Reblogged: DC Comics SDCC panels: uncomfortable questions about female creators/characters
Reblogged from DC Women Kicking Ass: The DC Comics panels at SDCC have been filled with what I’m being told are uncomfortable and awkward moments around the issues of female creators and characters… [read more].
That’s some seriously screwed up stuff right there. I wish I were at that panel to cheer this woman on.
Covers to Sleep Under 
Reporting has been skewed in every aspect of every format since the dawn of time. Not only is it in the eye of the beholder, but you must add in perception, interpretation, writing skills and punctuation on top of a writers own agenda and biases.
That said, I am not defending or taking either sides on the issue, the simple fact is comics are a white-male driven industry.
You can look at it a few ways: The majority of the major characters in both DC and Marvel were written and conceived in a white male industry. That is a fact. People tend to create characters in their own likeness and imagination which is probably similar to themselves
Breaking ground with a new character is hard, how can any character male or female, black or white compete with Supes, Bats, the Xmen or Spidey… it is tough.
Not only are women under represented, but so are all minorities, even the non-human looking aliens.
I am not defending DC, but if people want a non-white male character they do need to go out of their way to conceive a character and then the public has to buy it.
If there was a killer female lead I would definitely buy it, but depending who they market the female lead to will probably influence my interest.
For instance, I hated the recent Wonder Woman… in fact rarely have I ever enjoyed WW, she is just not interesting to me. But in the recent years she has been a CEO, a talk show host etc and the comic seemed more driven towards Diana who sometimes fought crime. Not Wonder Woman who sometimes was Diana. but that is what the writer thought would sell, maybe he was marketing a less aggressive comic aimed at tweens. I don’t know, I am not judging, I just didn’t find interest in that book.
What I do find interesting is a very aggressive female lead with some feminine qualities still. Like Psylocke.
I don’t care which gender the hero is, as long as they will whip someones ass.
As for minorities, it seems the DC and Marvel universe are in the same time space as Star Wars and Star Trek, there just seem to be a random occurring phenomenon.
07/26/2011 at 4:34 PM
Hey, Obi. I hear what you’re saying. You are far more calm and level-headed than I am, hahaa. ;)
I definitely took into account the margin for bias/error in the reporting of this story. As I began to read other SDCC report articles, though, this story kept popping up elsewhere. I did some digging and found multiple accounts of the situation, all of which reiterated the same basic gist, which is that Didio refused to answer this girl’s question and that the audience and some of the panelists were basically mocking her. I find that genuinely disgusting and horrific, and it makes me feel really sad for this lady and for the state of women in comics in general. Gail Simone has even said a bunch of stuff about it on Twitter, and you can read the Batgirl cosplayer’s own account of the incident on here: http://kyrax2.dreamwidth.org/
As far as the issue of female characters and/or underrepresented minorities goes, yes, breaking ground with new characters isn’t easy, but it’s certainly not impossible. Every character gets their start somewhere, and if the publishers don’t try, then it isn’t going to happen. I’d point to Stephanie Brown Batgirl as a great, recent example of this. When people found out Steph was going to be the new Batgirl, everyone threw a fit and blew it off. Now, two years later, the book is a huge success and readers are clamoring for more Steph and are upset at DC for benching her. The point is, all DC has to do is take the initiative. Is it going to work every time? No. We aren’t all going to fall in love with every character they try to make, but the chance isn’t even there if they don’t take the reins. Another example: the new Bat-Wing book. They’re giving that a shot, and good for them; let’s see how it turns out (though I feel it would arguably have a greater chance of success if Judd Winick weren’t writing it).
Ultimately, I applaud this woman for asking the question directly to the people pulling the strings, because there absolutely should be attention brought to the fact that there’s a shockingly low number of female creators involved in this reboot. There were already so few females at DC to begin with (only four by my count), and that number has gotten even SMALLER. The fantastic work of women like Nicola Scott and Amanda Conner is being taken OFF of books? And for what? To bring in guys like Rob Liefield? Are you absolutely kidding me? This was the perfect opportunity to bring in some women for this supposed “fresh new take,” and they are wasting it. It’s a damn shame. Who knows, maybe they will make me eat my words soon (I certainly hope they do) and the likes of Nicola and Amanda and hopefully others will pop up on books in the coming months, but until then, this is all I have by which to go.
One other thing—I hear you on your frustration with Wonder Woman and her book has been pretty unbearable this last year especially; however, there are some seriously badass WW stories out there that may impress you. Greg Rucka in particular wrote some crazy good stuff with her kicking ass and taking names, including an epic fight with Medusa (I have the trade, you can borrow if you want!). JLA: A League of One by Christopher Moeller is also awesome. And if you love Psylocke, I hope you’re reading Uncanny X-Force, because it is DAMN GOOD!
*Phew* Okay, that’s all I got! Thank you for your insightful comments, I always enjoy reading them and getting into discussions with you. :)
07/27/2011 at 3:27 PM
Also, the site I linked to seems to not be working for some reason; however, I found a great interview with “Batgirl” here where she clarifies a lot of things and goes pretty in-depth about what exactly happened: http://dcwomenkickingass.tumblr.com/post/8130151171/bgsdccinterview
Very much worth a read.
07/27/2011 at 3:56 PM