that Superheroes Unmasked documentary...

[ratcreature]

I managed to find a copy of that Superheroes Unmasked documentary that aired a while back on the History Channel (I think) in the US. There wasn't much that I hadn't already heard or read elsewhere -- as usual with any tv documentary about comics -- but I still have two comments:

1. Those early Wonder Woman comics? Just wow, if those bondage fantasy panels they showed are any indication for the book as a whole, it is way kinkier than I had thought. But I guess considering how common such fantasies are, it's not surprising that the book sold. And I really have a hard time believing that the audience (its teenage and adult parts at least) didn't notice. Whether they thought of it as kink or not, I bet a lot of readers liked it because of the BDSM fantasy parts. Seriously, when your sexual kinks are hit by something you tend to notice, as in have some enjoyable reaction, even if you don't think of it as "sex" necessarily.

2. I'd really like to read those Green Lantern/Green Arrow books by Neal Adams and Dennis O'Neil with the "social issues" themes. Unfortunately it seems they aren't available as a TPB, the only recent collection I could find was an overpriced HC which not only had a cover price of $75 (!), but is also out of print. The cheapest option to get to read the stories seems to be tracking down issues of a reprint series DC did in the early 80s, which seem to sell at reasonable used comic prices of $2-3 where issues are available. There also seem to be two paperbacks from 1972, but I'm not exactly sure what they reprint and whether those collect everything. (Yeah I'm procrastinating by browsing comic book sites, stores and the like, how did you guess? *g*) Anyway, I'm not sure I want to make the effort to get those. I mean, I'm curious about the comics, but it's not like I really care for Silver Age Green Lantern. I still can't believe DC doesn't have a collection in print, they even mention those Green Lantern/Green Arrow comics on their own "About DC" page.

Also, my DSL is wonky, it disconnects randomly, and I have trouble reconnecting, which sucks.

Comments

[kerithwyn.livejournal.com]

The trade collections from '72 do reprint the entire run--I found mine on ebay for not-outrageous prices. Defintely worth picking up, outdated and preachy as they are. :)

[greenygal.livejournal.com]

I have read some of those early Wonder Woman stories, and trust me when I say, they are absolutely as kinky as they look. What really surprised me about them, though, both in the sense that they were so popular and that they ever saw print to begin with, was the rampant reverse-sexism. Wonder Woman has a line to the effect that it's not wrong for women to submit to a good mistress--and by mistress she means someone who puts chains on you and you obey their every order and love it--only to an evil mistress, or a master. The sheer BDSMness of this aside, I think it's safe to say that most comics women at the time were not getting told that it was okay to be dominated by women but not men. And then we have Wonder Woman getting a female character to put her villain boyfriend in bondage and have him totally submit to her, and when the woman ultimately wants to release him, WW is disappointed. Apparently only Amazons are really strong enough to dominate men like they should be dominated. I am not making a word of this up, honestly.

Also, 'Rith's right about Ebay. At this very moment there are two complete sets of the reprint series and a cheaply-priced HC being offered, so take a look if you're interested.

[ratcreature]

I have to admit that I don't really use ebay. I think I have an account (if it didn't expire or something, I bought two sf books on ebay a few years ago). I don't get a kick out of the auction thing, and I always thought it is rather complicated, because most stuff I find interesting, like US comics or sf books and such, aren't sold on the local ebay, but in the US, and I never know what the shipping is going to cost just from the auction announcement even if they ship worldwide, and some won't accept Paypal because, I think, of seller fees, but money orders to the US otoh have outrageous fees for me (i.e. higher fees like the amount of money I usually want to send), so that is not an option, and then of course there are the problems that also happen when you mail order stuff in regular US stores. Like half the time customs here takes a long time (additional to the shipping time, which I sometimes think must be caused by the Atlantic being crossed in a rowboat, considering how many weeks it takes for packages from the US to get here), and of course there's the additional taxes, which oddly for comics here vary in my experience, sometimes they count them like books (which here equals iirc 7% tax), sometimes they count them as collectibles or something I guess and it's 16% tax. At least so far I've been lucky in that the customs hack'n'slash method of opening the packages so far hasn't damaged any of the comics I ordered.