The Marvel Comics superhero title X-Menwill be relaunching in April with an all-new #1 issue, and while comic book reboots may be a dime a dozen these days, this one has something far more interesting inside its pages: an all-female team of characters.
The new title will be scripted by Brian Wood, the creator of DMZ and writer of the new Star Wars comic from Dark Horse, and illustrated by Olivier Coipel (Thor). Wood told Wired that while the gender makeup of the team offers an interesting creative opportunity, he doesn’t see it as the only thing that defines the book.
“Everyone is really excited at the idea of an all-female team, but we’re not trying to make it all about that. It’s an X-Men book, first and foremost… Last year, when I had a team of four women and one man, they were all called X-Men back then, you know? …It seems like a no-brainer to me, now, or last year, or ten years ago. The female X-Men are amazing characters, they always have been, everyone knows that. They’ve been the best thing about the franchise.”
The X-Men have long been notable in the superhero world as a team with a larger-than-average cast of distinct, relatable heroines, and the new comic will feature fan-favorite characters including Storm (who historically served as the erstwhile team leader of the X-Men) Rogue, Kitty Pryde, Psylocke, Rachel Grey and Jubilee.
Wood believes that the X-Men comics not only have a large cast of female characters in comparison to many other superhero books, but “a demographically larger number of female readers, too… I think a big part of the appeal is the flawed nature of the characters, in a human sense, in a relatable sense. If you compare to the DC [Comics] characters, [those] are the jocks and cheerleaders, but on the Marvel side, and especially the X-Men side, they are the freaks and geeks and misfits and weirdos and outcasts and anyone who doesn’t fit into some mold.”
While Marvel and Wood remained vague about the exact details about the creation of the new team, USA Today reported that plot developments in the relaunched book will involve “Jubilee bringing home an orphaned baby who might be key to mankind’s survival… Sentinels, a potential alien invasion and an ancient war between siblings.”
Wood, who is also well-known for his work on independent, creator-owned comics with female leads, like Local, Channel Zero and Mara, sees this book as an opportunity to write a high-profile group of female characters in a way that addresses a lot of the cultural criticism about how superheroines are often presented as eye-candy, often in the guise of “empowerment.”
“There’s too much cheesecake out there that is sold, or at least marketed, as a ‘strong female’ character or book when its anything but, and it just reinforces the worst opinions of the most sexist fans, and we gain no new ground. We probably lose ground. I’m not approaching this new X-Men as a ‘female book,’ but I’m writing it as a high action X-Men comic, and with some luck that will nullify some of these poisonous critics who go looking for something to feel angry/uncomfortable/threatened by.”
The key to writing good female character, says Wood, is simply to try to understand them on a human level first, and then consider the character from the perspective of gender.
“I approach the page with the belief that, as people, we all have universal reactions on a basic level to things and that’s where the truth lies, where primal human emotions can be found. With that as a foundation, you can tweak the details according to character and gender and personality. So what you get here, if done well, is a very relatable character that should transcend gender lines and have mass appeal. When you approach the page with the thought, ‘Okay, so what should this woman do now,’ you start off from a place of stereotype and bad writing, and there’s no fixing it because that is now your foundation. It’s not complicated, but it does require the writer to see the characters as people first and sex later.”
Not that the new book will shy away from sexual elements in the lives of its characters. Romantic drama and relationships have always been a hallmark of X-Men stories, and Wood not only plans to keep those classic elements, but also to deal directly with the sexuality of his characters in way that he hopes will avoid the typical double standard — treating the liaisons of male superheroes as unremarkable while labeling female characters “promiscuous” for the same behavior.
The writer also hopes that the new X-Men will address — and perhaps shatter — the perception in superhero comics that female characters typically lack the iconic power or broad appeal to anchor a major hit.
“I think this title here will be an interesting test case, to see if a high-profile book with an high-profile artist and marquee characters can indeed overcome what often happens to books starring female heroes. I think we have a good shot, but even now, based only off the accouncement, there’s all sorts of negative feedback that ranges from generic sexism, to open hostility, and to lame charges of reverse sexism,” said Wood.
“Chances are this book will launch very high, but if we can keep it high and resist the typical decline that happens to female-led superhero comics, we’ll have proved something and maybe even set a precedent, and that would be fantastic.”
<em>X-Men</em> to Relaunch as All-Female Superhero Team
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<em>X-Men</em> to Relaunch as All-Female Superhero Team
