![Dhalua Strong and Tesla Strong, from Tom Strong.
[Written by Alan Moore. Artwork by Chris Sprouse.]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxmb7cOmMd1r9iihao1_1280.jpg)
Dhalua Strong and Tesla Strong, from Tom Strong.
[Written by Alan Moore. Artwork by Chris Sprouse.]
![Agent 355 from Y the Last Man.
[Artwork: Mike Hawthorne on deviantart]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxmayvFfp91r9iihao1_1280.jpg)
Agent 355 from Y the Last Man.
[Artwork: Mike Hawthorne on deviantart]
![Michonne, from The Walking Dead.
[Artwork: Chris Stevens on deviantart]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxmavn2v0e1r9iihao1_1280.jpg)
Michonne, from The Walking Dead.
[Artwork: Chris Stevens on deviantart]
![Silent Girl, from Phonogram: The Singles Club
[Artwork: Jaime McKeever, via Kieron Gillen’s Workblog]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxjwwi1xh71r9iihao1_1280.jpg)
Silent Girl, from Phonogram: The Singles Club
[Artwork: Jaime McKeever, via Kieron Gillen’s Workblog]
![Liz Sherman of Hellboy and BPRD
[Artwork: Dan Hipp, via his blog, Mr. Hipp Strikes]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxjvt1sR9H1r9iihao1_1280.png)
Liz Sherman of Hellboy and BPRD
[Artwork: Dan Hipp, via his blog, Mr. Hipp Strikes]
![Jenny Sparks of The Authority
[Artwork by Ronald Salas, via deviantart]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxjvjnRuZx1r9iihao1_500.jpg)
Jenny Sparks of The Authority
[Artwork by Ronald Salas, via deviantart]
[Artwork: Amanda Connor. Mystic created by Ron Marz & Brandon Peterson]
Have you ever thought to yourself, “You know, Harry Potter is great, but what it really needs is a little more Mean Girls”? Or perhaps you’d like a little more steampunk in your proletarian revolutions?
If that’s the case, there’s a pair of ladies I’d like you to meet.
So, you’ve got your pair of Oliver-Twistian urchins, Genevieve and Giselle, growing up in an orphanage, cast as washerwomen by their harridan of a matron. But they’ve got dreams, big dreams, of getting out of the orphanage, leaving the slums, and taking a place among in high society. You see, for years now, Giselle has been studying magic on the sly, with Genevieve watching her back. Giselle has dreams, Genevieve has guts.
Most importantly, they have each other.
[Artwork: David Lopez]
Until their plan doesn’t go quite right and they get separated. One of them ends up thrust into high society and finds herself dealing with petty, high-school-like class warfare (while studying to save the world from an impending apocalypse), while the other is swept up in a worker’s revolution bent on bringing down the nobility.
It’s another fish-out-of-water story, for one of them, at least. The other takes to her new role with remarkable aplomb. I’m not going to spoil which is which, though. Or how it works out.
What I will say is this: the remarkable thing about this series is that not only is this a modern fantasy comics series that got put out by a major publisher (the CrossGen imprint now being owned by Marvel), but it’s an all-ages-friendly reboot by a female creator (author G. Willow Wilson) of what had originally been a boobs and bodice Bad Girl series.
Essential Reading - Mystic: The Tenth Apprentice
[Art: Jeff Smith. Gran’ma Ben created by Jeff Smith.]
When I was a kid (and a good bit of time into the period when I wasn’t a kid), my grandma used to say to me “I don’t care how big you get. If I have to climb up on a chair to smack you upside the head, I will.” And, by god, if she did, she had a damned good reason. She was all homey sweetness and light until it came time to lay some smack down.
That’s Gran’ma Ben of Jeff Smith’s Bone. Only Gran’ma Ben can juggle wine barrels, punch through walls, and run at about twenty miles per hour.
One does not want to get on Gran’ma Ben’s bad side.
While holding no formal title, and living in a secluded cabin in the forest, Gran’ma Ben is the informal matriarch of the Valley that the Bone Cousins wander into after their exile from Boneville. She’s the grandmother of Fone Bone’s best friend Thorn, an excellent cook and farmer, and a friend to all the people and animals of the valley. She’s been the cow race champion for more years than anyone cares to remember. She carries on an adorable senior citizen flirtation with innkeeper Lucius Down.
She routinely gets into fistfights with the giant Rat Creatures invading the Valley.
[Art: Jeff Smith]
She’s also secretly Queen Rose Harvestar of the destroyed and forgotten kingdom of Atheia who, in her youth, faced down dragons and took on armies and ancient gods in order to try and protect her family and her people. So there’s that.
See, the geriatric badass thing is her retirement.
Essential Stories - Bone: The Complete Epic; Rose
[Artwork: Bryan Hitch. Jenny Sparks created by Warren Ellis]
Blonde woman, front and center, sneering at you to back the hell off before her team of superbastards make your day go south in a serious way? That’s Jenny Sparks (not pictured: left hand with pint glass and/or lit cigarette).
Jenny Sparks is, over a decade since the character’s fictional death, still one of my favorite superheroines. She was the first leader of Wildstorm’s gonzo Justice League analogue The Authority during those few glorious years in the early 2000’s when the former Image imprint stopped being all about art and started paying attention to writing (it wouldn’t last, and eventually the imprint would be acquired by DC, then fold).
Jenny Sparks was the Spirit of the 20th Century. Born in England on January 1st, 1900 she was, much like the century she embodied, powered by electricity. But saying she had electrical powers is like saying Batman is a dude in a bat costume - accurate, but missing what’s fun about the character. In her hundred years she’s been a science hero, pulp adventurer, soldier, super-spy, private detective, superhero, burnout and political agitator. It wasn’t ever clear if her moods were influenced by the zeitgeist or the other way around.
The character was, at turns, hard, cynical and brutal, but also joyful, insightful and optimistic. She never wore a costume, and would have severely beaten anyone who suggested she put on tights. Not that sexuality wasn’t an important aspect of the character, just that it was always very clearly on her terms. More than most female comics characters, she refused to be objectified or shamed.
After a great twelve issues (and one miniseries) heading up the Authority, Jenny’s story ended. As the Spirit of the 20th Century, the character necessarily had a limited shelf life. On December 31st, 1999, after a battle that I won’t spoil here, Jenny Sparks died.
And somewhere in Southeast Asia, Jenny Quantum, the Spirit of the 21st Century, was born.
[Artwork: Frank Quitely.]
Essential Stories - The Authority, Book 1: Relentless; The Authority, Book 2: Under New Management; Jenny Sparks: The Secret History of the Authority
But I feel like there’s a good number of really excellent female comics characters (even in the superhero realm) who aren’t all that well-known, and don’t get a lot of love because they’ve never headlined a top-selling monthly, or been featured in a movie or cartoon.
And when I say “really excellent”, I don’t mean it in the “strong women posing bralessly” sense. I mean it in the “boots on the ground, scarily competent, take-on-the-world” sense.
Characters like Jenny Sparks of The Authority; Rose Ben of Bone; Gertrude Yorkes, Nico Minoru, Karolina Dean and Molly Hayes of Runaways; Michonne of The Walking Dead; Jakita Wagner of Planetary; Agent 355 of Y the Last Man; and Melaka Fray of Fray.
As much as I love dcwomenkickingass and marvelwomenkickingass, I feel like there’s a whole lot of ass-kicking that remains underrepresented. Heck, there’s even a few lesser-known DC and Marvel characters that deserve a little love.
I think I might post about a few. At least it’ll help with the wait between issues ofBatwoman and Wonder Woman.
