By Maggie Field
One of the things that excites me the most about my involvement with Kymera Press is our commitment to depicting our female characters like real women. It’s all fine and well for them to be attractive—I mean, really, who wants to look at ugly unless it’s from the inside out? However, their attributes do not need to be exaggerated. Female super heroes can have extraordinary powers, but they don’t need an extraordinary appearance. I know lots of women and girls who have extraordinary abilities—not supernatural, but extraordinary nonetheless. Their looks vary in the same way that their talents and personalities vary. That’s what Kymera Press will show you about the characters in our stories.
Take the female characters from GATES OF MIDNIGHT:
Raven is an attractive young woman. She’s fit, of course, because she’s just returned from deployment to Afghanistan as a combat medic. But even though she’s in good shape, she will have to undergo arduous training to be able to defeat the gods and monsters she will face. Buffy, anyone?
Raven’s mother, Marie, is an attractive woman. She dresses elegantly, since she has the money for it, but she doesn’t use botox; she hasn’t had plastic surgery. She looks her age—mid-40s. I well remember what Gloria Steinem said when she turned 40, and men and women told her, “You don’t look 40.” Her response, “This is what 40 looks like!”
Jessie, Raven’s paramedic partner, is a working mom. She, too, is fit, but she’s older than Raven and she’s had a child. And guess what? Her body looks like she’s had one. She takes good care of herself, but life experience shows … unless one goes to extraordinary lengths to see that it doesn’t.
Constance, of course, isn’t what she appears to be. That allowed us, and our artist, Amelia Woo, to have some fun with her. Her true appearance will be revealed at the end of issue #4. And to say that she doesn’t look like a real woman? Well, that’s an understatement!
So. If you want to see real human women in stories that are real … and then some … support Gates of Midnight and Kymera Press! Visit our Kickstarter campaign before it closes July 8, 2014 at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/812703115/gates-of-midnight. Visit Kymera Press online at www.kymerapress.com.
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