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It Started With A Kiss: Reframing Superheroines Visual Narratives
Chadwick L. Roberts Assistant Professor University of North Carolina Wilmington 601 South College Road Wilmington, NC 28403-5933 [email protected]
Anita K. McDaniel Associate Professor University of North Carolina Wilmington 601 South College Road Wilmington, NC 28403-5933 [email protected]
For full paper see International Journal of Comic Art (Spring/Summer, 2016) 2
It Started With A Kiss: Reframing Superheroines Visual Narratives
Fig. 1 V J Day in Times Square
The famous V J Day Kiss has been referred to as the most romantic moment in American history for decades. It is a photograph of a nurse in a sailor's arms taken in 1945 as the nation celebrated victory over Japan (Fig. 1). The image has been reenacted by countless couples on Times
Square and recreated in popular art using a variety of fictional characters. The iconic photograph resembles the classic swoon—a man grasping a woman by the waist for a kiss while bending her backward such that she lifts one foot off of the ground. However, this version makes the woman an object of the kiss instead of interacting with it. Thus, the kiss appears less like a mutual act and more like an act of force (Benfanti, 2011: 16). Greta Zimmer, the “nurse” in the photograph, remembers it the following way.
“It wasn't my choice to be kissed. The guy just came over and grabbed! I did not see him 3 approaching, and before I knew it, I was in his vise grip. You don't forget this guy grabbing
you. That man was very strong. I wasn't kissing him. He was kissing me.” (Breslaw, 2012:
para 5)
Literally and visually, Greta lacked agency. But, in the heterosexist world of romance, that did not seem to matter. Men act; women are acted upon. In the end, the popularization of the swoon and the accompanying footpop added to the visual vocabulary for feminine submission in American culture.
Two related questions to ask at this point might be, how do images of this kind circulate today and how might they be challenged/complicated?
Comic book art is a pastiche of everything from pulp fiction to iconic photography to fine art.
Problems can occur when the inspirational images carry gender coded meanings with them (like V J
Day Kiss) that influence readers’ perceptions of the characters. For years, feminists have analyzed the images of women in comics (i.e., their physiology, body cants and costume designs) and deemed them sexist at best and misogynistic at worst. Guided by a second wave feminist, interpretive lens, critiques of the female body rested on the equation “the medium = male = patriarchal = oppressive” (Mandaville,
2014: 213). Sometimes the popularization of gender coded meanings in comic books is intentionally regressive; other times gender coded imagery serves to expose alternative meanings in the narrative.
When feminists critique the images of female superheroes absent the creator's intentions imbedded in the narrative, those analyses imply that there is only one way for an audience to read a text (i.e., negative and objectifying). It freezes the interpretive process in time and negates narrative efforts to redirect or move beyond seeing the female form as merely an object of the male gaze. If the goal of any critique is to validate a claim about the influence of the meanings of the image on an audience, it makes sense to embrace fully the dynamic nature of the relationships among narrative, image and the creative process.
Comic book visuals go beyond the body of the character; they encompass “the look” of the 4 book, or more specifically, the page. Comics rely on sequenced panels to support the written narrative. Some artists arrange their panels in the traditional grid pattern whereas other artists opt for something bolder and/or more graphic. The point for the reader is to notice when a pattern of presentation has been established and when it has changed. The layout is the arrangement of the panels on the page (Duncan, Smith & Levitz, 2015: 118-120). Mise en scene is the arrangement of the items within each panel (122). Artists and writers often collaborate on layout and mise en scene to help the reader understand the meanings they are trying to convey. V J Day Kiss originally appeared in LIFE magazine (1945) as a full page photograph (27) preceded by five pages of kissing revelers. Changing the layout of the photographs from multiple presentation to single presentation, sequentially created the positive, “Victory Celebrations” context.
At the time, the photographer, Alfred Eisenstaedt, took four different shots of the kissing
“couple.” In the first and fourth shots, the upper body language was wrong—Greta looked like she was trying to push away from the man kissing her to no avail. In the second image, the one selected for publication, her upper and lower body language seemed more in harmony. The relaxed arm and involuntary footpop indicated submission to the moment. As a whole, the image reflected the natural order of romance—feminine submission to masculine dominance. Because layout and mise en scene cast the sailor and nurse as “just another couple among other kissing and footpopping couples,” it was easier to overlook that the image also celebrated the patriarchal ideology of its time (Harman &
Lucaites, 2007: 123). Second wave feminists might ask, why do we continue to accept/celebrate imagery where women lack agency? And more importantly, why do comic book artists continue to reference this imagery when portraying superheroines?
The purpose of this paper is to analyze themes of submission and dominance in the visual and written narratives of the NEW 52 reboots of Wonder Woman and Batwoman. Specifically, we argue that the male writers and artists of these reboots intentionally created narratives that redirect and play 5 with the male gaze. Wonder Woman was chosen because her construction began and continues to be the comic book response to first and second wave feminism (Stanley, 2005). In the wake of third wave feminism, it is necessary to critique how her NEW 52 representations redirect the male gaze and represent her as a powerful and agentic woman. Batwoman was chosen because she is DC Comics only lesbian superhero. Given that she began as a potential love interest for Batman, it is important to critique how her NEW 52 reboot plays with comic book femininity in general and lesbian representation specifically. We will explore how strategically constructed, New 52 layouts and panel mise en scene portray Wonder Woman and Batwoman as challenging masculine hegemony without emasculating the men in their personal and professional lives. That is, we will show how certain visual narratives offer alternative visions for portraying powerful women as equals to powerful men.
. . . . .
Superman/Wonder Woman
A pairing of Superman with Wonder Woman presents as many narrative opportunities as it does challenges. Visually, the greatest narrative opportunity is also the greatest narrative challenge-- portraying their relationship as egalitarian. Superman represents hyper-masculinity; he is physically strong, protective and embodies patriarchal American values. Wonder Woman represents hyper- femininity; she is beautiful, physically strong and embodies modern feminist values. Traditionally in comics, the female romantic partner is more passive and submissive when in the presence of the male romantic partner. The man is the hero. He saves her; he protects her; he directs her. Her role is to help him with his heroic efforts, confirm his heterosexuality and defer to his leadership. Again, women did not act because their role was to be acted upon. While this traditional view of relationships conforms to the values Superman represents, it is completely contrary to the values Wonder Woman represents.
In order to portray a realistic relationship between the iconic characters (and appeal to a post feminist audience), Soule and Daniel “played with the occasional reversal of what would be considered 6 ‘normal’ gender roles” (Rogers, 2014: para 16).
In the 1970s and 1980s, DC writers and artists made no attempts to embrace feminist ideals when Wonder Woman was tied romantically to Superman. For instance, in SUPERMAN: DISTANT
FIRES, Wonder Woman became Superman’s trophy wife and mother to his son after a nuclear war robbed him of his life in Metropolis. Her sole purpose was to die senselessly and motivate Superman to be heroic while seeking justice for her death and saving their son. In WONDER WOMAN #300,
Wonder Woman dreamt that she married Superman instead of Steve Trevor. Unfortunately, being
Superman’s equal became the reason for the end of the super couple’s marriage. In the first narrative,
Wonder Woman was limited to wife and mother roles and neither one allowed her to be heroic or remain alive until the end of the story. In the second narrative, marriage was written to be incompatible with a woman’s career outside the home if she did the same work as a man and with equal commitment. In ALL STAR BATMAN & ROBIN THE BOY WONDER #5, Jim Lee’s Wonder Woman was anything but gender neutral. She entered the narrative with her femininity on full voyeuristic display. Lee drew several panels highlighting her long legs, full bosom and hour glass shape using overhead views and body fragmentation. Visually, she was ostensibly the Other in a room full of men.
She embodied misandry dressed in spiky, high heels and speaking disparagingly of her male teammates in general and Superman in particular. Ultimately, Wonder Woman's hyper-feminine vibrato was rendered mute due to a hyper-masculine trope—submitting to a kiss from the male hero.
Frank Miller’s Wonder Woman was like all of his strong, female characters--aggressive and sexually independent. Their bodies were both succor and cudgel to men. Thus, his Superman/Wonder
Woman union was out of step with third wave feminism as well.
Superman and Wonder Woman's relationship in the DARK KNIGHT STRIKES AGAIN
primarily focuses on the Man of Steel's needs and well being. In this story, Wonder Woman's
key character trait is her aggressive sexuality. Her purpose is to reinvigorate Superman with 7 sexual healing …. Wonder Woman's needs are not considered. Her body serves as a catalyst
that revives the Man of Steel and gives him strength, stamina, and new outlook to save the
world (Johnson, 2014: 192).
The gender inequity in DARK KNIGHT STRIKES AGAIN was re-enforced visually due to the use of a series of dominance/submission tropes. First Wonder Woman descends from the heavens to aid a grounded Superman. She is presented standing and in full color; he is sitting and in muted tones.
Her movements toward him are not gentle. She strikes him with a backhanded fist, then grasps his face to kiss him and ask, "Where is that man? Where is that Superman?" Finally, he answers her query by grabbing her hair, forcing her to look up at him saying, "Right here," and throwing her to the ground to make love to her. In the end, 1970s and 1980s Wonder Woman played to the male gaze because her roles in those visual and written narratives were limited to motivating Superman using the masculine language of aggression while performing the submissive Other.
SUPERMAN/WONDER WOMAN consists of twenty-nine issues and two annuals. Charles
Soule and Tony Daniel were the creative team on the two story arcs of interest—“Power Couple”
(issues 1-7) and “Doomed” (issues 8-12). Soule’s dialogue and Daniel’s art work together to create written and visual texts that challenge the reader’s perceptions of the feminine/masculine, dominant/submissive dichotomies rhetorically. Challenging perceptions is achieved by filling each page with balanced representations of the characters. For example, unlike the imagery in V J Day Kiss and DARK KNIGHT STRIKES AGAIN, there are no grabbing, grasping or controlling gestures during kisses and other romantic moments. She does not refer to him as “darling” and he does not call her
“Angel” like Steve Trevor did. There are role reversals. She claims him as “mine”
(SUPERMAN/WONDER WOMAN #5) and he is the first to say “I love you” (SUPERMAN/WONDER
WOMAN #6). He is the subject of tropes where the hero is depowered (SUPERMAN/WONDER
WOMAN #18) and mentally manipulated (SUPERMAN/WONDER WOMAN #17) to further the plot. 8 Wonder Woman helps/protects Superman as often as he helps/protects her. Their bodies mirror each other—similar heroic posing, close ups of the face and fragmented body parts. When Superman displays his strength, Wonder Woman displays her fighting skills. Often women are regarded as spectacle when popularized by media. In fact, the V J Day Kiss photographer was drawn to his subject because the flash of Greta’s white clothing caught his eye (Eisenstaedt, 1985: 76). Wonder Woman is more superhero in SUPERMAN/WONDER WOMAN and less Other and submissive partner to
Superman because she is written and drawn to be his equal.
Soule and Daniel achieve third wave, gender equality best in SUPERMAN/WONDER WOMAN when the page layouts and mise en scene are stylized. Fig. 3 is an example of an intimate moment for the couple in SUPERMAN/WONDER WOMAN #1. It consists of a two page spread of a set of smaller, black/white/orange silhouetted panels of the couple with larger, full color action panels of Wonder
Woman in the background. In the foreground, Wonder Woman enacts a series of feminine tropes characteristic of ritualized subordination—a barefooted footpop, a fingertip touch to Superman's face, and lying in bed curled around his body (Jhally, 2009: 11)—that represent her surrender to the private moment. In the background, Wonder Woman is in full fury as she uses her sword to attack her foe.
“Gender in comic books is partitioned between uncostumed (secret identity) as unmasculine or feminine, and the costumed (superhero) as masculine or unfeminine” (Avery-Natale, 2013: 90). The background is spectacle, but costumed Wonder Woman is not regarded as feminine. Clearly she is
“dishing it out” and “taking it like a man” while performing her superhero duty. In the foreground, she may be performing feminine, but the pillow talk is about the costumed, masculine, superhero work.
Uncostumed, Superman asks Wonder Woman to help him with his costumed work and engages in gentle, finger tip touches that serve as the couple’s foreplay. When feminine touch refers to a man touching a woman, it is likened to the interaction between electrically charged bodies (Jhally, 2009: 6).
The mise en scene and dialogue in the foreground allow the couple to pass feminine and masculine, 9
Fig. 3 SUPERMAN/WONDER WOMAN #1 10 coded behavior between them. As a result, what was perceived individually and exclusively as gender coded behavior becomes the couple’s language of love.
The “Doomed” story arc features the first outside challenge to the relationship: Superman is infected with the Doomsday virus and threatens the world. SUPERMAN/WONDER WOMAN #8 begins in Superman’s apartment where Wonder Woman encounters him as he transforms into Doomsday.
Like Eisenstaedt, Daniel relies on the contrast of light and dark to contextualize the action in the rectangular shaped panels that fragment the superhero bodies. He is uncharacteristically dark and menacing. His language toward Wonder Woman is threatening—he attempts to intimidate her by criticizing the way she speaks and questioning her love for him. Wonder Woman is uncertain and afraid. As a result, she displays a full compliment of submissive behaviors—licensed withdrawal, feminine touch and head cants (Jhally, 2009: 8). The visual narrative consists of attempts to reestablish intimacy with fingertip touch and aggressive gestures with the golden lasso that do not work. The standoff ends with Wonder Woman retrieving her lasso from the floor and encouraging Superman to purge himself of the influence of Doomsday. The final panel is a full page shot of a “back in control”
Superman lying in Wonder Woman’s arms.
Normally, fragmentation is used to objectify, fetishize and/or glamorize the superhero body.
Here, Daniel uses it reductively—to focus on the power shifting cues in the visual narrative that signal gender equality. The issue begins with a display of domìnance by Superman—a dark menacing stare accompanied by a crooked smile seemingly enjoying the nervousness apparent in Wonder Woman’s eyes. The irregularly stacked panels suggest that something is out of balance. Fig. 4 is the visual centerpiece of the power shifting standoff. In the middle of each page are panels of Superman and
Wonder Woman's eyes. More contrast—his eyes are dark and her eyes are light. Both stare directly at the reader; both communicate dominance and control. Normally, only men’s eyes are “presented as active, in control, aware of the world around them and in charge of their surroundings” (Jhally, 2009: 11
Fig. 4 SUPERMAN/WONDER WOMAN#8 12 11). The fragmentation mise en scene calls to mind the behavior of pack animals. Wonder Woman approaches Superman as a subordinate with fingertip touch; it does not work because his stare indicates dominance, not an effort to relate to her as an equal. Hence, she withdraws. He doubles down with the masculine grip and threatening snap of her lasso. She stares down the threat much like an alpha male would stare down a challenge to his authority. He acquiesces by placing the lasso around his neck.
Because the power displays mise en scene appear equal and balanced, the layout returns to the traditional gridlike pattern.
The encounter opens with Superman as the dominant figure. Fig. 4 illustrates how the power shifted from Superman to Wonder Woman. The power shifted back toward Wonder Woman when she adopted the masculine stare that resulted in his withdrawal. Behaviorally, they mirrored each other. The encounter ends with Wonder Woman appearing the more dominant figure because
Superman is in the submissive position—lying down and looking up at her. However, this positioning does not emasculate Superman. Their reassembled bodies challenge that perception. “When full body shots occur, they glorify the reassembled body of the character in a magnificent, full page spread. …
Naturally, such reassemblage can also extend to its gender” (Taylor, 2007: 348). Her gaze and his bare torso direct attention to Superman’s strong, agentic and masculine superhero body; a superhero body that performs masculinity and femininity. By the same token, Wonder Woman, in uniform and comforting Superman, possesses a superbody that performs masculinity as well as femininity. Because the characters have not been portrayed as exclusively masculine or feminine, the readers are led to appreciate the gender equality in the relationship.
. . . . .
Conclusion
A trope is a narrative cliche. In comics, it is a visual or written device used to pay homage to previous narratives, characters, writers and/or artists. Sometimes they are used to maintain the status 13 quo; other times they are used to signal something new. Just like an analysis of the footpopping trope creates opportunities to question the interpretation of V J Day Kiss in Times Square, a re-examination of the submission tropes in comics creates opportunities to critique the representations of femininity and female superheroes. We are not suggesting that New 52 narratives use tropes to herald a paradigm shift for superheroines. After all, cover art remains a site where femininity is commodified at the hands
Fig. 7 (left) WONDER WOMAN #49 cover art, (right) BATWOMAN #40 cover art of artists that are not members of the series’ creative team (see Fig. 7). Nor are we advocating a media determinist perspective (Brummett, 1991: 7)–that there is a causal relationship between the popularization of rhetorics and an audience’s reframing of social conditions.
Here, we suggest that comic writers and artists rhetorically create a discursive environment in which some representations of femininity grow and flourish and other representations wither and die.
According to Gitlin (1982), “popular culture does not manufacture ideology; it relays and reproduces and reprocesses and packages and focuses ideology that is constantly arising both from social elites and from active social groups and movements throughout the society” (430). As a result, emphasis on the 14 successful marketing of the visual and written texts of Wonder Woman and Batwoman does not mean that representations of femininity are no longer being exploited; but it should create a discursive environment in which the behaviors and positive contributions of female superheroes can no longer be marginalized. That being said, these examples still leave plenty of room for further innovation in freeing superhero comics from hegemonic portrayals of women.
Scripts exist for portraying agentic female heroes; artists and writers just have to draw on them and audiences have to invest in them. Thus, even though SUPERMAN/WONDER WOMAN and
BATWOMAN will not be part of DC Comics’ 2016 redesign entitled “Rebirth,” Soule and Daniels’
Wonder Woman will join Superman and Batman as an equal in TRINITY and J.H.
Williams’ Batwoman will lead a team of her own in DETECTIVE COMICS. What the examples discussed in this piece do is present us with a template for a new set of visual narratives that resist the pull of the patriarchal gaze that has been holding female heroes, and readers, back for so long. We must continue to critique comics as a system of images and consider the cumulative effect of the very emotionally charged, and often hyper-ritualized, gendered images they contain. Critics and readers can only hope that comics, a discursive environment still dominated by heterosexual men and their fantasies, continue to create spaces for new definitions of gender and strength that are worthy of these wonderful women with such powerful pulls on our collective imaginations.
Endnotes
1. Fig. 1. “Victory Celebrations: The Men of War Kiss from Coast to Coast.” 1945. LIFE
Magazine. Available at
f=false> Accessed October 31, 2015. 2. Fig. 2. (upper left). “See Real Mad Men Era Ads from the Archives of GQ.” (n.d.). GQ. [Powerpoint Slide 7]. Available at 3. Fig. 2. (upper right). Dr. Nerdlove. 2013. “The Selling of Masculinity.” Ask Dr. Nerdlove. Available at 20, 2016. 4. Fig. 2. (middle left). The Jewellry Editor. 2014. “Chaumet Presents Two Faces of the Same Woman in its First Advertising Campaign Starring French Actress Marine Vacth.” Available at woman-in-its-first-advertising-campaign-starring-french-actress-marine-vacth/> Accessed March 20, 2016. 5. Fig. 2. (middle right). About Face. 2010. “Gallery of Offenders: Not a Person, Just a Butt.” Available at Accessed March 20, 2016. 6. Fig. 2. (bottom). Cowie, Caitlin and Rose, Mike. 2014. “This is What Happens When You Replace the Women in Ads with Men.” Buzzfeed. Available at with-men#.cvlakjJBQ> Accessed March 20, 2016. 7. Fig. 3. Soule, Charles, Daniel, Tony S. and Banning, Matt. 2013. SUPERMAN/WONDER WOMAN #1. New York, NY: DC Comics. 8. Fig. 4. Soule, Charles, Daniel, Tony S., Banning, Matt & Florea, Sandu. 2014. SUPERMAN/WONDER WOMAN #8. New York, NY: DC Comics. 9. Fig. 5. Rucka, Greg and Williams III, J.H. 2010. Elergy: BATWOMAN. New York: DC Comics. 10. Fig. 6. Williams III, J.H. and Blackman, W. Haden. 2012. Hydrology: BATWOMAN Volume 1. 16 New York: DC Comics. 11. Fig. 7. (left) Adams, Neal and Dodson, Terry. 2016. Variant Cover Art. WONDER WOMAN #49. New York, NY: DC Comics. 12. Fig. 7. (right). Albuquerque, Rafael. 2015. Cover Art. BATWOMAN #40. New York, NY: DC Comics. 17 Bibliography Avery-Natale, Edward. 2013. An Analysis of Embodiment Among Six Superheroes in DC Comics. Social Thought and Research, 3: 71-106. Benfanti, Marisa F. 2011. “Kiss the War Good-bye, Hello Return to Normalcy.” Digital Commons @ Cal Poly. Available at < http://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/comssp/43/> Accessed October 31, 2015. Brady, Matt. 2009. Drawing the Bat: J.H. Williams Talks Bawoman. 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Haden, Reeder, Amy and MCarthy, Trevor. 2012. To Drown the World: BATWOMAN Volume 2. New York: DC Comics. Chadwick L. Roberts (Ph.D., Bowling Green State University, 2011) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. He teaches courses in gender and sexuality, media literacy, new media, popular culture, and rhetorical theory. His teaching and research interests include issues of identity, representation, and subjectivity in mainstream and alternative media. He has published work on gender, sexuality, race, and representation in The Journal of Popular Culture. Anita K. McDaniel (Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin, 1999) is an Associate Professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington where she teaches in the Department of Communication Studies. She has presented papers at national conferences and published in international journals on the intertextual play between the visual and written texts represented in comic books. Her publications in IJOCA include “Dave Sim on Guys,” “Negotiating Life Spaces: Will Marriage Marginalize Storm?” and “Obama-man: A Fanboy Ideograph for ‘Hope and Change’.”