Comic Book Hair

Hair says so much in the first two issues of James Robinson’s Scarlet Witch run.

In Scarlet Witch #1, artist Vanesa Del Rey and colorist Jordie Bellaire frame Wanda’s face with rich dark chestnut waves. Her hair is glossy and full, but a sort of unified force, and full of inky shadows. Her hair is restrained in its power. Its warmth offsets the cool gray of her eyes and acts as an earthy neutral ground between Wanda’s reds and the grayscale of her city surroundings.

In Scarlet Witch #2, Marco Rudy gives Wanda’s hair a life of its own. 

Just being stylish and awesome?

Hopey!

The Orchid Crusher in Detective Comics #396, February 1970

...with Princess Leia buns in full effect.

The Million Dollar Debut of Batgirl in Detective Comics #359, January 1967

David Aja gives Kate Bishop nice bangs that keep her hair out of her face, which is very important for archers!

Sometimes she accessorizes a bit, and she can definitely do wigs:

But in general, she is not too into her hair and her hair doesn't fly around in an eye-catching way, even in her most actiony scenes. Also, the guest artists are quite faithful to her no-nonsense hairstyle.

Javier Pulido accentuates the way her hairstyle flatters her skull shape, and he pokes her ear out, which cutens her:

He even goes a little Zoey Deschanel with those big eyes, but the way the rest of her hair is pinned and knotted haphazardly back seems very true to Kate Bishop. Sometimes I secretly suspect Aja's Kate Bishop would have to flat iron her hair to get her look. But maybe Pulido just decided to give her a bit more natural wave.

Steve Lieber and Jesse Hamm give us a great cranky Kate with her hair lank and soaking wet:

(Again with that ear!! Why is her ear so cute??)

But  then once she dries off, she has this tousled bedhead thing happening that I hardly recognize:

That panel is kind of weird. 

And then Francesco Francavilla takes few liberties with our dear Kate and her hair, but combines some of the nicest things from the other artists:

I recently saw some comments saying Marvel's Squirrel Girl is just trying to piggyback on DC's youthful refresh of Batgirl. 

In Squirrel Girl, we have a very young red-headed woman who looks like a squirrel, and her quirky new roommate who looks like Benedict Cumberbatch:

Their hair just sort of sits on their heads like these are girls with other matters to attend to. They're fully clothed and genuinely odd. This comic book is not concerned with the male gaze. Just like that unconventional bat-faced girl in Batgirl and her Lance Reddick lookalike roomie, right?

Hair is messy but fetching. Eyebrows are perfect.