Leave It To Chance

Cover of -- issue

Leave It To Chance is a comic book published for 12 issues from 1996 to 1999, plus a thirteenth issue in 2002. It features the story of Chance Lousie Verdella Poe Falconer, a 14yo daughter of a long line of paranormal investigators. Her father refuses to train her, but she investigates anyway.

Written by James Robinson; illustrated by Paul Smith.

1. Issues #1-11 published by Image Comics.
2. Issue #12 published by DC
3. Issue #13 published by Image Comics

Commentary

Wikipedia ("Premise")

Leave it to Chance is set in a world where supernatural elements are fairly commonplace, and the existence of monsters, ghosts, demons, magicians and other similar beings is general knowledge – for example, mobsters routinely use magic to transform their men into powerful "troggs", and the city the series is set in, Devil's Echo, has a community of goblins inhabiting its sewers.

Members of the Falconer family have a legacy of battling supernatural threats, and traditionally training for the cause is begun at the age of 14. However, Chance is not given that opportunity by her father, who refuses to train her. He insists that the tradition is not to pass the knowledge "from father to child", but "from father to son" and points out that the job is too dangerous for her. This decision appears not to be motivated by a patronizing attitude or misogyny, but rather by the fact that he has already lost his wife to supernatural forces in an incident where his own face was deformed, and doesn't want Chance to suffer the same fate. Instead, he suggests that the tradition should skip a generation, and Chance should meet a man, get married and have a son, whom Lucas may then train instead.

But Chance isn't willing to accept that decision, and although Lucas frowns on his daughter's escapades and repeated attempts to investigate crimes and incidents that involve the supernatural, Chance is set on following the family trade on her own. Later in the series, it is implied that Lucas is secretly pleased by his daughter's courage and skill, even though he prefers to present the image of a strict but caring disciplinarian.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leave_It_to_Chance, from 2007/3/12 (permalink)

Note the confusion of sexism and misogyny.