I said yesterday that Power Girl was the best comic that DC was publishing and I meant it. Further more the second best comic the publish at the moment is Detective Comics. The books could not be more different in terms of tone but both feature a female protagonist. Why is this important? Well, it's not really I just thought it was interesting that among all the justifiable complaints made by blogers about the way women are treated in comics that two of the best comics on the stands star women. What's also nice is that the two ladies are so completely varied and distinct both from one another and from the male characters that they're based off (Batman and Superman). Is that the right word? Perhaps inspired by.
The balance of sexuality that both characters have is nice change as well. Batwoman has no problem playing the roll of temptress if it will get her what she wants yet we know that's she not some untouchable fem fatale since we've seen her in real relationships. We also know that's she's not defined by this relationships and can stand on her own.
Power Girl is also well aware of her sexuality but is almost annoyed by the attention while being somewhat flattered at the same time. She's single and a relationship doesn't seem to be a huge priority but she doesn't seem adverse to the idea but rather that other things are more important right now. I love that she almost sleeps with Vartox in the last issue and it wasn't out of desperation or loneliness it was because he'd actually become kind of endearing.
A lot of the complaints about women in comics come from how they're drawn an understandable concern given most of their costumes. No one is complaining about how these books are drawn. The art in both books is fantastic but more than that artists do a great job balancing sex appeal with storytelling. Both these women are hot and are drawn to be so and yet it never gets in the way of the story. There are no panels with women inexplicably posing or panels with an ass in the foreground just to show off a character's thong like outfit. Despite this both books have a ton of sex appeal with Detective dripping with lusty noir sensuality and Power Girl overflowing with playful charm and allure.
Does this signify some kind of revolution in the portrayal of women in comics? Probably not. Most likely both books will be swept away and forgotten in the Brightest Heroic Day and women will go back to existing only as sex objects and dead girlfriends for male characters to lust after/avenge. But in the meantime these are two pretty great books so, enjoy.
I also mentioned yesterday that Sean Murphy was doing some killer art on Joe the Barbarian and that you should check out his Deviant Art page. If you did you might have noticed that the dude loves to draw Wolverine.
You hear that Marvel? Can you imagine Garney and him trading off arcs on Aaron's Weapon X? That sound you just heard was comic book fans across the world becoming sexually aroused by the very thought. Wolverine, Sean Murphy, make it happen.
-egs
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