...Because she might not be as lucky as the Lois Lanes of this world, who are doomed to an endless cycle of being taken by bad guys and rescued by Superman, helpless the entire time. She could be doomed to being murdered in a horrendously and unnecessarily graphic manner, reducing her not just to a plot device but something even worse than that. Named after an incident where Green Lantern Kyle Rayner's girlfriend was dismembered and stuffed in a fridge by a supervillain, this unfortunate cliché was uncovered by comics writer Gail Simone and backed up with decades of similar examples. If being a damsel in distress turns a female character from an interesting person to a prize, being "fridged" robs her even of the ability to be interesting again after the whole rescue's been pulled off. It makes women in comics nothing more than motivation for the heroes to keep on being heroes, emboldened by the tragedy of the murdered woman, who is conveniently forgotten a few months down the line whilst the guy in tights continues being awesome.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
