Introduction

It’s only fair to start off by saying that this blog was heavily inspired by Mike Madrid’s The Supergirls: Fashion, feminism, fantasy, and the history of comic book heroines published by Exterminating Angel Press earlier this year. It was the moment that I realized that I wasn’t alone in my deep, long-lasting love affair with the comic book superheroine, and the moment that I realized that there were others out there like me who had perhaps waited for a book that could help them celebrate their joy of characters like Black Canary, She-Hulk, Promethea, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been a huge superheroine fanboy. Growing up, I was first introduced to strong female characters like She-Ra, the Princess of Power; Cheetara, the fastest of all the Thundercats; the plucky and brave Rainbow Brite; the sassy and intelligent Spider-Woman; the sensational Wonder Woman; and the sexy, manipulative Catwoman. I loved this characters in a way that I simply couldn’t explain. Their male counterparts – He-Man, Lion-O, Spider-Man, Superman, and Batman – were interesting enough, sure, and they were very attractive in their spandex and their furs and their bare-chested-ness, but I wasn’t having any of it. For me to be drawn into something, I needed a strong, female force in the middle of the action, leading the way. And that continued into everything I read or watched – comics, movies, television shows. It seeped into my writing as well – everything I wrote in English class always had a strong, spunky female as the protagonist.

I can’t explain why I was so drawn to them, except maybe to explain that a part of me saw something of myself in them, something relatable which I couldn’t find in the male heroes, no matter how hard I looked. But I love them dearly and completely, which is what brings me here, to starting this blog.

What is The Brave and the Beautiful? Simply put, I envision it as being the hub for all things super-heroine, from reviews on comics starring some of the greatest superheroines out there (and there’s a good number of them out there now) to discussing different aspects of superheroines in comics today and yesterday to news about upcoming movies, books, and television shows about these fantastic females.

Simply put? It’s an ode – a love letter – to all of the amazing female superheroes out there.