batwoman/female superheroes
okay, i'm not the biggest batwoman fan in the world - who is? she hasn't really done anything since being brought into the dc canon - but i am a fan of the idea of her. a strong-willed lesbian who fights crime in a form-fitting but not racy costume without the assistance or blessing of bruce wayne? so down. it's a step closer to a strong DC superheroine with an identity of her own. wonder woman has a muddled origin, has been portrayed inconsistently over time, and never seems to be truly at the forefront. batwoman is a "legacy character," which means that she will always be subordinate in fans' eyes to the batman despite the lack of any relationship between the two (she's not a robin). legacy characters very seldom become characters of their own, and have difficulty shaking the "sidekick" image. and because she's a woman as well, she'd be considered subordinate to the original bat by the largely male, subtly sexist audience. anyway, while i think her potential is limited by the bat prefix and motif, i can get behind the concept..
so of course i was completely jazzed to find out that greg rucka (solid writer of gotham central with ed brubaker, one of four writers of 52, checkmate, bat-scribe) and j.h. williams iii (fantastic artist of seven soldiers of victory #'s 0 and 1, promethea, desolation jones, etc) will be running a batwoman arc in detective comics! it's not her own title, and is being written without a female authorial voice, but it's a start.
there was a big to-do over female superheroes, superheroines in movies, etc, all over the internet recently. someone pointed out that the catwoman, elektra, and supergirl movies were all directed by unknown amateurs, whereas people like richard donner, bryan singer, sam raimi, christopher nolan -- big names -- end up getting attached to the male characters. plus, those three characters are inextricably linked with the larger arcs of male characters (batman, daredevil, and superman, respectively)!
but i think the bottom-up creation of strong superheroines should be a big priority. i think it should be undertaken by women with no interest in making the characters "accessible" or "desirable" to men. they should be personal fantasies of who they could be. not mired in history. not mired in someone else's name or gimmick. and, obviously, i have no idea what women want or want to be [insofar as "women" could even be considered a homogeneous group (they can't)], but it'd be nice to see one with a utilitarian costume that didn't seem expressly designed to display a lot of leg (wonder woman) or a window to cleavage (power girl) and goals that are personal and logical, with consistent motivation and characterization.
men have had pretty much free reign for their adolescent fantasies, juvenile power fantasies, in the medium, for the last seventy years. it's time for people to mix it up.
that said, i can't wait to see more of jim williams' batwoman.
so of course i was completely jazzed to find out that greg rucka (solid writer of gotham central with ed brubaker, one of four writers of 52, checkmate, bat-scribe) and j.h. williams iii (fantastic artist of seven soldiers of victory #'s 0 and 1, promethea, desolation jones, etc) will be running a batwoman arc in detective comics! it's not her own title, and is being written without a female authorial voice, but it's a start.
there was a big to-do over female superheroes, superheroines in movies, etc, all over the internet recently. someone pointed out that the catwoman, elektra, and supergirl movies were all directed by unknown amateurs, whereas people like richard donner, bryan singer, sam raimi, christopher nolan -- big names -- end up getting attached to the male characters. plus, those three characters are inextricably linked with the larger arcs of male characters (batman, daredevil, and superman, respectively)!
but i think the bottom-up creation of strong superheroines should be a big priority. i think it should be undertaken by women with no interest in making the characters "accessible" or "desirable" to men. they should be personal fantasies of who they could be. not mired in history. not mired in someone else's name or gimmick. and, obviously, i have no idea what women want or want to be [insofar as "women" could even be considered a homogeneous group (they can't)], but it'd be nice to see one with a utilitarian costume that didn't seem expressly designed to display a lot of leg (wonder woman) or a window to cleavage (power girl) and goals that are personal and logical, with consistent motivation and characterization.
men have had pretty much free reign for their adolescent fantasies, juvenile power fantasies, in the medium, for the last seventy years. it's time for people to mix it up.
that said, i can't wait to see more of jim williams' batwoman.