Female Characters

[Franklin Richards]

It's not just females. Any "Family" Character gets the same flack. People make fun of Captain Marvel Jr. and Aqualad too.

 

[imdaly]

Part of it may very well be, too, that people tend to like to read the stories of someone they can relate to and imagine walking in their shoes. Most comic readers are male and would have an easier time projecting theirselves into the lives of another male character than a female character.

IMO.

 

[Raiden]

I think the reason is because when male readers read comic books, they can fantasize that they're the superheroes or they can idolized them instead. For female superheroes, the male readers can drool over them, but they can't really relate to them. But it's not just comic readers either; movies starring female superheroes have never done well at the box office, although their usual poor quality may have alot to do with it as well.

 

[Tron Bonne]

Well, the issue of relatability is brought up a lot with this, which makes sense at first, but upon further examination, generally falls apart. Relatability is cool and all, but ultimately, the actually amount of relation is very low. You may be a male like many of the characters that are considered highly relatable (Spider-Man, for example), but no one has radiative powers, very few people are geniuses, probably fewer have this constant excess of attractive women lining up for them, and I'm pretty damn sure none of them have any super powered fans. So, quickly, the veil of relatiblity is lifted, and we realize it's only met on the most basic levels. And sure, you can argue that men and women experience these basic things in different ways (which is accurate), but not so differently that 'A X out of place and trying to do the best they can in a corrupt world' is so totally unrelatable depending on gender X is.

Here's an example I read somewhere and think it's a good one. Say you have a character introduced that's very relatable. You connect with them, like one does to Spidey, Hulk, etc., and you think it's a guy (referred to as he and all that), but then after say, two years, they reveal the character is actually a female who just looks male or ambiguous in nature. Does all that relatibility the male reader had for the character just vanish in a puff of smoke? No, of course not. Admittedly, it does depend on how it's handled, but gender really isn't all that defining a standard when it comes to relating to a character in these very broad ways that we look at superheroes and the such.

And, honestly, relatability is kind of overrated, anyway. Being compelling is what's really important. Some may say they find the former needed for the latter, but more often than not, when taking a look at it, they tend to be making far more stretches for said relatibility just because they feel they have to.

 

[Franklin Richards]

Well...


Great example. However I know alot of older men who didn't like the fact that Starbuck... the Han Solo Scoundrel of BG... was changed to a woman. Now that character was great but I don't think men related to her as much as they did the old Starbuck.

 

[Raiden]

Well, the issue of relatability is brought up a lot with this, which makes sense at first, but upon further examination, generally falls apart. Relatability is cool and all, but ultimately, the actually amount of relation is very low. You may be a male like many of the characters that are considered highly relatable (Spider-Man, for example), but no one has radiative powers, very few people are geniuses, probably fewer have this constant excess of attractive women lining up for them, and I'm pretty damn sure none of them have any super powered fans. So, quickly, the veil of relatiblity is lifted, and we realize it's only met on the most basic levels. And sure, you can argue that men and women experience these basic things in different ways (which is accurate), but not so differently that 'A X out of place and trying to do the best they can in a corrupt world' is so totally unrelatable depending on gender X is.

Here's an example I read somewhere and think it's a good one. Say you have a character introduced that's very relatable. You connect with them, like one does to Spidey, Hulk, etc., and you think it's a guy (referred to as he and all that), but then after say, two years, they reveal the character is actually a female who just looks male or ambiguous in nature. Does all that relatibility the male reader had for the character just vanish in a puff of smoke? No, of course not. Admittedly, it does depend on how it's handled, but gender really isn't all that defining a standard when it comes to relating to a character in these very broad ways that we look at superheroes and the such.

And, honestly, relatability is kind of overrated, anyway. Being compelling is what's really important. Some may say they find the former needed for the latter, but more often than not, when taking a look at it, they tend to be making far more stretches for said relatibility just because they feel they have to.

It's not just relability, but with male superheroes your average comic reader (which is generally male) can also imagine themselves into the role as the superhero. Plus, I think superhero genre also has that machoism built into it, with heroes looking like Greek gods with their perfect physique and muscle tone. The female superheroes, obviously, look like Greek goddesses themselves, or even scadily-clad like a model out of the Maxim magazine, and they pandered to young, horny males who love to look at sexy women. I think the issue may go much deeper than that, but I think instinctively men still enjoy stories of heroes saving the damsels in distress, and not the heroines saving gentlemen in distress.

 

[Franklin Richards]

I don't know if I agree with the "damsel" theory. I love it when Sue saves the butts of the entire Fantastic Four. I especially love it when she puts macho heroes in their place.

 

[Tron Bonne]

I don't know if I agree with the "damsel" theory. I love it when Sue saves the butts of the entire Fantastic Four. I especially love it when she puts macho heroes in their place.

Awesome

 

[Tron Bonne]

Woah, what the? Like half of that post didn't make it through...?

Well, I'll retype it up later tomorrow, since it was kind of a lot

 

[Raiden]

I don't know if I agree with the "damsel" theory. I love it when Sue saves the butts of the entire Fantastic Four. I especially love it when she puts macho heroes in their place.

Personally, I also enjoy reading female superheroes as well, and I like beautiful women who kicked alot of butt. I'm just trying to offer my own theory on why generally, male superheroes are still more popular than their female counterparts.

Btw, Sue Storm rocks.

 

[LOBO3315a]

I will admit, I like to see attractive women kicking butt. She Hulk is probably one of my favorite characters, as well as Kitty Pryde. Titilation is part of my enjoyment with Shulkie, but Kitty Pryde has always been a neat character insofar as her powers and training.

And I've always thought Sue Storm was underrated. She's by far the most dangerous of the FF, if written correctly.

On the DC side, I will say Power Girl has obvious assets that keep men ogling her. And while I do enjoy seeing her.....fight crime, I also enjoy Supergirl, and Wonder Woman. I think each character has character qualities that make them appealing beyond eye candy. however, let's not count that quality out as well.

Some female heroes are quite aware their costumes and 'attributes' are a distraction to their male opponents. I think it would be a natural reaction for a man to discount a scantily clad woman as a threat, and it would benefit the female hero to use that advantage. Is that sexist?

I've always thought that Power Girl should be in a situation where she has to use her hands for something (keeping a wall from falling on someone) and have to use her breasts to stop a bad guy from getting away by hitting the person with them and knocking them out cold.

Then after she saves the day, have her say something like "Let's see Superman do THAT!"

 

[Tron Bonne]

It's not just relability, but with male superheroes your average comic reader (which is generally male) can also imagine themselves into the role as the superhero. Plus, I think superhero genre also has that machoism built into it, with heroes looking like Greek gods with their perfect physique and muscle tone. The female superheroes, obviously, look like Greek goddesses themselves, or even scadily-clad like a model out of the Maxim magazine, and they pandered to young, horny males who love to look at sexy women. I think the issue may go much deeper than that, but I think instinctively men still enjoy stories of heroes saving the damsels in distress, and not the heroines saving gentlemen in distress.

Yeah, that was the point I was getting to. I see the relatability issue brought for this, but it's not a very valid point to me. I had a much more elaborate response to this last night, but it randomly got deleted, and I forgot what all I said

Well...


Great example. However I know alot of older men who didn't like the fact that Starbuck... the Han Solo Scoundrel of BG... was changed to a woman. Now that character was great but I don't think men related to her as much as they did the old Starbuck.

Not familiar with that, never watched either BSG.

Though, yeah, I can easily see male audiences rejecting that kind of move, but that relation they felt doesn't just disparate. I mostly used that to kind of cut past this whole relatability stuff.

 

[Jennifer Walters]

I think making Starbuck into Kara Thrace was one of the GOOD moves that the BSG reboot did and made a character that was a rip-off of someone else's character into something fresh and new.

 

[Varient]

I felt like this was a subject we needed to talk about. Why is it that female characters have such a hard time staying a float in the comics world, even when a book is well written and has a great creative team, I feel like most comic readers don't give them a chance.

Is it because all the straight men reading comics just are intimidated by girls that can kick their ass? Or is it something else entirely?

I very much doubt that it's the lack of female readers that doesn't keep a great female superhero book like Slott's run on She-Hulk or all of Spider-Girl from being cancelled? So why is it exactly that female ongoings so rarely stay afloat long? Especially on the side of Marvel.

I always thought it was a suspension of belief and mistreatment by the industry itself.

For years She-hulk (when savage) would change and not be striding around only in a pair of overstressed panties,.. It was easy to accept strong women with powersets that didn't require they get "dirty" - yet I always raised an eyebrow at the physical ones who could fight w/o a hair out of place but their male equiv's would be reduced to wearing rags fighting the same things.

So i was a Sue Storm / Ororo Monroe / Jean Grey / Katherine Pride fan from way back.

I could accept the physical of someone like the Black widow,.. or Misty Knight,.. they got buised sometimes,... and didn't make it a real habit to get physical,...

But not much more.
Take the current "spidergirl" in 616.

On numerous occasions Peter has lost his powers. Web swinging is almost impossible w/o super strength. Everything involved in the act reguired upper body strength that Peter barely had enough of to go more than a couple of blocks,... yet the new Spidergirl with NO SUPER STRENGTH is "line swinging" in the classic SM poses,... lifting herself up and swinging herself down w/o breaking a sweat,.. in a costume that is not anything but modesty-resistant.

If they don't "fix" that, I'll be regulating her to the "other" ruined characters in Marvel and lose interest.

"Arana" had the strength once upon a time - I'm kinda surprised she lost it.

Take the recently deceased Spiderwoman as another example.

By canon - her powers were a combo of the results of a ceremony that gave her strength, speed, flight, in the "super" catagory,...and the absorbed powers of three "other" Spiderwomen - yet Craven's crew could catch, tie her down, and kill her?????

She was physically stronger and faster than Spiderman,...

And her death,... Why isn't JJ Jamson pitching a cow?

It doesn't help that the comic companies make their costumes impractical.

or - ignore the laws of physics in ref to what should happen with some of the stuff they do,...

or - put them in situations that the Male heroes don't have to worry about.


Nah,.. It's NOT the fan base doing this.

Peace.

 

[Varient]

tbh i dont read female headliners because i dont want to be overwhelmed by boobage.

i am only a man, a very meek antisocial virgin man.


also on a slightly off topic note, has there ever been a flat chested women heroic figure or is that just heresy to even think about.

Katherine Pryde was supoosed to be small busted,... then after excaliber she suddenly sprouted "Big-un's"

Sigh.