Fandom Pitch Post: Ame-Comi Girls
Feb. 2nd, 2013 11:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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halfamoonYou may know Ame-Comi Girls as those statues and dolls of the female DC superheros and villains that are ubiquitous to comic book stores. Here's the DC Store page for them if you want to refresh your memory on what they are. The basic idea behind the line was to redesign these characters in an anime style. There are clear Magical Girl and Shonen influences in the designs at least.
That's not the important part. The important part is that last year DC decided to make a comic based on these statues. And every Monday since last May you've been able to buy a new issue for $0.99 (US, I don't know what they cost elsewhere, sorry) at Comixology. They were originally going to be digital only, but they are popular enough that collected issues are being printed and sold in stores, although they are several months behind. And they are awesome.
The writers of the series, Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, decided to set it on an Earth where there are no male superheros or villains. They also decided that where possible rather than genderflip characters they'd find an already existing character to take the role. So Jessie Quick is the Flash, Alanna Strange is our hero from Rann, and Power Girl defends the world from Metropolis and welcomes her cousin Supergirl to Earth. Ame-Comi Girls started as a series of 3 issue mini-series with a varying range of interconnectedness between them before going on into an onging series with a longer story arcs. It's also on the more light hearted end of the comic spectrum so if you've grown tired of the grim dark nature of the New 52 it might be just what you need.
I will attempt to avoid spoilers in this next section, but there are screen caps from the series that include comic panels.
The first series was Wonder Woman, obviously. This Wonder Woman is a young woman more interested in proving her worth as a warrior than being an ambassador for peace, but she'll do the later if her mother demands it. And she does because Diana was a bit too good at the warrior bit. Steve Trevor is her official liaison to the world and they are adorable together and Steve frequently blushes when talking to Diana.
Next up we moved to Gotham, the home of Batgirl and Robin teenaged crime fighters. Otherwise known as Barbara Gordan and Carrie Kelly.
Together they fight crime and kick butt. I really like Carrie's Robin costume.
From here we go to Duella Dent, Batgirl's archnemesis, who gets a bit of backstory and helps set up the over-arching Braniac plot of the next few mini-series.
Without spoiling anything we go from here to Power Girl, who runs Starr Industries between saving her boyfriend Jimmy Olson from Somali Pirates and stopping Lex Luther from completing his newest evil plan.
Or course everything is interrupted by the arrival of her long lost cousin Kara. (Apparently on Krypton there was no faux paus in siblings naming their children the same thing.)
All of which brings us to the start of the ongoing and the fight against Brainiac.
Team ups are had, fights are done, and at the end a Green Lantern ring shoots off from Oa. It finds a worthy canidate on Earth in the form of a young Chinese girl by the name of Jade. Who is blind and climbs mountains with the help of her brother and father. (And who is my new favorite Green Lantern, sorry Kyle.) The ring provides her with a type of echo location and she kicks some serious ass.
Which segues into our next big story arc of Sinestra and her Yellow and Black Lanterns. Yes, both at once. Those turtle-squid guys are the Guardians btw.
Sinestra starts a war that ranges across the universe and runs smack into Thanagar where we meet Hawkgirl, who is saved by Alanna Strange as she attempts to save something from Sinestra's path of destruction.
Which involves creating Motherbox, who then creates the White Lanterns.
From here the series makes a complete jump to a new group of heroes. The Teen Hellions. Yes, Black Flash is a hero in this universe. She's just an undead girl trying to stop crime, go to college, and have some fun.
And now you're all caught up on the basics of the storylines. This Monday brings us the beginning of Big Barda and her Pirate Furies fighting Darkseid the Empress of Apokolips. If that sort of thing interests you.
Random pictures I couldn't fit in above:
(Featuring Steel who would just like it if she could get some work done, thank you very much.)
In conclusion, go forth and enjoy a DC Universe where all the major characters are female. All of them, good and evil.
That's not the important part. The important part is that last year DC decided to make a comic based on these statues. And every Monday since last May you've been able to buy a new issue for $0.99 (US, I don't know what they cost elsewhere, sorry) at Comixology. They were originally going to be digital only, but they are popular enough that collected issues are being printed and sold in stores, although they are several months behind. And they are awesome.
The writers of the series, Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, decided to set it on an Earth where there are no male superheros or villains. They also decided that where possible rather than genderflip characters they'd find an already existing character to take the role. So Jessie Quick is the Flash, Alanna Strange is our hero from Rann, and Power Girl defends the world from Metropolis and welcomes her cousin Supergirl to Earth. Ame-Comi Girls started as a series of 3 issue mini-series with a varying range of interconnectedness between them before going on into an onging series with a longer story arcs. It's also on the more light hearted end of the comic spectrum so if you've grown tired of the grim dark nature of the New 52 it might be just what you need.
I will attempt to avoid spoilers in this next section, but there are screen caps from the series that include comic panels.
The first series was Wonder Woman, obviously. This Wonder Woman is a young woman more interested in proving her worth as a warrior than being an ambassador for peace, but she'll do the later if her mother demands it. And she does because Diana was a bit too good at the warrior bit. Steve Trevor is her official liaison to the world and they are adorable together and Steve frequently blushes when talking to Diana.
Next up we moved to Gotham, the home of Batgirl and Robin teenaged crime fighters. Otherwise known as Barbara Gordan and Carrie Kelly.
Together they fight crime and kick butt. I really like Carrie's Robin costume.
From here we go to Duella Dent, Batgirl's archnemesis, who gets a bit of backstory and helps set up the over-arching Braniac plot of the next few mini-series.
Without spoiling anything we go from here to Power Girl, who runs Starr Industries between saving her boyfriend Jimmy Olson from Somali Pirates and stopping Lex Luther from completing his newest evil plan.
Or course everything is interrupted by the arrival of her long lost cousin Kara. (Apparently on Krypton there was no faux paus in siblings naming their children the same thing.)
All of which brings us to the start of the ongoing and the fight against Brainiac.
Team ups are had, fights are done, and at the end a Green Lantern ring shoots off from Oa. It finds a worthy canidate on Earth in the form of a young Chinese girl by the name of Jade. Who is blind and climbs mountains with the help of her brother and father. (And who is my new favorite Green Lantern, sorry Kyle.) The ring provides her with a type of echo location and she kicks some serious ass.
Which segues into our next big story arc of Sinestra and her Yellow and Black Lanterns. Yes, both at once. Those turtle-squid guys are the Guardians btw.
Sinestra starts a war that ranges across the universe and runs smack into Thanagar where we meet Hawkgirl, who is saved by Alanna Strange as she attempts to save something from Sinestra's path of destruction.
Which involves creating Motherbox, who then creates the White Lanterns.
From here the series makes a complete jump to a new group of heroes. The Teen Hellions. Yes, Black Flash is a hero in this universe. She's just an undead girl trying to stop crime, go to college, and have some fun.
And now you're all caught up on the basics of the storylines. This Monday brings us the beginning of Big Barda and her Pirate Furies fighting Darkseid the Empress of Apokolips. If that sort of thing interests you.
Random pictures I couldn't fit in above:
(Featuring Steel who would just like it if she could get some work done, thank you very much.)
In conclusion, go forth and enjoy a DC Universe where all the major characters are female. All of them, good and evil.
no subject
Date: 2013-02-03 08:05 pm (UTC)Just wanted to say thanks for the write-up. I already read it but it's awesome to see someone spreading the word. I checked it out mostly because I like the writers, but for a series based on some statues I...am not a huge fan of design-wise, they really do a phenomenally amazing job of turning a project that was originally about sexualised anime design and turning it into a wonderful, revolutionary world of normalised female friendship and asskickery. I almost wish they'd introduce a few token dudes so that it felt fully like a universe which simply has the gender balance of the superhero community reversed.
And also: Big Barda.
no subject
Date: 2013-02-04 01:08 am (UTC)I can deal with the character design if I try to remember it's an homage, but I still feel like they are terrible. I think the writers do a really good job considering. Although I still can't figure out what's going on with Steel's headdress thing.
I worry that introducing some guys would cause the focus to shift. Just because of course comics focus on the guys. So for right now I'm more than okay with everyone being female.