In the Silver Age, the vast majority of super-hero love interests were ordinary humans. Since then, as someone recently pointed out to me, a surprising number have become superheroes or villains.
Jane Foster, as Thor (and also Valkyrie) might be the best known. Clearly Odin blew it when he decided she wasn’t good enough for godhood in the story above. Then again, Spider-Gwen, the web-slinging Gwen Stacey of an alternate universe, has been a hit too.
Pepper Potts is now Rescue. Carol Ferris, when last I was reading Green Lantern, (given my erratic reading of current comics I apologize for anything here that’s out of date) was Star Sapphire full-time. Jean Loring, Atom’s ex, is Eclipso. Abigail Arcane is the avatar of the Rot, just as Swamp Thing is avatar for the Green.
Carol Danvers, former associate of Captain Marvel, is now Captain Marvel herself (and previously Ms. Marvel, Warbird and Binary — someone nominate her for a Hank Pym Award). Madolyn Pryor, Scott Summers’ one-time wife, became the Goblin Queen. Luke Cage went from dating a female doctor to sleeping with superhuman Jessica Jones. Inza Cramer was Dr. Fate for a while. Betty Ross became Harpy
As Carol’s early Star Sapphire appearances show, this isn’t a radically new thing. 
Lois Lane got powers multiple times in the Silver Age, mostly, but not exclusively Superman’s. Heck, she and Lana both had costumes for when they became super, as captured in the cover of #21. But those incidents were one-shot stories, even if the powers recurred, not permanent upgrades.
Is it simply an easy way to increase the female side of the roster without introducing new characters? Is it that comics are just less interested in everyday people than they used to be? I’ve heard both ideas tossed around —anyone have an opinion?
#SFWApro. Covers by Jack Kirby (top), Gil Kane and Curt Swan.
” Is it that comics are just less interested in everyday people than they used to be? ”
I think that is part of it. When is the last time Clark Kent did any reporting? Last I recall he had gone public? That has probably changed though with the latest ret-Johns. Or when has Bruce Wayne been out being a playboy? Most Green Lanterns don’t seem to even try to have a civilian identity.
Grant Morrison’s Hal is apparently full-time space cop, at least in the two volumes I’ve seen.
I think it’s both. It’s an easy way to increase diversity, and as we know, creators don’t like creating new characters for Marvel and DC these days, because they don’t own them, so they just repurpose an old character for their stories. If DC and Marvel were better about sharing the wealth, I think we’d see new characters and creators would leave the old ones alone.
But I think the lack of “non-superhero” characters is very relevant, as well. As comics become shorter, there is far less room for anything that isn’t punching, so we can’t have heroes in their civilian identities spending time with significant others, so creators have to make the significant others (usually but not exclusively women) into super-powered beings so they can actually show up. I dislike it, but then again, I’d read an entire comic of Wolverine and Black Widow trying to drink each other under the table.
“ As comics become shorter,”
Are they? From what I’ve seen, their length has been all over the place. Marvel and DC started off at 20-30 pages or so, there was a time in the 80s when they were 15, and I thought now they were 22?
But I’m not sure.
I’m not particularly familiar with DC
However, from memory and back issues/reprints
Marvel were 20 pages in the ’60s
then gradually went down reaching a low point of 17 pages in the mid ’70s
and went up to 22 pages in the ’80s (I think it might have been 1980)
They were 22 pages from the mid-80s for a few decades, occasionally even 24 pages, but they’ve been consistently 20 pages for a decade now. That lack of 2 pages really makes a difference, I’ve noticed! The move toward bigger panels is also a thing – more double-page spreads, more 2 x 2 grids – so there’s less storytelling room.
Thanks, both of you. That explains it!
As you say, this isn’t totally a new trend – and some uses of the trope are really interesting (Carol Danvers’s journey as a comic character is fascinating to chart, as is Bobbi Morse’s journey from normal love interest for Ka-Zar to Hawkeye’s (ex-) wife). I do sadly view recent developments as a trend away from everyday people, though. It’s not just love interests – it seems like every “normal” person Spider-Man ever knew has become a costumed character by now (Flash Thompson was Venom? Alt-reality Gwen is a web-slinger? Next thing we know, Nate Lubensky is going to be reincarnated as a shoot-first, ask questions later senior citizen vigilante).
One of the recent superhero runs that I quite liked was Al Ewing’s “Immortal Hulk,” and I did like that he introduced some non-powered supporting characters (reporter Jackie McGee, scientist Charlene MacGowan) but I would have liked it even more if he had given these characters a few subplots totally unrelated to the Hulk. It does seem like that kind of plotting is a bit out of step with the “wide-screen action” style that’s been the default Big Two storytelling mode since The Authority (and I’m sure artists who want to sell their original art are probably OK if there are fewer scenes of non-superpowered characters just talking in the books they draw).
I really loved Immortal Hulk and the supporting cast, though it completely failed to stick the landing. Still, nine great TPBs is an impressive run.
Haven´t read Ewings run yet but that sounds so much like Bruce Jones work on Hulk 15ish years ago.
I don’t know Bruce Jones’ work, but Ewing had a very horror bent to his run, so I imagine they’re actually very different.
they are. Jones was dark but in a completely different way to IH.
In universe I see the normal characters not staying normal as something of a you can’t stand right next to an open fire for a long time and not expect to eventually get burned thing. It’s part of why I have always thought that the ‘I can’t tell my friends or family I am a superhero or it’ll put them in danger’ excuse is tremendously stupid. Proximity to a superhero is dangerous regardless of if they know or not. And often more dangerous since they are likely to be caught unaware and unprepared when danger arises. The responsible decision is to tell your close friends and family you are a superhero so that they can make an informed decision about whether or not they are comfortable staying in your life. Again, that is looking at it from an in universe perspective. If a writer wants a character to to have a secret identity and not share it with anybody I’m cool, just come up with a better justification.
“just come up with a better justification.”
Absolutely! I like the secret identities, I miss supporting casts and ordinary people – especially when those people act heroic in their own right sometimes – but ‘you knowing about me will put you in danger’ has never made sense to me.
I mean seriously, how many times has Aunt May been targeted despite not being in the know. It wasn’t necessarily the best era of stories, but I really liked when she found out and was really disappointed in that rollback.
I remember finding it really refreshing when the 1980s Starman Will Payton almost immediately let his sister know what was was going on. It spoke to the strength of their relationship and gave him a sounding board.
of course it should be noted that the issue of Thor in question (published in 1966) is the one where they removed the normal human woman love interest and instead introduced Sif as the new love interest
True, another form of the same trend. I’ve wondered if Catwoman becoming increasingly The One for Batman isn’t the same sort of thing.
Perhaps, but since it doesn’t seem unusual to go issues and issues without ever showing ever showing the guy in Bruce Wayne mode having his love interest be in the ‘business’ may be more natural.
Well… yeah!
Isn’t that what we’re talking about?
Sure, I was just musing that even if you were to put aside the trend that the article explores that with Batman in particular it makes a lot of sense to have his love interests be part of the costume crowd. The people writing his stories often don’t appear to have any desire to depict him in his civilian identity. That he is Bruce Wayne is often important due to his identity affording him the vast resources that Batman utilizes, but not a lot of time up is spent with him just being Bruce Wayne and doing any sort of normal humaning. And as a result Batman stories rarely leave space to introduce or develop ‘regular people’ characters. As opposed to say Spider-Man, where spending time with Peter Parker out of costume has always been a core element of his stories.
And Catwoman differs from the article’s examples in that she was never depicted as just a ‘regular’ person. Selena Kyle was not a civilian side character who later took up the Catwoman identity. From day one she was a part of the costume crowd.
You make some good points.
Of course, Bruce Wayne’s civilian identity is almost as super and out-of-reach to most of us as his super identity. 🙂
I think the big change, which started during the ’60s and became more ubiquitous as time passed, was the shift from single-issue stories to multi-part epics
So with Thor the focus of the series was changing from one-or-two issue fight with super-villains on Earth to power-struggles in Asgard and journeys into space – such stories had little room for Don Blake and Jane Foster playing Doctors and Nurses – so Sif who was more naturally suited this new approach became the main love interest.
As decades passed the multi-part epic became more normal in super-hero comics.
It can be balanced but it’s rare. Claremont/Byrne did an amazing job paying at least some attention to ordinary folks like Moira and Stevie in the midst of all the action. They could also manage to keep each issue standing on its own rather than making it just an installment in an overall story.
Well, yeah, but that’s Claremont/Byrne. No fair comparing to the best! 😀
“Jane Foster, as Thor (and also Valkyrie) might be the best known. Clearly Odin blew it when he decided she wasn’t good enough for godhood in the story above.” (Thor #136)
Correction: Odin *didn’t* decide or find her to be unworthy. Jane herself demands to be changed back to a mortal and return to her normal life with no memory of Thor or Asgard. Odin only respected her wishes. And perhaps at that time in the storyline, she hadn’t experienced enough to be prepared for Godhood. Later on, when Mjolnir chooses her to be the new Thor, when she sacrifices herself and becomes a Valkyrie… she has that gained the level character to have earned it.
I just feel that distinction should be made.
That is a good point, though Odin still comes off as a dick.
My favorite bit in Jane Foster As Thor is when Odin and Loki confront her and she gets to work out her old issues. “Not good enough for your boy was I? And how many times did you kidnap me, Loki?”
JHL-
Telling friends and family you are secretly a super hero is fine, until one of them gets hooked on heroin and desperately needs money for a fix…
But that’s about not putting yourself in danger. Nothing to do with protecting said loved one.
kdu2814- Le Messor is precisely correct. By choosing to be a superhero a person is choosing to live a life of danger. That’s fine, and depending on the circumstances noble. But not letting the people who are close to them in on their secret is choosing to put them in danger without their consent or even knowledge which is downright immoral. Look at it this way, telling someone close to you MIGHT put yourself in danger, but not telling someone close to you DOES put them in danger. As a particularly egregious example take Spider-Man; Peter knows that he has enemies who have figured out his secret identity, and yet he keeps May in the dark about everything despite her being an obvious revenge target. It’s why I hate the trope, its really messed up if you stop and put any thought into it.