‘ This is How You Draw a 15-y‑o Black Girl’: Illustrators Flood Social Media After Marvel Sexes Up the New Iron Man

Recently, popular Marvel artist J. Scott Campbell found himself in hot water with a lot of Iron Man fans for his depiction of Riri Williams, who is the new face of the series, after Twitter user @ Steph_I_Will questioned how she was drawn. Riri was originally drawn with dark brown skin, yet William chose to draw her significantly lighter and with a much more sinewy, curvy body.

While Campbell became defensive and continued to miss the point, insisting that his art was almost the same as the original, the issue in comic book culture is bigger than him. Marvel, in a bold move, decided to pull Campbell’s cover as a retail exclusive, but this isn’t the first time the representation of a comic book character started a firestorm. Often, young girls in comics are extremely over-sexualized and drawn with bodies most grown women don’t even have. This prompted fans to start using the hashtag #TeensThatLookLikeTeens, started by user @MizCaramelVixen, to show that there are many artists who know how to not over-sexualize girls in their depictions, which will hopefully encourage artists to stop drawing girls as 25-year olds. See some of the awesome illustrations below:

https://twitter.com/maddigzlz/status/788811263241445376

@noribearr and I are working on a comicbook about a 18 year old with super powers. #TeensThatLookLikeTeens pic.twitter.com/Ee4YRvu4gU — jordan renee (@JordanSaidSo) October 19, 2016

#TeensThatLookLikeTeens

Jonesy is a great example! I want more comics like this one! pic.twitter.com/BvYfHMbtg6 — Numbuh 4’s Dad @ INGRAM (@truebuggy) October 19, 2016

@MizCaramelVixen

I think America Chavez is the only teen I’ve drawn in a while…#TeensThatLookLikeTeens pic.twitter.com/KjEonxsvFb — Meredith McClaren (@IniquitousFish) October 19, 2016

https://twitter.com/ElleOnWords/status/789175519522623489

You can check out more of the art on Twitter and Instagram. Hopefully, this is a step in the right direction for children to be drawn as children instead of adults. Also, kudos to Marvel for pulling Campbell’s cover.