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Showing posts with label Jude Millien. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jude Millien. Show all posts

May 1, 2020

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1892: Razor/Warrior Nun Areala: Faith, May 1996

For information on stopping the spread of COVID-19, and on what to do if you are quarantined, have a look at the World Health Organization site.
 
 
https://www.comics.org/issue/1491399/

 


 
 I was going to read the zero issue of Glory today, but, honestly, it's exactly the same story as yesterday's comic, just in colour. I'll wait a bit and maybe read it when I'm done with Awesome's Youngblood stuff. So we're bouncing back (based on that cover, anyway) to London Night Studios for a couple of days to finish off my comics from them. And this one might inspire another read through of a publisher's output in the collection, as it features Antarctic Press' Warrior Nun Areala - I've read some of their stuff, but maybe it's time to read through the rest.

Anyway, on to today's comic. Violence? Check. Scantily-clad buxom ladies? Check. Hypermasculine demons? Check. I'll admit that one of the tings that actually surprised me about this comic, and about a couple of the other Razor comics I've read, is that they're actually quite Christian. I don't know if this is based on a genuine belief in that religious system, or simply because the characters are set in that milieu, but there's lots of claims of doing things in God's name, most of which are acts of brutal violence.

There's always been that link though, hasn't there? For millennia, rulers have done great violence in the name of their religions (not their religious figures, mind you, but their religions - important distinction) - I suppose, since I've argued that the stories we read now are pretty much all descendants of the various stories we've created culture around, that the link of violence and religion isn't that surprising. That said, if I'm right, and Superman is a secular ethical myth, I'm pretty sure I've never heard of anyone doing violence in Superman's name. I wonder why it's okay to do it in Jesus's?

More to follow.
 
Further Reading and Related Links

As I say, I've read a bit of Antarctic Press - some good, some...not so good.

Apr 20, 2020

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1881: Razor: Torture #1, 1996

For information on stopping the spread of COVID-19, and on what to do if you are quarantined, have a look at the World Health Organization site.


https://www.comics.org/issue/355706/


Going to switch things up as I'm reading through the Youngblood stuff, so I thought I'd go in a completely different direction and read my London Night Studios output. I did Blood Reign Saga a few days back, and now we're going to get into London Night's signature character, Razor.

Don't worry. The version of the costume that she wears in the comic proper doesn't appear to be one that has shrunk in the wash.

Razor is one of the prominent "bad girls" of the 90s, a trend in comics that was crystalized, I think, in the stuff that Chaos! comics put out - most notably, of course, in Lady Death. I guess I get the draw of such things. There's lots of over the top action, and lots of scantily-clad women perpetrating that action. Honestly, if one were to ever try to track the evolution of toxic masculinity, I think this genre of comics would have to at least have a mention. Though, as I note, Razor's costume in the comic is a little more...wearable?...than the cover one, but there's still quite a bit of flesh on display. I'm not sure that feeding the appetites for both sexual gratification and brutal violence (of which there is quite a bit in the comic) at the same time is the best idea. Surely it links the two, and, except in the most safe and agreed-upon situations, those two should never go together.

I should be very clear - I am in no way saying that this comic, or any of London Night Studios' comics, are responsible for the levels of gendered violence we see in our society. That's a product of hundreds, if not thousands, of patriarchal oppression. But a comic like this certainly can't help. I've got to think a bit more on this. There's always been a link between Eros and Thanatos, but I can't help but think that the violence that is linked with sex is not exactly what that link is meant to be about.

More to follow.

Further Reading and Related Posts
 
If you're interested in one of the great "bad girls" of the 90s, here's a couple of pieces on Lady Death.