Manly Men and Buxom Babes: Body Types in Comics

This post as well as the article linked within have got me thinking.

The idea of the men being over-muscled is not a new one to me. Pretty much any time a feminist blogger occasionally complains about the objectification of female characters, the musculature of the men is brought up as a counter argument.

I think that there is a valid point in the argument, obscured by the use of these images as counter-argument to feminist complaints. The image portrayed can be negative. They can help lead to a negative self-image.

The main difference for me is the whys of it though. Because the comic book industry is male dominated, essentially you have guys complaining about an image created by other men as an ideal to be. Which is, I believe, a little different from women complaining about the ideal created by other men, designed to please those men.

I am admittedly biased about the issue though.

I'm actually not against sexualization in comics. To the extent that it's not a detriment to character or story at any rate. I don't like the covers of She-Hulk because I think the pin-up poses do not reflect the content of the series. By pandering to the lowest common denominator, they're projecting an image of a comic that would be of no real interest to women. We look at the cover and think, "Oh, just another of those comics." Which is a damn shame, as the comic is really nothing of the sort.

In contrast, I really like Storm's current costume. Sure she's almost naked, but it's really very pretty. Ororo is not a character that I'd ever associated a lot of physical modesty with, and between her powers and the likely warmer climate of Wakanda, I can't see how a more substantial costume is really required.

Anyway, I'm not trying to attack this article. I don't doubt that the hyper-muscular portrayals could be conidered harmful. It did get me thinking though.

I think there is, without a doubt, a lot more variance to the way men are portrayed in comics than there is for women. Sure, Superman, Batman, Captain America, Captain Britain and the like are all very muscular and big men. But then, off the top of my head, you have characters like Sanderson Hawkins, Dick Grayson, Roy Harper, Pete Wisdom, Cyclops (who sometimes gets the hyper-musculature treatment) Reed Richards... They're characters who, while drawn with exaggerated musculature, still have a very different build-type than the first. The Green Lanterns hover somewhere in the middle. Hal's probably portrayed as closest in build to Superman or Batman, but still tends to appear quite a bit leaner. John and Guy are pretty big as well, but usually portrayed as a bit smaller than Hal. Kyle's, in turn, much slimmer. The Flashes vary as well.

There is variation among the women too. Certainly Kitty Pryde is not built like Emma Frost. But I think the majority hovers around a certain standard. Kitty is very slight. Power Girl and Wonder Woman in contrast are very buxom, but also bigger framed, with (when drawn by the ideal artists, at least) solid musculature. But in general, I'd say most women in comics have a very similar body type.

It's the lack of comparitive variety that gets to me.

Look at the early 00's Morrison-league-era JLA for example. Look at Superman, Bruce, Aquaman, Plastic Man, Kyle and Wally. All of them had markedly different body types. Even Bruce and Clark, while both dark-haired, blue eyed men with similar dimensions, manage to look strikingly different even in civilian clothes. Kyle and Wally are both lean young men, but their musculature is very different. Wally's rangier, Kyle's softer, it's variance.

In contrast, let's take the Birds of Prey. Dinah, Helena, Barbara. I love this comic and these characters, so please don't take this as a critique of the actual comic. But look at the body proportions. They've all got roughly the same slim, well-endowed, long limbed frame. Ignoring differences in costume and coloring, we could very well be looking at the same woman.

Teen Titans? Beast Boy, Cyborg, Robin, Superboy and Kid Flash all have very distinct builds. But honestly, one of my biggest complaints with Young Justice was that once Cassie lost the stupid wig...when you had her, Arrowette, Secret and even Empress, barring her coloring, you were basically looking at the same teenage girl body. Teen Titans had the same problem lately with Wonder Girl and Ravager.

Heck, Supergirl's build is problematic in my opinion (unless they are deliberately intending an eating disorder storyline, which would be actually quite interesting to see attempted and she's certainly got psychological motivators), but when she met up with the JSA in one issue and spoke to Stargirl, she might as well have been looking in a mirror.

Even the cartoons occasionally reflect this. The 90s Avengers cartoon had a marked difference between the builds of the men. Captain America was very big, naturally, as was Wonder Man (who seemed broader about the chest). Falcon and Hawkeye were mid-range, built like athletes (Hawkeye was rangier, Falcon more like a football player), Hank Pym was much slighter. But Tigra, Wasp and Scarlet Witch had very similar proportions. (Though Wanda was admittedly gaunter.) The 90s X-Men cartoon was similar. The men were all reasonably varied, with some slight similarity between Gambit and Cyclops. But save Jubilee, Jean, Rogue and Storm were built almost the same! To give credit where credit is due, both X-Men Evolution and Ultimate Avengers were pretty good at giving the women varying body shapes like the men. I'm avoiding critiquing JLA simply because due to the stylistic elements of the design, there are a lot more similarities across the board character-design wise.

But anyway that's my real problem, when it comes down to it. Superman, Batman and Captain Marvel have roughly the same dimensions, but their builds, musculatures and body language all get to be different, whereas except for a few exceptions, the women don't. (Heck, even She-Hulk and Starfire tend to be larger scale models of the same proportions.)

This is why as harmful as the male portrayals might genuinely be, I do not put them on the same scale as that of the women. Not when there are artists out there who draw Sue Storm as nigh-indistinguishable from Emma Frost.

That's just not right.