I dunno...maybe I have a soft spot for fiery green-eyes redheads who could kick my ass. After all, Princess Eilonwy from the Chronicles of Prydain was my first youthful literary love. And Atom Eve from Invincible certainly fills the bill. With the civilian name of Samantha Wilkins, Atom Eve is far, far more than window dressing in the comics and animated series following the adolescent super-shenanigans of her boyfriend/teammate Mark Grayson (Invincible himself) and his hilariously blasé alien conquistador father, Omni-Man. She's powerful in her own right, seasoned from her time in super-groups from a young age, and guided by a fierce moral compass about the great power/great responsibility dynamic.
(By the way, Invincible perfectly scratches the itch of the Gen X comic book fan. More earnest than Peacemaker, less shock-shlocky than The Boys, less sprawling than the increasingly ponderous Marvel Cinematic Universe. Also, my kids love it so we can watch it together. Everybody wins.)
But back to Eve. There's more than a touch of Jean Grey in her, and it's not just the hair. Or maybe it is the hair - like Sheila the Thief from the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon or good old Firestar, there's a strong vein of integrity and compassion that fuel her heroism. But as with those characters there's an anxiety too, a fear that they might hurt someone, or not make a difference, or that they may lose someone they love. It creates a textured, human narrative that's compelling amidst the helter-skelter action and often-crude humor and larger storyline. After all, despite the title of the thing, ain't no one invincible.
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