Mouse Smash

JC Lau's blog about geekery, gender and other rants


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GeekGirlCon ’15 Panel Recap: The Disability Politics of Daredevil

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With Daredevil returning for season two this week, let’s revisit our GeekGirlCon panel on the show! I attended a panel with Elsa S. Henry, a feminist scholar and disability rights activist. She also happens to be legally blind and, given that Daredevil is a show with a blind protagonist, she had several misconceptions about vision impairment to clear up.

“You can still like Daredevil, but here is a perspective you might not have had before,” Henry explained to a full room at the start of the session. She began by disproving several presumptions about what it was like to be blind. “Not all blind people use braille. So a lot of what you see isn’t accurate towards a blind person’s life,” she said, with reference to Matt Murdock’s constant use of a braille output device. “Most people use text-speak; you can hear it and don’t need to mess around with machines. When I watch the show, it’s very difficult not to notice things that don’t make any sense.” Continue reading


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Team Cassius: The Interview!

Ann Uland, Emily Willis and Cat Batka are the creative squad behind Cassius, a new comic series that depicts Ancient Rome as a wonderfully diverse place, and with a driving story of political intrigue and loads of strong female characters. We’ve reviewed Issue 1 here, and Issue 2 here. Issue 3 comes out in March 2016.

They took a little time out to have a chat with us at GeekGirlCon about Justin Trudeau, their favorite books, and making their own comic company!

L to R: Ann, Emily, Cat. Photo provided by Emily Willis and Ann Uland

L to R: Ann, Emily, Cat. Photo provided by Emily Willis and Ann Uland

Tell me a little about yourselves and Arbitrary Muse Comics. How did you come up with the idea for making your own publication?

Ann Uland: We first met online because I started drawing things for a story Emily was writing. When we started dating, it was pretty natural for us to start coming up with stories we wanted to tell together and comics is the perfect marriage of writing and art for us.

Emily Willis: Arbitrary Muse evolved as a small comics company to encapsulate what we do when we sell our own self-published work and help to distribute other webcomics in print as well. Cassius is our latest project because Julius Caesar is my favorite Shakespearean play and I wanted to work on something inspired by it. Continue reading


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Review: Cassius Issue 2: More diversity, more plot thickening!

Junia

I’ve previously written about Cassius Issue 1 for GeekGirlCon, and now I’ve been given the opportunity to continue following Junia in her epic adventures to understand the mark of Cassius!

As a bit of a recap, Cassius is a story from Arbitrary Muse Comics, the collective mind of Ann Uland and Emily Willis, and, while inspired by the Shakespearean play Julius Caesar, it’s clear almost right away that this is probably not the sort of story that Shakespeare imagined. Junia, the protagonist, inherits the mysterious mark of Cassius from her mentor—while on the run from would-be assassins—has to discover the meaning of the mark and what her destiny is. Continue reading


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So I was reading A-Force #1 when I noticed this…

I have to say that I LOVE A-Force. It’s cleverly written and compelling and has TONS of women in it. I’m so stoked to see how the rest of the story pans out when it continues later this year.

But anyway, I was rereading A-Force #1 today when I noticed this:

FullSizeRenderI guess it makes sense. It’s an ad for some toy based on the Avengers: Age of Ultron, and I’m reading a Marvel comic, so it stands to reason that there’d be advertising for products that might appeal to people who read comics.

EXCEPT THAT A-FORCE IS A STORY ABOUT THE EMPOWERMENT AND REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN AND WHERE THE FUCK IS BLACK WIDOW IN THE AVENGERS HQ TOY ON THIS AD REALLY.

Continue reading


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#WeWantWidow campaign is happening NOW!

pink-bw-coverThere’s a social media movement happening right now as I write this. #WeWantWidow is trending.
There are Black Widow Flash Mobs–and it’s the first ever multi-city cosplay flash mob–appearing across the world. Why? Because fans (of all genders) want to see Black Widow get as much representation as her male counterparts. Continue reading


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Imagined Universes and Their Inhabitants

GotG lineupWhen Marvel announced last year that Thor was going to be female, there was some backlash from pockets of comic book fandom saying that the change went against the mythology of the comic, and that Marvel was just pandering to feminists. Of course, given our cultural climate, it’s hardly surprising that an objection would be made on the basis of Thor’s gender. But what’s weirder is that the basis of this objection is that it wouldn’t fit into a universe which, by its definition, was a fictional one, and as such could encompass whatever sort of characters we can imagine.

Continue reading


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Thor’s Sales Record is Evidence that Diversity in Comics is a Good Thing

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You don’t say. Well, it should go without saying, but that hasn’t always been the case.

I’ve previously written about the importance of gender diversity for making comics accessible to a broader range of readers. Without having to rehash a lot of that, here’s some empirical evidence that shows that not only does gender diversity seem to morally be a good thing to have in comics, it also seems to have notable financial benefits. Continue reading


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Marvel reveals an all-female A-Force, and why it’s important

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Cover Art for A-Force

This morning, Marvel announced a new monthly series of comics to be released in May. Written by G. Willow Wilson and Marguerite K. Bennett, and with artwork from Jorge Molina, the “A-Force” will star the likes of She-Hulk, Dazzler (those skates!!) and Nico Minoru from Runaways.

The kicker? It’s an ALL-FEMALE TEAM.

“We’ve purposefully assembled a team composed of very different characters — from disparate parts of the Marvel U, with very different power sets, identities and ideologies,” Wilson said in a statement. “They’ll all have to come together to answer some big questions: what would you sacrifice to succeed? What is being a hero worth?”

And while those are all very interesting philosophical questions for superheroines to ask, there’s more on that front. The A-Force will also introduce Singularity, a cosmically charged brand new super hero to the universe. However, Singularity isn’t going to be your run-of-the-mill Amazonian heroine. Continue reading


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Holy high rollers Batman! New DC-themed casino to open in Macau

6b5736149d11f96d036870fac7799053-what-does-batman-do-in-the-stripclubWhen you think of money, you think of millionaires like Bruce Wayne, right?

Or, maybe not. But soon, there will be a way to cash in on the intersection of DC comics and money. Loads and loads of money, that is.

According to Bloomberg, Time Warner (the parent company of DC) has licensed a casino company in Macau to create a new DC superhero-themed area as part of a casino called Studio City. Dubbed the Warner Bros. Family Entertainment Center, the 30,000 square foot facility will reportedly include several Batman-based rides, as well as incorporating fellow DC heroes like Superman, Wonder Woman and the Flash. Continue reading


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UPDATED: Marvel’s Avengers 2 Trailer is Here!

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Marvel planned to debut the Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer during Agents of SHIELD next Tuesday, but it looks like the trailer has leaked online. It’s since been taken down, but not before it was posted elsewhere. The trailer can be found here, albeit in rather poor quality.

A few things to look out for in the trailer:

  • Iron Man in the Hulkbuster suit
  • Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver
  • Captain America’s broken shield
  • Thor picks Iron Man up by the throat… what? (Also, Hulk then fights with Iron Man… also what?)

Continue reading