"fat" superheroines

[usernamenumber]

So at comic con someone submitted the following drawing for critiquing by industry types:



Ok, it's not the best drawing ever, but that's not really even relevant to the feedback she got.

Apparently this character is so fat no one would want to see her as a superhero.

No, really, that's what they said.

Industry people, Gertie would like to have a word with you:



Don't mind the velociraptor.

*sniff* <3 you, Gertie.

Anyway. Someone else is now holding a contest on deviantart for character concepts for "fat" super heroines (non-satirical ones, which I hopefully didn't need to point out, but there it is). As the person from whom I got this on FB put it, "artistic friends, consider the gauntlet thrown".

And for any artists out there looking for inspiration, I think you could do worse than to start here:



Finally, the first person who tries to tell me "but they have the same kind of standards for guys, too!", will be visited by Juggernaut and Rhino for a short tutorial on derailing.

Comments

[lowellboyslash.livejournal.com]

Oh my god, Sarah Robles is my new hero.

[usernamenumber.livejournal.com]

Oh! Had you not seen her before? If I'd known that I would have sent you a link specifically. Check out her blog. :)

[stormsdotter.livejournal.com]

Let's see...she's not nine heads tall; looks more like the actual six heads from her torso size. She's got reasonable sized breasts as opposed to things that would give her severe back trouble. And she's got a reasonable waist line that most women would kill for as opposed to something that would require removal of ribs and a corset to attain.

She's not fat; she's a fairly pretty but otherwise ordinary woman. Since most comic book super-heroines are these impossible barbie-doll-esque women, I can understand why people might object to the drawing. I am not one of those people.

Personally, I'd rather see her in action than the actual comic ladies, but I really don't read the Big Two, as much as I enjoy The Avengers and Young Justice.

[contradictacat.livejournal.com]

Can I also say that Sarah Robles is super pretty too?

[usernamenumber.livejournal.com]

Yes. Yes you may.

If I had the time I would totally do an edit of that weightlifting photo to put her in front of the flaming wreckage of a building or something to illustrate how stone cold badass a superheroine modeled after her would look. Put that expression in the dictionary next to "intensity". Damn.

[londo.livejournal.com]

Dude, I am already afraid of her. No need to give her Sephiroth flames.

[laurion]

Robles has to keep an eye on Holley Mangold coming up the rankings.

I'm cheering for both of them at the Olympics.

[curly-chick.livejournal.com]

My first thought when I saw the drawing was how hot she was----it saddens me that the industry thought otherwise.

At first I got angry at us, the community, who read this and don't demand more accurate representation. I hold us to higher standards than the normals out there because we know what it is to be different and be judged. And, in so many other ways, our community is so accepting, yet female beauty seems to be something in which we have failed to progress.

Then I smacked myself. We actually have no knowledge that the community would not accept a superhero of a different size. We only have the "industry" which tells us so. They tell us so in various ways whether it be what is on the cover of comic books or geeky less attractive male protagonists in movies and television who only date super hot women (Big Bang Theory, Knocked Up etc). We don't know what we would accept as a community because we have never had the opportunity to have anything else.

I hope that we can use our purchasing power in ways that demonstrate to the industry that it is in their interest to give us female characters of all stripes, colors, and size.

[satyrgrl.livejournal.com]

Word.

[nevacaruso.livejournal.com]

Gert Yorkes is my favorite ever.