I've been watching.

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is phenomenal.  Just phenomenal!  What started out at a peek into 'brony' culture (more on that later) has turned into a full-on binge of cartoons, silly songs and life lessons revealed via brightly colored horses.  The characters are remarkably self-aware that they indeed are pony that live like people and there's plenty of wink-winks to the audience to let viewers of all ages in on the jokes.  The ponies avoid the terrible stereotype trappings that "girls' cartoons" can fall under and are more characterized by positive personality traits that "the one who likes shopping" or, as Margaret Cho would put it: "the smart one, the pretty one, and then there's the ho".  The life lessons learned aren't just 'sharing is caring' but 'there are things you can't explain, but you can choose to believe in them' or 'take pride in your talents, even if they're not the ones you would choose for yourself'.

Yeah, the songs are earworm catchy and the pony's names can be ridiculous to say outloud ('achem, it's Twilight SPARKLE, not just Twilight!'), but that's because this is a cartoon.  Admit that, and you'll sing right along.

I missed the pony gene when I was young.  Never liked horses, never wanted to draw them or ride them or brush their manes.  Other girls around me hit that pony craze, but I just kept drawing Orko or Garfield.  I never owned a My Little Pony, so I didn't even have that nostalgia adoration when I sat down to catch a couple episodes of this new show.  It would have come and gone in my pop culture vernacular if it wasn't for two things:  Lauren Faust and Bronies.

Lauren Faust (and her husband, Craig McCracken) have cartoons like the Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends behind their name, so I took to them with instant credibility.  In a recent Ms Magazine article, a writer had put out an opinion about the show, focusing on strange negative traits like 'racism' and 'phallic' in an op/ed column.  Lauren Faust went right to the online mag and sent them a rebuttal and explained not just her answer to those negative points, but all the positive ones she wanted to infuse in a marketing tool for plastic horses.

The messages I’m really trying to get across with the show are these:

* There are lots of different ways to be a girl. You can be sweet and shy, or bold and physical. You can be silly and friendly, or reserved and studious. You can be strong and hard working, or artistic and beautiful. This show is wonderfully free of “token girl” syndrome, so there is no pressure to shove all the ideals of what we want our daughters to be into one package. There is a diversity of personalities, ambitions, talents, strengths and even flaws in our characters–it’s not an army of cookie-cutter nice-girls or cookie-cutter beauty queens like you see in most shows for girls.

* Find out what makes you you. Follow your passions and ambitions, not what others expect of you. For instance, if you like sports don’t let someone’s suggestion that that is unfeminine stop you from doing what you love. Be considerate of others’ feelings, but not at the expense of your own goals and dreams.

* You can be friends with people who are vastly different from you. And even though all friendships have their share of disagreements and moments when you don’t get along, that does not mean that your friendship has to end.

* Cartoons for girls don’t have to be a puddle of smooshy, cutesy-wootsy, goody-two-shoeness. Girls like stories with real conflict; girls are smart enough to understand complex plots; girls aren’t as easily frightened as everyone seems to think. Girls are complex human beings, and they can be brave, strong, kind and independent–but they can also be uncertain, awkward, silly, arrogant or stubborn. They shouldn’t have to succumb to pressure to be perfect.

A recent Extra Credits video explained that strong female characters in video games come from either a focus on genetic or societal roles that women play, or simply a divorce of those concepts.  We don't have to play Cooking Mama to play a game with a strong female character, but we should have a game that explores why it is we think women should be good at cooking.  Sometimes, when your female characters exploring general concepts not particular to gender but to growing up, I think that brings in a bigger audience and can form a bonding point for both genders to draw from.  Yeah, not all guys know what it's like to deal with the societal pressures of being thin and pretty and not all women feel like they can't show weakness to the public, but we all know what it's like to have a bully, feel jealous, or have the will to succeed.  I like comics because justice and responsibility are universal truths.

Someone told me this morning that My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic does well with girls 9-14 and men age 22-30.  Yeah, I have no idea where he pulled such numbers, but even so, there is a large fan following of not just boys, but men.  My Little Pony has a devout and incredible male fanbase times, sometimes referred to brilliantly as "bronies".  4Chan, dark heart of the internet's booger throwing bad boys, had something of a falling out from this cartoon and now has their own image board for all things My Little Pony.  Memes are everywhere and are hilarious.  Guys are trading plastic horses amongst each other and, most importantly, being better internet citizens.  Over the weekend an amazing story was posted by a brony that had gone through a tremendously abusive childhood and, though a love of Rainbow Dash and a silly song, was not only able to express himself, but overcome a personal fear in a brave and healing way.  Bronies came out of the woodwork to congratulate this achievement, admit the got a little teary eyed, and wished him the best.  Lauren Faust herself posted to the image board to wish him well and everyone learned a little something about bravery, honestly and kindness.

Friendship is freakin' MAGIC.

I like comics and I like telling people I like comics.  I like getting people to like comics with me.  it's all part of the show, you know.  So why I may not be on the snap or judgments of late, know that I'm doing my part.  And reading comments.

This is what I recommend to folks who've come out of the Iron man movie and just so happen to make it to the comic shop.  Believe it or not, we actually sold four Iron Man: Extremis TPs the weekend Iron man came out which I will consider a huge success.   Since it's newer, the tech updated as only Warren Ellis can provide and the art something special, it's probably the better TP to siggest because it serves as a gateway to the current Iron Man and can keep people hip.  The of course, two all new series: one is an ongoing and the other a mini for those people who 'don't want to get into comics per se'.

My job, ladies and gents.

So, quick quick version: a fan of the Harry Potter series sets up a website called the 'Harry Potter Lexicon' that puts all the information from the books in order. People love it and info geeks go wild; even the author JK Rowling thinks the whole thing is pretty faboo becase she gives them a shoutout for being so thorough with her information. All is well and the fan who runs the place (with the help of a few volunteers and other writers) thinks he's got a little crown on his head and is full of pride.

A lot of pride, since he wants to publish the site as an official book. Not only is this a little odd since some of the material isn't his as it was written by other authors, but... let's face facts: when asked by JK Rowling if he could, she said no. That's it, right?

Nope! Yesterday it all went to court in a big show of who has the right to the material, who's being unfair and who's just out for cash. Thanks to Fandom Wank for keeping me updated on this whole affair; contributor 'cleolinda' has brought the wise face of Galadriel to the lawsuit which makes it doubly classy.
There's been everything from pie charts to snarky comments from the plaintiff and, despite her tearful admittance that this whole affair is effecting her writing, I can see how this should have been an open-and-shut case. No matter how you jazz it up, taking someone else's info and arranging it alphabetically doesn't make it yours. It's great that he did that and I'm sure without this legal nonsense the author might have given a nod his way (technically, she already did!), but selling it is a whole other matter.

So, fair internet info geeks, let this be a lesson. While we hail you for giving us an online version of the Handbook to the Marvel Universe, or a comprehensive look at Hulk villains (to say the least), don't publish these things and call it your own?

BONUS! Diane Duane gives us our own JKR vs. RDR lawsuit widget! Be kept up to date on how serious you can take the words "Lord Voldemort"!

But the best cure for the RAPED CHILDHOOD blues is other people.  I honestly feel better when I recommend a book I can guarantee will knock someone's socks off or talk to someone who really knows what they want out of a comic and celebrates that, rather than laments over what's not there.  Now I haven't said anything about recent cover art on a certain Playboy magazine, despite having boobs and opinions, but everything I wanted to say, everything that could possibly cheer me up about blog-o-drama was eloquently and upstandingly said by Lisa Fortuner.

So thanks, Lisa (if I can call you Lisa?).  I needed that.

Where do you read comics? On your lunch break? On the bus or other public transport? Do you buy a 'Reader's Copy' especially for the job? Do you read your comic then slip it into a bag and board and file it away or does it linger about the house for a bit until you remember to put it away? Do you have a box just for banking books until you get enough to read in a block? How do we read these things?

Thinking about it like this, I can kind of understand how the average Joe off the street can find themselves off-kilter when approaching comics and normally just grab the trade; the fact I can think of ... what, eight obsessive-compulsive ways to read and/or store comics as opposed to the universally understood book might be what's going through their heads as well.  After all, these things are going to be worth MONEY some day, right?  Nobody wants to be yet another older customer, longing for yesteryear before their parents threw out their obvious goldmines.

So, how do you the Comic Fan(tm) read your books?  Do you dare eat lunch with them?  Do you save them all into a storyline or just grab and go, turning pages in the car after you leave the shop?

Personally, I'm a lucky daughter-of-a-gun who gets to work around these things on a daily basis.  No, that doesn't mean I read in the store while at the counter (seriously!  stop looking at me like that!), but that means I can grab a bit of time in the back with some books, take them with me at lunch, borrow them overnight (bringing them back in the morning like the special star employee I am) and generally bring comics with me wherever I go.  I tend to have a couple in the car, one in my bag, a TP at bedside, plenty around the living room and the computer desk, all for quick reference or perusal when whim strikes.

Where are yours read?

But then... there are the other fans.

The best spot to watch people dig their own graves is Fandom Wank,  a community of people dedicated to watching people take their hobbies far too seriously and, sad and true, Harry Potter is a common topic.  With the last book released this year, the Fandom Wank folks declared the coming of the 'Potterdämmerung', the fan uprising of all fan uprisings and only recently has this really bloomed.

The reason why I share it here with you kindly people is that apparently, there's this guy in charge of  annotated resource for the books called 'The Leaky Cauldron'.  A fairly popular resource and reorganization of the information in the books, the webauthor decided to publish his site as a book; the problem with this is that JK Rowling had already announced that she was going to do an encyclopedia of sorts (the kind of book the Leaky Cauldron was going to do) and that a lot of the info on the site is taken directly from the books and would be a sort of plagiarism.

Now, when asked by JK Rowling and the WB (since they own the rights to movie stills and/or specific content) not to publish this book or at least show them that the Leaky Cauldron's work wouldn't be direct lifting, you'd think that the author would back down, show that he was doing original content and give the people who got him into this business, so to speak, their due.  Not so!  This whole mess is actually going to court and is packed to the brim with angry fans who think that JK ROWLING has completely lost it by telling the Leaky Cauldron guy he shouldn't publish her work reorganized in alphabetical order.

More theories have come to light with fairly damning evidence that the Leaky Cauldron guy had plans that he would help Rowling with publishing her encyclopedia when the series was over and did seem to be in good favor with the multi-million dollar author, but Rowling didn't take up his offer, he decided (and spoke loudly at a con) that the fans were taking over.

So remember, folks:  fan entitlement is everywhere.  And sometimes, it can get really nasty.

By the way, I’d like to point out to people who follow Newsarama – in the fight scene with the Skrull, Namor begins it fully clothed, and, by the time it’s over, his shirt is ripped open, and more of his naked body can be seen. I know that this will cause a letter-writing campaign of my obvious disdain for fish-men, and my desire to see fish-men injured and demeaned – even though my dad was a fish-man and I know many fish-men still.

-Bendis

Recently, I've been watching a particular online board with car wreck fascination and keeping a tally of how long someone can drag out an indiscretion instead of coming to an understanding and accepting both sides of an argument.  I mean, Bendis himself gets lambasted by people who just can't let go of the 'death' of Hawkeye, you think the man would learn to realize if someone thinks you wrote a bad issue, it's not the best idea to dreg it up and poke a little fun at them.  Best to let the whole thing drop and wait for Straczynski to step in the dog poo and take up arms against his detractors.

I'm sure Bendis is just in it for the lutz.