‘Nerdy Girl Culture’

From: Grace

I wasn’t much of a tomboy but I was a “nerdy” girl, enjoying the same comics, movies, and cartoons that boy’s in my class enjoyed. My lunches were spent at the nerd’s table talking about them. Comics especially, were I met kids that wanted to draw when they grew up. Neither our class discussions nor the reading has covered much of children’s’ literature - let alone comic books or the heroes in them

Hers; The Smurfette Principle brought that point home perfectly. Even as I child I noticed how few girls there were compared to girls in my favorite shows and comic books. When in my brother’s favorite shows. 

I understood exactly what Pollitt was getting at when she mentions April from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, explaining how she “functions as a girl Friday to a quartet of male superheroes”, rather than an equal member of the team. (Pollitt)

Why is it so much more believable for Hal Jordan - a hotshot test pilot and American white man - why is it so much more believable for him to swoop in and save the galaxy, than for a female alien to save the day? Or any other woman from Earth? This is why I choose Tori, my female Tanagarian fan-character. I started drawing her because I wanted someone different, a character more relatable to me than Hal. I would write stories where she was the hero, taking on dangerous odds all alone in space or Earth if we needed her.

Only the female characters are looking straight at the viewer, making their gaze important. To have Black Canary, April O’Neil, Chole from Wolfman, and my character Tori looking directicly had the viewer, taking on much more authority than they are usually given in the media. The comics named for their male protagonists - such as Spiderman, Batman, and Hellboy - are all tucked away in the background. In fact, I purposely covered up the male characters’ faces and eyes, leaving only their names visible. For the foreground, I put Black Canary’s self-titled comic in the front, staring at the viewer challengingly the most predominate due to her action-packed pose, loud cover design.

Black Canary’s Kicking and Screaming was not a comic from my childhood, coming out only as recently as 2015-16, taking an otherwise largely overlooked DC heroine and giving her her own kick-butt series all her own. Even with my impressive collection of comics, these two are the only ones I have about a female protagonist. Another reason why I put them in the forefront of the pile; nerdy girls should have just as many books to choose from as the nerdy boys.

Pollitt, Katha. “Hers; The Smurfette Principle.” The New York Times, 7 Apri. 1991

- IMPORTANT -

I do not make claim to any of DC’s creative properties, nor am I making any money off it.

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