Posted by Kieran Frost on 5/13/2009, 9:01 am, in reply to "The struggles are far from over..."
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Just because Barack Obama is the first black President of the United States does NOT mean that racism is over. Just because there are openly gay actors/businessmen/woman, et al, does not mean that gay people are accepted with
no hesitation at all.
In my defence, I made it quite clear I wasn’t talking about race or homosexuality; I was solely referring to women and equality. And I would argue the battle is over, at-least for comics; which is what this thread is all about. We have solo female comics; female leaders of major comic teams, female super heroes have been a staple of Marvel for so many years, in pivotal roles, in vital roles. If the battle for women’s equality still needs to be fort (and, as I’ve said, I don’t think it does in a Western World); a comic book is not the place to wage it; because most if not all the readers will already be very supportive of the idea.
Take women in Thunderbolts (I’ve collected since the start in 1997, so I use them as examples); starting from issue #1.
- the new leader of the Masters of Evil is the Crimson Cowl
- Songbird faces off against the Elements of Doom when her whole team is kidnapped; and therefore saves the day
- Jolt is the one who guides the team back to their moral centre, making them stand against Zemo and his plans
- by issue #12 Moonstone faces off against Zemo, a symbol of “old time” thinking, and wins
- Moonstone then becomes leader, and gets her team back home, after the Kosmos kidnap them. She must kill a man to do it, something Mach-1 was unable/lack the resolve to do
- Moonstone also saves them from Graviton, though only for a while
- the new Citizen V is a woman
- Moonstone also is the one who finally defeats the Crimson Cowl the first time [Side note: Skein will be the one who finally defeats her the second time]. And this is all by issue #25.
Even back in the late 90’s, comics already had a great respect for women, putting them front, left and centre when it came to saving the day. And now it’s 2009; think how far we’ve come. The Skrull Queen was behind all Secret Invasion, Wasp was the back-up plan for the Skrulls if they failed. Emma is Queen of the Mutants, Storm is Queen of Wakanda, the Runaways are led by Sister Grimm, the Thunderbolts are led by Black Widow [Yelena]; the Scarlet Witch is still referenced than almost anyone else I can think of. The Lady Liberators are going after Red Hulk; the Chief of H.A.M.M.A.R. is Victoria Hand, the first major foe against the Dark Avengers was Morgan le Fay, who not only proved a worthy foe, but managed to bring down Ares, Venom and Sentry before she was defeated, by a joint effort of Ms. Marvel and Doctor Doom. Kate Bishop shares leadership of the Young Avengers with Patriot; the new Young Masters of Evil are led by Enchantress. Spiderwoman’s getting her own comic; the X-men have been defeated by the Sisterhood, lead by Madelyn Prior. Blink is back leading the Exiles; the Leper Queen is one of the main foes in X-force; Rogue is about to become the lead of X-men: Legacy, the mutant messiah is a little girl named Hope; the new Black Panther is a woman. And this is just off the top of my head. And look how wonderful this is!
Comics are not the place to point out the opinion that “we need to keep fighting for women’s equality”; it would be a waste of time, effort and I would argue, insulting to those who are very pro-equality to be lectured so blatantly on the issue. But mostly, this battle certainly shouldn’t be waged in Ms. Marvel’s comic; since surely anyone who happily reads it is very much okay with having a woman in an important, powerful, central role.
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