Sturges on his Power Girl Two-Issue Arc

[turtlefu]

So, Matt Sturges is going to write two issues of Power Girl. Now, I am so happy Winick is off the book, even temporarily, but his comments on the nature of the arc seem to worry me.

Read for yourself.

So, what do you guys think?

 I feel like if, as a man, he knows he's basically going to be talking out of his ass on female empowerment, then he shouldn't do it in the first place. They should have gotten a female writer, somebody who actually knows what female empowerment IS, to write it.

It's not about him writing an empowered woman (even though I do think a man can't possibly know what makes a woman empowered). It's that his tone seems to think that this is him telling woman how to be empowered, and I really dislike that a man could be so conceited as to think that he can tell a woman how to be empowered. After all, you know there is going to be a moment where Peej makes a speech to the other women about "how to be their own superheroes" and obviously its Sturges talking.

For legality, the cover of his first issue:

Comments

[lieut_kettch]

About the cover: it'd be nice if the cosplaying fans wore the various costumes Peej has worn through the years.

[auggie18]

...I don't think I've heard the phrase "girl power" since the nineties.

[nezchan]

" People might say, "What does this guy know about female empowerment?" I guess the answer is not as much as maybe a woman writing the same book, but at the same time it's a subject that deserves to be talked about."

THEN WHY THE HELL ARE WE LISTENING TO YOU AND NOT SOMEONE WHO DOES KNOW ABOUT IT?

Not enough facepalm in the world...

[darkknightjrk]

"I feel like if, as a man, he knows he's basically going to be talking out of his ass on female empowerment, then he shouldn't do it in the first place. They should have gotten a female writer, somebody who actually knows what female empowerment IS, to write it."

I disagree. While it would be nice to have more female creators in mainstream comics in general, I don't think him being a guy makes him immediately disqualified from writing about women. Finding a way to expertly write about unique experiences and create something that feels real and true to the reader is pretty much EXACTLY the job of a writer.

I just can't fault a guy for saying that he wanted to write something that would delight and maybe even inspire his young daughter, and any other young girls who get their hands on his comic.

I'm surprised that there's even any controversy about this--I thought something like this is EXACTLY what people in this Comm would want to see.

[mullon]

I wonder how big a shitstorm this is going to be, if there will be one at all.

[mrstatham]

Is he saying he knows nothing about the subject? No. Is he saying that an actual woman would likely know more than him about said subject? Yes. That doesn't mean he has nothing to say on the matter and shouldn't be allowed to give his perspective, especially when it's actually seemingly a respectful look at a character like Power Girl from someone of a gender who aren't exactly known for depicting PeeGee in the most respectful ways.

[ilmari]

Depends entirely on whether the comic is any good.

If it is, you can forgive a lot of minor things. If not, all the faults of everyone involved just seem that much bigger.

[thanekos]

If a shitstorm happens, I'm sure it'll be an unintentionally hilarious one.

[turtlefu]

Being a guy doesn't disqualify him from writing strong female characters. Rucka does it all the time, successfully. However, he is specifically framing this story as device to empower woman when 1) He has no idea, and can NEVER have any idea, about what makes an empowered woman and 2) It basically amounts to a man telling women how to be empowered, which is not okay. Last time I checked Rucka never wrote Renee and then went "Oh hey women, now you know how to be empowered, right?"

And as long as we have male writers trying to tell these stories, there is less room for female writers, who actually know what they are talking about, to tell the story.

[darkknightjrk]

I can get what you mean about it maybe leaving less room for female writers, but I don't get how he can't write about an empowered woman and what specifically made Power Girl into one.

[darkknightjrk]

THIS. I really don't get what the problem is when it sounds like Sturges has a lot of passion for the character and for what he wants to say with the character.

[arbre_rieur]

"I can get what you mean about it maybe leaving less room for female writers."

I don't. The next time some writer, male or female, proposes a story about female empowerment, do you think their editor is going to say, "Sorry, there was a two issue fill-in on POWER GIRL about this topic. You'll have to right about something else"?

[turtlefu]

A man can not know what makes a woman empowered, or have any understanding about what it is like to be a woman, empowered or not. That is the VERY basic idea on what "male privilege" is, and it is the same as a white guy going "I totally know what it is like to be black!".

[darkknightjrk]

But isn't that the point of writing a layered character? To step outside of where you are in the world and put yourself in the mind of someone completely different?

[shadeedge]

On the basis that you don't need to have a knowledgeable opinion in order to do the job, i'll happily look forward to Matt Sturges contacting me in order to write a couple of books with him. I'm ignorant and cheap!

[arbre_rieur]

"They should have gotten a female writer, somebody who actually knows what female empowerment IS, to write it."

You're operating on the assumption that they decided they wanted to do a story about female empowerment, then thought, "Hm, who should we get to write that? I know! Matt Sturges!" But given the way the comics biz works, it's much more likely that they hired Sturges first (or asked him to pitch, whatever), and he was the one who chose to make the story about female empowerment.

[stubbleupdate]

Just out of interest, what do you make of Jonathan Hickman telling Marvel that he didn't want to write black characters, for that very reason?

[stubbleupdate]

Not in relation to Sturges, I'm annoyed by the way that passion has become a substitute and often a preferred substitute for ability for many people.

[darkknightjrk]

Passion doesn't mean it's going to be great, sure, but until we actually have the book in our hands, there isn't much else to go by. Plus, to me, having passion for something is typically not a bad sign to go by as to whether that person will do a good job or not.

[turtlefu]

I can understand where he's coming from. I think Hickman can write black characters, but if he was supposed to write one in a story where it's "topical" to be black (like in a story dealing with racism), then I wouldn't do it either. A non-black person pretending he or she understands how a black person deals with everyday racism is pretty ignorant.

Like I said, the issue is not with Sturges writing a women, it's him writing an empowered woman and presenting as a instruction on "how to be empowered". After all, empowered women totally need a man to tell them how to be empowered! /sarcasm

[stubbleupdate]

Isn't Sturges the Blue Beetle writer? I would have thought that his pedigree would be more encouraging than his passion.

[darkknightjrk]

So he did. Honestly, Blue Beetle's one of those series that I've read bits of but never completed.

[batman]

You mean in the Blue Beetle run he wrote where he fridged someone?

Yeah. His pedigree does not impress me. I loved the first 25 issues, so the fact that he went and fridged a character in the last issue of his first run annoyed me. (Don't get me started how in every ending arc "THE SCARAB GOES EVIL" thus undoing all of Khaji Da's development)

[batman]

The first twenty-five issues were by Giffen and John Rogers, later John Rogers on his own, and the endgame for the first arc is the best thing I have ever read in a comic.

[darrylayo]

Strongly disagree.

An empathetic person can understand people different from themselves. That's what empathy is about.

No person can "fully" understand "everything" about another person--any other person. But a person with an open mind and an open heart can connect with other people, listen to them, tell their stories.

I have to admit, I'm really offended by this post!