To celebrate International Women’s Month last year, I dedicated one of my columns to the greatest women in comic book history. I highlighted the careers of Wonder Woman, Kitty Pryde and Liz Sherman. This year, I will add to the list, since there are so many more women characters I want to talk about, but could not fit them all in one column last year.

Best Aunt Ever

When I talk about the greatest women characters in comic book history, I am not necessarily talking about superheroes. One of the greatest, most classic, and most inspiring women in comic books, even up to today, is an old woman, seemingly very vulnerable, and with no powers. She is no other than Aunt May.

Aunt May has been an essential character in the Spider-Man mythos since the very start. And she is the most important person in Peter Parker’s life. Always caring for Peter, she struggled hard to sustain him even after his Uncle Ben died. She brought him up all by herself, while at the same time making sure that his personal life and values were protected and nurtured.

This woman has had a lot of tragedy in her life from the very start of her Marvel Comics story. Her brother-in-law and his wife died, so she had to take care of their child. And before the child could even graduate from high school, her husband was murdered, leaving her alone with her nephew. She was even on the brink of death, after being caught in the middle of an assassination attempt on Peter by Kingpin’s man, and shot. It was only Peter’s sacrifice to Mephisto, ending his marriage with MJ, that saved the life of Aunt May.

Truly, it has not been all smooth sailing for Aunt May. But with courage, and support from her loving boy, Peter, Aunt May is in a really good place right now. Currently, Aunt May is married to John Jonah Jameson, father of J.Jonah Jameson. Yes, you’re right, that is in fact Peter’s infamous former-boss. The tension between the new “brothers” makes for interesting family dinners.

But supervillains and dysfunctional relationships aside, Aunt May has always been and will always be the main source of strength for Peter Parker. She is the one woman who has never left his side, and she is as immortal as the legend of Spider-Man will ever be.

That Witch!

In 1995, Top Cow created Witchblade, a hit sensation that ruled over the rest of the 90s and early 2000s in pop culture. Recently, the interest in Witchblade has seen quite the resurgence after the major Top Cow event, Artifacts.

The star of Witchblade is Detective Sara Pezzini, a New York City cop who uses the Witchblade to fight crime, both of the supernatural and earthly nature. The Witchblade is a supernatural weapon, an entity that was born from the two constants of the universe, the Angelus and the Darkness, which represent order and chaos respectively. It is the balancing force between good and evil, a gauntlet that gives its owner a mystical armor that covers the body, and which can transform into any kind of weapon that you want. Sara has even used the Witchblade to act as wings that enable her to fly.

Sara’s romantic life has been very rich, mainly stemming from her tumultuous relationship with Jackie Estacado, a mob boss who came into the possession of the Darkness, one of the primal forces that created the Witchblade. Sara being a cop, and Jackie being a criminal, it was a given that they would clash many times, but also be attracted and drawn to each other. With the help of Sara, Jackie has been able to reform to some point, and really embrace the inner hero in him.

Very similar to the Green Lantern Corps, or the Flash lineage of DC Comics, the Witchblade is a legacy, something that is passed on, taking a life of its own, encompassing any one possessor. When Sara was pregnant, with Jackie Estacado as the father, she turned over the Witchblade to Danielle Baptiste, the daughter of her captain in the New York Police Department. Like Sara, Danielle used the powerful artifact as a weapon of good, a gauntlet that would be a symbol of vicious justice across the mystical plane. Although Danielle was a dancer, not from the same brutal environment as Sara, she was still able to bring her purity and courage to her missions.

Later on Sara became ill from her pregnancy, and as she was dying, Danielle returned the Witchblade to her to save her life. But Danielle Baptiste’s story is far from over because now she is the Angelus, the universe’s primal force of light, creation and order.

Again, there are so many female pillars of the comic book mythology, and it would take billions of years for me to write about every cool thing about these girls. Suffice it to say, the world would be a miserable place without these women. So this month, let us all hug our mothers, our sisters, our wives, girlfriends and any of our female friends, and tell them how much we really love them, how much we look up to them, and how they inspire us every day of our lives.

(When he’s not out on the streets saving the world from made-up villains, Marco Manalac is usually surfing the internet. Follow him on Twitter @ marcomanalac. Email him at marco.manalac@gmail.com)