Thesis/Disertation Help? Women In Comics 1980 - Present Day

Started by Artemis, September 19, 2011, 10:15:07 PM

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Artemis

Hi all, I was just wondering if anyone could recommend some titles in which there's a prominent super-heroine (she doesn't have to be the STAR per say, just have a strong presence within the book).

Basically I'm exploring the changing role of superheroines from 1980 to the present day, exploring character development (which I'm told by some is a bit of a lost cause with many mainstream female characters) costume change, and social contexts of story arcs.

But right now I'm struggling. So far I have

Elektra       : Elektra Assasin - Complete Run, Elektra Lives Again Comeplete Run, Comeplete Elektra 90's Run
Witchblade : Origins 1 (Witchblade Issues 1-7)
Tank Girl One : Issues 1 - 15
The Dark Phoenix Saga

I hope to find a character that was introduced in each decade (Elektra is the 80's, Witchblade 90's etc.) and explore their development throughout. Any suggestions are welcome, I've heard some good things about Alan Moore's Promethea so I think that will be getting purchased. I plan on getting the entire run of Witchblade and some later Phoenix stories; if anyone can recommend specifics, again, I'd appreciate it!

Also, Im trying to contact industry professionals to gather their thoughts, Gail Simone being the most sought after but as its such a deadline driven industry and the creators are so busy I'm not holding my breath.
So if you have an interest in the role of Women in comics and have some knowledge and opinions please do PM me and I'd love to ask you some questions! :)

Thanks for taking the time to read !

murs47

Batwoman perhaps? Although I think the new one is the daughter of the old one...or something.

Talavar

I'd recommend Birds of Prey, which had a great deal of character development, particularly while written by Gail Simone.

Randomdays

Spider-Woman has gone thru a number of changes since being introduced in the 70's, a well as Ms Marvel, Rogue and Patsy Walker. In DC, there's Hawk Girl and Barbera Gordon. I'm not up on some of the others enough to know how and if they've evolved over the years, except for the 70's where Wonder Woman lost her powers and heritage and went in a different direction for awhile.

Wikipedia has a quick run down on these, but Ms Marvel had various costume/power changes as well as the famous "defile of Ms Marvel" story line and the Rogue induced coma for a number of years.

Patsy Walker went from a teen comedy character to "the Cat", married to the son of Satan, insanity, death, and afterlife.

Barbera Gordon went form being Batgirl to Oracle, paralyzed in a wheel chair.

Some of these started before the 80's, but went thru some major changes from the 80's on. 

Good Luck with your thesis

Previsionary

#4
Take a good luck at She-hulk and her developments and also Invisible Woman. In fact, Marvel did a "Women of Marvel" movement last year that had a BUNCH of women creators, specifically writers, write female driven stories and also share their perspective on the industry and how they broke into it.

I'm also fairly certain Gail has written her thoughts down somewhere, either on her blog or on a forum (CBR, Bendis's Board)
Disappear when you least expe--

doctorchallenger

It just so happens I am in the process of finishing - well getting close to finishing - a dissertation on the changing image of superhero women from the installation of the comic code through 1990, a very similar project. I think Black Canary is a good character to explore, though I touch on the character in the 1980s in my work, and I have heard papers on Birds of PRey.  The Dark Phoenix saga has been covered a lot, as has the work of Alan Moore (I heard a paper on Promethea specifically at the 2009 Popular Cuture Association).  Elektra is perpetually mentioned but I have yet to encounter anything too substantial.  Catwoman may be a fruitful venue.

Mr. Hamrick

#6
Well... in the early 90s you had "Razor" which was created by Everette Hartsoe.  I have his contact info if you want.

as for other women characters in the 80s and 90s...

Strangers in Paradise

Fathom

Warrior Nun Aareala

Dawn and Shi were two other characters with their own titles coming out of the late 80s into the 90s.

I'd even look at Gen 13 because of the leader of the team (well, more or less leader) being Fairchild.

It would be somewhat important to note that a lot of "indy" (indy at the time at least) titles and companies seemed to feature women more prominently for a brief period which seemed to be (and this in only in my opinion) a reaction to the use of  women by Marvel and DC.


tommyboy

You may want to look at Love And Rockets (maybe not strictly Superhero/ine, but Penny Century certainly fits the bill)
Alias by Bendis is maybe worth a look too.
Top Ten by Moore has some strong female leads.
Birds of Prey by Gail Simone from DC.

John Jr.

The strange "evolution" of Barbara Gordon (from Batgirl to Oracle and back to Batgirl) generated a lot of attention (good and bad), some people saw the events of "The Killing Joke" as an example of violence towards female characters, but a lot of people saw Babs career as Oracle as a good example to people with a  disability. When Babs was changed back to Batgirl a lot of people thought she was being "demoted" back to a "Batman-lite" character. Gail Simone gave interviews to Newsarama and talked with some very vocal critics about the changes.
Good luck with your research, it is a very interesting proposal.

detourne_me

Empowered is a really interesting Superheroine to look at...(for your dissertation I mean)  She is basically a pin-up girl whose powers increase as her suit...decreases.

I can't believe no one has mentioned Alias yet... If you've already been looking at Elektra, you really shouldn't discount the impact bendis has had on that character and other female characters in the present day.


Previsionary

Quote from: detourne_me on September 21, 2011, 01:29:05 AM
Empowered is a really interesting Superheroine to look at...(for your dissertation I mean)  She is basically a pin-up girl whose powers increase as her suit...decreases.

I can't believe no one has mentioned Alias yet... If you've already been looking at Elektra, you really shouldn't discount the impact bendis has had on that character and other female characters in the present day.

Tommy totally mentioned Alias 2 posts ago, lol.
Disappear when you least expe--