When my mom was a kid, she used to steal her brothers' comic books because the X-Men were more interesting than Archie. I thought that was awesome because it meant that we could talk about the ever-evolving plotlines. The significance of the fact that my mom didn't feel like there were comics "for girls" was totally lost on me.
Of course, as I've grown-up and fallen in and out of love with comics, I've come to realize what a strange world it is for girls. Initially I bucked at the idea that comics should change anything to appeal to girls, because, hey, I can read what the guys read! The repulsion at waist-to-hip ratios came later, along with a quest for a decent heroine storyline. Now, I ask myself which super heroines are empowered role models and which are objectified freak shows? Which storylines are femmed-down and which are girl friendly?
All of this brings me to news of a "fashion-friendly" comic from Marvel. From George Gene Gustines at themoment.blogs.nytimes.com:
[O]n August 26, Marvel Entertainment, the home of Spider-Man, will publish Models, Inc., a mini-series that unites the comic world’s most fashionable characters, including Millicent Collins, a.k.a. Millie the Model (born 1945), and Mary Jane (born 1965), the model-turned-actress who toyed with the heart of Peter Parker (Spider-Man). The runway walkers team up when Millie is accused of murdering a young set designer during New York Fashion Week.
So, Marvel is appealing to the Top Model demographic. Where does this fall? Is this the worst combination of super model meets comic wonderbody meets fluff? Does Marvel get points for paying more attention to the female audience?
If I had a daughter, I think I'd rather she read Archie, and that makes me so many shades of sad.
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That comic sounds like it would not be interesting AT ALL. I hate that people think "girl comics" have to be so shallow and fluffy. Or that anything marketed to girls, for that matter, should be like that. It is irritating that even from childhood, females are expected to be less intelligent than their male counterparts. Just because children are girls doesn't mean they can't follow a complex storyline that doesn't involve FASHION!!! or CUTE BOYS!!! This makes me mad :(
Isn't Mary Jane supposed to be dead in the Marvel Universe? Either way, I'll take Wonder Woman's feminist uprising in the Justice League any day. Joss Whedon better get moving on that movie!
The female comics audience wants powerful woman superheroes, not models who moonlight as detectives. Where are the female investigative journalists from the 40s? What happened to Vicki Vale?
I'm not sure what Mary Jane is doing in the Marvel Universe, but I've seen a line of Mary Jane comics aimed more at middle-school age girls(and drawn in a manga-esque style)
To the original poster, please don't think if you had a daughter that her choices in comics would be limited to Millie The Model or Archie. There are an increasing number of comics aimed at kids, sometimes girls specifically, sometimes at boys and girls both. Try looking up Amelia Rules or Amy Unbounded, stuff like that.
Last I heard MJ wasn't dead, but her marriage to Peter had evaporated: it was retconned out of existence because Joe Quesada, Marvel's editor in chief, didn't like it. He thought it was much cooler to have Peter as a thirty-year-old man living in his (foster) mother's basement -- ahem, pardon me, a swinging young bachelor.
Are Archie comics aimed primarily at girls? My family had four kids (two girls and two boys) and we all loved Archie comics when we around seven or eight. (My parents still have a basket of Archie comics in the bathroom that my ten year old brother spends ages reading).
However, the superhero comics that I loved as a kid were X-men, and a collection of Supergirl/woman comics that I read repeatedly... in all of them, she saved the planet because Superman was off doing something else...
You know, there ARE other comic books out there...Terry Moore, Neil Gaiman, Andi Watson, etc etc etc. Go for the indies. Not so much about vested interests or huge bazongas.