We Deserve More “Ugly” Female Characters in Comics

Superhero comics are supposed to be a celebration of difference. Our heroes have special powers and abilities that no one else has, and this is what allows them to protect others. But in some very important ways, specifically when it comes to how their female characters look and dress, comic books are deathly afraid of difference.

Let’s start with the X-Men, who are supposed to embrace even those that no one else will accept. Here’s Rogue in her first appearance in Avengers Annual #10. Note the sharp facial features, off-beat make-up, and short, slicked-back hair.

If this were the 1930s, I’d be begging Katharine Hepburn to play Rogue.

Now see how she’s changed two years later, in Uncanny X-Men #171, when she joins the X-Men.

The softer facial features could be attributable to different artistic styles, but you can also see how she’s starting to look more average in other ways, with a less severe hairstyle and more natural-looking make-up. Over the years, Rogue’s look would grow increasingly feminine, with tighter outfits and longer, flowing hair.

Another example: Cassie Sandsmark, alias Wonder Girl. In her first appearance, in Wonder Woman #105, she has a boyish haircut and favors baggy clothes.

As with Rogue, Cassie changed slowly, growing her hair out and donning more form-fitting and revealing clothes. By the time she joined the Teen Titans in the 2003 series, she’s just like every other pretty blonde superheroine you’ve ever seen.

The trend continues to this day. Agatha Harkness transformed from an old woman in Victorian dress to a much younger-looking woman with an artsy white streak in her hair.

Amanda Waller has been significantly slimmed down since her first appearances in Legends and the original Suicide Squad.

Etta Candy is a weird example. Originally, she was fat and completely unapologetic about it, as seen in Sensation Comics #2. That’s not to say she was great representation, but the confidence is nice to see.

In more recent decades, Etta’s appearance has been wildly inconsistent and included some unconventional looks that make it more difficult to fit her into the pattern we’ve seen emerge with other female characters. Still, there has been a general trend, with some recent exceptions, toward slimming her down.

That last one is from a dream sequence/flashback, actually, but how could I deprive you of such a Look?

It’s as if these women are no more than sand on the beach. Shape it however you like, but over time, it will end up looking like all the rest of the sand: generic and indistinct. The only difference is that the forces working on this “sand” are not time and seawater: it’s artists, most of them men, who have erased what made each of these women unique.

You could argue this is all fine because women and girls are allowed to change their style over time. But this only applies to real people who can make their own fashion decisions, not to fictional characters whose style is dictated by their creators.

A more convincing argument is the fact that not every character arrives fully formed right out of the gate. It can take years and multiple creative hands for a character to attain their “classic” look. Still, it sure is convenient that so many characters have developed in a way that puts them more in line with conventional Western beauty standards, isn’t it?

As superhero comics make an effort to populate their stories with more diverse characters, I hope they will pause to consider the many, many real-life women who don’t match the industry’s Barbie doll ideal of beauty. Women who dress “weird.” Women with long faces, broad faces, sharp faces. Fat women. Old women with wrinkles. And everyone else who deserves to see themselves in comics—which is, indeed, everyone.