First posting from Comic-Con, woo-hoo!

David here, your intrepid Prism reporter, “blogging” (ooh, I’m so up on the lingo) or so from the floor of San Diego Comic-Con International 2010! I’m sitting at the Prism booth (please come and visit!) plugged in and trying to be useful. Anyhow, I just came from the first Prism panel, which was entitled “Divas and Golden Lassoes: The LGBT Obsession With Super Heroines”, moderated by the fabulous Charles “Zan” Christensen (founder of Prism Comics, current Web Chair and creator of his own book, Mark of Aeacus) along with panelists Marc Andreyko (DC’s Manhunter), Phil Jimenez (if you don’t know who he is, turn in your WW tiara), Andy Mangels (founder “Wonder Woman Day”, writer and moderator of the long-running “Gays in Comics” panel at CC), and Michael Troy (hilarious writer of Blonde Squad and star of his own Margot-Kidder-inspired online video confessionals).

I took notes on the panel, but given that I’m not a member of the steno pool, I can’t vouch for every single quote. Although I did hear someone utter the word “Shitastic” at another rpanel and that kind of described what we experienced. Zan introduced all of the panelists and launched into some discussion-starting questions including what attracts the panelists to Wonder Woman. Is it just the camp aspects or the woman-empowering parts of her character? Phil Jimenez says the camp and the fun are part of it, but there are also lots of positive aspects of her character representing peace and wisdom and cooperation. Andy chimed in with loving the “equality for all” aspects, strength and pride. Things he also learned from his mother and tries to embody himself. Michael said she has many qualities that appeals to gay little boys (I think he meant himself as a little boy) such as her “co-dependent relationship with her mother, a lasso to tie people up and make them tell the truth, an invisible jet. What’s not to love? Sign me up!”

Phil continued with saying that part of what appeals to him with Wonder Woman are unique to her, that are not seen in other characters. Not that they couldn’t be, but because she is a female, she is allowed to have characteristics considered feminine. And feminine characters unfortunately are seen as weak, so even in Wonder Woman’s case, the powers-that-be are constantly trying to give her masculine characteristics or not let her relate to the male superheroes in a feminine way. As if they're cooties and can rub off. A focus point of this discussion centered around the Maxwell Lord incident where WW snapped his neck. Marc thought this was a defining moment for her character, that much was at stake and she had to make a decision. Although he wouldn’t want this to become a regular thing with her as that would not be the same character. Phil was not happy with this, thinking it took her so far from who she really is.

Phil gave quite a bit of insight into the fact that there is a lot of editorial demands on the creators of the books, so that everything you see is not always their choice. Such as destroying Paradise Island. And there are the tie-ins to big events that always throw the storylines off plus attempts to make WW more appealing to the dominant straight fanboy audience. And Phil argues that they do not and will not care about this character, no matter what the creators do. The character is instead a feminist and gay icon and should be presented to appeal to those audiences. Zan added that it’s more a marketing task, that they need to target the audience that most naturallly loves or would love this character. (As a side note, at the DC Nation panel which I attended, a guy said that his young daughter loves Wonder Woman but there are now no Johnny DC books in which WW appears.)

Phil even went so far as to say that Wonder Woman is the “ugly stepsister of the DCU”. (I hope it’s okay to quote you!) She is an icon in the general culture and people recognize her worldwide, but the straight male audience doesn’t want to buy her comics. However, as the packed room at the panel showed, there is a seriously passionate audience for powerful yet feminine characters such as Wonder Woman and others.

Andy pointed out that it’s difficult in general for female characters in comics. They don’t get the chance to shine and it’s hard to find their stories as they are not published continually or consistently except for Wonder Woman (as a side note, this is because William Moulton's estate stipulates that WW must be published every month, no matter what).

One audience member commented that he has mostly gotten exposure to female characters through animated series (such as JLU, Teen Titans, etc.) and not through comics.

However, another audience member, who wanted to represent the “L” in LGBT, says that she actually identifies with the male characters and that was her entry point into comics. So you never really know.

There was more to the panel that I have failed to convey but seriously, if you want to get the full effect, you've got to come to Comic-Con. I know it's expensive, I know it's a hassle, but you got to tough it out, sugar.

Okay, signing off for now until my next Shitacular report. (Excuse any typos—I can't figure out the spellcheck on my boyf's computer!)

David Stanley is Prism's Co-President & PR Chair and working on stuff, you'll see.

Prism Comics promotes the works of the LGBT community in comics. It does not implicitly endorse any other material or products associated with those works. Any opinions expressed are those of the author(s).