Comics>Video Games

A little bit of fuss had been made recently surrounding the video game Assassin's Creed or, more specifically, Jade Raymond's role in promoting it.Since much of this controversy involves a comic strip, it has found its way into my comic blog-reading attention.

First of all, the comic itself is not that good.It's drawn OK.The premise isn't particularly funny or clever though.The insinuation behind it is not much more inflammatory than a typical political cartoon, but the execution is pretty tasteless.It doesn't really offend me, but I'd be blind not to see how it could offend other people, particularly Ms. Raymond.Let's just say that I understand why legal action is being taken.

Seeing information about a video game in the comic book section of the internet just reinforces my view that video games/video game fans are a much lower form of life/"art" than comic book/comic book fans.About 6 months ago, I found the feminist comic book world by accident while clicking around at Newsarama, which I had also just found.It was right about when the Mary Jane statue controversy was just starting.Even though I don't always agree with what I'm reading, I must admit that it's been fun to read different viewpoints about topics that you don't typically see during standard fanboy bitching sessions.

Most of the writing is about controversy and negativity.You don't see many posts on WFA or Girl Wonder about things people like.It can sometimes be disheartening, but I realize that someone's anger is much more entertaining than someone's contentment.I also realize that there are comics and characters out there that these people must like but don't write about unless they're being mishandled.The characters aren't the problem.In comics you have great female characters like Supergirl, Power Girl, Oracle, Black Canary, She Hulk, Ms Marvel, Misty Knight, Coleen Wing, Storm, Jean Grey, Invisible Woman, Wonder Woman, etc.If your comic book reading goes beyond superheroes then the list will be even bigger.The problems usually come with a particular writer's or artist's(Especially the artists) interpretation of that character.Hand one of these characters to the right person(Gail Simone writing Wonder Woman is a good example.)and you can please a lot of people, not just angry fangirls.No one wants to read bad books.Regardless of how pervasive the sexism might be, there are safe havens out there if you just look.

Video game fangirls don't have that safe haven.The only video games made for girls involve ponies, princesses, or Barbie.(Sometimes all three at once.)I've been playing video games for about 30 years now, since the days of Pong and the Atari 2600.I don't think I could name 5 potential female video game character role models.There's Samus and that's about it.Everyone else is either a pretty princess or masturbation fodder.That's only good if your career goal is to be a stripper or Snow White.The only female character to make an impact in the last ten years is Lara Croft, who only became an icon because her boobs are big enough to make Power Girl envious.

Women/girls playing video games only have a few options:

1)Get used to playing as the tough guy lead character.
2)If you do get to be a woman, you can be sure she'll be as naked as the game rating will allow.
3)Fables is to the most overly recommended female comic book entry point as Tetris is to the most overly recommended female video game entry point.
4)Learn to love girl-centric IPs like Barbie or Bratz.

These are just the games.The fans are even worse.I know that there are hardcore female gamers who love all the same games that the guys do.My girlfriend is one.Since we started dating 6 years ago, she has beaten as many if not more games than I have, and that includes RPGs, first person shooters, and blood-soaked action games.She won't go online to play though and I don't blame her in the least.Any female gamer brave enough to go online is almost guaranteed to be propositioned and harrassed by the anonymously-emboldened online fanboy crowd.If she's really, really lucky she can even get unsolicited pictures of random penises.I guess they can stick it out out of love for their hobby, but why would they want to associate with those asshats?

Which brings us right back to the Jade Raymond comic.Was it in poor taste?Yeah.Was it surprising?No.She's pretty...and she's into games.I've seen some pictures of her.She wears clothes where you can tell she has breasts.I think in one picture I even saw about 1/2 inch of cleavage.Hubba hubba.So of course her position in the company is just to be the cover model for her company's games.Of course she fellated her way to the top.That's how pretty women succeed in life.(Insert eye roll emoticon here.)She couldn't possibly have EARNED her position through hard work and good ideas.She's doing what every female gamer is doing:waiting for the lucky day when she too can be the object of affection from GamerGuy1984.He'll ask how big her boobs are.She'll reply with a very coy "LOL".Maybe they can get married...ONLINE!!! It's so romantic.(You can put an eye roll emoticon here too.)

I'm not outraged, just embarrassed by association.On the positive side, Assassin's Creed has received praise and good reviews pretty much across the board.Kudos to Jade and her team for putting out a quality product in spite of the bullshit surrounding it.