Women's Wickedness Month

So it’s Women’s History Month again… This time around I thought I’d list a few of my favorite Female Supervillians. OK, OK, I know I’m supposed to do something “positive” for WHM, but I just couldn’t help myself. I’ve been thinking about this for a while now, and I realized that I just have to get it out of my system. Besides, these are all strong, proactive, and intelligent women so why the hell not?

The Viper (Madam Hydra)

This vixen, criminal mastermind figures very prominently in my early comic book reading experience. When I first got addicted to marvel comics, two of the first three issues I ever read from the house of ideas featured the Viper as the antagonist: Captain America #283, and New Mutants #5. Additionally, The Viper was also the villain in the first X-men comic I ever read issue #173. In all three issues, she was very alluring, despite the fact that she was stone cold crazy. Her whip, sleek body suit, green lips and half covered face (ala veronica lake) made her all the more exotic. Despite her obvious womanly charms, she’s clearly a psychopath and a terrorist. No one is able to work with her, not even the Red Skull, as her only desire is to sow destruction and chaos. The one exception is her teaming up with the Silver Samurai. It’s one of those horrid love stories in the mold of Bonnie and Clyde. The Viper is very scary because she’s the antithesis of everything a woman is “supposed” to be. She's evil, violent, and nihilistic… You never forget your first.


Superwoman

Superwoman hails from a parallel Earth where good and evil are reversed. So, essentially, she’s a bad Wonder Woman. Along with her buddies in the Crime Syndicate of Amerika (that are evil analogs of the main characters in the justice league), she subjugates her world through fear. I first encountered Superwoman in the pages of Crisis on Infinite Earths #1. She died in that story, but I became very interested in her, umm… adventures and thusly bought up all of her previous comic appearances. Her and wonder woman tying each other up was awesome. The Crime Syndicate was just too great of a concept to let go of and so Superwoman, along with rest of her team, has been revived many times. I’ve always had the feeling that she was a perv/dominatrix type and Grant Morrison’s Earth 2 comic confirmed that. In Grant’s story, she lets a sexual deviant Jimmy Olson watch her change clothes, makes a pass at Martian Manhunter by saying she’ll try anything once, and even gets Bill Clinton lassoed up and on his knees. Wow, how could this evil Amazon not intrigue me?


Titania

One of the strongest females in the Marvel Universe, Titania, has always kicked ass and never taken names. She’s often seen fighting She-Hulk, another favorite of mine, which really adds to her appeal IMO. The catfights between those two can lay waste to whole city. Titania is great because she’s wish fulfillment gone wrong. She used to be a pathetic weakling until she took Dr. Doom’s offer for superpowers and became the ultimate bully. She’s always spoiling for a fight and can’t stand being beaten. She even had a phobia of Spiderman for a while after he handed Titania her ass on a platter. Ultimately, I like her because if Titania is around there’s gonna’ be a good, knockdown brawl. What also makes her interesting is her unmitigated rage towards She-Hulk. It makes me wonder if Titania has unresolved “special feelings” for the jade giantess.


The Borg Queen

Star Trek has always been mainstream, but there was only one time when it was actually super cool outside of it’s über geeky fandom (which I have been a part of to some extent) and that coolness came in the form of the Borg Queen in First Contact. She’s a controversial figure with some Trekkies because she changed the nature of the Borg, but for me she’s brought a much-needed sexy threat to the Star Trek Universe. What makes her so frightening is that she can strip away your humanity, and enslave you body and soul. Losing you identity in a powerful woman both repels and attracts at the same time. Besides all that, I had the distinct pleasure of being assimilated by the Borg Queen at Star Trek the Experience in Las Vegas, and yes, it was good for me!


The Great Tyrant

Sometimes in life you remember the exact moment you had an epiphany. A moment like that happened to me when I was watching Barbarella. The scene where Jane Fonda’s character meets the Great Tyrant the first time, warped my 7yearold mind. See, up until that point I knew that men and women did nasty adult things together but I never knew two women could do nasty adult things together too. When I watched the Great Tyrant lusting after Barbarella and saying “your very pretty, pretty” I was shocked beyond belief. The Great Tyrant’s scene is tame but after I saw it, a whole new perverted world opened up suddenly. I was very young, very intrigued and I wanted to know more… much, much more. That’s why the Great Tyrant will always hold a special place... ...in my loins….
Watch the scene!



Dark Phoenix

Before Marvel retconned Jean Grey’s death into the realm of ridiculousness, the Dark Phoenix Saga stood as a powerful story of absolute power corrupting absolutely, down into the darkest depths of the soul. Her decent into madness and cosmic evil is the greatest X-Men story ever told IMO. The rest of the franchise has been chasing this masterpiece ever since. What makes the Dark Phoenix so chilling is that she was a warm and wonderful person, Jean Grey the hero, but she was manipulated into becoming a cosmic threat that nearly destroyed everyone that Jean ever cared about. We all worry about the evil that exists inside of us but what if that evil took us over totally. This is what happened in the Dark Phoenix saga, and that’s why as a villain, she stands the test time despite the fact that Marvel has undone the consequences of this gem of story since it first appeared. If you only read one X-Men collection, read this one. Dark Phoenix is truly among the greatest of all supervillains and she reminds me of an era when comics were amazing.

Honorable Mention

Mystique:
What’s fun about Mystique is that I like both her Comic Book and Movie incarnations. In the comic she’s a strong, bisexual leader and in the movies she’s a sexy assassin/spy. But most of all she's got shape changing powers and smurfy blue skin. Now that’s awesome.

Terra:
The whole Judas Contact was another of those great comic book storylines and Terra was it’s malicious star. Her traitorous activities to bring down the Teen Titans proved her to be an especially devious villain. You gotta’ appreciate someone that’s simply been bad from the beginning but fooled everyone into thinking she was one of the good girls.

Catwoman:
I’m not all that much into Batman, but I have admit he sure met his soul mate of a sort in Catwoman. She’s, sexy, crafty and makes thieving look oh so good. Catwoman seems to have survived that horrible movie with Halle Barry, proving she’s got nine lives.

Queen Bavmorda:
When I saw Willow as a teenager, I was supposed to cheer for Madmartigan, feel empathy for Willow Ufgood, and enjoy the antics of the two brownies, Franjean and Rool, but you know what? I found evil Queen Bavmorda in her dark and dreary castle the most interesting part of the whole movie.

-Swinebread

Woman’s Wasteland Month

For Women’s History Month I was toying with several different topics like my favorite female characters or stories of all time, but that theme is just way too big and overlaps too many other future topics. So, since I’ve been itching to talk about more post-apocalyptic stuff and as this blog is called Atomic Romance; I decided to list my favorite Female Wanders of the Wasteland. It was hard to whittle this down but here goes:

Princess Ariel (not the mermaid) is powerful sorceress that fights evil wizards in the Post-Apocalyptic cartoon: Thundarr the Barbarian. This show only lasted two seasons from 1980- 1982, but it is my favorite animated TV show of all time, and Ariel is one of the reasons why. You see, she’s the brains of a trio of adventures that wander the planet, freeing the world from tyranny. Her companions, Thundarr, and Ookla, are a little dense, so she gives them plenty of guidance. Ariel has an almost encyclopedic knowledge of earth’s past and great magic powers that have saved her group on more than one occasion. Also, she added some nice diversity to Saturday mornings, as she’s not white, but an Asian/Indian. The show was never specific about her origins not that it matters. Princess Ariel is smart, has magic powers, and roams a mutated world gone mad, what’s not to love about her. (note: I used the toy pic as there weren't any other good pics on the web)


Nadine Cross, a haunted survivor of a devastating superflu that swept the world and the maddened mate of Randall Flagg, in the Stand. I found her character the most compelling in Stephen King’s book and Laura San Giacomo nailed the character with her portrayal of Nadine Cross in the Stand mini-series. Once in a great while (i.e. almost never) I read something and the image in my mind matches with the TV/Film interpretation. Nadine Cross is one of those rare occurrences. It’s eerie but then Nadine’s reality is one of loss, terror, madness and death, so how could I not be drawn to her. Just look at the picture, man! Scary and alluring all in one.

Stilletta: A post-nuke, cyberpunk bitch with an assassin’s skill and dangerous looks. She appeared in the short-lived Hex comic from the 1980s, which was hugely popular in Japan and Europe. When the western hero Jonah Hex was hurled through time to a horrific post-apocalyptic future, he finally met a woman who was his equal in dealing death and one who could sooth his tortured soul. Stilletta fought all kinds of mutants, cyborgs and road warriors while looking hot as hell during the Hex series. She was at home wandering the desert or fighting in an urban landscape proving she was hardcore the whole time. I wish the Hex comic series had lasted longer than 18 issues so we'd have more Stilletta, as I’d choose her over any man to help me survive the wastelands.

Jessica 6 from Logan’s Run. Yeah, she made a big impact on me as a kid. Her world was a safe protected place where every desire is met. There is just one catch though; you only get to live to be 30. Despite having the good life in a disco dome, Jessica knew something was wrong. Idling the days away with pleasure in an environment that looks like a shopping mall until you get blown up is not any kind of real existence. I like to think of Jessica 6 as a comment on vapid consumer culture and the rebellion against it. Better to force one’s way out into the unknown and discover a collapsed world than live a short groovy existence of banality. Plus, I liked the fact that Jessica 6 had a realistic body, like someone I could actually meet and she wanted to have kids. See people were grown in test tubes in the Disco Dome; blah give me Jessica 6’s way.


Dr. Alison Mann from Y the Last Man. It’s tough for her being half-Japanese and half-Chinese, but then add being a lesbian and “bam” she’s out the door. So out the door that she runs away to the U.S. and changes her name from Ayuko Matsumori to Alison Mann just to piss off her Japanese father. But things go from bad to worse when all the men in the world die from a plague (except one) and Dr. Mann thinks its all her fault because of her failed experiments with self-cloning. She dedicates herself to the saving the human race and tries really hard to not let all the nookie around distract her from her mission. She fails at that but she’s only human. With the help of the Yorick, the last man, and Agent 355, Dr. Alison Mann may yet save the world. A woman who loves women is trying to bring back men. No matter our sexual orientation Dr. Mann knows we all need each other.


Nova from Planet of the Apes: This goes with the duh category, what fanboy wouldn’t get hot under the collar seeing the gorgeous Nova roaming the wastelands. But Nova is more than just a curvy cavewoman; she’s the proof that the human race is worth saving. Her capacity for love and affection demonstrates that while humans have devolved into near animals they could come back. Plus she isn’t totally out of it as she chooses the smartest guy around as her mate that being the astronaut Taylor from the past, and as Commander Oefelein has shown, those astronauts sure got the right stuff if you know what I mean. Bringing the human race back didn’t quite work out since everybody ends up getting blown up in Beneath the Planet of the Apes but Nova represents how sad that really was. What’s extra cool is I met Linda Harrison, the actress who played Nova, a few years ago at a comic book convention.


Mother Sarah: usually when I think post-apocalyptic, I think mad Max or some such. But Mother Sarah breaks the mold in Katsuhiro Otomo’s The Legend of Mother Sarah. The earth has been devastated by ecological collapse. Most Humans had been living in space stations above the planet until a terrorist attack forces humanity back to the surface. Mother Sarah journeys the wastes looking for her children, which she was separated from during the evacuation. She brings nurturing and tenderness to the harsh world she finds herself in, but she has more than enough strength to defend herself. Just think of The Legend of Mother Sarah as the opposite of Fist of the North Star.


Jet Girl from Tank Girl. When I was younger I would have said the crazy wild tank girl was the one that would light my fire but as the years have gone by I realized that Jet Girl is the real ticket. She’s smart, attractive, and has a jetfighter to blow away the bad guys. Tank Girl is the kinda chick you fool around with while Jet Girl is the kind girl you marry. Plus I think I like Naomi Watts looks better with dark hair.


Princess Nausicaä from Hayao Miyazaki’s Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. What can I say about this character from Studio Ghibli that hasn’t been said? She’s a great character from a great film. Princess Nausicaä lives in a post-apocalyptic world 1000 years after the great burn were most of the earth is enveloped in toxic fungi forests with horrid giant insects. As a thoughtful leader of her people she strives to tame the giant insects of the toxic forest and defend her home from aggressive neighbors, Nausicaä seems almost mythic in stature despite her youth and she is indeed inspired by two myths. One is the Japanese story of the "the princess who loved insects" and the other is the Bernard Evslin version of the odyssey's Nausicaa. The best thing is, if the animated movie doesn’t give you enough Princess Nausicaä, you can read her continued story in manga form, which was also created Miyazaki.

Rosa Winter: in a world were America’s economy has collapsed and the environment is in shambles, the United States finds itself geopolitically isolated for it’s past greed. Sergeant Rosa Winter, half Anglo half Mexican, navigates what’s left of her country while confronting Emanuel Santana, a Hopi Indian on a vision quest to kill the four monsters, and Rosa’s past lover. Rosa appeared throughout Timothy Truman’s Scout comic book series, which has recently been reprinted by Dynamite Entertainment. As an Army ranger she was my first visual experience of a woman in uniform trained for combat. Rosa also holds the distinction of being the first fully nude character that I ever saw in a comic book. It was presented in a flashback sequence when both her and Emanuel were young lovers and it was very tastefully done. The Scout comic blew my teenage mind and I realized that you could tell very adult stories in comics. I guess Rosa Winter was an important milestone on the road to manhood if you know what I mean.


Honorable Mention

Hannah Dundee: a pulp adventuress who fights dinosaurs in the Xenozoic Era

Axa: A porny heroine who finds her destiny outside the safely her domed city to become the ultimate barbarian woman of the wastelands

The Warrior Woman: She had no name but she kicked ass until she went down fighting in Mad Max 2: the Road Warrior

Helen from Waterworld, global warming never looked so dam good

Alice from Resident Evil: Looks like the third movie will give us that zombie apocalypse we’ve been looking for

Kidda proves she’s the best in The Blood of Heroes

Krysty Wroth: that Gaia worshiping redhead from the Deathlands books, which I haven’t read but I keep meaning to.

Tate from the Warrior series by Donald E. Mcquinn, tough as nails marine revived from suspended animation into a world reduced to tribalism.

Trinity: the best part of the Matrix, including the effects, plus she must really have superpowers to get real emotions out of Keanu Reeves



-Swinebread