(This is part two of a three-part series of articles regarding current runs of all-female superhero teams.)
I promised you a more in-depth look at some all-female teams. Let’s start positively with their strengths.
X-Men
- All of the women have a strong sense of independence and are able to care for themselves without requiring some sort of “knight in shining armor.”
- There’s no specific attention drawn to the fact that the team is comprised entirely of women.
- Outside of their hero personas, we see women in positions of authority (headmistress, teacher, businesswoman) and we see them excelling in those positions.
Birds of Prey
- Every single woman on this team is one hell of a fighter, physically fit, intelligent, and quick-thinking.
- None of the costumes are particularly unrealistic or sexualized, which is refreshing.
- The team is comprised of detectives, and we get to see them work through some pretty complex mysteries.
Fearless Defenders
- Along with these women being teammates, there’s a strong sense of family and camaraderie.
- The writing for this series is amazing and has some of the wittiest dialogue I’ve seen to date.
- The plot is engaging and makes me want to keep reading. After reading just the latest two issues, I immediately wanted to not only purchase the previous 6 issues, but I wanted to add the series to my pull.
In all three of these series, the art is fantastic. They’re beautifully drawn and colored and they definitely catch the eye. I also like the fact that, no matter what happens in these stories, we have three all-female teams going right now, and they’re coming from major publishing houses. This doesn’t mean that I’m necessarily happy about where the stories are going or how the plots are developing, but the fact that all-female teams are selling is a step in the right direction, anyway.
I don’t mean to suggest that women should compromise on what we want to see from comics. We make up a large enough part of the reader demographic now and, even if we didn’t, publishers have a responsibility to fight the exploitation of female bodies in the pursuit of male pleasure. And we have the right to demand a better representation of women in comics, including all-female teams. I’ll address this more in my article about the negatives of the three stories, but it’s something very important to consider: If we don’t demand better work, we’re not going to get better work. So don’t let the positives make you complacent.
