The last few years have brought a welcome trend for many female and LGBT fans of superhero comics. From Captain Marvel to Spider-Woman, from Batgirl to Wonder Woman, female superheroes are trading in thigh-baring, cleavage-accentuating costumes for more modest, practical outfits. (Well, perhaps "practical" is the wrong word for WW's new wrist blades, but you get my drift).
One creator is definitely not a fan, though: Savage Dragon's Erik Larsen. In a recent Twitter rant, he denounces these costumes as "clumsy,""bulky," and "unattractive," while hypocritically emphasizing that practicality isn't the point of superhero costumes. Troublingly, he also treats Pakistani-American Ms. Marvel Kamala Khan's costume as self-evidently ugly - which may be a valid opinion, but ignores that it's based on traditional South Asian women's clothing.
Sexy superheroine costumes aren't going away anytime soon, of course. But perhaps Larsen should get it into its head that the audience for superhero comics is more diverse than ever, and that it's not such a bad thing to have more female characters wear outfits designed for purposes other than titillating straight male readers.
