As Ami of eschergirls and lady-knight- (in her comment) noted, it seems like Ange intended their comic to be subversive of fantasy clichés (so female virgins slay dragons instead of being kidnapped by them), but the execution indulges in harmful narratives (like demonizing women’s sexuality).
I don’t really think that letting scantily-clad warriors die for drama justifies making them scantily-clad in the first place.
It may work in comedy, but La geste des chevaliers dragons (or at least the first issue, the only one I managed to read) never makes fun of those costumes, just assumes we’re supposed to accept them as a sign of female empowerment or some other misogynistic bullshit.
The only character that commented on Jaïna’s non-armor was framed as a sexist dude who’s jealous of dragon slayer’s status, so… yeah, the readers probably weren’t supposed to agree with him.
Seeing what an interesting discussion sparked in our Spin Angels/Cross Fire post’s comment section, I figured it’s a good opportunity to remind what a failure of “female empowerment” was La geste des chevaliers dragons, another French comic from the same publisher.
While Franco-Belgian comics (bande desineé) have the advantage of more liberal views on depicting sexuality and nudity than American mainstream comics do, it doesn’t mean they never indulge in pointless and gratuitous sexualization. As my Female Armor Rhetoric Bingo points out, cultural differences don’t justify double standard.
Oh yeah, I also wanted to reiterate that bikini-clad warrior deaths played for drama fail to be dramatic, considering battle damage is a natural consequence of fighting in a skimpy armor.
~Ozzie