Comic Book Crushes

Although it isn't a guaranteed thing.  Most teenage boys that read comics are going to develop a crush on one of the female characters in the comic books.  Most people from the outside looking in will think that the crush will be on the more shapely characters such as Wonder Woman, the bad girls like Catwoman, or a mixture of the two like Vampirella.  While the teenage boy definitely appreciates the artistic renderings of these characters, these are not the ones that he will develop crushes on.

Ask any X-Men reader from the 80's who their crush was and you will get Kitty Pryde as the answer almost every time.  It is to the point that she is elevated above all other characters.  The people that were X-Men fans in the 90's got Jubilee.  The 80's fans will say that she is a poor substitute but we don't see what those old guys like about kitty in the first place.

The common link between the two is that they are teenagers.  In the 60's and 70's that is all the team was made up of.   I am sure every kid then, not unlike Charles Xavier and through proxy Stan Lee, had a crush on Jean Grey.  Strangely, teenage boys didn't seek out super buxom fully developed ladies as their comic crushes, they more often than not went for the character closest their age.  DC fans probably loved Barbara Gordan and Mary Marvell.

The great thing is that these characters age, so every generation of reader gets a new comic book crush.  If kids still read comics I am sure that Cassandra Cain is getting some looks as are other teen aged  characters (is Cassandra Cain still a teen?).  I imagine gay boys  go after whatever the current incarnation of Robin is with a fury. 

You can never go back.  Kitty Pryde was a product of the 80's.  You kind of have to have been a teen at the time to appreciate the character the same way.  I have read back issues and she never really set that same fire that I had for Jubilee.  "Had." Okay, I still like Jubilee and wonder what she has been up to, may have to wiki that.  I have read some of the Cassandra Cain Batgirl and I am more interested in a girl whose primary language was fighting (boy did the rush to ruin that) than just plain interest in a fictional girl.  You can't go back and you can't go forward it seems.  You are stuck with the teen of your generation.  That is a good thing I guess.

I wrote this from personal experience.  Results may vary.  I am interested in teenage female comics readers and if it holds true with them as well or if the went for the older more mature characters. 

Jubilee was my Kitty Pryde by budd921
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