Female Characters Hit Opposites of the Attraction Spectrum

Demo "The Waking life of Angels" Issue 1
Brian Wood/Becky Cloonan
Vertigo

The typical heroine is the woman none of us females can live up to. She is placed on the pedestal where all of the regularly proportioned, avergage women are looking up towards with sympathy.

When I first picked up this issue, my focus went immediately to the cover page, that wonderful paratextual element that either attracts a curious reader or not. Is it surprising to find an attractive feminine face with flowing hair and a line of cleavage? Not at all, since the purpose of the cover is to entice readers to pick up the comic. But what message does this woman present, not only to the world of comic readers but to women on a global scale? We see this type of woman in other mediums as well, such as film and even novels.

Flipping through the pages of this issue, I found it interesting that almost all of the panels where the heroine is depicted show her with her shirt falling off of her shoulders, her hair in her face, or her facial expression as one of seduction and mystery. There were moments when I was reading this comic that I forgot what the story was about; I became completely immersed in the perfection of the heroine, although strictly physical perfection, but perfection all the same.

Contrasted to this perfect woman is that other typical female found in many of the comics I've read this semester; she is the opposite of physical perfection and never plays the role of the heroine. Rather, this type of female stands on the sidelines of the story while the male protagonist does his job. Oh, and frankly, she's ugly. Now, where do all of the other women...the real women...fit?

So, if we're going to think about comics as a form of teaching elementary and high school students a few things in the classroom, shouldn't we also be teaching them about reality, even in the comic world created of mostly make-believe? Young boys read comics where women are portrayed in physical perfection or are just plain ugly. They have no opportunity to value the "real" woman...you know, like the one standing up at the front of the classroom or the one that makes their PB&J sandwiches in the morning. Young girls also read comics but a large portion of them cannot relate to the female protagonists because they don't have constant cleavage and perfect skin.

So what purpose do these two types of women serve? Are they used to sell issues? Are they meant to attract a certain audience? Being a new-comer to the world of comics, I'd like to explore this issue because I think it is something that can be altered to serve a more positive purpose.