A tall story

The Women and Comics Survey is the next post down. I have gotten numerous responses, and I'll be posting results after a week or so, or sooner if the responses trickle off more quickly than that.

In the meantime, on a tangentially related topic: About five months ago, Ragnell hosted a lively discussion on Wonder Woman's height - particularly in relation to Superman. Well, today I was watching a DVD of the Secret Origins movie of the animated Justice League, and here is a screen grab from its special features menu:

Even if you account for Hawkwoman standing between them (judging from the relative positions of their feet), Diana can't be all that much closer to the camera than Superman - and she's towering over him and everyone else. Granted, that's not how she's usually depicted in the episodes themselves, but here, at least, her height is Amazonian.

Women and Comics: A survey

Ragnell at Written World and a number of other intarweb types have been discussing some issues related to women and comics, mostly in the wake of Frank Miller's Wonder Woman cover for All-Star Batman and Robin and Erik Larsen's recent column on the topic. You can check here, here, and here for some summaries of/contributions to the current conversation.

A number of rational people have suggested that guys talking to guys about what gals might or might not want does not seem to be the most successful strategy for increasing understanding. With that in mind, I have thrown up a quick and dirty survey as a pilot. This survey, focused more-or-less on some key issues that came up in the recent debate, is intended for females only. (There's no way to check, of course, so we're all on the honor system here.)

Click the link, take the short survey, ignore the ad that displays afterwards (unless you really want to make your own survey), and you're done. I get the anonymous results, which I will compile and report on. I will leave the survey up all week and report on it next week.

If the results seem to shed some light on the subject at hand, maybe we can expand the project and take a more scientific survey. But let's see how it goes, first.

What Do Women Fans Think? Click here to take the survey. Disabled 06/01/06.

Because all the cool kids are doing it

The Great Curve has asked for input on compiling the fifty best DC characters.

The call for entries does not include a precise definition of "best," so in keeping with the low-irony diet that this blog maintains, my list includes those characters with whom I connected the most in my comics-reading heyday: the characters who engaged me with their reality, made me feel a sense of wonder, and/or helped inform my sensibilities and ethics.

1. Martian Manhunter (J'onn J-onzz)



2. Superman (Kal-El)
3. Batman (Bruce Wayne)
4. Wonder Woman (Princess Diana)
5. Robin (Dick Grayson)
6. Sgt. Frank Rock
7. Iris Allen
8. Dr. Terry Thirteen
9. The Phantom Stranger
10. Atom (Ray Palmer)
11. Brainiac 5 (Qwerl Dox)
12. Ferro Lad (Andrew Nolan)
13. Enemy Ace (Rittmeister Baron Hans von Hammer)



14. Aquaman (Arthur Curry)
15. Mon-El (Lar Gand)
16. Flash (Barry Allen)
17. Balloon Buster (Lt. Steve Savage)
18. Manhunter (Paul Kirk)



19. The Creeper (Jack Ryder)
20. (Elongated Man) Ralph Dibny
21. Sue Dibny
22. Johnny Double
23. Captain William Storm
24. Hercules
25. Niles Caulder
26. Elastic Woman (Rita Farr)
27. Negative Man (Larry Trainor)
28. Robotman (Cliff Steele)
29. Supergirl (Linda Danvers)



30. Power Girl (Karen Starr)
31. Lori Lemaris
32. Polar Boy (Brek Brannin)
33. Iron
34. Gold
35. Mera
36. Wildcat (Ted Grant)
37. Hourman (Rex Tyler)
38. Starman (Ted Knight)
39. Manhunter 2070 (Starker)
40. Robin (Tim Drake)
41. Ambush Bug
42. Mlle. Marie
43. Pete Ross
44. Bat Lash
45. Jean Loring
46. Alfred Pennyworth
47. James Gordon
48. Liza Warner, Lady Cop
49. Snapper Carr
50. The Blimp (Herman Cramer)