"The idea behind the series was to have some sudsy fun and lift the curtain a bit and take a peep at some of our most fabulous super heroines," says Marvel's Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, "In the series, they're an unlikely foursome of friends–Black Cat, Hell Cat, Firestar, and Photon–with TWO things in common: They're all leading double-lives and they're all having romantic trouble. The pitch started as "Sex and the City" in the Marvel Universe, and there's definitely that "naughty" element to it, but I also think the series is doing to a deeper place, asking question about what it means…truly means…to be a woman in an industry dominated by testosterone and guns. (And I mean both the super hero industry and the comic book industry.) But mostly it's just a lot of hot fun."

Oh, awesome! Now I can find the same stupid Carrie Bradshaw bullshit that has invaded every aspect of my life from television to magazines to the internet since 2000 in a comic book, too! Because I don't care about how awesome superheroines are when they're out kicking ass! I just want to know what they're like when they're having some hot sudsy fun and talking about shoes and boys!

Can we just stop for a minute and call shenanigans on this, please? Do you think there's a series in development that features Bruce Wayne and Peter Parker just chillin' at the Applebee's, shooting the shit about a Mets game and calling each other bro? No. And do you know why? Because it would be BORING. Just like a bunch of superheroines bitching about their love lives and waiting around for Mr. Big. The only people who are going to get excited about this series are those who want to see the "hot sudsy fun."

If this is Marvel's attempt at drawing in a female fan base, they are missing the mark , as these Robot 6 commenters prove:

Jennifer de Guzman
April 9, 2009 at 3:26 pm

I've been trying for years to get my waist be roughly 2/3 the circumference of my thighs! And to find friends whose measurements are exactly the same as mine so we can share latex costumes! And no matter how many doctors I ask, none will agree to break my feet and realign them so they're perpetually in the much-coveted "wearing stiletto f-me shoes" shape. What is these ladies' secret?!

Obviously, it's something to do with what it "means… truly means…to be a woman in an industry dominated by testosterone and guns." I, on the other hand, am a woman in an industry dominated by testosterone and convention hot dogs, so I'm not so lucky.

Amy
April 9, 2009 at 6:15 pm

What the hell is wrong with these people? Let's just parse that little paragraph. So, for women characters to have an active sex life, they are "naughty." And they supposedly want to really, truely explore what it means to be a woman in a male dominated industry, but at the same time it's going to be "good hot fun"? Good, hot fun for whom exactly? The (most likely) all male writing and art staff? The all male comic fanboys this series is aimed at?

Apparently these folks have not grasped the inherent contradiction between really, truly exploring what it would actually be like to be a woman hero in a testosterone and violence dominated world AND still titillating the male audience. You can't have your cake and eat it too, boys. To really explore what it would be like to be a woman in this situation, you would have to acknowledge the essential sexism and misogyny in the comics field. And we can't harsh the fanboy libido with that kind of thing, now, can we?

The closest thing I (as a newbie) have seen to seriously confronting these issues is the series "Alias," and even that was written by a man and had some really skeevy elements. Try getting a woman's creative opinion, here, boys, if you're so "serious" about addressing these issues.

Really, Marvel, is this your plan to bring in more female readers? Because this female newbie comic fan feels like running screaming into the night and never giving another dollar to this industry.

R.
April 9, 2009 at 7:37 pm

Wow, this is in fact an excellent example of women in a male-dominated industry: marginalized, defined by their sex lives (defined as "naughty" no less), and the only reason their stories are told are as an excuse to titillate men. Well done. I couldn't have summed it up better myself.

Throw in a pink cover. All girls like pink. Make sure you pose the women as sexy as possible, because that's totally necessary for a female audience. Oh, and the characters should talk about shoes a lot; women LOVE shoes. Also, keep in mind that when women hang out together, we ALWAYS wear skimpy nighties, CONSTANTLY touch each other, and ALL of our conversations revolve around men. Especially if we're, you know, crime-fighters who're giving up a lot of their lives to do this thankless job. Women don't talk about serious stuff.

Bonus points for bubble baths or pillow fights.

Can we just get a comic book featuring these three, please? Because these are the kind of kickass ladies worth reading about.

Sex And The Single Marvel Heroine [Robot 6]

Tyler continues: "It’s because men like superheroes, men wish they could be superheroes, and it’s men who see superhero movies and read superhero comic books." Pissed off? Just wait! There's more!

Wonder Woman may be a girl, but her audience was never really comprised of women… Catching bad guys is not a common female fantasy. Ask most women which movies they’re most looking forward to in 2009 and odds are that it’ll be something starring Julia Roberts… There’s nothing wrong with that. Men and women simply have different interests. Men are interested in action movies with heroes blowing things up and saving the girl. Men are interested in imagining themselves as ass-kicking heroes. Women are interested in movies about relationships and romance and love. Women are interested in imagining themselves finding the right guy and dancing till dawn. Little boys play with guns, little girls play with dolls. Neither version of play is superior to the other, it’s just different. Nobody is out there trying to force men to get interested in movies about romantic weekends in Paris, so why are we so dead set on forcing women to get interested in movies about beating people up? There’s something unintentionally sexist about it, it’s as if we’re saying women’s interests are somehow inherently inferior, and to be validated they must instead find ways to be more like men.

Okay, okay. Now your head can explode. Shall we begin?

First: I'm a woman who hates Julia Roberts. I hated that hooker with the heart of gold movie, found it to be condescending and nauseating, and I am not looking forward to seeing anything she does in 2009. By the by: Selling yourself on a street corner while waiting for Prince Charming? Not cute.

Second: I loved Wonder Woman when I was a kid. I had Wonder Woman underoos! A Wonder Woman swimsuit, which I wore with roller skates! I wanted to spin around and have my outfit change, I wanted to chase bad guys and kick ass, and I still do. I love Coffy, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, The Fifth Element, Resident Evil, Underworld and all kinds of stories in which a female — possibly wearing tight leather pants — is powerful, gorgeous and super-human in her strength and ability to drop-kick a fool.

Third: There's nothing sexist about wanting a female superhero; there is something sexist in assuming that all women only want to see Sex And The City-type movies, that women are a monolithic block who all act the same way and want the same things. Women are multifaceted with varied interests. I never played with dolls as a child and I know I am not the only one. Why can't the next generation look up to Wonder Woman, Catwoman or She-Ra the way my sister and I did? Why is Carrie Bradshaw the only acceptable alternative? And since when is it a man's place to tell women what they do and do not need? Dude. Give me my goddamned Christopher Nolan-directed Catwoman and shut the fuck up. Is anyone with me?

We Don't Need More Female Superheroes [CinemaBlend]
Earlier: It's Time For A Female Superhero Flick

Movies based on comic book heroes are more popular than ever, and Heath Ledger's performance in The Dark Knight earning him a Golden Globe nod. But before Thor — starring Daniel Craig — gets the green light, shouldn't we have one kick-ass superheroine?

You may have hated Halle Berry as Catwoman (and Storm), or Kirsten Dunst as Mary-Jane, but, writes Pitts, "The actress is only as good as her material, and the material is seriously lacking." Pitts outlines the problems the major directors — Bryan Singer, Sam Raimi, Christopher Nolan — have with including women in superhero/comic book flicks. She says of Singer: "He gave the ladies powers in the X-Men series, he just forgot the personalities. He turned the sexy, sassy southern belle Rogue into a mopey teenager, the diabolical Mystique into a naked mute, and the strong, regal storm into Halle Berry. If you’re going to take liberties with classic characters, why would you choose to make them less interesting?" As for Raimi, Pitts claims he "desexifed" Mary-Jane Watson.

So basically, right now, it's all up to Nolan, who should seriously think about reimagining Catwoman. Writes Pitts:

If God is listening and Christopher Nolan does make a third movie within the next few years, then our friend Batman’s gonna need a new love interest, it would be great to have one that doesn’t need to be rescued all of the time (although once is fine). And for all of you who think that miss Selina Kyle is too obvious a character to include, well, so was The Joker and look how that turned out.

Why the Comic-Book Movie Industry Needs a Female Superhero [Rope Of Silicon]

Earlier: Lasso Of Truth
It's Hard Out There For A Heroine
What Does Buffy Have To Do With Baghdad? An NPR Reporter Explains
Women And Cartoons: Beyond Breast Size
Hello, Kitty

A recent study has found that keeping an active mind with activities like crosswords can prevent dementia. My grandma will be thrilled! • A group of brides are super pissed at a shop owner who went out of business and never supplied them with their dresses or a refund. • Venus Williams is set to write an inspirational book for HarperCollins about memorable advice her coach once gave her. Wasn't her father her coach? And wasn't he kind of an asshole? • A 33-year-old man in Michigan was caught trying to meet with a 14-year-old girl for sex wearing a "World's Greatest Dad" t-shirt. Irony or social statement? • Authorities have found thousands of marijuana plants being grown in a remote part of a Girl Scout camp in Indiana. Thousands of "badge for pot farming" jokes coming to a blog near you!

• Georgio Armani is co-chairing a dinner to celebrate a Vogue-sponsored Costume Institute exhibit called "Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy." Which is why he gave a press conference during which he professed to be "indifferent" to Anna Wintour while standing next to her. We assume he'll be too dead to make it to dinner. [NY Mag]
  
• Then again: the shocking new garment industry tell-all Gomorrah says Italian fashion is really just the Mafia so maybe Georgio knows what he's doing. [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Model Gemma Ward's film debut The Black Balloon takes top prize at he Berlin Festival. [Sassybella]

• I grow increasingly obsessed with Victoria Beckham and Marc Jacobs as each new ad starring Posh as the face of MJ's Spring 2008 collection is revealed. Vicks as a naughty dark angel? Love. [Chic Report]
• Project Runway bitch slap! Chris Marc says Christian Siriano is going to be designing for K-Mart soon enough. [AdAge]
• Eva Herzigova: Doesn't need a swimwear line now that she has a son. "[The line] was my little baby. But since I have my own now, it's really hard to follow... Unless I get a license deal, I don't think I'll do it." See ladies, if your career is as pointless/lucrative as modeling and celebrity guest design, you don't have to feel any guilt about giving it up to have babies! [WWD, 3rd item]
• Hayden Panettierre is the new face of Candie's footwear. [Sassybella]
• Ooh la la! Former Dior Homme designer Hedi Slimane is going to be shooting the haute couture collections for French Vogue. [WWD, 4th item]
• 15-year old Russian designer Kira Plastinina on who she hopes to see in her designs, "I like Paris, I like Vanessa Hudgens, I like the High School Musical girls, and Rihanna. I love Rihanna." [Chic Report]
• Yves Saint Laurent is once again pretending that advertising is political activism. [Vogue UK]
• A line of body shapers called Yummie Tummie. [WWD, sub req'd]
• The British fashion industry is blaming its second-tier status in the fashion world on the absence of enough factories to produce its wares. Uh...because Jakarta and Dhaka are totally the new fashion capitals. [Reuters] [WWD, sub req'd]

Simone got the Wonder Woman gig after starting a website, Women In Refrigerators, devoted to chronicling the misogynistic treatment experienced by many female superheroes. "These are superheroines who have been either depowered, raped, or cut up and stuck in the refrigerator," Ms. Simone writes on her site's homepage. "Some have been revived, even improved — although the question remains as to why they were thrown in the wood chipper in the first place."

Some examples of humiliated superheroines from WIR include Christine Helvin of Troublemakers who was the victim of date rape and then discovered she was sterile because she was no longer human (what?!?); Shrinking Violet, who lost a leg; and perhaps worst of all, a character called Ms. Marvel I aka Warbird, who was, in the words of Ms. Simone, "mind-controlled, impregnated by rape, powers and memories stolen, cosmic-powered then depowered, alcoholic - SHEESH!"

It's safe to say that Wonder Woman will avoid such indignities at the hands of Ms. Simone and novelist Jodi Picoult, who, earlier this month, published a five-part Wonder Woman storyline involving Wonder Woman's "people", the Amazons, engineering an attack on the United States. Something tells us this version of Wonder Women is interested in more than hot pants.

Wonder Woman Gets a New Voice, And It's Female [New York Times]
Women In Refrigerators [Unheard Taunts]