Recently I got back into comics after nearly a decade when my three year old son, Ezra, started getting into superheroes. He really likes Spiderman, Wolverine, Black Widow and Moon Knight, so I pulled out my old dusty box of comics and let him pick one to read. He enjoyed it and I remembered how much I did as well. I ended up taking him to the local comic shop here in Portland, OR called Floating World Comics, where we got his first set of comics: Black Widow, Moon Knight and Scribblenauts.

That night we read all three together and I was hooked again, especially with Black Widow. She’s a superhero who I knew of, but not much more. She was just some random character I remember showing up here and there in other comics I read growing up. In her solo comic however, she was a badass. I bought the 2nd issue the next day. This had me wondering why I never remember seeing solo female comics, aside from Wonder Woman, when I was young?

Don’t fuck with Black Widow Left is the cover of Black Widow #3 and the right is a page from Black Widow #1

I got into comics originally when my uncle showed me his collection after I told him how much I liked superheroes. Each visit he’d let me pick out a couple comics. I loved them. I remember reading Wolverine’s first solo series, early Thor, Spiderman and Wolverine Team Up, and so many more. I didn’t realize female superheroes basically didn’t exist growing up. Looking back, it’s just strange. Why were most women extras thrown in there? Why were so many over sexualized that it felt weird asking for those comics when I was ten? Regrettably, as I got older I slowly stopped reading them and replaced them with video games instead.

Now, over ten years later, Marvel is pumping out amazing solo female series as part of their Marvel NOW! initiative. Black Widow is just one, but She-Hulk, and Ms. Marvel are two others I’m reading. For a while, all I was buying were female superhero comics because it was like learning about new heroes I never even knew existed. Even the first male lead comic I got, Marvel NOW! Wolverine #1, had Black Widow teaching Wolverine how to defend himself. She-Hulk is a lawyer who gets shit done, destroys robots and tells her male bosses to fuck off when they tell her they only hired her for her connections. Ms. Marvel went through one of the most drastic transformations. She changed from a sexy blonde Super Woman-style character into a nerdy Muslim teenager trying to fit in, a common male hero introduction.

Every new female Marvel character I’ve read is the exact opposite of what I remembered about female heroes growing up. They are clothed, awe-inspiring, leaders. I never would have thought my favorite comics would be females or that my son would want to pretend to be a woman hero whenever we wrestled, but I am. The characters finally feel authentic and it’s refreshing.

I like the fact my son sees women in his comics as tough and not damsels in distress and equals. Why? Because they’re fucking superheroes. Most superheroes originate as a result of flukes (getting bit by a spider), experiments gone wrong (getting hit with a blast of gamma rays) or the government attemping to create super humans. There’s no reason why women heroes would be less powerful or exist in fewer numbers than males.

With how much I was enjoying my Marvel comics I decided to look into DC again. I heard about Harley Quinn having her own series and was ecstatic because she was always one of my favorite female villains. What I discovered, for the most part, was exactly what I remembered about comics growing up—if not worse. The females weren’t equals. Not even close. They were over-sexualized female “heroes”, props for male amusement. My jaw dropped when the Harley I remember went from insane clown with weapons to half naked high school punk cheerleader. I don’t even…

Left is the Harley I remember. Right is the current Harley

Reading this, I had hoped this was a one off thing. I wondered what DC was doing with their other popular heroes. Did they change at all? I looked up Starfire, a hero Ezra likes from Teen Titans. I was petrified when I found her comic. At first I thought, “maybe this is fan fiction”. Nope, it was not. Not at all. It was part of DC’s New 52 reboot. Like Marvel NOW!’s but with more ass, boobs, and sex. You know, what heroes are all about, right?

What in all the fucks

This isn’t just a couple isolated incidents. Nearly every female DC hero lacks pants and some have “boob windows”—cut out pieces of their shirts showing as much of their breasts as they can without making it “adult”. Catwoman’s 52 comic opens up with her in lingerie and you don’t even see her face for multiple pages. I can’t think of any male heroes running around defending the city in man-thongs or nipple tassels. Let’s be realistic here: why would they wear those outfits? They’d have to be uncomfortable, fall off during a fight and they’d be freezing. No pants in places like New York? C’mon now.

OK, really?

So, if you’re reading this DC, what the actual fuck? Are you giving up and going with the “sex sells” method of making money? Where’s my female heroes that could kick my ass or be scared to go toe-to-toe with? Where’s the heroes I want my son to look up to? One final question, DC, if your daughter wanted to be a superhero “when she grew up”, exactly which female hero of yours would you want her to choose? I’d also like you to know that not all men like women heros for their bodies. Some of us actually appreciate their power, skills, and tenacity.