silversolitaire

I just had the extreme displeasure to read this article:

Girls And Comics - Oil And Water

By Hal Roth

I have been the assistant manager of a popular Florida comic shop for seven years. And I am also a long time fan of comics. I was first introduced to comics before I could read and I have been reading comics for thirty years since. So it is safe to say that I am an authority on comics and those who read them.

The fact is Girls should not read comics. This is the truth. To say that girls don’t read comics, is stating the obvious. But I have come to the conclusion that comics are not for girls.

The girls that come into my comic shop are usually brought there by their boyfriends and they show no respect to the art-form of comics. These girls pull comics half way out of the back-issue bins, trying to touch them as little as possible like they were dirty socks, then snicker at the covers. Frequently a girl will bring a comic over to the boy they came in with and poke fun at the comic! I feel bad for these boys, I can see the shame in their eyes as they pretend to laugh. Those girls are embarrassing themselves and their boyfriends.

I am a keen observer of human behavior and the attitude of a girl in a comic shop is like that of a Vulcan amongst Ferengi. They think they are so much better than comics. Those girls don’t think I’m watching them from my stool behind the counter as I bag and board comics. But I am. I see them in their little belly-shirts acting like they are so above comics.

The reality is that girls lack the imagination of boys and cannot comprehend the bold archetypes portrayed in our (boys’) sequential art-form. Over the years the comic community has made many attempts at reaching out to girls, and in doing so have created many splendid characters, only to have the majesty of fantasy lost on girls. If only girls could see the wonder of such great female characters as Shrinking Violet, Jocasta and Spider-Girl. These girls don’t know what they are missing, and I believe, can’t understand what it is they are missing.

I have heard a lot of talk about there not being enough comics for girls. This is utter rubbish. There are many great female characters. But some people believe that more girls would come into comic shops if there were a wider variety of comics. Let me translate that for you; a wider variety of comics should be read as, “boring comics.” I’ve heard people say that different genres, themes and artistic approaches may help not only bring in women, but many other possible readers who are not coming to comic shops now. I could not disagree more.

If girls and God knows who else aren’t attracted to the most dynamic and fantastical genre comics have to offer, why would they be attracted to boring stories with sub-standard art? They wouldn’t be! This is all a ploy to dilute the real essence of comics. And I suspect, to generate employment for the creators of these less than desirable comics.

As far as I am concerned, girls can stay out of my shop. Comics are for boys, and it’ll be boys who go down with the ship of comics. I may even impose a, “no girls allowed,” rule at my shop. I’ll have to get approval from the owner first, but I am going to suggest it!

Even if they do wait outside, I’ll still keep an eye on them surreptitiously while bagging and boarding back-issues. Just cause you wear a belly-shirt doesn’t mean you can disrespect comics.

Source: http://www.silverbulletcomicbooks.com/truth/99454922831541.htm

My response:

Dear sir,

I have a couple of things to say about your article called "Girls And Comics - Oil And Water". It was not only poorly researched and executed, it also reflects soley your personal experience on a couple of bimbos that seems to be invading your comic store. I don't know your store, but perhaps it just attracts mainly male customers.

But as a female myself I can assure you that reading comics is much appreciated by a lot of females and yes! They understand it! Every word of it! Isn't it amazing? Apparently, female brains have the same biological make-up as male brains! Can that be true? I'm just a girl, so how should I know... I usually can't manage to read through a whole article without giggling all the time and cracking my nail polish because I keep pointing at the screen...

Okay, joking aside, I realize you're reflecting your own personal opinion in this article, but it's appalling how little effort you took to look over your own computer screen. And you didn't even have to. Just research a wee bit on the internet and you would have found out that there are indeed many female comic artists and they actually do more than just create a cutesy comic strip with little meaning and impact. In Japan a substantial portion of the mangaka are female. Take Yuki Kaori who created Angel Sanctuary for an example. Or the team of females called Clamp who created Cardcaptor Sakura. Watase Yuu: Fushigi Yuugi, Chiho Saito: Shoujou Kakumei Utena. Yoko Matsushita: Yami no Matsuei. Kyoko Tsuchiya: Weiß Kreuz. Is that all female rubbish, too? Or perhaps your male brain just can't grasp the variety of topics a manga includes. I know, this is all below your good ol' American comic books, isn't it? Then what about Wendy Pini who created Elfquest? Not good either?

Let's look at the fact why - oh miracle - all those female superheroines were mostly rejected by the female audience. Can you imagine that females would like to identify with a character who's main assets aren't her skimpy skirts and big boobs? Why don't we like the scantily dressed female comic hero? Because it objectifies women. Men aren't scantily dressed in order to gain recognition, are they. The function of many females as they used to be presented by DC or Marvel was to please the male reader's eyes with her sexy outfit and to suck up on the male main character who inevitably is around somewhere. Take Wonder Woman. Why don't we like her? Well, because they can't keep her frigging plot straight, but that's beside the point. It's mostly because she was a shitty amazon as far as politics go. No matter how tough she was, she still secretly worshipped the allmighty man, be it Superman, a Greek God or any other given male character. That may be amusing enough to read every now and then, but it doesn't make a female superheroine women want to look up to.

A positive example are the X-Men. The female characters there are strong and they can go by without halfway revealing their boobs every time they move. They are strong characters who have a decent place in the plot. We like those characters, and I assure you I know many women who really like the X-Men and haven't missed an issue.

But that's not really the problem. We don't need women to identify with. We just need a good story. I like Spider-Man (pre-Tobey Maguire), Superman (pre-Smallville, what's the deal with that anyway?), X-Men, The Hulk, Daredevil. Ghostrider and many other comic books. I love browsing comic stores, I treat every book with utmost respect, I don't take them out of the plastic sleeve unless I want to buy them and I watch out with the adhesive strip when I do, I collect them by number, I know how to find the issues I want and I draw them myself. In a non-girlish way.

To claim that women are lacking the imagination and creativity to read, write and enjoy comic books is just plain BS (pardon my French). Creativity isn't restricted to comic books, of course, and all over the world, in all fields of creative work women have a big part in it. Rejecting such plain evidence just confirms your poor research.

In a way I hope you will get to put up your "No girls allowed" sign. That way decent comic fans know to avoid your store since you promote the mindset that has been obsolete already 40 years ago and we can all go to progressive and modern comic stores that welcomes and embraces all comic fans, regardless of gender, age, race, sexual orientation and what have you. We don't need any more sexism as it is, thank you. And just because you wear briefs doesn't mean you can disrespect comic readers.

No love,

Silver

*grumbles* Wanna bet he'll ignore it?

Girls, why don't you write this lovely guy and add your own 0.2 to it?