So What Do I Mean By That?

In my last post, I use frequently use a phrase to describe Nightwing. This phrase is "fangirl-bait." I think maybe I should elaborate on what I mean precisely by this term. I should warn you though, that I am very tired and thus...this is quite incoherent compared to my usual posts. (And given the general lack of coherence i my usual posts, this is indeed a dire warning. :-))

I think it's safe to say that men still compose the majority of the audience of superhero comics. However, there are quite a few women, as is obvious if you have eyes, that are also interested in the genre.

Of course, not all women look for and like the same things in comics. That'd be ridiculous, just like men, we all have different tastes. However, there are some undeniable trends that the market can't help but intentionally or unintentionally cash in on.

"Fangirl-bait" is what I use to describe the characters that I think are specifically designed to appeal to a certain idea about what women like to see in male characters. They are for us what characters like Starfire are for a lot of straight male fans. Not all "fangirl-bait" characters are directed toward female fans in the same way, but there is an obvious, I think, bias. Largely I think they tend to be successful, though when it goes overboard (like Dick Grayson becoming a model) even the target audience starts to get particularly bemused.

The most common type of "fangirl-bait" character in DC comics I think is the "cute vulnerable one". This character is usually found in a group of like characters. The Gotham clan, the Green Lanterns, the Flashes... This character tends to be among the youngest of the group. They are smaller, cuter, and usually more emotionally vulnerable. Often times they are the usual victim/target when something goes wrong, so that the normally stoic, more traditionally masculine hero can angst.

Dick Grayson is pretty much the living embodiment of this type of fangirl-bait. Pretty, angsty, smaller than Batman, emotionally vulnerable, open and friendly. Tim Drake is also fangirl-bait, really, though less so. His personality doesn't lend itself as well to fangirl-bait status, but that is countered by his physical stature. In major crossover arcs, like when the Clench hit Gotham, you know misfortune is going to strike *one* of them.

Kyle Rayner would be the "fangirl-bait" of the Green Lanterns, as the young, sweet one. Though the victim status is more evenly distributed among the Lanterns. Alan's victimhood is centered around ways to take him out of the battle. Like a gaping wound of green flame, or being imprisoned by the Ultra-humanite in a giant tank. Hal gets the mind-control and random head wounds. Guy gets the absolutely devastating injuries, like brain damage, years long comas, eyes and vital organs getting ripped out, quality versus quantity sort of injuries. John gets the soul crushing "I blew up a planet", "I killed my little sister" sort of emotional blows. And Kyle gets...pretty much everything else. Kyle has the advantage of being the prettiest and the most emotionally approachable. While he manages to mask pain and suffering from other characters, he doesn't as much from the audience, which tends to appeal to maternal natures. He's also delightfully vain and metrosexual. Girls like the metrosexuals.

Under certain circumstances, both Wally and Bart would be fangirl-bait. Bart is more overtly so being cute and funny and hyperactive. He's the male of Young Justice and Teen Titans that is the most physically expressive and least caught up in a pseudo masculine image. Wally tends to be the fangirl-bait more often in his JLA stories, (As well as the cartoon), where his temperament and relative youth make him the most likely to suffer prettily (after Kyle).

Another type of fangirl-bait is more often seen in manga, the over-feminized uke-boy. (uke is a word denoting the "bottom" in a homosexual relationship in manga, which more often than not is associated with very particular physical and mental/emotional characteristics.) He looks very much like a girl and tends to act like the most irritating stereotypes of manga girl characters. He is over-emotional and cries at the drop of a hat. And spends most of his time thinking wistfully about more overtly masculine characters, coming just shy of doodling their names amidst hearts, on a notebook cover. Or crying. There is lots of very pretty crying. These are many theories as to why these characters appeal to many women, many of which can be found in essays about yaoi manga if you are interested.

A third type is the dashing suave charming rogue guy. Which pretty much can be seen *anywhere*, from movies to comics to romance novels. He's impossibly handsome, often speaks with an accent, and is often a lady's man.

The ultimate example of this sort of "fangirl-bait" character is Gambit of the X-Men I think. Not only is he handsome, witty, with a tragic past and exotic accent, he's a lady's man involved in a tragically unfulfilling relationship with a woman who can't touch anyone.

Arsenal/Roy Harper is another one that loosely fits this idea. Though, as an ex-sidekick, he also has some residual elements of being the cute vulnerable one (though most of those have transferred to Connor).

Now, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with being "fangirl-bait" (or more properly, being a character directed and marketed toward female fans) It's great having a variety of characters, and I definitely like a lot of the characters mentioned here. Some of them are even among my favorites. Others I don't care for, but they certainly make things interesting. And most of these characters *are* very much loved by female fans and thus are successful at what they are intended to do.

Anyway that's what I mean when I say "fangirl-bait"