Bad girl art
Encyclopedia
Bad girl art is a superhero
ines art form genre coined after the analogy of good girl art
which also includes strong female characters in comic books. Bad girls are typically tough and violent superheroines.
The two terms, bad girl art and good girl art, while similarly constructed, are not accurately oppositional: while "good girl art" originally was "girl art" that was "good", "bad girl art" is art of "bad girls": the "bad" refers to the personalities of the anti-hero
ine characters, often portrayed as cruel, mercenary, or demonic, although it may also be intended to reflect on the crude mannerisms and exaggerated anatomy of the drawing style associated with those characters. While the Good Girls were common in the 1940s and 1950s, Bad Girl Art was common in the comic book market of the 1980s and 1990s. During the heyday of the style, some 50 titles within the subgenre were being published, with Lady Death as the best selling title.
The bad girl characters are female embodiments of the "grim and gritty" mood of comic books in from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s. Bad girl art uses the flamboyant and anatomically exaggerated style of art associated with Chaos! Comics
and Image Comics
during the same period to draw those grim and gritty female characters.
, whose comics started in the 1970s. When Frank Miller
created Elektra
, and gave her a complex relationship with the title hero Daredevil
that went beyond the realm of mere villain
y, he also influenced the comic bad girl stereotype. The often accepted beginning of the Bad Girl trend was Brian Pulido
's Lady Death
and his Chaos! line of comics. These books featured all typical characteristics including full figured women, mystical backgrounds and exuberant art.
Bad Girls, unlike Good Girls, were seldom found in the role of a damsel in distress
. Indeed, the Bad Girls are "typically as powerful, violent, skilled, smart, and self-assured" as any male superhero. Instead, Bad Girls were typically motivated by background stories in which they had been the victims of abuse or domestic violence
; others had their loved ones murder
ed by the villains. Their basic motive
was revenge
against their abuser and against those who had abused others in a similar way. These themes of revenge made the character's moral code
ambiguous, and often made it hard to characterize the character as either a hero
ine or a villainess leading "Bad Girl" to become the female equivalent of "anti-hero
".
Magic
, mythology
and occult
themes were also frequently found in their background stories. Popular backstories for Bad Girls, were that they were demon
hunters, fallen/rogue angels, vampires or wielders of a supernaturally bestowed weapon or power. Often, much effort went into creating the character's "cool" mystical/mythological backstory creating an actual well thought out background, which later with little effort going towards making future stories of that caliber.
In essence, what these characters shared above all was being cast in the role of dominatrix
. Their weapons and demeanor marked them as threatening, even as the style of their drawing marked them as emphatically female. Their allure and their dangerousness go hand in hand, both being essential parts of the sexual fantasy
these characters are meant to embody.
Their artistic illustrations are closely linked with the highly manneristic
and finely inked
style of art that is associated with the original "Image Comics
" house style. Image Comics was founded by a group of artists, most of whom had previously worked for Marvel Comics
, and as a result the first Image comic books were created by artists rather than writers. At the beginning, the comic books published by Image had a reputation for flashy art, with frequent splash pages, complicated page layouts and character designs, and highly stylized and posed figures. This coincided with a liberalizing of the U.S. Comics Code Authority
standards in 1989.
As such, the Image visual style and the "bad girl" character coincided in time, and the Image heroines were violent, scantily clad, and frequently appeared in cheesecake poses. Male characters were equally stylized in the Image house style — male characters drawn by founding artists such as Mark Silvestri, Rob Liefeld
, and Erik Larsen
had "refrigerator torsos, elephantine limbs, and tiny pinheads" — but these female characters were also depicted in a highly sexualized manner. The depictions of the bad girls of bad girl art showed them "(p)erpetually bending over, arching their backs, and heaving their anti-gravity breasts into readers’ faces"; these images "defied all laws of physics."
Some of the more extreme manifestations of the phenomenon showed women with big hair
; extremely long legs, often longer than the upper body; breasts bigger than their head; in anatomically improbable or impossible poses; and thighs wider than their waists. Both the male and female stylizations of the period could be seen as common reflections of the "superhero genre's preoccupation with ideal bodies." Bad Girl characters were frequently drawn with torn or tattered clothing or spattered with blood. These characters frequently wield a large gun
or sword
, and wear skulls or mystic symbols in their clothing.
Marc Silvestri, along with the other early Image Comics
artists like Rob Liefeld, Jim Lee
and Todd McFarlane
's early work are a large influence on the style. Together with the creations of writer Brian Pulido
for Chaos!comics a new era started. Artists like Michael Turner continue this style.
Bad Girl comics had their heyday in 1990s. During the peak of the period of the style's popularity, Mike Deodato
drew Wonder Woman
, a classic Good Girl, in a style that owed much to the visual style of the Bad Girl books; Trina Robbins
called Deodato's Wonder Woman a "barely clothed hypersexual pinup
". Jim Balent
's Catwoman
was also revisioned in this style. The books and style remained as popular as ever until manga
and anime
grew becoming the new industry-wide trend, causing the old trend of bad girls and anti-heroes to be seen as dated and no longer fashionable.
(an abbreviation for "Tits
and Ass
"; a slang term for erotica
) titles have been revitalized. The revitalization began when Top Cow, a studio notorious for its T&A stylings, attached Ron Marz and non-T&A artists Mike Choi to its main bad girl book Witchblade
. The book began getting acclaim and wonderful reviews, and other companies took notice.
Many former Bad Girl characters were now being written in a new character driven style. Dynamite Entertainment
began to publish Red Sonja
focusing on character and using T&A poses only in joke. Tales of Wonder, which now owns the majority of the Chaos! Comics
's characters, put out new Purgatori
comics via Devil's Due Publishing
following this new trend. Meanwhile, Bad Girl-queen Lady Death
, while remaining true to her roots, has an alternate all-ages version coming out as Medieval Lady Death and even in the classic version it has been toned down a bit. Also notable is the original Bad Girl, Vampirella
. While she still keeps the costume, writer Mike Carey and artist Mike Lily put little to no focus on it as they attempt to rework her into an introspective character.
Finally, famed T&A artist Michael Turner launched his company Aspen MLT
and, much to everyone's surprise, chose to go with substance over style in his relaunch of Fathom
and the rest of his line.
Print
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
ines art form genre coined after the analogy of good girl art
Good girl art
Good girl art is found in drawings or paintings which feature a strong emphasis on attractive women no matter what the subject or situation. GGA was most commonly featured in comic books, pulp magazines and crime fiction...
which also includes strong female characters in comic books. Bad girls are typically tough and violent superheroines.
The two terms, bad girl art and good girl art, while similarly constructed, are not accurately oppositional: while "good girl art" originally was "girl art" that was "good", "bad girl art" is art of "bad girls": the "bad" refers to the personalities of the anti-hero
Anti-hero
In fiction, an antihero is generally considered to be a protagonist whose character is at least in some regards conspicuously contrary to that of the archetypal hero, and is in some instances its antithesis in which the character is generally useless at being a hero or heroine when they're...
ine characters, often portrayed as cruel, mercenary, or demonic, although it may also be intended to reflect on the crude mannerisms and exaggerated anatomy of the drawing style associated with those characters. While the Good Girls were common in the 1940s and 1950s, Bad Girl Art was common in the comic book market of the 1980s and 1990s. During the heyday of the style, some 50 titles within the subgenre were being published, with Lady Death as the best selling title.
The bad girl characters are female embodiments of the "grim and gritty" mood of comic books in from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s. Bad girl art uses the flamboyant and anatomically exaggerated style of art associated with Chaos! Comics
Chaos! Comics
Chaos! Comics was a comic book publisher that operated from 1994 until 2002.-Overview:Their titles included Lady Death, Purgatori, Evil Ernie, Chastity, Jade, Omen, Bad Kitty, Cremator, Lady Demon, and Smiley The Psychotic Button.They also published licensed comics for the World Wrestling...
and Image Comics
Image Comics
Image Comics is a United States comic book publisher. It was founded in 1992 by high-profile illustrators as a venue where creators could publish their material without giving up the copyrights to the characters they created, as creator-owned properties. It was immediately successful, and remains...
during the same period to draw those grim and gritty female characters.
Bad Girl characters
Bad Girl comic characters differ obviously from Good Girls in their characterization. It is possible that the original comic Bad Girl - before the term was coined - was VampirellaVampirella
Vampirella is a fictional character, a comic book vampire heroine created by Forrest J Ackerman and costume designer Trina Robbins in Warren Publishing's black-and-white horror comics magazine Vampirella #1 . Writer-editor Archie Goodwin later developed the character from horror-story hostess, in...
, whose comics started in the 1970s. When Frank Miller
Frank Miller (comics)
Frank Miller is an American comic book artist, writer and film director best known for his dark, film noir-style comic book stories and graphic novels Ronin, Daredevil: Born Again, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Sin City and 300...
created Elektra
Elektra (comics)
Elektra Natchios, usually referred to only by her first name Elektra, is a fictional character in publications from Marvel Comics.Elektra is a kunoichi – female ninja assassin – of Greek descent. She wields a pair of bladed sai as her trademark weapon. She is a love interest of the superhero...
, and gave her a complex relationship with the title hero Daredevil
Daredevil (Marvel Comics)
Daredevil is a fictional character, a superhero in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Bill Everett, with an unspecified amount of input from Jack Kirby, and first appeared in Daredevil #1 .Living in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood...
that went beyond the realm of mere villain
Villain
A villain is an "evil" character in a story, whether a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villain usually is the antagonist, the character who tends to have a negative effect on other characters...
y, he also influenced the comic bad girl stereotype. The often accepted beginning of the Bad Girl trend was Brian Pulido
Brian Pulido
Brian Pulido is a creator, writer and producer of comic books and films.-Early life:Growing up in Long Branch, New Jersey, Pulido first developed an interest in the horror genre after the release of Night of the Living Dead when he was a child.-Comic book career:Pulido has created, written or...
's Lady Death
Lady Death
Lady Death is a fictional character, a comic book goddess created by Brian Pulido and Steven Hughes. Lady Death first appeared in Evil Ernie #1 by Eternity Comics in December 1991. Lady Death then reappeared in the Evil Ernie: The Resurrection mini-series published by Pulido under his now defunct...
and his Chaos! line of comics. These books featured all typical characteristics including full figured women, mystical backgrounds and exuberant art.
Bad Girls, unlike Good Girls, were seldom found in the role of a damsel in distress
Damsel in distress
The subject of the damsel in distress, or persecuted maiden, is a classic theme in world literature, art, and film. She is usually a beautiful young woman placed in a dire predicament by a villain or monster and who requires a hero to achieve her rescue. She has become a stock character of fiction,...
. Indeed, the Bad Girls are "typically as powerful, violent, skilled, smart, and self-assured" as any male superhero. Instead, Bad Girls were typically motivated by background stories in which they had been the victims of abuse or domestic violence
Domestic violence
Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...
; others had their loved ones murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
ed by the villains. Their basic motive
Motivation
Motivation is the driving force by which humans achieve their goals. Motivation is said to be intrinsic or extrinsic. The term is generally used for humans but it can also be used to describe the causes for animal behavior as well. This article refers to human motivation...
was revenge
Revenge
Revenge is a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. It is also called payback, retribution, retaliation or vengeance; it may be characterized, justly or unjustly, as a form of justice.-Function in society:Some societies believe that the...
against their abuser and against those who had abused others in a similar way. These themes of revenge made the character's moral code
Morality
Morality is the differentiation among intentions, decisions, and actions between those that are good and bad . A moral code is a system of morality and a moral is any one practice or teaching within a moral code...
ambiguous, and often made it hard to characterize the character as either a hero
Hero
A hero , in Greek mythology and folklore, was originally a demigod, their cult being one of the most distinctive features of ancient Greek religion...
ine or a villainess leading "Bad Girl" to become the female equivalent of "anti-hero
Anti-hero
In fiction, an antihero is generally considered to be a protagonist whose character is at least in some regards conspicuously contrary to that of the archetypal hero, and is in some instances its antithesis in which the character is generally useless at being a hero or heroine when they're...
".
Magic
Magic (paranormal)
Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...
, mythology
Mythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
and occult
Occult
The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
themes were also frequently found in their background stories. Popular backstories for Bad Girls, were that they were demon
Demon
call - 1347 531 7769 for more infoIn Ancient Near Eastern religions as well as in the Abrahamic traditions, including ancient and medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered an "unclean spirit" which may cause demonic possession, to be addressed with an act of exorcism...
hunters, fallen/rogue angels, vampires or wielders of a supernaturally bestowed weapon or power. Often, much effort went into creating the character's "cool" mystical/mythological backstory creating an actual well thought out background, which later with little effort going towards making future stories of that caliber.
In essence, what these characters shared above all was being cast in the role of dominatrix
Dominatrix
Dominatrix or mistress is a woman or women who takes the dominant role in bondage, discipline and sadomasochism, or BDSM. A common form of address for a submissive to a dominatrix is "mistress", "ma'am", "domina" or "maîtresse"...
. Their weapons and demeanor marked them as threatening, even as the style of their drawing marked them as emphatically female. Their allure and their dangerousness go hand in hand, both being essential parts of the sexual fantasy
Sexual fantasy
A sexual fantasy, also called an erotic fantasy, is a fantasy or pattern of thoughts with the effect of creating or enhancing sexual feelings; in short, it is "almost any mental imagery that is sexually arousing or erotic to [an] individual"...
these characters are meant to embody.
Bad Girl visual styles
Mannerism
Mannerism is a period of European art that emerged from the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520. It lasted until about 1580 in Italy, when a more Baroque style began to replace it, but Northern Mannerism continued into the early 17th century throughout much of Europe...
and finely inked
Inking
Inking is the process of using a liquid known as ink, which contains natural or man-made pigment.* Inking is work done by a Inker, one kind of commercial artistIn biology:...
style of art that is associated with the original "Image Comics
Image Comics
Image Comics is a United States comic book publisher. It was founded in 1992 by high-profile illustrators as a venue where creators could publish their material without giving up the copyrights to the characters they created, as creator-owned properties. It was immediately successful, and remains...
" house style. Image Comics was founded by a group of artists, most of whom had previously worked for Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
, and as a result the first Image comic books were created by artists rather than writers. At the beginning, the comic books published by Image had a reputation for flashy art, with frequent splash pages, complicated page layouts and character designs, and highly stylized and posed figures. This coincided with a liberalizing of the U.S. Comics Code Authority
Comics Code Authority
The Comics Code Authority was a body created as part of the Comics Magazine Association of America, as a tool for the comics-publishing industry to self-regulate the content of comic books in the United States. Member publishers submitted comic books to the CCA, which screened them for adherence to...
standards in 1989.
As such, the Image visual style and the "bad girl" character coincided in time, and the Image heroines were violent, scantily clad, and frequently appeared in cheesecake poses. Male characters were equally stylized in the Image house style — male characters drawn by founding artists such as Mark Silvestri, Rob Liefeld
Rob Liefeld
Rob Liefeld is an American comic book writer, illustrator, and publisher. A prominent artist in the 1990s, he has since become a controversial figure in the medium....
, and Erik Larsen
Erik Larsen
Erik J. Larsen is an American comic book writer, artist and publisher. He is best known for his work on Savage Dragon, as one of the founders of Image Comics, and for his work on Spider-Man for Marvel Comics.-Early life:...
had "refrigerator torsos, elephantine limbs, and tiny pinheads" — but these female characters were also depicted in a highly sexualized manner. The depictions of the bad girls of bad girl art showed them "(p)erpetually bending over, arching their backs, and heaving their anti-gravity breasts into readers’ faces"; these images "defied all laws of physics."
Some of the more extreme manifestations of the phenomenon showed women with big hair
Big hair
thumb|[[Dolly Parton]] in 1983.Big hair is a term that can refer to hairstyles that emphasize large volume or largely styled hair, especially when those styles make the hair occupy a large amount of space above and around the head...
; extremely long legs, often longer than the upper body; breasts bigger than their head; in anatomically improbable or impossible poses; and thighs wider than their waists. Both the male and female stylizations of the period could be seen as common reflections of the "superhero genre's preoccupation with ideal bodies." Bad Girl characters were frequently drawn with torn or tattered clothing or spattered with blood. These characters frequently wield a large gun
Gun
A gun is a muzzle or breech-loaded projectile-firing weapon. There are various definitions depending on the nation and branch of service. A "gun" may be distinguished from other firearms in being a crew-served weapon such as a howitzer or mortar, as opposed to a small arm like a rifle or pistol,...
or sword
Sword
A sword is a bladed weapon used primarily for cutting or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the historical epoch or the geographical region under consideration...
, and wear skulls or mystic symbols in their clothing.
Marc Silvestri, along with the other early Image Comics
Image Comics
Image Comics is a United States comic book publisher. It was founded in 1992 by high-profile illustrators as a venue where creators could publish their material without giving up the copyrights to the characters they created, as creator-owned properties. It was immediately successful, and remains...
artists like Rob Liefeld, Jim Lee
Jim Lee
Jim Lee is a Korean-American comic book artist, writer, editor and publisher. He first broke into the industry in 1987 as an artist for Marvel Comics, illustrating titles such as Alpha Flight and Punisher War Journal, before gaining a great deal of popularity on The Uncanny X-Men...
and Todd McFarlane
Todd McFarlane
Todd McFarlane is a Canadian cartoonist, writer, toy designer and entrepreneur, best known for his work in comic books, such as the fantasy series Spawn....
's early work are a large influence on the style. Together with the creations of writer Brian Pulido
Brian Pulido
Brian Pulido is a creator, writer and producer of comic books and films.-Early life:Growing up in Long Branch, New Jersey, Pulido first developed an interest in the horror genre after the release of Night of the Living Dead when he was a child.-Comic book career:Pulido has created, written or...
for Chaos!comics a new era started. Artists like Michael Turner continue this style.
Bad Girl comics had their heyday in 1990s. During the peak of the period of the style's popularity, Mike Deodato
Mike Deodato
Mike Deodato , sometimes credited as Mike Deodato Jr., is the professional pseudonym of Brazilian comic book artist Deodato Taumaturgo Borges Filho.-Biography:...
drew Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman is a DC Comics superheroine created by William Moulton Marston. She first appeared in All Star Comics #8 . The Wonder Woman title has been published by DC Comics almost continuously except for a brief hiatus in 1986....
, a classic Good Girl, in a style that owed much to the visual style of the Bad Girl books; Trina Robbins
Trina Robbins
Trina Robbins is an American comics artist and writer. She was an early and influential participant in the underground comix movement, and one of the few female artists in underground comix when she started. Both as a cartoonist and historian, Robbins has long been involved in creating outlets for...
called Deodato's Wonder Woman a "barely clothed hypersexual pinup
Pin-up girl
A pin-up girl, also known as a pin-up model, is a model whose mass-produced pictures see wide appeal as popular culture. Pin-ups are intended for informal display, e.g. meant to be "pinned-up" on a wall...
". Jim Balent
Jim Balent
Jim Balent is an American comic book illustrator from Pennsylvania. He is perhaps best known for his long run on Catwoman between 1993 and 1999...
's Catwoman
Catwoman
Catwoman is a fictional character associated with DC Comics' Batman franchise. Historically a supervillain, the character was created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, partially inspired by Kane's cousin, Ruth Steel...
was also revisioned in this style. The books and style remained as popular as ever until manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
and anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
grew becoming the new industry-wide trend, causing the old trend of bad girls and anti-heroes to be seen as dated and no longer fashionable.
Revitalization
In recent years, bad girl and T&AErotica
Erotica are works of art, including literature, photography, film, sculpture and painting, that deal substantively with erotically stimulating or sexually arousing descriptions...
(an abbreviation for "Tits
Breast
The breast is the upper ventral region of the torso of a primate, in left and right sides, which in a female contains the mammary gland that secretes milk used to feed infants.Both men and women develop breasts from the same embryological tissues...
and Ass
Buttocks
The buttocks are two rounded portions of the anatomy, located on the posterior of the pelvic region of apes and humans, and many other bipeds or quadrupeds, and comprise a layer of fat superimposed on the gluteus maximus and gluteus medius muscles. Physiologically, the buttocks enable weight to...
"; a slang term for erotica
Erotica
Erotica are works of art, including literature, photography, film, sculpture and painting, that deal substantively with erotically stimulating or sexually arousing descriptions...
) titles have been revitalized. The revitalization began when Top Cow, a studio notorious for its T&A stylings, attached Ron Marz and non-T&A artists Mike Choi to its main bad girl book Witchblade
Witchblade
Witchblade is an American comic book series published by Top Cow Productions, an imprint of Image Comics, from 1995 until present. The series was created by Top Cow editors Marc Silvestri and David Wohl, writers Brian Haberlin and Christina Z, and artist Michael Turner.The series follows Sara...
. The book began getting acclaim and wonderful reviews, and other companies took notice.
Many former Bad Girl characters were now being written in a new character driven style. Dynamite Entertainment
Dynamite Entertainment
Dynamite Entertainment is an American comic book company that primarily publishes licensed franchises of adaptations of other media. These include adaptations of film properties such as Army of Darkness, Terminator and RoboCop, literary properties such as Zorro, Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, Alice in...
began to publish Red Sonja
Red Sonja
Red Sonja, the She-Devil with a Sword, is a fictional character, a high fantasy sword and sorcery heroine created by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith, and loosely based on Red Sonya of Rogatino in Robert E. Howard's 1934 short story "The Shadow of the Vulture"...
focusing on character and using T&A poses only in joke. Tales of Wonder, which now owns the majority of the Chaos! Comics
Chaos! Comics
Chaos! Comics was a comic book publisher that operated from 1994 until 2002.-Overview:Their titles included Lady Death, Purgatori, Evil Ernie, Chastity, Jade, Omen, Bad Kitty, Cremator, Lady Demon, and Smiley The Psychotic Button.They also published licensed comics for the World Wrestling...
's characters, put out new Purgatori
Purgatori
Purgatori is a fictional comic book character, created by writer Brian Pulido and artist Steven Hughes. A crimson-skinned, winged vampire goddess, she first appeared in Lady Death #3 , published by Chaos! Comics...
comics via Devil's Due Publishing
Devil's Due Publishing
Devil's Due Publishing is an independent comic book publishers in the United States. Based in Chicago, Illinois, DDP is best known for its wide selection of genres, including licensed and original creator-owned properties that populate its monthly comic book series and graphic novels.Though...
following this new trend. Meanwhile, Bad Girl-queen Lady Death
Lady Death
Lady Death is a fictional character, a comic book goddess created by Brian Pulido and Steven Hughes. Lady Death first appeared in Evil Ernie #1 by Eternity Comics in December 1991. Lady Death then reappeared in the Evil Ernie: The Resurrection mini-series published by Pulido under his now defunct...
, while remaining true to her roots, has an alternate all-ages version coming out as Medieval Lady Death and even in the classic version it has been toned down a bit. Also notable is the original Bad Girl, Vampirella
Vampirella
Vampirella is a fictional character, a comic book vampire heroine created by Forrest J Ackerman and costume designer Trina Robbins in Warren Publishing's black-and-white horror comics magazine Vampirella #1 . Writer-editor Archie Goodwin later developed the character from horror-story hostess, in...
. While she still keeps the costume, writer Mike Carey and artist Mike Lily put little to no focus on it as they attempt to rework her into an introspective character.
Finally, famed T&A artist Michael Turner launched his company Aspen MLT
Aspen MLT
Aspen MLT is a California entertainment company founded by artist Michael Turner. It has locations in Santa Monica and Marina Del Rey. Launched in January 2003, the company is best known for producing comic books and figurines.-History:...
and, much to everyone's surprise, chose to go with substance over style in his relaunch of Fathom
Fathom (comics)
Fathom is a comic book created by Michael Turner and originally published by Top Cow Productions. It debuted in 1998 and was Michael Turner's first creator-owned comic book series. Fathom is currently published by Turner's own company, Aspen MLT....
and the rest of his line.
Characters
The following are examples of bad girls on the market.- Danger GirlDanger GirlDanger Girl is an American comic book series created by J. Scott Campbell and Andy Hartnell. The comic features a group of female secret agents led by a mentor named Deuce. The series follows the James Bond and Indiana Jones action-adventure formula, with the Danger Girls being an homage to the...
- AngelaAngela (comics)Angela is a fictional character in Todd McFarlane's Spawn comic book series. The character was created for the series by writer Neil Gaiman and artist Todd McFarlane, which led to a legal battle between McFarlane and Gaiman over the rights to the character.-Fictional character biography:In the...
- AvengelyneAvengelyneAvengelyne [uh-venj-ah-leen] is a fictional comic book character co-created by Rob Liefeld and Cathy Christian, and originally published in 1995 by Maximum Press. By the end of the 1990s, Avengelyne had a stint at Awesome Entertainment and enjoyed a short stint at Avatar Press. Avengelyne returned...
- Barb WireBarb WireBarb Wire was a superhero published by Comics Greatest World, an imprint of Dark Horse Comics. A regular series was published for 9 issues between 1994-1995, followed by a mini-series in 1998.-Creators:Regular Series:...
- BloodRayneBloodRayneBloodRayne has received mostly mixed to positive reviews. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the Xbox version 73.53% and 76/100, the GameCube version 68.88% and 73/100, the PlayStation 2 version 68.87% and 75/100 and the PC version 65.78% and 65/100.-External links:*...
- DarkchyldeDarkchyldeDarkchylde is an American comic book character created in 1996 by Randy Queen. It was originally published by Maximum Press, and later by Image Comics, through Homage Comics, a publishing imprint of Wildstorm...
- DogwitchDogwitchDogwitch is a comic book series by British artist and writer Daniel Schaffer following the shocking exploits of exiled witch-superstar and home movie maker, "Shrieking" Violet Grimm.-Plot:From the official website:...
- ElektraElektra (comics)Elektra Natchios, usually referred to only by her first name Elektra, is a fictional character in publications from Marvel Comics.Elektra is a kunoichi – female ninja assassin – of Greek descent. She wields a pair of bladed sai as her trademark weapon. She is a love interest of the superhero...
- FathomFathom (comics)Fathom is a comic book created by Michael Turner and originally published by Top Cow Productions. It debuted in 1998 and was Michael Turner's first creator-owned comic book series. Fathom is currently published by Turner's own company, Aspen MLT....
- GloryGlory (comics)Glory is a fictional character originally from Image Comics, and later on from the Awesome Comics comic book series created by Rob Liefeld. The character's full name is Gloriana Demeter, a half-Amazonian, half-Demon warrior.- Rob Liefeld's Glory :...
- Lady DeathLady DeathLady Death is a fictional character, a comic book goddess created by Brian Pulido and Steven Hughes. Lady Death first appeared in Evil Ernie #1 by Eternity Comics in December 1991. Lady Death then reappeared in the Evil Ernie: The Resurrection mini-series published by Pulido under his now defunct...
- Lady Rawhide
- The Magdalena
- PandoraPandora (comics)Pandora is a fictional character created by William A. Christensen, Editor-in-Chief of Avatar Press comics.-Background:From Avatar Press' site:-Pandora Comics:*Pandora*Pandora: Demonography*Pandora: Devil's Advocate*Pandora: Nudes...
- PurgatoriPurgatoriPurgatori is a fictional comic book character, created by writer Brian Pulido and artist Steven Hughes. A crimson-skinned, winged vampire goddess, she first appeared in Lady Death #3 , published by Chaos! Comics...
- RambaRamba (comics)Ramba is an erotic comic, whose protagonist is an Italian hitlady of the same name. The comics are a mixture of action, adventure and adult situations...
- Red Monika (for Battle ChasersBattle ChasersBattle Chasers is an American fantasy comic book series by Joe Madureira, launched in April 1998. It was one of the most popular American comics series in the late 1990s, but suffered from extreme scheduling problems, with an average of about six months between issues, including a delay of 16...
) - ShiShi (comics)Shi is a fictional comic book character created by writer/illustrator William Tucci. She first appeared in Razor Annual #1 , and has since appeared in books by a variety of publishers, most notably, Tucci's company, Crusade Comics...
- Tarot, Witch of the Black Rose
- VampirellaVampirellaVampirella is a fictional character, a comic book vampire heroine created by Forrest J Ackerman and costume designer Trina Robbins in Warren Publishing's black-and-white horror comics magazine Vampirella #1 . Writer-editor Archie Goodwin later developed the character from horror-story hostess, in...
- Warrior Nun ArealaWarrior Nun ArealaWarrior Nun Areala is a manga-style American comic book character created by Ben Dunn and published by Antarctic Press. First appearing in Ninja High School #38 , she has since appeared in her own comic books beginning with Warrior Nun Areala Vol. 1 #1 in December 1994...
- WitchbladeWitchbladeWitchblade is an American comic book series published by Top Cow Productions, an imprint of Image Comics, from 1995 until present. The series was created by Top Cow editors Marc Silvestri and David Wohl, writers Brian Haberlin and Christina Z, and artist Michael Turner.The series follows Sara...
See also
- Femme fataleFemme fataleA femme fatale is a mysterious and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers in bonds of irresistible desire, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations. She is an archetype of literature and art...
- Girls with gunsGirls with gunsGirls with guns is a sub-genre of films and animation, especially Hong Kong action films and anime, with a female protagonist in a strong lead role, set in a modern context. The genre involves gun-play, stunts and martial arts action...
- Pin-up girlPin-up girlA pin-up girl, also known as a pin-up model, is a model whose mass-produced pictures see wide appeal as popular culture. Pin-ups are intended for informal display, e.g. meant to be "pinned-up" on a wall...
- Modern Age of comic booksModern Age of Comic BooksThe Modern Age of Comic Books is an informal name for the period in the history of mainstream American comic books generally considered to last from the mid-1980s until present day...
- Portrayal of women in comicsPortrayal of women in comicsWomen have been portrayed in comic books since the medium's beginning, with their portrayals often the subject of controversy. Sociologists with an interest in gender roles and stereotyping have outlined the role of women as both supporting characters and as potential leaders struggling to be...
- Jeffrey A. Brown: "Gender, Sexuality, and Toughness: The Bad Girls of Action Film and Comic Books", in Sherrie A. Inness, ed., Action Chicks: New images of tough women in popular culture (Macmillan, 2004; ISBN 1403963967)
- Sherrie A. Inness, Tough Girls: Women Warriors and Wonder Women in Popular Culture (Univ. Pennsylvania, 1998: ISBN 0812234669)
- Trina RobbinsTrina RobbinsTrina Robbins is an American comics artist and writer. She was an early and influential participant in the underground comix movement, and one of the few female artists in underground comix when she started. Both as a cartoonist and historian, Robbins has long been involved in creating outlets for...
, The Great Women Superheroes (Kitchen Sink PressKitchen Sink PressKitchen Sink Press was a comic book publishing company founded by Denis Kitchen in 1970. Kitchen owned and operated Kitchen Sink Press until 1999. Kitchen Sink Press was a pioneering publisher of underground comics, and was also responsible for numerous republications of classic comic strips in...
, 1996) ISBN 0-87816-481-2 - Maud Lavin, "What's so bad about "bad girl" art?" (Ms. MagazineMs. magazineMs. is an American feminist magazine co-founded by American feminist and activist Gloria Steinem and founding editor Letty Cottin Pogrebin together with founding editors Patricia Carbine, Joanne Edgar, Nina Finkelstein, and Mary Peacock, that first appeared in 1971 as an insert in New York magazine...
, March/April 1994) p. 80 - 83.
Comics
- Femforce: Bad Girl Backlash by Rebekah Black, Stephanie Sanderson, Leah Adezio, Bill Black, and Mark Heike. (AC ComicsAC ComicsAC Comics is a comic book publishing company started by Bill Black.AC Comics specializes in reprints of Golden Age comics from now-defunct companies whose properties lapsed into public domain and were not reprinted elsewhere...
, 1996) A comic book making fun of the Bad Girl trend, by the publishers of the FemforceFemforceFemforce is a comic book published by AC Comics that began publication in 1985, detailing the adventures of the titular team: the "Federal Emergency Missions Force" or "Femforce", some of them original creations, while others originated in the 1940s and 50s, lapsing into public domain by the time...
comic book series.
Online criticism and commentary
- Jim Burrows, Strong Women in Comics, Pt.2: Not the Bad Girls, accessed Mar. 10, 2009.
- Laura J. DePuy, Bad Girls Revisited, Sequential Tart, accessed Mar. 10, 2009.
- Dave Van Domelen, Bad Girl Art Ratings, accessed Mar. 10, 2009.