Friday, April 13, 2007

This female fights back!

First, a much-overdue note of appreciation to all of you who have e-mailed with kind thoughts for my wife KJ. Her surgery went well, but her rebound is proving considerably more difficult than she anticipated. At this writing, she is still in the hospital, though the surgeon is hopeful that she'll be strong enough to come home tomorrow. Our house is a-bustle with activity right now, with a hospital bed being installed and a ramp being built and furniture being rearranged in preparation for KJ's homecoming.

Second, I'm sorry I haven't been posting much this week. But I know you understand why.

For today's Comic Art Friday, we'll salute KJ's valiant struggle toward physical normalcy with a couple of images of another of my favorite fighting women, Ms. Marvel.

As I've written on other occasions, Ms. Marvel's 1977 debut marked the first appearance in Marvel Comics of a female superhero with a physical power level to rival the company's male heavy hitters. By this point in history, DC had already had 37 years of Wonder Woman, and a couple of decades of Supergirl. By contrast, most of Marvel's front-line heroines — Invisible Girl, Wasp, Scarlet Witch — were distance attackers and defensive specialists, not pugilists. Ms. Marvel entered the scene with power to burn, and a decidedly feminist spin (at least, as feminist a spin as could be expected from middle-aged 1970s men). The cover of her premiere issue came emblazoned with the tagline, "This Female Fights Back!" And indeed, she did.

In the sketch below, artist Matt Haley — whose most prominent recent work has been the Superman Returns movie tie-in comic — sends the Woman Warrior aloft in her original classic costume.



Our second Ms. Marvel image marks Daniel B. Veesenmeyer's return to the comic art scene after a lengthy hiatus. Dan, who's actually worked more in the fields of film storyboarding and animation than in print comics, told me that this was the first superhero pinup he'd drawn in about three years. As I'm sure you'll agree, his potent rendering skills remain undimmed.



Mr. Veesenmeyer is currently working on a new addition to my Common Elements theme gallery — which, of course, you'll see on a future Comic Art Friday.

Gotta dash — it's that kind of week. Thanks for stopping by, and please keep the positive energy and prayers coming KJ's direction. Like Ms. Marvel, she's one female who fights back... even against the invisible enemy called cancer.

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2 insisted on sticking two cents in:

Anonymous Donna offered these pearls of wisdom...

You go girl! This wicked witch of the east has been under the weather all week, but KJ has been foremost in my thoughts and prayers. I'll keep praying for her and all of you.

7:17 AM  
Blogger Sam offered these pearls of wisdom...

All my best and love to KJ. With you around as her support, she'll be home soon enough. I'll say a little prayer for you. Until then, take all the time you need. We'll be here when you're ready.

5:46 AM  

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