Remember Xena: Warrior Princess? Wasn’t she cool? Well I thought she was anyhow. Thinking about Xena got me to thinking about women in comics, and how come they never seem to break their own brand of glass ceiling. Despite the fact that the ceiling in question is sales driven I feel like comic makers don’t do enough to support strong female characters. Here are my issues with the status quo.
The women in comic s are often times over sexed and unnaturally drawn. I’m a sucker for an hour glass figure as much as the next guy, but at some point we have to remind ourselves that these aren’t real women. They are two-dimensional drawings that really need to put on a pair of pants. There are countless comics where women are put in dangerous situations wearing next to nothing (looking at you Silk Specter) and it makes the story and characters less somehow. The way women are drawn in comics is a sign of general disrespect for the opposite sex.
Due to the way women are imagined in comics they are often put in unrealistic roles, or stereotypical ones. Few female characters are depicted in a positive light, Lois Lane and Pepper Potts are a few of the stronger female characters in comics and neither of them have their own comic. The only female main player I can really think of that is acceptable is Spider-Girl and her book was recently cancelled.
That of course is the overarching argument about women in comics, which is their books don’t sell. It’s no wonder they don’t sell when the same formula is used with every female character to come to the forefront. In the recent All Star Batman and Robin by Frank Miller and Jim Lee we see a young Black Canary do her action thing when we first meet her, and what’s the next thing we see? Batman nailing her on a roof top. Firstly, what kind of message is that sending to younger readers about girls, and was it really necessary to the story for that to occur? Secondly, what is it with almost every female character being a sexpot that can’t wait to get their hands on some Batman type of guy?
There are great female writers like Gail Simone and Louise Simonson that are stuck working with degraded source material. They can’t put Wonder Woman in garments befitting a warrior because some pimply faced greasy geek will lose his lunch if Wonder Woman didn’t look like an underdressed cheerleader. Simone does an incredible job depicting strong female characters in her Secret Six book, but that’s just not enough to erase untold years of misogyny.
What comics need is a new commitment to realistic and strong female characters. My hat’s off to Joss Whedon and Buffy the Vampire Slayer for giving us a well balanced character that women and men can equally cheer for. The Vampire Slayer should provide us with a new approach and formula for working with heroines. Marvel and DC could help matters with a new commitment to female stars. Even though they do have some good stuff going with Ms. Marvel and Wonder Woman they could do more.
While I hate to wag my finger at Marvel and DC like this I have to call em’ as I see em’ and there is something wrong with the way women are represented in comics. If Marvel needs to hire female consultants to help with realism then they should do so, whatever it takes to make comics more friendly to women and less offensive.
Stan Lee once said that superheroes should look bigger and stronger than regular humans but I doubt that when he said that he had Power Girl in mind as an example of what to do.
Female fans, you might want to check out Ms. Marvel. She’s a well balanced character that has a lot going on. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is an awesome book and totally worth your money and finally check out Secret Six and tell me what you think.
