MARK MILLAR responds

Mark has two things he's completely unrepentant about: a love of superhero comics and being a Scotsman. Notable works include great runs on "Superman Adventures," "Swamp Thing" and "Aztek" (which I miss a lot) and the JLA mini-series, "JLA: Paradise Lost." I buy everything he writes. You should, too. (GS)

As regards the female characters thing, I'm afraid I think it's giving male creators a bum deal. The list does read pretty shocking at first until you think of everything the male heroes have gone through, too, in terms of deaths/mutilations/etc. Granted, the female stuff has more of a sexual violence theme and this is something people should probably watch out for, but rape is a rare thing in comics and is seldom done in an exploitative way.