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

[Lorendiac]

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

But can we assume normal distribution? I don't have precise statistics, but I know lots of women in the real world must be, let's say, 5'2" or shorter, but how many of the women in that bracket (in the DCU or the MU) grow up to be superheroes? I strongly suspect that in such groups of high-profile (and usually adult) superheroes as the Avengers, the X-Men, the JLA, and the JSA, both the men and the women tend to be up in the "above average in height" portion of the bell curves for their respective genders.

[GlennSimpson]

But can we assume normal distribution? I don't have precise statistics, but I know lots of women in the real world must be, let's say, 5'2" or shorter, but how many of the women in that bracket (in the DCU or the MU) grow up to be superheroes? I strongly suspect that in such groups of high-profile (and usually adult) superheroes as the Avengers, the X-Men, the JLA, and the JSA, both the men and the women tend to be up in the "above average in height" portion of the bell curves for their respective genders.

Yeah, it's like when people say "female super-heroes have totally unrealistic bodies!" No, there are lots of women who have those bodies. It's just a convention of the genre that those happen to be the only types of women who get super-powers in super-hero comics.

[steeplejack2112]

Let's look at this with a positive spin. If the hero thing doesn't work in the future DC will have a fine team in the WNBA.

[Pharozonk]

Attachment 6720
Hear, hear!

The funny part is that Tom Cruise is tiny for an actor at almost 5'7.

[saiths]

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.

this is a very interesting spin on this. i've never thought of this before but looking back on things i've read, i realize how prominent this was.

[Lorendiac]

Yeah, it's like when people say "female super-heroes have totally unrealistic bodies!" No, there are lots of women who have those bodies. It's just a convention of the genre that those happen to be the only types of women who get super-powers in super-hero comics.

Well, to be fair, some artists are more outrageous about this than others, and thus deserve more criticism.

Back in the 1990s, Jim Balent spent years drawing the first regular "Catwoman" title. I seem to recall that, somewhere in a lettercol published within the first year or so, there's a letter from a female reader complaining about Selina's ridiculously exaggerated figure as Balent was drawing it in his first few issues. Her point was that each of Selina's breasts appeared to be nearly as large as her head, and that was nowhere near being "realistic natural anatomy" for any slender, athletic woman whom the letter-writer had ever seen or heard of. I think her suggestion was that the only way this made sense was to assume that Selina had spent a lot of her ill-gotten gains on huge breast implants.

I was sympathetic to her attitude. There's "this costumed woman is quite curvaceous," on the one hand . . . and then there's "the artist has gone wildly over-the-top in a blatant attempt to indulge male fantasies."

[Pharozonk]

Based on Balent's current work, I don't think he's learned any better.

[Lorendiac]

Based on Balent's current work. I don't think he's learned any better.

I have no idea what he's done lately. I've completely lost track of him.

[gwhh]

A Plot Point Page On This Subject:

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...tuesqueStunner

[Frontier]

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...

Huh. Interesting that Capullo drew Batgirl's suit (or old suit) with wedges. I'm pretty sure most of the other renditions of her costume had the feet flat.

[LostinFandom]

I have no idea what he's done lately. I've completely lost track of him.

Mostly self published stuff he also writes. I've never red the but Chris Sims' reviews of Tarot the Witch of Black rose are gems. Here's a couple. You'll thank me later.

[The Darknight Detective]

Yeah, it's like when people say "female super-heroes have totally unrealistic bodies!" No, there are lots of women who have those bodies.

I think they mean as a percentage of the population, which is unquestionably true. Not that I have a problem with the average height of superheroines in comics (I don't - in fact, I have no problem with women taller than my above-average self in reality), though I would prefer some more variation in the proportions. Some of us guys actually prefer all different types of female shapes (within reason, of course) and shake our heads over basketball-shaped breasts in many comics of today.

[Lorendiac]

Mostly self published stuff he also writes. I've never red the but Chris Sims' reviews of Tarot the Witch of Black rose are gems. Here's a couple. You'll thank me later.

I followed your links and read both of those reviews last night. I admit they were amusing!

I vaguely remember hearing about Jim Balent working on something called "Tarot," a long time ago, but I've never bothered to buy an issue, and for all I knew, the series might have been cancelled several years ago. As I said, I simply had no idea what he'd been doing lately.

[Slaughter]

The same reason that they are all right-handed.

Left-Handed folks are by far the most under-represented people in comic books today.

Well, there's Sinestro?

Attachment 6720
Hear, hear!

The proliferation of tall women is a menace to us short men everywhere.

[Lorendiac]

The proliferation of tall women is a menace to us short men everywhere.

On the other hand, where awkwardness between short women and tall men is concerned, I once ran across a humorous definition:

"High heels: A device invented by short women who were fed up with constantly being kissed on the forehead."