Comics / Spotlight

Women In Comics - Part 2

By Koncise
November 17, 2003 - 09:07

Echo’s From Da Void!?!

So the deal is this, at the beginning of each month I’m gonna throw something at ya. OK, well now it’s your chance to voice your views. All you have to do is drop me an e-mail. And for the rest of the month we’ll be having a nice little discussion. You wont be edited, it’s all you, but play nice!

Chapter 2.2

Easy Cats

I have to say, I didn't realise how dangerous this whole writing lark could be. Women from all over have been sending me death threats. Can you believe that, I didn't even think I had been insulting? No fear though, no one knows what I look like, or so I thought. Hervé, thinking it real funny has been leaking my picture to all these irate ladies. I nearly got beat down in the supermarket, the supermarket!

So at the moment I'm on the run and doing everything I can to redeem myself to all womenkind. I don't want to go on another date with Mr Righty

Well, as I've said, many of you feel very strongly about this current subject;

Women In Comics (female characters)

I was only able to download two of my e-mails before the woman next to me realised who I was and decided to slap the hell out of me

You may remember the first cat from his discerning comments from a couple of weeks back.

Stinkfist said;

About the comic ladies, I think that the comic book industry has realized that very few women read comics. Whether they were alienated by these twisted portrayals, or if they were exploited because of low readership, is hard to tell. It seems that women were chosen to be something of an icon by our society to temp readers into comics as some form of release or escape. By making women portrayed by society's idea of female perfection, male readers feel more separated from the harsh reality where women, usually, are not up to "perfection." So I think instead of giving these women personality or, on whole, making them actual characters with backgrounds and ideas, they are more so used a tool of the industry to get readers to come in.

This is very interesting. If you breakdown the points that are being made here and then look at the perception of others towards the comics industry, it would seem apparent that this could well be true.

All the jokes are that comics fans are fat geeks that leer over pictures of naked women. There's even a character in The Simpsons that personifies this. So if someone was to open certain comics why would they think any different when the women inside are wearing virtually no clothing.

Ladies, I hope you're paying attention, as our next voice of wisdom is from one of your very own.

Spindle said;

You know, as a woman I don't have a problem with a little cheesecake here and there. The Dodson's Black Cat was absolutely beautiful. I guess it's all good so long as it's executed with some taste and respect.

That said, I never understood the point of having female superhero's be naked. I mean you know you're running and jumping and flying. Something could pop out and blind a girl for life.

One thing though, I actually really like to see women kicking ass. I know it's not entirely ladylike, but it really is empowering. Balance that with some foxy intelligence and it's all good. It comes down to what it always comes down to, good intelligent writing and solid art. A good writer is going to create a character with enough depth to stand up to whatever he decides to make her look like. He's also likely (hopefully) going to have enough common sense to understand that he's insulting the intelligence of his readers by having his female characters running around in glorified bikinis.

Of course, none of this applies to Wonder Woman. She's just fab the way she is. :-)

See, a conversation without me getting bruised I do agree with Spindle in what she is saying. It is fine for women to look good in comics and if you look at Black Cat the thing you'll notice is that her costume is practical. Which can't be said about many of the costumes of female characters.

CrossGen used many different female characters to lead up their books, but a lot of them are wearing the most ridiculous outfits. Take Giselle from Mystic every time she has a fight it would seem like she could pop out, which is pretty absurd, as if you were in situations where you could be fighting a lot you would want to be wearing clothes that gave you ease of movement!?!

Stinkfist and Spindle both hit on the main thing here that can affect all of this. And that is good writing! If you can tell an enticing story with just the use of words, then there is no need for the cheap gimmick of a half (or should I say three quarters) naked woman on every page.

The proof of this is Brian Micheal Bendis and Bill Rosemann (just to name two). Bendis with Alias introduced us to Jessica Jones

A character with a great depth that draws you in. She’s a strong women, that thinks. When she needs to she’ll throw down, but the book is about more than that. Bill wrote the superb mini series Deadline for Marvel

Which was about Kat Farrell, a reporter for the Daily Bugle. She was intrepid and fearless, and you just wanted to read and learn more about her.

Both of these characters wore clothes but still they are loved and revered. So doesn’t this make you wish it was done more?

Don’t get me wrong, the female body is a beautiful thing, but so is the mind. So how about we show more of the mind and spirit and move away from this perception of comics as porno magazines by a different name!

And Now!

So once again, I’m opening this up to all you cats.

There’s plenty of room on the soap box, so let me know your views women in comics. Do you think they should wear more clothes? Do you think that writers have forgotten what the essence of women actually is?

Koncise an out :)

Whatever your views are though, drop me a mail at; koncise@comicbookbin.com

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12