Just in case you thought the comic book industry was a hotbed of feminism, think again. sure, it hets a lotof lip service, what with all those strong women flying around, kicking ass, and taking names, but every so often you see something to remind you that women in comics are often more appreciated for their tights and superhuman proportions than their abilities to stand up for themselves. Case in point, this little announcement, this little news item from the Comics Continuum, about Elektra, usually portrayed as one of comicdom’s fiercer, tougher, more self-reliant women:
MARVEL MAKEs ELEKTRA A MODEL
Marvel Comics continues to aggressively promote its Elektra character, announcing a deal with Karin Models on Thursday.
Karin Models is an international modeling agency, representing such clients as Rebecca Romijn-stamos and Estella Warren and current Yves saint Laurent girl Liliana Dominguez.
Karin will develop a portfolio for the character that will include drawings from her comic books as well as tailor-made images for advertisers created by Marvel’s artists. Just as it would for any other model in its roster, Karin will then pitch Elektra to a wide variety of the world’s top companies including clothing, makeup, and jewelry.
“We are going to treat Elektra just like we treat any other top model at Karin,” said scott Lipps President, Karin Models. “She’s beautiful, sexy and approachable. Quite simply, she is the Ultimate model. The only difference we foresee in representing a comic book character is that she won’t be able to go on casting calls.”
Marvel vice-president, licensing, Ellen Sevin said, “Elektra is every man’s fantasy and women aspire to look like her. Karin was extremely excited to bring her into its fold and we cannot imagine any fashion company having a better representative than her to show off their products. There is no doubt that she will be a survivor in the cut-throat fashion business — especially given her lethal martial arts training.”
Lucky for them, a comic book character won’t actually be able to eviscerate her agent for suggesting she lose a little weight before she takes a break from her assassin work to peddle lipstick and panties.