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A BRIEF INTRODUCTION ABOUT THE PUBLISHERS OF GRAPHIC NOVELS - MARVEL AND DETECTIVE COMICS
==== DETECTIVE COMICS- ==== The detective comics also known by it’s short name- DC comics is a very well known publishing house of graphic novels. It started its publishing in 1937 till 2011 and then continued again in 2016. It is well known for introducing one of the most popular characters of all time – Batman which was introduced in “Detective Comics #27 (May 1939)”. “Detective Comics was the final publication of the entrepreneur Major Malcolm Wheeler Nicholson, whose comics company, National Allied Publications, would evolve into DC Comics, one of the world's two largest comic book publishers, though long after its founder had left it. ” (wiki article- DC comics).

It is known for introducing some of the very popular characters like Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Green Lantern, Darkseid, Shazam and many more. Unlike it’s competitor: Marvel comics, DC has a more matured storyline for it’s characters and the tone of the DC stories is darker than that of Marvel comics which is one of the basic and clearly distinguishable difference between both the companies.

==== MARVEL COMICS ==== Marvel comics, like DC is another pioneer in publishing comics and graphic novels. Marvel started in 1939 as Timely Comics and came to be known as Atlas comics in the early 1950s. and at last in the year 1961, the Marvel branding began. Writers like Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko have played a major role in developing majority of the characters that exist in the Marvel universe. The company was founded by pulp magazine publisher, Martin Goodman.

GENDER ISSUES AND FEMINISM IN COMICS.
Both the companies have their own universe and also have a mammoth number of characters. But somewhere both the companies have not portrayed their female characters rightly. An argument regarding the portrayal of female characters in both DC and Marvel has been going on. There are certain arguments that the female characters in both the universes have not been given  as much importance as the male characters and to support these arguments there are many claims found in the published graphic novels as well as movies.

The female characters in the graphic novels are in many issues objectified. The purpose of the writers behind doing this was to attract more male readers. The objectification of female characters in comic books has been going on for a long time. The female characters have also been used as sex objects.

01- WONDER WOMAN
One of the most prominent example to support the argument of objectification of female characters in comics is of wonder woman. The story of wonder woman starts when a pilot named Steve Trevor crashes into the land of Themyscira- the land of Amazon warriors. There princess Diana nurses him and eventually falls in love with him. When she comes to know about the world war, she goes with Steve to stop the war. There she wears her iconic costume with the flag of the United States. Wonder woman stands for empowerment and patriotism. She is powerful and strong and at many occasions has even defeated Superman in a fight. But many feminists argue if she really stands for empowerment and patriotism. The costume of Wonder Woman is sexually objectifying to many people. In many issues, the writers have portrayed her with big breasts and wearing high heels. Therefore there are arguments by feminists that in such a costume and in high heels how can somebody fight with super-villains and save the world. Wonder woman has been portrayed like this since many years and even in the animated series.

We can see in the given picture that how wonder woman has been portrayed. On many occasions Diana has proved to be more powerful than Superman but there are many evidences in comics and also in movies that in the end it is Superman who fights the main villains. It is Superman who emerges to be stronger. Such evidences can be found in stories of Justice League, Justice League: Doom, the Justice League Movie (2017), Justice League the Animated Series and many more issues and movies.

Currently the character of princess Diana is played by Gal Gadot in live action films. The Wonder Woman(2017) film somehow changed the character. This film gave the character of Diana it’s deserved importance and it also broke the stereotypes. The costume was also changed and it was not much objectifying. It also empowered the female character and this film stands as a symbol for women empowerment. Regarding the character of princess Diana played by Gal Gadot, it was again not given the deserving importance in the 2017 Justice League film where even though Henry Cavill’s Superman had a minor role, the spotlight was over him.

02- CATWOMAN
Catwoman is another DC character that has been always objectified and is portrayed as a sex object. Over the years, Selina Kyle has been portrayed as a female espionage who uses her sex and body to attract other male characters and then take advantage of them and defeat them. Selena’s main weapon is portrayed to be her sex which she knows to use with intelligence when needed. Even though she has been engaged to Batman, on many occasions and in many storylines she has betrayed Batman by using her sex. The character of Selina Kyle has been an objection to many feminists and proves to be a strong evidence in the argument of portrayal of the female characters.

Portrayed with a skin tight leather suit and big breasts, the comic book writers have used catwoman as a sex object and as a scheme to attract male readers since many years and there have not been many changes to the character even in the present times.

03- HARLEY QUINN.
Harley Quinn is another DC comics character that has been only used as a support to the main character and not given enough importance. Harley Quinn who was a former psychiatrist at the Arkham Asylum, was formerly known by the name Dr. Harleen Quinsel until she fell in love with the Joker, and became a lunatic like the Joker and took up the name, Harley Quinn. Harley Quinn has basically no major role in many of the storylines. She just aids the Joker and tries to hit Batman and Distract him. One of the only storylines where Harley Quinn was given importance is the Injustice 2 storyline where there is no Joker and she helps Batman and his team to restore the Brother Eye and fight the pawns of Braniac. In most of the appearances of Harley Quinn like the Injustice 2 storyline or in Batman:Assault on Arkham, she has been portrayed as a mere helper. Most of the times, she is used like a pawn by the Joker and even though she can be considered as the female counterpart of the Joker, she has never been given a significant role. The Joker uses her to distract Batman so that he can execute his plan and in many of the storylines, it is seen that once the Joker's work gets done, he leaves Harley and goes away and comes back to her only when he needs her and thus even making fun of Harley's emotions. Such treatment of Harley depicts the Patriarchy that prevails in our society as well as the misuse of power by the men. She is one of the characters who remains in the story, but is never given much importance.

GENDER ISSUES IN MARVEL COMICS AND THE MCU
BLACK WIDOW

Joss Whedon, the film maker UN agency rose from indie tv sensation “Buffy the lamia Slayer” to post of a number of the foremost necessary movies in Marvel’s medium Universe, has appeared over to a small degree burned out of late. And yesterday, he quit Twitter. the explanations for his departure ar hitherto unknown, however some speculation has focused around criticism Whedon received for his handling of the character Natasha royal house (Scarlett Johansson), a former assassin and therefore the lone girl within the Avengers lineup.

Indeed, a feminist critique of Natasha, driven the maximum amount by Marvel’s failure to deliver merchandise and a complete motion-picture show round the character as by something within the script, crescendoed as Whedon’s latest film, “Avengers: Age of Ultron” arrived in theaters this weekend. I’m sympathetic to several of the larger complaints, however I notice the criticisms of Natasha’s story lines problematic. “Age of Ultron” has its failings, as well as stormy redaction that create Whedon’s character-driven action sequences less coherent. however it’s laborious to think about several movies or tv shows that pay longer exploring what it suggests that to be each a lady and a action hero. It’s a worthy entry within the end product that created Whedon a feminist icon within the initial place.

One of the good delights of “Avengers: Age of Ultron” is that the approach the motion-picture show pokes at our assumptions regarding what’s happening once a person and a lady seem shut on-screen. it absolutely was clear that there was one thing over mere chumminess between Natasha and Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) in “The Avengers.” once she visited visit Norse deity (Tom Hiddleston) in an endeavor to work out what he’d done to the brainwashed Barton, the Asgardian trickster jumped to the logical conclusion: “Is this love, Agent Romanoff?” “Love is for youngsters,” Natasha told him without emotion. “I owe him a debt.”

In fact, Natasha rings a bell in my memory of nobody most because the late humourist speedwell Geng, a minimum of the manner Jennifer Senior represented Geng during a big apple Magazine profile. “Seduction excited her. there have been actors, rock stars, writers, even knowledgeable player. She flatly rejected the notion of sex activity and aforementioned she had no patience for sexual jealousy,” Senior wrote. “But Geng was additionally a girl’s woman — somebody World Health Organization burrowed into her work, unbroken secrets, shopped with glee, barbecued with aptitude, and tenderly sorted her friends’ youngsters.”

Later, as she and Clint weave through the ruins of Sokovia, they diffuse their nerves by talking concerning Clint’s latest plan for a home renovation, a thought to show his feeding space into a space for Laura. “You guys forever dine in the room anyway,” Natasha tells him, cool because the world is falling away below them. There’s a refined however profound intimacy to the exchange: It’s proof of however well they grasp one another, what quantity comfort they take from one another, however well Natasha is integrated into Clint and Laura’s lives.

The burgeoning relationship between Natasha and Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) is spikier, not least as a result of they’re the inverse of 1 of Whedon’s most noted romantic pairings: Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Angel (David Boreanaz) from “Buffy the evil spirit person.” In Whedon’s still-radical program, the titular evil spirit person and therefore the reformed evil spirit slept along, just for the instant of excellent happiness that followed to strip Angel of his soul, turning him back to the monster he’d worked therefore onerous to chuck out. Buffy and her friends work to contain Angelus by any means that necessary: sorcery to revive his soul, a stake once that partition against Angel’s worst self doesn’t return up quick enough.

Natasha, on the opposite hand, would rather bring out her lover’s dark facet than contain it. “I love you,” she tells Bruce, once they share their initial kiss and shortly before she pushes him off a bit of town that’s headed speedily skyward. “But i would like the opposite guy.” She trusts the Hulk — a minimum of round her — although Bruce doesn’t. The ethical monster in her is drawn to the literal monster in him. They don’t got to divide those elements of themselves or destroy their most dangerous impulses and abilities: they'll rechannel them.

They aren’t there nonetheless, though, and there’s a quiver of danger to Bruce and Natasha’s interactions throughout “Age of Ultron.” within the aftermath of the movie’s initial battle, a choppy, noisy affair, the $64000 tension builds once Natasha approaches the grumbling Hulk in a very snowy parcel of land. The exchange that follows has the air of a wizard ceremony that hasn’t quite more maturedd true|had|undergone|passed through|saw|felt|responded to|suffered} beta testing: an magic spell, a touching of hands, Natasha’s fingers skimming gently over the Hulk’s impregnable skin. Beauty’s thusothing of the Beast has ne'er been quite so sensual, and it’s ne'er needed such a lot bravery from Beauty.

But back at Stark Tower with a celebration below manner, the equation is reversed. Natasha, equally reception combination drinks behind a bar and terminating shots whereas charging up a way in heels, is that the discouraging figure, whereas Bruce, shaggy in his academician sport jacket and out of place among the revel, is at a loss: He doesn’t have Thor’s (Chris Hemsworth) talent for revel, War Machine’s (Don Cheadle) battle stories, or Steve Rogers’s (Chris Evans) comradeliness with the planet War II veterans World Health Organization are invited to the festivities. To a particular extent, that isolation is an element of the point: the less folks Bruce is near, the less he will very hurt and betray. Natasha’s coquetry challenges the gulf between him et al that Bruce uses as a trench. What Steve identifies as a possible win for Bruce and Natasha looks like a terrible risk for Bruce.

And they realize themselves on equal footing in Clint and Laura’s house, once they broach a deeper reason Bruce thinks they may be incompatible, on the far side his tendency to show inexperienced and smash-y: his sterility, a attribute they end up to share because of the “graduation ceremony” at the power wherever Natasha was trained to be Associate in Nursing assassin, within which graduates area unit sterilized so that they won’t grade any potential youngsters over their missions.

The scene has sparked a definite quantity of feminist ire: “Did we actually would like Natasha to possess a mini-breakdown over the very fact that she can’t have children?” Sara Stewart wrote in ladies and Hollywood. “Haven’t we tend to gotten to a degree wherever the one lonely feminine superhero in our current landscape will simply pursue the business of avenging while not having to deplore not being a mother?”

Marvel’s critics aren’t wrong that the franchise has been oddly slow to place ladies at the middle of its movies. however this line of criticism, or Jen Yamato’s rivalry that the films have treated Latrodectus mactans like nothing quite an inexpensive femme fatale, appear to Pine Tree State to miss the mark.

Natasha’s not a super-powerful lady suddenly brought low by a reckoning together with her mechanism or the very fact that golf stroke the hurt on collection baddies light-emitting diode her to place off developing a private life. She’s a hero reckoning with what it suggests that to be each feminine and simply human in a very testosterone-heavy, super-powered surroundings. Natasha might not be ready to have her own youngsters, however she’s designed a family of her own — in a very late shot within the moving-picture show, we tend to see her waving at baby Nathaniel via video chat. And if most men area unit simply and idly dazzled by her most pronto apparent qualities, she’ll realize one World Health Organization responds to the darkness in her.

In fact, Natasha rings a bell in my memory of nobody such a lot because the late entertainer flower Geng, a minimum of the means Jennifer Senior delineate Geng in a very ny Magazine profile. “Seduction excited her. there have been actors, rock stars, writers, even an expert athlete. She flatly rejected the notion of promiscuousness and same she had no patience for sexual jealousy,” Senior wrote. “But Geng was conjointly a lady’s woman — somebody World Health Organization burrowed into her work, unbroken secrets, shopped with glee, braised with aptitude, and tenderly sorted her friends’ children.”

And ultimately that’s a good deal of what i need from my feminine action heroes: that they not be needed to require off their trait once they suit up for battle, which they not be needed to depart it hanging within the closet once they come back from the wars. Certainly, there area unit some feminine characters for whom violence is also easy and have few alternative implications for his or her senses of self. however isn’t the full purpose of getting ladies likewise as men be superheroes and swordfighters that they create a brand new vary of views to our experiences of those terribly previous stories?

The tragedy of Natasha’s character isn’t that she’s been hewn from her mission by her love for babies. It’s that her mentor (Julie Delpy) took one thing aloof from Natasha that didn’t have to be compelled to be removed for her to be a hero. She may are a devotee and mother and friend and fighter all directly. That Natasha’s male compatriots aren’t asked to reconcile purportedly disparate components of their personalities is their destiny. That Natasha works thus arduous to try and do thus is that the live of her valor.

02 - SHE HULK

She hulk is female character in marvel comics created by stan lee and the john buscema. She is a cousin of THE HULK. Her first appearance was in savage she-hulk#1 in 1980. She is highly underrated in the comics because her comics were not loved by many people. It is because she was portrayed as stronger than the hulk which was exactly people were not able to digest. People found it a little uninteresting that a female character is much stronger than all the hulks in the comics, be it red hulk , grey hulk or any other. She even has a unique power of being she hulk along with having the intelligence, emotional stability etc of the human form which no hulk in the comics have. Inspite of this she is kept behind the hulk in almost all comic books.

Women in comics don’t have it straightforward. Back within the early years of comics, girls were either used as sex symbols or because the factor that has to be saved by larger, better, and stronger male superheroes. Since then, some things have modified however each of these things ar still prevailing in fashionable comics. She-Hulk and her varied solo series have oftentimes fallen victim these same trappings. Still, one factor has continuing to defy the traditional feminine superhero stereotypes: She-Hulk is robust. And we’re not talking regarding Captain America on a decent day sturdy. We’re talking very, very sturdy. within the 2014 series SHE-HULK, she stone-broke an enormous picket table in 0.5 by thrusting it.

Who doesn’t grasp WHO the Hulk is? The guy could be a family name. because of his varied appearances within the MCU’s well-liked Avengers movies, everything from lunch boxes to iPhone cases showcase the large inexperienced guy. The Hulk could be a immense a part of superhero popular culture. But, what regarding She-Hulk?

Bruce Banner’s relative, Jennifer Walters, doesn’t get 0.5 the maximum amount ballyhoo because the different Hulk gets. this is often a trifle strange since she’s undoubtedly one in all the foremost intriguing feminine superheroes ever created. whereas the Hulk was additionally associate degree unconventional character at his creation, a giantsturdy lady is (unfortunately) plenty a lot of unorthodox than a giant sturdy guy. She might not be headlining any MCU films within the close to future, however She-Hulk continues to be a posh character WHO defies varied gender roles. For that, and for plenty of different reasons, she deserves a re-assessment.

Jennifer’s transformation into She-Hulk is basically positive for her. not like plenty of superheroes WHO struggle with their identity once receiving powers, Jen quickly learns to thrive in her new inexperienced skin. the various body brings with it a far off confidence. even supposing she doesn’t precisely match conventional yankee beauty standards as She-Hulk, Jen is basically happy as her remodeled self. though she will be able to amendment from She-Hulk to Jen simply, she prefers to remain in her She-Hulk kind. one thing that would be viewed as a shameful transformation could be a new beloved self for Jen.

I think this says plenty regarding Jen’s character and her presence in comics. Before she became She-Hulk, Jen, sort of a ton of girls, struggled with confidence. rather than attempting to satisfy stereotypes so as to achieveconfidence, Jen used a ostensibly ugly event to search out confidence. By acceptive WHO she is, and even learning to actually love her new self, Jen is encouraging readers to additionally embrace the items that build them totally different. Changes that appear ugly will truly cause very nice things (like change of integrity the superb Four and reaching to drive a Fantasticar).

03 - MYSTIQUE

This paragraph explores the depiction of the Marvel Comics' villain and shapeshifter, Mystique, over her thirty years and career. this can be dedicated to a feminist perspective of Mystique's illustration as a ‘monstrous’ mother WHO subverts paternal authority; the portrayal of her ‘unspoken’ lesbian relationship together with her lover, Destiny; and her depiction because the ‘bad’ feminist con to the ‘good’ feminist,. As a female; lesbian; mutant; and villain, she is enticing, overtly sexual, and enigmatic, inciting ambivalency. As a figure while not Associate in Nursing origin story she is unknown and is frequently attempting to be ‘fixed’ by writers and readers alike. As a shapeshifter air evokes ideas of flow, ugliness, abjection, and difference – the classic marginalized female/feminine different.

04 - CAROL DANVERS
Carol Danvers is one of the greatest female character in the comics of marvel. Her full name is Carol Susan Jane Danvers. She was the eldest child in her family. Her father was a contractor who believed that the only way to achieve success is through hard work. She insisted to her father to work as hard as her both younger brothers but her father did not believe that a woman can be equal to a man. And when the financial crisis stuck the family her father choose Carol’s younger brother (the middle one) to get a proper education even thou Carols grades were way more better than her brother. Here we see that she was debarred from taking education just because her father thought that she was not worth it. A few months later she turned 18 and she turned against her father and joined air force. She had enough courage to stand against her father and pursue her dreams. She joined the air force intending to be a pilot and got a college degree through military. Even though she was debarred for having education she somehow managed to graduate she fought for herself because she believed that nobody could restrict her from becoming whatever she wants to become. This is the first gender constrain that she faced but it gave  her more courage to present her self as equal to men.

While flying an experimental jet through the Arabic air space she was captured by a man known as Ghazi Rashid. Ghazi Rashid tortured her for several days but she managed to escape from there even though she broke her leg and was severally injured. There she is portrayed as a strong female who is not in need of anyone and can manage things by herself. People look up to such female characters because ‘FEMALE’ word according to society is described as weak. Besides this anyone could have just given up where as she took the risk to escape the place. This act of her symbolises what FEMINISM is. Feminism is not just empowerment it means that in every sense a woman should be equal to a man. We are suppose to give up those etiquette which society has developed for a woman.

Carol escaped and provided information to the intelligence community. This incident led her to join the air force intelligence. She has been labelled as marvel’s biggest female hero, a feminist icon and Marvel’s mightiest avenger (quiet possibly). It is noted that carols initial appearance as a strong character changes over time even though she gained super powers. She initially possessed superhuman strength, stamina and physical durability. She could fly six times the speed of sound. She could absorb other forms of energy such as electricity. Despite having superhero powers she is categorised as QUIET possibly Marvels mightiest character not the most mightiest character. She is a hero as she fought a lot of crucial circumstances alone and also keeps the courage to face them. A lot of people have had underestimated her character but in the end they end up being awestruck.

Altogether she has been portrayed as a strong female character who was given the title of Ms. Marvel which is a great achievement. But the title of Ms. Marvel have been derived from the male character that is caption Marvel. Here also she is not given a new name she is named after some other character. Is this fair? They say that she is feminism icon but this icon is not given a name of her own. Although people accept her to be a strong character but they are not willing to think for a new  for her, she has been given great titles. These days audience are becoming acceptable to strong female character which is good because such characters can initiate change in the society and will male people understand the meaning of feminism which is equality of man and woman in every sense.

IMPROVEMENTS AND CHANGES
Despite the fact there the female characters are not portrayed rightly, in the graphic novels as well as in the movies, there have been some changes which mark as improvement in the portrayal of the female characters. The first and foremost change is that before Thor:Ragnarok, there was no portrayal of a proper female antagonist in the movies. The portrayal of Hela:The Goddess of death, by Cate Blenchett in a way has given empowerment to the female characters because the character proves to be stronger than the Protagonist and proved to be powerful than Thor. To those who argue that Hela dies at the end of the movie, the strongest counter-argument is that Hela is the Goddess of Death and logically the Goddess of Death can never die. In the end of the movie, she is Just defeated by Surtur and there is a strong possibility that Marvel will bring her back in another film.

Another example is of Wonder Woman 2017 film. Although as discussed above, there are some gender issues in portrayal of Wonder Woman, the WW portrayed by Gal Gadot is at many points, a representation of Female Empowerment who does not need any man to save her or fight the bad guys and Gal's WW clearly depicts the ideas for which Wonder Woman originally stands. That is, peace, empowerment and patriotism. Another examples is of Jessica Jones from the Defenders group who is also equally empowered and does not need any man to save or protect her. Hence, we can say that there have been small improvements in the portrayal of female characters, but still more improvements as well as changes are needed in the coming years.