The Hawkeye Initiative

2012

Date: 2 December 2012 · Place: Tumblr · Figures: noelle stevenson, originator · Skjalddis, Tumblr archive curator · Hawkeye, Marvel character · Tags: Tumblr, Feminist Critique, Fan Art 01. A Test For Comic-Book Posing On 2 December 2012 the cartoonist noelle stevenson posts an image on Tumblr in which she has redrawn Marvel's Hawkeye in the contorted spine-and-hip poses typical of female superhero art. The Tumblr user Skjalddis launches a dedicated submission archive within forty-eight hours. Within a week the archive holds hundreds of community contributions. The initiative is covered by Wired, the Mary Sue, and the Guardian. 02. A Test The Industry Cannot Pass The Hawkeye Initiative functions as a structural critique: if a male character cannot plausibly inhabit a pose, the pose is not anatomy but gendered convention. The argument is harder to dismiss than verbal critique because the test is reproducible by any reader with a pencil. By 2014 several major comics editors cite the initiative in interviews about editorial style guides. The campaign is among the earliest cases of Tumblr fandom critique directly altering mainstream industry practice. Sources • The Hawkeye Initiative, Tumblr archive (2012-2015) • The Mary Sue, 'The Hawkeye Initiative and the Anatomy of the Female Superhero' (4 December 2012) • Wired, 'How the Hawkeye Initiative Changed Comics' (8 March 2014)