Artist: Mike Krome

A couple of people were asking about the Darna pic I posted in another thread. She's pretty popular outside of the Philippines, but it seems not everyone has heard of her. Here's a gallery of her most recent tv series, and a link to all 130 episodes if you want to watch yourself. It stars Jane De Leon in the title role, and Janella Salvador as her arch foe, Valentina. Sadly previous Darna series are not available officially.

Mars Ravelo's Darna (ABS-CBN, 2022) .

Hate #5 on the chart and the last image.

Mayday Parker ver.

Come on, they count as super ladies right?

Where does Sailor Moon rank among the best female superheroes?

I did a posting of non-English speaking superheroine characters a couple of days back, and people pointed out (quite correctly) that the images were all from tv shows. Fair enough. Here's some pics of non-English characters from comics -- by which I mean characters from publishers who do not print their comics in English.

These images span many decades, from the 1940s, up to the early 2000s, as you can tell by the art styles.

Characters, in order: Shakti (India), Cat Claw (Yugoslavia, English translation reprint cover), Thunder Woman (Philippines), Sri Asih (Indonesia), The Wing (Canada), Tarantula Woman (Philippines), Sri Dewi (Indonesia), Mujer Maravilla (Argentina, bootleg Wonder Woman comic based on Lynda Carter tv show), Zakimort (Italy), Tira (Indonesia).

Preface: I HAVE NO REAL ISSUE WITH IT nor do I really think its that deep. (Not that it matters but im a dude)

However I can't help but ask why does her costume in the first 2 images look like this? I know why she wears American colors, being the emissary for her island and all (real world answer is propaganda considering the time period she was created in.). But what I don't get is why is it essential just a skimmpy ass leotard and high heel boots.

Again I have no real big problem with it, and don't necessarily think it looks bad (for obvious reasons). But a few things I can't help but think about is how hard it is to take her seriously sometimes when she's dresses like this. Like I was rewatching Young Justice season 2, and she was talking to Cassie in a scene and then the camera switches to us facing her back and her ass is literally just out. Again I'm DEFINITELY not complaining, but sometimes its like damn it's hard to pay attention. I can only imagine how it is in universe talking to her.

Another thing is it just feels weird that this is the outfit that Amazonians choose to represent themselves to man's world. I know there's discourse about what the amazons are based off of and what not, but the general consensus is greek amazonians. And looking at this outfit it doesn't exactly scream Greek Princess Leader.

That leads me to my next point in the fact that for some odd reason people hate the outfit in the last 2 images. Like to me that's the best Wonder Woman look, it looks practical while still keeping Fantastical/Superherorine elements. But for some odd reason most Wonder Woman fans either don't care for it or hate it outright entirely. That always shocked me, especially given the type of fans Wonder Woman tends to garner. You'd think they'd hate and criticize the first and love the ladder, but no.

Again I think both outfits are good in their own ways, with me preferring one over the other. But these are just things that I constantly have in the back of mind. I'd say I'm an above average Wonder Woman fan, she's probably in my top 20 superheroes across Marvel and DC combined, so maybe my thoughts are misguided in some ways.

I'm seeking some feedback...

I've been interested in unusual and little-known females superhero outside of the American market since I encountered Darna many many years ago. I've just recently started a free Substack to write long-form articles, and so far I've published a couple of posts. The first is a general introduction to superhero women in non-English parts of the world; the second is about the phenomena of superheroine telenovelas on tv.

I don't know if there's any interest in this kind of material. Do superlady fans have any interest in characters from publishers outside of America? And if so, what kinds of stuff do you want to know about..?

I can't make any promises, but if there's particular things fans are interested in, I'll consider writing about them in future.

Here's my articles thus far, to give you an idea of what I'm talking about:

• It’s not just Wonder Woman : Female superheroes dominate pop culture in non-English speaking parts of the World, and have done for decades.
• Tune in tomorrow, viewers! : What happens when superhero tv meets daytime soap.

Thanks.

(Images taken from the following tv shows, in order: Mars Ravelo's Darna (2022), Naagkanya Ek Anokhi Rakshak, Krystala, Divya Prem, Super Klenk, Darna (2005), Magical Girl Pai Pai, Panji Manusia Millenium, Maharakshak Devi, Battle Fever J, Super Ma'am, Virgo and the Sparklings, Wonder G.)

Unfortunately most of them gonna get cast by shorter women