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KARLIE KLOSS MARCH 2015 - MOON 1 ELIZABETH TAYLOR

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Page 24 This month on Moon Page 14 ... Elizabeth Taylor Page 18... Karlie Kloss Page 24... Emma Watson Page 32... #HitMe Page 40... Superheroines

MARCH’S GUILTY PLEASURES PAGE 12

CLASSIC ICON: ELIZABETH TAYLOR PAGE 14

SPRING FASHION TIPS PAGE 16

TWENTY MINS WITH KARLIE KLOSS PAGE 18

FASHION: BLAKE LIVELY AND ELIE SAAB PAGE 20

OPINION BY C. BAUER PAGE 22

EMMA WATSON AND FEMINISM PAGE 24

WHAT IS #HITME PAGE 32

IN & OUT PAGE 38

SUPERHEROINES PAGE 40

IZOMBIE PAGE 48

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Editor’s letter A new era starts for Moon, and we are surely going to try to make it a good one! To celebrate our fusion with Suit under NOW! Magazines Inc. we’re bringing you a very special edition, and it’s a double one!

This month brings the start of spring, which means bugs, allergies and lots of raining. But it also means flowers, skirts and springbreak, so it’s really a toss up. It’s also the time to change the closet and bring out all your dresses and combine then with tights. Pastels and neon are back again, but yellow and orange are winning over pink and blue this year.

Oscars came and went and left us with amazing outfits and speeches. As it has happened these past few months, female celebs won over the red carpets as they complained about the sexism that exists in this kind of events. Amaz-

ing women-driven movies were algo recognized. The amazing Julianne Moore finally won an Academy Award for her role in ‘Still Alice’, an inspiring film about a woman with early set alzheimer. ‘Wild’ may not have won any awards in the big night, but the true story of self-discovery and personal growth is a must watch.

You will see some changes in design and contents in the magazine this month. We’re only making it cooler and better! One interesting new section I want to point out is our shared project with Suit, where one of our reporters will team up with one of their writers, bringing up the best of both worlds for a great article. This month, we’ll write about the latest dating app, #HitMe, the most downloaded application in 2015 so far. Should you download it? Should you stick to Tinder? It’s

a mad mad world in the online dating world, and we only want the best of the best for our readers.

In the writer’s room lately we’ve been hearing a lot about feminism and meninism. Talking to our new partners in Suit, we couldn’t believe our ears when we heard about the letters they received complaining about the article they published last month called You May Not Know It, But You Are a Feminist.

We express all our support for this article and we are bringing the big guns in the next few months. We’ll be starting with comics and rolemodels this month, so stay tuned!

I can hardly believe we’re finished with the first number of our new era, but I think we’ve done our best and I hope you will love it as much as we do.

I can’t wait to share our new direction and style with you in the next months.

Until then, enjoy and happy spring!

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Marie Stewart

City Editor – New York

Coraline Tate

City Editor – LA

Olivia Ford

Fashion Editor

Emma Green

Culture Editor

Hope Marshall

Editorial Assistant

Michaela Robertson

Design/Creative Director

Andrea García

Associate Designer

Scott Lahey

Art Director

Ashley Martin

Senior PhotographerS

Emily Bond / Jackson Kenner

Marketing

Catharine Wolfe

Sales Director

Connor Stevens

Writers

Carlene Bauer, Meredith Benson, Lorraine Candy, Isaac Crawford, Ivy Collins, Melinda Gussow, Sophia Torres

Contact us

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963, 8th Avenue PMB #413 New York, NY 10019 United States

Emma Watson in a photoshoot for Kerry Hallihan NYC February 15th.

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emma #HIT ME BEING SINGLE

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KARLIE KLOSS ELIZABETH TAYLOR

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MARCH’S

GUILTY PLEASURES

by Meredith Benson

Black Widow

Luckiest Girl Alive

Reese Witherspoon has already bought the rights to adapt as a movie this yet-to-be-released debut novel by Jessica Knoll. It’s Gone Girl meets high school, so it definitely deserves a look!

Agent Carter

Last month saw the end of the first season of Agent Carter. She’s a bad-ass secret agent in the 40s, why haven’t you checked it out yet?

More Marvel! Black Widow was reinvented last year with all-new comics.

The design is gorgeous and Natasha is, well, perfection.

Reign recently dealed with a rape plot in the most sensitive way possible. Catherine became our heroine, and Mary will always be our warrior queen.

Glee reaches its end this month. The musical show ends after six seasons of fun, music and tears. But never never stop believing!

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Reign

Dark Shadows

I Really Like You

Insurgent The second instalment of Divergent co- After the success of Gone Girl, another mes out next month. It’s time to dust Gillian Flynn book has been turned off that book and give it a re-read! into a movie. It features Charlize Theron. Could it be as good?

We can’t get Carly Rae Jepsen’s song out of our heads. We sing and dance like Tom Hanks 24/7. And we’re not even sorry.

The DUFF

We recently became obsessed with poetry slams. Seach for some on YouTube! Very bright young people share ideals and critize society. What they say it’s so true, it’ll give you chills.

Poetry Slam

You read the book, now there’s a movie! The story about the jock falling for the supposedly “ugly best friend” is a tale as old as time and, still, it seems to work once again.

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MARCH’s CLASSIC ICON

The eyes, and Elizabeth Taylor

by Mel Gussow

Elizabeth Taylor was the actress who dazzled generations of moviegoers with her stunning beauty and whose name was synonymous with Hollywood glamour.

Marilyn Monroe was the sex goddess, Grace Kelly the ice queen, Audrey Hepburn the eternal gamine. Ms. Taylor was beauty incarnate. As the director George Stevens said when he chose her for “A Place in the Sun,” the role called for the “beautiful girl in the yellow Cadillac convertible that every American boy, some time or other, thinks he can marry.”

There was more than a touch of Taylor herself in the roles she played. She acted with the magnet of her personality.

Although she could alter her look for

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a part — putting on weight for Martha in “Virginia Woolf” or wearing elaborate period costumes — she was not a chameleon, assuming the coloration of a character. Instead she would bring the character closer to herself. For her, acting was “purely intuitive.” As she said, “What I try to do is to give the maximum emotional effect with the minimum of visual movement.”

Sometimes her film roles seemed to be a mirror image of her life. More than most movie stars, she seemed to exist in the public domain. She was pursued by paparazzi and denounced by the Vatican. But behind the seemingly scandalous behavior was a woman with a clear sense of morality: she habitually married her lovers. People watched and counted, with vicarious pleasure, as she became Elizabeth Taylor Hilton Wilding Todd Fisher Burton Burton

Warner Fortensky — enough marriages to certify her career as a serial wife. Asked why she married so often, she said, in an assumed drawl: “I don’t know, honey. It sure beats the hell out of me.”

In a lifetime of emotional and physical setbacks, serious illnesses and accidents, and several near-death experiences, Ms. Taylor was a survivor.

“I’ve been lucky all my life,” she said just before turning 60. “Everything was handed to me. Looks, fame, wealth, honors, love. I rarely had to fight for anything. But I’ve paid for that luck with disasters.” At 65, she said on the ABC program “20/20”: “I’m like a living example of what people can go through and survive. I’m not like anyone. I’m me.”

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SPRING FASHION TIPS

by Sophia Torres

Spring is coming! Wait... the quote doesn’t go like that right? Anyway, spring is almost here and it’s time to ditch the coat and go for light jackets, skirts and more colorful stuff. Should you throw out your neon t-shirts?

Keep the pastel? Is it time to get rid of your boyfriend jeans? Don’t worry, we have all your answers right here.

Here we have the top 10 tendencies for this year!

#1 Everything high waist!

It’s been coming for a couple years, but this is definitely the year for high waist... anything! Shorts, jeans, pants, skirts, it’s all game when it comes to highlightning one of the best features of your body.

It’s also an every day choice. You can wear a high waist pencil skirt to work and you’ll be the boss. High waist shorts for a day hiking or in the beach? That’s a big yes. And high waist pants for a night out in the city?

Everyone will want to be you.

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#2 Little cute animals It’s a trend you might have noticed already. It’s little elephants, giraffes, cats, bears... you name it! And it’s not only t-shirts either, we’ve seen dresses and skirts, and even one or two pairs of pants. Little animals are so cute, and they are definitely a trend in the indie/hipster community.

Little fruits are also a thing, pinapples being the new strawberries, but they’re not as cute, are they?

#3 Tribal jackets Every celebrity is already wearing them. Bright colors, lots of reds and blues and cream. They’re loose and great for the usual chill of spring.

They’re also a great accesorize for any style, making a simple jeans and shirt something new and fresh!

#4 Round glasses This isn’t for everyone. Round glasses are good with an specific type of face, so you might want to check that out before you actually buy a pair.

If you’re one of the lucky ones, it’ll make you the ultimate moder hippie.

They’re all over Coachella, but wearing them ‘round the city will definitely attract everyone’s attention.

#5 Boyfriend sweaters First came the boyfriend jeans... now it’s time for boyfriend sweaters!

They’re loose and comfortable, and go perfectly with tight jeans or shorts.

They’re perfect for a colder day and, if they’re big enough, you might even want to rock them with tights and a plus-sized belt and turn it into a dress.

#6 Leather jackets You might not own a bike or listen to rock, but that doesn’t mean you can’t wear a leather jacket and give your look a rebel touch. Leather jackets are a must for going clubbing in style until jackets are off the table before the heat.

They look great on everyone, and they’re not as expensive as you might think. You might want to check a thrift shop if you want real leather, or settle for faux leather in Forever 21 or Zara.

#7 Fringe!

The eighties called, they want their fringed skirts back! Fringed skirts, tops and dresses are the latest trend celebrities everywhere are trying.

Fashionistas in NYC wear them constantly. It’s not just for playing cowboys and indians anymore, now they are a playful touch that will give your outfit some life and fun. They’re perfect for a long skirt, but look somewhat tacky in a short one, so look out!

#8 Burgundry is the new black Neon colors are so yesterday, and aren’t you tired of pastel? It’s time for a darkest color to take the crown of color of the year. It seems burgundry is the latest trend. Just look at Blake Lively at Cannes with that stylish dress and dare to disagree. Burgundry is elegant and sexy, and looks well in any piece of clothing.

You might wear a burgundry dress for your hot date tomorrow night, catch his eye with the sexy dangerous color. Maybe you can wear some burgundry pants when going for a coffee tomorrow to catch up with your best friend. What about a burgundry blouse for that work dinner you have next week? You’ll look professional and self-assured. And for work-out, you can always wear your burgundry t-shirt with your leggins.

It’s the thing about this color, it goes with anything and never looks out of place. Combine it with dark tones of blue, black and green or, if you want to experiment, try lighter reds or browns. It’s all up to you, but one thing is clear: you can’t call your wardrobe trendy if you don’t own at least a couple burgundry clothes this summer!

#9 Crop tops Did anyone say crop top? If you don’t own one already, you’ve been living under a rock. Crop tops are a girl’s best friend now warm weather is coming and coats are coming off. They look great with the already mentioned high waist jeans, shorts or skirts, and they will help you rock your body around the city.

Shops are selling crop-top / skirts combinations that are to die for. Just look at what Taylor Swift’s rocking in that picture and learn.

#10 50s bikinis and swimsuits We know, we know, it’s not even spring and we’re already talking about bikinis. But it’s never too early to buy your new beach fashion and be ready! 50s bikinis with stripes or polka dots in patriotic red, blue and white are what you should be wearing this summer when you leave the city. Be careful what goes better with your type of body, and then shop away! Don’t be the only one wearing last year’s swimsuit in the beach next summer.

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Twenty minutes with...

Karlie Kloss

Karlie Kloss was only fourteen when she started modeling. Eight years later, she’s a Victoria Secret’s Angel, a runway icon and one of the most wanted models in the world. We talk to her in NYC. So, what’s it like to do a photo shoot in St. Bart’s with the other VS models?

We always have so much fun on those shoots, they end up feeling more like vacation than work!

What’s the most exotic place you’ve gone to for a shoot?

We did a shoot in Caicos in this hidden cave on the beach. The pictures from that shoot are magical!

When and where are you taking your next vacation?

I just got back from Iceland, it was the most extraordinary trip I’ve ever taken.

What are your summer vacation clothing and beauty essentials?

All I need on a summer vacation is a great VS swimsuit and sunscreen.

What’s your summer uniform?

I live in my swimsuit during the summer. I love a comfortable yet chic look for the beach. I throw on a long lightweight dress over my Victoria’s Secret bikini, slip on a pair of sandals and am out the door.

And your favorite outfit all year long?

Classic and chic: Frame jeans, an Everlane shirt, my Repetto ballet flats, and my Warby Parker glasses.

What’s the one item in your closet you’ll never give away and why?

My jewelry is so personal to me. I wear my “K” charm necklace from Helen Ficalora, my Cartier Juste Un Clou bracelet and my Thea “Karlie” ring every day. To me, these items are priceless.

What’s the last book you read? #GIRLBOSS. And your favorite food?

Brussels sprouts are underrated.

Do you have a secret talent?

I’m secretly good at French.

Who’s your retro style icon?

Audrey Hepburn, Jackie Kennedy Onassis and Grace Kelly--three of the chicest women in history.

Most embarrassing or cringe-worthy moment on the job?

Too many to count! Once I lost a shoe on the runway and thought my career was over! But the show goes on.

What’s your life motto?

When life gives me lemons, I make vegan lemon poppyseed muffins.

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MARCH’S FASHION ICON Blake Lively is one of the best-dressed women on Hollywood.

These are just some examples of her style on the red carpet.

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ELIE SAAB

Hollywood’s new favorite designer This month we bring you the designer Hollywood’s crazy about. Elie Saab’s dresses have been rocked all over this year’s most exclusive red carpet, from the Golden Globes to the Oscars. His unique style, use of color and beautiful skirts have turned him into Hollywood’s sweetheart. Check some of his best designs here, and for more hit his website: ElieSaab.com

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DO UNATTACHED WOMEN HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THEMSELVES?

By Carlene Bauer In the year 2000, when writer Kate Bolick was in her late twenties in New York, she noticed a curious gap between what everyone seemed to think being a single woman in a big city was like and what it actually was. “The culture was telling us that the only way to be single was to be frivolous and obsessed with dating,” she tells me, referring to Sex and the City, “or desperate and self-loathing” à la Bridget Jones’s Diary.

That year Bolick discovered a figure from the turn of the century who’d serve as an antidote to what she calls this “reduced conversation.” Her name was Neith Boyce, and she was a Greenwich Village bohemian who wrote, among other things, a column for Vogue called “The Bachelor Girl,” in which she attempted to, in Boyce’s words, “convince the world that she is possible.”

Eventually Bolick assembled a group of guides from the late 19th and early 20th centuries to help her navigate life

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as a woman who wants to make writing her central focus, not marriage or children. “I wasn’t a woman who needed convincing that she wanted to be alone,” Bolick writes, “but I did need help seeing clearly what that reality might look like and evidence that there were indeed rewards to be gained if I was bold enough to pursue them.”

She calls her surrogate mothers “awakeners”—a term borrowed from Edith Wharton, who is among them, as is New Yorker writer Maeve Brennan, poet Edna St. Vincent Millay, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman, author of The Yellow Wallpaper. The back and forth between their stories and Bolick’s are the backbone of Spinster, which is a kind of sequel to “All the Single Ladies,” Bolick’s blockbuster article for The Atlantic about the realities of being a single woman.

The members of her charmed circle aren’t spinsters in the strictest sense of the word. And neither is Bolick, 42, who takes us through four satisfying relationships—and one torrid romance—from college to the year she turned 40. All her awakeners were married at some point, and two had children, but, as Bolick writes, each possessed “a highly ambivalent relationship to the institution of marriage” .

So the book is not about rejecting attachments—readers learn that Bolick’s friends are like family, and her own family is dear—but about what it’s like to choose independence and a series of partners over becoming what Gilman once called “that useful animal, a wife and mother.” And what it’s like to feel uncomfortable with the big gestures of the second-wave feminists who gave you your life (literally and figuratively for Bolick, whose own mother came of age in the ‘60s) and instead have more affinity, stylistically and temperamentally, for women of a much earlier era.

“There was a wide-openness, a radicalness [in my mother’s generation] that I admired,” Bolick says when we talk, “but I couldn’t personally relate to it.”

Bolick’s evocation of the untethered state is often beautiful, her metaphors precise and lyrical in the manner of her heroines. More important, she does not flinch from describing just how alone alone can feel. “You are solid,” writes Bolick, “intact, and then, without warning, a hinge unlatches, the chimney flue swings open, the vast freezing black night rushes in, and there is nothing to do but grope in the cold to set things right again.”

OPINION Bolick is adept at spotting the unexamined confusions and curious silences that have arisen in the wake of an incomplete sexual revolution—and that bedevil those of us who are living outside of our culture’s sturdiest institutions. “I shouldn’t have needed help thinking beyond the idea of marriage,” Bolick writes. People living alone now account for 28 percent of U.S. households, and the number of adults aged 25 and older who’ve never married—42 million—is at a record high. “And yet,” she adds, “nowhere did I hear, or take part in, serious conversations about the lives of unmarried women. Instead, whatever candor had erupted in the ‘60s had been sucked into a black hole of constant chatter about dating, sex, marriage, children.” The result was that she was constantly having to fight off the assumption that deep down, what she really wanted was marriage. “The ubiquity of received attitudes about what men and women did and did not want seemed to relieve everyone of the responsibility to actually examine their desires,” she writes.

Precisely because these received attitudes are so ubiquitous and even infectious—and because you can’t hire a lawyer to force your mind to stop discriminating against itself—this spinster found herself wishing for Bolick to go further in her critique of conventional thinking, as well as be surer about the benefits of going it alone.

While she’s admirably frank about how fraught it can be to search for meaning without marriage and children providing automatic answers—”Freedom is unbearable,” she notes—she can’t articulate why the search is worth it. Put another way, what are the rewards of freedom? What can freedom teach?

Her literary guides seem to have more conviction in their chosen course than she has in hers. Wrote Neith Boyce, with an almost blithe shrug at the order of the day: “There were always enough who wanted to get married and carry on the race.... If a woman liked to play with words and set them in patterns

and make pictures with them, and was taking care of herself and bothering nobody, and enjoyed her life without a lot of bawling children around, why shouldn’t she?” Gilman, who traveled widely for work, invented a category she called “A Woman-at-Large,” which she declared was “most essential to the workings of advanced civilization.”

Their relative confidence in the worth of eschewing traditional roles might have something to do with the fact that, in those days, the ties that bind bound much more tightly. Marriage and family aren’t as confining for contemporary women, and subtler cultural forces are always harder to recognize and inveigh against. To some extent, this limits the awakeners’ usefulness for us here in 2015. Their observations end up reading like high-end self-help exhortations, inspirational in the moment, but the bolstering quickly fades, leaving you wondering: Why is it again that I’ve chosen this life as a solo traveler, or what can I find on this road?

Ironically, it’s a man, E. B. White who points toward at least one answer. It’s from his essay “Here Is New York”: “On any person who desires such queer prizes, New York will bestow the gift of loneliness and the gift of privacy.”

In my experience, those queer prizes have been gifts, even if they’ve sometimes chosen to find me rather than the other way around. They can lead to exhaustion with your own fearful self, giving you no choice other than to be more of who you are. Put another way, spending time deciding what you want to do, at whatever hour, simply because that is your inclination might be an excellent way to train yourself out of anxiety and dependence on others to give the green light. Cultivate enough respect for your inclinations and you might become, surprisingly, your own spiritual authority.

Admittedly, such gifts aren’t anything you can build a movement around, and acknowledging them won’t always stop you, the single woman, from falling into feeling that what you’re doing is irresponsible and self-invol-

ved. We’ve earned the right to have sex with whomever we want when we want, but for many women, marriage remains the expected goal and children the expected goal of marriage, such that desire for desire’s sake is hard to see as anything other than a selfishness that we’re meant to grow out of en route to a solid, procreative partnership. Because our culture insists on pitting desire against duty, and we tend to organize our lives around the latter, we end up giving short shrift to pleasure as something that can be as sustaining as obligation. So perhaps not until we give sex its due will single people stop seeming slightly suspect, even to themselves—and the only ones willing to argue loudly against betrothment will be polyamorists, those infernally cheerful multitaskers.

Freedom can be unbearable. There is a wonderful line Bolick uses to describe Edna St. Vincent Millay: “A deep regard for the ungovernable had always been central to her character.” A deep regard for the ungovernable. If we’re not smug, erotic adventurers-slash-terrorists, can we still tolerate the uncertainty that can come with being single?

Can we look at the ungovernable straight on and bear that if we tangle with it, we’re just as likely to lose something as gain something?

Inhabiting that ambivalence can make you long for sentences that smash the order of things, just so you can feel what it’s like to finally know where you stand. That is not the kind of book Bolick wrote, however. And of course no one book can be expected to solve the problem of being avowedly single in a world filled with mixed messages.

Perhaps no book can help you believe more firmly in the rightness of your path. But to the extent that books can serve as strong rebuttals to the pernicious pull the old ways still have on us, the question may be: Now that we have rooms of our own, and can furnish them exactly as we want, how to learn that what goes on in the mind of one’s own is law and dictate enough?

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emma TEXT: LORRAINE CANDY PHOTOS: KERRY HALLIHAN

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The air is humid and sticky, a light shower threatens as Emma Watson and I look for somewhere to sit in New York’s Central Park. The atmosphere in the city is tense.

Helicopters circle relentlessly overhead among the grey clouds this Sunday lunchtime. President Obama is due here today and there are significantly more police on the streets than usual because of the UN summit taking place.

As we wander, strangers stride up to Watson asking for an autograph or picture, and I witness a masterclass in patience and politeness as she repeatedly declines so we can conduct our interview.

When we find a bench, it’s soaking wet. I’m concerned she’ll ruin her beautiful cream 3.1 Phillip Lim dress by sitting down. She couldn’t care less.

‘Don’t be daft,’ I say, offering tissues to one of Hollywood’s highest-paid and most-respected young actresses.

And we wipe away the raindrops as yet more overexcited passers-by make a comic, often clumsy, beeline for us.

I find this quite intrusive but Watson, 24, has been dealing with it since the age of nine, and her calm response is impressively professional.

In fact, Watson is an extremely impressive individual: fiercely intelligent with a razor-sharp mind. She has a newfound confidence so forceful she may well change the world. No, really, she might.

24 hours earlier: Saturday 20 September, UN Headquarters, New York Her hands are trembling and, at first, her voice is decidedly wobbly. She is so nervous that I’m literally gripping the edge of my chair in the auditorium in solidarity as she steps on stage. ‘Today we are launching a campaign called HeForShe,’ Watson begins. ‘I’m reaching out to you because we need your help. We want to end gender inequality – and, to do that, we need everyone involved.’

Slowly, Watson, newly appointed UN Women Goodwill Ambassador (the youngest ever), finds her mojo. The speech, which she wrote herself, begins to flow with authentic passion.

‘I started questioning gender-based assumptions a long time ago. When I was eight, I was confused at being called “bossy” because I wanted to direct the plays we would put on for our parents – but the boys were not. When, at 14, I started to be sexualised by certain elements of the media. When, at 15, my girlfriends started dropping out of their beloved sports teams because they didn’t want to appear “muscly”.

When, at 18, my male friends were unable to express their feelings. I decided that I was a feminist and this seemed uncomplicated to me,’ she goes on.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon smiles up at Watson, and the powerful audience of 700 UN VIPs are riveted by this mesmerising woman in her Dior dress, dark lipstick and neat ponytail.

The air is charged with electric expectancy. I don’t like the overused phrase ‘game changer’, but it really is the only way to describe the scene I’m privileged to be witnessing. In just 20 minutes, I watch Watson become an agent of change.

As soon as she finishes her speech, there is a spontaneous standing ovation. An activist is born, and the fresh new face of feminism allows herself a small smile.

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Emma Watson attends a United Nations event in 2014.

Later, at a cocktail party to celebrate the launch of the global HeForShe campaign, Watson, just 5ft 4in, is physically swamped by well-wishers.

She spots me in the crowd (we’ve met several times before: at the ELLE Style Awards and at her first UK magazine cover shoot for ELLE in 2009) and comes over to hug me. I’m surprised by this unexpected show of emotion from a normally reserved Watson. But tonight she’s alive with energy, fired up by the response to her stateswoman-like speech (news of which, as ELLE went to press, had reached a total of 1.5 billion Twitter users). The hashtag #HeForShe trends worldwide, and is so powerful that Twitter paints it on the wall of their HQ. The story dominates global headlines for a week and the speech is shared across millions of Facebook feeds.

Friends of mine even send it to me, demanding I interview Watson on their behalf, and on behalf of their teenage daughters.

I don’t tell them that I have already done so – that, in fact, we set up this interview and cover shoot the day after Watson’s appointment as UN Women

Goodwill Ambassador was announced in August for this Feminism Issue.

How wonderful, I think, that we now have a fresh new voice to talk feminism, a delightfully curious and wise woman to inspire a new generation.

Sunday 21 September, Central Park, New York ‘I have been waiting do this for years,’ Watson explains on that damp park bench. ‘When I left university [she studied English Literature at New York’s Brown University, graduating in May this year], I felt there was something lacking. I knew I wanted to keep acting, but I wanted something else.

‘Fame is not something I have always felt comfortable with, I have really grappled with it emotionally. And, in a funny way, doing this is my way of making sense of the fame, of using it. I have found a way to channel it towards something else, which makes it so much more manageable for me. And this is something I really believe in. I could talk about it for hours.’

And indeed she can. Feminism, feminists, feminist artists – for hours.

‘Here’s what I think,’ she says assertively. ‘Feminism is not here to dictate to you. It’s not prescriptive, it’s not dogmatic. All we are here to do is give you a choice. If you want to run for Prime Minister, you can. If you don’t, that’s wonderful, too. Shave your armpits, don’t shave them, wear flats one day, heels the next. These things are so irrelevant and surface to what it is all really about, and I wish people wouldn’t get caught up in that.

‘We want to empower women to do exactly what they want, to be true to themselves, to have the opportunities to develop. Women should feel free.

There is no typical feminist, there is nothing anywhere that says you have to meet a certain [set of ] criteria.’

I had feared I’d have to put the cloak of authenticity over Emma when I wrote up this cover interview. Before meeting her, it wouldn’t have been unreasonable to assume this actress, famous for her role as witch Hermione, was simply lending her name to a project in the way many celebrities do. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but when

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you stand up in front an audience of international world leaders, accomplished academics, fundraisers and global decision-makers and promise to tackle the thorny issue of gender inequality, you have to know your stuff or you’ll be condemned forever as a fake. Ten minutes into the interview, I realise I’ve been incredibly patronising to think that about Watson.

‘Initially, I thought I’d need to memorise all the statistics and information, but then I realised you can’t sustain that,’ she says. ‘It’s much more powerful to make people feel what the problems are, that’s what stays with someone. And that’s what fame can help with. I’m not pretending to be an economist or a politician. I’m not the most knowledgeable person on all the issues, but I am eager to learn.’

I tell her she looked nervous, and she bursts out laughing. ‘I was very nervous. It wasn’t an easy thing for me to do. It felt like: “Am I going to have lunch with these people, or am I going to be eaten? Am I the lunch?” But I just kept rereading the speech the day before and asking myself: “Do I believe this line?” and the answer was always “Yes”. I hope people could see my vulnerability up there. I hope it made me more human, not less.’

Watson reveals her mum texted to congratulate her as soon as she sat down after her speech. She talks so eagerly about making sure she didn’t wear too formal a suit, or appear too unapproachable for the speech that I wish our interview was videoed, so you could witness this warm and friendly woman in action.

She goes on: ‘I’ve waited until I found the right thing to speak about. I didn’t want to speak for the sake of it or just because I had the platform. I wanted to be 100% sure, and this UN role is just perfect for

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me. We need to stop preaching to the choir because feminism, women’s rights and gender equality aren’t about man-hating. When the UN explained the HeForShe campaign to me, I said: “This is it, let me run with it, because this is 100% my take on how we move forward.”’

Watson does indeed seem particularly well-qualified to join the crusade to persuade men to engage with feminism. She has four brothers: Alex, who is three years younger, her dad’s son Toby and her mum’s two stepsons, Andrew and David. After her lawyer parents split up when she was five, she went on to spend more time with her father. She explains: ‘My dad found himself alone with my younger brother and I for the first time. This was a whole new thing for him. So he did it in the only way he knew how, by involving us in everything he liked: fishing, cricket, tennis, books and just, you know, “adventuring”. As a result, I wasn’t aware there were “activities for boys” and “activities for girls”. It wasn’t: “This is for Emma, and this is for Alex.” I learnt it all: to tie flies, to fish, to bowl. I have an excellent bowling arm.

‘I’m lucky I was raised to believe that my opinion at the dinner table was valuable. My mum and I spoke as loudly as my brothers. She was a working single mother for a while. She set me an example that was more important than being there 100% of the time.

She was a woman who valued herself.

Seeing her having purpose and feeling good made me happy as a child.

‘I understand that feminism is not a gender-neutral word. Historically, it has been associated with aggression, and also it has the word “feminine” in it, which is harder for men to accept.

But there is no other word. By doing this, I am hoping it can be reimagined and redefined.”

So far, so feminist. But, I wonder, is it still a huge weight of responsibility for such a young woman who has led such a private and unusual life? She was on

film sets from the age of nine until 18 – the only one of the three young stars whose family didn’t come along with them. She studied alone abroad and has been fiercely guarded about her private life. It will take a great deal of emotional and indeed physical strength to cope with putting her head so far above the parapet. Exploring this with Watson reveals a woman in a state of change.

In 2010, she went to Bangladesh with ethical fashion charity People Tree.

Later, she travelled to Zambia with Camfed (a non-profit organisation dedicated to eradicating African poverty through the education of girls) and, the week before the speech, she was in Uruguay with the UN to encourage young women to vote in their heavily male political hierarchy. She has immersed herself in the subject of women, politics, education and employment. Watson knows her stuff.

Meanwhile, she is still a critically acclaimed A-list actress, and her choice of new roles reflects her change in personal priorities. We will see her next in Regression, playing a traumatised young woman struggling with issues of abuse. And she is also producing her first film alongside Harry Potter producer David Heyman, based on young adult novel The Queen Of The Tearling, a book that has more in common with Game Of Thrones than, say, Twilight. Watson has cast herself as an angry princess, fighting to rule a kingdom in turmoil.

‘My agent called and said: “I have to be honest, this is a trilogy!” I was reluctant, but when I read the book, I really wanted to spend three years in that world,’ she explains. ‘It’s going to be intense and I am going to have to get physically very fit, build some muscle and learn how to wield a sword.’

When we wander back to Watson’s hotel on the Upper East Side, I do so with a sense that I’m leaving a woman who has worked hard to silence the voices of her own inner turmoil. If I

MARCH 2015 - MOON 29

were to ask her if she’d had her heart broken, I know she would say yes; if she’d been lonely or depressed in her driven and often solitary career, she would also say yes. This isn’t spoken but acknowledged when I ask her if she’s ever had trouble sleeping. She has, but a love of yoga has put paid to that.

Watson spent the summer riding a moped around Rome (‘Who knew that was on my bucket list?’ she says) and moving into her new London flat.

‘I’m a nester,’ she adds. ‘I spend a lot of time putting my safe place together.

I’ve struggled with insomnia, but now I take care of myself, I’ve realised I’m not invincible. I travel, I cook, I look after my two cats, I do yoga and I read.’

We talk a little of our own personal heroes and role models, given she unintentionally became one in her role as Hermione.

She pauses and says thoughtfully: ‘I think it’s important to make the distinction between the person and the art that they create. I mean, I’ve worshipped some complete arseholes, who I’ve met and then wondered: “How did you write/do/say all those amazing things? !”’

I only mention this to make the points that: a) people often miss the playful humour that Watson possesses when they interview her, and b) in this case, the person is the role model. There is no separation. The likeable, accessible, learned and learning Emma Watson is the best woman I can see in a landscape of new voices rising to wield the sword of today’s new, inclusive feminism. And I wish her luck.

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MARCH 2015 - MOON 31

is #HITME the future of dating?

by Ivy Collins & Isaac Crawford

New York is going crazy and it’s all because of an app. No, it’s not Snapchat, Vine nor Instagram, it’s a dating app!

No, it’s not Tinder, Skout nor OKCupid.

Single America’s latest addiction is called #HitMe. As in the Britney Spears hit, …Baby One More Time. Some say it’s the app to end with all dating apps.

Others have decided it’s, once again, just useless crap. For our first ever joined feature, Suit and Moon have decided to try and experience #HitMe to save you the trouble of downloading yet another dating app. And thanks to our joined forces, we’ll be able to provide both female and male points of view on what the Washington Post has called “the dating meeting place of the 21st century”.

What is #HitMe? #HitMe is a free dating app very similar to Tinder or other similar apps. It came out in late 2014 and, since then, it has become the most downloaded social app in the US. After downloading it, the user logs in with their Facebook account and, after setting up a simple and short profile, starts meeting people. Firstly, you can decide to meet women (the backgrounds will turn pinkish) or men (blueish backgrounds) or, of course, both (but not at the same time, you can only explore one gender at a time). Here’s where #HitMe makes a difference. The biggest change from other dating apps is that you can specify what you’re looking for in terms of relationship. There are three categories, and they are pretty self-explanatory:

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1. One Night Stand: exactly what it says on the tin, if you’re looking for a hook-up, this is for you.

2. Relationship/Casual: for more serious encounters that may develop in a relationship. It may stay as fuck buddies or it may evolve into more. People here should be divided in two categories: those looking for a tentative relationship with emotional implications or those who are just looking for a usual hook-up.

3. One True Love: reminding us of fairy tale love, here people are only looking for a serious relationship that could develop into marriage and kids.

Here, people aren’t looking to fool around or experiment, and fuck buddies won’t do for them. Supposedly, all people here are ready to find their soulmate.

This is a great way to save time, separate frogs from princes, you could say.

It could be, if people really stuck to the categories they were interested in.

After that, it’s pretty much the same as always. You hit (or swipe) right or left. The icon on the left will change depending on the category. If you both like each other, a screen announcing the compatibility will appear and chatting will be available. If you’ve been navigating through various categories, do not fear, a little icon will appear near the person to know what they’re looking for.

From there on, you’re on your own.

Meet people, talk to people, fall in love or just… fool around!

But is #HitMe as good as it sounds?

We recruited two of our best writers to dig into young US’s latest addiction. Moon’s Ivy Collins and Suit’s Isaac Crawford created Mia Renaldi and Harry Deckard and started looking for someone to fullfill their imaginary love life. For one month, they logged in every single day, selected people from all three categories and talked to them.

After thirty intense days, they met up with screenshots, printed conversations and notes and, together, wrote this little analysis so you know what to expect when, inevitably, you also fall for the trend. So what did they think?

Is #HitMe the definitive method of dating in the 21st century or is it yet another miss?

Ivy’s experience

I’ve never really been interested in dating apps. I love living in the age of technology and meeting new people from all points of the world, but for dating I prefer meeting men the good ol’ fashioned way. When my boss suggested I tried #HitMe, I was sure I wouldn’t enjoy it at all, but I was wrong.

I started by creating a new profile, Mia

Renaldi was born. From there on, I started trying the app, one category a time. To have the widest range possible, my roommates helped me choose men.

I ended up with around sixty men, twenty from each category. I talked a lot to some of them, but just a few lines to others.

Ivy Collins, 25

Mia Renaldi, 25

Ivy Collins is a senior writer in Moon.

She’s 25 and graduated from Princeton before moving to NYC. She’s our expert in music and spends her time in between Broadway and local indie bands’ concerts.

Ivy is currently single and this is her first time using a dating app.

Mia Renaldi is 25 and works in law. She’s interested in music and tv, and loves to quote nerdy shows everywhere she goes.

She was born and raised in California and has been living in the city for the last two years.

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Screenshots of #HitMe while looking for men. Pictures and names have been changed.

One Night Stand In the hook-up category you can find what you expect. It’s the most similar to what #ByeFelipe posts. Lots of “suck my dick?” and “I wanna fuck your ass” without so much as a hello. But, surprisingly, there’s also lots of nice guys.

J23 asked me about my hobbies and talked to me for a while before asking me for coffee and sex, if we felt attracted to each other. H27 was very interested in what I liked in bed and what I was comfortable with, so we both would enjoy a healthy consensual sexual experience. Sadly, for every good guy, there were five assholes.

Most creepy opening: Are you a chair?

Because I’d love to sit on you.

Men I’d give a chance: 4/20 Relationship/casual This was a mix between ONS and OTL. There were guys trying to deceive girls into easy sex, and I can’t understand why because they have a category specifically for that. There were only men looking for love. Mostly, it was men that were okay with friendship and/or occasional sex and were willing to explore a exclusive relationship.

Here, P25 and I had a wonderful chat

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about a local indie band we both had seen in Brooklyn. M28 had strong views on politics, pro-life associations and sexism. R32 told me about his sister’s upcoming birthday and asked for advice for a last minute present. All in all, every one of them were civil. Then there were the jerks you can’t seem to avoid anywhere. W29 complimented me on my boobs before asking me for a blowjob. F26 wasn’t even that considerate and, when I didn’t answer his request for sex, he called me a stuckup lesbian bitch. True story.

Most creepy opening: I can see the future and in yours I can clearly see my cock.

Men I’d give a chance: 12/20 One True Love This was the category that called me the most. Not that I’m actively looking for the love of my life, but I was very curious about how people thought they could find their soulmate through an app. Surprisingly, I bumped into several serious guys who I genuinely think were going for the real thing.

Most of them, though, were older than those in other categories.

R34 was a big fan of football and poetry,

an odd combination that made him a fun and interesting partner in conversation. E36 offered me tips to improve my inexistent cooking knowledge. D28 was passionate about rock and told me about his time following U2 through North America. There were all kind of interesting, nice men that I’d have liked to go on a date with. Most of them were respectful and polite, and paid far more attention to what I had to say than anyone in the other categories. Of course, there were some douchebags around. Mostly, they were guys who wanted to make fun of women looking for true love. D22 told me I was “too ugly and fat for someone to love me”, S27 offered me sex and then called me a “desperate heartless bitch” when I refused, I26 laughed at me for being so pathetic that I had to look for love online, accusing me of having fake pictures. Fortunately, there were more good guys than bad ones.

Most creepy opening: I thought only fatties needed an app for love. / I am willing to fuck you if you put a bag over your head.

Men I’d give a chance: 15/20

ISAAC’s experience

I don’t really like apps, nor social networks. I barely use Twitter or Facebook and I have no interest in Vine, Instagram or Snapchat. So, when my boss asked me to write this, I had no idea what was ahead of me. The only thing I knew about Tinder was what my coworkers said about it, and I was even more familiarized with Grindr (one of my best friends is addicted to

it). Well, I thought, this is my chance to catch up with the 21st century and shut my friends up for a few months.

I created Harry Deckard, a guy who’s basically me in a parallel universe. I was sure Harry would get a lot of attention – the guy’s very handsome –, but even with this in mind I was surprised. Almost every girl Harry liked had compatibility with him.

Isaac Crawford, 27

Harry Deckard, 27

Isaac is a senior writer in Suit and usually writes our cinema reviews and news.

He likes to run through Central Park, go to the movies at least once a week and has a big crush on Karen Gillan (who doesn’t?). Isaac’s currently single and this is his first time using a dating app.

Harry Deckard is 27 and a photographer.

He was born in Louisiana and started his studies at Columbia, but dropped off before getting his degree. He’s in love with his cameras and also loves watching movies. He has a rebellious side, but he’s mostly known for his funny and positive attitude towards life.

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Screenshots of #HitMe while looking for women. Pictures and names have been changed.

One Night Stand I really thought only guys could be that explicit and rude. M29 politely asked me to put my cock in her ass before I could even say hello. D23 was drunk and looking for trouble. J25 made me shudder and I’m not precisely a prude.

It’s everything you’d expect you found and then, worse.

Of course, there were some nice girls with a clear mind. Most of these were looking for sex to relax and forget about the stress of work, and some of them were just trying to rebound in a relatively responsible way. Fortunately, there was more good and nice than dirty and pervy, and not a single girl insisted or insulted me when I declined to meet them.

Most creepy opening: Hey handsome, your cock has been deep in my dreams.

Women I’d give a chance: 11/20 Relationship/Casual Women in this category were mostly nice and funny. Some of them were just looking for a regular fuck buddy because they didn’t have time for anything else. B28 was a busy powerful businesswoman looking for a break once in a while. P24 had just gotten

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out of a complicated relationship and wasn’t ready for a serious relationship yet. On the other hand, there were some women looking for a relationship, but they weren’t sure if they wanted anything serious yet. Most of them offered “getting to know each other, no strings attached, and staying friends if things didn’t work out”. Here I found a lot of interesting women, like Q26 who worked as a nurse and found meeting people very difficult with her work hours; or E23, who claimed to be using #HitMe as a social experiment and told me all about the guys she had met on the app, from the weirdos to the potential boyfriend material.

Most creepy opening: – Women I’d give a chance: 16/20 One True Love Trying this category really worried me.

I was afraid of disappointing or hurting women who were truly dedicated to finding love. I felt guilty because I was wasting their time in a conversation that wouldn’t go anywhere, when they were really trying to look for true love. Anyway, apart from my personal remorse, in this category I found some of the most interesting women in the

app (and, probably, in the city). These were women with strong conversation that differed totally from the topics girls in the other categories usually talked about. They didn’t talk about relationship possibilities or sex, they went straight ahead and started with the “getting to know each other” part. There were some that maybe were a tad desperate, but most of them were funny and passionate and had just downloaded the app to give it a try. L26 told me “It’s just worth a chance, isn’t it? And if nothing comes of it, at least I’ve met one new friend, that’s always good”. T28 told me she had decided to use this category because “men here are more serious, in ONS and R/C they’re mostly out for sex and I want real conversation”.

I really think I could have fallen for one of these women if this hadn’t been work-related.

Most creepy opening: – Women I’d give a chance: 18/20

#HitMe advertisement, as seen on tub stations all over America in early 2015.

Ivy and Isaac’s shared thoughts after the experience #HitMe isn’t unlike other dating apps.

Our experience could probably be extrapolated to any other application.

Meeting people online was much less weird than we thought at first, and the experience was fun and taught us a lot.

Although men were more offensive and aggressive than women, both were mostly polite and nice. We met a lot of people we could see ourselves dating or at least being friends with. The pos-

sibility #HitMe offers with the categories is very helpful and probably a big improvement from other dating apps.

We think everyone who’s at least a little bit curious should try it. At the very least, you’ll have fun. If you’re lucky, you’ll find friends or maybe even love.

We can’t ignore that dating apps are still based in physical attraction at first, but isn’t life based on it, too? If you get to know a person through the app, it’s

really a very similar experience, and looks are even less important than face-to-face as you can only see a couple pictures.

So, try it! Have fun and mingle! And don’t forget to share your experiences through our websites and social networks. Did you meet your current partner through a dating app? Maybe a good friend? Or was is a disaster with a total creep?

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CELEBRITY IN & OUT

Every month, we say hello to every new relationship, congratulate every new marriage and say goodbye to every break up.

Benedict Cumberbatch and Sophie Hunter got married on Valentine’s Day! They also announced they are waiting for their first child together.

Selena Gomez and DJ Zedd are officially a couple. It seems Selena has finally gotten over Justin Bieber, who was her boyfriend for several years.

Cameron Diaz has gotten married with Good Charlotte’s Benji Madden in a super-secret ceremony in January.

Lady Gaga and long-time boyfriend Taylor Kenney are now engaged! The singer and the actor have been dated since he starred in one of her videoclips some years ago.

Patrick Dempsey fills divorce with wife Jillian Fink after months of rumors.

It-couple Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield are “having a break”. Sources say the couple can’t stand a long distance relationship anymore.

Sounds too much like Rachel and Ross?

Actress Elizabeth Olsen has broken her engagement with actor Boyd Holbrook after three years of relationship.

On and off relationship between driver Lewis Hamilton and singer Nicole Scherzinger is off again, but this time it seems it’ll be for real. Will it last? Place your bets!

Bradley Cooper breaks up with model Suki Waterhouse short before the Oscars, but still attends the ceremony with her. Wait, what?

40 MOON - MARCH 2015

“Is it a plane? Is it a bird? No, it’s a superheroine” They fight crime, villains and sexism.

The definitive ranking of feminist superheroines.

TEXT: Ivy Collins / DESIGN: Marie Culkin MARCH 2015 - MOON 41

I

It may not surprise you to learn that essentially all of the original superheroines dreamed up during the ‘40s and ‘50s—including characters that would later become iconic like Wonder Woman and Supergirl—were created by male writers and artists for a primarily male audience. Like all art, comics are a reflection of the time in which they are made; so this, as you can probably imagine, occasionally led to some not-so-flattering portrayals of these first female superheroes.

In the ‘60s and ‘70s, thanks to second-wave feminism, we began to see some improvements to women’s representation on the page, like Marvel Girl’s transformation into Phoenix (from the weakest to the strongest member of the X-Men), and founding Avengers member Wasp’s sudden intellectual prowess. And despite the overwhelming lack of female creators and a perceived disinterest in comics by female readers, as the decades have gone by, we’ve seen all kinds of inspiring female superheroes grace our comics, from disco queen Dazzler to former Wakandan queen Storm.

But just because we’ve come a long way since the “every woman is naturally the weakest member of her super-team” days, that doesn’t mean the comic book industry (like, you know, most industries) doesn’t still suffer from its fair share of sexism. For example, you might have heard a little while ago that, despite Marvel’s mostly-successful push toward diversity and inclusivity, they hired an erotica artist to draw a variant cover for the first issue of the new Spider-Woman; or that the current creative team on DC’s New 52 Wonder Woman has turned her into an infantilized, pouty bobblehead who can be seen carrying a teddy bear into battle. Not exactly the best way to bring lady readers on board.

Wonder Woman depiction by online artist @chillyfranco

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For all their missteps, though, major comic publishers are making big strides forward in representation; Mar

vel in particular has a huge range of female-led titles at the moment. Thor!

Spider-Gwen! Elektra! Black Widow!

Gamora! Silk and Storm feature women of color; Angela: Asgard’s Assassin has a trans woman in a major role.

Also of huge importance is the fact that many of these female-led comics have women on their creative teams, because diversity only truly matters if changes are being made both in front and behind the page – not to mention the fact that all those comics are being spearheaded by IRL superhero Sana Amanat, Marvel’s new Director of Content and Character Development.

So how are you to know which comics out there tick the lady-boxes you’re looking for? And if you’ve never picked up a comic book in your life, how do you even begin? Well, fear not, feminist readers, I have just the list for you, complete with rankings and easyto-find starting points. You can pick up these trades (that’s the term for a “book” of comics, usually comprised of about six single issues) at any major bookstore or online retailer these days – but I would recommend you do a quick search online and find your local comic book store. Small businesses need the support, and before you know it, you’ll find yourself talking with the Valkyrie behind the counter (that’s what we call lady comic shop employees), snapping up all kinds of new reading recommendations.

Now, without further ado: a ranking of the most feminist superheroes currently on the market.

CAROL DANVERS

SONJA

#10: Carol Danvers

#9: Sonja

Now, I might be a bit biased here because Captain Marvel is my favorite superhero, but Captain Marvel is the best superhero. Yeah, I said it. Even before she received her flight and energy-beam superpowers in an alien explosion, Carol Danvers was an Air Force pilot who could and probably would kick your butt. She lives in an apartment at the top of the Statue of Liberty, is best friends with Spider-Woman, and is one of the Avengers. In her most recent run, penned by sass-master Kelly Sue DeConnick, Carol jets off into space with her cat, Chewie (she’s a big Star Wars fan, clearly) to keep an eye on the Avengers’ cosmic affairs… and also on the Guardians of the Galaxy, who tend to get themselves into some trouble.

She’s one of the toughest women on Earth (and off it), and she’s got a her own movie coming out in 2018—so if you start reading now, you can totally join the Carol Corps and be one of those hipsters who tells everyone that the movie just didn’t live up to the comics.

One other amazing thing: Captain Marvel used to be a dude character, before Carol took over his powers.

Now, she wears his exact same costume, no high heels or deep-V’s added.

She would roll her eyes at the very suggestion.

Red Sonja is the Viking warrior queen of your dreams, able to booze, bang, or brandish her sword at any moment with ease. Sonja’s been around in various forms since 1934, almost a full decade before Wonder Woman lasso’d her way onto the scene, first in the pages of Conan and now in her own solo series. Current writer Gail Simone (one of the most talented and prominent female voices in comics) has described Sonja as “mayhem, blood, sex, and red hair,” and “lusty, a bit of a drunkard [who] does what she wants, says what she wants, and if you give her any shit, it’s entirely possible she’ll slay you and your best friend and your best friend’s cat.” So, you know. She’s pretty rad.

From: Captain Marvel Where To Start: Captain Marvel Vol. 1 “Higher, Further, Faster, More,” by Kelly Sue DeConnick and David Lopez (Marvel Comics)

From: Red Sonja Where To Start: Red Sonja Vol. 1, “Queen of Plagues,” by Gail Simone and Walter Geovanni (edited by Dynamite Comics)

You can jump right into the current run of Sonja without any background knowledge, though, so don’t worry—the story stands on its own. Plus, Walter Geovanni handles Sonja’s classic metal beach-wear with aplomb; you won’t be seeing any unnecessary cheeks or weird boob-and-butt twists in this run of Red Sonja. She rocks that bikini because it makes her feel hella fierce in battle, not because some dude happens to think she looks hot in it, and she won’t let you forget it.

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KATE KANE

#8: Kate Kane

From: Batwoman Where To Start: Batwoman: Elegy, by Greg Rucka and JH. Williams III; New 52 Batwoman Vol. 1 “Hydrology,” by J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman (DC Comics) There’s nothing worse than a female superhero who’s all male gaze’d up with gratuitous crotch-shots and poses that are physically impossible if you have internal organs. Lucky for all of us, there’s army brat Kate Kane, who would actually jump off the page and kick your face in with her very sturdy flat boots if you even tried to draw her like that. Forced to abandon her military career after she refuses to hide her sexuality, Kane uses her privilege as a moneyed socialite to take on a side gig as Batwoman, vigilante crime-fighter with the best hair in the Bat-family. We don’t deserve a queer, ginger, Jewish superheroine, but we definitely need her. If all that Batman stuff has a little too much machismo for your liking, pick up Batwoman; it might be the most serious, adult cape comic on this list, but it keeps things interesting!

As an added bonus, Elegy writer Greg Rucka has eloquently taken down misogynists in the geek community with rants decrying the myth of the “Fake Geek Girl”—you know, when gatekeeping neckbeards act like women only like comics in order to impress men. Plus, the New 52 team of Williams and Blackman departed the book after twenty-four issues when DC decided they didn’t want to see Kate marry her fiancée.

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#7: Alana

ALANA

RAT QUEENS

From: Saga Where To Start: Saga Vol. 1, by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples (Image Comics) Alana might not think of herself as a superhero—she has no “powers” in the traditional sense—but I certainly do.

Caught up on one side of an endless intergalactic war, Alana falls in love with Marko, and together they have a child. But in the Romeo & Juliet-esque twist you may have seen coming, Marko is on the other side of the war, and together the three of them must go to great lengths in order to avoid the massive chaos their union has caused.

Saga won Hugo, Eisner, and Harvey awards in 2013, and it includes some of the best portrayals of women in comics of all time.

Saga is a true high-sci-fi graphic novel, but don’t let that put you off; with beautiful art from Fiona Staples and an excellent story from one of the masters of comic writing, Brian K. Vaughan, the book is a true character study. At its heart, Saga is really just about two literal star-crossed lovers, fighting to save their little family from a war. And Alana will chop the hell out of you with her sword if you so much as glance wrong at Hazel, I swear.

#6: Hannah, Violet, Dee, Betty

From: Rat Queens Where To Start: Rat Queens Vol. 1 “Sass and Sorcery,” by Kurtis J. Wiebe and Roc Upchurch (Image Comics) Creator Kurtis Wiebe has described Rat Queens as Lord of the Rings meets Bridesmaids, and that couldn’t be more accurate. Imagine if you and your three best friends found yourselves trapped in a game of Dungeons & Dragons, and you’ve got this Eisner Award winner for best new comic.

The four foul-mouthed adventuresses are all unique in their own special ways: Hannah is a rockabilly necromancer with half-sleeves and a tendency to swing a little more Evil than Good; Violet is the dwarven warrior who shaved her beard before it was cool; Dee is the shy human cleric who’s still trying to deal with her escape from that awkward Cthulhu-worshipping cult; and Betty is a hippie halfling thief/bartender who really, really loves getting high. Rat Queens passes the Bechdel Test on almost every page without pandering or proselytizing, and it’s one of the few comics that will make you laugh out loud constantly. The Rat Queens might not give a damn what you think of them, but I know you’re going to love them.

SPECIAL MENTIONS

MISS AMERICA

BLACK WIDOW

W

DOREEN GREEN

BARBARA GORDON BUFFY SUMMERS

#5: Doreen Green

#4: Barbara Gordon

Squirrel Girl is ridiculous. She’s just ridiculous! There’s no getting around it. She’s a girl with the equivalent physical powers of a squirrel and she can also talk to squirrels. The great thing about the current run of The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl is that writer Ryan North knows all this, and embraces Doreen’s ridiculousness with all the love she deserves. Easily the funniest comic superhero comic out there right now (so many puns, it’s nuts!), Squirrel Girl follows Doreen’s adventures as she starts college with her pet squirrel Tippy Toe, like meeting her new knitting-obsessed roomie, signing up for clubs, crushing on cute boys, defeating Galactus—you know, the usual. Also, Doreen hides her conspicuous squirrel tail in the back of her pants, which Erica Henderson uses to her advantage by drawing Squirrel Girl in the most body-positive, bootylicious way possible. “I like to draw heartier super ladies, if their powers are mostly physical, because I feel like I shouldn’t be able to take down a super hero by sitting on her,” Henderson said. Preach.

After recovering from a spinal injury that left her paralyzed for three years, Barbara Gordon has just graduated from college with a degree in forensic psychology and is living the typical early-twenties life in Burnside, Gotham’s very own version of Brooklyn.

Sorry, did I say typical? I meant that she’s trying to navigate the waters of having a normal life while also attempting to bring down a psychopath with a revenge porn ring so twisted it will make you want to set up two-step verification on every account you have, immediately. Babs rocks the most functional crime-fighting outfit ever seen in comics (Doc Martens! A leather jacket! A snap-off cape!), and she’s not scared to snap a selfie post-smackdown. She’s you, if you just also happened to have an eidetic memory.

As a bonus, the book’s current creative team is outspoken in their love for feminism and diversity in comics, and they responded incredibly well to some recent controversy over their representation of trans characters (which, while imperfect, shows they’re trying and listening to communities traditionally under-represented in comics). Plus, Babs Tarr’s art makes the Burnside crew look like they belong in the next episode of Broad City. If you’re looking to pick up your first DC cape book, I recommend waiting a few months for the first Burnside trade—and then you’ll be hooked for life.

From: Squirrel Girl Where To Start: The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl issue 1, by Ryan North and Erica Henderson (Marvel Comics)

HAWKEYE

SHE-HULK

From: Batgirl Where To Start: Batgirl Vol. 1 “The Batgirl of Burnside,” by Cameron Stewart, Brenden Fletcher, and Babs Tarr.

#3: Buffy Summers

From: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Where To Start: Buffy Season Eight Vol. 1 “The Long Way Home,” by Joss Whedon and Georges Jeanty (Dark Horse Comics) “Wait,” I can hear you say through your screen, “didn’t Buffy end after seven seasons way back in 2003?” So you might think—if you limit yourself to the mere medium of television— but you would in fact be mistaken.

Buffy Summers paved the way for badass women on-screen in the late ‘90s (the era of timeless fashion), and she continues to be just as pioneering and perky in comic books nowadays The first volume of Buffy Season Eight picks up not long after the television series finale and continues to tell the story of all your Buffy faves, including Xander, Willow, Giles, and Faith (… and even Dawn, ugh).

Joss Whedon has admitted that, without the restraints of a small-screen VFX budget, they may have gone a bit off the deep end, creatively (spoiler alert! At one point, Dawn becomes a centaur? It’s weird), but doesn’t everyone want to see what Buffy Summers would have done with her life after leaving the remains of Sunnydale?

And have Buffy go on and on and never end? Thanks to the miracle of comics, we get just that: they’re currently in the midst of Buffy season ten. Yes, our favorite ‘90s feminist icon can live forever in the pages of this comic book series.

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#2: Suze

SUZE

From: Sex Criminals Where To Start: Sex Criminals Vol. 1, “One Weird Trick,” by Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky (Image Comics) For some people, it might feel like time metaphorically stops when you have sex; but for Suze, it literally does.

Whenever she achieves the big O, everything freezes, and Suze can wander freely around what she calls “The Quiet.” When she meets Jon and discovers he can do the exact same thing (though trust me when I tell you his name for “the Quiet” is a lot more on-the-nose), they decide to sexploit their newfound powers as a couple to do what you’d normally do with time-stopping powers: drop a stinky gift in your awful boss’s potted plant, take epically long baths, and rob banks. (Wait…) But Suze and Jon aren’t the only people who can find their way to The Quiet—the Sex Police, led by one Kegel Face, are after them, and our intrepid couple have to find their way out of some pretty unsexy trouble.

Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky are comedic masters, and Suze’s narration is completely natural and relatable.

Sure, the book is vulgar, but not in the ways you might think. Plus, the end of every volume of Sex Criminals comes with a series of sex tips, including helpful hints like “Nipple clamps are excellent for keeping nipples in place,” “Butt stuff,” and “Have sex with me please.” Nailed it.

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KAMALA KHAN

#1: Kamala Khan

From: Ms. Marvel Where To Start: Ms. Marvel Vol. 1 “No Normal,” by G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona (Marvel Comics) Kamala Khan has changed the face of superhero comics forever. A fifteenyear-old Muslim Pakistani American girl in Jersey City, Kamala obsesses over the Avengers (her fanfic is doing really well online, guys), finds her strict parents tough to deal with, and struggles to fit in like any other teen. After sneaking out to a party one night, Kamala finds herself engulfed in a mysterious fog that bestows upon her epic powers of shape-shifting and healing.

She grows into her powers (heh) as she grows into her own self, learning what it means to be “super” in more ways than one. And she still has to go to high school. Ugh. Ms. Marvel is written by G. Willow Wilson (an actual Muslim woman, hooray), and is full of hilarious, youspend-half-your-life-on-the-internet references that will have you falling in love with Kamala before you can say, “Wow, such superhero, very inhuman.” Watch her fangirl over Wolverine in-person, start on her journey of self-discovery, and fight for the reputation of an entire generation, all while trying to heed advice from her parents and religious leaders.

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Frame from the original iZombid comic, by Michael Allred.

TV SHOW OF THE MONTH

iZombie: undead detective

by Ivy Collins.

CW’s latest hit series is Veronica Mars meets Warm Bodies. Liv Moore (Rose McIver) is an over-achieving medical resident with her life perfectly on track: she’s intelligente and succesful, she has a great best friend and a gorgeous fiancée. Everything goes to hell in one night, when she goes to a party and she gets turned into a zombie. She leaves her life behind in fear of harming people – breaking up with her boyfriend and turning mostly antisocial – and starts working in a morgue.

The morgue has two perks: she’s got no one to harm – they’re already dead– and she has a great reserve of brains.

What’s the catch? When she eats a brain, she gets traits of the person’s character and memories of their lives. And here’s where the Veronica part comes.

Suddenly, Liv finds herself helping a homicide detective solve crimes. Zombie superheroine? Yes, please. iZombie is loosely based in the comic by the same name by Chris Roberson and Michael Allred, but the influen-

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ce of creator Rob Thomas and Diane Ruggerio is obvious. Both writers and producers of Veronica Mars, they have decided to turn to the same snarky humor and sarcastic main character that made Veronica famous.

But why should you invest your time in yet another CW show? There’s already Reign, Arrow and Jane the Virgin to watch. More zombies? You drew the

line at The Walking Dead. It’s simple: iZombie breaks every rule. It’s a mix between the supernatural and the most domestic human life ever. Yes, Liv’s a zombie, but she’s doing as much as she can to act as a human. I mean, she eats brain salad! You’ll fall in love with her. McIver’s performance makes Liv funny and interesting, making it easy to identify with her.

But it’s not only her. Her partner in crime is her coworker, Ravi (Rahul Kohli), the only person who knows her secret. He’s even more fun and his witty remarks will make your day.

If you’re in for some eye candy, then you have sweet and hunky ex-fiancée Major (Robert Buckley). And what’s an investigation without a cop? Clive Babineaux (Malcolm Goodwin) has a fun surname and a big heart.

The 2014/2015 season seems to be CW’s golden year. With all fall shows renewed, the critically acclaimed The Flash and their first ever Golden Globe for Jane the Virgin, the small network is living the dream. iZombie is the latest proof that, when they put their mind to it, they can produce the best shows on TV.

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