Gender, Feminism, and Heroism in Joss Whedon and John ...

heterosexual femininity in comic books (Lee & Buscema, 1978). She has a slim waist,
gently curved hips, and large breasts that are defined around their sides as well as their
bottoms, as opposed to just the latter like several of the other female characters in the
series. While she is far from waif-like, she has little muscle definition around her arms
and legs, and the muscle definition of her abdomen varies from none at all to slightly
muscular in a way that seems to suggest physical fitness more than strength.
In contrast to her body, Emma’s face is constructed in a more masculine manner.
When viewed from the front, the lines forming her head are straight from crown to jaw
line. Her nose is long and lacks excess bumps, her ears lay back close to her skull, and
her eyebrows, while they do point downward toward the top of her nose, are drawn as
straight diagonal lines that curve only at the ends. However, Emma is usually drawn with
obvious cosmetics, including very pale blue eye shadow, unnaturally thick lash lines that
seem to indicate mascara, and shiny, icy blue lipstick. Emma is topped off with thick
straight blonde hair pushed back from her face to reveal a large flat forehead.
The contradictions between Emma’s feminine body, hair, and make-up and her
masculine face paint a complex picture of her gender. Her face, her only physically
masculine feature, is the part of her body that is expressive and matches her often
compassionless speech. For example, her speech to students attending the newly rebuilt
Xavior’s School for Gifted Youngsters at the beginning of the first volume, which
includes, “They will always hate us. We will never live in a world of peace” (2004, p.
10), or, when trying to get under Scott’s skin during her attack on her teammates in the
third volume, “Hank [Beast] is a genius and terribly good with people. Warren [Angel,
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