SOURCE: "Her-Oes" Hit Marvel
Her-Oes? I'd feel better about this if they hadn't chosen to capitalize tHOse two letters...
*face palms*
Marvel, in their latest attempt to attract young female readers - is now planning a "teen-centric mini featuring younger versions of some of the biggest superheroines from their Avengers franchise".
Odd definition of biggest, seeing as how it includes...
1. A heroine who is currently dead in most of the Marvel Universes (Wasp)
2. A heroine who is a weaker knock-off of a male hero (She Hulk)
3. A heroine who is currently dead in the main Marvel universe AND a weaker knock-off of a male hero. (Namorita)
4. A heroine who was - until recently - dead in the main Marvel universe (Ms. Marvel)
5. Uh... some blonde girl. Seriously, the article I read didn't identify the 5th member of the team!
Meanwhile, DC Comics is bringing back Birds of Prey with fan favorite Gail Simone writing.
I get it! Her-Oh!
ReplyDeleteBecause.. uh, vaginas look like O's?
Actually, I don't get it. At all.
Her-Oes emphasizes two letters with capital letters.
ReplyDeleteH. O.
HO.
Ho as in "whore".
Yes, but I'm ignoring that. Ignoring it!
ReplyDelete(Which is to say, I got what you were saying, but don't understand why Marvel are calling it that to start with.)
Ah, okay.
ReplyDeleteWell, cause you KNOW it's a comic for girls... cause it has HER in it.
Just like Girl Comics are for Girls. And Marvel Divas is for Girls. And since we have comics for girls, there's no reason why we should have to make all of are other books something girls might enjoy reading!
And THIS is why I'm a DC.
ReplyDeleteIt didn't even occur to me we were meant to read "Her", on account of I'm a phoenetic reader and it's pronounced 'Here'. I just saw the emphasised Oh sound.
Heh. Vagina.
Well, this is The House of Joey Q we're talking about. That O = Vagina/Boob shape may have been a triple pun.
ReplyDeleteAnd don't laugh. I saw a commentator elsewhere say that we're one step away from The Girls of V.A.G.I.N.A..
Matt, what would be your ideal Marvel title aimed at women? Assuming you had carte blanche to write a comic for women readers using Marvel female characters. Who would be the characters used? What would the plot be? Any particular artist?
ReplyDeleteWes A.
Ed. Benes. On. Art.
ReplyDeleteActually it sounds more like a women's lib thing, telling women to take control of their sexuality... Her O = orgasm (or for fans of Office Space, making the Oh face), ya see. And we need young girls learning about them.
ReplyDeleteWhile it doesn't deviate from your point about knock-off, I thought the solicitations said Namora, not Namorita.
ReplyDeleteThough it sure looks like they've given Namora her daughter's looks.
OMG BOP *SQUEEEEEE*
ReplyDeleteAlso while you might have read HOs.. I was thinking what.. HER O's? Why are we talking orgasms?
that feels like backwards logic to me. Do you think they'd go to the trouble of making comics for girls if girls already bought their other books in a sufficient quantity, and if they could figure out how to make girls by those books without removing what makes the boys like them don't you think they would?
ReplyDeleteI was sure someone would make the HO connection. Over at Scans Daily people weren't even able to figure out the hypen and separation were meant to emphasize the Her. I figured that out and I'm clueless.
I'm sure that's Namora not her daughter Namorita.
Women already make up a significant number of the X-Men readership. Or they did at one point. I know that the teenage girls I work with are certainly more familiar with and more interested in Rogue and Storm than Wasp and Ms. Marvel.
ReplyDeleteYes. I got the names Namora and Namorita mixed up. Though given how minuscule the ear-points are in the art, can I at least be given credit for recognizing her as Atlantean?
Something like X-Men Evolution, but with a focus on the female mutant heroines.
ReplyDeleteA lot of teenage girls - even ones who aren't big on superheroes - are at least familiar with the characters from the X-Men movies. So that would solve a lot of the recognition problems.
I did a quick poll of some of the teen girls I work with who read Manga but not a lot of American comics and while they all knew and could names several female X-Men, none of them knew who The Wasp was and thought her power of shrinking and flying was lame.
I do think the school setting could work since that is the setting of a most Shojo Manga... but it's silly to deage a bunch of C-list heroines when one can take the base concept of X-Men and just deage it a bit.
As far as characters go, just to toss off a few base ideas...
Jean: Our heroine - the all-American girl
Storm: The arrogant princess who intimidates everyone through her looks and personality.
Rogue: The bitter goth girl (yes, I know - totally cribbing from X-Men Evolution. But it worked!)
Kitty: The shy geek girl, better with computers than people.
The basic formula would be a mixture of Shojo-style romance/drama with magic-girl action plots.
Artist? I'd have to go with Amanda Connor. Just cause. :)
Ed's actually not a bad artist when his... excess are reigned in. And his early Birds of Prey work - covers aside - was not nearly as fan-servicey as his recent JLA work.
ReplyDeleteYes. That's the OTHER one that has come up in conversation quite a bit as to why this particular title is questionable.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if they realize that Stan really wasn't trying to get away with something when he published Giant Size Man Thing!
Yes. That's the OTHER joke that has been coming out of this.
ReplyDeleteWell, that and how HER-OES sounds like the name of a cereal when said out loud.
Ah. Maybe that's why I'm confused. I thought Namora had blue skin...
ReplyDeleteNot bad! I take it the series would focus on these characters as teens? Who would be the "teachers"? Xavier, obviously. Beast? Wolverine?
ReplyDeleteWes A.
The one you don't recognize is Valkyrie. You can tell by the braid. I don't know what her current status is in the main Marvel universe. Certainly not prominent.
ReplyDelete