This is kind of awesome. Eleven-year-old Rowan Hansen wrote to DC Comics asking why there weren’t more female superheroes, and why the female heroes don’t wear more practical costumes. They responded with a drawing of Hansen as a superhero. Her response: Thanks, but that’s not what I asked for.
Hansen, who appeared on the Today Show this morning (see below), is incredibly eloquent and gets to the heart of the problems with female characters in superhero comics. Some choice quotes:
“It’s not like the male superheroes are better than the female superheroes, but there are just more of them.”
“If Batman gets to wear armor, then why doesn’t Wonder Woman get to wear armor? I know that she’s kind of invulnerable, but it would still be nicer if she didn’t have to wear a bathing suit all the time.”
“If you’re fighting crime, then I don’t understand how you’re going to camouflage yourself if you’re wearing a bright pink suit. That’s not very practical.”
She wrote to DC Comics about this, which tweeted at her, “Thanks, Rowan. We agree, we’re working hard to create more superhero fun for girls!” And today, she was on the Today Show, where DC presented her with a gift basket full of stuff, including a cute framed picture (see above) showing Hansen as a superhero. Which is a sweet gesture, but doesn’t actually add to the roster of characters in the comics (unless DC is going to license Hansen’s image.)
So Hansen’s response is perfect: “I don’t want people to think, ‘Oh yeah, they responded to her. Now it’s over.’ I want people to keep trying to make this happen. Because it’s very important to me.” [via Comic Book Resources, h/t Joe]
