divalea posted a pretty blatant hey, suggest me as a guest plea regarding the San Diego Comic Con's 2007 special guests.

Being the sycophantic fanboy suckup that I am, I wrote to Jackie Estrada. She wrote back:

I appreciate your making the suggestion, as I have known Lea for many, many years. At this point, all guest invitations for the 2007 Comic-Con have gone out, and the guest list is nearly complete. I'm sure Lea is delighted to see that CCI has so many female guests already lined up, ranging from writer/artists (Alison Bechdel, Miriam Katin, Renee French) to Golden Age creators (Lily Renee) to fantasy painter (Rowena). We will certainly keep Lea in mind when we start meeting to develop the 2008 guest list--

Best,

Jackie E.

Now, here's the weird thing. My letter to Jackie didn't actually mention anything about her being TEH WOMAN.

Hi Jackie --

Hope you're doing well. As a CCI:SD con-goer for over dozen years now, I'd like to take this time to recommend Lea Hernandez to you as a special guest for the 2007. She has an impressive and distinguished career in the comics industry, as well as providing a valuable and unique viewpoint on comics which might otherwise be missing from the con.

Thanks for considering this suggestion!

--Kynn

I specifically wrote about Lea's career and her point of view, not the fact that she's female.

But the response was all about "look at all these women! we don't need any more! we got plenty!"

And it was also about whatever reaction Lea would have to the female guests.

Now, I love divalea dearly, but I don't view her as interchangeable with Alison Bechdel, Lily Renee, or Rowena simply because they all have female body parts. I value her for her views such as "HURT COMICS," for her experience in web comics, for her skill as an artist, and so on. Her recent experience with having her home destroyed and the response from the comics community is also very, very interesting.

But, apparently, since Miriam Katin is a girl, that's all the response I get back.

If I'd suggested -- pulling a name from the hat -- Steve Lieber as a guest for the con, would Jackie Estrada rattle off a list to me of other men who would be there who have nothing in common with Steve? "Well, Steve didn't make the cut, but I'm sure he's happy to know that Adam Hughes, who also has a penis, has been invited!"