“Is it really so difficult to come up with the idea of a superhero who is wholly unique and just happens to have boobs—God knows, illustrators aren’t shy when it comes to those, but more on that later—and you know what else? What makes it hard? The misconception that pretty much all comic book readers are male?”
In a world where 48% of women in the US play video games and 46.67% of women in the US make up comic book fans, you’d think companies would get the message by now. Women can be geeks. Women can love playing video games and reading comic books. Women are a part of their audience, and we need these companies to start paying attention.
We want unique and individual comic book characters! We want characters of all shapes and sizes to be represented! We want LGBTQ characters who are strong and can kick ass! We have some comics who have heard our cries and stepped up to the plate like Faith, Iceman, and My Brother’s Husband. We want stand-alone female super heroes!
Can Marvel and DC hear us when they put out super heroes like Spider-Woman or She-Hulk or Lady Punisher: female superheroes who carry their male counterpart’s namesake? The ones who needed to be saved by that hero, who had a romance with the hero that they took their name from? Can these superheroes not stand by themselves without these already famous male names and a similar backstory? They can and they should.
I was recently contacted by Rika at Discover Geek who has done several interviews and reviews for the site. She wrote an incredible article on female superheroes who are famously linked to their male counterparts, romantic or otherwise. She created this awesome info graphic that perfectly illustrates her point that we need female superheroes who stand alone without a famous male namesake.
So many female superheroes can hold their own against villains and can still have a unique backstory without bearing an already famous male superhero name. Let’s get off this namesake train and give these superheroes the story they deserve!
What female superheroes do you love? Do they take their name from a more famous male superhero? What comics would you recommend to your girlfriends who need a female heroine in their life right now?
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