Online Activists Slam Comic Book Icon Stan Lee Over Buxom Superheroines Tweet
On Wednesday, legendary comic book creator Stan Lee proved that you can’t make everyone happy, after posting a picture on Twitter in honor of International Women’s Day. The graphic was a screen cap of the cover of the 1977 comic The Super Hero Women By Stan Lee, which featured characters Carol Danvers (as Ms. Marvel), Red Sonja, the Invisible Woman (Susan Storm), Hela, Medusa, Black Widow, and Wasp.
Remember to celebrate some of our greatest heroes this #InternationalWomensDay and every day! pic.twitter.com/beiJCelqSZ
— stan lee (@TheRealStanLee) March 8, 2017
Heat Street blog’s Ian Miles Cheong zeroed in on some of the politically-tinged negative reactions to Lee’s post in a Wednesday evening article. Cheong noted that the cover artwork for the 1977 comic was done by John Romita, Sr., an artist who was inducted into the Eisner Award’s Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2002. Two of the characters are depicted as wearing midriff-revealing costumes, while all but one are clothed in figure-hugging attire.
The critics locked onto these depictions in their Twitter replies:
@TheRealStanLee All hourglass-figures. Diversity would be great ;-)
— リン (@CO_Bchan) March 8, 2017
@chip2881 @CO_Bchan @TheRealStanLee Not just hourglass figure… They all are the same person, only with different hair and clothes color.
— Rachael (@TheRepliKant) March 8, 2017
@TheRealStanLee Why are they all at least a C-cup?
— John Kane (@JRKisBDK) March 8, 2017
Although, @TheRealStanLee, a few superhero women of color wouldn’t hurt
— Walter M. Bradway (@PoliticGuru) March 9, 2017
Other Twitter users shot back at these commenters and accused them of being politically correct:
@TheRepliKant @chip2881 @CO_Bchan @TheRealStanLee Can you all chill on the PC- their fun and fictional characters. Have some fun and joy.
— Michelle (@MichellG1970) March 8, 2017
@TheRealStanLee Nice to see at least a few people here actually got the message instead of whining about PC nonsense. Excelsior!
— Johnny Darcalli (@Darcalli) March 9, 2017
Dave Urbanski of The Blaze picked up on the controversy on Thursday and pointed out that Lee was a pioneer with his introduction of powerful female comic book characters.
(H/t: Heat Street)
[featured image via screengrab of Stan Lee’s Twitter post]
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