THE SMALL PUBLISHERS BOOSTING FEMALE TALENT IN COMICS
Marvel and DC could learn a thing or two from their indie competitors.
The myth that female-centric comics don't sell is alive and well in the comic book world. Though Marvel Comics and DC Comics have introduced new female characters or given existing characters more prominent roles in the past few years, in 2016, Marvel's vice president of sales said that retailers had told him consumers "didn't want female characters out there." (A few days later, he retracted the remarks.) This was only the latest example of comic-industry insiders expressing doubt in female protagonists at the time: In a leaked email from the 2015 Sony hacks, Marvel Chief Executive Office Ike Perlmutter sent Sony head Michael Lynton a list of female-driven superhero movies that had done poorly at the box office—"As we discussed on the phone, below are just a few examples. There are more," he wrote. Creators including Kelly Sue DeConnick (Captain Marvel) and G. Willow Wilson (Ms. Marvel) have said they launched female-centered comic books expecting them to get canceled.
Though successful female-centered titles at the so-called "Big Two" keep proving this industry axiom wrong, according to entertainment news site Bleeding Cool, in January of 2017 only 35.8 percent of Marvel covers and 32.4 percent of DC Comics covers featured female characters. Off the page, women fare worse, only making up 16.8 percent of Marvel creators (including cover artists, writers, pencilers, inkers, colorists, letterers, and editors) and 17.1 percent of creators at DC last year.
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