Comments on: Final Minx Creative Count

By: Minx No More: DC Cancels Girls’ GN Line » Comics Worth Reading

Minx No More: DC Cancels Girls’ GN Line » Comics Worth Reading — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 12:20:27 +0000

[...] not forget one major issue: the lack of significant female creative contribution, a problem from the [...]

By: one diverse comic book nation » 2006: The Year That Was In Diversity In Comics

Mon, 01 Jan 2007 02:02:41 +0000

[...] But, more than the name, the fact that only a couple of women creators would be on board for the launch of a line aimed at teenage girls got people talking. Johanna Draper Carlson from Comics Worth Reading asked, “But I can only imagine what the press would do if the Logo channel, targeted at gays, had over 85% of their shows created by straights. Perhaps that’s not a fair example, given that gays already get a lot of Hollywood work, and the same can’t be said about women in comics. How many black creators does BET have? How many black actors are represented on that network? I know Lifetime has a ton of visible females. In short, how do you talk to a target audience if you’re not allowing members of that audience to speak?” [...]

By: Barry

Barry — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 15:16:15 +0000

While there’s quite a bit of material geared towards women in other forms of media, I still think a comics company that exclusively publishes intelligent, quality content for women could possibly succeed. I don’t think a mainstream hit like Persepolis is an anomaly, as I’ve had more than one conversation with women who were not comics ‘fans’ but who had read and loved the book. This is a niche market that has all sorts of untapped potential and while the going would be rough for a new comics company like this, I don’t think it would be any more so than for other publishers like Oni or AdHouse. Again, I think it could work. It just needs the right people and the right business plan.

By: Jeffrey Wong

Jeffrey Wong — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 04:22:26 +0000

Actually it may very well be a case of simple mathematics. Something like slightly over 50% of human society are women. And yet for a womens’ line you have less than 15% on the team? In a job that doesn’t demand physical strength, aggression or … well … cojones to do the job? (And this is arguable. I have LIVED with some really strong assertive women)

It’s almost simple mathematics to see the huge disparity between the percentage of the world’s population and the number of female creators in this particular department of DC. While I wouldn’t expect 50% of the people on this line to be women, I cannot believe that there was so few talent that they couldn’t find maybe 6 creators on a 14 person team. It doesn’t make sense

What makes even less sense is that this is the company (if i’m not mistaken) that prints Y: The Last Man!! One would think the higher ups were already alive to the issue.

As a side note we are slight over one century away from a time where it was considered that women were less intelligent and incapable by the medical community as an established fact.

By: one diverse comic book nation » Wowsie Wowsie Wonder Woman

one diverse comic book nation » Wowsie Wowsie Wonder Woman — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 19:25:23 +0000

[...] In just those 8 pages, I was simply charmed and then ultimately pissed because I wanted to know more. There’s been so much discussion about DC’s new Minx line, about its name and not having enough women creators and hopes that this line will encourage girls to read superhero comics, so this just seems like a no-brainer to me. If DC were smart, they’d take Pantoja up on her proposal. [...]

By: Lyle

Lyle — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 14:36:18 +0000

I have to wonder though if there’s enough reason from comic readers to support a comic company with an all-female roster. If you go outside of superheroes, most customers won’t have a hard time finding female perspectives to support, even if you’re looking outside of manga.The frustration and urgency is felt most by superhero fans, who aren’t very likely to be interested in anything outside of the big two.

That’s not to say there’s no reason to support a comics company thats owned by women, creating comics by women, just that the customers who would support such a venture are likely to overlook that idealism when choosing between Untested Series A and Blue Monday, Nana or Finder. There’s enough out there to justify the “I care more about quality” excuse.

OTOH, on aspect that seems to fuel YAOI fandom is its “by women for women” tradition.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 21:07:26 +0000

And given the resistance such a line would face in the direct market, if anyone smart started such a thing, it would have to have a terrific business plan and all its ducks in a row.

I’ve thought about it, but given the intelligent advice I got to publish what you love, the first thing I’d want to start with would be by a guy, so so much for that.

By: Barry

Barry — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 20:45:09 +0000

After reading some thoughts on other sites about this, it got me to thinking that while it would be great if a company like DC would publish an all or mostly female-staffed line of books, in the end, I think that’s too much to expect of a corporate entity. For those who really want change, I think the only way to acheive it is to take matters into your own hands. There are plenty of niche publishers out there and there’s no reason a female-owned company that publishes comics aimed at a female audience with an all-female talent roster can’t and shouldn’t exist. I for one would love to see such a thing happen and succeed.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 11:47:16 +0000

Langdon, the point is that this is yet another demonstration of the sexism fostered and maintained by DC and Marvel, in that they didn’t hire any female creators. That this is true of a line AIMED at females just makes it more obvious and ironic. I’m sorry you can’t see that.

By: Lyle

Lyle — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 07:16:20 +0000

Wouldn’t you rather have a diversity of voices (for lack of a better term) in super-hero comics? Wouldn’t they be all the better for it?

Langdon, I believe a lot of the same people bothered by the lack of female creators working on Minx titles have argued in the past that superhero comics would be better if there were greater diversity of talent. That exclusionary viewpoints at the corporate level end up appearing at the retail level, shrining the customer base.

However, this is a case where the omission is glaring, particularly because of the targeting (and marketing potential) but also because this is a case where inertia is much less of a factor (as with superhero comics).

By: Kevin Lighton

Kevin Lighton — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 05:12:23 +0000

Superhero comics may be defined by genrÃƒÂ© — but these days I think they’re just as defined by the target audience (and all for the worse, if you ask me) as the Minx books appear to be.

The difference is that superhero comics are not necessarily defined by the audience that most of the current titles are targetting, while Minx’s titles are solely defined by the target audience. There wouldn’t be any inherent contradiction in a superhero title in the Minx line (although it seems unlikely that there would be one in the near future).

By: Langdon Auger

Langdon Auger — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 03:52:21 +0000

Superhero comics may be defined by genrÃƒÂ© — but these days I think they’re just as defined by the target audience (and all for the worse, if you ask me) as the Minx books appear to be.

Look, Johanna, I agree with the idea that mass market comics on the whole ought to be created by and reach a broader audience — wholeheartedly. But if the your most substantial complaint is that this was a missed opportunity to address some historical wrongdoing, I give up.

I hope the books do well for DC — with or without an idealized roster of creative talent.

By: Kevin Lighton

Kevin Lighton — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 02:53:51 +0000

Comparing superhero comics to the Minx line is rather an apples-and-oranges comparison anyway, since the former is defined by genre and the latter by target audience. The value of specific types of diversity to each is thus different.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 01:57:27 +0000

Personally, I no longer really care what superhero comics do, because they have nothing to say to me anymore. Others, yes, would like to see voices more reflective of themselves. And that’s what makes Minx so odd — the creators don’t reflect at all the target audience. Sticking with the same white men ISN’T a diversity of voices.

By: Langdon Auger

Langdon Auger — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 23:09:45 +0000

Then I’ll rephrase the question: Wouldn’t you rather have a diversity of voices (for lack of a better term) in super-hero comics? Wouldn’t they be all the better for it?

Why should these books (or any other) be held to a different standard?

By: Johanna

Johanna — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 19:18:12 +0000

I’m afraid you’re missing my point — “mainstream” comics are written by everyone for everyone. Superhero comics aren’t mainstream, as demonstrated by their limited sales to an ever-declining audience.

By: Langdon Auger

Langdon Auger — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 19:10:42 +0000

I feel like you’re dodging the question, though. Wouldn’t mainstream comics be all the better if they weren’t written almost exclusively by one small demographic?

Isn’t it possible that the Minx books be all the better because they’re not?

By: Johanna

Johanna — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 11:34:33 +0000

Langdon: It explains why the fan/pro connection is so tight in comics, perhaps, with all the problems that result. All of the sales growth and media interest in comics has come about in spite of, not because of, the superhero genre, which demonstrates how, rather than being “mainstream”, it seems more like an evolutionary dead end. If superhero comics were one small part of a healthy and diverse market, then there would be nothing wrong with them being by boys/for boys.

By: Barry

Barry — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 04:26:21 +0000

Just out of curiosity, I did an amazon.com search for ‘chick lit’. Every single book that showed up was written by a woman.

So yeah, I’m seeing how the comics industry is (again) more than a wee bit out of step with the rest of the world…

By: Langdon Auger

Langdon Auger — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 00:19:11 +0000

So does that mean mainstream comics are all the better for having come to be written mostly by and almost exclusively for the peculiar type of adolescent male fanboy they’re intended for?

Wouldn’t you rather have a diversity of voices (for lack of a better term) in mainstream comics?

Why should these books be held to a different standard?