8 Things We’re Thankful For

by The Mary Sue Staff | 12:30 pm, November 21st, 2012

 

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1. 1.Allow Us To Explain

   Bear with us, non-American readers: Thanksgiving is tomorrow, at least in the U.S., and it's made us at The Mary Sue contemplate the variety of things from this year we're thankful for.

   From comics to movies to cosplay and other con-related fun, here's just a sample of what has made us happy to be geeks in 2012. Getting a bit sappy for a moment, this list is dedicated to the thing we're most thankful for: Our readers. Well, second most thankful. There's Batman, after all.

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2. 2.GeekGirlCon

   This summer Jill and I were invited to be speakers and moderators at our first GeekGirlCon, and after some professional backing from our network, for which we're very thankful indeed, we trekked out to Seattle for a wonderful weekend. I don't have a ton of con experience, particularly with small cons, but I was simply blown away with the mood of GGC.

   My fears that the con would be disappointingly small were erased instead by the feeling that it was just big enough to see everything comfortably and still run into the same people multiple times. Instead of a single hurried encounter, smiles and waves were exchanged every day of the con. With who, you ask? Amazing folks like Teal Shearer (of The Guild and My Gimpy Life), Rebecca Watson (of Skepchick), Stephanie Thorpe (the fan and actress who is now in charge of the movie rights to Wendy Pini's Elfquest), and comics luminaries like Gail Simone, Greg Rucka, and Bryan Q. Miller.

   The truth is, even at this stage in my geek development I still feel a veneer of "you don't belong" at the giant cons I attend, whether it's suddenly walking past a booth selling lovingly drawn women accidentally dropping ice cream cones into their implausibly large cleavage or one where you can get your picture taken on a throne with two women paid to wear Catholic schoolgirl outfits flanking you. I never had those moments at GeekGirlCon, and that, more than all the celebrity encounters, packed panels, and give it to me now items on the exhibition floor, meant the most. - Susana

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3. 3.Comics on Kickstarter

   Last year there was one lady-oriented Kickstarter comic project that we were hearing about, and that was Womanthology, still one of the most successful comics projects in Kickstarter history. This year there are four that are on our radar, and we await most of them with much anticipation. The other ones, naturally, are already out.

   Leaving Megalopolis was the blockbuster project that reunited the team behind Gail Simone's run on Secret Six for a completely original superhero story. The art coming out of this one is already great, and with Ms. Simone behind the words, we can't wait to get our hands on it. We're very thankful that industry contracts allowed these professional artists to get such a weird project going.

   Smut Peddler is a long-awaited anthology of indie comics artists creating sex-positive, lady-friendly comic porn... I mean, graphic porn... I mean... sequential porn.

   Look, it's a comics porn anthology for women. What's not to like?

   Jamal Igle got funding for his Molly Danger, featuring a superpowered ten-year--old who fights crime... and has been ten years old for the last twenty years. It's a superhero book for kids... not something you see very often these days.

   And if there's any thing to make you thankful for comics on Kickstarter, it's one that ensures the future of Jeremy Bastian's Cursed Pirate Girl, the story of a one-eyed young lady looking for her dread pirate father on the magical seas of Omerta. - Susana

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4. 4.Movie Women of 2012

   We’re not yet to the point where we can honestly say we’re happy with the way every Hollywood film portrays women, but we can admit this was a banner year for women in film. At least when it comes to our favorite genre properties.

   We started off with The Hunger Games and collectively held our breath when Jennifer Lawrence took the screen as Katniss for the first time... and was exactly how we imagined her while reading the novels. Not only that, the film became a mega-hit, making almost $700 million worldwide. This was good news for a few reasons. The studio found out they made a good investment, so we would now get to see the remaining two books adapted. And it proved a female lead didn’t have to take her clothes off to make her film successful. Or do anything even remotely demeaning. Yes, Hollywood, it really can be that simple.

   Then came Black Widow. She had a lot on her shoulders as well. Not only were we disappointed she’d be the only Marvel woman on the Avengers team, it meant she’d have to be that much better. And then she totally was. Armed with just one gun and her Widow’s Bite (which she only felt compelled to use once), she held her own on a team full of Gods and supermen (and a guy with arrows), and she didn’t have to seduce anyone. Intelligent, extremely capable, and willing to make the tough choices. Natasha Romanoff, can we be you?

   Merida was quite the wildcard, wasn’t she? Both in real life and in her film, Brave. Pixar was giving us their first female protagonist, and that meant she had to deliver. Brave may not have blown theater-goers away like most Pixar films do, but Merida blew me away. Determined and kooky, Merida was also rash and, well, a teenager. But it was all those qualities and more that made her a character to watch. Merida aimed high, fell hard, and pulled herself up again. My kind of heroine.

   And then there’s Catwoman. Actress Anne Hathaway wasn’t the only one freaked out about the legacy that came before her. Catwoman can be done right, and Catwoman can be done so very wrong. She basically had a 50/50 chance of going down in history as “that other really bad Catwoman.” Instead she kicked ass, kept her bodysuit fully zipped, and helped save the day. While Christopher Nolan isn’t known for fantastically well developed female characters, he gave us a Catwoman to be proud of again.

   It’s safe to say all of these characters had a tremendous amount of pressure on them in 2012, but they managed to give us plenty of fodder for “Most Awesome Ladies” lists for years to come.- Jill

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5. 5.Cosplay

   I’m a cosplayer, so I might be biased when I say I’m thankful for something that allows me to dress as my favorite characters outside of Halloween. So be it.

   Cosplay is a unique artform. It mixes fashion with pop culture and allows for a unique blend of fun and fantasy. And those brave enough to do it? Well, they’re pure awesome. The pros, the folks constantly striving to reinvent standard costumes, and especially the newbies. I know the joy I take in cosplaying and it makes me happy to know so many others do too.

   And this year we’re extra thankful for cosplay because some people aren’t thankful for it. And, by extension, we’re thankful for those who are thankful along with us. Gail Simone, for instance, who helped turn a frown upside down when she proclaimed November 13th Cosplay Appreciation Day. Not to mention everyone who joined in. There’s a lot of negativity and things to be sad about in this world. If dressing up as Loki, Harley Quinn, or one of the aliens from Mars Attacks is what puts a smile on your face—do it. We’ll be here, making posts about how cool you are. - Jill

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6. 6.The Hobbit

   Some might say we're jumping the gun a little on this one. After all, the first Hobbit film, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, doesn't come out for another month. And yet. The run-up to the film has given us seemingly endless instances of Ian McKellen being amazing, crazy legal shenanigans, dwarves giving their best sexy eyes, Dorian Gray Elijah Wood awesome fans, endless TV spots, and weird promotional tie-ins galore. (All my love to you, New Zealand.)

   And then, of course, there's Martin Freeman, the most perfect Hobbit ever to walk the face of the (non-Middle) Earth. It's often said that Ian McKellen is Gandalf, that no one else could play him. The same is true for Freeman and Bilbo. It's his casting, more than any other single element, that has me looking forward to the new Hobbit trilogy.

   Though I'll be exceedingly happy to see Gollum again, too. My preciousness… - Rebecca

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7. 7.Indie Sci-fi Film

   Big-budget blockbusters like The Dark Knight Rises and The Avengers are all well and good (except when they're not), but if you're like me sometimes you're just in the mood for something a little... smaller. Not to take anything away from the larger sci-fi movies that have graced movie screens over the last 12 months, but not being beholden to a big studio can leave filmmakers better able to tell stories that are more personal, more risky, and often more rewarding. I love a good popcorn flick, but speaking as an inveterate cinephile, there’s something about indie film (if done well, of course) that’s just... more valuable to me. And indie sci-fi?

   Give me all the indie sci-fi!

   2012 featured a slew of such films whose directors were able to do things a $250 million (plus the marketing budget!) studio epic probably wouldn't be able to, from building a story around a six-year-old girl (Beasts of the Southern Wild) to turning the horror genre on its head in a gory, inventive way (The Cabin in the Woods).

   Movies like Citadel, ParaNorman, Robot & Frank, Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines, and Attack the Block (OK, that last one was 2011, but I just saw it this year, and believe me, I'm very thankful I did) may not have had the audience of one of this year’s sci-fi extravaganzas, but they're every bit as worthy of your time. Sometimes even more worthy. I'm looking at you, Battleship. - Rebecca

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