I forget about Ex Machina. You’re right about the sensitivity to those issues, but not well-known and definitely not for kids.

Have you tried Runaways, especially season two? Chase and/or Victor may be close to what you’re looking for. OTOH they might not be appropriate for your son’s age.

Johanna Says: “That’s a very difficult question, much more than it should be. I can’t think of a well-known superhero that isn’t a least a little bit sexist.”

Does Mayor Hundred in Ex Machina not well-known enough, not super enough, or too sexist? OTOH that series is for grownups too.

I’ve been saying this for years. Praise requires … well, praise. Criticism opens the door for every “critic” to trot out those one-liners they’ve been saving all year for THAT special movie/comic/whatever.

[...] A month ago, Johanna at Comics Worth Reading (and the usual suspects here at Four Color) rightly bemoaned the sexism that runs rampant through superhero comics. In closing the Four Color response, JD expressed a yearning “to see a big-name comic character along the lines of the marvelous Action Girl.” While I am not a woman, nor am I familiar with Action Girl, I here humbly offer up an exception to the rule that superhero comics are the translucently-veiled sexual or power fantasies of men: She-Hulk. (Hmm, that intro would pack more punch without that banner hanging over it, wouldn’t it?) [...]

[...] I feel like I should clarify something about my thoughts on battling sexism in comics. I’m saying that I’m uncertain how I feel about it. I’m glad to see others with more energy or different opinions taking the fight wherever they feel it needs to be. [...]

[...] Johanna, host of the always-brilliant Comics Worth Reading, seems almost resigned, defeated. She’s willing to surrender and move on to other types of comics. I don’t know whether adults read superhero comics out of nostalgia or habit or because they’re the easiest kinds of comics to find or because they’re comfortable entertainment or because they really like the genre best. But after a certain point, I have to wonder if it isn’t easier to go read something aimed more at you instead of trying to change the cow into a giraffe. Yes, it’s important to point out that there are women who read superheroes, that it’s not all just men… but it is majority male, and most women who read comics prefer to read other things. [...]

Rachel, publishers (or their imprints) specialize. That’s why these large book publishers that are getting into graphic novels often set up labels like Graphix or First Second to indicate a target audience and a grouping of material. Marvel is specialized as a superhero publisher; so is the main DC imprint (what used to be the bullet).

It’s more than just the creators — it’s overcoming public expectations associated with the label and getting radically different material into the right outlets. DC/Marvel may not have the leeway or staff or knowledge or patience to do something radically different. (As it is, DC’s imprints, which once upon a time meant something along those lines, have been weakened and greatly muddied in their focus. Paradox is gone, best I can tell; Vertigo now signifies an age difference; WildStorm is more superheroes; and CMX has a whole host of issues.)

Why should they compete in an area they’re not interested in when they make plenty of money firming up their hold on an area they dominate? And why should they launch radically different books when the market right now won’t even support new books in their dominant genre that aren’t already familiar to readers?

Long term guesses aren’t compelling as a business case, unfortunately. If the launches of CMX and Marvel digests are anything to go by, then it’ll take several years of someone else having astounding success with comics aimed directly at women for DC/Marvel to even try dipping a toe in the market. They’re large companies, they don’t move quickly or first.

The Big Three don’t only publish super hero books. They just don’t publish anything with females in them that aren’t somehow related to superhero books.

I’m saying that traditional companies need to stake a claim now. It is within their powers. They have access to the talent and the printers and the marketing. A stake in a large future market could be worth a few small losses in the initial years, too. But, I don’t think there would be losses. If the story has heart, if the books are appealing, they will gain both male and female readers.

Why all this stubborness? People say, “Oh, they can’t do that! They only publish superhero books!” Isn’t that like saying, “I can’t swim! I’ve never been in the water!” You have to get into the water to learn how to swim. It starts with a single step forward and ends with a splash.

No, I was resisting the idea of a “Pink Aisle” like you see in the toy stores. An entire section of the store that screams “Girl stuff.” Going through a toy store, I always knew the Barbies were meant for me, and I’d take a look but ultimately walk away with some lego sets or some Voltron action figures from the “Boys area.” And that’s okay, because the toys in the “Boys area” of the store aren’t misogynistic by virtue of being marketed for boys.

In comic book stores today, there’s usually an indy rack and a managa section for a little “Pink Aisle” and then you have the superhero books on the other side of the store. I like buying from the other side of the store, it appeals to me. The problem comes about when the stuff in the “Boys area” of the store becomes downright unfriendly to women simply because the makers don’t think women will be interested anyway, and they shoudl spend all of their time seducing the dark side of masculine immaturity.

i don’t think comics should be gender-segregated in that way. Where “marketed for boys” becomes “marketed exclusively for boys” because I’m nto going to find much in the Pink Aisle.

(Thanks again :))

I guess maybe I should draw a distinction between outright sexism (“female characters should have big boobs because they’re there to be looked at”, for example) and simple exclusion (“why aren’t there superhero comics aimed at women?”). I think the former, as pointed out, can be dangerous in the attitudes it fosters, but the latter is more neglect than attack.

I should probably also say that I used to empathize a lot more with the situation Ragnell mentions (liking boy stuff more than girls’) before than I do now. I don’t know why, but as I get older, I get more girly. Maybe it’s the accumulated years of societal pressure, I dunno. :)

Ragnell, your first comment seems to be confusing superheroes with all comics, and then you contradict yourself. There are comics for everyone today, but I think superheroes are the comic equivalent of Mac Bolan books (just as shojo is the comic equivalent of Harlequins). Saying “comics shouldn’t be gender-segregated” doesn’t mean that there won’t be some genres of comics aimed more at boys or girls, right? (And I’m glad I could send some traffic your way.)

Rachel, I have to second David’s questions (although hopefully in a kinder way): why should those superhero publishers you list try to do something they’re clearly no good at when there are so many other publishers out there filling those gaps? (Leaving aside Vertigo for now.) They’d have to be willing to run a project at a loss, perhaps for years, while they tried to break long-standing associations in the public mind about their products as well as developing new sales outlets (since the direct market is superhero-centric for the most part). It’s just not good business.

Lyle, I agree with you that the “mainstream” perception (a word I usually refuse to use because of its inaccuracy) is the real problem, but I think that’s on the verge of changing, if it hasn’t already, with the graphic novel bookstore/publisher boom.

But you know, I’m sitting here working on a review of the Baby-Sitters Club, a graphic novel for girls by a woman and released by Scholastic, so maybe it’s just giving me rose-colored glasses as the light reflects off the pink cover. :)

Did you ever see the Andi Watson concept drawing of Barbara Gordon? He was interested at one point in doing something with her, not as Batgirl but Barbara. Which would have been fun I think,

Rachel, a bit part of the problem is corporate cowardace. The big problem is that comics that don’t cater to the core market don’t sell like gangbusters out of the gate and, unless Marvel sees potential for the title as a digest, they’re too risk adverse to try to nurture an unprofitable title that might be able to reach new readers.

Worse, this attitude is something comic readers are aware of and have adjusted accordingly. Titles like Manhunter and Hard Time have an even greater struggle because customers expect them to have a short and unsatisfying run… I think even the people (like me) who try to support these titles expect the title to get minimal marketing support and to end prematurely — we just try to enjoy it while it lasts.

Frustrated readers like me, however, are finding more opportunities to get more than “enjoy it while it lasts, even if it will end in disappointment” because of manga and the way some small press publishers have been able to take advantage of manga’s presence in bookstores. I expect, DC’s reaction will be to embrace the core audience even further at that point.

But, I am reminded of an old joke. “How many comics publishers does it take to change a light bulb?” Response: “CHANGE?!”

It’s just a thought. I think it makes sound business sense, but who am I to talk? Just a female reader who doesn’t buy anything published by the Big Three :)