(This is part one of a three-part series of articles regarding current runs of all-female superhero teams.)
When I started reading Marvel’s all-female X-Men team, I was completely unaware that DC had been doing this with Birds of Prey for at least a dozen issues. Part of that is due to my own bias (I’m a Marvel girl and I’m not afraid to admit that), and part of it is due to my still-present comic industry naivete. But I was also entirely clueless when Marvel put out Fearless Defenders, another all-female team, so I don’t feel too guilty about my brand preference.
But I digress.
Larry suggested I read a couple issues of Birds of Prey and Fearless Defenders, and then compare them to X-Men with the end goal of declaring a winning all-female team. Of these three teams, which one is the best? For me, of course, this question actually means, “Which one of these teams do you find least annoying, and which one do you think actually does a good job in presenting an all-female team without a massive boatload of stereotypes?”
Let’s start with the current focus of the storylines, shall we? X-Men‘s main plot is revolving around how two of the women are completely unable to concentrate on the problems at hand because they’re too busy trying to claim the role of alpha female while Jubilee’s adopted baby keeps being a cute baby. Birds of Prey is about two blonde women, one “good” and one “evil,” fighting over an attractive, sensitive man while a male villain in charge of a bunch of female villains is subtly threatening rape and murder of the “good” blonde. Fearless Defenders is about a mysterious, evil group that’s trying to genetically engineer creepy alien beings in order to presumably take over Earth and kill the superheroes.
So in these three series’, what we have is the focus on a baby, the focus on a man/romantic interlude, and the focus on an actual plot that superheroes should maybe be focused on because they’re superheroes and superheroes focus on issues that threaten THEIR PLANET AND THEN FIGHT THAT EVIL AND EVENTUALLY WIN BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT SUPERHEROES DO, DAMN IT. Thank you, Fearless Defenders, for ACTUALLY BEING SUPERHEROES.
I have no problem with stories involving a love triangle or a baby or catty insults and fights. These things happen. It’s fine. But why is it the main focus? And how come when I read Battle of the Atom or Lazarus or even Red Sonja, the main focus is actually on something … I don’t know … important? Even in Love Stories to Die For, which is ABOUT LOVE STORIES, the focus isn’t on the romance, but on much larger issues (like how the people who think are good can actually be very, very bad).
I’m taking a very deep breath right now.
In the next two parts of this series, I’ll go more in-depth about the strengths of all three series’ and then the weaknesses of them. But I thought it was important to give you a glimpse of how I’ve read these stories and my initial thoughts coming out of them. And if you think this article was rage-filled, just wait until I actually start to pick things apart.
