I know in previous columns I have already skimmed over ‘Rule 63’ (for every male character there is a female counterpart, and vice versa, no exceptions) and how it applies to cosplaying. But recent comic book related news stories have brought this to the forefront of my mind and I thought it would be worth bringing it up again to talk about some of the issues that surround this ‘rule.’
At conventions and online, we always see girls (and sometimes dudes too) dressed as female versions of characters that were originally male.
This might just mean giving the character longer hair or switching pants for a skirt, or something more subtle and complex.
Either way, it’s a completely valid form of cosplay and is recognized widely as a costume that has been “Rule 63’d.”
It is very rare however that we see female characters being portrayed by cosplayers as male.
Male characters are ‘remixed’ as females much more often, and this is largely down to there being a severe lack of strong female characters in (mainstream) media generally. Girls have plenty of female characters to choose from to create a costume, but usually these characters are: a sidekick of sorts, a vehicle designed to move along a plotline, a villain, a princess/queen (someone only notable or worthy by ‘divine right’,) the love interest of the male protagonist, or a protagonist whose story is basically their search for the love of a man.
This means that when girls want to cosplay as characters they like for reasons based on factors like bravery, honour, strength, gadgets, powers, intelligence, wit, humour and general ‘coolness,’ a lot of them will turn to male characters.
This is not to say that female characters aren’t cool, there are some awesome female characters out there! But as a female, I think (and I generalize) that men can sometimes struggle to relate to and write female characters that have any kind of personality at all. And unfortunately a large portion of the comic, film and TV show realm is dominated by male creators and fans. So women’s best choices are often male characters, which are then sometimes given female attributes – and then we’re usually accused of sexualizing the character… Come on, give us a break!
 |
| Okay, sometimes it is about sexualizing a character. |
On the 15th of July, Marvel announced that Thor was going to be rebooted in a new series starting next year with the “exciting” change of Thor being female. Surely this should appease those angry feminists out there? Well speaking on behalf of my kind; no, not really.
According to a news article on Marvel.com:
“The inscription on Thor’s hammer reads ‘Whosoever holds this hammer, if HE be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.’ Well it’s time to update that inscription,” says Marvel editor Wil Moss. “The new Thor continues Marvel’s proud tradition of strong female characters like Captain Marvel, Storm, Black Widow and more. And this new Thor isn’t a temporary female substitute – she’s now the one and only Thor, and she is worthy!”
 |
| The new Thor, by Russel Dauterman |
The time for an update of that inscription, or indeed any casually sexist inscription by Marvel and other big publishers, has long since passed. And the misguided notion that they have been writing lots of “strong female characters” already is pretty laughable… Storm? Really?
If Marvel are so keen on updating their current sausage-fest status, why not write a completely original new series with a female lead strong enough to carry the whole thing, rather than simply change the gender in a formula they already know to be successful? I am not convinced they have any faith in the idea of a female protagonist.
 |
| Ok so new Thor and Old Thor are still two separate entities, so this statement isn’t strictly true… But it’s still funny. |
Until a few days ago, I thought I might be the only one who was starting to get pissed off by all the “ooh aren’t Marvel so innovative and great?!” articles popping up online. But then artist Rufus Dayglo, illustrator of Tank Girl since 2007 shared image on Facebook, of a little girl dressed as Thor and captioned it:
“New Thor sighted preparing for debut… Now if Marvel and DC can really address the imbalance… Maybe they can catch up with the 20th, let alone the 21st century…”
So I thought I’d ask him how he felt about the latest on Marvel hoping I would find someone else who shared my growing feelings of annoyance.
Rufus: I wish these companies would make real efforts… Instead of token chump change. It’s appalling.
Sofi: I know, it’s such a lame last minute grab at more readers.
And shows a complete lack of moral courage, and ethics on their part.
Agreed.
They are the worst aspects of capitalism… Reactive, not proactive. They follow change, they don’t create it.
It’s sad, that amongst other shitty aspects of their latest move, that they’ve chosen to reboot an already popular character as a female, rather than take a chance and just write a good, original female one.
Exactly. It’s reactive and designed to fail. And fold in a year or two. It’s a publicity bullshit piece. It’s cynical… and very short sighted. No vision.
Do you think that it will get Marvel a bigger female readership in any way? I don’t think that girls who don’t like comic books are going to be enticed by a sudden addition of boobs to a pre-existing character.
Maybe a short spike… but they need to be proactive. Hire women writers and artists. Create new exciting female characters… of all shapes and sizes… and INVEST! But they won’t, as they are lazy… and short sighted. Someone will have to do it independently… and then they’ll copy it like a template, when they already know it works.
Why do you think it’s taken them this long to even make this minuscule effort?
Because they are reactionary… they have no reason to be forward thinking when they can reboot Spider-Man or Iron Man, and rake in cash from fanboys. They don’t believe there is a female fan base… so they ignore it. That’s why this is tokenism; rebooting an old character, who is struggling to keep a readership. It’s like ‘Killing’ Superman. It creates a ‘you can’t do that!’ from fanboys and get’s them some press as [Thor] is now a girl, and then in a year… it’ll be gone (unless it’s a runaway success…) and then it’s business as usual. Do you really believe they won’t bring back the ‘normal’ Thor?
Nah, of course they will.
Exactly. It’s cynical. It’s marketing. There’s no ethics, no real push to address the imbalance. It’s window dressing, and that actually upsets me more. As there are so many stories that could and should be told. I’ll stop ranting now.
Haha no, please! It was that rant I was interested in. It’s a totally valid opinion. And I haven’t really heard anyone else voice it yet. And being the illustrator of a very strong female character indeed I thought it was best coming from you.
I’m probably out of step with comics. I dunno… I just despair… It’s such a boys club.
I don’t know about out of step, just disillusioned. Because it IS such a boys club, you’re right.
I’m not disillusioned… I believe it will change.
Yeah?
But it’s independent companies and creatives that will do it, not DC and Marvel. We will have the books we want. I believe.
Yeah, the material is always out there for those who want to find it. Who are some good indie companies to look to?
I dunno. I don’t read comics haha. Becky Cloonan. She rocks. She will save comics. I love her, and her books. She’s ace.
I’m doing some new characters now… again… all female.
Great!
I like women characters. I don’t wanna draw muscly men. Why on earth do guys wanna draw that?? I just don’t get it. Maybe it’s a fantasy, to be muscly haha.
Neither do I. That was about the only reason that a female Thor made sense to me. As much as the fanboys will hate the change, I think they’ll like oggling big shiny breastplates for a bit.
Yeah. But again… it’s tits and ass. So lame and pathetic.
Yup.
Playboy bunny again, yawn.
I want Love and Rockets girls with big bums, dimples and attitudes. And character. Fucking characters! Not boobs and a loin cloth.
Hahaha. It’s a struggle to find girl characters with an actual CHARACTER anywhere these days I think. In mainstream media that is.
Exactly!!!! It is just mind boggling… it’s 2014.
It’s offensive really. And a reason I was always a fan of Tank Girl.I hope you’ll like the new stuff I’m doing… I just want characters that I’d wanna read. And my girl friends would wanna read, as my best friends are my GFs… and I want stuff that impresses them.
I think that’s because you value women’s opinions the same as men’s.
My happiest moments are getting fan mail from kids… in places like Omaha, and have discovered they are gay… And they wanna be Tankie! And they feel they’ve made a friend.
I value my friends. And I don’t like the way comics are made by fanboys for fanboys. It’s gone down a one-way street… the wrong way…
Some of the latest from Rufus Dayglo.
I don’t know if many people have formed an opinion yet on the new Thor, but I sit firmly with the controversial Dayglo and Tankie on this one.
This seems like a lame attempt to “empower women. So far it’s being talked about like it’s a revolutionary move, when really, other artists and comics have been doing this with much more originality, for a long time. What Marvel are doing is more of a step backwards by not even bothering to make a brand new series with a it’s own concept. It’s such a shame.
But thankfully, there are plenty of strong girl characters out there if you know the right places to look. And I’d recommend you all start by checking out Tank Girl if you’re not familiar with her already.
 |
| I love ‘Rule 63’, but who needs it when there are awesome female characters to cosplay? |
