Good turns for women in the comics

One Diverse Comic Nation has a look at some of the good uses of women in the superhero books.




This is from the start of the latest issue of the Justice Society of America. It is an old school team, traced back to WWII. It has been in the last several years been a great read. A family team, made up of many old school heroes (original Green Lantern and Flash, Black Cat, Dr. Fate, Thunder, Power Girl, Spectre, and others going back to 50's) and generational heroes (newer Starmen, Stargirl, Tornado, Hourman, and on down the roster). It is a lot of what the new restart of the book is dealing with, the legacy of heroism.

So what does this issue start with? A part of the JSA rushing to the rescue, Power Girl (drawn feminine, but not comic or debasing), Stargirl (she was a newbie and young teen when the book started up again a few years back, but has grown into the title and proven herself a top line hero), Tornado (a newbie with a connection to the JSA's past and looking with eagerness and energy to prove herself and earn her spot on the team), and then Jay Garrick - the first Flash. With the JSA you get a large contingent of diverse and interesting characters. A team consisting of almost all women is not a plot point, it just comes from the team's makeup.

Plus, look at Power Girl. She looks great. She is attractive, but she's also powerful, heroic, and inspiring.

Better yet for fans of her...

She's the new Chairwoman of the Justice Society of America, embraced an promoted by the old timers, Green Lantern, Flash, and Hawkman. Great for her character. It beats the mopey character they turned into in Infinite Crisis, and some of the other uses of her. In JSA, I have a lot of confidence about her and other female heroes will be used.


In the new Spirit book, we have the return of an old character. Satin, a femme fatale/heroine of the original Eisner work is back. And, boy what a difference the years and new writers and artists make.

The cover with the old Satin. Notice her portrayal. Barely clothed, KO'd, helpless, but manly Spirit has got her.


Satin today. [Whistle] What a change! She gets to be tough. Plus, like Power Girl, she is feminine, attractive, but also strong and heroic. And Spirit is falling out of his pants.

It is a good read. It starts with a thought boxes.

The type of work I do require a certain amount of -- grit.

As much as I like to work alone, there are times when you're stuck with a partner.

Like this one here. Cute enough, I suppose, but a real pain.

I can handle people with little to contribute to the task at hand.

What I can't handle is an attitude on top of it.

Like I said, this one is cute enough.

The images as it starts finds Spirit and Satin in the middle of a desert, struggling along. The way the pictures play it seems like the thoughts are the Spirit's, annoyed at the girl he is stuck with. In reality...it is Satin griping about the Spirit, a city boy, who she has to drag through her adventure.

It is a fun play on the old story, and assumptions that one might have in a heroes book.

Then at the end.

Satin, is pulling the injured Spirit from trouble, then runs back, willing to sacrifice herself to save the rest, and stop the baddie. Of course, in the following page she pulls herself from the rubble. All in a days work.

The Spirit is a great read. If you want to read a comic, a fun and adventurous one, try it out. Especially if you like an old hero, the type that wears a small mask and a blue suit, fedora, and gloves to run around town fighting villains.

Check it out. Same with the Justice Society of America.