^{Originally published February 28, 2014 on BabyCenter.com}

Since my daughter was born, I’ve been paying more attention to the portrayal of female characters in media, which has been frustrating to say the least. My favorite forms of entertainment are comic books and role-playing games, and neither of those industries is exactly enlightened.

Playing a role-playing game with my kids will probably have to wait a few more years (although my son did kill two zombies while rolling for an animal companion in a game of Pathfinder), but comics are a medium that doesn’t have to wait. Moreover, they’re a good way to get kids into reading, since the best ones combine excellent writing with visual storytelling. It’s too bad that so many of them seem determined to ignore female readers at all costs.

What follows is mostly a brainstorm of comics that I am looking forward to reading my daughter. These aren’t the only comics I’m planning to read to her, and I don’t think a girl needs to read a story with a girl protagonist. However, I don’t think it hurts to occasionally give some emphasis to female characters, since they’re so very underrepresented in comics.

Wonder Woman: Yeah, I’ll go ahead and lead off with the obvious. Wonder Woman is the iconic female superhero, and she’s one of my personal favorite comic book characters. The trick to her comics is to find when she’s written well. A lot of superhero writers miss when they handle a female character, mistaking “strong” for “violent and/or bitchy.” Wonder Woman was conceived as a character who takes what people see as the weaker aspects of femininity, such as gentleness and compassion, and turns them into strength. The best Wonder Woman comics also bring in aspects of Greek mythology, so they’re good teaching tools as well.

Ozma of Oz: This miniseries ran in 2010 and 2011 and is available in graphic novel format. As the title suggests, it takes place in Oz but has more of a connection to the less-famous works of L. Frank Baum, specifically princess Ozma who was introduced in The Marvelous Land of Oz. Aside from expanding on Baum’s wonderful works, the art style of this story is absolutely enchanting and is something I could look at for days.

Zita the Spacegirl: I admit that a unique visual style is usually enough to get me reading a comic, regardless of the writing. Zita is not the most original of stories, but it’s well-written enough to be fun and has an art style that evokes a Calvin and Hobbes feel for me. The story is sort of the archetypal “regular girl lets curiosity get the better of her and gets involved in something crazy/fantastic,” but I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. If they’re written well enough, these familiar stories can get kids more interested in reading, since they’ll be more attracted to stories that have a similar feel to them.

Zatanna: Zatanna is a minor superhero character who occasionally gets a book of her own. She’s a stage magician who can do real magic. Her spells all involve saying what she wants to happen backwards, such as “Nrut otni a gorf,” or, “T’nod lecnac ym koob.” Since she’s not one of the more iconic superheroes around, her stories tend to be different than the normal spandex-clad brawls that occupy comics. Having your kids try to figure out her spells by deciphering her backwards-speak also strikes me as a good way to strengthen reading skills.

Rapunzel’s Revenge: So…yeah. The Rapunzel fairy tale plus the Wild West. That’s pretty much all the synopsis I needed to get interested. This one’s more action-packed than some of the other comics I’ve listed, with Rapunzel using her hair as a lasso and a weapon. It’s got a lot of wit, a lot of fun, and a story style that makes it easy to jump on board. Overall, this is a fun story with a feisty heroine that I think kids will enjoy.

Again, the term “comics for girls” is a bit misleading since there’s no reason a girl needs a female protagonist or a boy can’t enjoy something with a woman lead. The common bond that all these comics share is that they’re good comics, regardless of the reader’s gender. It is nice, however, to be able to read a story to a girl where the main character is also a woman. Good comics with female leads aren’t terribly common in American culture, but they are there if you take a few moments to look.

_{Featured Image: Shinbian, CC BY-NC 2.0, cropped and resized}