Mothership Connection, by Martha Thomases
There’s been a lot of conversation lately in the girls’ section of the comics blogosphere about the way women’s lives are depicted in superhero comics. Even so-called strong, independent female characters are little more than an excuse to show tits’n’ass. Some site evidence that female characters are used as plot points, citing the “women in refrigerators” syndrome. More recently, discussions have centered on the premise that married characters are boring.
A lot of this is a reflection of the larger pop culture, which is at least as male-dominated as comics. The people who can greenlight movies, or put a television show on a network, are most likely Penile-Americans. Book publishing tends to be more diverse because there are more women in positions of authority, and (this is related) book publishing tends to pay less than other mass media.
Most of it, however, is lazy pandering to the perceived target audience. It’s assumed that boys find the single life more glamorous and more exciting than marriage. Up to a point, I agree. The thrill of the chase is, well, a thrill. That said, even the new gets old after a while. Dashiell Hammett used Nick and Nora Charles to show that marriage can be sexy and fun. Why can’t comics?
I’m more disturbed by two recent storylines that assume that being a mom conflicts with being heroic. Both Black Canary and Catwoman recently lost their daughters. Black Canary thinks her adopted child is dead because Green Arrow and his colleagues decided it was too dangerous for the child to live with Dinah. Selina persuades Bruce Wayne to help her put her daughter up for adoption, then asks Zatanna to erase her memory of her baby girl.
Maybe this happens because the target audience – adolescent boys of all ages and genders – don’t want to think mothers can be heroic. Maybe they find it disturbing to be attracted to someone’s Mom. (And yet, in the larger pop landscape, the MILF is the new pin-up. Go figure.)
Or maybe it’s because being a mother requires super-human endurance, strength and coordination. Maybe the intensity of emotion that’s part of being a parent is too intense for escapist entertainment.
A few years ago, Pixar’s The Incredibles told a great story, with all kinds of familial relationships. The family didn’t get in the way of the action. On the contrary, the family was the best weapon against the bad guys. I’m willing to bet that The Incredibles turned a bigger profit (by drawing a larger audience) than any comic book property that year.
So there are lots of stories in many media about heroic moms, and there’s really no reason to demand that so-called mainstream superhero comics create them, too. I get that. More to the point, if I want to see these stories, I should write them myself. (And I am, in my novel, Secret Identities).
So I’m not demanding. I’m suggesting. I think this is a way to grow an audience, which would make it profitable, and I think it’s a way for superhero comics to tell new kinds of stories, which would make it fun.
More fun comics. What a concept.
Martha Thomases is the media goddess of ComicMix.
"Black Canary thinks her adopted child is dead because Green Arrow and his colleagues decided it was too dangerous for the child to live with Dinah."
Actually, Dinah knows Sin is alive… and it wasn’t that it was "dangerous for the child to live w/Dinah" it’s that it was dangerous for the LOA to know Sin was alive, with anybody, and Dinah wasn’t told of the plan till after the fact in order to "sell" it. That’s a bit different than you’re presenting, methinks.
LOA=League of Assassins. The LOA was training Sin to be their next leader and would have never stopped trying to get her back. No problem, now that they think she is dead.
But the part I really objected to was that they didn’t tell Dinah until DAYS after the fact. That presents to me the attitude: "Silly women wouldn’t be strong enough to fake the emotions."
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Separately, I must admit to being a might jealous over the years that many of my friends and acquaintances have been Hyphenated-Americans and I haven’t. Now I feel complete. (paragraph 2)
You’re right — I forgot the details. However, my point stilll stands that the editorial powers-that-be did not want Dinah to be a mother.
Damn, I didn't know about Catwoman, I hadn't read that issue yet.The best mom-superhero characters I can think of are probably Sue Storm over at Marvel and Kate Spencer (Manhunter) at DC. I think a big reason we don't see more is the cultural assumption that (reality to the contrary) the mom is and should be the primary caretaker for the kids, and if she's a superhero they're always in danger unless she can get a sitter or doesn't have custody — because heaven forbid the dad has primary responsibility! Sue works because the FF's extended family affords lots of child care; Kate works because she doesn't have custody of Ramsey.
I still hold up Ma Hunkel, the original Red Tornado, as a great role model. Not only was she a single working mother, she fought crime!(and, let's us point out, as if that wasn't enough of a gender-role-busting activity, did so without trying to look like Betty Grable or some other scantily-dressed pinup queen.)
I haven't read any of the original Red Tornado, but wasn't that played primarily for laughs?
No more so than some other golden age features such as Johnny Thunder. There’s a fine line back then between humor and heroic fantasy. Today, Hoppy The Marvel Bunny could become the new Spectre.
I was actually thinking more of how she is viewed with regard to modern sensibility and continuity, but the stuff at the time was either gaily presented, as Mister Editor points out below, or was very dark Crime-Does-Not-Pay stuff, a la early Batman.
Mind you, I’m still debating whether the whole witness-protection-program, faked-her-death retcon sits well with me, but I’m just happy having her back in the modern comics world.
I can’t wait until Martha publishes her book.
I was impreseed by Mrs. Incredible's ability to 'hold it all together' in the movie. The scene where she basically tells the kids they are on their own if she's not back with Dad is serious stuff. You also site two of my favories, Nick and Nora Charles as fun and sexy. I think most comics couples can get stale because most writers can't site anything in their relationships that is that fun or challlenging. C'mon folks, those stories are just out there waiting to be written.
Makes me want to read it again. William Powell and Myrna Loy are so wonderful in most of the pictures, especially in the first two. But all I remember about the book at the moment is the drinking.