Saturday, October 14, 2006
The Well-Dressed Villainess
Gail Simone's inaugural issue of Gen13 was a nice set-up issue for the team, and introduced readers to Megan, the evil Dr. Cross's able assistant.
Megan wore an interesting outfit in her debut:
While I won't comment upon her problematic decision to wear briefs which don't match the style or color of her top, I did have a question about her shirt.
Is it now essential for a villain's assistant to wear one of these Blackhawk inspired numbers? (Two non-villains, Zinda Blake [the Lady Blackhawk] and Action Girl sport them, too.)
Lex Luthor's right hand woman in 52 was wearing something similar in several issues.
Can anyone actually name this style of jacket/shirt?
As a visual reference, here's the Silver Age Zinda Blake's uniform (from Blackhawk #133, 1959):
Why might a woman with villainy on her mind decide to put one of these on?
Megan wore an interesting outfit in her debut:
While I won't comment upon her problematic decision to wear briefs which don't match the style or color of her top, I did have a question about her shirt.
Is it now essential for a villain's assistant to wear one of these Blackhawk inspired numbers? (Two non-villains, Zinda Blake [the Lady Blackhawk] and Action Girl sport them, too.)
Lex Luthor's right hand woman in 52 was wearing something similar in several issues.
Can anyone actually name this style of jacket/shirt?
As a visual reference, here's the Silver Age Zinda Blake's uniform (from Blackhawk #133, 1959):
Why might a woman with villainy on her mind decide to put one of these on?
Comments:
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My gut is to say that the outfit shows that they're unavailable to the hero/reader - 'all buttoned up', as it were - and that helps to quietly underline their status as 'villainous'.
But, hey, there might be some hope for Luthor's assistant - at least SHE's sharing skirts with Arisia!
But, hey, there might be some hope for Luthor's assistant - at least SHE's sharing skirts with Arisia!
I think it's a variant on the Imperial Japanese Army Uniform jacket (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:JapaneseArmy1900.JPG ), which was in itself a variant of a common type of Imperial German Army jacket.
Which begs the question - if The Blackhawk Squadron were wearing those jackets during WWII, were we sure they were on our side...? ;)
Best,
Tim Liebe
Dreaded Spouse-Creature of Tamora Pierce - and co-author of Marvel's upcoming WHITE TIGER comic!
Which begs the question - if The Blackhawk Squadron were wearing those jackets during WWII, were we sure they were on our side...? ;)
Best,
Tim Liebe
Dreaded Spouse-Creature of Tamora Pierce - and co-author of Marvel's upcoming WHITE TIGER comic!
Anon: Yeah, that's definitely not a top one could get out of in a hurry.
Timothy: The look definitely seems to be army-inspired.
So I guess the shirt is a reflection of what an arch villain might want in a female second-in-command: attention to detail and military efficiency.
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Timothy: The look definitely seems to be army-inspired.
So I guess the shirt is a reflection of what an arch villain might want in a female second-in-command: attention to detail and military efficiency.
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