Valente. This is a series of short stories set in shared alternate comic book universe (with characters such as Grimdark and Kid Mercury and Doctor Nocturne evoking various Marvel and DC Comics personages) linked by a sort of AA session in which deceased women (with one exception who for her own reasons hangs out among the unliving) take turns explaining how they ended up in Deadtown, i.e., thanks to some male superhero or supervillian exploit. You want some real kick-ass female perspective on the comic book world that’s disturbingly close to real-life? Check out The Refrigerator Monologues by Catherynne M. Look, I enjoyed the movie, but for all its merits it’s still a sad commentary of our times that Wonder Woman is considered somehow ground breaking. Problem is, compared to the latest crop of superhero movies (maybe even movies in general) the bar isn’t set very high. It’s enough to make you forgive the silly and at this point yawn inducing CGI pyrotechnics between good and evil ending that is apparently sacrosanct in these sort of flicks.

Gail Simone, who is a comic-book writer who has worked on titles such as Deadpool, Batgirl, Wonder Woman, Wolverine and Justice League, tweeted that she would like to see the merciless mercenary, The Punisher, occasionally crack a smile, you know, just so female fans have some eye candy (it's only fair).The Wonder Woman movie has received considerable buzz for depicting an interesting lead female character who actually has a personality, is not dependent on some guy to come to her rescue and truly is the star attraction it even has a female director. Sign up to our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter While this is beyond ridiculous, women are attempting to reclaim the criticisms that are being aimed at female characters by pointing out that male characters from these movies don't exactly smile either. The debate, which shouldn't really exist in the first place, mostly revolves around men complaining about women having too much involvement in certain franchises and sectors of men attempting to sabotage movies.Ī most recent example of this is members of the right-wing declaring that they are going to boycott the Marvel movie, Captain Marvel, for supposedly having a feminist agenda and the casting of Brie Larson, who apparently 'doesn't smile enough'.

In the past few years, the discussion of women's representation in pop culture has been a thoroughly depressing thing to witness.

Powerless Against You by Gail Simone