Over in this week’s Best Shots column, Brian Andersen writes of his disappointment about how rare it is that books featuring female characters in the lead succeed. If you haven’t read this week’s Best Shots column, go ahead and do so now. We’ll wait. Kay?
Kay.
Women in comics was a little bit of a specialty of mine when I did undergrad. When it came time to do a final project for my major, I chose to focus it around women’s issues in the comic world. I absolutely ADORE Wonder Woman, and no treatise on the girl team can be complete without mentioning Birds of Prey, of course.
That being said, I’ll have to admit that I never even noticed that there was a She-Hulk comic around to be canceled. This is because I’m accustomed to thinking of superheroines who share the powers and names of a male counterpart (particularly one Paris Hilton Supergirl) as tending toward lame, formulaic, and entirely unworthy of notice. I’m sure that will catch me some flames, but that’s how it is.
Generally speaking, it has been my experience that those heroines who are noteworthy on their own, without sharing the name of an established superhero, find some way to acquire their own fame. Barbara Gordon comes to mind – even though she’s always had a special place in my heart, she was somehow never as cool before she adopted Oracle as a persona after the Joker turned her into a paraplegic.
That’s not to say that I’m saying She-Hulk isn’t a great character; I just don’t know, and given that I have a limited number of dollars each week – something I’m sure you’re all familiar with – I have to be selective.
What about you, dear readers? What would make you interested in the womenfolk of the comic book world?
And, while we’re at it, where can I get some of that double-stick tape Wonder Woman uses?
December 8th, 2008 at 11:27 pm
We’re in complete agreement regarding Supergirl, Batgirl, She-Hulk, Spider-Woman, etc. The thing that will make (and has made) me look twice at a book with a female lead is if the character seems truly engaging and original. The same thing that would make me consider a book with a male lead. Kate Spencer in Manhunter is a great example, as was Cameron Chase before her.
Someone who I take seriously as a writer, especially when paired with an art team that doesn’t make her look ridiculously out-of-proportion, can’t hurt either.
December 9th, 2008 at 2:04 am
Fascinating, a paper on women’s issues in the comic world by someone unaware of She-Hulk. Well, not unaware — dismissive — because she bears the name of an existing male hero. Sounds like perfect fodder for the paper to me! Talk about not seeing the forest for the trees. Still, as disingenuous as your excuse sounds, I suppose there are wackier reasons to turn your nose up at a book (paper stock anyone?) Personally, at-a-glance judgements rest on the merits of writer and artist. And even then my wallet has the final say, we’re in agreement there.
December 9th, 2008 at 4:26 am
Paul: I suppose that was a bit dismissive, but there’s an awful lot of material out there and I did have to limit the scope of my research somehow.
December 9th, 2008 at 5:11 am
“That being said, I’ll have to admit that I never even noticed that there was a She-Hulk comic around to be canceled.”
You know, statements like that don´t inspire a lot of confidence in a new blog about comics
December 9th, 2008 at 7:41 am
Catwoman, Birds of Prey, and Manhunter were among my favorite comics (not just women in comics) for a long time. Part of the problem, I think, is that much of the market is based on some form of nostalgia. Adult readers tend to read about the same characters they were into when they were 10, and 10 year old boys seem to like tough guys and wise ass guys, not so much the superheroines (possibly with supercooties).
December 9th, 2008 at 9:01 am
I’ve been writing about comics for 6 years and reading them for fourteen and I wasn’t reading She-Hulk either. And like Barb, women in comics are kind of a thing of mine. (Shocking, right?)
I think her point was that it’s not enough to bring in female readers by taking a popular male character and giving him a female counterpart. (That said, now that I think about She-Hulk it is a rather interesting idea, since I think of the Hulk sometimes as a male stereotype gone bad…ok, that’s a subject for another post.)
Is it too much to ask for us to have original female characters? And like Paul, I tend to make judgments based on writer, particularly, and artist as much as anything. And I’ll give female characters an extra shot if there’s an actual female writing them as well. (This has led me into the superhero world, where I usually don’t tread, on a couple of occasions.)
December 9th, 2008 at 9:04 am
Andy: I’d considered that, but I decided it was much better to be honest about the fact that I wasn’t familiar with the comic than to pretend like I knew everything ever and come across like a dillhole. I hope the internet never turns me into an “expert.”
December 9th, 2008 at 9:04 am
And Sarah, thank you for making my point much more eloquently than I could.
December 9th, 2008 at 9:32 am
“What about you, dear readers? What would make you interested in the womenfolk of the comic book world?”
For starters, more female writers in the industry.
Of course, good writing is good writing, and you don’t have to have “gender appropriate” (lol) writers on characters of their own respective sexs, but I think more female writers on female character’s would bring some fresher perspective.
Katherine Immomen on Hellcat, anyone? If it was a man writing her as being that “special brand of doofy,” I might start reading too hard into the characterization, where none needs to be…and instead I’m enjoying the hell out of the title, if that makes sense.
December 9th, 2008 at 9:41 am
“This is because I’m accustomed to thinking of stories superheroines who share the powers and names of a male counterpart (particularly one Paris Hilton Supergirl).”
Barbara Hallock = Cat Grant?!
December 9th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
“For starters, more female writers in the industry.
Of course, good writing is good writing, and you don’t have to have “gender appropriate” (lol) writers on characters of their own respective sexs, but I think more female writers on female character’s would bring some fresher perspective.”
I don’t know, the Hernandez brothers have written perhaps the most interesting, three-dimensional female characters in comics for 20 years now and last time I saw them they were male.
I think it always comes down to interest. As long as the writers/artists are really interested in telling good stories with their characters, male or female, then we (readers) will get books worth reading.