scans_daily: 30 Days of Winter: Day 29 - Fantasy Comics *Master Post*

sandoz_iscariot (

sandoz_iscariot) wrote in

scans_daily,
@ 2010-12-29 10:00 pm UTC

Entry tags:

creator: wendy pini, series: 30 days of winter, title: elfquest

30 Days of Winter: Day 29 - Fantasy Comics Master Post

Hi and welcome to tonight's 30 Days of Winter theme: Fantasy Comics!

My favorite fantasy comic is Elfquest, which holds a special place in my heart for being the first comic I bought in a comic shop. It was also my gateway drug for "serious" comics that went beyond the Betty & Veronica supermarket digests. The story of a tribe of elves known as the Wolfriders, Elfquest features every possible genre and setting, from action and romance to alien forests and deep space.

The creators of Elfquest have put nearly every single EQ comic online for free digital viewing here at their website, which I highly recommend for any fantasy or indie comic fans. The stories from the 90s and 00s are of very mixed quality (and it looks like there will always be some loose ends dangling) but the The Original Quest, Siege at Blue Mountain, and Kings of the Broken Wheel are great.

So,

scans_daily, what are your favorite fantasy comics?

And stick with us for the final day of our 30 Days of Winter event. Tomorrow's theme is Kid-friendly/all ages comics!

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Re: ...Okay I have to ask

psychopathicus_rex
2010-12-30 08:56 am UTC (link)

I would argue that during its heyday, the industry pretty much WAS devoted to guys - if you look at the majority of Golden Age comics, there's the occasional anomaly like Wonder Woman, but the vast majority of them appealed heavily to the likes, dislikes and prejudices of your average preadolescent boy. So it's always at least had an element of that sort of thing, but yeah, there's no field, period, that is solely and entirely a guy's or girl's field. Any sort of person of any gender can create a comic, given half a chance and a little skill and creativity, and they don't necessarily have to be 'girl's comics' or 'boy's comics', either. (To take an example outside of the comics industry, some of the toughest, grimiest, most thoroughly macho films to come out of Hollywood have been helmed by female directors. 'Strange Days', for example.)

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	Re: ...Okay I have to ask q99 2010-12-30 09:17 am UTC (link)
	To it not being entirely a 'boy's field' thing, Lois Lane was one of DC's top selling books that iirc would even pass Superman at times, believe it or not. (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent) (Thread) (Hide 7 comments) (Show 7 comments)

Re: ...Okay I have to ask

psychopathicus_rex
2010-12-30 10:28 am UTC (link)

I'd heard that, yeah. It could be argued that the popularity of her series tapped directly into that of Superman's, and featured him in every single story that I can think of, so it and 'Jimmy Olsen' were really just extra Superman books. Not to mention, of course, that for most of its run, the title was pretty much mainlining pure pre-feminist sexism of the most eye-rolling kind, so it really wasn't so much a 'woman's comic' as an excuse for male readers to laugh heartily and go 'wimmen!' (Not to mention that, even by the standards of the times, it could often get incredibly bizarre, so its best-seller nature could probably be explained by its sheer weirdness, if nothing else.)

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Re: ...Okay I have to ask

q99
2010-12-30 03:29 pm UTC (link)

From what I gather, it did have a good female readership.

I'm guessing it did so well due to crossover- women would buy it because, well, female lead (and while it had pre-feminist sexism, don't forget, so did most other female-targeted stuff at the time. But Lois at least was a headstrong reporter! And got superpowers, and was Superman's girlfriend, and etc.! It being sexist didn't mean it lacked appeal), more focus on character relationships, and the same kind of wacky fun guys bought Superman for. Guys would because wacky fun, and Superman.

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Re: ...Okay I have to ask

psychopathicus_rex
2010-12-31 12:18 am UTC (link)

I'm sure you're right, but I'm not sure that really makes it a 'women's comic' so much as a comic that involved a woman as the main character and hence drew a female audience starved for such things. Remember, the idea of 'women's comics' at the time were romance comics, which inevitably ended with the girl finding true love. Silver Age Lois was about as far away from 'true love' as you could possibly get - not only did she never get her man, she seldom even came close, given that 'her man' was frequently disgusted by her shrewish actions and set on 'teaching her a lesson'. I can't help but think that, had it been intended as a 'women's comic' from the beginning, it would have pandered more towards what DC editorial saw as 'women's interests'. (And probably would have mucked it up terribly, given that Weisinger was horribly misogynistic, but at least they would have tried.)

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Re: ...Okay I have to ask

q99
2010-12-31 06:53 am UTC (link)

The formula was romance-based, though, they just planned for a more continuing comic with a lot more cop-outs to prevent things from concluding. Most of the romance comics were designed to end quickly, I'll note, and a lot of soap operas for women do have "will they/won't they" go on between two characters for a looong period of time (I read shoujo manga, relationship stasis is common as heck there ^^).

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Re: ...Okay I have to ask

psychopathicus_rex
2010-12-31 07:07 am UTC (link)

Romance-BASED, perhaps, but only vaguely. I can think of a lot of open-ended romantic comics that are designed to preserve the status quo - look at the Archie/Betty/Veronica love triangle, for instance. That's provided both genuine romance and wacky hijinks for, what, almost seventy years now without resolving itself. In the Lois Lane comic, she rarely ever even went out on a date with Superman - she was too busy scheming to get him married to her. Personally, I wouldn't call that romance - I'd call it obsessive stalkerism.

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	Re: ...Okay I have to ask q99 2010-12-31 08:36 am UTC (link)
	And obsessive stalkerism sells! :) (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent) (Thread) (Hide 1 comment) (Show 1 comment)

	Re: ...Okay I have to ask psychopathicus_rex 2010-12-31 08:50 am UTC (link)
	And makes sitcoms! Ye GODS, just imagine if they'd ever made a TV sitcom out of that comic back then. It'd be... quite something. (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent)

Re: ...Okay I have to ask

sandoz_iscariot
2010-12-30 08:10 pm UTC (link)

during its heyday, the industry pretty much WAS devoted to guys

Not really, no. Women, whether kids or adults, were a big part of Golden Age comics readership. Romance comics in particular were extremely successful and aimed towards women (though most of the creators were men) and by the 1950s there were over a hundred romance titles published, and by major publishers and creators (like Lee and Kirby). And of course women read other genres too--humor, all-ages fare, action, etc. And if we're just focusing on superhero comics, Wonder Woman wasn't exactly an anomaly, as there were multiple female heroes like Fantomah and Miss Masque and Venus who may be obscure now but were definitely stars of their own Golden Age stories. Back when comics were selling, like, 50 million copies a month women were a large part of the marketplace and the publishers knew it.

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Re: ...Okay I have to ask

psychopathicus_rex
2010-12-31 12:34 am UTC (link)

Oh, I'm not saying that women/girls didn't read comics back then, or that there weren't comics intended for them - just that a LOT of the industry was dominated by 'boy's comics'. If you look at some of the prominent titles at the time, you'll see a number of things like 'Boy's Comics' or 'Young Men' or 'Men At War' and the like - you won't see many 'Women's'. (Also, as i understand it, romance comics were somewhat of a late starter - they only really came into their own in the '50's, as the star of superheroes was fading.)

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