Wednesday News: Re-visioning Superheroes and Princesses

JanetPublishing NewsComics / costumes / Disney / diversity / gender / princesses / superheroes / Thor6 Comments

Every once in a while I get a handful of related stories, and I like to post them together. Less news and more a small collection of cool stuff, consider this post a hump-day pause in the usual news week.

Marvel Comics Reveals a Female Thor – Jason Aaron and Russell Dauterman’s new Thor comic book, featuring a female Thor, releases this week, and her identity has finally been revealed. Aaron indicated that he is seeing many more female fans of comics, as well as non-comic fans who are becoming interested in the genre. This is great, of course, although I hope a superhero like the new Thor will appeal to male and female readers. I expect, though, that the identity of this Thor will be the subject of much discussion and debate among both veteran and new fans.

The story reveals the new heroine to be Dr. Jane Foster, a former girlfriend of the hero who has been battling breast cancer.

“Jane Foster has been part of the Thor comics and the Thor mythology from almost the very beginning,” Mr. Aaron said. “The very act of picking up this hammer, of becoming Thor, is killing her. Where we go from here is the real story.” –New York Times

7-Year-Old Creates Afro-Puff Superhero Comic Book and Wins Big – The Adventures of Moxie Girl is a comic book written by seven-year-old Natalie McGriff about a young girl whose curly hair becomes the source of her super power. The book prevailed over more than 500 books at One Spark, a crowdfunding event in Florida, and Natalie’s mother explains why she worked with her daughter to craft this particular comic book:

“I decided to help Natalie write this book because she was having self-esteem issues regarding her hair and she hated to read,” Angie Nixon said in a statement viewed by the Courier. “She now realizes how powerful and awesome her hair is and that in order for her to write a cool book, she needs to read more books and learn different words.” –The Root

Inspiring Illustrations Show Disney Princesses Reimagined As Black And Hispanic Women – Eighteen-year-old Brazilian artist, juliajm15, has a pretty amazing Tumblr, which includes a racial re-visioning of some Disney princesses, including Elsa and Anna (Frozen), Merida (Brave), and Jane (Tarzan). Among other things, her work challenges Disney’s myopically whitewashed construction of beauty, and her Tumblr makes it clear that she is using her art to question any number of social and cultural norms. –Huffington Post UK

These superhero capes are perfect for girls who play hard – OMG I don’t know what’s cuter and cooler – the superhero costumes designed by Lane Huerta of Lovelane Designs, or the pictures of the kids showing off the outfits. Can we convince the designer to make big girl sizes?

There may be a lack of female superheroes out there for girls to emulate, but we love that these capes let them be their own. Among our favourites is the Super Awesome Reversible Cape and Magical Unicorn Cape, for boys and girls who love pink and purple as much as they love empowering depictions of superheroes. [Insert GIF of Old El Paso girl saying, “Why don’t we have both?”] –Daily Life

Janet

isn't sure if she's an average Romance reader, or even an average reader, but a reader she is, enjoying everything from literary fiction to philosophy to history to poetry. Historical Romance was her first love within the genre, but she's fickle and easily seduced by the promise of a good read. She approaches every book with the same hope: that she will be filled from the inside out with something awesome that she didnʼt know, didnʼt think about, or didnʼt feel until that moment. And she's always looking for the next mind-blowing read, so feel free to share any suggestions!

→ Janet