Women’s costuming is a topic often put on the block for debate, especially in comic books. Do the costumes make sense or are they simply exploitative? Fashion guru Tim Gunn even threw his hat into the ring a few years ago, critiquing an array of female superheroes and villains’ wardrobes. Among those he critiqued were Power Girl and Black Canary. Interestingly, Gunn said he believes that Power Girl owns her boob window costume and that it is less objectionable than many of the other costumes (such as Star Sapphire and even the current Catwoman costume, which is typically lauded for its utility). Conversely, upon seeing Black Canary’s costume his immediate response was, “Well, she’s a tramp.” I’m not going to accuse Mr. Gunn of slut shaming a fictional character, but as Geekscape.net’s number one Black Canary fan and doppelgänger, I feel it is my duty to defend her and the fishnets.
First of all, the costume has history. It is as old as the character, dating back to 1947 when the original Black Canary, Dinah Drake, first appeared on the scene. At first, she looked to be a villain, before she was revealed was the newest costumed hero, infiltrating a criminal gang. She was a competent hero who joined the Justice Society of America and, later, helped found the original Justice League of America. Her daughter, Dinah Laurel Lance, would follow in her footsteps and put on the fishnets herself to become the new Black Canary of the modern age.
Nevertheless, since taking over her mother’s role, Dinah has gone through several costume changes. Some more practical than others, but she eventually always reverts back to the fishnets. Although the look of the bodysuit has changed over time (from breast baring to a turtleneck on top and with varying cuts over, under and on the hips), the wide weave fishnets have been a consistent staple to the costume. In her rebooted costume, there are even references to the fishnets in the design on her pants. Although I think this particular costume is ridiculous, the fact the wide weave made it into the character design proves how important the fishnets are to the character.
In Gail Simone’s first run on Birds of Prey, Huntress dresses up and pretends to be Black Canary, while Dinah is rehabilitating from a previous mission. Helena could not handle the fishnets at all; she felt gross and exposed. A later Helena asks Dinah how she could possibly bear to wear that kind of thing on a nightly basis and not feel trashy, and Dinah quips, “At least when I go after Two-Face he can’t tell if I have an innie or an outie,” and Helena rescinds her comment.*
When it comes to costuming in comic books, it is pretty easy to look at a character and be disgusted by the way he or she looks (there are some seriously bad male costumes out there, too), but to take one look at Black Canary and call her a “tramp” is grating. It shows he doesn’t know anything about the character and her history. Which may be the point: he’s assessing based on visual alone, yet he still says Power Girl owns her costume and is fine with it. In which case, it’s possible that the pictures used for reference were poorly chosen. The things to pay attention to are the history of the costume, the personality of the character, in addition to the potential beef and cheesecake factors. I agree with Tim Gunn when he says that Power Girl’s costume works for her, in the same way I believe Emma Frost costume works for her. I can’t imagine just anyone running around in a corset, which is why Harley Quinn’s costume design upsets just about everyone who looks at it.
Of course, this is the problem we run into when a universe is rebooted and so none of the character have a history that we are familiar with. Black Canary’s mother likely no longer exists, and so her fishnet costume no longer makes sense and the traditionally conservative Harley Quinn may fit the new Quinn who we only know so much about.
In another video by Crazy Sexy Geeks, they poll convention participants on whether or not Wonder Woman should wear pants. The women asked, mostly cosplayers and artists, almost unanimously say “No.” One Supergirl cosplayer even points out that “when you’re invincible, you don’t really need to cover up.” Tim Gunn, of course, won’t say she has to wear pants, but if she wanted to work a skinny jean, she totally could. Yet every time artists change Wonder Woman’s costume, the horde comes after them and the editors, even those who hate her patriotic color scheme have taken ill with some of her changes. Perhaps because while it may get more practical in some areas (i.e., pants), impractical parts still exist (like the corset). My personal favorite version of her costume will always be the Grecian armor in her standard color scheme. It represents all aspects of her history and origin, and keeps most of her thighs covered. Everyone wins here, in my opinion. But alas, we have that “no skirts” rule, which is ridiculous.
From my understanding, the reason the “no skirts” rule came about was because there was one too many panty shots of our dear Supergirl. This should really just have been a ban on the artist exploiting female characters, as there is nothing inherently sexist or offensive about fighting crime in a skirt. The Greeks and Romans did this for years, even after the invention of pants. And this is the true problem when it comes to costumes: the artist needs to respect the characters he or she is drawing. While fanservice and pinups have their place, it is rarely within the pages of a comic.
Back when Ed Benes was the main artist for Birds of Prey, I used to count how many panels it would take before I got to one where I didn’t see any of the character’s butts. Even with Huntress’s cape, he managed to make it so her derrière was still prominent in most of the panels. Now, I’m a fan of Ed Benes’s work. His women are beautiful, I have a copy of his first art booklet and I not-so-secretly want to commission him to draw me as Black Canary someday. Nevertheless, there is a time and place. So, unless Helena’s butt is aiding in the storytelling, there’s no need for it, and I doubt Gail Simone requested that Mr. Benes put her bottom out there so often in the panels of their book.
Ed Benes just can’t help himself.
Though some writers do detail it into their scripts, though it does not always add to the story. Jim Lee was requested by Frank Miller to draw Vicki Vale in her panties and heels, waltzing around her curtains-less apartment, as she works on her next news piece. She also appears to have been knocked down from an investigative reporter to a Carrie Bradshaw-esque sex columnist. Neither of these things particularly aids her in being a realistic and respected character. Not to say that real women don’t walk around their apartment in their underwear and five inch heels, but few do it to excite an audience like Miller. Here’s an actual line from his script to Jim Lee:
“Okay Jim, I’m shameless. Let’s go with an ASS shot. Panties detailed. Balloons from above. She’s walking, restless as always. We can’t take our eyes off her. Especially since she’s got one fine ass.”
A Frank Miller “Character Moment”
What does this add to the story? Not a thing. But that’s what happens when your creators don’t respect their characters, and Miller calls himself on it with the “I’m shameless” bit. It’s heartbreaking to see that kind of behavior, but I digress.
The trick to having empowered female characters is to make sure all the creators involved respect the work they have created and view each of the characters as his or her own person and not just as plot devices or eye candy. If you’re going to write or draw a character then at least have the decency to know and understand her. Read the Wiki article and a couple of back issues. The more realistic the character, the better the story will be. It doesn’t matter if she wears pants, a skirt or fishnets, so long as it’s the kind of clothing that character could pull off.
When I dressed up as Black Canary for Comic Con this last year, I was a little nervous about the endeavor. It was less clothing than I have ever really worn out in public (during daylight hours, no less!), it was my first day at Comic Con, ever, and I just wasn’t sure if I could pull it off. But believe me, once I put it on and got myself into the character of Dinah Lance, I loved it. I didn’t feel like a tramp, I didn’t feel objectified by the people around me. I felt confident and proud of my costume. If it weren’t for the fact I got run over by a rickshaw that night, I probably would have worn it again later in the Con. And I think all of this stems from my original argument for why Dinah Lance wears the fishnets in the first place: she wears them to emulate a person she loves and respects. She wears them because they remind her of who she is and where she comes from. They help her to become the Black Canary, which is why I think her other costumes didn’t last very long, even if they were more practical.
The fishnets don’t work for everyone and each character has his or her own style. For an artist to redesign a character (be it Black Canary or anyone else), he needs to first understand who that character is, where he or she comes from and where he or she plans to go and do, before he can decide what look works for her.
* Huntress’s costume has come under its own share of fire. The costume she wore for most of the 90s was based on Roman Catholic robes and had full bodied protection. When the change came during the first Hush storyline in Batman, fans were aggravated because it no longer expressed anything about her and showed off her stomach, where she had not too long ago taken a bullet. Her current costume (a full body variation of the new Jim Lee design), is once again practical and references her Catholic roots again with the white cross.