And then she rapes you.

Recently, there’s been another outrage outburst in the comics community. A woman criticized a sorta shitty comic cover, and naturally, she was threatened with rape. It feels pretty disgusting to write ‘naturally’, but sadly, that’s where we are at as a society. But just as naturally as guys throw around rape threats on the internet, then came the tweets, the blogs, the facebook comments. It seems now is the time, i’m serious guys! Lets start calling out when dudes we know do this! No quarter will be given to the sexists, the douchebags, the white cis male comic reader mouth breather! NOW IS THE TIME!

Give me a fucking break.

This shit is happening on the regular. And you know why it’s happening, cause it goes all the way to the top. We aren’t passive participants, we aren’t victims of rape culture, the comics industry is a manufacturer of rape culture. We’re expected to call out some losers on our news feed, with the naive hope that this will be the change that is needed. But this is what is what we sell, who pays our bills, who we give interviews for, watch his shows:

The explanations, the accomodations, the rationalization has already poured in. This is a rape of A MAN, so it’s turning the whole “Superhero Rape” cliche on his head. Nice Try. This is why men yell rape. Because it isn’t real to them.

Invincible #110 begins with some superboy coming back from being presumed dead, and his girlfriend is pregnant, and she’s breaking up with him, cause his superhero life is TOO MUCH for her. Single tears are drawn, hands being pulled away, a pretty white girl is pregnant and her life might be hard! And Superboy type dude just. can’t. handle. it. Then he flies away to cry, cause THIS IS A SERIOUS STORY! Please ignore the spandex, they are REAL CONSEQUENCES IN INVINCIBLE. And a super hot sexy superwoman decides to have sex with him, and so she rapes him.

You see, a steady stream of garbage like this, is what a man is fed from day one. Rape doesn’t happen to nice girls, to pretty girls, to your best friend, to your family, in your family. According to TV, and movies, and comics, men have been taught their whole lives that rape doesn’t really happen at all. Men don’t know what rape is, even when they are raping a woman.

“.. I say “Kiss it a little,” she says “No, all the massage oil is on it” and I take the back of her head and I push it down on my d**k and she doesn’t do it. And I say “Open your mouth, open your mouth,” and she does it and I start facef**king her.”

That is David Choe describing consensual oral sex from a masseuse. That is just another dude, some artist, who painted murals at the Facebook offices, living his life, 100% believing that holding the back of a woman’s head, in a private situation, and forcing his penis in her mouth, is not rape. If that’s what we’re dealing with, what do you think legions of comics fans think of rape, when it’s simply another plot point?

“Why should murder be so over-represented in our popular fiction, and crimes of a sexual nature so under-represented? Surely it cannot be because rape is worse than murder, and is thus deserving of a special unmentionable status. Surely, the last people to suggest that rape was worse than murder were the sensitively reared classes of the Victorian era … And yet, while it is perfectly acceptable (not to say almost mandatory) to depict violent and lethal incidents in lurid and gloating high-definition detail, this is somehow regarded as healthy and perfectly normal, and it is the considered depiction of sexual crimes that will inevitably attract uproars of the current variety.” - Alan Moore

Alan Moore, despite his cantankerous perceived personality, is still considered one of the greats in comics. And who’s calling him out? Last book he had published, was by what? Top Shelf right? His career is where he wants it to be. Yet, for him, rape is just another plot point.

When you’ve learned all your moral lessons from spandex-clad ubermensches, who never die, who are always resurrected, you can’t honestly say that “murder” is what we are seeing when we read comic book deaths. We are simply seeing a character take a break for awhile. But when you draw a person being raped, you can’t say it’s just another crime. People don’t live with murder. Although it may seem strange, when real people are raped, they have to live with it for the rest of their lives. You don’t just get to pull a Jean Grey and come back as a new character after a couple months.

But we want our cake and eat it too. Comics blogs want their interviews with Robert Kirkman, they want their sound bites from Alan Moore, aspiring artists want their chance at the next hit image book, and aspiring writers need that pull quote. Yeah, go ahead, and call out the 14 year old loser on your news feed. That ain’t gonna change shit. You spend 10 minutes at the next convention, and you tell me how many maxim magazine style pin ups you see. But you can’t call that out, dude just loves the female form. You read about “cosplay is not consent” but these barely clothed superheroines were manufactured without consent. It’s only a matter of time before they become just another sexual object in the comic, to be punched, to be ogled, to be sexualized, then victimized, then forgotten. How can we have a conversation about how dudes act at conventions, when every comic they read teaches them that women are simply tits & ass and if they aren’t asking for it, they didn’t say no either. A convention is akin to a strip club, but strip clubs at least have a very strict hands-off policy. But we can’t admit that we’ve created a strip club, so we won’t admit we need a hands off policy. There’s no bouncers at conventions, only creators and their fanboys who’ve carved out one of the last few bastions of pure male power. Don’t you dare challenge it.

The indie scene is much better, simply because its independence has allowed it to exist apart from the parasitic environment where one denounces rape culture, while giving interviews to Scott Lobdell, Brian Wood, Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, Robert Kirkman, Geoff Johns, Mark Millar the next week. When an argument about whether wonder woman wears pants or not is considered ‘feminist’, and where artists argue whether highly stylized figure drawings are anatomically correct. Who gives a fuck about the boob size of a teenager, when criticizing anatomy totally misses the god damn point. The titanic is sinking, but we’re talking about a cracked window and not the giant gash pouring ice water into the ship. Teenagers have large breasts, and small breasts, and some have breast implants too – the problem is the comics industry is controlled by large dudes, and small dudes, and right now, its women, that are the breast implants. That is, they are the odd man out. They are the thing that we say we love, we love our “strong female characters” which are all pretty, skinny, white, sassy, Scarlett Johanssons with no muscle definition, sexy, sex symbols, but OMG, SHE IS SO EMPOWERING.

Its like breast implants. We pretend to love them, but actual breasts, the ones that come in weird shapes and sizes. The a-symmetrical breasts, the areolas that are too dark, the stretch marks, or the blue veins, the breasts that aren’t the same since i lost weight. Ain’t no one wanna see that. We congratulate our male writers, editors, artists for giving us just enough, while they can still masturbate all the way to the bank, secure in the fact that they are still attracted to the women they write.

And that’s the rub. Women aren’t human to comics creators, to comics fans, to most men. Women are this subspecies of man. And the man’s gotta be in charge, gotta be on top. Why are we so surprised, that men who read these male-power fantasies, completely lose their shit when their power is threatened? What’s the thing that most dudes are most insecure about? Their goddamn dick size. And what’s the thing that men use to prove their power over others? Their goddamn dick size. The powerless man is a subspecies of man – a woman. A powerless man is a sissy, a bitch, a fag, a cocksucker, a queer. So when a man loses his power, all he’s got is the only thing he’s ever known. He better fuck something.

A man tells a woman he’ll rape her because its the only thing left where he can still have power. You ain’t gonna shame no dude into stop doing that. Shame is exactly why he does it. Dude knows exactly how offensive he is being. And if it offends his dude friends? They think, “That’s cause they’re little bitches too, so fuck them. I bet they can’t get laid, so they just pretend to be feminists to hang out with chicks.” Teach men not to rape is one of the most useless ideas, not because it’s not true, but because your target audience has learned just the opposite. The modern man is at an impasse. They don’t know what rape is, except from what they’ve learned from TV, comics and movies. They know that its extremely shocking, and so they can always rely on it to end the conversation. And they know they are losing their future.

Teach men not to rape? Too late. A rapist is a friend, a brother, a father, a cousin, a step dad. They truly believe they have never raped anyone. Those steubenville kids? Remember that they began crying only after they were put on trial. It was all fun and games before then. Call out your friends, fans, who make rape threats? No, call out the creators that keep making rape stories cause they figured out it gets them on the front page of comic book resources, bleeding cool, etc. etc.

These fans do not exist as an anomaly. They like what we make. We write stories that make them believe that rape is just no big deal. Dude, its a comic, don’t take it so seriously.

Invincible punches a woman in a face, then gets an erection, then is raped. Yeah, it’s the fans that are the problem.

previously published on the Idol Box

Our 10th anniversary cover artist Mike Giant in an amazing new video!

Why be feminist? Why care if any of your comics or movies or tv shows pass the Bechdel test? Recently, i saw some headline that movies that pass the Bechdel test may perform better at the box office. Who cares? And more and more women are on screen, on panels, in panels, writing and coloring and making all sorts of stories. Why does that even matter? Economic arguments, appeals to diversity and better story telling, and all of it is bullshit.

It matters because we are all human. Any other argument is missing the point.

Here i am, at 1:30 am, and i’m watching this collection of clips from Glee.

And i’m crying like i cried when i was a little boy. Violence is infectious, i truly believe that. I am a violent person, i have violent feelings almost every day. I bounced off of social media for a bit, to chill out, and some of my friends have mentioned how they missed the venom. Some folks say that it takes a lot of energy to hate, to be angry, to be negative, and it becomes exhausting to remind them, that no it doesn’t. I hate because its in my blood, because there’s a violence in me that i can’t get out. I was maybe 3 or so, and my mother was crying and her face was covered in cigarette ashes. My father had thrown a cigarette ash tray in her face. I can’t let it go.

Thats the real world, and drawing comics and watching tv has been my escape for just as long. I never remember drawing for the first time, but i do remember the first fights. Broken vase, screaming mother, tired father. I remember bugs bunny, and how he’d dress like a woman to make a joke, to escape an attacker. I remember hugging my mom when she cried, pushing her into her bedroom and closing the door so he couldn’t get to her. The TV was always on. Power Rangers. Animaniacs. Discovery Channel. Muppet Babies.

When the world looks kind of weird, and you wish you weren’t there, just close your eyes and make believe and you can be anywhere.

As an adult, I see men all around me, who write violence, who draw violence, who have never been infected by violence. Most women you know, have been victims of some sort of violence from a man. But where is Batman and the battered woman? Where is Captain America and the saddest conversation you can have with a girlfriend? Where is all the heartache, the pain, the disgust and the powerlessness?No one ever writes the hero origin story who just had crappy parents. That’s saved for the villains. All these writers and artists, and the only time they think about rape is as a plot point. They have sisters, mothers, cousins. But real violence, its terrifying. Men spend most of their time, avoiding this inconvenient truth.  They wanna write the grown up stories, but can’t conceive that spandex is a terrible outfit to cry in.  A thin sheet of bristol board separates their fiction from the reality. That women are human.

Why be a feminist if you’re a man? Because its fair? Because it’ll make money? Nothing in life is fair, and wishes don’t come true in the real world. And economics is the refuge of the morally bankrupt. I am a feminist, and a man, because without it, i’m afraid i’d be a monster. And in the real world, a monster doesn’t twirl his moustache, he gets away with anything. Every dude who’s not an asshole, always wants to be appear as a stand up dude. So lots of liberal guys, they say they are feminists, and they say they want diversity and are progressive in their politics, but most sexual violence is done by a friend, a family member, a colleague. It means i’m a feminist because i’m not only afraid of myself, i’m afraid of other men constantly. Liberal Progressive Men included.

I know i’ve spoken to a few guys, who after reading about the latest sexual harassment story at a comic convention, worry “What if i’m next? What if the feminist mob comes after me for a misunderstanding?!?” I fear it. And even if men privately voice their reservations about the big feminist manhunt, I know i’d deserve it. We’d all deserve it. There are mexican women being murdered and killed en masse on the mexican border, and if you’ve had sex with six women in your life, then one of those women was probably sexually assaulted. So i don’t really think it’s so unfair if a comic book dude gets some bad press. The worst thing i ever have to fear is a week and a half of finger-wagging on comics blogs, and rumors and whispers about me being a pervert. I’m sure that already happens.

I hate what i’ve seen. I hate that i feel like it’s a part of my DNA. So I don’t know if i’ll ever have children, but i would want to inoculate them from getting my shit. But i know when i’m crying like i was when i was a little boy, i watched TV. I read comics. It was some protection, a place to be safe. Somewhere, some child is crying, and they’ll need something fictional. They’ll need heroes that don’t tarnish, that save the world, that love them, that they can love. Feminism will protect that boy too. Feminism will protect all the boys. No boy should have to learn these lessons this way. You shouldn’t have to grow up into a man feeling like you never learned how to do this. Hyper sexuality, braggadocio, machismo – all things that i’m guilty of. I shouldn’t be afraid of  other men, i shouldn’t be afraid of myself.

But i am, and feminism is the only way i know to keep the violence in me from spreading to other men and boys. I thank my sisters, my mothers, my friends. Feminism is necessary, and there’s no argument to be made. Without it, i’m a savage.

Toledo based twin brothers, painting as one. Some pretty interest techniques and pop culture subject matter. Seriously, this stuff is painted by two guys.

lukeramseystudio.com

Madison Wisconsin’s own: natekoehler.com

I’m seriously considering a trip to Portland in April. This looks like an amazing event!