This wonderful issue of The Avengers introduced the "Lady Liberators", a one-shot gang of Marvel's most dangerous dames led by the Valkyrie (who was in fact the Enchantress in disguise).
(Marie Severin's early layout for this dynamic cover.)
It's one of my favorite comic books from one of my favorite runs in the series. The message of "Women's Liberation" is again front and center today as reactionary forces work diligently to claw back rights that women have enjoyed for decades.
(Parody of the cover by Bob Layton)
Strong women in the public square terrorize far too many Americans who had a chance to elevate a strong qualified woman to the highest office in the land and instead selected a raving maniac and useful idiot for the former Soviet Union. Shame.
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Women in comics have always been a mystery of immense proportions. Comic books have almost always been the singular playground for young boys and later young men. Girls were allowed to read romance comics when those got invented and the MLJ line stays alive even today with its Archie line up. But comics are famously about superheroes and superheroes are for boys. We all know that.
So, when dames show up in the four-colored pages they are either damsels in distress or dames of great danger. This month has featured the latter, those women who are just as inclined to stand on the throat of any malignant mope who might imagine she needed saving. (I won't say whose throat I image they might be standing on.) Enjoy these exceedingly dangerous dames
Rip Off
So, when dames show up in the four-colored pages they are either damsels in distress or dames of great danger. This month has featured the latter, those women who are just as inclined to stand on the throat of any malignant mope who might imagine she needed saving. (I won't say whose throat I image they might be standing on.) Enjoy these exceedingly dangerous dames
Death to Male Chauvinism!
I always liked the original Cat, who struck me as being closest to what actual feminism was about - as close as comics could get then, anyway. And while I like Hellcat as a distinct character of her own, I never liked the way the original Cat was turned into Tigra, who eventually became just a highly sexualized figure for the boys (John Byrne, I'm glaring at you) - the exact opposite of what she had been as the Cat.
ReplyDeleteI think Cat deserved a better chance as well. But am I wrong that I want to look at Tigra?
DeleteNo, not at all! :)
DeleteI just wish Tigra was an entirely separate character from Greer Grant Nelson. But then, every comic fan wishes a lot of things about their fondly remembered comics characters could be different, I know - I really don't recognize the current iteration of Dr. Strange at all, for instance. Of course, my preferred version is more than half a century old now ...
Yeah I get it. I fall into that narrow range of fans who encountered the masked version of Doc and liked it a lot.
DeleteSome stunning covers , amazing characters and wonderful comics here. I always enjoyed Marvels Red Sonja, sure it's popularity may have been a result of the scantily clad heroine ( especially under the pencil of Frank Thorne) but Marvel did it right ( unlike Dynamite imho) .
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to my pop culture, which includes comics I am an unreconstructed sexist. When it comes to politics in the real world it's a different story entirely.
DeleteFrank Thorne's art gave Red Sonja's Hyborian Age its own distinct look & style, not just in her appearance, but in her world, didn't it?
ReplyDeleteThorne's artwork did make the reader feel like they'd entered a new territory. That comes through in all his later stuff as well. I'd like to have more of it but it's pricey.
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