Burka Avenger, produced by Unicorn Black is a multi-award winning 3D animated TV series and the first ever animated superhero series made in Pakistan. The protagonist of the show is Jiya, an inspirational school teacher whose alter ego is the super-heroine Burka Avenger. Her use of books and pens as weapons is symbolic on many levels. The Burka Avenger fights for Justice, Peace and Education for all.

By day Jiya works as a teacher in an all-girls school, but by night she dons a black burka as her disguise and fights crime in her fictional city. The parallel to Clark Kent and Superman are obvious. But what is so very interesting is that Jiya uses the female garment of repression as her cloak of power, the burka, to become a super-heroine.

The crime she fights might be the closing of an all girls school or an attack on the school. One episode featured on the web site is “Burka Avenger Fights Polio” in which Jiya saves the polio vaccinations for the city’s children–stolen by those who resist change and medication. The symbolism is hard to miss in this 22-minute episode. Jiya uses skills of martial arts and clever strategy to overcome those much stronger and vicious than she.

Most fascinating to me is how this super-heroine is loyal to her city with a compassion and empathy that motivates her heroic actions. Who else could perform such acts of courage than a young woman in a burka?

Just announced this month, DC Comics, Warner Bros., Mattel, and other partners will launch an entire new line of products for girls and tweens featuring DC Comics Super Heroes as girls: Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Katana, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, Bumble Bee and Batgirl—depicted as multi-ethnic teenagers. 

We’ll meet them and learn their stories, how each one of them came to have superpowers in her childhood and teen years. It seems that girls are taking over the DC Comics Universe of Super Heroes. At least they are finding they belong. Is this, “Bye, bye Barbie and hello Batgirl?” Or will we discover that Super Girls have the same impossibly tiny waists and other inhuman proportions squeezed into skimpy costumes? 

Even so, it’s a good sign that merchandisers think that girls will identify with such strong, powerful iconic characters. But maybe girls are ready to take on the world beyond playtime and comics.

The Woman Wonder Tales in this project are not comic book stories, but based on real life challenges that girls, teens, and young women face. It will be interesting to see if Super Girls will face “super charged” challenges from an opposing cast of arch villains and fight against crime. Real life is not so black and white.