Xena the Warrior Princess – Fiction’s Fearless Females

It’s Tuesday March 8^th – International Women’s Day 2023!  Once again I’ve teamed with other bloggers – Kalie of Just Dread-full, Nancy of Graphic Novelty² , and Jeff of The Imperial Talker  – to celebrate some of our favorite female characters in all of fiction.  In a wave of ‘90s nostalgia I decided to write about Xena this year.  How has it taken me five years of doing this series to get to Xena?!!?  Xena: Warrior Princess ran for 134 episodes over six seasons from 1995 through 2001.  Starring Lucy Lawless as Xena and Renee O’Connor as her best friend Gabrielle, the show took hold of pop culture in a way few things have in my lifetime.  It left a lasting impression, too.  As I told everyone who I was writing about this year I kept getting the best responses.  “Ahh!  I loved that show!”  “She was my hero!”  “I loved Xena!”  “I watched her show all the time!”  With Xena: Warrior Princess premiering when I was in seventh grade, Xena wasn’t just an iconic character for me; she was also archetypal.  In many ways, Xena formed my understanding of a “fearless female hero.”  She was my first fully fleshed out example.  She wasn’t part of an ensemble cast.  She wasn’t guest starring in another male hero’s show.  Xena rode alone (well, with Gabrielle of course!) and there was nothing she couldn’t do.

So I invite you, dear reader, to wander down this road of memories with me as I celebrate one of the most iconic and important heroes I’ve ever met.  (And if you wanna let out your best rendition of Xena’s famous warrior yell as we go, feel free!  I won’t tell anyone ;D.  I’ve been doing it again for weeks now, too.)

The Doctor, the Master, and the Boundaries of Friendship

“Time Lords are friends with each other, dear.  Everything else is cradle-snatching.” – Missy to the Doctor

The Doctor is a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey, in the constellation of Kasterborous.  All Time Lords possess the ability to regenerate, meaning when they are near death they are born again in a new body with a new personality while retaining their memories.  Barring accidents or being killed again during regeneration, a Time Lord is essentially immortal.  No matter how much I watch Doctor Who, I can’t fully comprehend that sort of life.  I am a finite being so I can’t fathom traversing all of time and space for millennia.  I love thinking about it!  I love speculating about it!  But I’ll never – no matter how long I ponder – fully understand what such a life would be like.  As a result, I can never fully understand the Doctor’s relationship with the Master.  The Master is another Time Lord, the Doctor’s childhood best friend who grew up to become one of their greatest enemies. 

Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy – Fiction’s Fearless Females

It’s International Women’s Day and for the fourth year in a row I’ve teamed up with some fellow bloggers – Kalie of Just Dread-full, Jeff of The Imperial Talker, and Nancy and Kathleen of Graphic Novelty² – to celebrate some of our favorite female characters in all of fiction.  This year I was having trouble deciding on who to write about.  I wanted to rewatch Harley Quinn on HBO Max and read Tee Franklin’s Harley Quinn the Animated Series: The Eat. BANG! Kill. Tour but should I write about Harley Quinn or Poison Ivy?  Then it hit me!  The entire show (and comic which serves as Season 2.5) is anchored in their relationship.  I would be hard pressed to write about one without writing about the other.  Plus, for a series celebrating “fearlessness,” it’s within their friendship where Harley and Ivy find and demonstrate the most incredible courage.  Standing beside each other, they (ultimately) own and face their greatest fears.  So I’m writing about Harley and Ivy and the type of friendship we should all be so lucky to have.

Given the focus of this piece it’ll have major spoilers for S1&2 of Harley Quinn as well as light spoilers for Tee Franklin’s (as brilliant as it is beautiful) Harley Quinn the Animated Series: The Eat. BANG! Kill. Tour.

Star Wars ComLINKS: The Love of Sharing Star Wars

Happy Corporate Commodification of Love Valentine’s Day everyone!!!  Hopefully, through all the cultural ridiculousness today, you find some time to think about those you love and reflect on what a wonderful gift sharing love is.  In that spirit, Jenmarie, of Anakin and His Angel, has dedicated this month’s ComLINKS to, “This year I thought writing about who we love to share Star Wars with would be a very uplifting topic.  So, who do you love to watch the films/cartoons with or talk about the latest books/comics with?  Is it your parents? Maybe they introduced you to the franchise?  Your loved one or friends you met at Star Wars Celebration?  How do you share Star Wars with this person/people?  Do you have any fun traditions?”  Aww, I love it (no pun intended).  Without further ado, let’s tell some stories!

Patsy Walker, A.K.A., Friendship Goals!

Patsy Walker (a.k.a. Hellcat) has rarely been one of the Marvel Universe’s central stars.  She’s died and, unlike many of her comic contemporaries, stayed dead (narratively and/or culturally) for a pretty long time.  However, her character (at least, a version of her) returned to the spotlight in Netflix’s thoughtful, dark, and moving Jessica Jones.  As a result, we’ve all been given a fantastic treat in the form of Kate Leth and Brittney Williams’ regular monthly series Patsy Walker, A.K.A., Hellcat.  With all the struggles and emotional heaviness in the air around us, I wanted needed something fun today.  Well that led me right to Patsy Walker, the best best friend anyone could hope for!

Star Wars ComLINKS – My Favorite Droid

As a loving tribute to the wonderful Kenny Baker, the man who brought Artoo to life in the Star Wars films, this month’s Star Wars ComLINKS is dedicated to the droids of the Star Wars Saga!  The ComLINKS assignment is to write about my favorite droid and reflect on exactly why they hold that special place in my heart.  I often write about how it takes me forever to settle on my topic for posts like these, be they ComLINKS or T5W.  But this time it took me all of 0.00004 seconds to know who I was writing about.