The Perils of Being a Male Feminist Comic Fan

Comic books are potentially the most misogynistic of all art forms. (Possibly including adult entertainment, at least men are objectified there too.) So what is a modern male to do? There can often be a thin line between sexy and demeaning. The latest Catwoman books are quite simply appalling on many pages, while Red Sonya, who wears much less clothing than Catwoman, can be attractive to men and empowering to women. (Although an infuriatingly large minority of the time she is not.)

The simple fact remains that women in spandex, as well as MEN in spandex, are sexy. Both male and female fans usually have that one character that makes their heart go pitter-pat. (For those of you keeping score, mine is She-Hulk.) A great deal of the problem lies in intent. Sex sells and whether we like it or not, most of the comic industry is still targeted to 13-30 year old males. Francine can pose for Katchoo’s nude painting in Strangers in Paradise and it’s O.K. It serves the dual functions of art and love, besides Terry Moore draws WOMEN not what a high school freshman might WANT women to be.

Let’s delve into two extremes of how comics deal with female characters for more insight. (And because, after all, this IS a comic review blog!)

Tiny Titans #48:

Anyone who finds the little cartoony girls in Tiny Titans sexy needs a serious psychological evaluation. This comic, ostensibly for kids, just isn’t meant to deal with themes that mature. Yet at least half the cast is female and those girls are strong, funny, and in the case of Raven in particular, well rounded. Tiny Titans may have won an Eisner for best kids’ comic, but a LOT of the subject matter sends winks to complicated comic themes and errata that no child could possibly grasp. This issue deals with secret identities. On the very first full page, Batgirl decides to show her super heroine friends her unmasked face. Even though they know her as Barbara, they are still shocked. One even comments that they never noticed her red hair before. Wonder Girl hops into the panel and feels bad that she is the only member of the assembled girls WITHOUT red hair. To compensate she shows them her orange, her “Secret Orange”. I hope you don’t think I believe my readership consists of simpletons if I point out the “Secret Origin” reference.

The girls proceed to “Barbara’s secret bat-lair” to try on retro costumes. (Think of the massive, and massively confusing, ret-con campaign the new 52 has launched.) Babs, as does almost every character in the series, has an autographed portrait of DC head Dan Didio in her room. (What 8-year-old is going to get THAT reference?)

Wonder Girl is later playing with Zatara and decides that her orange is part of the “Secret Oranges of the Justice League”, putting Clark Kent glasses on it. (See I TOLD you it was a secret origin reference!) A bit later we get a two-page spread of the Secret Oranges and the seminal sight-gag background characters “The League of Just Us Cows.” This is where the only-adults-will-get-it content comes in with gusto. The Secret Orange is now an Orange Lantern with an Orange power ring. Yet it is not alone, it has brought the “Lantern Core,” an arrangement of fruit bearing Lantern Spectrum rings in their respective color including a mostly masticated Red Lantern apple. It looks like curtains for the Just Us Cows until Batcow Beyond shows up to turn the tide. But lo, the evil orange Slade and evil red grapefruit Trigon have been influencing the produce section do-gooders with their mind control box. Art Batazar and the single-named Franco have written themselves into a corner and in good comedic form, it turns out to be just Wonder Girl’s dream. (And she’s wearing a Donna Troy costume to compound the old school goodness.)

Have I strayed far from my original topic? Are you feeling safe to go back into the comic book racks? Well I’ve saved a nasty surprise for the second part of my review.

Nancy in Hell on Earth #1

This comic is were we really get into trouble. Nancy is a B-movie bad-girl on par with no one else. This buxom blond with a dark purple streaked tress carries around a chainsaw and wears daisy dukes that approach being more of a band-aid than an article of clothing. Check out the cover, are they expecting us to gaze upon her posterior through a magnifying glass? It seems like artist Enrique Lopez Lorenzana already has.

In the previous mini-series, Nancy has been murdered and wound up in Hell. There she meets Lucifer, who is merely a misunderstood suffering soul who is still very devout and loves his father, God. They attempt to escape the underworld despite Lucifer’s insistence that God’s punishment of him is just and that he must simply await eventual forgiveness that he doesn’t deserve anyway. After facing hordes of demons that Nancy cuts to ribbons wit her trusty ol’ chainsaw, they exit Hell into the everyday realm. However, we learn that it was all a scheme by a would-be demon prince to bring Hell to Earth and thus gain favor with the true power behind the realm of eternal suffering.

In this issue we have huge demonic beats running rampant throughout the city. (It appears to be L.A.) When Nancy and Lucifer are separated temporarily a succubus in the shape of our heroine attempts to seduce the devil in a short sequence that is wildly inappropriate and more fitting on expanded cable at 2 am than in a comic book.

To make a long review short, El Torres’ script is actually quite well done and, in very small doses, gratuitous cheesecake can be an enjoyable thing. Hence, the perils of being a male feminist comic fan.

I leave you with two images, both done by men, of their ideal portrayal of Wonder Woman.

http://johnbecaro.deviantart.com/gallery/26904292#/d2ainha

http://kinggoji62.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=264#/d2962kx

There is a mixed bag out there, and as long as one is mature and doesn’t allow the objectification of women by the comic industry to lead to complacency or (shudder) acceptance of the practice and wields true judgment there is little to fear in comic-land. (Just don’t let children or the elderly NEAR the Suicide Girls comic!)