The Superheroines Fandom

Interesting question! While our site here has gone through a lull of late and through the genre with fewer and fewer new stories and authors at SWM, XtSt, and DtV (and even fewer contributors on the forum), there has never been so much fan-generated content that I've seen in recent memory.

Going in my time-machine, I remember back in the infancy of this genre (circa early 2000's) there were basically two sites that catered to this genre/fetish/interest/whatever: Aurora Site (fiction) and MandiSteele (pics). Now, there are a slew of picture sites (albeit paid sites) and, with the increased access to video editing tools, there are actual ubergirl films and videos being produced by Steeles, ProjectSuperwoman, New-Goddess, and Superheroine Films with reports of other "supergirl" types of movies on the way from Mankillers, MartinBlasick (oour new resident here) as well as at least 3 others that I know of (and been sworn to secrecy). And that's not even mentioning newer picture sites like Hevenly Heroines, SSH, and the other Steele site. That would seem to indicate that the genre -- from a content perspective -- is on the rise.

As Lastleaf pointed out, the superheroine fan base has never been stronger with no less than 5-6 superstrong uberfemales helming their own books currently (or quite recently) -- Supergirl, Powergirl, Ms Marvel, Spiderwoman, Wonderwoman, She-Hulk. In addition, this characters have been at the forefront of several multi-arc "sagas" in their respective universes (Supergirl in World of Krypton, Ms M in Dark Reign). This would seem their popularity is on the rise in comicdom as well.

Why no TV or movies? I think like Lastleaf said, it doesn't tran$late!! Most often, its studio politics and exec producers deviating from the original vision (see Catwoman or NBC's Bionic Woman remake) to send it into a quick death spiral. More often than not, this "taints" the concept of a "female superhero show" and makes it a pariah! If we can learn nothing else about mainstream entertaianment and its viewership, the one lesson that is universal is the notion/belief that people are sheep. Find something good and keep rolling it out there till people puke then find something different. Examples? Umm....prime time game shows, reality TV, FX disaster movies (Armageddon/Deep Impact and Volanco/Dante's Peak and 2012/Day After Tomorrow), superhero movies, convoluted serial dramas (e.g. Lost, Flash Forward, V), talent competitions, etc.

A good, strong female show CAN be successful if done right (see Buffy) and given the right timeslot, but the writers IMO are their own worst enemy, much more crazy than they need to be. K.I.S.S.!! That doesn't mean pandering to a 2nd grade audience, but do we REALLY need to be mentally challenged with 4 flashbacks, 3 flashforwards, and 1 flash sideways per episode (Yes, Sarah Connor Chronicles, I'm talking to you!). I think someone just needs to get back to "good storytelling" with a female as a strong lead and it can work.

Now why are people NOT posting more (someone JUST asked me this the other day). Well, I dunno....I've wrestled with that question for years now. The interaction I must say is nothing like the fruitful (if not, useless ) conversation and banter we had on ubergirls.org/SGI. Its a shame....

But to answer Random's original question.....umm, what was it again?

Hopefully, we'll see Natasha throw a car into the stratosphere in celluloid very soon, Martin!

Again, welcome aboard!

ElF

Well, I am kind of a Johnny-come-lately here but I've always loved supergirls of any sort. Maybe the thrill of watching a hero girl heave a car into the stratosphere is a voyeuristic pleasure, not one that gets the keyboard clicking. :oops:

I like to look, too. And I'll try to remember to click the keyboard

I voted that superheroines are on the rise. That's using The Secret. Visualize and it will be.