Yeah! I’ve got a new piece up on Mark Millar, sexism, racism and the comics industry over at Spencer Ackerman’s blog. A sneak peak is below, but make sure to click through to read!

The key term here is fanboy. Millar is completely unable to write comics that give female characters agency. From his mainstream to independent work, Millar loves putting baby in the corner. Spoiler alert: no woman in a Millar-penned story is in control of her destiny. It’s disheartening to be a female fan when comics that demean female characters are considered the creme de la creme of the industry.

As comics writer Gail Simone noticed in her famous “women in refrigerators” argument from 1999:

“…How women are treated in comics stories is ultimately part of many larger issues. But just focusing on comics – if most major women characters are eventually cannon fodder of one type or another, how does that affect the female readers? Do they give up?

“Combine this trend with the bad girl comics and you have a very weird, slightly hostile environment for women down at the friendly comics shoppe. No, I’m not against cheesecake or sexual content in comics, but when that content is strictly for boys and the women are just bizarre centerfolds with fangs and big hair … well, it starts to smell like a guy’s locker room.”