Salutations, traveler of The Internets! Welcome to William's Bloody Hell, so named after our founder, Sir Bloody William.
He is seen in the likeness above in a rare, 19th century woodcut. This
image was rumoured to have been
commissioned after a bout of unpleasantness
in the White Chapel district of London. Do enjoy your stay and peruse our many, varied offerings, much of which cannot be found elsewhere!
:: Today's soundtrack: Aimee Allen "Revolution" ::
Ever since I wrote Rant 201, I have been thinking subconsciously about positively depicted women in comic books. My brain is weird like that. Sometimes I'll get it on a subject for a minute and next thing I know, three weeks later I have developed a theory behind the symbolism in the movie Magnolia out of nowhere for no reason. Damn subconscious. Anyhoo, women characters in comics. Just to show that the medium isn't all anti-woman and ungirlfriendly, I've come up with a short list of female comic book characters who are great, well-rounded people and display women in a positive light.
Katina Choovanski, Strangers in Paradise. Katina, or "Katchoo" as she prefers, is a pretty, angry, bisexual blonde, who loves her best friend Francine more than life itself. She was at one point partially trained in the deadly arts and is more than a match more any man who would dare to lay hands on her. She had quite the revenge scheme when Francine's boyfriend cheated on her with his secretary which involved a castration scare. There's your girl-power, buddy!
Wilhelmina Murray, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. League is a comic set in the late 1800s, and to have Mina as the leader of a group of men is a masterstroke. She was the one to capture the Invisible Man and discern the whereabouts of the evil Chinese flying machine manufacturing plant (a phrase which is not nearly uttered often enough out of sheer radness). She also shows no fear in the face of the ferocious and murderous Mr. Hyde and treats him with dignity, which made her the only member of the League to earn his respect. Mina is easily the most intelligent and strategic minded of the whole bunch and puts the men in her group to shame.
Tulip O'Hare, Preacher. Tulip is a kick-ass, no nonsense beautiful blonde who is a dead shot. You don't mess with Tulip or her loved ones unless you want your face shot off. She could take a fly out from between its wings at fifty yards.
Snow White, Fables. Old King Cole may have been the elected official in the Fabletown public eye, but Snow White had the real power and made all of the important decisions for quite some time. She even successfully quelled an uprising on Fabletown's offshoot The Farm (where sentient animal Fables live such as the Three Little Pigs) and had a major role in the defense of Fabletown from an attack by the Evil Adversary's wooden soldiers. These days Snow is in semi-retirement, choosing to raise her septuplets with her husband in their country home, but war with the Adversary is fast approaching and Snow with her husband The Big Bad Wolf, make one butt-kicking couple not to be trifled with.
Gertrude Yorkes, Runaways. Gert, to me, was probably the most realistically portrayed character in the Runaways series. Smart, sassy, and sarcastic, she had a wit about her beyond her teenage years. Gert, unlike her other runaway friends, was not the least bit surprised to learn that her parents were evil super villains and her strong voice of reason kept the others sane during this time of tospy turvey.
Oracle (Barbara Gordon), Birds of Prey. If The Batman needs intel on something, anything, no matter how top secret or concealed it might be, he calls Oracle. Barbara Gordon was once Batgirl, but after the Joker shot her in the spine, her ninja fighting, roof jumping, crime fighting days were over. Confined to a wheelchair, Barabara saw no reason to give up fighting crime all together, she merely found another way to do it. Oracle is a super smart computer wizard who supplies the Batman, Justice League, and another good folks with the information they need to save the world every day. But, being in that chair doesn't make her completely helpless, as many underestimating villains have discovered, much to their chagrin, she can still do her share of kicking ass and taking names.
The entire supporting cast of Y, the Last Man. As the title of the comic implies, there is one last man on Earth, and loads of women. Yes, it sounds like every guys dream, but trust me, it isn't. Yorick Brown may be the last male on planet Earth which means that this book is populated by scores of female characters, both good and bad, and they are totally realistic to the situation. Some women see Yorick as humanity's last hope, others think they are better off without any men and want him dead. Either way, they are all unique and their own person, not once coming off as cheap or unreal. If it's strong, well rounded women characters you want, this book's got them in spades.
And that, my friends, is just a small sampling of some of the outstanding women in the comic book universes. Each one is a strong woman who doesn't need any man to tell them what to do... ever. Most people will try to tell you that there are no positive female role models in "main stream" comics, but quite a few of the above mentioned were published by The Big Two (re: Marvel and DC, for the uninformed), and I'm certain there are others not mentioned here. I guess the whole point of this is to say that girls shouldn't be skeptical about reading comics. More girls should read comics, 'cause, yeah, that'd be HOT.
William (girl power advocate)
