Did you know that in the English speaking world, there’s a tradition that women may propose marriage on leap years? Yep. Surprise!

While it has been argued that the tradition was initiated by Saint Patrick or Brigid of Kildare in 5th century Ireland, it is dubious as the tradition has not been attested before the 19th century. Supposedly, a 1288 law by Queen Margaret of Scotland (then age five and living in Norway), required that fines be levied if a marriage proposal was refused by the man; compensation ranged from a kiss to a pound (money, nothing kinky– they didn’t have S&M in the 13th century) to a silk gown, in order to let the girl down easy.

Because men felt that put them at too great a risk, the tradition was in some places tightened to restricting female proposals to the modern leap day, February 29.

In modern times, of course, we knows this as Sadie Hawkins Day, made famous by the denizens of Dogpatch in Li’l Abner— although that takes place in mid-November, one can never be too careful when being chased by dames. You’ve all been warned.

Here’s a good illustration of the difference between subjectifying and objectifying comic book characters. 

On the one hand, io9 reports on a paper published by feminist comics blogger Karen Healey (who’s writing a dissertation on the fan culture of American superhero comics) and Terry Johnson on the Comparative Sex-Specific Body Mass Index (BMI) in the Marvel Universe and the “Real” World. 

As you might expect, the BMI range for the fictional women is much less varied and more unrealistic than the other three groups (fictional men, real men, real women), particularly if these characters are supposed to be athletes.  You can think up any in-story explanations you want, but they only cover up the limited range (or imagination) of many artists who draw these characters.

On the other hand, there’s DC’s iconic female character Wonder Woman.  Seen here as portrayed by Lynda Carter and as part of the newly-revealed Alex Ross cover for the book The Age of TV Heroes, to be published in November by Two Morrows, WW has certainly had her share of objectification and questionable storylines, even from her inception.

But she’s also been more of the subject of her own story than any other female comic book character, inspiring not only countless feminists but avid collectors as well. One of them, Kyall Coulton, has created an entire site of WW memorabilia, The Ultimate Wonder Woman Collector’s Guide.  The site currently features over 1200 items, the largest online index of its kind, as well as short biographies of participating collectors.  And the categories!  Everything from original art to jewelry, bedding, food items, clocks and watches, even cookie jars!  (If you’re seeking contributor Joel Thingvall’s famed WW gallery of original and commissioned art, it’s accessible from the links page.)  You can even enter a trivia competition to win a memorabilia pack! 

Recent coverage by the NY Times and other mass media can only inspire more collectables to come.

In order to entice readers and get them excited for Drew Goddard’s upcoming four-issue arc on Dark Horse Comics’ Buffy: Season Eight (as previously mentioned here), the publisher has now put another of Goddard’s Buffy stories, "Antique", online for your no-cost reading pleasure. The story, which has been posted in its entirety at the site, is part of the Tales of the Vampires anthology released a few years ago written by various former Buffy: The Vampire Slayer writers including Goddard, Ben Edlund and creator Joss Whedon.

Centered around Whedon’s story about a group of young Slayers in training, the anthology explores the history of vampires and the world of the Slayer, taking place at various points in history including medieval times, the great Depression and today. Goddard’s particular story concerns Buffy’s rematch with the evil Dracula and her attempt to free her pal Xander from the vampire’s hypnotic spell.

Reading "Antique" reminded me why I like Goddard’s writing in the first place. It’s dark, it moves and its funny. Three qualities I look for in a story.

Not that I really need another reason to read Buffy: Season Eight, though.

Goddard’s arc, "Wolves at the Gate", has its first issue drop on March 8th.

We’ve gotten glimpses of what the Hulk and the Abomination may look like in the forthcoming Incredible Hulk movie thanks to the toys produced for the film, but now we can get a closer look.

Bad Taste has posted some new promotional artwork for the film that depicts the Hulk in various states of rage. This is the artwork given to licensers to demonstrate what the green goliath will look like in the movie. If you squint hard enough, you can kind of see the resemblance to Edward Norton.

The website is in Italian, but the brute force of the Hulk’s smashing translates any cultural and linguistic barriers. If you’re desperate to read the site, be smart like the Leader and use Babelfish to translate it!

The stack of manga to be reviewed has been getting shorter, down to the point where trying to put together a theme is difficult. So, this week, it’ll have to be random reviews. It’s all from Japan, and… that’s probably all it has in common.

Andromeda Stories, Vol. 3
Keiko Takemiya; story by Ryu Mitsuse
Vertical, 2008, $11.95

The epic conclusion of the SF manga series from the early ‘80s ends with a scene familiar from many derivative tales of the Planet Stories era…but I won’t spoil it. As you may recall from my review of the previous volume, a race of intelligent machines, called "the Enemy," has been conquering an unnamed planet in the Andromeda galaxy, and Prince Jimsa of the Cosmoralian Empire, our hero, wants to stop them.

However, being as this is a manga for girls from the early ’80s, most of this book has to be taken up with the relationship between Jimsa and his long-lost twin "brother," Affle. The two share a psychic connection – they feel each other’s pain and their not terribly well defined psychic powers work much better when they’re in close proximity – and they also are strangely drawn to each other.

(Need I mention that the "brother" is not what he seems? This will be important for that very familiar ending.)

Other relationships are equally as central, such as those involving “the Elder,” who was an important advisor to the rules of Cosmoralia but turns out to be More Than He Appears. He was Jimsa’s mentor, but turns his attentions to Affle in this book, as part of his general megalomaniacal plans to utterly destroy the Enemy. Since this is a shojo manga, it’s much more about emotional scenes and relationships than about actually fighting against killer robots.

(And the Enemy’s function is to put whole populations into a kind of cold sleep – entirely willingly – so that they can live in a virtual world of peace and plenty. This, as is common in pulp SF, is seen as horrible and effete, a fate worse than death – so slaughtering the millions or billions the Enemy now warehouses and cares for is the only possibly option. It would have been nice to have seen a little thought given to that background, and a recognition that it might not be all that bad just because it’s different.)

I’m not the audience for Andromeda Stories: I’m too old, of the wrong gender, and I’ve read far too much science fiction. But, if you’re not me, you might like this.

(more…)

That’s right, two of DC Comics’s most powerful mortals, Superman and Captain Marvel, have their birthday today! Of course, for the Man of Steel it’s just the Earth equivalent to his Kryptonian birthday, while Captain Marvel dates his “birth” to the night young Billy Batson uttered the name “Shazam!” and was transformed into the World’s Mightiest Mortal.

Still, those are some powerful candles…