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20
Jun
Female Trouble
So I guess it’s a “thing” still that women allegedly don’t read comics? The funny thing is that a large number of female fans and creators are at every convention that I go to. Anime cons as specifically overwhelmingly dominated by women; mainstream cons have a large number of women. We have come a long way from the 90s when I was the only girl at the con.
Harknell and I just created a podcast about this topic (and many other things, including Intervention 2011’s status) and you can download it from our iTunes account, or you can just listed to it from here:
So, what do you think? Are women still being isolated (and should we worry about the print comics industry), or are we moving forward on our own on the internet?
I too do not enjoy the “Old Man” comics. Webcomics, and Anime are leading the charge of creating a diverse field of both content and readers.
Keep up the great work!
Hiro Odan
… well i don’t know why it replied to your comment, but i also agree with you so YAY! have a good day.
When I was little, I had trouble understanding why it seemed most of my favorite female superheroes ended up beaten nearly to death and/or raped or turned into a prostitute. There were some good ones, mind you, but the bad ones really stood out to me when I was 8. My first exposure to a woman being beaten and raped actually was through comic books!
I had trouble finding role models that I could relate to. I think the most relate-able character for me (has a comic but started in a book) was Anita Blake – the early books of hers.
i like how you aren’t quick to blame but i can honestly agree with Oni, those were all my reasons for getting out of mainstream ‘American’ comics back in the day. honestly i cant say much on the subject, but i do feel that the internet is an under appreciated method of comic exposure. i look forward to see how things change with technology as well as the method of delivery.
Yeah, I think it is easy to just point a finger…I’m not saying that fingers shouldn’t be pointed, however often an issue is more complicated than it seems on the surface. There are issues of class, culture, and gender all mixed up.
There is definitely a boy’s club atmosphere in some places – I certainly have experienced that before – but there is also a shyness I see from female creators. Actually this applies to all genders – I think we creative types are all suffering from some level of lack of confidence.
I am sure different people have different stories that deal with the various aspects of the issue. :)
Personally, if I were in an executive position in one of the big comic companies I’d start a talent development program like Vogue Magazine did for the fashion industry. Vogue found that they weren’t getting any new talent because it was such a tough industry so they put something in place to support younger creators of all genders.
I’d also deploy a friendly social media campaign that truly interacts and communicates with the community. The last thing this industry needs is for superheroes to be written off as no longer relevant. There are not many new Batman-level properties and I don’t see people who weren’t raised with comics caring much about them.
I think a little PR and pro-activeness from the top could turn this around really fast. :D
I like your idea for a talent development program. I also think that your creation, Intervention, is a perfect place for something like that.
Yeah-I mean really-I think that’s where my train of thought has been going all these years, anyway. :) Intervention is gonna be fierce!
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