Whether female or male, flawed heroes appear in
the whole of Western literature, & in some other
cultures, from the beginning down till now.
Intentionally or unintentionally they set forth to
do or because of forces akin to Fate do in fact
do something that for a time saves some
number of persons or the society to which they
belong from an impending bad outcome. The
flaw (which enables such figures to be perceived
as human, even when as is sometimes the case
they are also gods) tends implacably to carry the
hero toward a tragic end - that is, one in which
she or he suffers horribly, or dies.

There is thus a quite serious issue to be
considered here, which all scholars of American
comic books have indeed considered,
sometimes weightily, as I propose the matter
deserves to be treated.

This, quoted from the article, “An early version
of DC’s Editorial Policy Code, implemented
shortly after the creation of the Comics Code
Authority, leaves little room for debate: ‘The
inclusion of females in stories is specifically
discouraged. Women, when used in plot
structure, should be secondary in importance,”’
is not in the least trivial or amusing, & its
persistence in deed if not in official policy is
chilling ... & is repulsively American. 

Good & fitting Truthdig find! Heroes write here.

Wow,gerard, I really like your comment.

Makes me embarrassed at my shallow thoughts that came
to mind when I clicked the link and looked at the
pictures.

Namely, what we need are tranny superheroes. I can hear
it now:  SUPERTRAN!

I miss the freak brothers comics.

My previous comment, which never appeared for some reason, suggested that the comic book producing world was missing a golden opportunity by not intelligently and sensitively setting the lives of great women into comic-book format.

We don’t need “supermen” and “superwomen” to entertain and instruct us in violence and deceit so much as to help young people internalize the true facts of what it takes to be a great human being and to earn the love and respect of fellow human beings. And our worst enemies are ourselves, not ogres, gangsters etc. 

I know this has been done occasionally, but the possibilities are endless once the idea took hold.(Maybe Mr. Fish and I should try cooperating in such a venture.)