ArtsSentertainment
IComics’inserts discuss sex and its risks
Character speaks frankly
of diseases and prevention
By Anne Steyer
Staff Reporter
“Life ... is a disease sexually transmitted
and invariably fatal.”
So begins “Death Talks About Life,” the six
page insert published in three of DC Comics’
mature line publications — “Hellbla/.er,”
“Shade, the Changing Man” and “Sandman.”
DC’s conception of Death is not as a grim
reaper carrying a scythe. Instead, Death is an
attractive, friendly, young, immortal woman
— a popular recurring character in the comic
“Sandman” and the star of her own three-part
comic miniserics, “Death: The High Cost of
Living.”
Written by “Sandman” writer Neil Gaiman
and drawn by Dave McKean, the insert is a
public-service message that talks frankly about
acquired immune deficiency syndrome, sexu
ally transm itted diseases, safer sex and condom
use. It is serious, funny, and informative.
The insert is part of DC’s “Get the Facts”
campaign that, according to DC publicity man
ager Martha Thomases, was over a year in the
making.
»i nomascs saia wnccis siaricu turning wncn
DC became aware that teens and young adults
were the fastest growing demographic group of
HIV-positive cases. ,
That age group makes up most of DC’s
customer base. Thomases said.
In addition to the insert in the mature line,
DC ran full-page announcements in all its
superhero titles, featuring familiar superheroes
such as Robin, Green Lantern and the Flash. A
variety of writers and artists worked on these
ads.
Gaiman was approached to do the insert,
Thomases said, beotusc he’s such a popular
writer.
“Neil obviously cares about the subject
matter,” she said. “That is obvious through his
work.”
Gaiman’s comic has featured gay and les
bian characters, and homosexuals are often the
most highly profiled — although certainly not
the only — AIDS victims.
Gaiman said he turned down the offer at
first.
He said he didn't want to do a benefit book
because most of the people who would buy such
a thing would already be informed.
“Preaching to the converted is no good,” he
said.
He offered instead to do a story that could be
inserted into the comics and reach more people,
but he insisted upon being given the freedom to
be explicit.
Gaiman said he told DC he wanted to talk
about anal sex, oral sex and hypodermic needles,
and that he wouldn’t do it otherwise.
DC agreed.
Gaiman said he was drawn to the project
because “people get AIDS and die and that’s
really shitty.”
He expressed sadness and outrage about the ,
disease, mentioning a friend who had been
afflicted with AIDS.
“He died because he didn’t spend 25 cents
for a piece of rubber,” Gaiman said. “That’s
kind of stupid.”
Gaiman said Death was the most appropriate
choice to discuss sexual activity and its conse
quences.
“She’s appropriate—thatisthcendrcsultof
AIDS. She s sensible — there aren’t a lot of
characters in the DC universe that could talk
about these things unblushingly,” Gaiman said.
“And she’s friendly, she’s attractive, and she’s
unfuckcd up.”
-44
He died because he didn't
spend 25 cents for a piece
of rubber. That’s kind of
stupid.
- Gaiman,
comic book writer
-ft -
Gaiman did his homework, reading every
thing he could find on the subject. He went to
an STD clinic in London and look a copy of
every leaflet it had available. He also talked
with doctors and other professionals in the
medical field.
i nc story was taken to various AIDi> agen
cies, he said, and it also went to the Gay Men’s
Health Clinic in New York. Gaiman said they
were very helpful there and made some sugges
tions as to how to make the insert better.
“A man down there said he preferred the
term ‘safer sex’ to ‘safe sex’ because there’s
really no such thing as 100 percent safe sex,”
Gaiman said. “Condoms break.”
Gaiman has received mostly positive feed
back, although some said he should have pro
moted abstinence and chastity more.
Both alternatives were mentioned in the
insert, but more space was given to a detailed
description of the proper application of a condom
— demonstrated on a banana.
Gaiman said he was pleased with how the
project turned out, and was pleased with DC for
doing it.
“I was trying to write something for our
audience, the 16-25 age group,” Gaiman said.
“An age group that is the fastest rising group of
positive eases (of HIV).”
Gaiman is not alone in his concern for DC’s
readership.
“Through this (promotion), we hit every
one,” Thomases said. “Everyone who reads a
DC comic will see at least one — cither the
insert or the ad.”
Thomases said the initial plan was to run the
fFOR CEAtONSTRATION PURPOSES, I*
l THIS IS A BANANA, By THE WAY. HOT J I
\AN ERECT PENIS. I
IT AT THE VP,
/ faue£ZH6 BETWEEN TOUR \
I 7HUM8ANPF0KEFIN6eR, )
l WHILE ROLLINS THE COH0OP ]
\ POWN THE 8ANAHA. A
^. PENIS
$uk£ meters.
HOA/gVtArPBPm THE \
concern, OTMEEW«£ IT I
. <r/w Split £?ukin<3 1
^^SEX
^YOW WANT LATEX eONPO/tt«.\
BY THE WAY. OTHER KINPS ARE )
NO 6000 FOR PiseA$E /
PREVENTION.
r OKAY*'A
you GOTALL
'-THAT* ^
li
I now, some people won't like
convoms. but ip someone ooesn'T
CAPS ENOUGH ABOUT YOU TO WEAK.
a conpoM-op. to ier you wear a
CONWP4H — THEY PtoBABlY CKMTCAPt
ENOUGH ABOUT YOU TO BE WORTH
I
ads in the December comics to coincide with
AIDS Awareness Day. But because of DC’s
printing schedule, Thomases said, at DC it
became AIDS Awareness Month.
“People here feel pretty strongly about it,”
she said.
The same public-service ads that appeared
in the supcrhcrocomicsappcarcd in both Enter
tainment Weekly and People magazines, she
said.
Thomases said she hadn’t seen or heard any
negative reaction to the announcements, but
Lhat she had received plenty of positive feed
Courtesy of DC Comics
back.
Regarding the superhero ads targeted at
younger audiences, Thomases said DC wasn’t
trying to play parent, and didn’t intend to take
away the parent’s role in talking to children
about sexual activity and its results.
“Instead,” she said, “if parents were wonder
ing how to talk to their children about it, this
gives them an opening.”
Neither the ads nor the insert pretend to be
the definitive authority on the subject; they
simply want readers to understand the serious
ness of the topic.
I Courtesy of Ballentine Books
Clarissa Plnkola Estes
Wild Woman
Book explores passionate force in females'psyche
“Women Who Run With the Wolves”
Clarissa Pinkola Estes Ph.D.
Ballantine Books
She is powerful, intuitive and passion
ate. She is the force within the psyche of
every woman that allows us to experi
ence, comprehend and react to every
event that occurs during our lives.
Mostoflhctimcwe
repress her, ignore her
or fight against her
because she enables us
to think and feel at
greater depths than
ever before. She is the
Wild Woman.
According to Clarissa Pinkola Est6s
Ph.D., in her book “Women Who Run
With the Wolves”, there is a wild and
passionate force deep within the psyche
of every woman. This force is the Wild
Woman.
Being a cantadora storyteller and
Jungian analyst, Esl6s integrates a vari
ety of legends and folk laics with just the
right amount of psychological training to
make this book stimulating to both the
intellect and the senses.
Every chapter begins with a myth,
fairy talc, folk tale or story. Est6s in
tensely examines and explains each of
these so that the reader may evaluate the
ideas in relation to her own life. Est6s
refers to these evaluating and application
processes as “psychic archeological digs”
into the depths of the female uncon
scious.
She describes the disappearance of the
W ild Woman as a catastrophic loss to not
only the woman involved, but also to
society as a whole. She goes on to explain
that it is the fault of society that women -
feel the necessity to disregard the Wild
Woman.
According to Estds, this blatant disre
spect toward the innermost part of a
woman is currently evident throughout
society. However, the degradation of the
:
Wild Woman is harmful primarily lo
women who continually deny themselves
access to this inner strength, which in turn
becomes inhibitivc to those around her.
The book’s major problem is its dis
tinct ability lo confuse the reader by
retelling loo much information.
While Estds has many good and infor
mative ideas, she often explains them
once and then explains them several more
limes, just in different ways.
The reader often identifies with the
first explanation and then becomes con
fused due lo continual reexamination of
the ideas.
If you have the patience to wage war
with 502 pages of intense, thought-pro
voking, and confusing mental stimula
tion, you’re encouraged to pick up a cdpy
of“Womcn Who Run With Ihc Wolves.”
If you can withstand the battle, you
might find the victory sweet.
— Elaine Clair
