Deemar’s Sunday Funnies: Something worse than glenn beck!

CCW 3.88: LAST RANTS (or Why Some Comic Shops SUCK)!

deemar presents: foodie avengers!

Click on the cartoon to view FULL SIZE!

CCW 3.68: LAST RANTS! AVENGERS #2 REVIEW & How it can kill comic shops!

CCW Nation Poll of the Day

CCW Poll of the Day

This question is related to yesterday’s post about the ‘Bechdel Test’ being applied to comics. If you haven’t seen the video yet, check it out and be sure to comment on what you thought about the criteria included in the ‘test.’ Now on to the poll!

Does YOUR favorite comic pass the Bechdel Test?

Hey folks, Elliott here with an interesting video I was pointed to on Twitter by Marvel’s @JenGrunwald.  It’s pretty short and I’d like to know how many comic books you’ve read this week that ‘fail’ this test.  I’d be curious to hear your answers.

CCW Weekend Open Thread

A CCW Op-Ed: Here We Go Again

Here are some excerpts from the dialogue between Bullseye and Lindy Reynolds (Sentry’s wife) that take place before the above page in Dark Avengers #15. Words in bold are also in bold in the comic.

BE: I always wondered what he (The Sentry) sees in you?
LR: I’m sorry?
BE: Your husband. He’s almost a God…and you–you’re kind of, well, frumpy is the best word I can think of.
LR: What?
BE: I mean, he can have anybody. I mean, I can have anybody. And all I do is kill people. Imagine the ass he is missing out on because he’s married to you. And look at you. Do you even own a brush? Or a mirror?
LR: Get back.
BE: I mean, we all know your husband is nuts. But marrying you when he could be dating supermodels from numerous planets…now that is nuts.

Lindy slaps Bullseye in the face.

BE: Thank you.

Bullseye grabs Lindy by the throat.

LR: NOOOOOO!!!

And then you see the page above.

It wasn’t enough that Lindy was verbally and psychologically abused by the Void in issue #13 but now she gets verbally abused by Bullseye…right before he chokes the life from her. And Brian Bendis, being the great writer he is, wants you, the reader, to slowly and silently watch her die right in front of your fanboy eyes. In order to, what, feel her pain? To make you feel guilty? Huh…now that I think about it, ya, Marvel fanboys should feel guilty about this.

Is it that far fetched of an idea that Marvel fanboys did in fact kill Lindy Reynolds themselves or at the very least aided in her death? Is that why Bendis used that P.O.V. shot? That P.O.V. shot could also be seen as the writer putting himself in the shoes of the villain though, can’t it? Maybe to fulfill some sort of pathetic, self empowering fantasy? Do you think I have gone too far by making those observations? Well, Brian Michael Bendis has had a long track record for having obscene amounts of misogyny in his comics…and his fans love it. (Don’t know what I’m talking about? Click here for a refresher) And yet very few people call Bendis out on his disgusting treatment of female Marvel characters. And by not causing a stink and rewarding Bendis with high sale counts of his comics the fanboys are sending Marvel a message: Brian Michael Bendis can do no wrong. And so Bendis seems to be free from any editorial restraints so this kind of horseshit just continues to happen over and over and over again. It may have well HAD been the hands of the fanboys around Lindy’s throat.

So, why exactly did Lindy Reynolds die? Well, besides the fact that comics are just too damn boring? It was because Bob Reynolds (The Sentry) loved her…and that was it. Norman Osborn saw this as an obstacle he needed to overcome to fully be in control of the Sentry so Osborn had Bullseye kill her. Couple that with the fact that Lindy is not a superhero, is just an average woman in the Marvel universe and it makes her death that much more fucking…tragic, doesn’t it? To bad it really didn’t feel that way. Because Bendis has an affinity for killing or physically beating down his female characters (with the use of his male characters) this just feels like more his his sensationalistic bullshit.

Domestic violence is an all too real problem. At no point ever does Bendis show the repercussions of domestic violence, he just seems to revel in it while turning on the Marvel fanboys. It also seems to send the message to his (mostly) male fanbase that it is acceptable to behave in this manner especially when women are the ones who are constantly being assaulted by men. Isolated instances of violence toward men or women in comics is one thing but when a writer completely crosses the line time and time again (for what I think are personal reasons) it becomes a problem that this industry doesn’t need or should it tolerate.

J.