To follow up on my graphic novel post last week, here’s another take on how female superheroes are pictured in comics. Since in this case a picture really is worth a 1000 words, I’ll just let you take a look. Be prepared to laugh, and then become thoughtful.
male superheroes wearing female superhero costumes
Seen like this, the difference in how male and female characters are drawn is pretty amazing. Since I’m brand new to the comic book world, I’m not willing to get overly judgmental just yet–after all, some of my favorite rock groups wrote songs that portrayed women in basically this same way. And as I mentioned last week, the depth of the female characters in the comics I read impressed me, and I enjoyed seeing actual female friendships develop.
But this is making me think, especially since I’m reading this at the same time as I’m reading about all the latest efforts of government leaders to take back more control of women’s bodies. It’s a bit depressing to think that maybe we haven’t really come a long way at all, baby.
I Am Not a Supermodel, and other observations 