but what will the comic readers look forward to now? I guess she is still wearing that tube top, maybe don't really read anything she is in, unless she does show up in that new JLA book (off topic, read that should end up being like X-Force is to Marvel, the best team book out there)

I am actually all for covering up the superheroes naughty bits, no real point I mean they are allready drawn with proportions that make Barbie Dolls wonder how their backs feel, that and they are saving the day not out turning tricks. Well other then the new Speedy. Just saying.

Also I like that picture and have fromt he first day I saw it, but the abs they draw are just insane on her.

Things got really surreal when I hit that last bit "via npr". The world is a strange, strange, place.

I'll wait until I actually see the new costume to decide what I think. It is a good idea, but I don't want it to look dumb and forced either.

I think it's been that way ever since Gates took over as writer, which was way back in October.

Wow. What a telling picture. A harem of nearly-naked supergirls draped over the furniture with superman standing powerfully in the back. He looks like a freaking pimp.

Well, back in the day, when she was introduced, the comics industry had just gone through the whole McCarthy-esque bru-ha-ha that accussed them of slipping in various "hidden images" of vaginas-in-shoulders. So when Supergirl was introduced, rather than actually give the outline of her REAL vagina, they played it safe with a non-form-fitting skirt. Now that such idiocy is gone (more or less), this definitely is due.

This still doesn't explain the seriously gay undertones in Batman from back in the day. Joker sure loves his boners.

It is way past time. DC needs an "in point" for female readers. My little girls are interested in Supergirl instead of Superman. Thankfully DC has a new book, Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade, that they have enjoyed reading. But it would be nice for the "real continuity" Supergirl to have a role, some depth of character. Their attempt at an "emo Supergirl" in the reboot a few years back was pretty much a disaster.

I fully support going with the bike shorts and it's been long overdue. The "boob window" is something completely different in my opinion. The fact is girl/women superheroes are completely more sexualized than the boy/male ones are. Thankfully this will help, but sadly it will only help a little.

"And there's always actual pornography, too."

Story of my life.

@Brad

I'm not sure if I'd agree about female superheroes being more sexualized. It's pretty easy to agree what that means for female characters. Enhance the secondary sexual characteristics, and you're done. Almost every male out there will agree to that as being sexy, or at least sexual. The same thing really doesn't work with girls, who seem to have far more variety in what they find attractive. Doing the same thing with a male character, just exaggerating secondary or primary sexual characteristics, most women would find either hilarious, non-sexual, or gross.

I think something more like Japanese girls' gym shorts would work slightly better with Supergirl's outfit. But the difference isn't that huge so I'm not really bothered.

But in any case this really is long overdue. Supergirl shouldn't have "ability to deliver upskirts" as a power.

This is pretty cool. I'm not a huge Supergirl fan, but I agree that for a teenaged character, she's pretty intensely sexual, and seeing that backed off a bit is great. Now, don't mind me, I'm going to go ogle at Catwoman for a bit.

"she'll be wearing red shorts underneath her mini-skirt"

So... we're talking super skorts, here. Skorts. Really? I'm a fan of honest-to-god pants, myself.

Personally, I'd put her in some of those ruffly-butt panties all the burlesque ladies are wearing these days.

You know, if i were super indestructible, all muscle-up, could fly o run the earth like 10 times per minute, possibly i wouldnt wear anything... yes... i would save the world with the power of nudity... mostly because it must be expensive buying new clothes every time a villain beat you down...

Not particularly invested in the Supergirl franchise, but it's still good to hear. Her outfits do always come off as really quite creepy given her age and name. Of course I'll reserve final judgment until there's a picture, but it seems like a welcome step in the right direction for the character.

I have a feeling this will tie in with the comic's plot...or something

A friend and I are always debating over who's really being "sexualized" in comics. Yes, when you compare, both the men and women are given ridiculous proportions and ideals to live up to, and skin-tight outfits. However, the women's skin-tight outfits conveniently cover up a lot less, which always bothered me--most of their outfits are incredibly impractical, considering the line of work they're in (and yes, I know "practical" isn't what the artists are going for, but I always look at comics with a real-life view).

The only female hero whose outfit has gotten my approval is Batgirl, who usually manages to avoid the stupid high-heels that most women in comics wear. Seriously, I don't care how much practice you have at it, why would you opt to wear high-heels over combat boots? You know you're going to be doing a lot of running, and those things are only going to get in the way! BLARRGH!

/endrant
/shortsapproval
/thumbsup

Boring! DC sucks. Leave that hottie alone.

Is that a picture of it up there? 'Cause if so, I can't help but notice that it's shorter than the skirts.

Also: Notice how Power Girl's "boob window" doubled when she got her own comic?

You will still fap to anime and cyborg sluts,Robbie boy

First of all, uber hot picture for the article.

Second of all, the bike shorts just make it hotter. (Ever seen Setsuna in Negima?)

God. Now I just realized all the Negima girls are about 14. I feel so... dirty...

What is wrong with me!?

Btw... What's a "boob window"?

Three funny ideas I've seen tossed around about this:

a) Some fans are REALLY MAD about this. Clearly indicative of why they buy the book in the first place.
b) In CBR some girl pointed out that if she were a superhero, she would be worried if that "creepy old guy" supervillain could see her panties. Most girls I know would worry about this too, so I guess it lends some "credibility" to the character.
c) Sakura from Street Fighter wears red gym shorts too... and she's hot.

Jilliterate said:
"A friend and I are always debating over who's really being "sexualized" in comics. Yes, when you compare, both the men and women are given ridiculous proportions and ideals to live up to, and skin-tight outfits. However, the women's skin-tight outfits conveniently cover up a lot less,"

I think that's because if men exposed as much skin, it wouldn't really look as sexy, except to the gay community.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

But sexiness in men has never corresponded with how much flesh they showed. Look at James Bond. He's been shirtless many times but his trademark look is the tuxedo. If anything, men in comics should probably ditch the tights altogether if they want to look good.

We owe the current incarnation of Supergirl to superstar writer Jeph "Heroes" Loeb, who introduced this underage character to the DCU with a protracted nude scene. Comics!

the skimpy outfits are an entirely rational overcompensation for a lady in her position. what chance would a woman of steel have with an ordinary schmoe? a prybar couldn't couldn't catch her fancy.

so go ahead, supergirl; where it how you want it. i'll back your play.

Have you guys seen her "jean shorts," in the past few issues? In some shots they look like regular woman panties. At least she isn't wearing thongs anymore. It's a good step in the right directions. If I was 11 this would ruin my day, but now she's still 16, and I've gotten older, it's just creepy.

Now if Peegee ever got a sweatshirt. Then I would cry....

Fuck you guys! If you get all the creepy anime giant eye girls, at least let me have my PG and leave me in peace!

They need to start dressing her in sweat pants, an oversized hoodie, and flip-flops. That will de-sexualize her.

But really... People read Superman and Supergirl comics? Because they're usually pretty boring.

I went on a date with a girl who looked like a real life Supergirl once. Getting any sort of conversation out of her was like pulling teeth.

I don't know why I felt compelled to say that.

I have no vested interest in Supergirl's attire. But to change it-- after years of her wearing one in the comics, one movie, and the cartoons-- to "desexualize" her, is hypocritical and absurd. Thank you.

This is idiotic. She has a cheerleader type outfit. When I've seen blue underneath her skirt, I assume its like the bloomers that cheerleaders wear that are the same color as their skirts. They aren't panties. She's not flashing a lacy white thong.

Now you're going to put her in a short blue skirt and then make whats underneath it a different color, attention drawing red no less?

That's like -asking- people to look up her skirt now. Stick with the blue bloomers, as it was not a big deal. In fact, its even less of a big deal than what Wonder Woman wears on the outside.

Why wear bike shorts over underpants underneath a skirt? Seriously, how are shorts any less sexualized than what she already wears under her skirt? Why not just ditch the miniskirt altogther and have her wear shorts or full pants?

DC editor Matt Idleson apparently made a decree not too long ago that he "never wants to see Supergirl's panties again."

Wouldn't a simpler solution be to just remove them?

So...what kind of pervert does it make someone if they only start looking up Supergirl's skirt to make sure she's wearing shorts?

I didn't like that the skirt Supergirl wore was so tiny, but I assumed they were the same type outfit cheerleaders wore too.

I am happy that DC is taking an effort in making sure Supergirl isn't sexualized. They need to stop having Justice League covers with Wonder Woman's shorts riding half way up her ass as well.

BTW zero, if you weren't a mindless marvel zombie, you'd realize that Supergirl has been one of the best books on the market.

As far as the comment made about men not liking variety as much as women? Right, we only like skinny blondes. That's why we pay so much attention to Kim Kardashian, Megan Fox, Jesikah Maximus, Beyonce, Rhianna, Jessica Biel, Kristen Bell, Vida Guerra, Olivia Munn, Angelina Jolie, etc. Cause they are all obviously the same look and body type.

Oh, and Daniel Craig in a skimpy bathing suit got a major reaction. It's why romance novels feature half naked men. It's why men are often half naked in soap operas.

Men like different outfits as well, except we are demonized for this.

^^^ A stepfather.

This is a good thing. A very good thing. Now if we could get artists to stop drawing ridiculous muscle groups through whatever skin tight outfit they have on we'd be golden. Less is more.

A great young female role model in a great costume has been the teens in Justice Society. Stargirl and whatever the new witch's name (I forgot already) all wear costumes where they're covered up - but well designed. They look great.

This reminds me of a time that I called a well known 'hook up' and asked her out to dinner. It was my intention to feed her, get some drinks, then... well, you know.

Midway through dinner she mentioned she was wanting to make some 'life changes' which included quitting sex and hitting the books until she figured out what she wanted in life.

I faked a phone call emergency and promptly left after slapping down 50% of the tab.

Oh, but good luck, Matt Idleson. I'm sure people are really interested in Supergirl's personality.

/sarcasm

I'll anonymously admit that in my loneliest times, I've scraped to Ed Benes' Supergirl.
Aww hell, lonely nuthin! I've done it even while having regular sex! I'm just that sad :)

Supergirl has been in a skirt how long and this is only NOW becoming an issue?

I agree with the posters above: if "looking up her skirt" is such an issue, have her take it off. Seriously- put her in long skin-tight pants like all the other super-heroes. Sure, that's not her outfit, but she needs to change with the times. ;)

Or why not go back to the knee-length blue skirt from her early appearances? Sure, that looks frumpy compared to the current super-short skirt, but that solves the issue.

As for the CBR girl who said she would be worried about creepy old guys if she were a superhero: if you were a superhero who could fly, you probably wouldn't wear a short skirt in the first place. Every time you started to fly, people would look up your skirt. Heck, people would *ask* you to start flying just to look up your skirt.
I guess that superhero doesn't quite have super-thinking when it comes to outfit design. lol

wow! what old news!

Jay - I'd say your comment qualifies as a great example of the reason female superheroes should be less sexualized. Because comics need to stop catering to pathetic manchildren like yourself. I don't know what you read, or even if you read comics, but you're exactly the type of person that makes the entire medium look creepy and alienating to normal people.

Anyway, this is a small step, but valuable. Attempting to market to adolescents (like they used to in the pre-direct market days) and maybe even adult female readers wouldn't just bring in more money, it might just widen the stylistic range of superhero titles on the market. Look at how good the first issue of Rucka and Williams' Detective Comics, focusing on Batwoman and the Question, was, and how unique it looked from most of DC's other titles. Not to mention it centered on two lesbian characters without ever once feeling like cheesecake or Cinemax.

So this is great news, and something I've been hoping for since they introduced the new Supergirl. The skirt's pretty much been ingrained in the character's look for decades now, so you might as well run with it in the least exploitative way possible if you can't convince the higher-ups to switch to something else. Now if we can only get a full shirt on her - I mean, who the hell wears a tube top anymore? Have people worn them this decade? (We need more comics artists who actually, you know, GO OUT IN PUBLIC.)

Bout time.

This is the best solution. She can rock her own style (dubious as it is) and yet dress like she's going to be wearing a skirt while floating above people.