She-Hulk: The Everywoman Superhero

by Cindy Cooper

Last week I was having a fit over the lack of well-developed female comic book characters. Since then I have done some assigned reading in honor of Hulk Week. Ladies, I offer you She-Hulk, a comic book character you can relate to. She’s a lot like you, just bigger and greener.

Originally, She-Hulk was merely Jennifer Walters, a meek and bookish, but brilliant lawyer, until one day she was shot by mobsters and needed a blood transfusion. It just so happened the only person around with her blood type was her cousin, Bruce Banner aka The Hulk. The radioactive blood transformed her into a Hulk of a different gender. However, when Jennifer becomes She-Hulk, she remains intelligent and somewhat in control, unlike her brutish cousin.

Jennifer attended both UCLA Law School and Harvard. She’s an accomplished and intelligent woman. However, she finds new freedom when she becomes She-Hulk. She is no longer timid and uncomfortable in her own skin. Instead she is bold and confident with a sassy sense of humor to rival that of Spider-Man. Gone are her inhibitions, and by the time we see her in Single Green Female, the beginning of Dan Slott’s run, she’s bedding male models and partying like Amy Whinehouse minus the drugs, alcohol and embarrassing tattoos. The limitations that most women allow society to place on them in regards to their sexuality and their professional lives don’t exist for her. Her law career is going well. She’s a powerhouse both intellectually and physically.

However, as it often is with powerful women, not everyone is happy with the She-Hulk side of Jennifer Walters. She goes to work for a law firm that will only let her try cases as Jennifer. Her boyfriend, John Jameson, prefers her as Jennifer and complains when he has to spend time with her as She-Hulk. Of course, Dan Slott writes her one man who appreciates her for who she is, no matter her skin color. However, as is so often the case, she has no idea how he feels about her. Jennifer/She-Hulk finds herself conflicted between being who she is expected to be and who she needs to be. Does she suppress her confidence and sexuality to fit societal norms, like so many of us do? We learn during Dan Byrne’s run on Sensational She-Hulk that her father prefers her as Jennifer as well. He misses his “little” girl. Dads are like that, I guess, and don’t we all struggle with keeping a balance between pleasing those we love while being true to ourselves?

It’s not all good news. Comic characters are only as good as their creative team. There are a few Greg Horn covers that show She-Hulk as more of a green Maxim model than a powerful superhero, but hey, it’s the inside of the comic that’s really important. Just ignore those silly covers. And, for some reason, Juan Bobillo draws her as more chunky than muscular. Some of the artists get her, but others don’t seem to like drawing muscular women. But hey, she’s She-Hulk and shouldn’t look as if she’s been living on a runway model’s diet of champagne and cigarettes.

Then, there are the Sensational She-Hulk covers from Byrne’s run. I love these. During this run, She-Hulk “breaks the fourth wall” and begins speaking to the writer and the editor Renee Witterstaetter. For my research, I bought issues 30, 39 and 41-44. There are a few covers where She-Hulk looks out to the reader while in a suggestive pose wearing say her undies, and she’ll say, “Okay, I’ll admit this has nothing to do with the story this week but I’ve got to do something to sell this book!” By issue 44, she is bundled in a heavy coat with scarves saying, “Sorry guys. The powers that be say I’ve been pushing it on my past few covers, so this is all you get this month.” In issue 42, her sidekick, Weezi, formerly the Blonde Phantom, walks out of the comic. She’s upset at Byrne for making her fat. According to Weezi, Byrne has a thing for making female characters fat, specifically, and she walks out in protest. He’s making fun of feminism, misogyny, his readers and often, himself. The stories aren’t as complex as in Dan Slott’s run. There is a lot of goofy action and not a lot of meat in the issues I read, but there are some interesting ideas here and some fun to be had.

But, even in Byrne’s run, She-Hulk is in control. She’s a woman who, for the most part, knows who she is, while still struggling with many issues all women face. Women will be able to relate to her identity issues and her effort to balance relationships and career. There’s a little She-Hulk in all of us. So, do something this week to embrace your inner She-Hulk. Party till dawn! Tackle your significant other at the door! Go assert yourself and kick butt at work! There’s a Green Goddess inside of all us, and she needs to get out and stretch every now and again!

For fangirls or fangirls to be who are interested in dipping your toe into the superhero pool, I highly recommend beginning with Single Green Female by Dan Slott.

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Waking the Feminist inside the Fangirl

by Cindy Cooper


I should start off by admitting that I’m not a very good feminist. I love comics, and not just Sandman and Indy comics. No, some of my very favorite comics are the male power fantasy superhero ones, like Batman or Daredevil. Often in this type of comic, women are either absent, peripheral or physically mal-proportioned at best. I enjoy superhero comics so much that I recently sat watching Iron Man with a ridiculous grin stretched from ear to ear, experiencing what I can only define as a fangasm. I am such a bad feminist that it didn’t occur to me until days later that there aren’t any decent female superhero movies. Since then, how women are viewed, by the comic book and movie industries has been on my mind quite a bit.

It’s no secret that most women do not read superhero comics. We aren’t their target audience? Therefore, the marketing towards women and girls is largely non-existent. But, I don’t think it’s because we aren’t interested in the subject matter. If you’re between the ages of say 30 and 40 you might remember a show called Wonder Woman. I know for a fact that my sister and I weren’t the only little girls spinning until we were nauseous in the hopes that we’d spontaneously combust into an Amazon princess. We followed her adventures breathlessly every week, between November 1975 and September 1979 when the TV series, starring Lynda Carter ended.

She was strong and fierce, but decent, honest and graceful in spirit. She was something to aspire to, even if we’d never be able to bend bars with our bare hands. We could still aspire to her courage and complete fabulousness. She affected us in a way that would stick with many of us for years to come.

Wonder Woman the TV series occurred during a time of burgeoning girl power in popular culture. The same time period would give us The Bionic Woman, starring Lindsay Wagner and arguably even Charlie’s Angels. These growing from shows like Mary Tyler Moore and That Girl. Shows where female characters were the protagonist and making their own way, often, gasp! without the aid of a man to pay her rent. It was a good time to be a little girl watching TV.

So why didn’t those little girls watching superheroes grow to be a generation of women reading about superheroes? Part of it is socialization. Little girls have historically been steered away from superhero comics, in the same way they are steered away from toy trucks and those little plastic army guys and towards pink Barbie and baby doll type toys and books. Also, comic book stores can be daunting for a woman sometimes. The staff sometimes stares at you as if you’re an alien and scores of giant chested women stare down from the walls of these stores. Look, we have fashion magazines made specifically for us that make us feel bad about ourselves. We don’t need to go to a special store for that treat. And like I stated earlier, the stories themselves often write women more as props than well-developed characters. I believe this last is the real issue.

Women don’t just like a story because it is about women. We like stories that are well-written and well-developed, just like anyone else. There’s no need for Lifetime comics. As comic story lines become more grounded in the real world, the fact that often their female characters are mere sketches becomes more apparent. That is not to say that there aren’t more developed depictions of women in super hero comics. One example is the push to make Ms. Marvel a major player in the Marvel U, a heroine with some authority. I appreciate moves like that. However, it’s a small step and since the marketing is not there how are girls and women to know that there might be a story they'd enjoy coming from the Big 2?

So, what is the next generation of girls to do for heroes? I suppose there’s Dora and Hannah Montana but what about women of courage and power little girls can hope to emulate? What character is filling that bill for this generation? I have a 10 year old niece who, until recently, looked up to Brittany Spears, a fact that I find terrifying. My other niece is 7 and like her aunt has a thing for the superheroes. However, when you ask her who her favorites are she will tell you Superman and Spider-Man. And they are fine role models, but where have all the heroines gone?

If you ask around, the word is that stories about women don’t sell. It’s a fabulous atmosphere for maturing girls. Get your Hannah while you can, girls, because by the time you hit your late twenties, the only place you’ll see anyone you can identify with on the big screen are romantic comedies, with the exception of the occasional indy movie. You’d like to read stories featuring women in lead roles? Hit the chick lit. It’s the best you’re going to get. I don’t even want to tell you about what happens once you hit your 30s and 40s, girls.

What are we telling them about their place in life? Go find yourself a nice man. Be sexy. Be desirable. Learn to be the arm candy. Don’t be too strong. Don’t be too funny. The best you can hope for is side kick, kid, unless you get some really big boobs. No one wants to hear your story. It’s just not profitable.

It’s true that, movies about super heroines haven’t delivered financially. The reason being is that the efforts, for example Elektra and Catwoman, have been abysmal. It seems movies featuring super heroines as the title characters haven’t been given the same amount of respect as movies featuring their male counterparts. Just look at the recent Catwoman costume. You can’t look at that costume and tell me there was respect involved. It goes beyond sexy and into the realm of the costume bargain bin at Party City. It’s as if they weren’t even trying to get anyone to care about these characters.

This summer, two movies are hitting the theater, based on very popular serialized stories with female leads. Sex and the City was one of HBO’s most successful series of all time. This past weekend the movie opened in theaters. According to Bloomberg.com, the movie brought in $55 million this weekend, in US and Canadian theaters, knocking Indiana Jones out of the top spot. The success of a movie about 4 women in their 40s says a lot about the power of women in movies.

At the other end of the girl power spectrum, Kit Kittredge: An America Girl will open in theaters on July 2nd. For those of you who haven’t been near a 10 year old girl at all in the past 10 years, American Girl is a doll company that created a line of historical dolls from different periods in American history. Kit is a little girl growing up during the Depression. Incidentally, all of the historical dolls in the American Girl line are represented in a line of serialized books that detail their experiences. These books have been very popular with little girls over the past decade.

Will these movies finally prove that stories about women and girls sell? Dare we hope that the success of these movies could finally lead to seeing our beloved Diana Prince on screen? Is it possible that more super heroines and even regular powered women will be written with the same respect as Tony Stark? My sister and I are poised to buy tickets for our entire families when the day comes.
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