Wonder woman and batgirl writer gail simone, one of superheroine hqs curators, talks about the importance of female. Over the past few years, the females of the comic book world have been getting a bigger share of the spotlight, much to the delight of fans everywhere. Superhero fans itching to see more may want to catch up on all of these great stories. Comiquecon 2018 focuses on women in comics, giving female fans a voice. To say the comic book industry has a slight gender skew is like saying superman is kind of strong. Marvels newest female solo book hit comic shops in march, conveniently timed for womens history month. Fans of scifi, orange is the new black, big action, and bigger characters are crazy about bitch planet. Superhero fandom is ruining the golden age of comic book movies. Gail simone poses with fans at the shanghai comiccon. As a female comic book reader and critic, female representation has always been important to me. Comic fans know that manaras work has always been sexual in naturehes most famous for his. As the number of fanfavorite comic books adapted into movies increases.
If women are, in fact, such a large contingent of the comic book fan community, then why do these gendered stereotypes of female fans persist. Meet other local comic book fans and talk about all your favorite comic book characters, super heroes, etc. Women that read comics were often viewed as doing womanhood wrong or as individuals that read comics wrong. Yet, women reportedly represent a growing number of comic book purchasers and convention attendees. Spotlighting the amazing spectrum of women in comics has long been my passion, both the characters in the books, and the writers and artists. Icv2 has reported from the new york comic con insider sessions it sponsored at the recent show, and specifically on kristen mclean of npd bookscans break down of modern comic book buying. The people who write comic books, particularly for major publishers, are overwhelmingly men. Sales and publicity were increased by a network of female comic book shop clerks who. Why female comic book fans are cheering for wonder woman wonder woman, which opens friday, is on track to become the first femalehelmed superhero blockbuster.
A lot of female fans seem to be annoyed by this image. The view that comic book reading was a hobby strictly for males created a hostile environment for the female comic book reader. The truth fans have been screaming at hollywood about for years has finally been proven. Theres a lot of fandriven momentum that is largely coming from our female audience, says eric stephenson. Cm punk, aj lee, cody rhodes, aj styles, christopher daniels, kazarian, and i also believe samoa joe and homicide are to name a few. The original comic art gallery for collectors and artists. This year i even made a documentary about female representation in comic books called, women out of refrigerators. Comiquecon will gather female comic book creators and fans. When i go into comic book stores, i would often be the only black. Wonder woman fans are flipping out over first look at. Female comic fans are tired of judgment from sexist. Analyzing the gender representation of 34,476 comic book characters. Though the original miss america character debuted in 1944, this honourificfree reboot.
Why 2016 is the year we need to stop pretending women aren. Also bringing in new female fans are an expanding selection of comic books featuring female heroes. Anthology of showcasing female comic creators needs funding womanthology offers a new way for to showcase and support women in comics womanthology. Analyzing the gender representation of 34,476 comic book. I want to use this article to highlight some of the most iconic and fan favorite female superheroes in comic. Comparing the two is like comparing apples to oranges. Why female comic book fans are cheering for wonder woman. Halifax, nova scotia, canada about blog women in comics statistics. Women in comics, graphic novels finally getting the spotlight they have deserved for generations. I understand this rise in readership is because facebook itself skews 53% female, so more readers are at the older levels. Here are ten allfemale comic book teams for fans of birds. Luckily for those fans, there are plenty of these such teams to choose from in comics.
Female fans may love the medium, but many arent loving the. A lot of fans who know the comic book process well are hoping this is just a promotional image, meant to. If you go to conventions and comic book stores, more and more female readers are emerging. While there are many mind boggling things about this chart, it also seems that as the fans age, the female population increases. With the recent release of dcs birds of prey and the fantabulous emancipation of one harley quinn, comic book fans cant seem to get enough of allfemale superhero teams. Maybe all those 50yearold male fans who say they will never read a dc comic again are telling the truth. Superpowered ladies and dudes wearing leggings as pants, fighting monsters with their laser vision, making lots of.
Over 950,000 pieces of original comic art on display in our comic art galleries and 180,000 pieces of comic art for sale in our marketplace. And still, female comic book fans and creators are harassed with rape threats and a constant. Women in comics, graphic novels finally getting the. Comic books are still made by men, for men and about men. The comic industrys struggle for gender diversity will. The graph shows the share of adults who are fans of comic books in the united states as of april 2019, sorted by gender. This led to a cyclical pattern of hostility towards females in the comic book audience. Birds of prey is an rrated niche comic book film that targets female comic book fans, while sonic the hedgehog is a. A publishers weekly report released in may found that women ages 17 to 33 were the fastestgrowing group at comic book retailers nationally. And comic books from marvel and dc featuring women characters are proliferating for instance, the allfemale avengers aforce, captain marvel, ms marvel, harley quinn, batgirl, catwoman, spiderwoman and the forthcoming patsy walker, aka hellcat.
Comiquecon 2018 will gather female comic book artists, writers and fans in metro detroit to give women a stronger voice in. But revenue data reveals that the preference for many fans is still print. In 2014, writer janelle asselin crunched the numbers and found that between 2010 and 20, the number of female fans who attended new york comic con grew at a 62% rate, much higher than the rate. Batman fans are questioning why a pregnant catwoman is.
Comic books much like the film industry they now fuel vastly underrepresent women. Brett schenker did some fancy facebook fooling and compiled a few statistics about the people who selfidentify as comic book readers. Female characters appear in superhero comics less often than males but when they are included, how are they depicted. She fell in love with the characters, the humor in the. That fact should be self evident enough by now, given the way the internet has given voice to many female fans of the genre. Share your comic art collection with other art collectors and artists, and discover comic art to buy. Superhero fandom is ruining the golden age of comic book. I theorise that many female comic book fans render themselves invisible in the. Media portrayals of comic book fandom routinely depict the comics community as a masculine space, one in which the female fan is an anomaly. Female comic book fans rise helps publishers profit. To comic book movie fans who prefer ultraviolent shootouts, 100 percentevil villains, and casts that look like they did a decade or two ago, schaeffer says, im not interested in adhering to comic canon that is discriminatory in. If women are, in fact, such a large contingent of the comic book fan community. The data reveals that 43 percent of men said that they were fans of comics books, compared to 24 percent of women. Women are the changing face of comic fandom medium.
An indie sensation before publication womanthology reaches funding goal in less than 19 hours women comic book creators find a home on kickstarter wow. Robbins has written several books about female cartoonists and their comics. Buy products related to gifts for comic book fans and see what customers say about gifts for comic book fans on free delivery possible on eligible purchases. It is not constructive to generalize about any group, whether that be women who read comics or male fans in general. Female representation, the diversity of it all, is very important because this is the world we live in. In a september breakdown, i looked at just female comic book characters and who were fans of them. The business of black comic books black enterprise. Comic book characters comic character comic books art female characters comic art book art fictional characters marvel comics marvel heroes. The female thor and the female comicbook reader the. Comic lovers paradise covering all the comic book characters and much more. The female thor and the female comicbook reader the atlantic. All comic book publishers, collectors, readers, and creators are welcome. But for some reason, certain people regarded the two films as if they were in competition. Writer kelly sue deconnicks premise is classic dystopia.
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