Via the Amazons Attack 35%
Batgirl's Entire Personality Change 12%
BC/GA Wedding 12%
Starfire's treatment in Countdown to Adventure 12%
Black Canary Wedding Planner 6%
MJ Statue of Evil 6 %
Donna's weakness in Countdown 3%
Wonder Woman relaunch 6%
Cassie continuing to play Juliet to Kon 3%
It disturbs me that so much of this is DC -- when I worked there, we seemed to be the more progressive publisher of the Big Two. The Editor-in-Chief was a woman, and there were several women editors who had some authority.
While I'd quibble with some of the selections here, that's really not the point. The point is that the publishers of the largest-selling American comics would appear to go out of their way to alienate half the population. And that half of the population seems quite happy to buy manga, in bookstores, where they find themselves appreciated as valued customers.
Comments (7)
Rick Taylor (5:49 PM on Thu Jan 3, 2008)
I don't know if they go out of their way to alienate half their market as much as they see no value in embracing them.
When answering a question for someone writing an essay on why I'm a guy that liked Wonder Woman, my answer was because of her manner of conflict resolution. Be my friend and seek peace, if not, I'll kick your ass! A different kind of approach. Maybe more passive but less aggressive.
Seriously, they seem to write the women like men instead of as women. We have more female writers than ever but there is still that glass ceiling that approaches most of the female characters like male characters.
They don't get it.
Laura Miello (9:31 AM on Fri Jan 4, 2008)
Honestly, I am not so sure that DC has stopped being the less progressive of the Big Two. You can't really screw up your female characters when you aren't doing much with them in the first place, which is how I would describe Marvel. Also, I would have thought that the Heroes for Hentai cover and the Invisible Woman's letter to Reed in Civil War would have ranked way higher than any of those things, but they don't even appear.
Andrew Collins (5:08 PM on Fri Jan 4, 2008)
Don't forget the editorial that appeared in Dan Didio's column in all of DC's books (Didio himself didn't write it though. I think it was Matt Idelson, maybe? Or Eddie Berganza?) where they discussed how much appeal Supergirl had for female readers, especially young girls, and that they saw it as their flagship book for girls. I'll let you insert your own joke/snark here. :)
Elayne Riggs (5:13 PM on Fri Jan 4, 2008)
I'd be curious to know how many people actually participated in this survey. How many does 3% constitute, for instance? It could represent 1 person or even 0 (i.e., it was presented as a choice that nobody clicked on). I'd be hard-pressed to extrapolate any conclusions from this informal poll until I knew more about it.
Alan Coil (8:14 PM on Fri Jan 4, 2008)
As Elayne has implied, a survey can only be considered accurate if enough people have responded so as to be Mathematically (more) correct. These rounded off percentages could have come from as few as 34 people, whereas to be considered more likely to reflect a true representation, a survey needs over 1000 repondents.
Marilee J. Layman (5:49 PM on Sat Jan 5, 2008)
A little snooping around her site shows that this is the only post she's labelled poll, and she's the originator, so maybe she just made it all up. Elayne, I hope she answers your question.
Rick Taylor (7:21 PM on Fri Jan 4, 2008)
Bottom line ladies, I think regardless of any us shooting holes in the poll Martha uses as the basis for her article, comics could do better.
'Nuff said.