Why are so many women in DC Comics 5 11 In Height?

[Dr. Cheesesteak]

lol at Raven (and Babs) being 5'11"...

I'd take that reference guide w/ a huge grain of salt, even if it's official. ..if memory serves me right, DC's height/weight measurements have always been idiotic.

Also, 3 women are "so many"?

[the4thpip]

lol at Raven (and Babs) being 5'11"...

I'd take that reference guide w/ a huge grain of salt, even if it's official. ..if memory serves me right, DC's height/weight measurements have always been idiotic.

Also, 3 women are "so many"?

He did say "for example" and "just to name a few."

So if I am parsing those words correctly, there are more than 3.

[the4thpip]

Is this really an issue or something that needs to be discussed?

Is this seriously a thread about the height of imaginary comic book characters?

And guess what?

Both of you cared enough to post in this thread!

[Robotman]

For the same reason most men in comics are around 6'2. Even some average people in comics look like supermodels.

[GlennSimpson]

And guess what?

Both of you cared enough to post in this thread!

They cared enough about the quality of the forum to want to try to stop dumb discussions from polluting it.

[Anthony Shaw]

One can never have enough tall women, whether in comics or real life.

[Lorendiac]

lol at Raven (and Babs) being 5'11"...

I'd take that reference guide w/ a huge grain of salt, even if it's official. ..if memory serves me right, DC's height/weight measurements have always been idiotic.

I first "met" Babs when she was still on her first "Batgirl" career; a regular back-up feature in the pages of "Detective Comics" in the early 1980s. She was drawn as a tall woman; I could easily believe she was about 5' 11" in those days.

Then she basically spent the mid-80s offstage, followed by landing in a wheelchair for a couple of decades, which made it hard to gauge what her height would have been if she were standing up. But I believe that in the "Batgirl: Year One" mini of many years ago it was firmly stated that she had wanted to be an FBI agent but couldn't meet their physical requirements because she was too short. I think of that as a belated Post-Crisis retcon. I don't know if it still applies to the New 52 version of Babs -- I haven't been reading her recent solo title, and I don't know how tall she now appears to be when standing next to tall, husky men (such as Batman).

On the other hand, I was also buying the Wolfman/Perez "New Teen Titans" in the early 1980s, and I never got the impression that Raven was a particularly tall woman. Her friend Starfire, yes! Raven, not so much. So I agree with you that 5' 11" seems ridiculous for Raven.

[Dr. Cheesesteak]

I first "met" Babs when she was still on her first "Batgirl" career; a regular back-up feature in the pages of "Detective Comics" in the early 1980s. She was drawn as a tall woman; I could easily believe she was about 5' 11" in those days.

Then she basically spent the mid-80s offstage, followed by landing in a wheelchair for a couple of decades, which made it hard to gauge what her height would have been if she were standing up. But I believe that in the "Batgirl: Year One" mini of many years ago it was firmly stated that she had wanted to be an FBI agent but couldn't meet their physical requirements because she was too short. I think of that as a belated Post-Crisis retcon. I don't know if it still applies to the New 52 version of Babs -- I haven't been reading her recent solo title, and I don't know how tall she now appears to be when standing next to tall, husky men (such as Batman).

well, I just know in recent group depictions, she is maybe a couple inches shorter than Bruce in high heels. ...her, not Bruce. Anyway, if Bruce is say 6'2", I could believe she'd be 5'11" in heels. So maybe 5'8" at most, which would seem more reasonable. I still envision her closer to 5'7"... >_>

https://www.google.com/search?q=batm...w=1600&bih=771
but even something like this, which I guess is "official", after removing those...4" heels(?), she has to be like 5'6"...which would make Tim like 5'4"? lol.

I mean, I know it's difficult to distinguish height, given we don't know if Capullo (or any other artist) is thinking Dick is like 6'1" or 5'11", etc...

If you look at it closely, Babs, Tim, and Dick are all in the same depth range... At least based on their feet placement. Their bodies seem to not align properly...

[Dr. Cheesesteak]

double post

[JediMindTrick]

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess it's because 5'11" is the tallest, "realistic" height a woman could be. Not to say that there aren't taller women out there, but anything over that artificial 6' foot limiter might be a little harder to swallow. Might also be a turn-off to a lot of men: "6' tall is an amazon. No thanks."

Maria Sharapova is either 6'2 or 6'3. /End argument about girls over six feet being hard to swallow.

[SmokeMonster]

Newsflash: Women are shorter than men on average.

Newsflash: These companies generally like to have their heroes at an ideal hero height. It's the same reason we don't have many 5ft or 7ft male superheroes.

[Melwicker]

And some superhero women outside of DC or western comics are supposed to be short...
The Japanese manga character Sailor Moon is supposed to be the shortest in her team, but she is frequently drawn with long legs making her look taller than she might be in real life.

[Hawkman]

Maria Sharapova is either 6'2 or 6'3. /End argument about girls over six feet being hard to swallow.

So one girl over 6' makes the idea of nearly every female superhero being over 6' feet somehow less absurd? No, I don't think so. I'm 5'11", and rarely in my day-to-day life do I run across women as tall or taller than me. Do they exist? Sure. Are they a dime-a-dozen, though? Absolutely not, which was my main point.

[Hilden B. Lade]

One can never have enough tall women, whether in comics or real life.

20131127_120828_LA105_300.JPG
Hear, hear!

[DochaDocha]

So one girl over 6' makes the idea of nearly every female superhero being over 6' feet somehow less absurd? No, I don't think so. I'm 5'11", and rarely in my day-to-day life do I run across women as tall or taller than me. Do they exist? Sure. Are they a dime-a-dozen, though? Absolutely not, which was my main point.

Yeah. Assuming normal distribution, less than one percent of women are 5'11" or taller.