This is nothing new. Steven Grant's columns over at Comic Book Resources have always been some of the most respected in the comics blogosphere, and for good reason.
But his newest column (thanks to Fanboy Rampage for the link) perfectly identifies what's so disturbing about the endemic victimization of women that's come to dominate modern comics. One of the most common defenses of the humiliation, subjugation, and sexual assault routinely visited on female comics characters is that it's "nothing personal" - the women are just supporting characters, right, and it's the supporting characters' job to get tortured, to suffer, so the male heroes can grit their teeth and shed a solitary tear and swear vengeance, right?
Grant doesn't buy any of it for a second:
If you can't come up with better storylines or characterizations for female characters, particularly heroines (or the hero's girlfriend) than that, something's wrong. At minimum, something's derivative, lazy and uninteresting. How about a voluntary ban on rape storylines for the foreseeable future? Even better, how about an end to women in comics as mainly victims or props? We've been doing this for around 75 years; you'd think women as genuine characters would be par for the course by now, instead of special events.
Read the whole column. Then applaud.
Posted by Marc at March 31, 2005 7:49 PM