Girls Read Comics
Women Gain Prominence Among Superheroes
It seems there is a resurgence of female heroes popping up in the comic universe as of lately. Sure, we’ve always had Wonder Woman and Supergirl from DC Comics, but lately more and more females are taking on the cape and cowl and drawing a new demographic of readers into comics. Even familiar female heroes that have always played a role other then the titular character are branching out into their own titles to kick bad guy booty on their own. These women are strong, independent leaders who don’t back down and throw a punch as hard as the next guy. I invite you to let your inner feminist get feisty and turn the pages of something new.
After taking a turn in Detective Comics, in the absence of Bruce Wayne, Batwoman gets her own series where she will solve crime in Gotham one panel at a time. Bruce Wayne will return as the main caped hero to Detective, but in the meantime readers had a nice change of pace.
Speaking of bats, a new Batgirl is enjoying a run in her own ongoing series from DC.
Zatanna, a longstanding character in the DC Universe, including a long stay in the Justice League titles, takes on the pages of her own comic by Paul Dini.
Birds of Prey returned to print with DC’s Brightest Day event. Birds of Prey groups together a powerhouse of ladies from the DC Universe in a crime solving, don’t wait for backup, no frilly girly stuff here kind of comic. Oracle (Barbara Gordon), Black Canary, Huntress, Lady Blackhawk, Hawk (ok, he’s a guy) and Dove all return in an action packed first issue. I personally enjoyed reintroduction of characters panel for panel and am looking forward to the future issues.
Black Widow branches out from Marvel Comics‘ Avengers comics to her own title, appropriately named, Black Widow, after several miniseries, including Black Widow & the Marvel Girls. The super spy made an appearance in this summer’s blockbuster, Iron Man 2, and setting up her character for the Avengers movie scheduled for 2012.
Spider Woman had her own resurgence at Marvel in recent years with a miniseries and a high profile role in the Avengers titles.
Also from Marvel is a new ongoing Spider-Girl series starting in late 2010.
Even the smaller publishing companies are taking strides to bring back female leads. Magdalena, an on again off again character seen in Witchblade and Tomb Raider, comes back this month in her own comic by Top Cow.
Let’s not forget the ladies who paved the road for these titles today. If you’re looking for some origin, Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Witchblade, Batgirl, Fathom, Ms. Marvel, Powergirl and Catwoman–just to name a few, were great titles all in themselves and can be found in trade paperback form on the shelves.
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