A quick comics thought
Jun. 24th, 2010 11:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
womzillaIn my extemporaneous lecture on Wonder Woman at last year's Worldcon, I talked at some length about the question of whether Wonder Woman would have been of value even if she had been nothing more than Superman with Tits. My conclusion, then and now, is that she would have been, but fortunately she was much more than that, especially during the utterly bizarre but captivating Golden Age stories of Marston and Peters.
A chance encounter of the TVTropes entry on "Distaff Counterpart" (female versions of male heroes) made me realize that this test had already been run: the original 1950s Supergirl really was little more than Superboy with Tits. Same powers, basically same costume, same backstory, about as similar as two characters can be without being literal copies.
And she inspired a fierce and enduring loyalty among a generation of female comics readers. She debuted in the 1950s, an ebb of popularity for superhero comics (relative to the rest of the American comics field, anyway), so she never enjoyed the success that she could have had if she had debuted in the Golden Age, but she was Superman with Tits, and she was loved.
A chance encounter of the TVTropes entry on "Distaff Counterpart" (female versions of male heroes) made me realize that this test had already been run: the original 1950s Supergirl really was little more than Superboy with Tits. Same powers, basically same costume, same backstory, about as similar as two characters can be without being literal copies.
And she inspired a fierce and enduring loyalty among a generation of female comics readers. She debuted in the 1950s, an ebb of popularity for superhero comics (relative to the rest of the American comics field, anyway), so she never enjoyed the success that she could have had if she had debuted in the Golden Age, but she was Superman with Tits, and she was loved.
