Women in Comics

by Jennifer Stewart and Amy Chop

Amy and Jenn presented a paper on Women in Comics on December 7th, 2008, at an Out on the Shelf event, titled "Comics to Watch Out For". We were honoured to join Douglas Davey from the Halton Hills Public Library, and Mariko Tamaki, Governor General nominated author of "Skim" and "Emiko Superstar" for this event. Amy and Jenn reunited with Douglas Davey and Michele Collins (the organizer of the original talk) to present the paper again on September 16th, 2009, for the Guelph Resource Centre for Gender Empowerment and Diversity. Below is the revised version presented on September 19th, 2009.

CHAPTERS

History

      As much as we'd like to imagine otherwise, the role of women in comics has remained relatively unchanged throughout the decades. When Superman entered the industry in 1938, the comic book changed its focus, and concentrated on these bright, bombastic superheroes. It wasn't long before the occasional female superhero joined the ranks, including Nelvana of the Northern Lights, Canada's first female superhero, created in 1941, and the famous Wonder Woman. But they were few in number.

      At the same time as comics were changing their focus, the world was as well, as World War II became predominant in people's lives. Men went away to war and women took over their jobs, including the jobs of comic artists and writers, tripling the number of women working in comics. With comics accounting for 25% of all books shipped to soldiers overseas, these women did have to write and draw what those soldiers wanted - brash superheroes protecting hapless maidens against the evil Axis. It was even more important that these female characters be shapely, worthy of pinning up.






      Comics have always been a way for the voiceless minorities to have a voice, to present their ideas in the only medium that would allow it. Thus, women could actually have a voice, even if it was only so that they could tell the stories that were expected of them, rather than those they wished to tell. These women did have opportunities to work on books with female protagonists, among them several military heroines including Phantom Lady, Yankee Girl, and Blond Bomber. There were sci-fi heroines such as Mysta of the Moon, and girl detectives like Glory Forbes. Unfortunately, you've probably never heard of any of them, as, for an array of reasons, comics with female protagonists do not tend to do well in sales.

      After the war, men returned and women were pushed out of the industry; only a few remained. These women ended up working on books starring characters such as the suddenly popular "jungle girls" who tended to swing about the jungle wearing very little and trying to convert lawless, "barbaric" tribes to a civilized way of life. Sexy female sidekicks were added to several superhero comics to keep post-war soldiers reading the stories they had devoured during the war. Women were displayed on covers in bondage, with exaggerated legs and breasts, and very short skirts. Women working in the industry wrote and illustrated dozens of books in which women, dressed as dominatrices, engaged in a variety of sadistic activities. Clearly, women in the industry had little influence over the way they were being depicted in comics.

      Crime comics were the harshest on women, as they tended to be incredibly misogynistic, set in a hyper-macho world filled with sexual tension. Women were either used as victims, killed or violated in some way by men. Or, women were portrayed as gold-diggers, who had killed in the past and would again if they didn't manage to seduce and rob their target. One example of this is the story "The Short but Furious Crime Career of Irene Dague and Her Yes-Man Husband."

Romance Comics

      In 1947 Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, wishing to tap into the female market, took ideas from Archie Comics, at that point the only truly successful comic among female readers, and published Young Romance 1, the first romance comic. The issue sold out immediately and caused the market to be flooded with romance titles. Soon, there were more than 100 romance titles on the racks a month, and by 1949 romance comics outsold all other genres. With 90% of kids and teens reading comics at this time, it gives you an idea of how popular romance comics were.

      Romance comics were meant to have smart and sexy female protagonists, although girls were always chasing men in the stories. Some stories depicted women trying to break free of the restrictions of society; however, this was the exception to the rule.









Generally, these stories contained cautionary moral tales which demonstrated the pitfalls of independence and celebrated domesticity. This was an era in which the most important thing was the reunion of family following the war. However, women had just had a taste of independence, taking on jobs and roles previously forbidden to them while the men were away at war. While these comics focused on the same themes that still make romantic comedies so successful, they subversively pushed women back into traditional ideals and roles.















A woman was expected to sacrifice what she wanted to support her husband and family, for she was incomplete without a man. She was advised to maintain a passive role or lose all hope for marriage, romance, and thus, happiness. A woman who sought excitement was shown changing her ways as she learned to value the quiet life in the end.






















A working woman was shown as unhappy and unfulfilled as her job got in the way of romance, jeopardizing her chance for marriage. These stories depicted men who were not attracted to ambitious women, but those with simple and domestic values. Conversely, women were expected to accommodate men's need for independence, and support them no matter what. There were even advice columns for teenage girls which urged them to put aside what they wanted, bend over backwards to give men whatever they wanted, and show domesticity as their true nature. Above all, the secret for a happy marriage was for a woman to give unselfishly and unfailingly, putting her husband's happiness above her own.


      During the Korean War, romance comics reinforced ideas of patriotism through domesticity, as women were shown staying at home, waiting patiently for the return of their men, maintaining their fidelity throughout. Some books showed women playing a direct role in the war as nurses, who then fell in love with soldiers, wounded serving their country. They then devoted themselves even more to protecting her country and their man.




      Romance comics, with their idyllic messages of patriotism and domesticity, managed to avoid the condemnation faced by the rest of the comic community in the 50s. In 1954 a psychologist named Fredrick Wertham published a book called "Seduction of the Innocent", which directly targeted comics as the major influence in juvenile delinquency. The focus of these attacks was crime comics. Wertham found their depiction of extreme and gratuitous violence to be the key reason why teenagers were acting out in post-war America. He also pointed a finger at the depiction of women in comics, asserting that they deliberately sexualized characters. Crime comics went one step further, adding sexual pleasure to crime, and suggesting it was okay to be violent toward women. His research showed that girls' self-esteem suffered upon seeing the women in comics, who possessed impossible physical attributes. Since his target was crime comics, it's unclear if he bothered to ask the girls how they felt about themselves after reading romance comics, in which their fellow women regularly cast aside all independent thought and sensibility for men.

The Comics Code

      As a result of Wertham's criticism, the Comics Code was created, a screening process that all comics would have to go through before being published. The code explicitly stated what you could not include in comics, and covered everything from violence to werewolves. It forbade nudity, indecent exposure, or even suggestive postures. All characters were to be dressed in clothing reasonably acceptable to society, and women were to be drawn realistically, without any exaggeration of physical qualities. Depiction of divorce was to be discouraged, violent love scenes or deviant sexual behaviour was prohibited, and love stories were to emphasize home and the sanctity of marriage. Clearly, this is how romance comics lasted as long as they did; the Comics Code promoted the same things that romance comics did. The Comics Code resulted in female characters having smaller breasts and jungle girls wearing skirts. Even in Archie, Betty and Veronica's shirts got bigger as their skirts got longer.

      The current revision of the Comics Code says only this about sex and sexuality: "Costumes in a comic book will be considered to be acceptable if they fall within the scope of contemporary styles and fashions. Scenes and dialogue involving adult relationships will be presented with good taste, sensitivity, and in a manner which will be considered acceptable by a mass audience. Primary human sexual characteristics will never be shown. Graphic sexual activity will never be depicted." You'll notice mention is no longer made of exaggerated physical features. Despite all Wertham did to harm the comic industry, he did present findings that concluded that busty, leggy female characters had a detrimental affect on their female readers. Yet the Comics Code no longer has any problem with half-naked, disproportionate women. If the evidence is there, why do comic companies wring their hands wondering why more women don't read comics?

The 1960s

      In the early 1960s the popularity of superhero comics increased greatly, as that of romance comics waned in the face of new cultural movements promoting freedom and independence. DC comics, attempting to embrace women's liberation, created several new female superheroes, such as Hawkgirl, Batgirl, and Supergirl. Unfortunately, these characters suffered inferiority even down to their names, their male counterparts getting to be "men", while they were stuck as "girls". Other female characters were stuck in a mould - resisting the romantic advances of a superhero's alter ego, pining for the superhero, scheming to get close to him, screwing things up, getting captured and waiting for rescue, and then being scolded by the superhero for being so bold to begin with.


No character embodies this better than Lois Lane - a strong female reporter, who consistently pines for Superman and needs him to rescue her apparently every time she pursues a story. And like Lois Lane, many female characters were now portrayed as career women to appease the women's liberation movement, but just as in the 50s, they were depicted as unhappy due to their jobs getting in the way of romance.



There were few exceptions to this, such as Wonder Woman, who suffered at the hands of people who didn't know how to write a strong female character. Instead she regularly found herself in ridiculous and incoherent situations.














      Marvel Comics, created in 1964, claimed that it worked to overcome intolerance and bigotry, but did little for the cause of women. Teams always had at least one female character, but they tended to be counterproductive to the team's activities. Invisible Girl of the Fantastic Four, Marvel Girl of the X-Men, and Wasp of the Avengers all had a tendency to faint in battle. Wasp even took time out of battle to worry about smudging her make-up.

The 1970s

      In the 1970s, comics tried to attract female readers by attempting to appeal to the feminist movement. They did this solely by increasing the number of female characters, yet overlooking and dismissing the actual ideals behind women's liberation. These ideals instead found their way into caricatures of feminists like Man-Killer.




Wonder Woman should have come into her glory days with the women's movement, but instead her storylines involved her losing her powers, opening a fashion boutique, taking karate, and wearing white jumpsuits. It's no wonder that women basically abandoned mainstream comics.

      In 1972 Marvel launched 3 titles that legitimately attempted to present strong female characters, employing female writers and artists to work on them. All three titles were cancelled within 5 issues, proving this loss of female readership, and the fact that boys didn't want to read comics with female protagonists.

      Another part of the reason that comics lost female readership in the 70s was the move away from the newsstand into dedicated comic stores. These stores catered to their customers' needs, and those customers were predominantly male, as were the shopkeepers. It became harder for a woman entering a comic store to find anything to suit her interests, especially if those interests involved anything other than scantily clad, busty heroines.

      On the other hand, the underground comix scene burst forth in the early 70s, producing the first lesbian comic books and the only legitimate option for women to express what they really felt and believed. Finally, comics lived up to their ideal, as a place where the voiceless could have a voice. Even today, women are more inclined to self-publish, or work on zines, as the comic market seems to want little to do with these books, which are truly written for a female audience.

Women and Men in the Industry who Create Positive Female Characters

Gail Simone
Birds of Prey, Secret Six, Teen Titans, Wonder Woman, X-Men Unlimited, Agent X as well as episodes of Justice League Unlimited and creator of Women in Refrigerators website.
Women in Refrigerators (www.unheardtaunts.com/wir/) was one of the steps, along with other comics news sites that brought Gail Simone to the attention of Bongo Comics, publishers of Simpsons and Futurama comics. Women in Refrigerators is an interesting look at the deaths, de-powerings and maim or rapings of female characters in comics. She sent the list to multiple comics creators and editors across the full range of the comic book industry and posted many of the responses to her list. They are a very interesting read and should be taken in the way Simone initially intended, the list was not an attack at the comic book industry, but rather a simple statement of fact that she believed could be a good topic of discussion.


G. Willow Wilson
Writer of Vertigo's new series Air and the graphic novel Cairo. Air follows a young woman working as a flight attendant.
Wilson has a very different view point than many female comic writers as she is an American Muslim living in Egypt. She is not only a comic writer, she is also a journalist and essayist who has had many of her works on modern religion in publications such as the New York Times Magazine and the National Post. In an interview with Comic Foundry printed in their Fall 2008 issue Wilson was quoted as saying "I just want people to take a second look at things, and to see individuals instead of monolithic ideas". Through this point of view most of her comic work, namely Cairo and Air, are dealing with the topic of religion, specifically that of North American or Christian views versus Muslim views.



Devin Grayson
Not quite as well known in comics these days as she was in the mid to late 90s Grayson was a mainstay of DC comics. She worked on Batman, Nightwing, Catwoman, JLA, she also worked on some X-men titles, and a creator owned miniseries for Wildstorm called Matador.
On Gail Simone's Women in Refrigerators website Grayson had an article she wrote for a convention posted about her most hated question asked at cons, What is it like being a woman working in comics? She gives many reasons to why she won't answer this question with anything but sarcasm in most instances, my favourite being that she thinks she preferred being a male comic book writer, but really it comes down to the topic of Gender bias and the fact that being a woman should have nothing to do with how her work is viewed when compared to other titles.


Cecil Castellucci
Writer of "Plain Janes" and "Janes in Love" for the now defunct Minx line from DC.
Coming from a background of young adult fiction with the novels "Boy Proof" and "Queen of Cool", Castellucci's look at a group of high school outsiders in Plain Janes was both interesting and refreshing. Unlike many stories starring a group of teenage girls this story was not about shoes and boyfriends but instead about attacks of Guerilla art. The four girls try to enlighten the people in their small suburb about art, and also try to find their place in society without losing their misfit ideals.






Trina Robbins
After working for many years as a comic writer and artist on books like Barbie and her own creation Go Girl, Robbins has become the most outspoken comic historian focusing on Women in the comic industry. She helped form the group Friends of Lulu that helps promote and support female readership and participation in the comic industry and she has written multiple books on women and comics, including "From Girls to Grrlz: A History of Female comics from Teens to Zines" and "The Great Women Cartoonists". She is considered by many women working in comics (including Amy) as one of the most important promoters of what women have accomplished in the comic industry.



Amanda Conner
Also a Barbie alum, Conner has made a name for herself in the past few years as a master of "cheesecake", her highly stylized cartoon style has made her one of DC's favourite Power Girl artists and most of the titles she works on quickly become top sellers for both male and female readers.
Conner has worked on everything from Birds of Prey to Vampirella, breaking molds along the way. About four years ago I was the only person at a Q and A with her and her husband Jimmy Palmiotti at a convention and by the next year the line up for her sketches and autograph was one of the longest at any con. She has worked with writers such as Garth Ennis (The Pro), Warren Ellis (Two-Step), and Terry Moore (Birds of Prey).


Nicola Scott
Nicola Scott has been working as a penciller and inker since the late 90s and has been published by most of the larger comic publishers, Dark Horse, Top Cow, Image, and most well known at DC for her work on 52 and Birds of Prey with writer Gail Simone.
Scott's style is super clean and beautifully laid out. Watching her sketch is a treat as she creates characters from almost nothing on a page. Most artists start with the shapes of the body or face they are going to draw, but Scott begins with smaller features and works out from there.









Coleen Doran
Since the mid 80s Doran has been working and reworking her sci-fi/fantasy epic A Distant Soil through multiple publishers. She has rewritten the beginning of the story at least three times and it wasn't until the mid 90s that she moved her creator owned and then self published series to Image Comics on the invitation of Image co-creator Eric Larson (Savage Dragon). She is still working on her series but has also found time for other work such as Neil Gaiman's Sandman, and the original graphic novel Orbiter by Warren Ellis.
The earliest version of A Distant Soil will unfortunately never see print again. Doran was young when she started out with Wendy Pini's independent publishing house, Warp Graphics. Pini is known for her series Elfquest, co created with her husband Richard. It has been reported that Doran and Pini fought over the rights to A Distant Soil and that Doran's scripts were regularly rewritten. Since then, the story has been completely restarted and those early issues have become collector's items for anyone interested in fantasy comics.


Christine Norrie
Norrie has been working in comics since 2000 when she became the illustrator for Jen Van Meter's first "Hopeless Savages" series for Oni Press. She continued with the series for all three volumes lending her clean storytelling style to the tale about a zany family of punk rockers. She has also created her own graphic novel, "Cheat", and pencilled Amiee Friedman's "Breaking Up".
Norrie is becoming a more well known name as she has done work for DC comics, pencilling pages in the Black Canary Wedding Special. She has been called a "natural storyteller" by Publisher's Weekly and I would have to agree. Breaking Up was the first time a male friend of mine had read a "girl" comic and he actually enjoyed it. That would be because Norrie's storytelling ability, though not her pencilling style, morphs with each books she works on to best depict the writers words.



Chynna Clugston
A perennial Oni Press darling, Clugston's "Blue Monday" series, first published in 2000, was one of Oni's earliest hits with female readers. She is currently working on the fifth arc in the series and has also published a miniseries called "Scooter Girl", the first issue of a series called Strangetown, short stories in the Image collection "Four Letter Worlds" and the Dark Horse collection "Sexy Chix", a group of "Teen Titans Go" issues based on the popular cartoon, and pencilled an issue of "Ultimate Marvel Team Up" about Spiderman meeting the X-men.
Clugston's art style is heavily influenced by manga and the Mod movement. Her storytelling style is light and comedic with great underlying story. Her work thus far has focussed mainly on her own creations and the care she puts into those simply black and white books outweighs the quality of the full colour Marvel Team Up issue she pencilled.



Terry Moore
Best known for his self published epic "Strangers in Paradise", Terry Moore is one of the best examples of a male comic creator with realistic expectations of women. The series ran from 1993 to 2007 and was almost entirely self published by Moore's company Abstract Studios.
The two main characters of Strangers, Katina "Katchoo" Choovanski and Francine Peters, change through out the series and always physically embody real women. Francine struggles with her weight for the whole story, Katchoo struggles with drinking and drugs, and both find that what they always wanted was right before their eyes. (There is much more to this story, but we won't ruin it for people who haven't read it!)
Moore has also started a new creator owned and self published series, "Echo" that has a bit more of a super hero bent to it, and is now writing "Spiderman Loves Mary Jane" and "Runaways" for Marvel. Both of which are very girl-centric titles and have had both moderate and popular success since they both began. Both series were created for Marvel's Tsunami line specifically aimed at young female readers. Top creators were brought in for a range of titles all of which were eventually cancelled. "Runaways" and "Spiderman Loves Mary Jane" were both brought back through fan support. "Runaways" is in its third stint as an ongoing series and "Mary Jane", its third miniseries.
Moore could be called one of the most successful independents in comics. Strangers in Paradise has seen multiple printings in more languages than most of the larger publishers ever see, and continues to see success more than a year after the story's conclusion. All of us at the Dragon highly recommend this series if you haven't read it, it has all the best parts of a love story and a mafia tale in one.


Ross Campbell
A relative newcomer to comics, Campbell has focussed mostly on his creator owned series "Wet Moon" published by Oni Press. A heavy online gallery user, Campbell's art has garnered him much praise in the past few years since he pencilled the original graphic novel "Spooked" by Antony Johnston published in 2003. He also had a single volume of a popular Zombie book published by Tokyo Pop, "The Abandoned" but there are no plans for a sequel in the immediate future.
Campbell's art may seem strange to some when they first see it. His character designs vary wildly from the comic book norm. Some readers may look at a random character from Wet Moon and only see a girl with crazy huge eyes and breasts or who needs to eat a sandwich, but without comparing the whole of the characters in the books you will not get the full effect of Campbell's style. His characters do not fit in any molds, they are usually goth and punk inspired with tall, short, skinny and chunky all sharing the same pages and friends. Campbell is also one of the only comic artists I have seen who includes characters with deformities or missing limbs as regulars in his story. This has added an aspect of realism to "Wet Moon" that readers would never find in a mainstream book.


Friends of Lulu is a non-profit organization that was created by a group of women working in the comic industry in 1994 to help encourage women and girls to read and create comics as well as support those working in the industry. They help with networking and publishing in their own newletters and comic collections which can be bought through their website, or at conventions. 












Linda Medley
Creator of "Castle Waiting", a strongly feminist book, which turns traditional ideas of fairy tales on their heads. She presents a new kind of fairy tale in which the protagonist is a woman, who takes her destiny into her own hands, rather than waiting to be rescued. She self-published for many years and then had to abandon the project due to lack of money. A few years later, Fantagraphics saw the value of the project and revived it, along with a beautiful new hardcover edition.













Stuart and Kathryn Immonen
Stuart started self-publishing in 1988 and began working for mainstream comics in 1993. He has pencilled such well-known characters as Superman, The Hulk, Avengers, Spiderman, X-Men, and Thor. He is an accomplished interior and cover artist with a unique flowing style that he uses to create some of the most dynamic pages in comics. He has worked with writers like Warren Ellis, Brian Michael Bendis, Kurt Busiek, and his wife Kathryn.

Kathryn is the co-creator of "Moving Pictures", a web comic she produces with her husband, and the book "Never as Bad as you Think", also a collaboration with Stuart. In 2007, she began working for Marvel writing the "Patsy Walker: Hellcat" miniseries, which was pencilled by Stuart Immonen and David LaFuente. She then took over writing "Runaways" with newcomer Sara Pichelli on pencils.

Women in Comics Today

Since the mid 60s the role of most women in comics has been simply for eye candy. Peter Parker's two girlfriends, Gwen Stacey and Mary Jane Watson have always been at the height of fashion. Mary Jane even went on to become a model and actress. Wonder Woman had a brief costume change in the 90s, and Black Canary has always worn fish nets. But compared to the way some female characters were portrayed in the 90s this was as tame as Whistler's Mother.

One company known for the offence of scantily clad characters was Wildstorm. Before Wildstorm was amalgamated into DC in 1999 it was a popular game for some readers to find the shower scene in each issue of its main titles, Stormwatch and Gen 13. There was always at least one panel in each 32 page comic that had one of the Barbie proportioned super heroines practically, if not totally naked with only steam or strips of fabric covering her naughty bits. It was not the same for the male characters, though I would think most female readers would be glad of that as seeing a testosterone overdosed roid-rager in the buff is not always the most pleasant experience.

Artists popped up almost over night with the ability to take respectable ladies like the Invisible Woman and Wonder Woman and transform them into street walkers with their spandex so tight it made their asses stick out at impossible angles and their boobs stand at attention even in the most physical of fights. Some of these offenders are the likes of Rob Liefeld, whose art is almost nauseating to most and yet still seems to get him regular pencilling gigs. Others, like J.Scott Campbell combine impossible figures with waists smaller than most women's heads and hips I could be proud of to create a style that is both somehow offensive and yet entertaining.

More recently there has been a move towards more realistic depictions of men and women in comics. Artists that work better in a hyper-realism style, such as Adi Granov, Steve McNiven, Bryan Hitch and Alex Ross are being chosen for big name books.
Hitch's work on the two year series "Ultimates" for Marvel was beautiful, very believable and totally worth the wait of six years for 26 issues.
Adi Granov is most well known for his work on the covers of "Iron Man" and helping design the Iron Man suit used in the movie. His art is beautifully rendered and his designs for female characters show fit, muscular women actually capable of saving the world without losing their feminine wiles.
Steve McNiven got his start with the now defunct CrossGen publishing company. CrossGen, like the DC Minx line (see below) was cut short of its own greatness. They published a mix of sci-fi and fantasy stories, more than half of which had female leads and were written by then known comic creators, like Ron Marz and Mark Waid, and pencilled by artist now working regularly for Marvel and DC. McNiven's work on the fantasy series "Meridian" eventually landed him at Marvel where he was the pinned as the artist for last year's "Civil War" event title. His style has evolved since his CrossGen days, originally he was much simpler and cartoon like, but his style now is an over the top line style unlike most other artists these days.
Alex Ross could be considered a king of hyper-realistic comics. His work on "Marvels" and "Kingdom Come" showcased his painted style where he actually uses photo reference so well that you can pick out famous people such as the Beatles and the Who in crowded city streets. His depiction of Wonder Woman is one of my favourites. She is a true greek goddess in his work, shapely and proportioned like she really could kick your ass if she wanted to.

I've mentioned these men because they are still some of the most recognizable names in comic art, but that's not to say that women artists are doing any less to improve its landscape. Amanda Conner's art can appear like the most unrealistic depictions of the female form as any man's, until you realize that as a woman she has had to establish herself in an industry dominated by men. Her cheesecake style caters to the artistic wishes of most teenage boys and she has developed a very different use for her art than most male artists.
In the Power Girl story arc, which she pencilled in "JSA Classified", Conner used her talents to poke fun at the way scantily clad heroines are treated by the readers. There is a full page in the story that involves Power Girl interacting with a young man she rescued and trying desperately to get him to look her in the eye when he speaks to her instead of at her chest. In "The Pro", a graphic novel about a single mother prostitute given super powers as entertainment for a god-like voyeur, the fact that spandex looks horrible on pretty much every living person is brought to the forefront by the fact that her costume continually reveals her breasts and rides up her butt.

The fact that Nicola Scott pencilled nine issues of "Birds of Prey" that were written by Gail Simone was a boon for female readers. An all female team book written and drawn by women was a great, if short lived experience. Scott's art also caters to male readership, but has enough range to attract female readers as well. The Birds of Prey team went through many changes before Scott came on board and she had more body types to deal with then the average hero-team book. Huntress and Black Canary are both average size athletic women, newcomer Misfit is a teenage girl and looks the scragilly part, all limbs and awkwardness. The time shifted 1940s Lady Blackhawk fulfills the need for a wartime inspired pin-up girl while Big Barda fits her name completely, she's big, beefy and brawny and built to kick your butt. And of course there is Oracle, a paralyzed and wheelchair bound Barbara Gordon the original Batgirl, a challenge for any artist when working in such confined space as comic book panels.



There are few female artists whose art style didn't develop to male reader tastes, and it is usually on the smaller scale than magazine format comic books; for example, strip artists such as Alison Bechdel and web comic creators like Danielle Corsetto. Without the necessity of being accepted by male readers, Bechdel's "Dykes to Watch Out For" strip has some of the most interesting female characters and character designs out there, as can be seen in her memoir Fun Home as well. Her style is not always flattering but always has an aspect of realism even though it is cartoony. The same can be said for Corsetto's online strip Girls with Slingshots. The story starts with and unemployed Hazel Tellington taking a babysitting job to tide her over until she finds a writing gig. Hazel is a regular gal, she worries about bills and boys and goes out to the bar most nights. She is tall and slender and constantly comparing herself to her best friend, Jamie, a girl so voluptuous, she has never paid for a drink. Other characters include Maureen, a shy computer nerd, Clarice, a librarian working at a porno shop, and Candy, a feisty goth with a chip on her shoulder.
As with most artists the evolution of their art style can reflect their skills improving or a change in current art trends. Hopefully with the inclusion of more female artists in the industry and the movement to help improve the self-esteem of girls, the way women are depicted in comics will continue to change for the better.


      DC Comics recently attempted to create a line of books directed at teenage girls, called Minx. After several publications, the imprint has folded after barely two years, citing low sales. Having seen the high quality of the material, and knowing that it does indeed present women and girls in a positive way, it makes you wonder why these books didn't work out. The evidence shows that women are more likely to read books than men are. In fact 25% of teenage girls read for fun, versus only 9% of teenage boys. While I hate to point fingers, the main reason why those numbers don't translate into comic readership is due to store owners not knowing how to stock or market comics for girls. And, let's face it, most stores aren't exactly welcoming of female customers. The stereotypes of comic stores are unfortunately based on reality, and most of them are populated by clerks and customers who are confused, even bamboozled, when a woman walks through the doors. They become unhelpful, even hostile, assuming that a woman knows nothing about comics and has invaded their space for no reason. In that sort of environment, what woman would want to purchase anything, even if they could find it on the shelf.

Amy on Women in Comic Retailing

      What have I (Amy) learned in my 8 years working as a comic book retailer? Most comic book readers will always think they know more than me.
      When I greet a new customer walking into the store I can usually get a feel for whether they will accept my help or not. I hate to say it out loud, but male customers are usually the most difficult to prove my worth to. I have, at this point, pretty much dedicated my life to selling comics and therefore knowing as much as a I can about the products I work with. Most everyone in my family is a salesperson of some sort, and I don't see a difference between my father's job as an insurance sales man and my job as a comic retailer. My purpose in the store is to be as knowledgeable about comics as possible, and I think that I do a pretty good job.

      That said, it isn't until I've been asked if I have "that book where Batman kicks Superman's ass" and I've replied "By Frank Miller or Jeph Loeb?" that most comic buyers start to get an inkling of acceptance in their eyes. After that point, if they become a regular customer they know from then on that I keep up to date with what is going on in comics and tend not to question my comic book 'cred' again.

      I wish that I could wear my job on my sleeve when walking into other stores or walking convention floors. When I go on vacation I'll admit I try not to think about comics too much, who wants to think about their job on vacation, but sometimes when in a new city I can't help but check out the local comic shop. More often than not I walk in and find the stereotypical store clerk as portrayed in the Simpsons and organization that would make an OCD sufferer's head explode. I rarely get greeted when I walk in and have been met with more than one discriminatory or belittling look when I ask for any item or information. I guess it's easy for most comic retailers to assume a girl is in the store looking for something they don't really understand for their boyfriend, but it wasn't until I moved in with my now husband that he even started reading comics on a regular basis, and everything he reads regularly now I introduced him to.

      At conventions it is a very different ball game. There are many women behind tables at cons, and they can be described as two types, retailers and booth-bunnies. Some retailers will actually bring a cute girl to a con to help work their booth to draw people in. This is something that most retailers joke about, but it does actually happen. Because of this, any woman wandering the floor with a retailer badge on will automatically be judged by the people at whatever table she stops at. Does she actually know anything about comics or is she just there because she thinks it's cool to be fawned over? Is she truly a geek, or does she leave it at home when she goes out every day? Jenn and I work cons together all the time and joke that we are our own booth-bunnies, but the best kind, we actually know what we're talking about!

      I think that I will have to agree with Devin Grayson's comment that being a woman should never affect the way ones work is perceived. Just because someone walks in the store and assumes I know nothing about comics will never make it true. The comic industry has always been a boys club, but with the help of the growing number of female readers, creators, and retailers and men of like minds maybe someday soon it will just be another part of popular culture that everyone can enjoy equally without misconceptions.

The Final Word

      It is important to keep our eye on what the role of women in comics truly is, as there has been an unfortunate trend recently to make it about women just celebrating the presence of women in comics. There are panels at conventions full of women creators, but attended by men who want rather take their picture than listen to what they have to say. And what they have to say is always the same, "Why aren't there more women reading comics?" There are even some who extol the virtues of strong female characters like Wonder Woman, suggesting that her lack of clothing indicates how comfortable she is with herself. The fact of the matter is that superhero comics are written for men, and that is why she wears so little. We'd have to change the entire industry to get more women to read superhero comics.

      These panels also exclude the contributions of male creators who create legitimately strong female characters in their work, such as Terry Moore of "Strangers in Paradise", Ross Campbell, whose voluptuous characters really are comfortable with their own bodies, and Greg Rucka (www.gregrucka.com), creator of Whiteout. When Rucka strove to introduce strong characters into his superhero books, he was criticized by his fans of misogyny. They believed that since the women had flaws, they were somehow a product of sexism. This seems to suggest that comic readers are actually turned off by strong female characters. If this is indeed the case, it may be wise to abandon the quest to bring real female characters to superhero comics and focus on other comic genres. In the history of comics, after all, it's those genres that have brought women to comics.

      Recently, DC Comics promoted a woman to the role of editor-in-chief. Amid the excitement this produced among women in the industry, Valerie D'Orazio, author of the blog "Occasional Superheroine" and former DC editor, revealed that, and I quote: "During [the] four years [I worked there], I had seen strong women again and again be censured, criticized, grumbled about, and disparaged. I've watched my department be emptied out of females one-by-one. I was warned on literally the first day I worked there by two different people to watch my back because I was a woman and not to make any waves. I was told by one boss that females just didn't have the natural aptitude to edit comic books." It's hard to say what effect a female editor will have; there is still the bottom line to consider, after all, and a disturbing sentiment regarding the matter that will need to be dealt with. But it may mean the opportunity to get a few more female voices into superhero books.

      Looking at the history of comics, it's clear that the role of women in them really hasn't changed. With few exceptions, they are still scantily-clad sidekicks, who tend to get tied up a lot. Really, how much has changed in the last 70 years? With so many factors working against us, maybe it's time to stop being concerned about female superheroes and focus on getting our voice heard through other types of comics. Despite the uphill battle against ignorant retailers and greedy publishers, we still have the opportunity to make our voices heard in this most unique and influential medium, and we shouldn't let superhero comics slow us down.



For further reading on women in comics, we suggest the books of Trina Robbins: "From Girls to Grrlz", "A Century of Women Cartoonists", and "The Great Women Superheroes." We also recommend "Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America" by Bradford W. Wright, for more general comic history.