Comics by Women

This week I read Fun Home, My Favorite Thing is Monsters, and Rat Queens. Overall, comics by women differ a lot when it comes to the female perspective or female characters in general compared to comics written or drawn by men. With Rat Queens or My Favorite Thing is Monsters, there isn’t a need to keep the female characters attractive all the time. When I look at Bone or Blacksad, the female characters seem like they’re mainly eye candy and their proportions are meant to fit a pin-up look. They’re also mostly just side characters helping the main male character reach their goal. Rat Queens for example has a big variety of body types for their hero characters, who are mostly women. They also have some unflattering panels of their faces when they’re struggling in a battle for example, which is realistic. There’s not a need for the characters to look sexy in every panel. Fun Home does the same with a realistic portrayal of women. Bechdel also offers us a unique female perspective with her exploration of her sexuality. It also focuses on her personal life and with her relationship with her father rather than a romantic relationship. The Bechdel test is named after the author for analyzing works that include women having a conversation about anything other than a man which is interesting to point out.

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