This post by Kirsty Walker rounds up all the evidence FOR the upcoming Kapow! comics convention in London being a total sausage fest — all the guests, award nominees, and face time people are men.
When asked on twitter why there were no women invited to Kapow!, organiser Mark Millar insisted “You realise this is being put together by 5 women, don’t you? The reason the comic guests are mostly male is because the biggest names in UK comics are male. Who is the big British female pro they’re missing here?”
Oh Mark Millar! We would honestly not have expected this from him. So it’s okay for women to do all the work behind the scenes instead of getting any recognition or publicity? Yikes!
Also…no women cartoonists in Britain? Splinister demolishes that tripe. Like…Posy Simmonds and Carol Swain and Emma Vicelli. And tons more in the comments.
Kapow! is being put together by newly minted multimedia mogul Millar, along with Titan, his CLiNT Magazine backer, to bring San Diego-style junkets and TV/movie preview panels to London — which caused some alarm for the MCM Expo, which is held a few months later and has a huge manga/anime/female presence — half the comics guests are women. According to this report given Kapow!’s small venue — 3000-5000 people as opposed to MCM’s 50-60,000 — it’s more of a “meet and greet” for Millar’s friends:
According to people close to Mark Millar, the purpose of the event for Mark is to share his Hollywood success with his friends. Bring the A&R men over and show them a mini-San Diego in London, and get them to sign up creators on their own turf. It is a completely and genuinely altrusistic move and it is at the heart of Kapow, even though it’s never been mentioned in PR or interviews. It’s a honey trap for Hollywood for all the people Millar feels close to, and wants them to do as well as he has.
So we can understand why Simmonds or Swain might not want to be a guest at a show like this, but it does make the clubby feeling even more palpable.
Which makes it all the more surprising that when Millar got asked about this, he didn’t mention Jane Goldman, director Matthew Vaughn’s preferred scribe and the screenwriter for KICK-ASS 1, KICK-ASS 2, and such other comic booky movies as STARDUST and, um, X-MEN: FIRST CLASS.
We’ve heard Goldman talk a time or two and she’s fantastic. She would be a great guest at ANY convention.
So Mark Millar, shame on you! You know better!
” It is a completely and genuinely altrusistic move and it is at the heart of Kapow, even though it’s never been mentioned in PR or interviews.”
This is bunk, on KaPow’s OWN site it’s mentioned as a way to sell tables –
“Mark Millar’s movie agents from Creative Artists Agency (CAA) will be scouring the creator tables in the hunt for new properties, as comic-book movies become the cornerstone of Hollywood”.
As for the more general point – this convention is aimed towards readers of Big Two comics, cartoonists aren’t comic creators and virtually nobody attending this event would know who Posy Simmonds, Carol Swain and Emma Vicelli are or frankly care – (I got the first one but had to google the other two and even then I was none the wiser).
I don’t have a lot of time for Millar or his work but on this point, I think he knows his target audience pretty well and he’s getting in people that will appeal to that audience profile.
“You realise this is being put together by 5 women, don’t you?”
What the hell does this have to do with anything? If the criticism is that there are no visible female guests at the con, whether men or women are responsible for this is completely besides the point. “We have women on staff and they don’t seem to mind” is the weakest argument ever.
Wonder if it’s because she’s also a bigwig in the Hollywood/comics game.
Maybe Jane Goldman was busy? Maybe she didn’t have any desire to go?
And inviting female creators simply because they’re female seems pretty sexist to me.
This is a MAINSTREAM convention. You’re going to get MAINSTREAM creators.
But if you’re only fueled by blind hatred for Mark Millar, reason and logic really don’t matter. Nitpick him and his convention to death! Yay!
@Greg
So there are no MAINSTREAM women creators? Gail Simone, Amanda Conner, Amy Reeder, Sara Pichelli, Marjorie Liu, and Sana Takeda DON’T work for the Big Two on a regular basis?
@Alexa
The article was specifically talking about BRITISH female creators. So was I.
“being a total sausage fest”
In the event that women fans and creators become a stronger presence, we must come up with an appropriately derogatory term. Tuna fest, perhaps?
@Greg
Except, if you read Kirsty’s post, she points out that there are several non-British male creators there. There’s room for John Romita Jr, but not Gail Simone or Amanda Conner?
And fine, what about Leah Moore?
Melinda Gebbie.
Many of the guests aren’t British, either: Romita Jr, Leinil Yu, Olivier Coipel, probably a few more (don’t feel like looking them all up on wikipedia).
Millar actually says “The biggest names in UK comics”, NOT “The biggest UK names in comics.” There’s nothing on the website that refers to nationality, as far as I can see.
“Sausage fest”?
Before you call shame on anyone else wash out your own dirty mouth.
@Alexa
I’ll give you Leah Moore. Not quite mainstream but she’s definitely got name recognition.
I just don’t like operating from the assumption that Mark Millar purposely or negligently avoided bringing female creators to his convention. We just have no idea. Maybe Gail Simone wasn’t invited. Maybe she was. Until creators like Simone and Conner come out and say they weren’t invited or were invited but declined, ALL of this is assumption.
Keep in mind…there aren’t too many female creators but there are a LOT of conventions. As a result, these creators are going to be spread pretty thin. Hell, I’m going to a show in Kansas City this weekend which Simone will be attending. She was also just at C2E2. Kapow is next month. Maybe it’s a bit much to expect her to attend all of these. And the same goes for the other female creators.
The whole thing seems like much ado about nothing.
Millar is actually pretty clear about why there are no female creators: The show is about big UK creators. There are no big female UK creators. Neither of those statements is true.
He could have said “We would have liked to have X, Y, or Z, but just couldn’t make it happen” or a similar acknowledgement, but instead he said there are no prominent female comic creators attending because they don’t exist.
“The show is about big UK creators. There are no big female UK creators. Neither of those statements is true.”
I’ve already addressed the female creators statement but we’ll give it another go. It seems we have Jane Goldman, Leah Moore, Melinda Gibbie, and Posy Simmonds. I’m sure Goldman has a pretty good relationship with Millar considering her hubby is friends with him. Why do we assume she wasn’t asked? As for the others, Millar is right. They’re really not big names. Sorry, but Posy Simmonds is not on the same level as Jock or Bryan Hitch. Again, maybe she was asked. Maybe not. But his convention really isn’t missing a BIG UK name without her there.
As for the other statement…Kapow’s guest list CLEARLY leans towards UK creators. And they’re all big names in TV, film, or comics. The American guests are also big names and have worked with Millar in some capacity. I’m not sure there are a lot of U.S. creators willing to drop everything and fly out to London for a brand new convention. Perhaps Yu and Romita are attending as a favor to Millar and not the other way around?
As for Millar’s twitter statement…maybe he didn’t want to talk about who he asked and who he didn’t. Maybe he didn’t want to get into specifics. Why does he owe anyone an explanation?
Greg, you’re right: Posy Symonds is not on the same level as Jock and Bryan Hitch.
She’s on a higher level. A much higher level real mainstream level.
@mario
That may be…but this is a COMIC BOOK convention. Guys who read Detective Comics and The Ultimates would not consider her on the same level. Like you said, she’s mainstream OUTSIDE of comics.
>> Guys who read Detective Comics and The Ultimates would not consider her on the same level.>>
I’ve read both of those, and I think she’s astounding.
>>Like you said, she’s mainstream OUTSIDE of comics.>>
How can one be “mainstream outside of comics” when what you do is comics?
I think you mean “mainstream outside the direct market.” But not outside of comics. TAMARA DREWE is comics. It’s even comics that were made into a film that was pretty big in the UK.
Simmonds probably has a bigger UK readership than almost everyone attending the show, in fact, since her major works were serialized in a venue that reaches over 250,000 readers.
Whether or not they should have had female guests is something I’ll let others squabble about — I think it’s a no-brainer, but never mind. I was just struck by the idea that someone who is best known for making comics could be mainstream “outside of” comics.
Only if your definition of “comics” rules out lots of comics.
@Mr. Busiek
No, no…I admit that I poorly worded that. You described her appeal a lot better than I did…”mainstream outside of the direct market.”
And I think Millar should have gotten everyone he could, too…females included. But just because he didn’t doesn’t mean he’s sexist (which is what the linked article was less than subtly hinting at).
My initial point was that there was waaaaay too much assuming going on. The convention is what it is. And it’s aiming towards a specific demographic which doesn’t seem to include folks who don’t contribute to the “mainstream direct market.” That’s about all we know.
“And I think Millar should have gotten everyone he could, too…females included. But just because he didn’t doesn’t mean he’s sexist (which is what the linked article was less than subtly hinting at).”
At worst, it means he’s sexist. At best, he’s indulging in sexist behaviour, or creating a sexist environment. I appreciate where you’re coming from, and I’m not as ‘down’ on Kapow as some people are – but the situation is pretty indefensible. Like it or not, having a con with all-male guest does effectively hang a “No girls allowed!” sign on the show.
I actually emailed the organisers some months ago commenting on this issue, and expressing my hope that they would be adding some female guests to the confirmed guests list. I was disappointed to get the reply that the guest list was locked and they wouldn’t be adding any more. But given the coverage, they have to know by now that they’ve messed up this year, and the key thing will be to see what happens next year, whether we get a better spread of guests then or not.
If it’s a boy’s club next year too, then they’ll deserve all they get. But this year I’ll be giving the show a chance, even if it does increasingly feel like I’ll be crossing some virtual picket lines to do so.
@Nick
You bring up some intersting points. Keep in mind that my retorts are friendly…I mean you no disrespect. Also, some of this is just a general response to other posts and the overall argument against Kapow and Millar.
“At worst, it means he’s sexist. At best, he’s indulging in sexist behaviour, or creating a sexist environment.”
So the sheer absence of female guests creates a “sexist environment?” Does that apply to other events or gatherings other than comic book conventions? It’s pretty bold to assume that someone is “indulging in sexist behavior” just because he failed to book some female creators for his show. It’s a huge stretch considering how few female creators are working in the UK.
“…expressing my hope that they would be adding some female guests to the confirmed guests list.”
Is it not important which female guests are included, so long as they are female? Is that what everyone is pissed off about? That there aren’t going to be any token females present?
I don’t consider myself at all sexist but I have very few comic books made by female creators. In fact, there are only four female creators I have the work of – Marjane Satrapi, Gail Simone, Laura Martin, and Amanda Conner. Considering the fact that I have hundreds upon thousands of comic books, does the absence of more female-created books in my library suggest a certain amount of sexism on my part?
I’ll answer that for you – NO. It just means there aren’t that many female creators out there to pick from.
And complaining about the lack of female creators in a industry largely fueled by male fantasy is about as dumb as complaining that there aren’t enough men reading The Twilight Saga.
If a particular comic book or convention doesn’t cater to your interests then ignore it. Buy another comic that does. Go to a different convention.
If you’re a woman concerned with the lack of females in the industry, create your own comic. Create your own convention.
But don’t start throwing hurling around the “sexist” label because of what you THINK motivated someone in organizing their convention or writing their comic. If Millar bans females from attending Kapow or starts yelling derogatory terms at women, then let loose on the guy. But until then, keep in mind that you’re judging the man and his convention based on your own projected motivation.
“Simmonds probably has a bigger UK readership than almost everyone attending the show, in fact, since her major works were serialized in a venue that reaches over 250,000 readers.”
And how many of that readership would care to spend their weekend at a con aimed at readers of big two comics?
Still the panels would have been interesting:
“Mrs. Simmonds your work is often seen as being a satire of the type of guardian reader who would actually read it. My question to you is – are you more of a Marvel or DC fan? and how do you think wolverine would have reacted if Gemma Bovery attacked him with a knife?”
“”So the sheer absence of female guests creates a “sexist environment?” Does that apply to other events or gatherings other than comic book conventions?”
Yes.
Booking only men gives the message that women aren’t welcome. I know this because women have been saying this. Not just people on the internet, but my own friends who won’t go to the convention because of it.
Even Science-Fiction conventions, an equally geeky, male-dominated field, don’t seem to have problems finding female guests.
“It just means there aren’t that many female creators out there to pick from.”
That’s a load of rubbish. There are plenty of women out there they could have invited to the convention. Even in this very article you’re commenting on it says “Also…no women cartoonists in Britain? Splinister demolishes that tripe.” and links to examples. So trotting out that argument (repeatedly) is lazy and wrong.
On top of that, such reasoning leads to a negative spiral. Consider – how do creators raise their profile? By getting out there at conventions. If you decline to invite people because they aren’t important enough, how are they going to raise their profile? Making an effort to invite women guests isn’t tokenism, it’s common sense, for without having some women to start with, where are the examples for all the women that will come on in later years?
“But don’t start throwing hurling around the “sexist” label because of what you THINK motivated someone in organizing their convention”
I’m not. I don’t give two hoots about Millar’s motivations – my comments in my previous comment were general ones about how things can appear to a wide spread of people. My own belief? I don’t think he’s done this intentionally, I think he did what anyone would do and that he invited his chums and other people he knew, and they just happened to be men. But that doesn’t change the fact that the end result appears to be sexist.
At some point, someone should have said “We have an imbalance here. It’s not intentional, but it’s wrong. What can we do to fix it?” I’m hoping that next year will be the case when they fix it.
“I don’t consider myself at all sexist but I have very few comic books made by female creators. In fact, there are only four female creators I have the work of – Marjane Satrapi, Gail Simone, Laura Martin, and Amanda Conner.”
Let’s just say: open your mind. If it’s four against somme hundred other creators, then it’s up to you to ask yourself, why you aren’t reading more comics by female artists?
And ask yourself: what is it, that draws you almost exclusively to male creators, maybe subconscious?
Stefan: personally I know what puts ME of of women’s comics (and I’m not alone in this) is in their proclivity to use sloppy handwriting in their speech bubbles.
USE A RULER, dammit!
@Nick
I NEVER said there aren’t any female creators out there. Not once. All I’ve been saying is that there are FEWER female creators than male creators. FEWER to choose from. ESPECIALLY Big Two UK creators, which is what Kapow is CLEARLY looking for in it’s guest list.
But I think we’ve gone as far as we can with our argument. I believe we’ve gotten to the core. I believe that Millar had to consciously discriminate and purposely avoid putting women on his guest list in order to be sexist and you don’t.
Thank you for the responses and I appreciate the debate, Nick.
@Stefan
“Let’s just say: open your mind. If it’s four against some hundred other creators, then it’s up to you to ask yourself, why you aren’t reading more comics by female artists?
And ask yourself: what is it, that draws you almost exclusively to male creators, maybe subconscious?”
All of that Kapow stuff aside, these questions are ridiculous. I pick up books that interest me. Sometimes these books are done by creators I like, sometimes they’re done by creators I don’t like, and sometimes they’re done by creators I don’t even know. I do not ACTIVELY seek out female creators just as I don’t ACTIVELY seek out male creators. I just seek out GOOD books. Who the hell cares what gender the creator is? Why does that matter so damn much? Do you honestly make sure your weekly pull or graphic novel stack has solid representation of female authors? What’s a good ratio? 30:70? 50:50? At what point do you cease being a “subconscious” sexist?
I don’t know all that much about Kapow, let me get that right out of the way.
But Mark has included me or asked to include me on many ventures. He asked me to write for his Wizard issue and a couple other things I can’t talk about, and he has always, always supported me and my work.
All I can say is, in my experience, he’s always judged people on their merits, not their gender. It would be nice to have a couple women at Kapow for sure, but intentional exclusion seems very unlike the Mark Millar I know.
Very disappointed to see a writer of Gail Simone’s caliber miss the point so completely.
As far as I can tell, neither the article or any of the commenters here claim that Mark Millar is “willingly” excluding women. Why is it so hard to understand that the results of something can be sexist without the people responsible for it being intentionally sexist? Of course Millar or the other people involved didn’t sit around in a meeting room while planning this event and go: “Okay. Let’s make sure we don’t invite any women to this thing. This is strictly for men.” But what difference does it make what went on during the planning stages? The end result is still the same: A high-profile comic book convention with no visible female creators.
“Very disappointed to see a writer of Gail Simone’s caliber miss the point so completely.”
She’s not missing the point at all. She’s addressing the issue of Millar’s intentions and character, which ARE in discussion. It’s a huge part of why we’ve been going back and forth.
“As far as I can tell, neither the article or any of the commenters here claim that Mark Millar is “willingly” excluding women.”
Apparently, you didn’t actually READ the comments. Nick said,
“At worst, it means he’s sexist. At best, he’s indulging in sexist behaviour…”
I assume it’s comments like these that provoked Gail Simone to say what she did.
And it really doesn’t matter if you call Millar OR his Kapow convention sexist. Either accusation hurts his reputation. And both mean the same thing.
Greg, I did read the comments. Calling Millar sexist is not the same thing as saying that he’s willingly excluding women. Sexism is a lot more complicated and subtle than some evil dude actively plotting against women. A lot of sexist behaviour happens on an almost unconscious level. People do things without realizing that they have a negative effect. It happens all the time and we’re all guilty of it to some extent.
Being sexist doesn’t require an active effort. It’s the other way around. You have to make an effort to NOT be sexist. By not inviting women to the convention, Millar took the easy way out.
It doesn’t mean he’s an evil man who hates women. Reducing it to that caricature doesn’t help anything. And running to his defense to say that he’s a good guy and has included women in other endeavours just adds confusion. He’s not a victim here. He’s a very influential man who didn’t make an effort to include women in his high-profile convention (or make them feel welcome) and people are calling him out for it.
“He’s a very influential man who didn’t make an effort to include women in his high-profile convention”
How can you make such a matter-a-fact statement about something you have no knowledge of. You have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA what effort he made to include or not include women in his convention. You can’t look at an end result (no women at a convention) and then assume the cause (Millar is sexist). There could be other causes. He could have asked some female creators but they turned him down. Who knows?
The point is that YOU HAVE NO IDEA. You can’t judge a man based on what you THINK happened behind the scenes.
“And running to his defense to say that he’s a good guy and has included women in other endeavours just adds confusion.”
No, it doesn’t. If you want to throw the fact that there aren’t any women at Kapow as evidence of Millar’s sexism, than adding evidence of Millar’s inclusion of women in other endeavors is wholly fair.
What are you talking about? Of course, I know what effort he put into it. He said so himself. I quote from this very article:
“The reason the comic guests are mostly male is because the biggest names in UK comics are male. Who is the big British female pro they’re missing here?”
Does that sound like someone who’s really sorry that all the women he contacted turned him down? No. It sounds like a guy who doesn’t think any women deserved to be involved, because they aren’t big enough names.
Listen, I think it’s a big waste of time to debate whether or not Millar is sexist. You’re right, I don’t know what goes on in his mind, and frankly I don’t care. But when he throws a big convention with no women, and his response to that criticism is that no woman deserved to be part of it, then don’t tell me I don’t have all the necessary information to put two and two together and conclude that something fucked up is going on.
My point (and unless I’m misreading it, the point of this article also) is simply that it’s unfortunate that there are no women involved, and that Mark Millar’s excuses are kind of lame. I call that sexism. You call it whatever the hell you want. But the facts are right there in front of us. Don’t pretend otherwise.
And whether or not he invited Gail Simone to write for Wizard has NOTHING to do with the fact that no women are going to be at his convention.
Hey girls, you’re all beautiful!
Basque, I agree with you in that Millar’s comments didn’t do him any favors and sound stupid. Mark Millar saying something crazy? UNHEARD OF.
Gail, I agree with YOU in that despite this lapse Mark is generally a good guy and certainly open minded about comics and wider readerships and all that.
His comments just strike the wrong tone. But he’s known for saying silly things.
Fair enough. :)
Possibly replying far too late now, but I’ve only just seen this:
““As far as I can tell, neither the article or any of the commenters here claim that Mark Millar is “willingly” excluding women.”
Apparently, you didn’t actually READ the comments. Nick said, [quoting of a line I later clarified]”
I object to being used as an example for people claiming Millar is doing it on purpose. Especially when I explicitly said in a later comment,
“My own belief? I don’t think he’s done this intentionally”
Please don’t misquote me again in future.
“Please don’t misquote me again in future.”
I didn’t. Your quote remains intact. I didn’t even take it out of context. Here, I’ll quote you again.
“At worst, it means he’s sexist. At best, he’s indulging in sexist behavior, or creating a sexist environment.”
What part of “indulging” suggests anything but willing? Sounds to me like he’s either a sexist or…a sexist. Either way, he’s a sexist. You didn’t clarify your statement in the same post with the “my own belief” statement. You merely contradicted it.
Consider this:
John didn’t have any black people with him the last time I saw him. There are a lot of black people in the world to choose as friends to hang out with and yet, the last time I saw him, he wasn’t hanging out with any black people. At worst, John is a racist. At best, he’s indulging in racist behavior or creating a racist environment. My own belief? I don’t think he’s done this intentionally.
See how the “my own belief” statement doesn’t really matter when the case for John being a full-on racist was made right before it?
Sorry if I couldn’t decipher your message from Basque’s. It sounded the same from here. But if it makes you feel better, we’ll quote Basque instead:
“It sounds like a guy who doesn’t think any women deserved to be involved, because they aren’t big enough names.”
There’s a more definitive “willing sexist” quote.
Better?
Jesus, Basque, I think I understand this issue a little bit, as I am an actual female in comics facing this nonsense every single day. It might actually be possible that I know what the issue being raised is, know the players involved, and know the connotations of this, as well.
I think it blows that Kapow doesn’t have any female creators, apparently. It’s a bad message for many reasons.
I think it’s ALSO true that what I said about Mark is correct, and contrary to the implied assertion, I have seen several people call Mark a sexist for the details in this story. I think giving my experience with him is valid and worthwhile. I do not exonerate or condemn him because the original story doesn’t have quite enough detail for me to do so. But my experience with Mark has always been that he supported me, a female creator, and has tried to include me in many of his projects. He has written blurbs for my books, he has offered advice and help, and on one notable occasion, he even intervened with a publisher on my behalf, without being asked, when he felt I was being treated unfairly. I can’t speak for anyone else, but those acts make me a little skeptical of the charge that some have made, that Mark doesn’t think female creators count.
This may surprise you, but yes, I AM aware of unconscious sexism. I agree with Heidi that Mark’s comment did him no favors. But that isn’t enough for me to accuse him of some of the charges I have seen elsewhere, because again, that is not the Mark Millar I have known for over a decade.
Good lord, I do so love when a pro comes in here and makes the idiots look like…well, idiots.
“You realise this is being put together by 5 women, don’t you?”
Yup. Leave it to a woman to fuck things up.
Hi folks, interesting discussion. I thought the article hit the tone really well: it pointed out the obvious exclusion and expressed disappointment.
I’ll note that there were some very last minute additions of women to Kapow! I’ve summarised them in this blog post.
This is a positive result, and I believe it should be recognised.
Kapow! could have saved itself a lot of bad PR if it had just said mea culpa when the issue was first raised (back in December) and immediately addressed the matter. Mistakes happen – everyone understands that. Millar’s initial response and the lack of any change for months didn’t do the event any favours.
In the last few years all the other comic book events in the UK have had women on the guest list, so it isn’t an issue one would think even needed to be raised.
On the number of women in comics in the UK, actually, as you’ll see from this blog post, I’ve catalogued nearly 90 women who have worked or are currently working in the comic book industry in Ireland the and UK. Some of them are just entering the field and others have been around for ages.
If nothing else I think this conversation has been a good one.
I’m delighted that Kapow! made adjustments to its guest list, and I can only assume that the line-up will be even more diverse if it goes ahead next year.
Good to hear on them.
But still, is the onus really on UK female comic creators to get popular enough before they’ll be worthy of a con?
If the con is also part of the engine generating popularity and success, shouldn’t the organisers be sensitive towards inclusivity and new talent just as much as making a buck?
Some I’m sure will say they have no obligation whatsoever… I guess that’s technically true, but I don’t think I’d run the convention that way.