Marvel’s new female centered comics
Just in time for bikini season, Marvel is releasing TWO comic titles which feature an all woman heroine cast! But because we can’t have a female hero, super or otherwise, be something other than an object for teenage boy’s and men’s entertainment or a woman in a refrigerator, both titles are sexified up!
Via SeeBelow*, first up is Models, Inc.. Let’s let Marvel themselves tell us about it:
Fashion Week is always a hectic time for models, and this year is no exception. Between escaped wolves, robbery attempts, and overly friendly police officers, Mary Jane Watson, Patsy Walker, Jill Jerold, Chili Storm and Millicent (Millie the Model) Collins are testing the limits of their endurance. But when a brilliant young set designer is found murdered with three bullet holes in his back, and Millie proves to be the prime suspect, the models are forced to play detective in order to save one of their own!
Yeah. Just what I was looking for when I wanted a strong female character driven comic. Models who fight crime. Think the description is bad, just take a look at the cover, complete with the typical crap that goes with “women’s” magazines, like how to lose fat or articles about makeup.
As a female comic fan, those covers would not make me want to read them. And while I find them insulting, it’s the second comic that makes me stabby. Meet the Marvel Divas! Because nothing says superhero like “hot sexy fun”!
“The idea behind the series was to have some sudsy fun and lift the curtain a bit and take a peep at some of our most fabulous super heroines,” says Marvel’s Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, “In the series, they’re an unlikely foursome of friends–Black Cat, Hell Cat, Firestar, and Photon–with TWO things in common: They’re all leading double-lives and they’re all having romantic trouble. The pitch started as “Sex and the City” in the Marvel Universe, and there’s definitely that “naughty” element to it, but I also think the series is doing to a deeper place, asking question about what it means…truly means…to be a woman in an industry dominated by testosterone and guns. (And I mean both the super hero industry and the comic book industry.) But mostly it’s just a lot of hot fun.”
Who, exactly, is this for again? There’s the implication that we get to see them naked in the shower. The “naughty element” and “hot fun”. It doesn’t sound like a comic that is geared toward a largely female readership to me. Besides, I can’t imagine that if you wanted to get into what it truly means to be a woman in a male dominated industry you’d hear them talking about their romantic lives instead of talking about the sexism, discrimination, and frustrations actual women who do work in a male dominated industry deal with every day.
As if that alone wasn’t enough, Marvel’s editor in chief Joe Quesada had this to say about the criticisms:
If you’re [a] Marvel reader and truly feel we’re sexist, then why are you reading our books? Now, perhaps you’re not a Marvel reader, then if that’s the case, I’m not quite sure what you’re criticizing if you don’t read our books?
You get that? He doesn’t think they are sexist, otherwise why is he addressing the reader as thinking that way, and even if they are, he doesn’t care. Especially if you don’t read their books, then he doesn’t want to hear your opinion. He’ll do whatever it takes to make money, even if it means insulting and alienating readers. His idea of a strong woman and feminism is someone who can kick ass while looking sexy. Because it’s all about how a woman makes herself look for the pleasure of others, not what she accomplishes or even just what she wants for herself.
It’s crap like this that drives me to read good comics that can take issues, tell good stories, and often have beautiful artwork.
Posted in Main Punk Blog, Geek Out!, Feminism |
May 28th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
Models Inc. looks like the very definition of vapid.
Levity aside, comic books are rife with issues of gender and sexuality; female depictions tend to be a lightning rod because they’re so obviously, horribly handled. Case in point: check out the cover for Heroes for Hire #13 (http://www.marvel.com/catalog/?id=7213). Seriously. Click on it. See a mainstream comic book cover depicting sexualized bondage and implications of tentacle rape (for lack of a better phrase). There’s no excuse for that.
May 28th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
So … if they didn’t sex up the sexy lady comics covers, the sexy lady comics would be canceled because sex sells sexy lady sexy comics, and then girls would have no sexy lady role models to learn to be sexy ladies from. Thanks for clearing that up, Joe.
Maybe - and this is way out in left field, mind you - maybe Sexy Lady(tm) is not the only role available for a female character, and maybe - again, I’m right out of my mind, but bear with me - maybe the people who won’t buy the unsexy cover will be balanced by the people who, uh, will.
May 28th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
@Filmbaker If I would have seen that cover anywhere else, I’d not believe it was on a Marvel title. It’s more on par with Manga or adult only comics, not a mainstream release. *sigh*
@DC Perry Yes, you nailed it. From the comments I read at the source articles, many people said they weren’t going to buy it. Hope they stick to that.
May 29th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
If people don’t buy it, then Marvel will say that people don’t want comics with heroines.
Arrrgh!
May 30th, 2009 at 4:43 am
I gotta say, while I don’t find girly magazines appealing personally, I don’t have a problem with the model covers.
Yeah, they could have picked 2 women who weren’t models for the series, but considering the characters chosen, I think the magazine-style covers are cute and appropriate. It looks like the many, many MANY womens’ magazines I see that feature article after article about “52 tips to lose weight” or “74+ new ways to drive him wild!”. In a superhero-centred universe, I can appreciate the tongue-n-cheek articles used on those covers. Like the “616 ways to make your costume look like more than just tights”. Cute, and very much an in-joke.
Of course, I would LOVE it if we could have female characters that aren’t sexy, be allowed to remain not-sexy and have strong, powerful and exciting covers, but I think those magazine covers are a teensy baby step in the right direction; at least they are being somewhat creative and using a cover that reflects, to a degree, the culture in which these characters would be enbroiled via their chosen careers. Unlike that Diva crap.
June 1st, 2009 at 2:22 pm
@Bunny You know, after reading your comment and thinking a little bit, I can give some ground to your way of thinking. While it’s no where near the ideal female centered comic in my mind, I can see this targeted to teens & pre-teens. Maybe get younger girls to see that comics can be cool. Then we can bring them in and show them what good comics are.
July 17th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
RE: the Models covers (oh, hell, all the Marvel covers).
Breasts: UR DOIN IT RONG!!
Could we PLEASE get a comic artist who actually knows what breasts look like, how they interact with gravity, reality and everything else? Please, pretty please….
I’ve ranted extensively about Divas already back at my place. Gah.
Seriously, Joe Quesada…. No words… impending aneurysm…
I really wish I could add something cogent right now, but my brain is trying to claw its way out of my skull.