wanna make a bet/we'll be neck and neck/takin' off the gloves

[parsimonia]

There's a blog post entitled "A Rant About Women" that's been circulating online recently, and together with this response to it, I've been wondering about how it all may apply to the comics industry.

Comments

[parsimonia]

It's rare to see anyone who's actually currently working (Gail included, WiR fame or no) not softsell or downplay the industry's problems in an interview

It's true. E.g., Ed Benes on Birds.

I remember Madison talking about the art changes, but what was the "black kids on skateboards" memo?

Also, I think there's a discussion to be had here about what makes a writer an influential big-seller in the first place (why is Grant Morrison, who's good at trippy meta but can't write characters in-character to save his life, a "better writer" with more acclaim than Kurt Busiek, who does amazing character work, and why is Geoff Johns, nostalgia king, a "better writer" with more acclaim than Paul Dini, rennovator and remodeler of the Batverse?Yes, exactly. This celebration of nostalgia, or at least, nostalgia for older things is something that's really bizarre to me. Courting people who are nostalgic about Barry Allen and Hal Jordan, for instance, just baffles me. I mean, maybe it's just a sense of entitlement that everything should be catered

[parsimonia]

You cannot find meaningful female or minority characters prior to the Bronze Age. So the obsession with nostalgia over the Silver and Golden Ages, by its nature, is exclusionary to women and minorities.

You have just summed up in two sentences what I have been trying to think of a way to say for a while now. GAH! Thank you. XD

That's exactly it. (And personally I'm baffled by the idea that Geoforce has fans, but hey.)

because of the nostalgia issue always prioritizing straight white males - it's going to limit your influence and slow your advancement.

Yes. And the problem is, all those old, white and mostly male characters always have the edge over the new ones when it comes being "iconic", by virtue of being older, and these newer, more diverse characters can never "catch up" to being the same as the old guys.

It's pretty much parallel to difficulties of women and minorities advancing or gaining anything anywhere, because the dominant group already had their system set up to their advantage from the get-go.

[nevermore999]

Good article as always and lots of food for thought! Though I thibk your ideas for DC are good, certainly as good as the top talent at the moment

[aliasjack]

I think you hit it on the head with the mention of D'Orazio. I couldn't help but think of her as I read the whole deal, as a sobering reminder of how far the comics industry still has to go and further evidence to back up Harding's response. It's a sad state of affairs, really.

[parsimonia]

Heh, thanks. We can team up and write stories of awesomeness. For JUSTICE!

With respect to D'Orazio, yeah, she's obviously had bad experiences in the industry and is publicly known for it. I mean, she's writing for Marvel now, but she's also generally reserved her criticism for DC. Would she have got a job at Marvel if she'd consistently criticized their work too?

It's true I can hardly stand to self promote, and I dunno if that's because of my gender or not.

I really don't think it's inherently to do with gender. It's more socialization, and if I'm generalizing, people interested in comics more often tend to be "nerds", a greater percentage of whom may be quieter or more introverted, sometimes less likely to put themselves out there.

[schmevil]

With respect to D'Orazio, yeah, she's obviously had bad experiences in the industry and is publicly known for it. I mean, she's writing for Marvel now, but she's also generally reserved her criticism for DC. Would she have got a job at Marvel if she'd consistently criticized their work too?

I believe she's been asked this, and her response was pretty much soft-pedal, my guys are the good guys, predictable tomfoolery. iirc