Jul32012

Gail Carriger’s Favorite Comic Book Heroines

I’m a self-confessed Marvel girl, Gentle Reader. Yes, I read some DC but it was always Marvel that I collected.

Gail Carriger Blue Standie Manga Changeless Comicon 2012 promo teal

I like the idea of being a mutant, of being special. I branched out to Dark Horse once or twice, but in the end I prefer to read about teams, superheros working together. Partly because, early on, this was my only chance to see more than one female superhero in action. I mean X-men had, like, three! (God forbid there actually ever be more females than males on a team. Or that the female be in charge of the team on a permanent basis, and not be a bad girl . . . but I digress.) In case you hadn’t guessed from my own writing, friendship is a theme that appeals to me.

I’ve never been one for the Hero’s Journey, one man struggling against the universe blah de blah. I find Batman totally lacking in appeal: rich man with dark past and too many toys all on on his own taking on the bad guys? Yawn fest. Add Robin into the mix and a little homoerotic tension and I perk up, but basically meh to the Batman, Spiderman, and Supermen of the world.

So who are some of my favorite female super heroes?

Firestar

I may be the only person in existence who actually collected New Warriors comics. But they were my team. I loved them so much. I knew when the next one was due to come out and I would haunt my local comic shop waiting for the shipment.

As the series progressed I became a particular fan of Speedball but it was Angelica Jones who drew me to pick up my very first comic ever. I adored her on the Spider Man and His Amazing Friends cartoon when I was a kid, so I hunted down the comic that featured Firestar as a main character. I loved that the New Warriors were all teens ~ that their concerns felt more personal to me as a result, and that their character arcs were all about learning to work together, building friendships, and relationships, very like my own journey through high school. (Only I couldn’t shoot microwave energy out my hands, sadly. Life would have been so much better if I could.)

Shadow Cat

Kitty Pryde had one of the coolest super powers, phasing through solid matter. She was part of the X-Men but I didn’t start reading her until she’d joined Excalibur. I adored her character and she came complete with pet mini-dragon.

Rogue

Why do we love Anna Marie so much? The ultimate Romeo and Juliet relationship with Gambit, of course. Gambit, only the hottest X-man ever. No, not Wolverine, Gambit.

French bad boy who can charge and throw deadly playing cards, ex-con and thief, develops a mad passion for the sweet southern belle whom he can never touch. Le sigh. Yeah, Rogue’s powers suck. But unrequited love with a hot snarky bad boy? Mmmm. Plus after sucking Ms Marvel, Rogue can fly.

White Queen

Leaving aside the abysmal portrayal of Emma Frost in recent movies, she’s a wonderful character. She wavers from being an all out bad girl, with her Hellions, to having some good moments, to eventually taking on teaching duties, building Generation X and even joining X-men. I liked that her strength was in her mind, that she was the leader of her group, and that she was a very strong woman. I also loved her costume. What can I say? I’m shallow like that.

Of course, who did I really want to be when I grew up? She Ra, Ceetara, or Xena. I’m not picky. So, what about you? Any comic readers out there? Who’s your favorite comic book heroine?

Want more behind the scenes sneak peeks? Join the Chirrup

Find my books 

Direct | Amazon | KoboBookshop.org | B&N | Apple | FoylesMcnally Robinson | Angus Robertson

Here’s a printable Downloadable Checklist of ALL my books!

  • Did you miss my latest release? Want more sneak peeks, free goodies, gossip, behind the scenes info? This goes to my Chirrup members, because I love them bestest. Sign up here:

All My Books

Are here.

Rainbow Poster All Gail Carriger Books Free

Tags: ,

Posted by Gail Carriger

 Comments are closed

Comments

  1. Matt Harrison said:

    Matching yours so far – couple of books that marvel have put out in recent years that I'd recommend would be Marvel Divas (awful title but a really great story – basically about the friendship of Firestar, Hellcat, Black Cat and the female Captain Marvel) and also Girl Comics – an anthology series of short stories focussing on marvel's female characters by a range of female creators (this one's fab)

    Other favourites:
    Storm
    Psylocke
    Meggan (from the ld Excalibur days)
    Jenny Sparks
    Emma Bishop (would highly recommend Mark Waid's run on Ruse)
    Halo Jones

  2. JuLee said:

    It's been a while since I read comics, but my faves when I did were Hellcat, Magick and Moondragon. I also have a warm spot for She-Hulk, she had a very whimsical sense of humor

© 2024 Gail Carriger
Site built by Todd Jackson