The A-Force will assemble this summer as Secret Wars leads to an all-female Avengers squad. Marvel announced G. Willow Wilson and Marguerite Bennett will co-write the upcoming team book starring She-Hulk, Dazzler, Medusa, Nico Minoru and more fan-favorites.
An all-female Avengers book is significant so I reached out to the author who literally wrote the books on female superheroes.
In The Supergirls: Fashion, Feminism and the History of Comic Book Heroines, Mike Madrid traced the legacy of female heroes and influence on pop culture. Madrid then took us back to rediscover Divas, Dames and Daredevils: Lost Heroines of The Golden Age and Vixens, Vamps and Vipers: Lost Villainesses of The Golden Age.
What does this comic book historian think of Marvel’s new Avengers team?
“I’m excited to hear about A-Force. First off I’m happy to see a team with She-Hulk and Dazzler as part of its core. They are both favorites of mine, and I feel like their characters have been handled inconsistently over the years. I’m hoping to see She-Hulk and Dazzler written as the experienced and capable heroines that they should be at this point.”
Madrid points out the cover art hints at the return of long-lost X-Woman and raises questions about what’s possible with this book.
“It will be interesting to see who else makes the team, and if members will be pulled from different parts of the Marvel 616 universe or from alternate realities. Maybe we’ll get to see Phoenix make a comeback.”
It’s not just powers and costumes, Madrid says this is a storytelling opportunity to show something we don’t always see in comics.
“But what I’m looking forward to seeing is how different heroines will interact with each other. I feel like we don’t always see very believable relationships between women in comics. Two notable exceptions are Gail Simone’s work on Birds of Prey and Kelly Sue DeConnick’s depiction of Captain Marvel’s friendship with Spider-Woman. So I’m interested to see what the female writing team of Wilson and Bennett will do with the relationships between the women in A-Force.”
A-Force #1 arrives in the emergence of Secret Wars: Warzones this May. Wilson is currently writing an arc of X-Men. Chapter Two arrives this week.
Madrid’s latest book Vixens, Vamps & Vipers and previous titles (The Supergirls: Fashion, Feminism and the History of Comic Book Heroines, Divas, Dames and Daredevils: Lost Heroines of The Golden Age) are available online and in stores.
By Editor