TGIF and No Work Tomorrow

Actually, I have a 3-day weekend, thanks to Monday being MLKing's birthday and a federal holiday. Nasty day, but it cleared up by the time we left and got colder, but I didn't mind because the sky was mostly clear and the air fresh and the dampness of yesterday's fog and today's cold rain was gone.

Lots of fun links today, but I'm feeling lazy, so will just put up a few.

What do you get when you cross Star Wars' Darth Vader with Mr. Potato-Head? You get Hasbro's new Darth Tater toy. Found on Boing Boing.

I had a yummy brownie for dessert today at lunchtime, so since I can't share that chocolicious goodness with you, I offer up a chocolicious link, instead: Chocolate Sushi. Found on Bacon and Ehs. They do look inviting. I think I'm going to have to try Buddha's Delight.

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Comic books and girls haven't been a good fit for many years, but comic book publishers, desperate to compete with all the other media out there, from computer games to video and the internet, are starting to realize they need to broaden their appeal and get girls reading. Manga is proving popular with females and more female-friendly comics are to come. I've been reading about this for a year or so now in comic publications, but Blog of a Book Slut posted a link to a nice article about it.

The article discusses how there used to be a number of comics geared for girls, and not just Archies. There were Katy Keene and Millie the Model (that's the one I'd been trying to remember for months now). I remember reading Classics Illustrated, too, and romance comics. Even my friends read those. But I was weird. I also liked superheroes and my friends wouldn't want to be seen with me if I had one of those in hand, not even if I was reading Lois Lane or Supergirl. I know other women who grew up reading superhero comics, but we're in the minority. Hell, it's hard to find anyone who's female who will admit to reading comics of any sort. Maybe that will change one day as comics get more girl-friendly. But I wish they're also consider the better superhero comics, a few of which feature women, such as Birds of Prey, currently being written by a woman, Gail Simone. And that's another thing. We need more women writing and drawing comics. That can only help give comic books a wider appeal.