Jessica Campbell
Quote of the Day | Why DC and Marvel cater to men
Well, all conspiracy theories, corporate DNA and the WB’s own woman problems aside, the simple fact is that on a meta level, DC Entertainment produces entertainment for boys. That’s its place within Warners, its demographic slot and I’m sure at some point Diane Nelson has overtly been tasked with keeping the boy audience engaged for films starring Batman, Superman, and Green Lantern.
We may think this kind of pigeonholing is stupid, but in a world run by branding, the message matters. By addressing female readers (and also younger readers), DC risks alienating its core audience of teenaged boys and men 25-35.
Heidi MacDonald hits the nail on the head: Publishers are in the business to make money, not make the world a better place, and of course they are going to cater to their core demographic. This is just one of a number of solid points that Heidi makes in this essay, which links to the other women-in-comics articles that have appeared in the past two weeks, ties them together, and frankly, makes a lot more sense than the two news pieces that were linked. It’s well worth reading the whole thing, including (especially!) the excerpt from former Drawn and Quarterly staffer Jessica Campbell’s essay on why the whole question of “female artists” is bogus at its core. And there’s a great discussion in the comments section as well (I thought Jesse Post made a particularly good point), so keep on scrollin’!
Comics A.M. | A changing landscape for women in comics?
The Adventures of Superhero Girl
Comics | A Los Angeles Times article about women in comics concludes that “women in comics” really isn’t a topic for discussion any more; the number of women creators and editorial staff in the Marvel/DC world is slowly increasing, but outside the superhero realm the question is entirely irrelevant. It’s a good read anyway, because of the many quotes from interesting indie creators. “Teenage boys aren’t the only people with money, and unfortunately I think the mainstream comics juggernaut has just been focusing on this little section of readership for a long time,” Sarah Oleksyk says. “There’s this gigantic range of stories being told in indie comics — biographies, nonfiction, every sort of thing. So if you don’t want to read something about crime-fighting superheroes, you have 10,000 other subjects to choose, and most of those are independently published.”[Hero Complex]
Publishing| Drawn and Quarterly will publish Art Spiegelman’s CO-MIX: A Retrospective of Comics, Graphics, and Scraps in spring 2013. [ICv2]