The Happy Sorceress

dcwomenkickingass:

There is a lot of focus on the LCS when there is a discussion about new comic readers and getting more women reading comics. But the LCS is only part of it — there is another influence that doesn’t get as much attention. Today I have a guest post from someone who in her role as a librarian has been introducing young adults, both boys and girls, to the joy of comics. Pamela Bodziok is a Teen Services Librarian from Western Pennsylvania. In this post she discusses how she selects graphic novels. She also writes about how she brought the new 52 from DC Comics into her library and got her young female patrons reading the titles. Her thoughts follow:

So, true story: my inspiration for becoming a librarian came from Evelyn Carnahan, the plucky adventurer/librarian from Stephen Sommers’s Mummy movies. I was a lifelong lover of books to begin with, and watching Evy made a job at the library look like so much fun. Granted, I expected that I’d encounter far fewer mummies and undead skeletons on the job than she did, but I figured my time as a librarian would give me plenty of pluck-requiring challenges of my own.

Imagine my delight when, shortly after starting my new job as a Teen Services librarian, I discovered another, awesomely inspiring librarian character: Batgirl herself, Barbara Gordon. The role models don’t get much better than that.

I’ve been a comic book fan my whole life — going through a few dry spells, but always coming back to the medium. I love comics. And in my time at my library, I’ve more or less become the de facto Graphic Novel Expert — less, I expect, because of my position as teen librarian, and more simply because I am the biggest comic book fan in the place.

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As someone who spent countless hours in her local library growing up, this positively blows me away.

I knew every section, every shelf of that library & I can guarantee that the one in my hometown didn’t have comics of any kind.

So I give a rather loud ROCK ON! to this library, director & librarian. You make this born & raised in Western PA girl proud.

dcwomenkickingass:

I don’t know if you’ve been able to discern it through my subtle comments, but I am kind of fond of Mr. Rucka. So I would like to wish Happy Birthday to the man who has brought more great female characters to life than just about anyone in comics. Not only that, he’s one of the nicest people I’ve worked with in the comics industry.

So happy birthday, sir, and many, many more!

(embiggen here)

A fan here, too. He falls in the ‘will read whatever he writes’ category.

elrincondekaisermilan replied to your post: elrincondekaisermilan replied to your post:…

Without losing a single beat from that, i can only think the New DC Universe is a really good chance for all the couples and characters from DC to shine, and with the “other”JLA is maybe a good point to begin a new chapter in the DC

Oh, DCnU.

It is much too late & I’m too tired to properly write down how I feel about the relaunch/boot.

Or to quote a certain swordsman: “Lemme ‘splain…no, too much. Lemme sum up.”

I think DC did a craptastic job handling the whole thing. At times it felt as though there was an almost gleeful disregard for long-term fans. There are many things I an deeply unhappy about & a few I’m glad to see.

But my DC pull list dropped drastically in September. It’s gone down by two more since.

I’m not opposed to change. Change can be good. But I am going to speak up about poorly-managed & occasionally chaotic change.

thequestionqanda:

Will try it. To calm. Send them in.. Asks? Believe so. Will answer them.

Haven’t you always wanted to ask…The Question?

Here’s your chance!

ceebee-eebee replied to your photo: Once upon a time, I did a JLU-style recreation of…

You please me. Nerd.

Haa!

Yes, I’m a married woman & someone’s mom, but I still play with my action figures.

elrincondekaisermilan replied to your post: elrincondekaisermilan replied to your post:…

i gonna say “god dammit its all true” and i really mean it, what you just have said is all and everything right, i too see who really screw up and that was the editors and Meltzer, In the case of Zatanna and Bruce, well i see them like a great couple

Awww…thank you!

I like Bruce & Zee as friends. She’s a great foil for him & being more or less alone in the world these days, having someone like Bruce Wayne the Batman in your life can be a good thing.

And while I’m not a ‘shipper’, I do like the idea of them as a couple. Not going to go cry in a corner because it’ll never happen. But Bruce always used reasons like ‘too dangerous’, ‘couldn’t fit in my world’ & so on as ‘excuses’ for not getting involved with certain women.

Well, Zee, as she told him, is no stranger to tragedy. And I think she’d keep him from sinking deeper into the dark, not the other way around as he claims. And she’s powerful & trained with the JLA; the girl can handle herself around psycho killers & meta-human baddies.

But that’s just my thoughts on the subject!

stretchslider replied to your post: fyeahlilbitoeverything: Ok, how about one of my…

Ugh, that’s why I’m so hesitant to read JLD. I actually liked what was happening to Selina and Zee following Hush and Zee’s appearance in Catwoman (aside from the whole mind-wiping thing, that is.)

I’ll start by saying I’m not entirely sold on Justice League Dark yet.

There are some things I like about it but it still feels…I’m not even sure how to explain it. Or if I’ve put my finger on it. It’s not cohesive, as a story. I know internally the characters are still finding their way & coming together as a team, that’s not it.

But something’s just not working for me.

And again, I do think Zee & Selina could have been friends. There were some good moments between them but of course, they had to go & erase all of it with the relaunch/boot. Though some things I won’t be sorry to see go (yeah, ‘Hey Zee…mind-wipe that woman you’ve already mind-wiped? It’s for the greater Bruce-good).

elrincondekaisermilan replied to your post: elrincondekaisermilan replied to your post:…

true but i still thinks she has a great part of the fault in Identity Crisis, why? because she being a long time friend of Bruce, she should have tried to talk to Bruce and should have helped Bruce in the end, no what she did

Ok, I see this argument a lot.

Adding Bruce to the ‘list’ makes things worse, especially for Zatanna personally.

BUT.

You know what Bruce-Batman is like. He acts first. Reacts. She knew him, too (if we’re going with the ‘we’ve known each other since childhood’ version).

It was clear she didn’t want to take Bruce’s memories, but he would never have allowed them to wipe Light’s mind. He’d have stopped them (and from Tower of Babel we know he could have).

Face it: the entire story was a mess. It back-dated the rape of Sue & got her killed, was the catalyst for poor Ralph basically going off the deep end &…oh, yes…he’s dead now, too.

Zee came away from it with tremendous guilt & the hatred of fans everywhere (seriously, the rants I see directed at her because of IC make me want to leave the internet).

Zatanna is a favorite, yes. But that’s not why I can’t bring myself to say it’s all her fault, or that she’s mostly to blame.

I blame Meltzer & DC editorial above all else. And if we’re going to give the evil eye to characters, then Ray, Hal, Ollie, Carter, Dinah & Barry deserve equal if not more than Zee. They were senior League members, she was still pretty new.

…Ok, I’ll stop now. But I clearly have opinions!

elrincondekaisermilan replied to your post: fyeahlilbitoeverything: Ok, how about one of my…

in the case of Zee and the other women in Bruce´s life maybe the try to finally start a relationship but the of course fail in doing that

I honestly don’t think the ladies ever get a chance.

Ok, while I don’t see anyone becoming besties with Talia in the case of Selina I truly think she & Zatanna would get along.

But oh, hey! You did this horrible thing to me, which was of course out of character for you, and every time we’re getting along I bring it up! Or someone else does.

Which is more or less how things play in comics.

wesleydodds replied to your post: fyeahlilbitoeverything: Ok, how about one of my…

So you like fedoras, eh?

Absolutely!

I love a man in a suit & hat. It’s just one of dozens of reasons I’m drawn to old movies & noir/crime fiction.

…and it’s entirely possible that I have a few, myself.

fyeahlilbitoeverything:

Ok, how about one of my areas of interest, the magic community (DC)?

I don’t care for Deadman.

I would like to see more of Black Alice.

I really hate what was done to Zatanna during Identity Crisis and hope it’s done away with.

I would like to see Zee and Selina as BFFs, actually!

I find Phantom Stranger kinda sexy in a weird way (it’s the hat).

—-

Awww, poor Boston!

There are so many that deserve more ‘screen-time’. Lori, Eve (Nightshade), Misty & Tim!

Identity Crisis…I have such conflicted feelings about that book. What I hate most (well, it’s hard to narrow it down to ‘one’ most-hated) is the way Zee gets all the blame when there were six other people involved in that mess but they’re rarely if ever called out on it.

I feel so bad for Zatanna; it’s like writers are determined to keep her at odds with the women in Bruce’s life! Some sort of imagined rivalry or something.

Hey, The Phantom Stranger is sexy. So are fedoras. And how many men can make a white turtleneck look that good?!

(hint, turhansbeycompany, hint)

This nifty Batman bracelet

and the Wonder Woman one (as well as those featuring Superman, the Flash & Green Lantern symols) are on sale today only for $39.99 from SuperHeroStuff.

dcwomenkickingass:

Last night someone asked me about the mysterious woman in purple who showed up in all the new 52 first issues. My answer was “I don’t care.” But now I guess I do (a little) since she showed up in a book that never, ever disappoints me:

From Tiny Titans #46

And Cyborg I don’t think hope is gonna help you.