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Jun 2011 20

by Alex Dueben

“I’m doing everything I’ve always wanted to do.”
– Trina Robbins

Trina Robbins is a legend among people who read and study comics. She’s a cartoonist who was active in the San Francisco underground in the ’70s and ’80s where she contributed to many publications including the East Village Other, It Ain’t Me Babe and Wimmen’s Comix. In recent decades she’s worked more as a writer on books including Go, Girl! and Chicagoland Detective Agency, in addition to working on Wonder Woman, Xena and The Spirit.

Robbins’ other claim to fame is that she is one of the great comics historians. In books like A Century of Women Cartoonists and From Girls to Grrrlz she writes not just thoughtfully and passionately about many cartoonists whose work has faded from consciousness, but she also reshapes our perception of comics past. In the book The Brinkley Girls, which she edited, the work of the artist Nell Brinkley was brought together, showing her incredible drafting skill and demonstrating why she was one of the most popular and important illustrators and cartoonists of her time.

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Jun 2011 17

by Mur Lafferty

SuicdeGirls presents the twelfth installment of our Fiction Friday sci-fi series, Marco and the Red Granny, which is brought to you by SG columnist Mighty Mur a.k.a. cyber commentator Mur Lafferty.

Marco and the Red Granny is set in a not-so-distant future where an alien species, the Li-Jun, has transformed the moon into the new artistic center of the universe, where the Sally Ride Lunar Base soon gains the nickname “Mollywood.” These aliens can do amazing things with art and the senses, allowing a painting, for example, to stimulate senses other than sight.

In the previous installments, Marco, a writer whose career has long been in the doldrums, gets a surprise call from an agent he thought he no longer had, informing him that he has received an offer from Mollywood for a much coveted Li-Jun patronage. Keen to catch up career-wise with his ex-GF Penelope, who’d unceremoniously dumped him after being recruited by the Li-Jun two years earlier, Marco jumps on the next shuttle to the moon. Once aboard, he finds himself sitting next to a seemingly unassuming old lady called Heather, who turns out to be The Red Granny, a legend in Li-Jun’s reality show world for being a three-time champion of The Most Dangerous Game (which requires contestants to sign away the rights to their life).

After settling into his new accommodations at House Blue, Marco has a brief meeting with his new patron, a Li-Jun called Thirteen. It’s only then that Marco realizes he’s never been shown the terms of his employment, and a sense of unease sets in. That evening, Marco is taken on a trip to see The Red Granny in action in The Most Dangerous Game. After a bloody battle, the senior reality TV star is again victorious. The viciousness of the game however, leaves The Red Granny unconscious, and Marco shocked, disturbed, and in need of a stiff drink. Unfortunately stiff drinks are frowned upon by the Li-Jun, so Marco settles for an early night

The next day, Marco learns first hand about the process that enables the Li-Jun to put taste into paintings, music into pie, and stories into (nonalcoholic) beverages. Having had his deepest and most depraved memories dredged and thoroughly probed by the aliens so they can be monitored and recorded, Marco finally sees the terms of his contract.

Having accepted the Li-Jun’s too-good-to-refuse offer, Marco settles into his new life at House Blue. However, though he’s been handed everything he ever wanted, somehow the reality of it is hollow. Twenty thousand words into his new graphic novel, with his first deadline looming, Marco suffers from a severe case of writers block, and searches for inspiration in the bottom of a glass that’s actually had something worth drinking in it.

Marco stumbles across an illicit drinking establishment on the seedier side of the moon which turns out to be run by a collective of folks who are strictly persona non grata as far as the Li-Jun are concerned – The Alcoholic’s Guild. There Marco has an uneasy encounter with a glass or three of gin, his ex-GF Penelope, who is now going by the name Knowledge, and her AG sponsor, Defect. However it’s only after downing one too many drinks that Marco begins to get a sense of exactly how severe of an infraction the Li-Jun consider the consumption of alcohol to be.

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Jun 2011 17

by Damon Martin

In brightest day, in blackest night.
No evil shall escape my sight.

The opening words of the Green Lantern oath, but unfortunately for the filmmakers of the movie that hits theaters nationwide today, they lost sight of how to do a decent job of turning a comic book into something worthy of a big screen (and the accompanying big ticket price).

Green Lantern (starring Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Peter Saarsgard, and Mark Strong) hits on a few key elements that have made its comic book counterpart one of the biggest and most popular titles in the DC Universe, but director Martin Campbell along with writers Greg Berlanti, Michael Green, and Mark Guggenheim missed the target overall with their film.

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Jun 2011 17

by Aaron Colter

Last week I said this week’s post would be about beer. It’s not. Moving on . . .

With so much good new music from bands that incorporate a variety of styles into their sounds, sometimes I forget about a tried and true genre that for too long has been saturated with bands that seem to put style over substance – punk. Thankfully, The Taxpayers still embody the important D.I.Y. and iconoclastic spirit from which punk originated.

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Jun 2011 17

by Daniel Robert Epstein

“I have to put the brakes on in my mind.”
– Perry Farrell

Since Perry Farrell broke into the music scene in the early ’80’s few people have had such an impact on modern music. In fact, his co-creation, Lollapalooza changed the face of American music festivals forever. But it is really the impact of bands like Jane’’s Addiction and Porno for Pyros which has cemented Farrell into the world’’s musical consciousness. His new collaboration, Satellite Party, is set to expand that world view.

Satellite Party unites Farrell with cohorts such as producer/guitarist Nuno Bettencourt and collaborators like Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Fergie, Thievery Corporation and even a spoken word appearance by the still dead Jim Morrison. I got a chance to talk with Farrell about this exciting new work on the phone while he was in Hong Kong.

Read our exclusive interview with Perry Farrell on SuicideGirls.com.

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Jun 2011 16

by A.J. Focht

Last week the comic world was rocked as DC announced they were rebooting their entire universe. DC has since released more details, as well as first edition covers. The Batman universe is getting a lot of coverage, with Batman getting three titles: Batman, Batman: The Dark Knight, and Batman and Robin as well as appearing in the first issue of Detective Comics. Other Bat related titles include: Batgirl, Nightwing, Catwoman, Batwing, a long awaited Batwoman, and one of my personal favorites, Birds of Prey. Meanwhile Superman is starring in Action Comics first issue (wearing some farm boy getup) as well as getting his own reboot with Superman #1, both Superboy and Supergirl are getting renumbered in September as well. All of your favorite super teams including Justice League and Teen Titans are being released then as well. All the heroes are getting fashion updates, including Wonder Woman who finally gets a makeover and a pair of pants.
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Jun 2011 16

by Keith Daniels

“The Religious Right will continue to wage this war against women until we as secularists stand up with the feminists and say, ‘No more.’”
– Rebecca Watson

I first heard of Rebecca Watson in her role as the lone female host on The Skeptics Guide to the Universe podcast, on which she appears as one of a quartet of co-hosts led by Dr. Steven Novella, but she first gained notice within the skeptic community because of her work with the collaborative blog she founded, Skepchick.org.

Skepchick advocates for the interrelationship between critical thinking, science, secularism, and feminism. One of the most passionate, articulate, and fearless secularists in the public eye, Rebecca divides her time between Skepchick, the SGU podcast, and frequent speaking engagements at atheist and skeptic-oriented conferences and conventions. In 2009 Skepchick started its own convention, SkepchickCon, which occurs annually as part of the larger CONvergence at the end of June in Minneapolis.

We spoke recently about Skepchick, the Religious Right’s war against women in the United States, and the difficulties women face even within the secular community.

Read our exclusive interview with Rebecca Watson on SuicideGirls.com.