Mini-Huntress & Power Girl Read Comics, Will Kick Your Butt Six Ways From Sunday

It’d be nice if artists thought of that little girl when drawing Powergirl’s boob window. Yanno, not in a creepy way, but in a banner that reads, “Standards!” kind of way.

As a parent, something I think is weird is how the merchandising/marketing of comics works for very young kids. There’s a lot (And I mean A LOT) of superman/spiderman/batman/hulk toys and merchandise aimed at toddlers and little kids (say, ages 2-6), but the movies, TV shows, comics and books aren’t available for that age range. Which means the Marvel and DC are trying to sell branded pajamas and lunch boxes and toys, etc. to kids who have pretty much no idea who the characters are – they only know what their costumes look like. And, as it is, they sell a lot of the merchandise, but i bet they’d be more successful at that age range if the kids actually were fans of the characters the way they are of Mickey Mouse or Elmo or Blue’s Clues or others they saw on TV or in books. Conversely, if they don’t want to go after the 2-6 demographic in movies and comics and stuff, then why produce so many branded clothes and toys for this age range?

I don’t think the existing movies and comics should be dumbed down, but I always wondered why they didn’t also have superhero board books that introduce characters. Or maybe a learning-to-read-level comic line that tells simple stories of the big name superheroes that very young kids can grasp (forget violence and sexualized characters – the biggest problem with most superhero comics for really young kids is that the kids just don’t get the stories without so much explanation of context that they lose interest). A TV show aimed at a younger audience on Nick Jr or Disney or PBS Kids would also be great. From the comics’ point of view, I imagine it would help cultivate a new audience and drive the merchandise consumption for them, if nothing else.

Well,it’s not as prominent as say when I was young but they do have those things. Sometimes you just have to really look for them. As for t.v. Marvel has/had the SUPER HERO SQUAD and DC did BATMAN:THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD.

I’m pretty sure they have all of those things.

Tell me there’s a picture of them hugging.

TELL ME THERE’S A PICTURE OF THEM HUGGING.

They. Look. Badass.

Parents are fans and will buy them for the kids because it’s cute. Also, I watched superhero stuff when I was that age via Saturday Morning Cartoons, and I didn’t even have cable television.

They do have board books of superheroes for little tykes (at least Marvel does) and it is true as mentioned that parents are fans (I and my fella being such folks). You’re mileage may vary, but my kids like the different cartoons of superheroes (Batman, X-Men, Spider-Man, the Wonder Woman animated film) and we let them watch most of the superhero movies after analyzing content (I have a ten-year-old and a three-year-old, so we have to figure out what they can handle). I think a preschool level animated superhero show would be a huge hit, and could utilize chibi versions of the characters along the lines of the cute DC Superfriends mini toy line. In that toy line, my toddler son’s favorites are Batgirl and Wonder Woman, so it would be great if they didn’t leave out the ladies.

Super Hero Squad and Batman: The Brave and the Bold went over very well with my 4-year old daughter. She also watches a ton of old Superfriends on DVD, which she loves because it’s fun and I love because there’s virtually no violence.

No kidding! Sometimes I think the majority of comic book artists these days have had their development arrested at some early point.

Bad people, beware. They’re gonna get you!

I see this more as a tragic indictment of an increasingly and nastily brutish and violent culture. If all super hero comics have become is something that validate prepubescent girls in picking up gun toys, then I regret ever having written the damned things in the first place.

I was thinking the same thing! The Hawkeye Initiative is getting through to a lot of people with a similar way. That last group of people who think the amount of sex/objectifying in comics is acceptable should be asked to imagine if they wanted their 5 year old daughters to wear the outfits/contort their bodies awkwardly under the pretense of crime fighting.

To be fair, Peej as a character could get away with it, with the right artist. It’s the Emma Frost Problem, writ small. In Emma Frost, you have a character is who, by nature, very sexual. And that’s fine. There are in fact women a lot like Emma Frost in that regard, something that is neither good or bad, but simply /is/. And it’s fine that it’s a crucial part of her character. The Problem comes when A) It’s the /only/ part of her character and B) When every other female character is also super-sexualized. Because then it isn’t a character trait any more than having two legs is, and it becomes pointless. And annoying. (Oh, also Problem C–when the cheesecake is just bad.)

At the library I work at, we get a lot of early-reader books for the wee ones. Some of them are just generic superhero stuff, or based off the new Super Friends or the Superhero Squad Show. But the weirdest one by far is an early reader about the Joker. The one from The Dark Knight.

Y’know…for kids.

I don’t know what’s the best thing about that top picture–how wonderful those costumes are, or just how perfect their expressions are. Either way, dead of cute.

Is that a real crossbow?

Not only is your point made, but it’s the same point I rocked up to make. PJ’s boob window is perfectly fine in terms of character. Her in-character response regarding the window should ALWAYS be the Erin Brockovichian ‘I think I look nice. F*** OFF.’ trouble is writers and artists mess it up from time to time.

I agree that it often depends on the artist.

Since you mentioned Emma Frost, and I agree with your analysis, the only issue I ever had was that they replaced the faux-dominatrix outfit with the ridiculous pasty costume. I think an S&M rig fits her personality, but the pasty costume seems to exist only for the sake of “look’ee here”, but that again could just be the context.