Action Girl/Comic Books

Comic Books

 * Every superheroine ever has this as a part of the job description.
 * The archetypical comic book Action Girl is, of course, Diana Prince a.k.a. Wonder Woman, created for just that purpose in 1941. Not the first female superhero, but a true cultural icon and never out of print in 67 years. (Since until recently, if DC didn't keep making it they would lose ownership).
 * Black Canary is a character who fluctuates between Action Girl and Faux Action Girl, depending on the writer. Chuck Dixon and Gail Simone, in Birds of Prey, were frustrated at the fact that she always seemed to end up as a victim/hostage, and devoted much of the comic to re-establishing Canary's Badass credibility. Sadly, the Green Arrow/Black Canary title utterly evaporated all that martial arts street cred.
 * She at least regained it for a two-issue guest appearance in Wonder Woman -- written by Guess Who? Gail Simone.
 * And now she's back on Birds of Prey.
 * And then there's Big Barda, who's a beautiful seven-foot walking tank. And her husband, Mr. Miracle, loves her that way.
 * Every X-Woman in existence has had an Action Girl moment, but doubly so if she was created/handled by Chris Claremont. Notable Action Girls include Storm, Psylocke, Polaris, Rogue, Emma Frost, X-23, Kitty Pryde, Dazzler, Jubilee, and Jean Grey. Though special mention goes to Storm, who led the team without her powers during a long period in the '80s, and accumulated several Badass levels during that period.
 * Gotham Central has a cast split almost 50/50 between male and female police officers, and each and every one of the women is an action girl (At least, we are told they are. Some simply never get enough time in the spotlight to confirm or deny these findings). Being cops they have to be, especially since they regularly deal with supervillains that fight Batman, and thus have to be Badass Normals in their own right:
 * Detective Romy Chandler is probably given the first real action moment. Having discovered the secret identity of Firebug and trapping him within the police station, Firebug activates a hidden flamethrower to burn his way out; however, instead of burning Nate Patton to a toasty crisp, he is instead instantly buried in foam. The next panel shows Romy standing there, holding a fire extinguisher and glaring at him.
 * Renee Montoya gets the next reveal of her action potential. Apart from "minor" incidents throughout the series (Like beating the crap out of a rapist when he starts following her with a video camera) she gets to beat up a few "freaks" (supervillains) singlehandedly, starting with Two-Face. He has ruined her life (Framed her for murder, outed her to friends and family, kidnapped her, etc.) and is now holding her prisoner, but she knocks him down and goes right after his gun, and she does not stop until the Batman himself shows up.
 * Montoya built up enough of a reputation that she became the new Question when Vic Sage died.
 * Chakaal from Groo the Wanderer.
 * Red Sonja
 * Agent 355 (and most of the rest of the Culper Ring) in Y: The Last Man. A good thing too, as the eponymous walking MacGuffin is a definite Non-Action Guy. Natalya Zamyatin also fits the bill, as does after her Heel Face Turn.
 * The Bat Family has a record of having some of the most awesome Action Girls (Barbara Gordon both as Batgirl and Oracle, Cassandra Cain as Batgirl, Spoiler, Huntress and Catwoman, just to name a few) and tending to go through long periods where those girls are Stuffed in The Fridge or misused in some other way, before making returns.
 * When creating the new Batwoman, introduced in 52, the writers were afraid that she would quickly become a Faux Action Girl, especially since, though important, she is not the hero of the story. The Real Life furor surrounding the fact that she was a gay character caught them completely by surprise (They expected a response, of course, but not nearly of the size they got) and they wanted to make sure she was more than a token-anything. As such, they wanted the few action scenes she was in to be explicitly cool, they did not want to just talk about how cool she was. To this end, when writing one fight scene they scripted it as simply "Batwoman is finishing off the last two Intergangers with a devastating move that will have people saying 'holy ****, she's cool!'" When looking at the finished product, Greg Rucka observes what she is doing and points out that the injury she is causing is something "the Batman himself would think twice about before inflicting."
 * Tulip O'Hare of Preacher (Comic Book). She hates guns, except when they're shooting.
 * Usagi Yojimbo has at least five or six.
 * Tomoe Ame, who kicked the title character's ass as a kid.
 * Her cousin/ Noriko the Blood Princess, who did the same to her.
 * Chizu, who qualifies by default as a Ninja and a recurring character.
 * Inazuma, the most skilled fighter in the book according to Word of God (with the possible exception of Katsuichi-sensei).
 * Kitsune does not exactly qualify (preferring stealth to more direct approaches), but has been shown to have some skill with swords/battle tops/knees...
 * Also some minor characters, like Saiko the assassin.
 * Alexandra Goncharova, Makita and Maya Antares from The Red Star.
 * In Strangers in Paradise, anyone who's ever worked for Darcy Parker.
 * The eponymous Sheena, Queen of the Jungle practically set the standard for Action Girls! She even came before Wonder Woman!
 * Nextwave's Elsa Bloodstone, to stupidly ridiculous proportions, kicking the ass of anything with an ass using anything from shotguns to shovels to guitars.
 * Tara, Mariah and Shakira from The Warlord.
 * Plourr Ilo. Just look at her! She is a princess and her story is loosely based on that of Anastasia, but she is also a competent mechanic and pilot, a bit of a Tsundere, and both strong and good at hand-to-hand combat.
 * The version of Rapunzel from Rapunzel's Revenge.
 * Squirrel Girl. And how!!
 * The Sonic the Hedgehog Archie comic has Julie-Su, Bunnie Rabbot, Sally Acorn, and Amy Rose, although Sally has been subject to Chickification at times.
 * Sonic the Comic has Amy, who's sniper material.
 * The eponymous lead of Yoko Tsuno.
 * Gran'ma Ben of Bone is a great example of when this type of character grows up to be a Cool Old Lady, and retains all of her ass-kicking powers.
 * Cassie Hack of Hack Slash.

Newspaper Comics

 * Modesty Blaise, whom Jennifer K. Stuller (author of Ink-Stained Amazons and Cinematic Warriors: Superwomen in Modern Mythology) called "The most complex, sophisticated, skilled and intelligent of all action heroines".

UNSORTED

 * Comic Hard Graft features all round actiongirl (and madwoman) Bernadette Montez.
 * Kate Spencer of DC's Manhunter has become an example of this. Add the fact that she stole the weapons and costume she wears and isn't afraid to kill anyone in her way, and you have one crazy woman.
 * Elena Kurakin, a half-Mongolian swordswoman and Rudinshtein Irregular who killed her commanding officer for cowardice in Nikolai Dante.
 * Marvel's Mockingbird is another good example.
 * There's also She Hulk.
 * Judge Dredd has no shortage of very competent female judges. Notably Psi Judge Anderson and Galen DeMarco, both of whom got their own spin-offs.
 * Sue Storm! She sure started out as a Faux Action Girl, but man did she ever level up. She's now the toughest fighter on the team, and she's on a team with Ben Grimm!
 * It's a bit more complicated than that. She's the most powerful person on the team, but that doesn't necessarily mean she's the most ruthless or skilled fighter. If she's aware of a threat and willing to cut loose, she can kill with a thought, but she'd much rather create barriers to protect her friends or restrain her enemies.
 * She defeated The Hulk alone - not even Ben Grimm has been able to do that. When she fought Wolverine in his own book, he turned tail and ran because she had his number. Sue wins.
 * Danger Girl.
 * Rogue Trooper has Venus Bluegenes, one of the very few GI Dolls to move into combat.
 * Jet Dream and the rest of her team of Stunt-Girl Counterspies.
 * Scarlett in the G.I. Joe comics, followed closely by Lady Jaye and even Cover Girl.
 * Painkiller Jane is a female version of the Punisher. In fact she even slept with him in a crossover. Her friends the 22 Brides are all experts in guns and killing things as well.
 * Elektra.
 * Ms. Marvel.
 * Panda Delgado from Body Bags. She's a petite 14-and-a-half-year-old with a deadeye aim who works as a professional bounty hunter.
 * Ivy Raven, operative of the NSB, is the go-to agent whenever something needs to be tracked down, hushed up, or gotten rid of in the Echo universe. Unless your yourself have access to a high-tech combat suit built of Unobtainium, you should stay out of her way.
 * Machiko Noguchi from the Alien vs. Predator franchise. The only human (much less female) to not only be accepted into the ranks of the Predators, but also thrive among them as a peer.
 * Just about every female character from the Dreamkeepers 'verse qualifies for this trope in some way.
 * In Steve Gerber's Omega the Unknown, one of the protagonist's surrogate parents fits this bill, being a savvy New Yorker living in Hell's Kitchen who makes money by following supers around and taking pictures of their battles for JJ Jameson, who she then argues with about compensation.
 * Supergirl
 * Nth Man the Ultimate Ninja has Colonel Vavara Novikova, head of the KGB's Spetsburo (Assassination Bureau) and the second-deadliest assassin on Earth.
 * Action Call Girl in the case of Gail, one of the more badass girls of Old Town, and Dwight McCarthy's Warrior Woman.
 * Last Man Standing's girls are are this, and then there's Bonnie, who's basically a FemBot maid.
 * Martha Washington, from Give Me Liberty
 * Lady Mechanika, Steampunk action girl!
 * Chassis
 * Wynonna Earp
 * An unnamed miller's daughter in a story by Wilhelm Busch. She's alone when three robbers enter the mill, one of them implied to be a rapist. But without feeling in trouble for a moment, she flattens the wannabe rapist with a millstone, rolls up the second robber to a spiral (with the help of the turning axis of the mill-wheel), and beheads the third one (who apparently doesn't care for the fate of his mates) when he tries to rob the gold from a chest. The author comments: "This is how one single girl gets three men into trouble." Read it here.
 * Midnight from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles story arc "Bodycount" a great example of a Badass Normal action girl, she is one of the best fighters in the story able to beat a 300 pound giant of a man in unarmed combat and is pretty useful with guns and swords, it is worth noting that she was based off Kevin Eastman's wife at the time Julie Strain.
 * Adamâ in Megalex. She's beautiful and deadly, able to wield a gun quite well and also use a blowgun to kill armored robots by hitting their weak spot.
 * Sharon Carter, badass S.H.I.E.L.D. agent extraordinaire. She even served as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. at one point.
 * Rebel commander Mirith Sinn. She joined the Alliance after her husband was murdered by Darth Vader to make a point, and rose through the ranks until she in charge of a base on an Outer Rim world. And she is not shy in the least about getting her hands dirty. When things get desperate, she charges to the front lines, coldly dispatches Imperial guards, and even allows herself to be captured and tortured so an ally can escape. She even withstands the torture no matter how painful it got--until the enemy commander began an orbital bombardment of her troops' fallback position.
 * Power Girl

"Back to"