The heroines on the cover of "A-Force" #1 are also posed in a very specific way. They face us head-on. She Hulk has her arms crossed over her chest. Nobody is in the brokeback pose (I'll let Dr. Lepore google that one too), nobody has her butt up in the air. None of them are in the sexually objectified contortions that have become standard issue in recent decades. They are, in other words, posed the way their male colleagues are typically posed. They are posed as heroes.

To anyone familiar with the often heated dialogue surrounding the role and representation of women in comics, these choices are pretty symbolic. There are many women (and plenty more men!) in the comics industry and in comics fandom who have fought hard to get us to this point-costumes that cover the butt, book covers where no one is spread-eagle, storylines that don't involve women being sexually brutalized in order to provide motivation. This may not seem like much to someone outside the comics-reading community. But to those of us with a vested interest in this medium -- who do not aspire to whatever self-congratulatory bar of high culture Dr. Lepore requires us to leap over in order to be considered 'real' artists -- it is a coup.

It is a shame that, in this recent wave of mainstream media attention toward comics, actually reading comic books does not appear to be a prerequisite. And it shows. Where is the call to action in Dr. Lepore's article? What is the aspirational message we are meant to take away? Who does she imagine she is helping? What is the appropriate amount a 9-foot-tall green woman should cover up in order not to be considered 'pervy' by Harvard professors? Can we get a hem length?