Superhero Women In Comic Literature

Introduction

In North America alone comic book sales have reached 517.66 million dollars in the year 2013. It is estimated that comic books sales will go up 9.04% year after year. This data suggests that comic books still have a tremendous audience. This audience has managed to remain about the same throughout the years, being males between the ages of 16 and 25. With that being said the artists and writers realized this and started a trend of hyper sexualizing and portraying super women in an unrealistic light, in hopes of enhancing the growth of their fan base. This study aims to analyze “How superhero women are depicted and represented in comic books.”

It is no secret that women have been objectified in comic book culture. With the skimpy outfits, characteristics such as large breast size, and, un-proportional waist-to-hip ratio. However many would argue that this is a problem worse than a simple exaggeration. “In emphasizing the super heroine’s role as a potential, and exaggeratedly desirable, partner for the male characters in the narrative (and, indirectly, for the reader), the super heroine in question is reduced to an object to be possessed, rather than a subject with her own autonomous agency and efficacy. As a result, the super heroine – super-powered or not – is rendered relatively powerless and hence relatively unthreatening (Cook 2014:1).”

Comic books have been used in a number of ways. Besides as an entertainment source they also have been a way to introduce children to reading. This is proved true by the annual event held nationwide called “free comic book day”, which held on the first Saturday of May. With their well-drawn pictures and colorful characters, comic books have been successful in that area. Howev...

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... this theme; many claim it is sexist that the male characters are typically posed in the standard superhero action poses. Where as the heroines are normally bending over and arching their backs trying to portray a sexiness. Many artists started a movement called the “hawk eye initiative” where they recreate scenes in comic books where the poses are switched onto the opposite genders. So the male characters are contorting their bodies trying to get that “sexy” look, while the women are in more natural poses.

The last theme that was occurring frequently was the absence of female leadership. In many comic books, the female super hero is often a mighty fierce warrior. For example Wonder Women was an actually leader of an entire race of people, however when she is inducted into the Justice League she is immediately put on the back burner and cast as a minor character.