remain fully covered by their costumes, though the Beast’s hands and feet are bare to allow him greater dexterity. Marvel Girl’s costume offers little protection in the field of battle.
Marvel Girl’s costume reflects the image promoted in some women’s magazines. Her outfit is more suggestive and less conservative. However, although it may reflect some aspects of the second wave of feminism, it may also serve as a more suggestive look to attract the predominantly male readers of comic books. Although her outfit has become more revealing and her bare legs are often drawn longer than is realistically possible, the rest of her anatomy is drawn with relative restraint.
In The X-Men #48 (Sept. 1968), Jean Grey will begin to wear even skimpier outfits in her new, short-term role as a fashion model. The team has temporarily disbanded and are assuming cover roles. Jean Grey becomes a swimsuit model, while Scott Summers becomes a radio technician. Jean takes a job that requires beauty but no brains, while Scott takes on a role that requires brains but looks are irrelevant. The comments from the men on the set of the photoshoot echo Marvel Girl’s teammates’ first comments about her looks from The X-Men #1 (Sept. 1963). The boss, a woman, in the scene says, “Carlo, you ordered four models for the beachwear job—and you’ve just used only the new one, Jean Grey! What’s so special about her?” And the photographer replies, “She’s fresh, boss lady! Like an easter bunny or an oven hot biscuit! And that’s the name of our game!” Another male in a suit adds, “He’s got a point there, Candy! That’s the tastiest package of goodies we’ve opened around here in months!” (1). While most of Jean is in profile in this scene, she is depicted as twisting in such a way that her swimsuit-clad breasts are clearly depicted for the reader.
However, though Marvel Girl’s costume becomes progressively more revealing and she takes a job as a swimsuit model, she is the lone member of the X-Men to go on to college when the team graduates from Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. Of course, her college career largely serves to introduce a potential new love interest and new threats to the team, whereas her studies are rarely shown. For example, her professor happens to be insane and launches a deadly plague of gigantic locusts against humanity, and a boy who has flirted with her has a brother who becomes a supervillain. And as the stories go on, Marvel Girl spends more time with the team and less time at college, and in the ends she simply seems to cease attending college, never finishing her studies.
In the back-up stories published in The X-Men ,stories are told of how many of the team members discovered their powers and the reactions of their friends and families. In flashbacks in the main stories and in the back-up stories, we learn the origins of Professor X, Cyclops, the Beast, Angel, and Iceman. In The X-Men #57 (June 1959), there is a back-up feature on Marvel Girl, but it is unlike the previous back-up stories in that this one is not a narrative about Marvel Girl’s origins. In this back-up story, Marvel Girl directly addresses the reader and describes her powers. This is the first part of any X-Men comic written by a female writer. The back-up feature has an announcement from the editors:
Ye olde bullpen thought it’d be glitzy if, just for a change, this featurette on the mesmerizing Marvel Girl were written by a member of the supposedly weaker sex! So, make room for lovable Linda Fite, ex-Marvel staffer and X-Men fan supreme! (16)
Fite’s description of Marvel Girl follows the pattern of many previous displays of Marvel Girl’s powers, using them to complete domestic tasks.
Oddly, one of the first things Marvel Girl tells the reader is “I’m not the domestic type” (17). But this back-up feature explaining who Marvel Girl is to readers has Marvel Girl display her powers by telekinetically picking an
Marvel Girl’s costume reflects the image promoted in some women’s magazines. Her outfit is more suggestive and less conservative. However, although it may reflect some aspects of the second wave of feminism, it may also serve as a more suggestive look to attract the predominantly male readers of comic books. Although her outfit has become more revealing and her bare legs are often drawn longer than is realistically possible, the rest of her anatomy is drawn with relative restraint.
In The X-Men #48 (Sept. 1968), Jean Grey will begin to wear even skimpier outfits in her new, short-term role as a fashion model. The team has temporarily disbanded and are assuming cover roles. Jean Grey becomes a swimsuit model, while Scott Summers becomes a radio technician. Jean takes a job that requires beauty but no brains, while Scott takes on a role that requires brains but looks are irrelevant. The comments from the men on the set of the photoshoot echo Marvel Girl’s teammates’ first comments about her looks from The X-Men #1 (Sept. 1963). The boss, a woman, in the scene says, “Carlo, you ordered four models for the beachwear job—and you’ve just used only the new one, Jean Grey! What’s so special about her?” And the photographer replies, “She’s fresh, boss lady! Like an easter bunny or an oven hot biscuit! And that’s the name of our game!” Another male in a suit adds, “He’s got a point there, Candy! That’s the tastiest package of goodies we’ve opened around here in months!” (1). While most of Jean is in profile in this scene, she is depicted as twisting in such a way that her swimsuit-clad breasts are clearly depicted for the reader.
However, though Marvel Girl’s costume becomes progressively more revealing and she takes a job as a swimsuit model, she is the lone member of the X-Men to go on to college when the team graduates from Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. Of course, her college career largely serves to introduce a potential new love interest and new threats to the team, whereas her studies are rarely shown. For example, her professor happens to be insane and launches a deadly plague of gigantic locusts against humanity, and a boy who has flirted with her has a brother who becomes a supervillain. And as the stories go on, Marvel Girl spends more time with the team and less time at college, and in the ends she simply seems to cease attending college, never finishing her studies.
In the back-up stories published in The X-Men ,stories are told of how many of the team members discovered their powers and the reactions of their friends and families. In flashbacks in the main stories and in the back-up stories, we learn the origins of Professor X, Cyclops, the Beast, Angel, and Iceman. In The X-Men #57 (June 1959), there is a back-up feature on Marvel Girl, but it is unlike the previous back-up stories in that this one is not a narrative about Marvel Girl’s origins. In this back-up story, Marvel Girl directly addresses the reader and describes her powers. This is the first part of any X-Men comic written by a female writer. The back-up feature has an announcement from the editors:
Ye olde bullpen thought it’d be glitzy if, just for a change, this featurette on the mesmerizing Marvel Girl were written by a member of the supposedly weaker sex! So, make room for lovable Linda Fite, ex-Marvel staffer and X-Men fan supreme! (16)
Fite’s description of Marvel Girl follows the pattern of many previous displays of Marvel Girl’s powers, using them to complete domestic tasks.
Oddly, one of the first things Marvel Girl tells the reader is “I’m not the domestic type” (17). But this back-up feature explaining who Marvel Girl is to readers has Marvel Girl display her powers by telekinetically picking an
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