“Heroes, Villains, and Me” is a weekly article on Geeky KOOL by Larry Litle about the world of comic books and my reaction to it. “Heroes, Villains, and Me” is not a comic book review article. I will write about current events, speculation and rumors, or my own wacky thoughts about the world of comic books.
I am very disappointed with DC on the costume change of Power Girl. The World’s Finest has been a great comic. It has been fun, well written, and focused on good female hero protagonists. The female characters were appropriately dressed so young girls could read these comics and have wonderful role models. Power Girl’s costume (above) was unique, KOOL, and displayed her figure while having her fully dressed. This is more like what an actual hero would wear to fight bad guys.
DC made the decision to leave Power Girl’s new costume (which I really liked) to go back to costume with the “Boob Window”. In the comic book story, there is no explanation on why she changed costumes. One day, she just showed in the old costume.
Apparently not enough 14 year old boys were purchasing World’s Finest. This costume now moves the focus from a wonderful character to focusing on her breasts. The eye candy is now back for the boys. As a guy, I appreciate the wonderful figure but I know the issues it causes for girls.
Some people are claiming that Power Girl needed to return to her traditional costume. Power Girl has a history of costume changes over the years. She is most known for her costume with the “Boob Window” but it used to be very small and her costume has changed without the window over the years. (see below)
Starting in 1956, DC Comics rebooted their old comic characters and created new versions of Superman, Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman and many more. This became known as Earth 1. The older version of these characters were still around in what became known as Earth 2 but they were a little older. In 1976, DC introduced a few new generation characters to Earth 2 to add some youth. One of those characters was Power Girl. She was Earth 2’s version of Supergirl.
Power Girl quickly replaced the aging Superman of Earth 2 as a member of the Justice Society of America. She was liberated and independent woman with all of the powers of Superman. She was known for her temper and hotheaded decision making. She often had interpersonal problems with some of the older male members of the JSA.
Power Girl is a full figured woman. She never was ashamed to be a woman and hero. She knew how to put sexism in its place. She quickly became a role models for girls in the 70s.
But over time, artists decided to continually increase the bust size of Power Girl. There is a rumor that one artists wanted to find out how large he could make Power Girl’s chest without being told by the Editor it was too large. Her chest became more important than her fantastic character. There came a time that I was embarrased to buy Justice Society comics with a prominent Power Girl on the cover.
There are plenty of female superhero characters out there who only serve as eye candy for us guys. We like our super ladies to have big chests, small waists, and little clothes. Yet we wonder why there are only guys in the comic stores.
I believe the comic industry is being short sighted on this. Our daughters, sisters, and wives need KOOL female heroes. The industry has a great opportunity to reach out to the female gender with the popularity of superhero movies. Yet, they continue to squash that opportunity with the near sighted goals to add a few thousand male readers.
Even though DC had disappointed me, I am still enjoying the great story in the World’s Finest. My wife and I are not sure if we will continue to let my 12 year old daughter read this monthly comic because of the message the costume change is giving out to girls. I find it extremely sad that my daughter might miss out on two great female characters in Power Girl and Huntress just because DC made this choice.
