Stuff: Fatal Femmes

Uh, they don't call her Catwoman for nothing. Is she wearing any clothes?

Uh, they don't call her Catwoman for nothing. Is she wearing any clothes?

Uh, they don't call her Catwoman for nothing. Is she wearing any clothes?

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More About

• Gail Simone
• Trina Robbins
• John Byrne
• Frank Miller
• Mark Waid

"Superhero comics are based on wish-fulfillment fantasies," Simone says. "Bad things happen to male heroes, but they tend to either survive relatively unscathed or die a heroic death. A lot of heroines just get chopped up in the kitchen. There's no wish fulfillment for girls in that. I wondered if it was the readers who wouldn't put up with their favorite male characters being destroyed, or if it was some subconscious thing on behalf of the creators. A few creators confided to me that they had done some pretty evil things to their female characters after going through a divorce or breakup. Hello, therapy!"