Comics Hodgman, John
New York Times Book Review,
06/2008
Book Review
John Hodgman reviews the books "Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus," "Kirby: King of Comics" by Mark Evanier, "Age of Bronze" by Eric Shanower and "Y: The Last Man" by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra.
The fourth collection, Dykes To Watch Out For: The Sequel, is just as poignant. ALISON BECHDEL criticizes both the lesbian and heterosexual communities. In a 1990 strip, Lois explains: "Maybe we've ...grown enough as a community that it's safe now to speak out against lesbian-feminist monoculture. After all, lesbians aren't all androgynous, vegetarian radicals. Some of us like dresses and makeup! Some of us even voted for Bush!" (pp.16-17). The bulk of social criticism is aimed at the (first) Gulf War, but sex also made national news in the early 1990s. Bechdel's Daily Distress headlines for 1991 include "Welcome Home, Troops! Military Hardware on Parade!," "Teacher Denies Lewd Conduct Charge," and "Fraternity Pleads Innocent in Rape Case" (pp.78-79). Two women are repeatedly in the media spotlight: Toni, Ginger, Sparrow claims that "Madonna's done more for feminism and gay rights with one banned music video than the rest of us have accomplished in twenty years!" But the failure of Anita Hill's sexual harassment claims against Clarence Thomas results in a terrible setback (pp.54-55). Lois cries, "The boys won! They pit their biggest enemies, the black community and the feminists, against each other, they get a black justice who will vote to abolish civil rights, they give a tacit nod of approval to sexual harassment, and they'll repeal Roe v. Wade in the bargain!" Jezanna responds, "The senate decided it's better to look sexist by discounting Hill than racist by rejecting Thomas, so women took the fall. And black women are on the bottom of the pile, as usual" (pp.96-97). The seventh collection, Hot, Throbbing Dykes To Watch Out For, is packed with cultural events of the 1990s relevant to the queer community. In 1996, a strip titled "Indecent Proposal" emphasizes the effects that Clinton's telecommunications bill could have. From cuss words to Raffi's naked bottom to Lois, Clarice and Toni kissing, Bechdel shows how much of our daily lives could be considered "indecent" (pp.32-33). Even with a Democrat as President, Bechdel continues to show her patriotism by exercising the right to criticize the state of our country. Lois describes Clinton as one who thinks "we shouldn't ask, tell, or say `I do,'" referring both to the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy allowing gays to serve in the military and to the 1996 anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act (p.46). Also, the bookstore chain "Bunns and Noodle" causes an insurmountable loss of profit for Madwimmin Books, where employees' health insurance deductibles go up to $1,000 (p.44). Bechdel's 2001 headlines proclaim, "Results of Media Vote Recount in Florida? What Media Recount?" and "Bush Has New Gravitas, Speaks 45 Minutes with Hardly a Slip." Mo responds to post-9/11 patriotism with, "Chanting `USA! USA!' doesn't exactly foster a nuanced understanding of international relations. And flag-waving intimidates people into not asking questions. Everyone's scared of being called `unpatriotic.'...Being an American means having the freedom to ask questions!" (p.86). On the invasion of Iraq, Mo tells us that "Bush is turning up the heat from detente to detonate. The defense budget has ballooned. We're involved in an indefinite war against an amorphous enemy. Now they're marketing the invasion of Iraq to us like it's a new flavor of Pepsi. You'd think we might learn something, watching the Israelis and Palestinians retaliate themselves into oblivion. You can't end terrorism with brute force!" (p.107). Later, Clarice chimes in with her own political criticism: "What do I expect from an administration that had Enron write its energy policy? And a president whose global warming plan asks corporations to cut back their greenhouse emissions voluntarily? And a secretary of the interior who's itching to lay waste to Alaska for six months' worth of oil and a few jobs? I dunno, Toni. You'd think after all these years, I'd be used to it, it wouldn't upset me so much. But this planet could be a #@*ing paradise, and we're making it into a living hell" (p.109).
Graphic Novels Cornog, Martha; Raiteri, Steve
Library Journal,
05/2012, Letnik:
137, Številka:
9
Book Review
Among the graphic novels reviewed are: 1. Rohan at the Louvre by Hirohiko Araki. 2. My Friend Dahmer by Derf Backderf. 3. Are You My Mother by Alison Bechdel. 4. Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy ...City by Guy Delisle. 5. Tangles: A Story About Alzheimer's, My Mother, and Me by Sarah Tangles Leavitt.
The word we've come up with is 'celesbians,'" says Ilene Kalish, senior editor at Routledge, which publishes Entertaining Lesbians: Celebrity, Sexuality and Self-Invention by Martha Gever in October. ..."There are books on lesbians in film and on TV, but this one covers the full range of people-authors, sports figures, actresses." Beginning with Radclyffe Hall and The Well of Loneliness, Gever proceeds up to the present day with k.d. lang, Ellen DeGeneres and Rosie O'Donnell...
When the sinking of the Titanic also sinks her family, Annabelle Worthington marries badly, then finds purpose by volunteering in a field hospital during World War I. Nonfiction Brands, H.W. Traitor ...to His Class: The Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Newsweek 's Paris bureau chief and Middle East regional editor introduces us to the 500 officers and analysts who make up the NYPD's antiterrorist division worldwide. Quarrel with the King: The Story of an English Family on the High Road to Civil War.
