Noelle’s worlds
We check out the works of Noelle Stevenson, one of the rising stars of comics.
YOU may not have heard of Noelle Stevenson, but you may have seen her work. Her illustrations featuring Marvel’s Avengers in cute poses and situations have been going viral for some time. You know, the ones featuring Hawkeye bumping butts with Black Widow, Hulk and gang watching TV on the sofa, and so on.
One of the rising stars of comics, the 23- year- old has been going through a purple patch of late. Her webcomic Nimona was nominated for the Best Digital/ Web Comic Eisner award recently, while Lumberjanes, the Boom! Studios title she is working on with Shannon Watters, Grace Ellis, and Brooke Allen, won the coveted Best New Series award as well as Best Publication for Teens ( ages 13- 17).
Stevenson, through a comment on her blog ( gingerhaze.tumblr.com), was also partly responsible for kickstarting the Hawkeye Initiative (thehawkeyeinitiative.com), which “uses Hawkeye and other male comic characters to illustrate how deformed, hyper- sexualized, and impossibly contorted women are commonly illustrated in comics, books, and video games” by putting them through the “Hawkeye Test”.
The test is based on a simple principle: “If your female character can be replaced by Hawkeye in the same pose without looking silly or stupid, then it’s acceptable and probably non- sexist. If you can’t, then just forget about it.”
With all those Eisner nods and Nimona now available in graphic novel format, Stevenson’s star has been shining brightly indeed. She is currently writing the Runaways spinoff title from Marvel’s major Secret Wars event, and both Nimona and Lumberjanes have feature film adaptations slated for production. Not bad for a 23- year- old creator, eh?
To illustrate just how good Stevenson is, we take a look at three of her works so far.