Athena #1 - Atop the Fourth Wall

Something tells me this one won't be discussed in any mythology classes.

Originally uploaded April 12th, 2010.

RUMINATIONS: I recently reviewed the second issue of this one, as it happens. You can take a look for yourselves here: http://atopthefourthwall.com/athena-2/

Otherwise, what will probably get most people talking in the comments if this is the first time they've ever seen this video would be my feminist rant at the beginning... mainly because that's what got the most commentary on the thing back when I first reviewed it. The good news is that I don't really feel any particular desire to debate people on youtube about my being a feminist or institutionalized sexism in general. I'm not going to win over anyone on youtube over a video I made four years ago and I sincerely doubt anyone who's trying to start an argument is actually interested in a rational debate or interested in being convinced of anything. Hell, I'm not intently following the youtube comments as it is. If I was, I'd probably be getting into fights with people who are STILL arguing over on the "Please Let the Ads Play" video, whose context is over a year out of date and the sheer amount of things that have changed since then for that is staggering. Frankly, if you can't see what's the matter with a comic where there's more time spent looking at a character's ass than of her talking, I don't know what else to say.

But let's talk about sexism in comics, at least. Athena #1 is not an isolated case of a female character simply being a prop. I've heard of a recent test in critical analysis that if a female character can be replaced with a human-shaped lamp and make no actual difference in the story, you know something's up. The fact that it's 2014 and this crap is STILL going on, perhaps even in a worse form than before, is pretty horrifying. At the time of this writing, Marvel is doing a lot better by its female characters, while DC is lagging behind and looking more and more like a group of grade-schoolers not wanting girls in their super-serious boys' club because girls are smelly and have cooties, but lesbians are hot.

But this is becoming a speech. The point is: sexism exists, Athena is crap, and yes I deliberately put on that Zeonizer in the beginning to hint at stuff that was going to happen down the line. I like giving little things here and there like that that pay off later, simply telling people to forget about it later. Ironically (and completely coincidentally), the storyline in the Athena #2 review begins with me unable to locate the Zeonizer first shown here.