So when I heard that Marvel prose had decided to expand their horizons, I couldn't have been happier. Marta Acosta and Christine Woodward have taken on two of the more complex female characters from the Avengers and X Men universes: She-Hulk and Rogue.
She-Hulk is probably the lesser-known of the two - outside of the comicbook scene. Conspiciously absent from the most recent Avengers film, she is the cousin of Bruce Banner (The Incredible Hulk) and has been a member of any number of superhero groups including the Fantastic Four and S.H.I.E.L.D. A highly skilled lawyer, she has served as legal counsel to various superheroes and goes by the name of Jennifer Walters. Rogue, on the other hand, is fairly well-knwn, having been played by Anna Paqin in her pre-True Blood days.
Acosta's novel (aptly titled The She-Hulk Diaries) with its luminous green lipstick on the cover, is clearly trying to attract a different readership (Christine Woodward's Rogue Touch has a decidedly Twilight-y feel) and there appear to be two opposing camps about this. Some people have argued that it lessens the characters to have such intelligent women reduced to their romantic adventures, but I think this is a very reductive and quite damaging view. The She-Hulk of the comic books is hardly de-sexualised - what with her gravity-defying breasts - and Acosta isn't trying to transform her into some simpering idiot, but rather explore the balance between her attorney job and her wild alter-ego.
Even Elizabeth Dyssegard, the Hyperion head editor, has highlighted the fact that there will be a large emphasis on the characters' powers and challenges, calling them 'super heroines'.
As for me? I can't wait for June to come...bring on the green!
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