The comic relief

I don't know what you guys do when it's deadline season, but I procrastinate like it's nobody's business. Like, a lot.
No lie, I usually start watching a new show when finals are approaching (or better yet, during finals). If I'm in a particularly self-destructive mood, I'll pick a show with like, 10 seasons.

You go, Glen Coco.

Otherwise, I'll resort to online comics. And let me tell you, I read A LOT of comics online.I'm currently reading about 30, without counting the ones that are done (which I tend to re-read during times I can't really afford to procrastinate).

Recently, I found 4 comics to read (GUYS, FINALS ARE NEXT MONTH), and they've made me think about the portrayal of women in comics.

 For example, here is a re-imagining of Wonder Woman, by Kate Beaton from Hark! A Vagrant (go read it, she is awesome).

Although there is a feminist critique aspect to it, the comic doesn't really stray from the normative: Wonder Woman is a bitter burnout.

This comic is definitely better than others.  Zits and Luann both star teenagers. The protagonist of Zits is Jeremy Duncan. He is in High School, has a band, loves pizza and his old VW van. Luann´s protagonist is a teenage girl who is also in High School. Luann has two best friends, one who is ambitious, earth conscious and a feminist and another one (her best friend) who wears glasses, has curly hair and is "smart", a pessimist and sarcastic.

Zits by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman

Why is it that women have a "girl filter" that turns lame half truths into the news of the century? Pink flourishes? Girls only? She was so excited she dropped her notebooks and everything! What kind of syndicated crap is this?

Aren't mums the worst? Especially when they are cooking you dinner.

Luann by Greg Evans

I find very problematic that 1) the only two options are education and job or married; 2) that education doesn't equal happiness - are we saying that the only way we can be happy is by marrying right out of High School? and 3) why don't the parents take any sort of issue with their 16 year old saying that marriage is an option in a year and a half? why don't they correct her and explain that those are really not the only future prospects?

You should know better than talk to women while they do their house work, amirite? Not only will they make you help out with the chores in your own home, you'll be wrong all the time.

Ugh. How depressing. Think about the message this is sending to the audience. Comics like these, syndicated and available on print on the Sunday paper, cultivate a distorted view of normalcy. I really don't remember ever being that vapid.
 
If you want to read anything that stars female teenagers in high school in constant scenarios where semi-nudity is expected (like, say, walking down the street), you should check out the projects Gisèle Lagacé is working on - specifically anything that came out of Eerie Cuties (Dangerously Chloe and Magick Chicks). For her portrayal of LGBT sexuality issues, check out Ménage à 3 or its spinoff Sticky Dilly Buns (NSFW).

It's tough out there.

There are pretty nonsensical comics going around. Like, all-women cast, crazy adventures and whatnot but every other page has a detailed drawing of female genitalia. 
But there are also pretty rocking comics. Like Blip (the author was having some problems with the site and then stopped updating in 2011. Sadface.), or Girls With Slingshots or Lackadaisy or Namesake or Bite Me! (vampires AND the French Revolution? What's there not to love?!).

There are many more. Like, tons. So I vote we support these poor struggling artists that support egalitarian narratives by reading their comics and maybe even buying the hard copies sometimes.

Are there any comics out there that you've found worth a look?