reallyawitch:

gailsimone:

gailsimone:

Why the fuck would I want cranberries with chicken: pinchepeaches replied to your post: Okay, I get it now. Michelle, the…

squee-gee:

gailsimone:

strikematchlightfiyah:

pinchepeaches replied to your post: Okay, I get it now.

Michelle, the fact that…

In general, for all the strides comics have made with female fans, I still get the sense that the fandom at large isn't particularly inclusive to women of color. I mean it kills me when I see someone awesome like DCWKA recommending books to budding fans, and not a single one of them is a POC heroine or a team book WITH a POC heroine in it. And it's not her fault, but it's the sort of environment the industry has cultivated.

You can see tons of cute white girls with blue eyes and blonde hair, but black, Latina, Asian, and Middle Eastern heroines are few and far between. I would not be surprised in the least if a young black girl was excited about getting into comics but then backed out upon seeing how few people there were that look like her. And seeing as how it is the fanboys and fangirls of today who are the writers of tomorrow, that's a big problem.

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It's true, and let's face it, there's still a lot of misogyny, homophobia and racism on both sides of the table in the industry.  I have heard that a lot of people didn't care for Felicia Henderson (a WOC, I met her once, a lovely, smart lady), on Teen Titans. But the TENOR of bile for her work is astounding and seems way out of proportion to whatever problems people may have had with her work (and I haven't read enough of it to be familiar).

I do know there are a lot of female editors at DC and Marvel. I believe they, in particular, would like to hire more female writers. I know they want GOOD writers of all kinds. But I know they'd like to see more female writers take a shot. Right now, it feels like Marvel has more female writers doing superhero titles than DC. And remember, until a VERY few years ago, no black writer, male or female, had had an ongoing gig on any of the "icon" titles at DC or Marvel. That was in this past DECADE.

I don't know the answer. I want comics to be a meritocracy, I want the best writer for the job every time. But I also want to encourage a vastly more diverse GROUP of good writers to try to make their way in, as well.  As I said before I left Tumblr for a while, we've lost several important voices for diversity lately.  I am always hoping people will rise up and carry those principles with them as they work in comics. But I despair that too many people are discouraged. It's a tough gig to get and a tougher one to keep.

But I hope some of you out there will keep trying.

okay! I am a young lady-type who does comics and studies comics and interns with cartoonists. I am also really unwell, so please please bear with me here. I don't really like to talk about my feelings about the industry because I do not want to affect my employment opportunities. However, I think this is a pretty important thing to get out there!

I used to want to do superhero comics really badly, but now I am more interested in other kinds of comics. I still would like to work with superheroes someday, but I am somewhat nervous to work with mainstream comics. this isn't so much because there aren't a TON of lady-type writers in mainstream comics, although there aren't nearly enough, but because I am not necessarily comfortable working with some of the people who perpetuate things that I may not like in superhero comics, and I don't always feel particularly welcome in superhero comics spaces that are not the traditionally lady and queer dominated fandom spaces I operate in! some of my (dude) peers who are also interested in superhero comics are interested in them for mainly the reasons that I have problems with superhero comics, and don't even think about or actively dislike the things that I do! plus, there are very few ongoing titles out there that accurately reflect my tastes or where I would like to take superhero comics if I were in a position to write them. I feel like working permanently in a space like that could be emotionally draining to me. which isn't to say that I wouldn't like to do it, and that I don't respect all of the people working in the industry today! only that I think, for a lot of people who are not straight cisgender dudes, or even straight cisgender white dudes, the mainstream comics space can seem unwelcoming for things that aren't even necessarily related to representation.

One last post, because what you're saying is true.

It's not even that it's deliberately unwelcoming—it's not that anyone is saying, WE DON'T WANT QUEER CHARACTERS OR POC OR LGBTQ CHARACTERS. It's an industry that runs at least 75% on nostalgia, and a lot of what really excites editors, readers, and publishers was created decades ago.

And all of that stuff was white, straight, and mostly male.

However!  I want you to keep trying. What it sounds like you need to do, if I understand your post, is to create some indy stuff.  That sounds like you will be able to say the things you want to say in that arena. If you do that stuff, and you do it well (and I hope you do), then that is the BEST possible entry app for superhero comics, even if you are only doing them on the sidelines.

Bringing a comic you wrote and produced to an editor is a huge deal. It's a much, much better chance to get in to at least see if you enjoy doing this at one of the bigger companies.

I hope you do. I understand that it's a little unwelcoming. But the truth is, it's hard breaking in even if you are Geoff Johns' twin brother. It's hard for EVERYONE. I just think that havin a more diverse creator base and character set is the thing that is most needed for our industry, for readers and publishers both.

I hope you'll try.