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Today, let's kick off the month with a quick Sunday rerun from the wondrous Bronze Age Babies blog and July 9th, 2015. This was one of my earliest examples of the game that appears in our regular feature The Quarter Bin. The focus is on female super-heroes. When this feature first started I only included nine covers for each event; as an extra bonus today scroll down to see a few new options and selections. Have fun and we will be back tomorrow with an all new feature.
Sheroes. The Super Heroine $1 Shopping Spree.
(BAB 7.9.15) Martinex1.: Here we go again. We are taking a trip to the ever changing, ever evolving comic store with only loose change in our pocket. It is time for another round of “If I Had A Buck…” This time around, the spinner rack selection has only heroines, superwomen, and female champions from which to choose.
There has been much talk in the comic industry recently about the attempt to reach female readers and to embrace strong female protagonists. There are numerous titles on the stands today with women headliners and that is a good thing. The cinematic Marvel universe has yet to create an A list film for a heroine. Earlier endeavors in the cinema with Red Sonja, Elektra, Catwoman, and Supergirl starring were less than stellar. Recently some of the Marvel films have established strong women in team efforts with Black Widow, Scarlet Witch, and Gamora. And there is great anticipation around the Ms. Marvel solo film. Hopefully someday we will see the Wasp, Tigra, Valkyrie, Batwoman, Raven, Huntress, and others on the silver screen.
In comics, Wonder Woman was always the grandmother of all heroines. Her costume is iconic and she ranks as a great character in a pantheon alongside Batman and Superman. Her comic has endured in one form or another for many decades, she was the subject of a successful live action television show, and she will be reappearing on film soon (hopefully arriving in her invisible jet). Honestly, I never read much Wonder Woman until George Perez took over the creative control in the 1980s, but always recognized her stature particularly in the JLA.
The late 70s brought to Marvel Comic fans an array of female headliners that have definitely stood the test of time. Many of these characters were initially derivatives of their male counterparts and were used to shore up marketing trademarks and licenses. But characters like Spider Woman, She-Hulk, and Ms. Marvel have evolved with distinct personalities, traits, and conflicts. There have been many compelling takes on these characters over the years.
Spider-Woman’s initial series ran for fifty issues, which is no small feat. She starred in a Saturday morning cartoon show as well. The comic established Jessica Drew’s uniqueness (despite her derivative name) with her base of operations on the West Coast, with a bizarre cast of villains who had horror leanings, and a rather convoluted and evolving origin. Her series had her battle weirdos like the Brothers Grimm, Daddy Longlegs, and Gypsy Moth. She teamed regularly and also fought against the Werewolf By Night. In her introduction, she was evolved from a spider (though that origin quickly changed) and she emitted an odor or creepiness that turned people off. Today she is a consistent star in the Avengers titles and continues to grow in a new solo series.
She-Hulk likewise went through many iterations. She started off with a very tame origin of a blood transfusion from her cousin Bruce Banner; her initial series was fairly mundane. John Byrne advanced her character in his run on the Fantastic Four and in a new solo title in which the heroine regularly broke the fourth wall and had many humorous adventures and interludes. Her most recent solo title is critically acclaimed as it focuses on Jennifer’s legal expertise and relationships.
Throughout the last five decades Marvel advanced many diverse female characters in their team books and solo titles. In my opinion these characters were just as compelling as their male counterparts and often drove very interesting stories with complex characterizations and problems. The list includes but is not limited to: The Cat, Moondragon, Mantis, Thundra, Firestar, Aleta, Nikki, Tigra, Snowbird, Aurora, Hellcat, Valkyrie, Darkstar, Sif, Medusa, Crystal, Nova, Jocasta, Sheena, Storm, Kitty Pride, Dazzler, Dagger, Rogue, Marionette, and Songbird. Some fared better than others over time. Marvel also established some memorable female villains in Black Cat, Deathbird, Typhoid Mary, Moonstone, Mystique, White Queen, Destiny, Morgan LeFay, Madame Masque, Nebula, and of course Dark Phoenix.
Over at DC, we saw Fire, Ice, Dove, Power Girl, Huntress, Oracle, Black Canary, Supergirl, Catwoman, Hawkgirl, Jesse Quick, Batgirl, and many others.
So today, in this discussion there are nine titles to choose from, with nine female leads (I cheated a little to get Thundra in play), and only $1.00 to spend. I am curious what you would buy if there were only female characters on the spinner rack.
But even more importantly, I am curious what you think about the many heroines. Who are your favorites? What stories are worth reading? Who has better offerings in this category, Marvel or DC? Who would you like to see more of and should have their own series? Who should lead a team? Who would you like to see get a solo movie?
And as always, have fun! Here is the list:
The Daring New Adventures of Supergirl #7; $0.60
Dazzler #8; $0.50
Huntress #8; $1.00 (Yeah, I know you would have to spend all of your money, but that is a cool Staton cover!)
Marvel Chillers featuring Tigra The Were-Woman #5; $0.25
Marvel Two-In-One #56 starring Thundra; $0.40 (That punch had to put it on the list!)
Ms. Marvel #21; $0.35
Savage She-Hulk #10; $0.50 (with a Michael Golden cover!)
Spider-Woman #32; $0.50
Wonder Woman #5; $0.75
Martinex1: So those were the original offerings from a couple of years ago, but here are some more heroine driven books that may be more to your liking. What do you think? Would either of the Starfires make your list? How about Raven (she was one of my favorite Titans)? Or Firestar with great pencils from Art Adams? Share your musings with us this fine Sunday!
5 comments:
I'm going to cheat and pick 4 for $1. Huntress, Raven, Starfire (from Teen Titans), and Catwoman. Of all the characters here, I've read Catwoman's solo adventures the most. I've read earlier Huntress stories by Staton and enjoyed them, so I'm intrigued by her solo book.
Loved the recent Wonder Woman movie-- I wonder if any female movie leads will top it?
4 for a dollar is perfectly fine - as you know the game morphed that way recently on BitBA.
I really liked the WW movie also and do recommend it. Best DC movie in quite a while.
I like those Titans books but I am also curious about the original Starfire as I've never read that and gave nearly zero knowledge of the character.
Back when you first posted this, I picked the middle row: Marvel Chillers, Marvel 2-in-1 and Ms. Marvel. Now that you've added some more, I'd switch the Cat for Ms. Marvel - because as I noted in that original comment, I really like Greer Nelson, regardless of whether she's the Cat or Tigra. And I'm actually curious about that more recent Hawkgirl series, which was written by Walt Simonson and drawn by Howard Chaykin, two of my favorite comics creators. So if we can go 4 for a buck, I'd add that one to my picks.
As for Starfire, I used to have the entirety of that series - all 8 issues (bought it for a song back in 1981 or so for about $2). And it was - all right. Basically it was what I'd call 'sword & SF': the titular character becomes the leader of a rebellion against the lizard overlords who conquered her planet. It could have been a solid series, but it suffered from a lack of focus - I think four different writers rotated through it. The art, though, was pretty nice. The entire series was drawn by Mike Vosburg (who co-created the character, I think), with Vince Colletta doing most of the inking, which wasn't a bad thing in this case, as Vosburg's style meshed well with his inks. To be honest, I kind of wish this would get collected and reprinted, as I wouldn't mind revisiting the series just to see what I would think of it now.
Thanks for the input on Starfire Edo. I tend to like Vosburg's art. I wonder if that Starfire has ever appeared again. It is interesting that she got her own book; I wonder how that decision was made.
Martinex, I just recalled that our pal, the Groovy Agent, posted the entire series bit-by-bit over at his blog. Just click on the tag for "Starfire" on his main page (I actually downloaded all of the images and have them somewhere - but I can never seem to find the time to read them; for some reason, I'd just like to have a hard copy again).
Incidentally, his first post also has an explanation as to how Starfire came about. I see now that in my first comment there I was a bit disparaging of Colletta's inks; I changed my mind as the subsequent issues appeared in later posts (although I still think it would have been better if Bob Smith had stayed on as inker).
I like Vosburg's art, too, but only when he puts everything into it, which was the case in Starfire. He also did much of the art in the first She-Hulk series over at Marvel, and that was only serviceable.
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