November 27, 2012

spider-xan:

Also, I don’t have the time or energy to write about this in-depth right now, but one day, I’m going to have to write about how it disappoints me when comic book fans who are usually highly critical about the way women are treated/written, especially when it comes to fridging, will get extremely defensive if one tries to point out that there was definitely misogyny both in-narrative and behind-the-scenes when it comes to Gwen Stacy’s death.

‘BUT IT WAS A GREAT STORY MAYBE THE GREATEST EVER HOW DARE YOU CRITICISE IT!!!’

Yep.

Thiiiiiis. I can understand (and have argued myself in the past) that The Night That Gwen Stacy died isextremely difficult to critique as a story in isolation because it was so significant in shaping not just the Spider-Man franchise, but American superhero comics as a genre. But I have seen people cite Conway’s comments on Gwen (that she was boring and there was nothing to be done with her but kill her off) as some kind of objective truth — as opposed to the preferences of a nineteen-year-old male writer working in the 70’s. Which, surprise surprise, did not form in a philosophical vacuum.

MJ is my favorite lady in comics and there’s no doubt that her characterization benefited enormously from Conway’s run but that doesn’t mean I’m going to ignore that her storyline came at the cost of Gwen being fridged, even if it’s hard to say what Spider-Man would be like if that hadn’t happened.

8:21pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZcdIGyYACOa3
(Notes: 10)
  
Filed under: 'the night gwen stacy died' is not above criticism it can be both a great story with historical significance and problematic elements keeping those tags spider man gwen stacy gerry conway 
November 10, 2012
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fuckyeahblackwidow:

In the near-silence, a tap of footsteps— in a near-darkness, a blue blur of motion— and in the mist-filled evening air, a springing form— a form we recognize to be— the Black Widow!
Natasha: If ever I believed in destiny— I have to believe in it now. What else would have brought me to the west side— at just the right time— to allow me this one-shot chance to rescue Daredevil?

This was Natasha’s very first appearance in Daredevil, in one of those unlikely comic-book coincidences that get thought bubbled as destiny. It set the tone for Conway’s use of Natasha. She’s the opposite of a damsel-in-distress here, a black knight riding in to save the unconscious hero. From the very beginning, that’s what Conway meant to bring into the book: a fiery and melancholy woman, who did not need Matt to save her.

From Daredevil #81, by Gerry Conway and Gene Colan.

6:40pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZcdIGyW-30vw
(Notes: 83)
  
Filed under: daredevil black widow gerry conway gene colan marvel comics 
November 3, 2012
A veteran pseudo-fictioneer: It's really bumming me out to see how much crap Aunt May gets in Marvel film fandoms :|

smittenbyabug:

spider-xan:

skalja:

spider-xan:

Personally, I think people are free to have whatever head canons they like, but it’s really saddening me to see how much people who claim to be Spider-Man fans keep shitting all over Aunt May, especially in the fandom for ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’….

I’ve never liked the “superfamily” thing where Steve and Tony are Peter’s parents because it doesn’t make any sense. Aunt May really and Uncle Ben are the people who made Peter who he is today. Peter does a lot of what he does out of love, and Aunt May has taught him so much of that love. She’s taught him to be gentle and kind. Steve might have been able to teach him responsibility, but Tony would definitely be the “good news parent” and Peter would not become anything like he is today. Besides, since most things are drawn with Peter as a baby, he would not have even got that spider bite because he probably would have been going to some high-class private school.

Did you know that the writers who killed off Gwen killed her instead of Aunt May because at the time Gwen didn’t have much of anything to offer to the story? She was just kinda there, whereas MJ had so much more depth and interest. 

Weeeeell, that’s what writer Gerry Conway says — that Gwen was the “ultimate blonde dream,” that Mary Jane was more flawed and thus more interesting to write about, etc etc. But I don’t think we should accept that reasoning uncritically. By today’s standards, both characters were flat and underdeveloped. In interviews Conway talks about Gwen as though she were unsalvageably dull and had to die, but there’s no objective reason he couldn’t have fleshed out her personality instead: he just chose not to. Whether that was a good choice or not … well, Spider-Man would be so different without The Death of Gwen Stacy that it’s almost impossible to critique. 

I have strong objections to the way Spider-Man creators and Spider-Man fandom have latched on to certain aspects of Gwen’s character to bash other female characters — all in the guise of being “feminist” — I have a lot of fondness for Gwen herself. While I can only speak for myself here, I really don’t want this discussion to devolve into yet another round of whether MJ or Gwen is the “superior” character.

8:27pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZcdIGyWXL2rN
(Notes: 36)
  
Filed under: spider man gwen stacy mary jane watson gerry conway 
July 20, 2012

fuckyeahspiderwife:

MJ: Wow. It blew up. Guess demons aren’t as tough as they look…like some advertising agency executives I could mention.

WEXLER: S-sorry. You don’t advance in advertising by being courageous, Ms. Parker.

MJ: Yeah, but it takes guts to succeed as a model. Next to fending off overly-amorous agency reps, fighting demons is a cinch. Let’s rebuild that barricade.

Spectacular Spider-Man vol I #147 (Feb 1989), Gerry Conway (story) and Sal Buscema (art).

9:48pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZcdIGyPlleut
(Notes: 25)
  
Filed under: gerry conway sal buscema spider man mary jane watson marvel comics 
May 30, 2012
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fuckyeahblackwidow:

Woman 1: Christine, look— it’s the Black Widow!
Woman 2: It’s her all right— Madam Natasha! There’s a woman with her own mind— definitely the Gloria Steinem of the jumpsuit set.
And for the first time in many days— the Widow smiles.

I’ve posted this before, it’s still like, top ten moments in comics, for me. So much of the discussion about female superheroes, today, reduces them to things for men to look at. And here’s this moment, from a time when feminism was this new-fangled, radical notion, that flat out embraces Black Widow as someone for women to look up to. And she draws power from this, and contentment.

Sure, yeah, superhero comics can be the fantasies of adolescent white dudes. But they can be everyone else’s fantasy, too— dismiss that at your own peril.

From Daredevil #91, by Gerry Conway and Gene Colan.

9:50pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZcdIGyMRAcSQ
(Notes: 1,606)
  
Filed under: daredevil black widow gerry conway gene colan comics marvel 
May 8, 2012

fuckyeahspiderwife:

Marilyn Monroe reading Ulysses (probably Molly Bloom’s soliloquy). Photo taken by Eve Arnold, 1954.

Mary Jane Watson reading Faust. Art by Marcos Martin (colors by Javier Rodriguez), Amazing Spider-Man #560, 2008.

This isn’t an actual reference by any means, just a juxtaposition I thought was entertaining. Contrary to popular belief, Marilyn Monroe was an avid reader; MJ’s choice in literature is a playful jab at One More Day, but I like the idea of her digging into meatier reading in her rare moments of downtime. It’s a habit she could’ve easily picked up from a long time certain acquaintance:

“But Sartre, Jung, Camus …how do you relax, Petey? By watching educational TV?”
“You know me, MJ. My middle name’s bookworm.”

- Amazing Spider-Man #130, Conway (w) and Andru (p)

And I’ll bet she’s a Marilyn fan, too.

Shamelessly being ridiculous about my meta and then inflicting it on my followers, aw yeah. I really like this comparison, though I hasten to add MJ-Peter is not a good proxy for Marilyn-Arthur Miller, despite the “picked up reading habits from SO” fanwank.

Peter has only occasionally been depicted as having rigorous intellectual interests outside of science (and science fiction), which is a shame, but I can definitely buy him being interested in the thinkers namedropped here, especially Camus.

I’m trying to imagine 2012 Peter being portrayed as lit!nerdy instead of awkward-and-geeky!nerdy and I just … can’t.

3:17am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZcdIGyL4Ymfe
(Notes: 21)
  
Filed under: mary jane watson peter parker marilyn monroe comics marvel gerry conway marcos martin ross andru 
April 25, 2012
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fuckyeahspiderwife:

“I learned long ago never to expose my feelings … I guess that’s why I admired Spider-Man. Just about then, he started appearing on TV — Good Morning America, the Carson Show, even Celebrity Olympics. I liked him ‘cause he enjoyed life … and even more important … he wore a mask, too.”

Spider-Man: Parallel Lives (May 1989), Gerry Conway (writing) and Alex Saviuk (pencils).

Ugh, this scene.

9:43pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZcdIGyKJAXLk
(Notes: 25)
  
Filed under: panels parallel lives gerry conway alex saviuk mary jane watson spider-man spiderman comics marvel marvel comics commentary 
April 2, 2012
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fuckyeahspiderwife:

MJ: HEYY! You’re Carol Danvers, aren’t you?
CAROL: Why—? —Is there a warrant out for my arrest?
MJ: Hey, no! I once saw your picture in Rolling Stone, on some article you wrote about Diana Ross! Wow, listen — Petey was just telling me old Jonah wants to make you an editor…!
CAROL: “Petey?”
MJ: That’s him over there. Say hello to the lady, Petey.
PETER: ‘Lo, lady.
MJ: Catch you later, Pete.
CAROL: Peter as in Peter Parker, the news photographer who was nominated for last year’s Newsguild Award?
MJ: That’s my Petey! Say, wow — can I talk with you for a minute?
CAROL: Sure… uh…? MJ: Mary Jane Watson. But you can call me “MJ!”

boudika:

My external hard drive decided it didn’t want to cooperate with me. So y’all get a Ms. Marvel v1 spam instead C:

Here’s the first time Carol meets Peter and MJ. Peter’s one line cracks me up every time I read it alksdjf I thought about cropping more of MJ and Carol, but the sad part is most of their conversations end up with Carol blacking out in incredibly overdramatic ways, so this is all I’ve got :|a

Ms. Marvel vol I #1 (Jan 1977), Gerry Conway (writer) and John Buscema (pencils).

So many things to love about this scene — MJ’s obvious fangirling, “‘Lo lady” as the innocuous beginning of one of my favorite superhero friendships, MJ casually dismissing Peter but then taking so much pride in him, Peter’s photography treated seriously, “That’s my Petey!”, the ridiculous 70’s overemphasizing of every other word.

Carol+MJ is probably my number one Tragically Forgotten Female Friendship, even though it barely got off the starting block. I would’ve loved to see Carol and MJ interacting in the pre-Civil War New Avengers era, but I’m not sure current comics have acknowledged how long Peter and Carol have known each other, much less that they used to share supporting cast members.

2:41am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZcdIGyIxFCJO
(Notes: 15)
  
Filed under: ms. marvel panels peter parker carol danvers john buscema gerry conway mary jane watson marvel comics 
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