph and another £10 for a pic and then yet another £35 for when she was speaking, I decided to swerve that money-grabber and get sly sneaky pics of the lesser celebs that were not hiding in a cornered off booth with security. The pics I got were of Virgil from WWF, complete with the Money Inc. belt. Mickie James, former WWE diva, now TNA knockout and former John Cena ‘special’ friend. The best ones were Michael Winslow from Police academy (yes the one that done all the noises) and Martin Kove, who played the evil sensei in the original Karate Kid (he was still rocking his Cobra-Kai t-shirt!)
Of course there were others, to name a few, there was David Prowse and Kenny Baker (The guys inside Darth Vader and R2-D2 respectively) Thomas Dekker (John Connor in the ‘not as bad as everyone thought’ Sarah Connor Chronicles) and the ones whose names escape me, the lad from Gremlins, that bald Skinner bloke from X-files, Todd from Scrubs and many, many more.
Now I know @SeanFav1 got some cheap heel heat from @InterComics for dropping some names in his previous blog, but I was in the presence of these people so I feel its justified. There were so many things about this day that in any other given situation I would have hated. Like the money-grabbing celebs, the travel, Being on my feet all day. £7.90 for two pints, the rain and the heat inside the place. I could go on but the fact of the matter is that the day was just amazing, from start to finish. I felt like I was in heaven for a while when I found the comic aisle, I’m talking at least 100,000 comics in one aisle!
The last thought I have is that I would recommend anyone to go to a Con, even if you have only a slight interest in Sci-Fi or comics, then you should go, there a things there that ake you feel like a little kid again, and in my opinion, that can’t be a bad thing. And if anyone who’s reading this, is contemplating going to this one next year then no doubt @SeanFav1, @SeanFieldstead and I will see you there, although this time I will be driving, so if anyone wants a lift then let me know!
Finally, big thanks to @SeanFav1 (hope this is the first collaboration of many) and also to @InterComics (maybe one day you will let this Peacock fly solo ha-ha) for letting me air my views (EDITORS NOTE: Pete will now be doing a regular while Sean will clear his desk out and resume his original job of busking for a cup of tea!)
Stay Classy Planet Earth!
Hope you enjoyed my first effort in the world of blogging. If you want to praise or criticise then I will accept both with open arms, you can find me on Twitter @Pete_the_Red
Posted on July 10th, 2012
Category: NEWS & VIEWS, THE COMIC ASYLUM
Tags: Comic Review, Comic-Con, Cosplay, DC Comics, London Comic-Con, marvel, Pete Barrington, Sean Favager, The Comic Asylum
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