 COMICS |  | LEADING LADIES | | Wizard Universe picks some of our favorite books headlined by heroines! | | | By The Wizard Staff | | Posted 2/25/2008 | |  | | There’s no shortage of superheroines running through the paneled pages of your favorite monthly fare, but there isn’t an excess of books headlined by the women of the comic world either. We at Wizard know how to treat a lady and it’s about time these titles with female leads got their due!
We shuffled through stacks of books to bring you five comics headlined by heroines that you really shouldn’t miss, so read the recommendations and then head out and buy the books!
| |  |  BOMB QUEEN
Image Shadowline
by Jerry Whitworth
Ever read about a super-heroine so sweet it makes your teeth hurt? How about a super-powered woman parading around in next to nothing and wondering if one of her powers is remaining barely on the edge of decent? Well, meet Bomb Queen: the meanest, nastiest, smuttiest and biggest super-villain to ever grace the comic book industry. The fourth member of a quartet of villainesses known as the Four Queens, Bomb Queen tore through her allies one after another until she was the only one remaining. The competition dead and buried in tiny scorched pieces, she conquered New Port City and established the first criminal state in the history of the US.
In New Port, you can find anything. Rape, murder, drugs, incest, pedophilia—perhaps, in the largest stomping ground of evil on Earth, Bomb Queen stands atop the heap. With the city’s "No Heroes" law in place, no one dares to stop her else they actually run afoul of the law and, in New Port, even the most minute of crimes (like bad-mouthing the Queen) is punishable by death with extreme prejudice (like a bomb placed uncomfortably in a tight orifice). However, that’s hardly stopped the heroes of Image Comics from trying. Savage Dragon and Blacklight have felt our favorite villainess’ sting and the likes of Shadowhawk, Dynamo 5, and Invincible have had to pick up the pieces in Bomb Queen’s wake.
In an industry dominated by good conquering evil, Bomb Queen stands alone as a villain with the best win-loss record against the forces of good than any other. Bomb Queen is a tongue-in-cheek examination of the hero-villain convention wrought with dark humor, extreme violence, and at times sex that dances on the edge of a smut comic. This one’s certainly not for the kids, but the adults will devour it, albeit behind the backs of their friends and loved ones. Bomb Queen by Jimmie Robinson is the sleeper success of Image’s Shadowline imprint that proved so popular the company has started a contest just to find a super-heroine counterpart. After four mini-series and a one-shot collected in three trades and with a fourth hitting store shelves May 2008, do yourself a favor and check this book out, you’ll feel dirty at first but you’ll be glad you did.
| |  JUNGLE GIRL
Dynamite Entertainment
By Andy Serwin
Let me be right up front: Jungle Girl is NOT the next great piece of graphic literature. However, if Pulitzer Prizes were granted for balls-out, goofy-fun comics starring scantily clad, badass she-warrior survivalists, this Dynamite series would certainly be a top nominee.
First off, if you’re gonna judge this book by its covers, well, Frank Cho is the master of cheesecake, and the only thing missing from these Jungle Girls fronts is the warm blueberry sauce to drizzle on it. Cho’s the master of ensuring that Jana the Jungle Girl’s “assets” are always front and center. Cho also provides the plot for the series, which is easy enough to follow—Jana lives in jungle world impossibly populated by dinosaurs and other prehistoric monstrosities as well as tribes of proto-people, when a plane carrying scientists, documentarians and, unfortunately for our heroes, a pair of smugglers with a cache of heroin, crashes in her backyard. The series then becomes a video game-like race for survival as Jana leads them through this Jurassic Park of death toward safety, facing bigger and badder menaces—including a wooly mammoth stampede, slumbering Stone Age grizzly bears and man-eating worm-parasites—along the way.
While the plot is straight-forward and the dialogue by Doug Murray won’t win any poetry contests, the appeal of Jungle Girl boils down to the sights you see along the way through this Saturday-serial of a comic book, and it all starts with the art.
Interior artist Adriano Batista—who sports a clean line style, solid pacing and layouts, and draws some mean ass flora and fauna to boot—seems to have studied at the Frank Cho School of Anatomy, because he never misses an opportunity for a dramatic reaction shot of Jana, one that usually involves her thrusting her chest out in defiance, or whipping around lithely at the waist in order to afford a seductive look back at the reader (as well as her posterior).
Jungle Girl is not for the mensa or hipster set, and feminists everywhere will probably cringe at the mere sight of this book. But if you like to chew on bubble gum-pop comics, or you dig the sight of a well-drawn, attractive female in a leopard-skin bikini slaughtering a bear and decapitating it with a machete, you might want to book a safari with Jungle Girl.
| |  SHEENA: QUEEN OF THE JUNGLE
Devil’s Due Publishing
By Jim Gibbons
There’s obviously something appealing about a badass chick in a leopard print bikini ready to brawl with beasts and brutes alike, otherwise there wouldn’t have been three different publishing companies with a wild warrior woman headlining a mini-series over the past year, but as far as I’m concerned Sheena: Queen of the Jungle is the only one with the brains to back up the bust.
I first picked up Devil’s Due Publishing’s Sheena last year alongside Dynamite’s Jungle Girl and Marvel’s Shanna the She-Devil. I took it on as my sworn duty to decide which heroine in a skimpy, animal-print outfit was worth my time as a reader, because one of them had to be! Why? Because of an instinctual reason shared by most men that attracts us to a near-naked woman fighting tigers and/or T-Rexes, that’s why!
Reading issue one of Sheena set-up a surprisingly layered plot that wasn’t hinted at in its sex appeal-centric cover. This book has layers like a forest with environmentalists fighting a major corporation, the politics and deceit within said corporation, the rise and fall of a Central American dictatorship and at the canopy, a little girl lost in a plane crash who grew up to become a smoking hot, arrow-slinging, knife-wielding, panther-riding jungle queen stuck in the middle of all the chaos! It was almost staggering how much plot was crammed between the curvaceous covers, but I guess that should be expected when the book was plotted and co-written by Steven E. de Souza. That’s right, the guy who co-wrote f---ing “Die Hard!”
“DIE HARD!”
Between the driven and vicious businesswoman Laura Jeffries, the down-and-out and dishonorably discharged Martin Ransome and sarcastic environmentalist Bob Kellerman, the book is character-rich and ready to retain its plethora of plot, but the titular heroine still shines above the rest. Sheena’s one part silent and stealthy sentinel, one part Amazon woman and one part John McClane, combining for a deadly and voluptuous vixen with a few good one-liners to throw in the face of danger.
The book’s only downside might be that the involved plot seemed to be a bit too much story for line artist Matt Merhoff to convey in the beginning. Early issues had some quick cuts that led to a few confusing flashback scenes. However, after an action-packed fourth issue, it seems the team on this book is hitting their stride heading into issue five and it’s at a comparable speed to Sheena’s panther Yagua bolting through the underbrush.
Her outfit might be skimpy, but Sheena is the undisputed queen of the jungle with a comic that has more than enough compelling story and cinematic action to rival any book on the market.
| |  SUPERGIRL
DC Comics
By Kevin Mahadeo
Stop looking at her chest. She’s more than just the “S” shield inscribed across it.
Let me explain. Actually, that might take too long. Let me sum up. Over the years, the Maiden of Might experienced numerous retcons and reimaginings in order to bestow upon her a sense of individuality and remove her from the shadow of the title “Superman’s Cousin.” In the early ‘90s, she was an “Earth-Born Angel” and not Big Blue’s kin. More recently, she returned to her Kryptonian roots but “acted her age” by being a rebellious, angsty teenager. Neither of those incarnations felt right. The Angel schtick separated her too much, and the modern teen take made it difficult to empathize with a whiny, selfish brat.
Then Kelley Puckett flew onto the scene. Despite the fact the current incarnation went through about three new origins in the course of 22 issues, Puckett decided to give his own spin—and he spun gold.
Puckett kept the idea that Kara’s parents sent the 16-year-old to Earth in order to protect her baby cousin. It was unique, interesting and didn’t need the “hidden agenda of a vengeful brother” element forced in during previous runs. Kara being older than Kal and retaining memories from Krypton added a whole new depth to the character previously unexplored. Not only does it develop Kara as a character, but it grows Superman. Pre-Crisis, the two characters interacted often, but neither truly enhanced the other’s character. Now, their relationship adds parfait-like layers to both. Just check out the ending scene from issue #24. Puckett also pitched another curveball by having Zor-El be a ranger and Alura the scientist. While not a Krypton-shattering revelation, it adds another interesting, logical separation from her cousin.
As a budding superhero, Puckett pens a Supergirl readers care for. Her struggles to make her “two dads,” Superman and Batman, proud break her away from the old mold of having her be just like Superman. You really feel for her when she fails her assignment in issue #23 and when she struggles to save everyone while trying to control her powers in issue #26. And her encounter with Batman’s box-of-mystery at the beginning of issue #23 gives Kara a very real and relatable personality. Also, adding a curious and scientific side opens up brand new doors and venues separating her from the classic save-the-citizen hero.
Finally, you can’t talk about the brilliance of the creative team without addressing the fantastic art of Drew Johnson. Johnson’s ability to pace a story and convey emotion gives the character and events such a realistic feel, while still retaining that element of grandeur needed in a comic about heroes who can travel space and lift mountains. However, the one thing I am most thankful for: the lengthening of the skirt and the retaining of the boy shorts underneath. An unfortunate stigma in comics is that skimpy clothes means sexy heroine. Unless she’s an exhibitionist, wearing a micro-mini into battle with regular panties underneath provides one hell of a show to everyone looking on. Johnson pencils a Supergirl who comes across as sexy without being slutty.
From Puckett and Johnson’s first issue, I’ve been hooked. Supergirl is the best she’s even been. Pick up and issue and take a look—not at her “S,” but at the unique and captivating hero she’s become.
| |  WONDER WOMAN
DC Comics
By Kiel Phegley
OK. Gail Simone is a woman. And she’s writing Wonder Woman.
We get it already.
While there’s been a lot of mass media hype surrounding the idea of a veteran superhero writer with a proven track record who happens to not be a man writing comics longest-running (and most often underwhelming) superheroine, can we please talk about the book for a little while? With the first Simone arc over and done with, it’s pretty clear what kind of series we can expect—namely, a fast-paced action comic with an equal amount of humor and pathos. On its own, that’s enough to make a superhero book worth seeing. Considering the character’s previous runs, it’s feels something like a revelation.
Many people would say that recently (while others would say “historically”), Wonder Woman as a comic has had a tough time of finding its place in the DC publishing line-up just as Wonder Woman as a character has had a tough time finding her place in a man’s world. From Greg Rucka’s smartly-written but ultimately over-complicated diplomat take to Allan Heinberg’s recent kitsch-driven revival, Princess Diana has been inconsistent on her own terms and lackluster compared to the highly defined Superman and Batman. With four issues of her Wonder Woman run in the can, Simone has shrugged off any worry about whether or not Wonder Woman deserves to be the “best female superhero” in comics and has simply written her that way.
As a regally confident lead, Wonder Woman provides an honest-to-God, bad ass “hero moment” at least once in every issue from her direct dispatching of her mother’s would be assassins to her subtle use of her lasso of truth as a psychological weapon far beyond a simple lie detector. And accompanying this engaging portrayal is a lineup of new ideas providing equal amounts of “food for thought” fodder and plain old superhero fun, including:
• An expansion of Wonder Woman’s origin that complicates her as a character and adds a new villain team in the form of four rogue Amazon warriors.
• An expanded role for her super spy supporting cast beyond being the people that say, “There’s the villain! Fight it!” which includes a new place for longtime supporting character Etta Candy.
• Nazis invading Paradise Island.
• Super intelligent albino ape commandos.
And if those changes weren’t fun enough, future issues of the series promise adventures of Wonder Woman in space, the machinations of a new leisure suit-wearing villain who can get into Diana’s apartment and the complications that arise with Wonder Woman becoming the standard bearer of Polynesian god Kane Miohai.
With Simone in for the long haul on this book (and soon to be joined by Aaron Lopresti who’s fresh off of proving himself a worthy heir to the Dodsons on Ms. Marvel), it gives me hope that these ideas and their execution are going to pan out far beyond the dun action roots they inhabit now and provide a real character-defining moment for Wonder Woman. We’re not there yet, but it’s going to be a fun ride either way.
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