Comments on: Where the girls are(n't)

By: STWALLSKULL » Interesting Links: January 30th, 2008

STWALLSKULL » Interesting Links: January 30th, 2008 — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 06:13:14 +0000

[...] Where the girls are(n’t) from THE BEAT [...]

By: Leigh Walton

Leigh Walton — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 04:17:07 +0000

Hmm, didn’t mean that last comment to sound quite as snooty as it looks. My list of “interesting recent comics” includes a couple superhero books. The original premise just felt like conducting a survey of female essay-writers and then limiting your research to Maxim, Playboy, Esquire, and GQ. Some interesting essays get published there, but it’s a weird decision to look only there.

By: Leigh Walton

Leigh Walton — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 03:41:40 +0000

I tend to think colorists ARE artists, but okay.

Superhero comics a boys’ club? Not surprising.

Of the actually interesting recent comics, I’d say the gender balance is considerably closer to even.

I’d agree with AH above that most American comic publishers’ catalogs are still primarily male, though. Even at most of the big prose publishers’ imprints. Honestly, the population of pro-quality cartoonists in America is still mostly male.

What interests me is the gender breakdown of young artists. Who’s taking all these new comics programs at art school? Who’s selling their minis at SPX? Who’s posting their developmental fan art on DeviantArt and Tokyopop.com? Who’s launching pro-quality webcomics? More women than ever — I hope.

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 01:49:04 +0000

I just think it’s funny how people pretend indie comics and corporate comics are two different worlds. Kind of like when I was a kid, and I thought the next town over was in a different state, because, well, it was *different*.

By: Rob H.

Rob H. — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 18:16:23 +0000

No Amanda Conner? She isn’t super prolific so she wouldn’t show up in Peviews every month.

By: A. Hunt

A. Hunt — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 17:52:25 +0000

Forgive me, Heidi, but I don’t think things are quite as sanguine in the real world–better, surely, but not terrific. There’s still a pretty major imbalance in the indie publishers; of 103 creators listed on Oni’s site, 13 are women, and of the 300 or so on the Fantagraphics site, about 35 are women (I think I miscounted somewhere in the Fanta number, but I don’t think it’s that far off from the actual number). Only 6 of the 82 in the Top Shelf catalog are women, and even in webcomics, things are unbalanced; if you look at ACT-I-VATE, 5 of the 23 creators there are female, 2 of the 14 Chemistry Setters are female, and the list T Campbell put together of the top webcomics (Alexa, 11/07) shut out women entirely.

Am I suggesting that any of these groups are somehow sexist for not having a 50-50 ratio of male to female creators? Not in the slightest. There’s no comparing the output of Fanta with DC with a straight face, and I can’t imagine even for a second that any of these groups are actively shutting out women. But I think it’s worth asking why there aren’t as many women working on “real” comics (or who want to work on them, which I think is the real issue) rather than slamming the DM for being pathetic and retrograde. Just because some women are doing quite well for themselves doesn’t mean something’s not quite right.

By: alex cox

alex cox — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 17:49:12 +0000

There was a post yesterday that mentioned Alison Bechdel and Megan Kelso, and I mentioned Rutu Modan and several others in the comments there…

By: alex cox

alex cox — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 17:48:48 +0000

There was a post yesterday that mentioned Alison Bechdel and Megan Kelso, and I mentioned Rutu Modan and several others in the comments there…

By: Darren J. Gendron

Darren J. Gendron — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 17:25:59 +0000

I think the best examples on that list are Rivkah and Danielle Corsetto. Hell, through in Jennie Breedan and Gina Biggs. Just keep going through this list, and you’ll find that a lot of female creators are more progressive that their male counterparts. Some have spoken to the fact that they don’t want to tell stories about grown men in tights, they want to create stories that are their own. And said stories are pretty much only collected in the current top-of-the-dogpile format, the trade paperback, or as a webcomic. That’s where the next wave of female creators are.
And yes, the “mainstream comics” should actually worry about this.

By: Jackie Estrada

Jackie Estrada — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 17:18:14 +0000

Some more names: Exit Wounds’ Rutu Modan, Paige Braddock, and Megan Kelso. And this year Drawn & Quarterly is bringing out lots of Lynda Barry stuff. (Modan and Barry will both be guests at Comic-Con International this summer, by the way)

By: Cindy A.

Cindy A. — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 17:15:06 +0000

Alison Bechdel!

By: Raphe Cheli

Raphe Cheli — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:45:20 +0000

Add Pia Guerra to the list. (Y is over as of tomorrow, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she continues to do things for DC/Vertigo.)

By: Tinpan

Tinpan — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:04:31 +0000

Hmmm…Becky Cloonan. ‘Colleen Coover. Anzu. Leia Hernandez.

By: alex cox

alex cox — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 14:04:14 +0000

Isn’t this just a comment on how pinched and narrow the entire “comics mainstream” has become? Isn’t it sad?

It’s more a comment on the way people often equate “comics” with “superhero books published by Marvel and DC”.

And I can’t believe I forgot Gabrielle Bell, Hope Larson, and Jill Thompson in my previous lists! I feel bad about that.

I also forgot Miriam Katin, Marguerite Abouet, Tove Jansen, Vanessa Davis, Emily Flake, Laura Park, Genevieve Elgren, Ellen Forney, and many more.