The Four Color Media Monitor

The BBC interviewed a woman from northern Ireland who says she was the only girl at the comics store she visited, and who's part of a new comics anthology project:

“When I went to comic book stores, I would've been the only girl there."

Comic books have been a huge part of Marianna Mooney's life growing up and in recent years she believes stereotypes have changed.

Originally from Kildare, Marianna moved to Belfast in 2021 and she is among a number of local artists to feature in the debut print issue of Low Intensity, a comics anthology.

The graphics designer said she loves storytelling, but in terms of comics "it is definitely harder to make a career out of it".

To be sure, when it's something that could involve separate writers and artists, that could complicate matters, and then there's bound to be how you can get it published, which would have to be by making similar arrangements with publishers not unlike a standard text novel. So undoubtably, there are complications that take time to get around and work out. But I do know this - it could be more advantageous to do a whole GN in paperback/hardcover, because that way, you could sell your project more easily at stores, and then it remains to be seen how much money and profit it could make, though the primary importance is merit in the finished product.

One of the women involved with the anthology said:

“You think of Marvel, you think of DC; Superman or Batman, very masculine figures. But actually, any kind of art movement is women at the grassroots,” she said.

“The first Star Trek convention was organised by women. If you go to Q-con in Belfast, a lot of the artists are women."

In Europe, I'm sure the women's establishment in comicdom is more plausible in some areas than it is in the USA, where there's feminist ideologues who try to force themselves artifically into the entertainment scene these days. Though there's a certain convention in the UK called Thought Bubble that's notorious for banishing Frank Miller, and the worst part is that he never seemed to oppose it. In hindsight, that's exactly what's made it difficult for me to support him.

That aside, of course there's always been women working in comicdom in some way or other, but anybody who thinks it's such a big deal to have them work in storytelling that's usually been aimed at boys just for the sake of it is being supremely silly. In Japan, there's plenty of manga aimed at girls as much as boys, and whatever the genres involved, nobody acts like it's an emergency that women work on stories aimed primarily at boys any more than vice versa. This is what's brought down the mainstream USA industry, and all over superhero comics that shouldn't have to symbolize virtually every aspect of comicdom, mainstream or otherwise. I'm sure European women working in comicdom aren't all making a big fuss over specific genres and themes regardless, so hopefully, there's products they offer that're far better than the USA mainstream.

Labels: conventions, Europe and Asia, sales