Strong Women in Comics (or Joss Whedon is my heeerro!)

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Strong Women in Comics (or Joss Whedon is my heeerro!)

Post by Crawler »

Besides, a cardinal law of superhero cartoons, stories, and comic books is that the good guys always win sooner or later. They couldn't do that if the enemy had some strength they lacked and couldn't make up for with some other, greater strength.
Which is what makes superhero comics so boring sometimes. Especially under certain writers.

But we're not talking about strong as far as powers go. We're talking about strong (interesting) characters. Sometimes a strength is also a flaw.

And you don't have to be virtuous to be strong. Villains are allowed to be strong. Villains are allowed to win. Ask Paty about Magneto sometime and perhaps she'll fill you in on the definition of "strength."

[Edited on 7-12-2006 by Crash Tofu]
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Strong Women in Comics (or Joss Whedon is my heeerro!)

Post by Angelique »

I'm not saying that heroes always win, but that good always wins sooner or later. Key words there. Villains may score hollow sort term victories. They may win a battle here or there, but never the war. If a villain scored the ultimate, final victory over goodness, that would be a downer, and there'd be no satisfaction in reading a superhero story like that.

I wasn't talking about strength as far as super powers go, either, but as far as personal qualities. The Fantastic 4's teamwork. Spider-man's sense of responsibility. The X-Men's prevailing hope and desire to protect the dignity of all. Yada, yada. That sort of thing.

Interesting that in those speeches, both Meryl Streep and Joss Whedon included and even to an extent emphasized virtues in their lists of character strengths. Courage, empathy, fortitude, and such.

Being interesting and well-written (which Magneto is) doesn't mean a character is strong in the way Joss Whedon spoke about. Magneto, as an example, is not strong enough to avoid adopting the very qualities he's hated most in his non-mutant oppressors. He doesn't remain strong despite his weakness. Rather, he is defined by it.

But back to female characters. Illyana Rasputin, early Claremont. Even if she was just a supporting character, I loved how she could calmly call things as she saw them.
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Strong Women in Comics (or Joss Whedon is my heeerro!)

Post by NachtcGleiskette »

I absolutely prefer Illyana in Exiles. That girl knew what she wanted and nothing stood in her way...at all. Not even her frikken brother!

Not exactly calling her a strong female character....she's not really. But she did kick alot of ass.
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