Rape threats have no context in which they're even remotely acceptable--

I don't care who you are or what you think you're trying to prove, but there is no possible justification for making a rape threat against anyone.  There never has been and there never will be.  And for what it's worth, that is all I have to say on that matter.

A nice Cass appreciation piece by a Stephanie Brown fan...

It's short and to the point.  But there have been at least two "bring back Cass" campaigns I'm aware of the writer doesn't seem to be.  That's cool.  After all, I couldn't tell you how many "bring back Steph" campaigns there have been.  Probably more than two. 

My gut feeling is Steph fandom is much more active and vocal lately than Cass fandom for various reasons.  For one, I think the character is simply more popular.  To list a few others, Steph's stint as Batgirl is more recent; the character headlined a book wiped out in 2011 by the New 52 while Cass' last book was that abysmal Redemption Road miniseries way back in 2008 (which with all the reboots and retcons is the comic book fan equivalent of about fifty years of regular human time); the character has a longer history than Cass does (Steph debuted in 1992-- about 1000 years ago in fan-time-- while Cass didn't make the scene until 1999); Steph was a Robin until they tortured and killed her (as a controversial story point, this tends to trump a simple drug-induced heel turn), and so on and so forth.  I'm tired of typing comparisons now. 

It might also be Steph is more accessible a character than Cass for a lot of readers.  She can verbalize her feelings, she's usually written as witty or smart, the kind of character you instantly identify with and root for.  Or, at the very least, find fun to spend time with or read about.  Even as a staunch Cass fan I can see how a silent, former killer who seems untouchable at times could be off-putting or even alienating to some readers (although I can't see anything about her that's particularly clichéd).

Anyway, we see which character DC has picked to debut first in the New 52.  That's also fitting for a lot of the reasons I've already written about here.  But like the Steph fan we started this little rumination with, I can't see a single reason why Cass should remain on the shelf gathering dust for much longer.

This is good news...

According to an article at The Mary Sue, Stephanie Brown appears in an upcoming video game.  Something to do with Scribblenauts, I think.  I have no idea what that is (astronauts who can't draw very well?), but I do know who Stephanie Brown is.  She's the former Spoiler/ex-Batgirl who, along with Cassandra Cain, DC unceremoniously dumped from their ongoing continuity.  The comments attached to the story are a litany of fan joy, which is a wonder to behold.  When fans are happy, all the world is filled with song.  Fans are happy so rarely, after all.

One of the comments attempts to pre-empt and "boo Steph, yay Cass" kind of responses.  Yeah, don't do that, people.  Doing that is a terrible idea.

This kind of thing makes me sad.  While I think it's fine to poke fun at various characters-- I do this all the time because if we're not having fun with our comics then why are we reading them?-- as we've seen, it's not necessary to express your love for one character by expressing your hate for another.  I've been accused of this myself because I once wrote a little piece about Cass with a few jokes aimed at Steph and Tim Drake.  Someone read it, didn't like it, blogged about it and her friends played soccer with my severed head in the comments.  I changed it in a moment of weakness and yet every time someone does a Google search for Cass and Steph this will be among the results.

I mention this because, coincidentally, one of the search term hits for one of my other blogs is a link to that response.  I now believe I should have just shrugged and let my original stand, but the last thing in the world I would ever support is the idea you have to hate one character to love another, that it's either Cass or Steph.  Certainly there's room for both.  I have no stomach for Cass-Steph wars.  Partially because I can't fathom truly hating a comic book character and partially because while I'm very into Cass, I don't take any of this that seriously.

What makes me sad we even have a fandom where people have to think about these things.  Where we're hyper-sensitive on behalf of imaginary superpeople and pixies from other dimensions and you can't just enjoy an announcement without anticipating backlash.

So I'm glad about even this reemergence of Stephanie Brown.  I hope her fans do more than just happy-blog about it.  It's probably more effective in terms of bringing Steph back into the DC universe to spend a little money on this game.  The people who own Steph's trademark or copyright will get some of that cash and that's what they live on, not love or good intentions or packages of waffles.  Support Steph financially and you just may get Steph's triumphant return in the pages of Batman or Detective Comics.

Now.  If they'd just do the same for Cass.

The follow-up to Fight On, Cass

You can read all about it from the event's originator, Zechs, at the Outhousers.  It's a post full of nice art from various Cass-starring comics.  Fight On, Cass didn't come off exactly as planned, apparently, but a number of fans submitted their favorite moments with Cassandra Cain in a heartwarming outpouring of support, even if the major point of the event-- buying Batgirl #37 from Comixology on January 26th-- proved something of a bust.

Well, that's Cass all over.  Even a fan day involving her goes its own way and does its own little thing.  There's no real controlling of such things (unless you're some kind of industry big boss type with the PR resources to stoke the fandom flames like the boilers of a riverboat about to explode or some such simile) and no real controlling of a character like Cass.

We can hope at least a little message went to the powers-that-be at DC, that if only for five seconds someone in an office there thought, "Cass Cain."  Even if that person was in human resources or an intern.

What next?  Another fan day?  Not for this Cass fan, not for a while.  I'm just going to keep drawing Cass, analyzing her series and guest appearances, looking for other blog posts and essay about her to share with you and keep building my digital Batgirl collection.

Cassandra Cain makes the Comicbook.com list of "DC Comics's Most Divisive Characters"

Sort of.  She gets a passing mention as one of the "Forgotten Characters," along with Donna Troy and Wally West.

Now, you may be too young to remember, but there was a time when she was an active character and dividing fans.  It was around the time of "One Year Later," when I was blogging about her and a few others here and there were also adding their pro and con views on Cass.  I remember one particularly trenchant and well-written anti-Cass piece entitled "Of Course She Is" or something along those lines.  It was one I obviously disagreed with-- and I've forgotten the specifics now but you can probably Google it and bring them to my attention for what it's worth so many years later-- but those were days when mighty voices made thunderous noise from their blog mountaintops and even those of us in opposition did listen to the din and tremble before launching our own lightning bolts.

Comicbook.com gives good ol' Stephanie Brown her own entry but you know what?  I don't see her so much as divisive as uniting.  I made a little joke about her a while back, a Steph fan took it to her own blog and she and her friends decapitated it and kicked the head around like a soccer ball.  Roasted the body and displayed the charcoaled bones on their sacred purple bat-shaped altar.  That's how I learned that my, my, you do not want to mess with Steph fans.  The Comicbook.com list even talks about Steph as being symbolic for those not too pleased with the whole of DC's New 52.  Rally 'round the Steph, people!

So you want to become a Cass fan, but you're not sure where to start...

Well, interestingly enough some posters over at Marvel Masterworks Fan Site have you covered.  There's a nice discussion on their message boards for you to read, and I think several of the commenters provide very fair and honest assessments of Cass's series and ways to approach it.  Check it out, and if you can pick up some back issues cheaply-- which you probably can-- jump on in!

DC Women Kicking Ass is celebrating its 3rd Annual Kick Ass DC Woman Contest!

It's that time of year. Time for the greatest DC characters to rumble, spark lots of of fan arguments, inspire passionate screeds in support and generally kick ass. Last year Wonder Woman narrowly defeated Cassandra Cain. I put my three picks in for this year's-- Cass, even though as a top 4 finisher last year she's in automatically, Isis and Katana. Now, about Wonder Woman defeating Cass. That's not surprising at all. Wonder Woman is the original kick ass DC woman. What's surprising is Cass was runner-up. Can we make it two years in a row? Probably not. But it's worth a try. Get out there and drum up some support for our Cass and see if we can't make some noise. But remember-- NO VOTING FRAUD. Cass would have you play fair. Be honest and play fair.

What does identifying with Cassandra Cain do for your self-image?

What do you think of this report?  Apparently, some men who identify with Batman or Spider-Man feel better about their bodies when they look at pictures of their heroes, but if they're indifferent, the pictures make them feel worse.  A previous study found a similar effect in women who viewed celebrity photos.

I love this stuff.  I'm a psychology buff, and I know just enough about it to use its jargon to make bizarre, counter-factual claims and asinine pronouncements that can't withstand close scrutiny with facts.  To me, this report actually raises more questions than provides answers.  Here are a few.

1) What if you identify with Dani Moonstar or Cassandra Cain?  What effect does looking at drawings of Spider-Man and Batman have on your self-confidence?

2) What if you identify with Buddy Bradley?

3) Or the Crypt-Keeper?

4) Have they done this study specifically with female comic book fans?

5) Would doing the above study produce similar results?  Or, given the sexualized or fetishistic nature of how many female characters are presented, would they be opposite?  I'd be very interested in seeing how this plays out, because while their numbers aren't as great as with male fans, female comic fans are incredibly passionate about their favorite characters.

6) What is the nature of identification with characters involving female comic book fans?  Is it the same or different than with male fans?

7) What about fans with other gender identities?

8) Related to number one, how much cross-gender identification is there?  Is this common, or isolated?

9) In the study of women and celebrities, what kind of photos were used?  Were they candid shots, photos from public events or sexualized photo-spreads from men's magazines?  And would any of those affect the results?

10) Is identification with characters-- in effect, the reader "masking" himself or herself with certain characters-- important to creating a fan base or readership?

BONUS 11) What about fans who identify with villains?

I'm seriously interested in someone doing a study on these, and some in-depth surveying of women who read superhero comics.  Isn't it a fairly common belief male characters are idealized and more inviting of identification while female characters are objectified and more involving the reader in the male gazed based on an assumption that the readership is almost exclusively male?  And yet women who are into superhero comics really latch onto these characters and they're extremely vocal with their opinions.  Well, maybe that's just part of being a superhero comic fan.  But you know... Stephanie Brown.  Oracle.  Huntress.  Lois Lane. You dismiss or degrade these characters at your peril.

I'm also keenly interested in the gender dynamics.  As someone who easily identifies with female characters-- I have my entire life and probably pretended to be Wonder Woman, the Bionic Woman or any one of Charlie's Angels and even Cindy Lee from The Secrets of Isis as often as I portrayed Superman, the Incredible Hulk, Sgt. Rock, Batman or Spider-Man as a child, and Dani Moonstar quickly became my masking character of choice in New Mutants-- and responds strongly to their positive and negative portrayals, I'm guessing I fall somewhere outside the control group or whatever the heck they used here.  So I also want to know how other fans who view gender and sexuality in ways that aren't traditionally accepted.

And, strangely enough, I also identify quite a bit with characters with ambiguous morality-- in fictional, comic book dichotomous terms, not real life.  I find we have to go outside the mainstream to find these kinds of richly drawn, troublesome characters.  When I read Nexus, I tend to mask myself with Horatio Hellpop, but I find myself drawn to Ursula X.X. Imada whenever she appears on the scene.  Outside of genre fiction, I find Hopey Glass and Terry Downe from Love and Rockets have always fascinated me more than Maggie, the star.  And I have much more in common with Buddy Bradley from Peter Bagge's Hate than I'm comfortable admitting.

When I see drawings of them, how do I feel about myself?  Pretty good, I guess.