On Comic Book Feminism:

This is finals week for me, well technically the beginning of two weeks of finals but I'm in denial, so my posting will probably be fairly lightweight.

I'd like to point out that this post of Ragnell's is something I agree with whole-heartedly.

I very much enjoyed Ms. Bear's piece. I have aspirations of writing someday myself, I have many ideas of my own and would love the chance to eventually publish them.

But I also love superhero comics. I love them for what they are and what they aren't. I love the characters and plots and potential. I won't deny the sexism present, I've certainly complained about it enough, but to be blunt...

It's worth it.

I don't understand the pessimism about superhero comics feminism. I don't. I've hovered around internet and personal fandom for most of my life, and honestly, I think superhero comics fandom is possibly one of the most feminist-friendly fandoms I've ever seen.

As insular and change-resistant as a lot of comic book fans are, they're nothing compared to a group of hard-science-fiction readers if you dare try to bring up broad genre feminist complaints in that environment. Want to attack the anti-feminist conventions of the romance novel genre? Better have a REAL thick skin.

But taking on the stereotypical anti-feminist comic book fan, "Comic Book Guy" so to speak, in his own environment? Bring it on.

Moreover, we get results. Fairly BIG results. We have big name writers and artists publically defending themselves from feminist critique in mainstream comic fandom environments. We're not just talking about interviews with a specifically feminist publication like Sequential Tart, here, either. We're talking about groups like Newsarama.

I might criticize Matt Brady's interview approach on the issues in question, but it's fairly notable that he HAS to bring them up, don't you think? And hey, as stupid as I may have found Quesada's justifications of the Heroes For Hire cover, or the pitiful excuses for the Mary Jane statue...

We've at least reached the point where they have to make them. Heck, Marvel kind of parodied itself with that whole statue bit recently, and even if you read that scene in the manner most offensive toward the feminist comic book fan, that doesn't change the fact that it's a direct acknowledgement.

Both companies are beginning to acknowledge the untapped female audience with new product. DC's got Minx. Marvel's got Anita Blake. It's baby steps, but it's baby steps in the right direction. (I personally despise Anita Blake, but I know quite a few women who read it voraciously, so clearly it's reaching a target audience.)

We have serious efforts to fix Wonder Woman and Supergirl in place. Those shifting creative teams happened for a reason. As botched as the attempts may have been, DC is acknowledging at least that they're not reaching the target they were aiming for and instead of giving up and saying "Fuck it" they're actually taking steps to try to fix their approach. Will it work? Who can say? But they're trying.

Marvel's trying too. As a DC reader mostly, I'm primarily focused on that side of the bank so I can't talk as much about Marvel efforts. But I think it's fairly clear that attempts to spotlight female characters are happening, books like Ms. Marvel and She-Hulk are still going strong. Heck, in a strange sort of way, even the T&A covers are a good sign.

They're basically saying: "Okay, we've got our core audience reading these comics because of plot/character/art, but we're not confident of reaching the lowest common denominator type stereotype of the comic fanboy. So how do we do that?" And instead of changing the content to pander to these guys, they just slap on a sexy cover. They never have to lose that core audience.

That means something.

And those particular fans who pop up on WFA periodically to denounce and decry feminist fans, female fans and the hive vagina? Well...think about it this way, would they be so vocal or so adamant if there wasn't the element of threat involved. If, on some level, they didn't think we might win.

I've seen and addressed the complaints of certain WFA readers that some of the people we link may well just be trolling the community for traffic and negative attention. Which may well be true. But you know what? That's an acknowledgement of the sizeable audience that WFA's managed to obtain and the usefulness of getting linked there. I'd like to be humble, but the truth is, my ego kind of loves that conclusion. Heh.

Change doesn't happen immediately. It doesn't happen in one day, one week, one month or even one year. It's very possible that twenty years down the line, Ragnell and I, Girl-Wonder, Sequential Tart, Friends of Lulu, and all the others who I may have forgotten to mention, and whoever our spiritual successors may be, will still be clamoring for change in the superhero comic book community. But we are getting results. We're being heard. Will there be backlash? Probably. Will we be mocked? Sure. But those are perfectly natural steps on the path of social change. We're going places.

And really I can think of far less worthwhile things to be doing with my time. :-)