On July 1, 1998, the first incarnation of Comicsgirl officially launched. The internet was a very different place then and no, I didn’t think I’d still be trying to hang onto this 20 years later. I mean, 2018 was completely the future! I have no idea if that teenager who thought it would be cool to make a website would be happy or sad I’m still doing this. I may have been overly ambitious, but it was 1998 and there was a need!

I admit to being naive in some of the language I used but I do admire how generous I attempted to be, even if I was — admittedly — really imperfect at it.

The early days of Comicsgirl are long since gone from the internet, for the most part. There’s still the Wayback Machine, so let’s revisit some of the things I wrote (not all are from the earliest version of the site — the oldest version I could find was from October 1999, but close enough!) Also, I just tossed these images in — they weren’t ones from the original site (and the introductions to these posts did have creator/publisher information and such).

About The Sandman:

The Sandman was an ambitious project about the Lord of Dreams and his family, The Endless (Destiny, Death, Delirium, Destruction, Desire, Despair), and the mortal (and often not so mortal) dreamers they encountered. The Sandman delved deeply into mythology, history, and literature. It has been said that The Sandman is a story about stories, and I will easily agree with that.

The Sandman, mainly because it was a nontraditional comic book (meaning that it generally lacked men in tights and capes fighting crime), appealed to many women. Neil Gaiman’s personal estimate of its readership is about 50/50 split between males and females. Three and a half of the seven Endless are female (Death, Despair, Delirium, and sometimes Desire), and many strong female characters play prominent roles in the storylines. Even though some of the female characters may be strippers, or murdered, they are never presented as being mere sex objects or victims. From the coldly independent Thessaly, to the sweet, lonely Nuala, to the quick intelligence Johanna Constantine, every woman in The Sandman has self-worth and is presented as being nothing less than whole. One character remarks in The Sandman that “All women are remarkable.” Everything about the women in this title would agree with that. Highest recommendation possible.

About Elfquest:

Elfquest is a fantasy comic book concerning a group of elves named the Wolfriders. These elves evolved after a race of being accidentally landed at the wrong time on a fantasy world. They struggle against humans who believed them to be demons, cruel trolls, and even other treacherous elves in a struggle for survival in a world where they do not belong.

Elfquest, which was written and illustrated for many years by a woman, has an abundance of female characters, each multidimensional with her own strengths and weaknesses. The female elves are treated on the same terms as the male elves, and neither gender is made to look superior or inferior. The writing and artwork deals with them both equally. While the women are sometimes scantily clad and well-figured, the men are drawn exactly in the same manner, and neither is offensive. The stories are excellent, the art is great, and Elfquest is just downright fun. Highly Recommended.

About Batman: The Dark Knight Returns:

In this dark and historic miniseries, Frank Miller explores what effect superheroes have on society. Ten years after Bruce Wayne retired from being Batman, a new crime wave has hit Gotham City. Although he is older, Bruce Wayne feels the drive and desire to become Batman once again, and does so not realizing how the world has changed since the last time Batman appeared.

I almost did not want to review this, because the question came up…is The Dark Knight Returns “female-friendly”? Well, it’s not “friendly” in any way, although it is a monumental work–as relevant today as it was ten years ago, and it probes deeply into the psyche of one of the world’s most beloved superheroes, but is it something female comic book readers would enjoy? I can only speak from experience that I am a female comic book reader, and I liked it a lot.

I would like you to be warned–this is no simple superhero tale. It is violent, unnerving, unrelenting. Those aspects of the book can’t be ignored. But The Dark Knight Returns is also about the sweet, fatherly relationship Batman has with the new Robin, a thirteen-year old girl, and Batman’s continuous attempt to save himself from the torture of the memory of the violent killing of his parents he witnessed as a child. These aspects humanize the book. It’s not just mindlessly violent, nor a thoughtless tale of fighting crime. It’s about one man’s misguided mission to save his city from crime–to stop what happened to him from happening to anyone else. In that regard, the book is worthy of being read and something will be gained from doing so. So reservations about “female-friendliness” aside: Highly Recommended.

Yeah, and that’s enough of that. Did I mention I was a teenager and this was more or less 20 years ago?

In all honesty, though, doing this has brought so many good things into my life. People were generous with their comics and I got to read a lot of things I wouldn’t have otherwise. I was once vaguely considered an “expert” and people even interviewed me about my site! It lead to getting involved with Small Press Expo and that’s been amazing. I’ve made countless friends — including people I absolutely consider to be my family. It indirectly (and directly) lead to job opportunities. It has been frustrating at times, sure, but I think there’s a good reason that even after 20 years, I haven’t wanted to let go of this.

Mostly, it’s been such a huge part of my life and I’ve loved it so much.

I’ve watched the internet change from websites (remember when I used to run a webring? Do you even know what a webring is?) to blogs to … whatever space we’re in now. I like change but I hope I can keep up.

I had fun going through my site and rereading things. I’ve collected a few of them.

Favorite posts (that aren’t reviews):

• Can we stop pretending all comic book stores are now awesome? Plus bonus followup: The Big Bang Theory’s Alice is the future
• Girl Scouts have a Comics badge! (Girl Scouts have since created Comic Artist badge for Cadettes)
• In defense of Cathy
• Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki at Politics and Prose
• Library Con at Petworth Neighborhood Library & Comics by Women (Bonus presentation! I will still happily be on your panels!)
• Near Miss: Minx
• Remembering BoHoS: A conversation with Maggie Whorf
• Revisiting The Sandman (also known as “that time Neil Gaiman linked to my site.”)
• Revisit: The Tick Omnibus (You will be happy to know I did get my Man-Eating Cow action figure since then)
• Super Art Fight at the Red Palace

My favorite reviews:

• A Dotter of Her Father’s Eyes
• A Drunken Dream and Other Stories
• Insufficient Direction
• Laika
• Through the Woods
• Skim
• Smile

Three reviews by special guests:

• Molly on Sisters
• My mom on The Book of Genesis: Illustrated
• The Destruction of Spider-Man: A Review of Turn Off the Dark by my friend Steve Kopian (despite what the name on the post says! Also check out Steve’s work at Unseen Films.)

Despite the fact I haven’t updated this site in nearly a year, I don’t consider it “dead” — I’m just … taking a break. I have some plans for the next era of this site. I’m getting there! I may even bring the podcast back! But really, thank you to everyone who has ever indulged me with this. You’re all a delight.

I know Elfquest is kind of a punchline for a lot of people, but as a 12-year-old, it was really the coolest thing ever. It had an epic story with a well-conceived mythology as well as a good mix of non-threatening sex and violence. You want to make fun of it now, sure, but that’s because you haven’t read it. It’s much better than you think it is. Trust me.

Wendy Pini was really one of the first women I was aware of who was making comics (this was back in the early ’90s, before the Internet, before things are now, and I didn’t get out much) and I don’t think she gets enough credit. I think I’ve said it before, but Wendy Pini was drawing anime-inspired comics before you even knew what anime was. Everyone who’s doing “American manga” now? I think you have Wendy to thank for paving the way, personally.

No, maybe Elfquest isn’t high art, but it’s smart, escapist fantasy and so much fun. I loved it as a kid and I still love it now. I remain impressed by the depth of storytelling.

So fine, this month’s choice isn’t exactly a book, but I still think you need to read it. If you do, consider that a great birthday present to me.

Also because it’s my birthday, here’s Helium’s video for “Leon’s Space Song,” from the band’s 1997 album The Magic City (buy it and love it). Mary Timony is totally reading Elfquest in this video. You see, if you read Elfquest, you too can be cool like Mary Timony.

The Masque of the
Red Death

I actually feel like I should be slightly embarrassed to own Masque of the Red Death: Volume One. Or that I would be embarrassed if I possessed a sense of shame. But you know what? I like Wendy Pini. I like Elfquest and I don’t care who knows it. Elfquest was a ton of fun and way ahead of its time and some day everyone is going to realize that and stop making fun of it.

Masque of the Red Death you can make fun of, though. But it’s impressively good nonetheless.

Pini uses Edgar Allan Poe’s story of decadence and death as her jumping off point — Anton Prosper IV decides to seclude himself away from the outside world, only inviting a few people into his extravagant house. Among them are the crass and ambitious Madame Kabala and her beautiful son Steffan to work on his secret project. However, Steffan and Anton find a connection with each other and begin to break down the walls of secrets each have created.

And well, you know where this is going. Mostly, the basic plot is straight out of any convoluted anime series you’ve ever watched — this world comes with its own rules that it doesn’t really try to explain. The romance between Anton and Steffan is pretty much apparent from the first moment they meet, but the bigger concepts of the nature of the human heart and brain, the limitation of science do keep the book compelling. Anton and Steffan are a little bland, for all their secrets, but still likable, and Madame Kabala is delightfully devious (and her relationship with her son is more than a little creepy).

Pini’s always been in love with the look of late ’70s and early ’80s anime and manga and it works excellently here. While in my more disparaging moments, I would compare this to any of the Photoshop-enhanced artwork you find all over deviantART, that’s really not too fair — the art here has a wonderfully animated look to it that’s distinctive and lush. Pini uses color beautifully when Anton and Steffan travel through the Rainbow Chambers. The sex is surprisingly explicit but tastefully so (you don’t see everything, but you see enough) and if watching two pretty, skinny elfin boys get it on if your thing, it’s pretty erotic (if it’s not, then you probably wouldn’t want to be reading this book in the first place).

I was surprised at how caught up I got in the story and I look forward to seeing what happens next. This book is better than you want to think it is and so much fun.

(I can’t, in good conscience, specifically recommend this to teenage girls. But they’re probably the ones who are reading it anyway. So let’s just leave it at that.)

You can read Volume One and beyond at Go! Comi, but I personally don’t like the whole slightly “animated” interface of reading it. I like the attempt at doing something different, but it annoys me. I think it looks better in book form, too.