Female Comic Characters

[John C]

I could've gone punchier in the title, granted.

Since I know we occasionally bat around ideas of inclusiveness in comics versus the ever-shrinking target audience, some of you might find this interesting.

http://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2013/08/some-of-the-greatest-most-popular-comic-books-are-feminist/278593/

It's like saying, 'Why are there no medieval stories about female knights?' Because there was only one, you know, Joan of Arc.

Or depressing.  I always get those two confused.

[Yoc]

That would be depressing you are looking for there John.

[John C]

The part that hit me as especially egregious was the implication (as quoted) that they don't write about strong female characters because nobody has created any, like there's only one guy who's allowed to do that and he's been busy trying to level up on XBox for the last eighty years...

[Yoc]

Sure and saying political themes don't make popular comics was ridiculous.  I guess he forgets Watchmen and Dark Knight Returns, two titles that didn't hide their politics too deep and were immensely popular.

[John C]

Beyond that (since I don't want to encourage a return to the Miller/Moore '80s, by any means), if they're not publishing something, how do they know it's not popular?

Oh, and let's not forget the tiny detail that comics are not popular, full stop.  None of them.  They act like they have this lucrative demographic they're serving and can't bear to part with, rather than maybe a hundred thousand middle-aged men whose hobbies include, based on what I can gather from the Internet, NEVER BUYING ANOTHER COMIC AGAIN whenever someone changes a costume.

It's bigger than any audience I reach, but if I'm how you're setting your standards, your business is not doing well...

Politically, though, I wonder if they mean that political themes are unpopular with executives or screenwriters.  It's common knowledge that studios don't want anything subtle, because it'll get lost in translation for the overseas markets.  They want spectacle, basically, so if you're writing a comic in hopes of an adaptation, that might be the route you take instead.

I don't know.  The entire industry seems so pointlessly insular and reactionary to everything.  I feel like we're actually ahead of the curve looking at half-century-old comics...

[Yoc]

Good points as usual John.

'Killing off Capt America' seemed odd at the time when you knew a movie was coming but perhaps it was because of that - getting his name in the news again.  Which it did so perhaps it helped with a few more ticket sales.

What I'm semi-grateful for is the few independents out there not worrying about costumes and spectacle.  There are still some worth reading - they are just harder to find and buy unless you really go looking.

[darkmark (RIP)]

Astro City is still my favorite current book, hands down.