Swing Out Sister

he Easter Holidays have arrived and, to celebrate the fortieth anniversary this year of The Superhero Women of Marvel, I'm going to post about present-day super-heroines. I think this is especially important in the light of recent comments on the Internet about the market's rejection of diversity. Marvel have also cited factors such as Trump's election and economic uncertainty, in addition to DC's "returnability" model, for falling sales. But the idea that the ageing fanbase doesn't welcome characters who aren't white with a Y chromosome is depressing. There is plenty of evidence of a move towards "meat and potatoes" Marvel comics - imitating the desperately bland and backward-looking DC Rebirth initiative.


 One of the cancelled titles is Patsy Walker aka Hellcat.

Patsy Walker is something of a metafictional marvel heroine: she was the star of a series of teen romance titles which were published "in-universe" and famously had a cameo at the wedding of Reed Richards and Sue Storm. She was then a supporting character in the 70s adventures of the Beast and the Avengers, where she took over the mantle of early Seventies feminist flop, The Cat.

I first "met" Hellcat in the Conway/Giffen Defenders in 1976 and her origin was reprinted in the b/w Super Spider-man Weekly a couple of years later, during my latter schooldays. By the time I was a university student, Patsy was an established Defender in a melodramatic relationship with the Son of Satan. Killed off  in the Goth Nineties, Patsy was revived by her champion Steve Englehart  at the end of the decade. The heroine returned again in a miniseries about a decade ago, dispatched to Alaska in the wake of the Initiative storyline.

Kate Leth and Brittney L. Williams'  PWAH title sees Patsy start up a superhero temp agency but the first arc is really focused on her friendships with Valkyrie, She-Hulk ( this series is very much a sequel to Charles Soule's Shulkie run), America Chavez, Jubilee and Patsy's bisexual flatmate Telekinian. After an adventure with Defenders foe Casiolena, a very Batman '66- flavoured Black Cat bedevilled Hellcat, picking up threads from Marvel Divas.

I understand that a Trish Walker appears in the Jessica Jones tv series, so  the eponymous private eye appears, as do Patsy's exes, Daimon and Buzz Baxter. (I haven't seen JJ and I didn't enjoy Netflix Daredevil at all but more on that later this year...)


Unfortunately, this rainbow of  Queer whimsy is ending with the seventeenth issue. It's a pity, even though it was a little too twee at times for me, but I would like to see this team on a Wonder Woman title. I think they would bring a modern, sympathetic take to the 40s vision of kinky, Utopian Paradise Island.

Another engaging Superhero Woman stars in I Can Explain, the collected edition of last year's Mockingbird series .Formerly, the Marvel heroine known as the Huntresss ( Really!),Mocky was a founder member of the West Coast Avengers and is currently the handler for the young spider-woman known as Silk.Described as an A List Spy but a C-list Superhero, Bobbi Morse is very much the SHIELD agent from the tv series. Amusingly, there is a lot of male objectification as Bobbi rescues her boyfriend Lance Hunter and her ex-husband Clint Barton (HawkGuy) from the Hellfire Club and Total Idea Mechanics respectively, in their pants.

This is a witty, naughty series that even remembers Bobbi's esper powers from her days as Ka-Zar's supporting cast. Sadly, Chelsea Cain left Twitter because of online abuse from comics fans who disliked the feminist message in her work and the comic is defunct. Yesterday's announcement that new Doctor Who companion Bill Potts is an out lesbian will doubtless stir the same feelings of anxiety and hostility in Who fandom.

 I have taught teenage boys who propose essays on the topic "Is Feminism Stupid?" and it worries me that their culture is so misogynist.  With the rise of right-wing ideology across the world and the UK's retreat into a fantasy of anti-immigrant isolation, it's vitally important to have heroes who don't just represent white male privilege.

In upcoming posts we'll look at other comics heroines from Marvel and DC: Shade The Changing Girl, the Unstoppable Wasp, Supergirl and Prez

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