The Four Color Media Monitor: I hope female audience members are aware that DC's been just as bad as Marvel

Graphic Novel Reporter did a Q&A with 3 women who read comics to know what they like or not about the medium, and at the end, when they ask if the industry is doing enough to retain a female audience, one of them says:

Leigh: I think parts of the industry are working to retain female fans, but more than that, I think the female fans are doing more to retain female fans. The comic industry seems more focused on introducing kids to their titles and keeping the fan boys happy rather than trying to retain the fan girls. As I said before, last year at NYCC, it seemed for the first time that the industry was finally aware that women were present as fans and the convention seemed truly excited by our presence. Most of the panels I attended were about women in comics and where the industry needs to go in order for women to be a larger presence in this world. Marvel especially needs to really make more strides in endearing itself to its adult female readership. In the past, I attended several panels (when Joe Quesada was in charge) where the overall attitude was that female characters and female readers just did not matter to the company. Even as a diehard X-Men fan, I was totally put off by that mentality and found myself gravitating more toward DC and Vertigo, where the female voice was much stronger.

I hope she realizes that DC's staff have proven they're capable of being just as horrific as Marvel's if they're going to allow monstrosities like Identity Crisis to be published, that female supporting casts are just as valuble as heroines, and that they too have been among the biggest victims. Now that I think of it, if she likes having a female cast with potential, she should consider that as of now, not just the female members but ALL the cast of Infinity Inc. have been erased from DC continuity. So it's not like DC is any different in how they treat their mainstream and flagship stories; why, given the chance they could be worse.

Labels: conventions, dc comics, marvel comics, misogyny and racism