In comics female characters seem to be treated as little more than an object to ogle at. Is this what comic book readers are looking for? It’s surprising to find out that it is not. When I first thought about writing this post, it was going to be a more a critique slash rant about how female characters are treated as objects and how silly and ill-suited their costumes are for crime-fighting and what not. Being a writer, an artist and a father of a young daughter this was an issue that I took personally. I'm not a big comic blog reader by any means so it was refreshing to see there were many people who have written about this subject. In some cases, the posts are extremely humorous and shows how ridiculous these outfits are if they were worn by male characters. Other posts talk about how female characters are reduced to plot devices to help a male hero to have greater animosity towards a villain. There is even a site which coined the phrase 'Women in Refrigerators' to describe the treatment of female characters in comics.

When it comes to costumes for female characters they really get cheated on the material. Most female superheroes’ uniforms are reduced to swimsuits or lingerie. From Wonder Women to Storm the female heroes are dressed in revealing outfits while their male counterparts are fully covered. Wonder Woman for example had gotten a new look in 2010. I thought the design was pretty cool except for the choker around her neck. Most people didn't like it. What is confusing is the fact the Wonder Women is an Amazon warrior an her outfit is suppose to be armor, and it barely covers her. The swimsuit maybe magically, but her bare skin isn't. The equivalent Kryptonian armor for Superman would be a Speedo(1). In The New 52, (a relaunch of all of DC's major titles) Superman's latest costume is an armor(2). Supergirl is also wearing Kryptonian armor (3), but notice differences in the design. The Supergirl costume could have been designed without showing any skin and would of looked extraordinary as shown in this fan art image(4).


There is a great article written by a gentleman named Ryan, who is an armorer, as he puts it "I make actual armor that people wear when they hit each other with swords." He provide examples of proper fantasy armor and what he describes as "a rather strong trend to dress women in metallic lingerie". Wonder Woman's armor is a more barbarian sex kitten than Amazon warrior. Poor Wonder Woman can't catch a break, she wasn't even allowed to keep her pants in the DC reboot.


Storm of the X-Men costumes seems to change as much as the weather. She is currently in a swimsuit with thigh-high boots, not completely practical for a superhero who spins most of her time in the troposphere. She was wearing a bodysuit that left her shoulders and arms free during the Civil War saga which I thought was classy but that only lasted for a short time. Even Thor's latest look has him fully armored no longer exposing his arms to the elements. Maybe Storm is tougher than a Norse god or just has to be sexier. Another example of strange X-Men female costume choices in the name of sexiness is Rogue. Her powers drain anyone who comes in contact with her skin, so why would she wear a tunic that is short-sleeved and unzipped in the front to expose her chest. If one of her scantily clad female teammates gets thrown into her they will be put out of commission. It's a bizarre change to make to a character's wardrobe when she has always been fully covered in the past.



There are so many more examples I could bring up because there is so much low hanging fruit. From DC comics, Starfire, whose outfit was already small, somehow is now even tinier. Star Sapphire, whose costume has so little material that it can't even form a proper mask to conceal her identity, at least that's what I'm guessing. Powergirl the poster girl for cleavage windows. On the Marvel comics side, Psylocke, the only woman on the Uncanny X-Force, and only one not in full costume. Invisible Woman of the Fantastic Four, wearing what one post dubbed the '4-kini', really awful and I thought that when I was a kid and first saw that thing. Emma Frost, X-Men resident psychic, she an extrovert so I guess wearing lingerie as a uniform is ok then.

Here few links to funny posts I found on the topic illustrating how different male and female characters are treated. First a look at superhero films and how reversing the way the genders are presented can really lead to comic gold. What would it be like for male superheroes to wear their female counterparts outfits? Hint it's not comfortable. A commentary on comics and why objectification is not ok. Finally the website, Women in Refrigerators, created by Gail Simone, a comic-book writer and her take on expandability of female characters in comics.

The opinions I share here are not about if the female character's power allows her to dress in specific fashions. It is that male characters with similar powers are in suits that are more in line with the character's identity or their protection. These costumes are not designed to emphasize particular parts of male anatomy, nor are the characters posed in such a way designed to sexualize them. For male character, it's about showing power or stature and for the female character, it’s about portraying them as pinups which don’t have to be the case.