Woman 1: Christine, look— it’s the Black Widow!

Woman 2: It’s her all right— Madam Natasha! There’s a woman with her own mind— definitely the Gloria Steinem of the jumpsuit set.

And for the first time in many days— the Widow smiles.

I’ve posted this before, it’s still like, top ten moments in comics, for me. So much of the discussion about female superheroes, today, reduces them to things for men to look at. And here’s this moment, from a time when feminism was this new-fangled, radical notion, that flat out embraces Black Widow as someone for women to look up to. And she draws power from this, and contentment.

Sure, yeah, superhero comics can be the fantasies of adolescent white dudes. But they can be everyone else’s fantasy, too— dismiss that at your own peril.

From Daredevil #91, by Gerry Conway and Gene Colan.