Gotham City Sirens: Strange Fruit by Peter Calloway, Tony Bedard and Andres Guinaldo

A couple of story lines that tell of the new female team of Catwoman, Harley Quinn, and Poison Ivy.

I like the fact that this is a very female-oriented and yet not overly sexual. You get to see three strong women who really support and care for each other really kicking ass of those who would try and hold them back. I would like to see more of that done.

Here's what I didn't like: all of the stories pivoted around their romantic relationships with men. The impetus for all the action had to do with either past love or using a woman's emotions against her. Sad. These are three strong famous super villains, they have fantastically complex back stories, and yet they can't seem to step out of the men's shadows. Why? Why can't they go off to take down someone or steal from the mob because they just want to? Does it have to be because Batman's past relationship with Catwoman makes her weak? I just wish it could've allowed for stronger female protagonists. Perhaps in the upcoming comics?

I'll read the next one, give it a chance, but I can't seem to be optimistic that it'll change all that much.

Womanthology

 I am super excited about the release of Womanthology, and therefore feel the need to share my excitement with everyone.

From the Womanthology blog:

Womanthology is an anthology graphic novel created entirely by women for Charity. The purpose of the book is to showcase the works of female creators of every age and experience levels.

The Graphic Novel will majorly consist of many short stories interpreting our theme for this volume; "Heroic". We'll also have interviews and how-to's with some of the industry's top female pros, as well as talks with young girls who someday want a career in comics.

How awesome is that?  So cool!  So exciting!  The release date is set for February 21, 2012, so it isn't terribly far away.  All the money for publishing was raised through Kickstarter, and they far exceeded their goal.  I think that shows how many people out there are yearning for more women in comics, don't you think?  Unfortunately for me, I didn't hear about this until after the fundraising was over, so I can't say I back it.  I wish I could.

Womanthology is all over.  They have a blog, Tumblr, Twitter, so you can stay updated as the publishing date approaches, and at this point some of the first pages are starting to be available.  A list of contributors is available on the blog.

You can check out some interviews with editor Renae De Liz.

And since we're feeling the fabulous love of female comic creators, let's take a look at 13 fantastic female comics creators of 2011 from Jezebel.

Sandra and Woo: a Webcomic by Powree and Oliver Knorzer

Sandra is a twelve year old with a pet raccoon named Woo. He happens to have the ability to speak to her and they must make sure that this remains a secret from her father, friends, and the world. While the must work together to make sure that their friendship remains a secret, they must also face their separate lives in the wild and school and their relationships with animals, boys, and friends.

This webcomic is ridiculously cute and hilarious. I'm not sure if you understand how much I liked it. Sandra is a quirky kid who not only has a talking raccoon but also a fixation on and a love of video games and fantasy. She dates a boy named Cloud, named after a Final Fantasy character, who learns sword fighting and is generally a stereotypical nice guy. Her best friend Larissa is a pretty pyromaniac with a penchant for manipulation. These three are all quirky, funny, and endearing. Hipsters in training.

Woo is full of hijinks.... which sounds corny but is really the only way I can think of describing him. Adorable, sarcastic, and hungry for anything, Woo must balance the fact that he is a pet with his feral nature.

I read through this in essentially one night and have been checking back in with it regularly. I strongly recommend it. I think you'll all like it too. The art is clean and suits the storyline perfectly, the characters and secondary characters are all memorable and engaging, and the storyline is super engaging.

Sandra and Woo updates Mondays and Thursdays.