That was such an incredibly stupid and utterly pointless series. In that excerpt, Wonder Woman is about to have her battle with Storm (the entire series hinged on a series of one-on-one battles, like the fate of a universe hinging on two guys playing a head-to-head Street Fighter II tournament) and, even after giving up Mjolnir, Wonder Woman loses. Ridiculous, if not a tad insulting.
The short-lived Amalgam spin-off had some potential, though, or at least a chance for the writers to show some imagination.
Stupid, stupid idea. No matter what Joss says on Twitter. Thor ain’t Starbuck - you just don’t change a character from mythology like that. Heimdall was bad enough.
I read some comments from the Marvel article and there are some claiming to be “female” and they were saying why not a woman come up to kick-assedness on her own? They assume Marvel doesn’t think it will work and the only way a strong female character can happen is by attaching her to a strong already popular male character and that that is insulting and reverse feminism or something.
Well, for Marvel titles featuring a solo female character… offhand I can think of Dazzler, She-Hulk, Red Sonja… um…
[…going to wiki…]
-Annie; just two issues in 1982, presumably an adaption of the film.
-Annie Oakley; eleven issues ending in 1956. Pre-Fantastic Four #1, so I guess we can skip it.
-Barbie and Barbie Fashion? Really? Dozens of issues for each and in the 1990s, so definitely significant and modern, but presumably not in the same Earth-616 universe.
-Black Widow, three issues. Might have been a limited series.
-Some Captain Marvel one-shots from the 1980s, possibly the Monica Rambeau version.
-The Cat, four issues in the early seventies. Might have been a limited series for Tigra.
-Cindy Comics and Cindy Smith Comics. Probably not Earth-616.
-Elektra, numerous titles with short runs and two volumes of 19 and 35 issues. I daresay she counts.
-Emma Frost , 18 issues
Anyway… continuing down the list and looking specifically for Earth-616 candidates with greater than mini-series runs…
-Ms. Marvel
-Night Nurse, Claws of the Cat and Shanna the She-Devil, introduced at around the same time in 1972, none successfully as far as I know, but their female protagonists ended up as supporting characters elsewhere
-Spider-Girl
-Spider-Woman
Anyway, so if we limit ourselves to moderately-successful characters with open comic runs (i.e. not limited series) in the Earth-616 universe:
Dazzler
Elektra
Emma Frost
Ms. Marvel
Red Sonja
She-Hulk
Spider-Girl
Spider-Woman
Spider-Girl was, I recall, set in a possible future and may not strictly count on that basis. I’m not sure about Red Sonja. So, yeah, a female Thor would be eighth, possibly ninth. At most twelfth, if Night Nurse, Claws of the Cat and Shanna the She-Devil are counted.
You can add Captain Marvel to the list. Carol Danvers, formally Ms Marvel, is the lead now, and the current Ms Marvel is Kamala Khan, a new character with an unrelated origin and power set.
Incidentally, if you’re not reading the new Ms Marvel, check it out. It’s outstanding.
It’s too bad that non-superhero comics don’t get that kind of exposure on a mainstream tv program like The View. That said, the new Thor design looks cool. Older fans don’t like these kind of changes, including myself, but sometimes they can be fun. The Beta Ray Bill Saga was cool, as was the alien costume for Spider-man. Bucky and Dick Grayson as legacy characters turned out to be really great.
Did they change Heidall in the comics or are you referring to the casting in the film, because I thought Idris Elba was great in the role.
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Yeah, I read that comment. But Marvel and DC do this all the time to appeal to different demographics or get people who don’t normally follow a title to start checking it out. Ultimate Spider-man became a black hispanic, Green Lantern was replaced with someone younger, Batman was killed off to be replaced by the first Robin.
And it’s difficult to sell, not just new female superheroes, but new superheroes in general. Which is why there are so many legacy characters in Marvel and DC and playing musical chairs with the identities.
Yeah, the art design looks cool, and a lot more practical than typical depictions of armored women. It’s just the storyline behind the art that sounds stupid.
Do we have any indication of the story? All I’ve seen is that there’s going to be a woman swinging Mjolnir, but no details on how she gets there, or who she is.
Lessee, this is probably not a comprehensive list, but here’s at least a run-down of most of the ongoing Marvel Comics titles that starred a solo female character (regardless of how long - or more likely short - the run was):
Black Widow (not the one Scarlett Johanssen plays in the movies, this was a very different character, appeared in “Mystic Comics”, briefly.
Miss America (had a single issue as a regular superhero comic, her title was quickly converted into a “Girls’ Interests Magazine.”)
Sun Girl (two issues of her own series, then became a sidekick to the original Human Torch)
Blonde Phantom (about four issues of her own series)
Namora (spin-off of Sub-Mariner, short-lived)
Venus (straddled the worlds of superhero comics and horror tales comics)
Millie the Model (humor title)
Patsy Walker (human title, the character later became the Avenger / Defender known as “Hellcat”)
Thundra (she starred in a black & white tabloid size comic sometime in the early 70s before becoming a supporting character in Avengers)
Black Widow ('Tasha first anchored an on-going series in “Amazing Adventures”, shared the book with the Inhumans)
Night Nurse (much maligned early 70s series, lasted four issues)
The Claws of the Cat (lasted about three issues)
Shanna the She-Devil (lasted about three issues as well)
Red Sonja (spin-off from Conan the Barbarian, probably the longest lasting female title published by Marvel)
Tigra the Were-woman (revamped, more sexualized version of ‘the Cat’ character, starring character in “Marvel Chillers” title)
Ms. Marvel (spin-off of Marvel’s first Captain Marvel character)
Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew - created solely to prevent rival comics characters from using the name for a knock-off of Spider-Man, actually had little connection to Spider-Man and proved to be a surprisingly durable character)
She-Hulk (same situation as above)
Dazzler (created as a bizarre attempt to cash-in on the disco craze, though she debuted long after the disco heyday.)
Magik (Illyana Rasputin, sister of longtime X-Man Colossus - limited series only)
Spider-Girl (alternate future daughter of Peter and MJ Watson)
Mystique (longtime X-Men villain revamped as ‘90s Bad Girl’)
That would bring us to about the mid-90s, at which point I was no longer keeping up with Marvel Comics. (someone else can continue the list from there.) There were also scattered, forgettable limited series (the Scarlet Witch got at least one of her own, Kitty Pryde co-starred in a few with Wolverine.)
