(Love) Letters Page

Comics don’t always “get” women. Not as readers and even less often as characters. Many of the women characters in comics suffer brutal torture and death at the hands of editors who are as misogynistic as the villains running amok on their four-color pages. Many women comic characters wear costumes that look more like they are getting ready for their hourly dance at the exotic all-nude club than for their nightly patrol as superheroes.

But one woman character in comics has been breaking the sexist molds of comic creators for years, and in late 2006, she gave readers one of the most feminist, empowered-woman moments in the history of comics. The Invisible Woman is invisible no longer!

The Invisible Woman did not start out with “woman” as part of her name. From the inception of super heroism in the 1930s, with the notable exception of Wonder Woman and a few others, most characters were labelled as “girls” – Supergirl and Batgirl – or as “lasses” – Light Lass and Shadow Lass. So it was not surprising that when new Marvel Comics creators Jack Kirby and Stan Lee created the Fantastic Four in 1961, they christened the group’s only female character as a “girl.” The Invisible Girl would remain a “girl” even after she married the team’s leader and gave birth to a child in what would become the new company’s First Family of superheroes.

Like most women in comics, the Invisible Girl’s powers were non-threatening and mainly meant for defense. If in a tight spot, she could hide by “disappearing,” turning invisible until the danger passed. Susan Storm (later Susan Richards) represented what society thought about women of the time: they were “girls” who needed to hide when it came time to fight the giant green monsters busting out of subterranean caverns.

Her force fields were an afterthought. (After all, she was called “Invisible Girl” not “Invisible Force Field Girl.”) She could shape giant shields or bubbles to protect herself and the members of her superhero family. Using her force fields wasn’t easy and caused her constant pain and anguish, much the same facially in the illustrations of the 1960s and 1970s as the depictions of her giving birth. Unlike the men in the group whose powers did not cause them pain to maintain against the onslaught of their foes, The Invisible Girl would often show her “natural feminine” weakness by straining painfully to maintain the shield. When she couldn’t handle the stress of maintaining the force field, her male companions would need to save the day. For most of the first 100 issues of The Fantastic Four, The Invisible Girl would need more protecting from the threats that would endanger her and her superhero family than she did protecting of the men in the group.

Things have changed in 45 years of Fantastic Four comics. In the 1980s, John Byrne transformed the Invisible Girl into the Invisible Woman. As both writer and artist, he soon showed the comics world that Sue Storm-Richards was the most powerful member of the Fantastic Family. She could do a lot more than cower underneath her force fields. She could use them as transport devices, riding on ramps of force; she could expand them inside something else, exploding an object from within among many, many other lethal and devastatingly destructive uses. She could block nasal passages; she could stop a heart. What was originally an afterthought became arguably the greatest super power on her team and in the entire Marvel universe.

25 years after her transformation from girl to woman, the new creative team of J. Michael Straczyinski and Mike McKone have advanced the Invisible Woman yet again with a story moment that can be viewed as one of the few feminist outcries in comics, a wake-up call to fan boys everywhere that women in comics can take care of themselves.

In issue 540 of Fantastic Four, the first couple of comics, Sue Richards and her husband Reed are arguing over dubious choices he’s making in the ongoing Civil War saga in the Marvel Comic universe. To defend his actions in supporting a law that requires superheroes to register with the government or face capture and imprisonment (think Homeland Security meets Nazi Germany with super-powered soldiers), Reed claims he’s protecting his wife. In response, the Invisible Woman blasts a tube of solid and invisible force through the 50-some floors of the team’s Baxter Building headquarters. Once her husband has seen the extent of this destructive act, she says: “Do I look like I need protecting, Reed? Do I?”

Though making neat holes in each floor of their HQ may seem decidedly male with its penetration imagery, it’s a point that the supposedly super-genius Mister Fantastic, and maybe all men in comics as well as those who read them, need to understand: women superheroes have come a long way from the days in which they needed men to protect and rescue them. Not only can they protect themselves, but from the way this conflict looks like it will play out in the Fantastic Four, they will be the ones who will rescue the men.

Danielle Moonstar was always one of my favorite characters from one of my favorite X-teams, the New Mutants. What I loved about her was how much like a real person she seemed. Her initial fear (all right, terror) when confronted with the horrors of the danger room seemed like an all-too-believable reaction to me. Yet Dani was able to face and overcome her fear of the danger room. I remember that the danger room event happened very early in the New Mutants series, but it illustrated so much about Dani’s character. She was flawed, yes - but also determined to face her own flaws. And that was what made her a strong young woman. For a completely fearless person to face the danger room alone - well, so what? But for a person with a much more realistic fear to face the danger room alone despite her fears, now, that’s something extraordinary.

Facing her fears seems to be kind of a theme with Danielle. She faced and fought the demon bear that had devoured her parents - even if she lost that particular battle. (Thankfully, her friends were there to win the war.) She fears death, too - even moreso after she gains the Valkyrie ability to sense impending death. Yet she faces and fights Death personified in order to protect Pat Roberts. Ultimately this is a battle that she chooses to concede, but again, it only serves to illustrate how amazingly brave and courageous of a young woman she is.

I think the moment that I fell in love with Dani was at the end of Marvel Graphic Novel #4, which introduced the New Mutants. Professor Xavier chastised Dani for modifying her New Mutants uniform. She insisted on wearing her own turquoise belt and deerskin boots, instead of the standard X-belt and yellow boots that the other students wore. Dani’s response was simple and to the point: “I am Cheyenne. Nothing - No one - will ever make me forget or abandon my heritage… You say we must wear these clothes– I will do as you ask, but in my own manner. If that bothers you, I can leave.” And then - amazingly - Professor Xavier apologized and backed down. He even thought to himself, Once, I would have forced her to conform. And would have been wrong to do so. Way to go, Dani! It takes real guts to disagree with someone like Professor Xavier, especially considering the position that Dani was in at the moment (that is, pretty much dependant on Xavier’s help for her survival). And on top of that, Dani was able to express her disagreement in a mature and adult-like way.

And you know what? Dani’s moment of standing up to Professor X, while awesome, pales in comparison to her understated and stunningly courageous stand against the Beyonder. That moment - Dani’s speech before her inevitable death - was the only part of the Secret Wars series that I actually enjoyed. Because it was Dani doing what she does best - standing up for herself and facing her greatest fear head on. She also stands up to Magneto, (a speech which ends with him hanging his head and muttering “I’m a failure”) as well as standing up to Pete Wisdom, and many others. Danielle can always be counted on to stand up for her own beliefs and convictions, no matter who or what she is facing. And she will do so in a dignified and non-violent way.

Returning to the Xavier confrontation for a moment, that brings me to one aspect of Dani’s character that sometimes is handled well, and sometimes not: her Native American heritage. At first, Dani did seem to suffer from the same curse that afflicted so many of the other minority characters in the Marvel Universe: Her character WAS “The Cheyenne Girl,” and that was pretty much it. Every aspect of Dani’s character was carefully crafted to scream at the reader CHEYENNE!!!!!. And indeed, Dani did seem to live up to every single stereotype and cliche about Native Americans in existence. She loves nature! She can communicate with animals! She wears deerskin clothes and turquoise jewelry! She hunts demon bears while wearing warpaint! Okay. We get it. In addition, many aspects of Dani’s supposedly Cheyenne heritage, as portrayed in the comic book, were poorly researched. It was as if, when writing and drawing Dani, her creators simply drew upon popular stereotypes of Native Americans, rather than doing actual research into Cheyenne culture. Not until the recent second New Mutants series did Dani start to look and act like someone who was more than just CHEYENNE!!!!!. So Dani’s heritage is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it’s great to see a Native American character in a mainstream comic, especially a character who is a strong role model and a believable human being, like Danielle. On the other hand… Do all of her costumes have to feature fringed deerskin and feathers?!

Although both Dani and Sam Guthrie were co-leaders of the New Mutants, it was always my impression that Dani did the real leading. Dani was always the responsible one, the decision-maker, the true leader. She was the one that the other New Mutants turned to when they needed advice or help. Perhaps this set-up does play to sexist stereotypes: the girl being mature and responsible, whereas the boy is bumbling and goofy. (And I will restrain myself from commenting on the “redneck” stereotypes that infected Sam’s character, I swear. As much as I deeply love Sam.) But still, when I read these comics as a kid, it was awesome for me to see a young woman in such a position of power and authority. And again, Dani wasn’t a perfect leader. She was just as prone to wrong decisions and foul-ups as, say, Cyclops or Xavier. But still, she was a leader, and she was awesome in that role. And nobody ever gave her flack or refused to listen to her just because she was a girl. Later she even became a teacher at Xavier’s school. Although initially unwilling to accept this position, Dani once again proved that she was able to fill the role of an important authority figure, despite her own self-doubts.

And that’s why Danielle Moonstar rocks. Because she’s a leader, she can stand up for herself, and she can face her own fears. She is not a perfect character, but her many flaws make her a believable character. Despite the fact that she was de-powered after M-Day, I really do hope that Danielle continues to be a presence in the X-books for years to come.