Ladies Making Comics

comiccombatant asked: I totally agree with your post. I would love to see women on titles like Worlds' Finest, Wonder Woman, X-Men, and Fearless Defenders BUT I don't want women to be stuck on books featuring only female characters. I want to see women writing Batman and Superman and the Avengers as much as I want to see them writing Captain Marvel, Katana, and the Birds of Prey!

It’s such a strange line to walk! We want women to be written authentically, like the women we are and/or know in real life, and drawn appropriately to the story, and getting women creators is basically an easy way to achieve that—it almost feels like cheating even. But at the same time we a) want men to have to learn how to write and draw women well, and b) want women to have “stewardship” of major male characters.

Ann Nocenti actually just did an interview with CBR, where she basically sums up both issues and her refreshingly flippant response to both:

I got back into comics because of stereotypes. I think there was some big controversy in some convention — I wasn’t in the industry because I was off doing other things — about how there were no women in comics, and then I got a call, “We need women in comics.” So if I got back into the industry because I’m a token female, I say great! I’m all in!…

They put me on “Green Arrow,” and I have to admit, I just didn’t get Green Arrow…Now, doing “Katana” and “Catwoman,” I have no idea if there was a meeting where someone said, “Let’s give the girl writer the girl books,” but I instantly related to those characters! It’s fun to write girls.

Sometimes, you just have to go with what works, and take what you can get!