Eddie Berganza, editor of Supergirl/JLA/Teen Titans/etc, is asking women to read Supergirl in this month’s DC Nation. I’m shocked. I really am. DC as a company cares very little for its female readers. They don’t acknowledge us as a viable market, and they certainly don’t respect our opinions. That’s been made abundantly clear over the years; it’s been corroborated by employees who’ve spoken out about the institutional sexism that permeates the company (Occasional Superheroine is an eye-opener). But now DC is asking women specifically to read Supergirl because, what, sales are so bad that even women are better than nothing?
Truthfully, I would not have paid much attention to Berganza’s column if so many people weren’t talking about it online. I didn’t even know about it until yesterday because I didn’t buy any comics this month. I just…don’t want to. And the first line of the column is not encouraging:
Women. Who needs them?
Well, actually… I do.
Let me explain.
Ouch. This poor attempt at humor marks the tone of the rest of the column, and serves to remind women that Berganza is writing within a male dominated culture where woman-bashing is enjoyed without reservation. He’s making an effort to reach out to us, but he can’t do so without making sure his male readers know he’s still “on their side”. Humor is a tricky thing, but one thing is true: men use it frequently to silence women. Eddie should keep that in mind the next time he’s tempted to make a “clever” play on misogynistic witticisms.
Upon reading this editorial, with its insulting-to-our-intelligence and just plain wrong ideas on what women want from comics (Power Boy is supposed to be a winking critique on the way DC sexually degrades women? Are they serious?) I find myself thinking about something Mely of Coffee and Ink said recently about the hostile attitude comicbook companies have towards women (in the context of the devaluation of anything associated with women or girls)
the thing is, when someone insults my taste or my intelligence or my entertainment, when someone dismisses something I like as commercial or trashy or dumb or unworthy of attention, when someone announces that my interest in manga is only important as a stepping stone to the holy grails of alt comics or the pockets of DC and Marvel–strangely, this does not make me rethink my tastes. It does not make me grateful for the approval of knowledgeable men or the attention of large corporations. It disgusts me that certain demographics are simultaneously exalted and denigrated–particularly kids; particularly young girls; because everybody wants their attention and no one respects it. It makes me marvel that sexism is such a strong force that it is actually overriding market capitalism–because I want to give companies my money for manga, I want them to produce more books targeted at women and at teenage girls, I really do, but DC, oh, it’s astonishing, DC, you’ve got a gem like Emma and an underrated sweetheart like Land of the Blindfolded and prime melodrama like The Young Magician and you print them on toilet paper and throw them out to die; you decide to launch a line of comics for girls and you find a lineup of almost all male creators and call the damn thing Minx–Minx, I ask you, what’s the last time you heard the word “minx” outside a romance novel? That’s really the kind of name that conveys deep respect for your audience.
(emphasis mine)
I’m trying to figure out where this change of heart came from.
Is it because sales on Supergirl have dropped 37.5% over a year, and some of the DC PTB suddenly got the idea that hey, maybe it’s WOMEN who should be buying this book? If so – where did they get that idea? If they can’t even sell this book to their traditional market of fanboys who will argue against anything remotely feminist until they’re blue in the face, what could possibly make them think women would be a better target audience? They can’t possibly understand what a shift in thinking that would require.
Is it possible that someone at DC stumbled upon What I Want From Kara Zor-El and showed it to their boss, who realized that aggressively alienating women and girls (nevermind male readers with taste – I’m not sure DC believes they exist either) is NOT the way to sell Supergirl? Doesn’t it seem odd that all of a sudden, after trying for so many years to sell Supergirl to anyone BUT women or heaven forbid girls, they’re doing an about-face and trying to appeal to the audience they’ve most alienated and showed the least respect? Yeah, I’m cynical. They’ve made it clear from day one that this particular Supergirl is not for women, and especially not girls. She’s intended to be a male fantasy. No, that’s not fair to men. She’s a patriarchal male fantasy. And as much as Berganza et al may sincerely want to appeal to women and respect them, I don’t have faith that they can pull it off. Not based on this editorial (which I could pick apart, line by line, for its unthinking, privileged, sexist assumptions). Not based on their track record. Not based on the type of people who work there and most importantly, the type of culture they work in. A culture like that can and will make a sexist out of anyone – including women.
DC needs someone, anyone, to buy this book. It’s allegedly about a teenage girl, so they’ve had a brainwave and think that maybe women can be coaxed into trying the book with a few promises and yet another creative change. Otherwise it’s business as usual for female characters in the rest of their books. DC as a company does not believe that they have a problem. Not really. They just need to tweak the ghetto books, the ones that their favorite male readers won’t buy in large enough numbers because they won’t support a female lead. DC picked the wrong character to try to appeal to the superheroine-in-peril porn fetishists: that sort of thing can fester underground, online, but try doing it in public and you’ll piss off everyone else who associates Supergirl with heroism.
DC as a company wants women readers only when no one better will come. They’re still steeped in misogyny and cluelessness about their audience, whoever they’re supposed to be. The truth is DC doesn’t really want to write to the audience that’s there. They want to write to the audience they wish existed: fanboys who don’t much understand or care for women, and, in their most optimistic dreams, women who are just fine with their subordinate position as the sex class.
Well DC, you’re trying. I’ll give you that. I won’t be buying the issues but I’ll wait to see what other people say about the results of your efforts, and if I feel safe to buy Supergirl again, I’ll pick up the next trade paperback. That’s more than you deserve at this point.
(This post was a lot angrier when I first wrote it, and possibly more interesting, but I know that at least one person from DC is following this discussion and that made me snip a few sentences. And paragraphs.)
Berganza’s letter has sparked a flurry of insightful, nuanced – and flaming mad – conversations that I hope everyone will check out.
- Mark Sable to be co-writer on Supergirl
- Supergirl: Now Safe For Female Consumption?
- Supergirl Tug-of-War
- Mr. Berganza’s Letter and the Response to It, or, You Just Don’t Get It, Do You?
- Promises, Promises (the upcoming co-writer for Supergirl makes an appearance in the comments)
- Reaching Out to Women
- Mimbos Are Supposed to Save Supergirl?
- DC Comics Looking For A Few Good Women…To Read Supergirl
- An Open Letter in Response to DC Nation #45
- “Why Aren’t You Ladies Reading Supergirl?!”
- Thoughts on Supergirl
- Berganza’s Bizarre Plea for Supergirl
- A Supergirl Among Women
- They will never, ever “get it,” will they?
- Now I just need an envelope
- Girl Wonder: from the new (co)-writer of SUPERGIRL (issues 16-19)
- That’s Not Really Super, Supergirl
- and more at When Fangirls Attack
[linked at When Fangirls Attack!]
I’m willing to give them some time…the new writer seems sincere…if he’s only helping Kelly finish up his storyline, I’ll have to see what comes next…I’m caught between being a Supergirl fan and deciding how much crap I have to go through before I give up(for better or worse, I have a high tolerance for dreck if I like the character).
Will you be picking up #16, Michelle, just to give it a try, or do you feel the concept so far gone it’s beyond saving?
I wasn’t planning on it, but now that I’ve seen the new artist’s Supergirl sketches, I may have to! I’m not so sure about the actual book art on display (there’s only one scan of that, what’s probably the cover of #16) but I love the sketches. Especially the first, that one just about broke my heart because it’s so ADORABLE. The facial structure, the eyes, the nose, the mouth, I just…no words. That is Kara/Supergirl for me. I don’t expect that sort of look for Supergirl in the book itself, because it wouldn’t suit the character, but the other sketches look like a really good fit (as long as the poor girl doesn’t have hair covering one eye all the time!). I’m worried about that cover image, tho. Breasts are too big and unnaturally perfect looking, and the torso problem is still in effect, but it’s hard to tell how much effect the inker and colourist had on that. He fixed the belt: I like that. If the finished product looks a lot like the sketches*, I’m sold despite my misgivings about the story. I’m pretty cynical about the new creative direction, otherwise. Doesn’t matter how sincere everyone involved is, it’s gonna take lot more than a few good issues to bring my trust back to even average levels.
*which it may not at all. The artist’s work in the Infinite Christmas special (which I sadly missed and have only seen in scans) didn’t do anything for me.
“for better or worse, I have a high tolerance for dreck if I like the character”
So do I, sadly ^_^;;
Gah, I write too much =P
Snipped paragraphs aside, I thought this was a VERY interesting post, and possibly the best on the subject. You pretty much nailed it from every side! What’s heartening is, the creative team are on the case. I’ve seen Mark Sable popping up doing an excellent job of damage control, and Ale Garza seems to be listening to the voices, too. I wonder if they’ll see a sales spike as a result… should be interesting.
If I were Sable I’d be doing the same thing… but also alternately cursing and blessing Eddie Berganza. They’ve got their publicity out of Berganza’s amazingly clueless letter but most of it’s been negative. So Sable will be under extra scrutiny even while people anticipate what he’ll do. Living far away from a comic store guarantees I won’t be reading his first issue, but I’m looking forward to the results.
I think Michelle’s comments ably sum up a lot of that, too. And yeah, a couple of those Garza sketches are great. A big improvement over both Churchill and Turner’s versions.
Hey everyone…I’m Mark Sable, the aforementioned writer who’s been doing “damage control” (I’m not sure that’s what I was doing…but I’m glad if I am doing it I’m doing it “excellently”:)). Seriously, I don’t mind the extra scrutiny, bearing in the following: one, as of righ now, contrary to the announcement in the comic, I’m only definitely co-writing issue 16 (which I wrote prior to all the hubub). Now that Joe’s schedule is freed up more, he’s writing 17 solo…we’ll see what happens with issues 18-19.
That said, I do hope, regardless of your gender, you’ll check out issue 16 though. I think it’s a good story, and as Michelle pointed out, what I’ve seen of Ale Garza’s was encouraging both from a standpoint of quality and in terms of portraying Supergirl in a non-sexist way.
I’ve said this elsewhere, but at the very least the process of engaging in fans over the DC Nation column has been an extremely positive one for me, because I’ve been opened up to an entire world of message boards, blogs etc. (like this one) that I might not have been otherwise. As a writer, I’m glad to have that perspective, and also hopeful that when my next Image comic (HAZED, a dark comedy abour sororities and eating disorders, think Heathers or Mean Girls set in college) comes out, I’ll have an audience receptive to a book that I am very much hoping will appeal to women. (sorry for the self promotion…but it’s hard to get interest in a book that doesn’t have Marvel or DC on the cover).
Anyway, although I feel for Eddie because his heart is in the right place, I think the discussion here and elsewhere is an important one to have.
Yus, I agree, the opening wasn’t very funny at all and I think the whole thing came off as a sorta nod to male fans like ‘dun worry I’m still with you, but you know those silly girls complain a lot’. :\
Still, I guess we’ll see. I DO like the new artist tho IF he keeps drawing her like he drew her for the Holiday Special :) However, the writing has to match up. :|
Great post tho! I kept checking to see if you had written nething about this cuz I like your opinions and writing :D
Joel: Thank you for the kind words. I wasn’t sure how people would react to some of the things I said. I tried not to rehash what everyone else has said on the subject, which isn’t easy because we all seem to be thinking on the same wavelength! It’s great that they’re trying to address the concerns that everyone’s been having. I’d resigned myself to the fact that no one cared, and that this Supergirl would never be for me. I’d love for that to change.
Mark: Thanks for dropping by. You’ve been busy! I’ve seen your name just about everywhere, and I’ve got to admire your courage in braving all these blogs and boards where emotions are running pretty high. It’s both reassuring to know that our concerns are reaching someone, and disconcerting to know that creators are listening in on our conversations ;-) Oh, and I’ve bought comics specifically because I enjoyed the creator’s online participation (White Tiger, most recently), so hanging out with us does pay off =)
Ami: that was my impression too. Thank you for coming by just to hear me *smiles* I’m really flattered, and more encouraged than ever to keep posting my own peculiar impressions on things. I would have posted sooner, but I only stumbled upon it by accident the day before. And that’s when my head exploded…!
Hey, thanks for the link. Cool blog, definitely one I need to read and link to. :)
Thanks for the link! I will warn you though, I’m a rather sporadic blogger =)
Ahhh. I think I’m starting to get it. “It” being why the Supergirl book leaves me consistently cold — which it does.
If not DC’s exact demographic, I probably come close: a guy in his early 40s with a job and a family, both amused and grateful that comics — basically, a happy childhood pastime — have grown up enough to keep my interest all these years later. I see guys like myself every time I shop at Midtown Comics in Manhattan, in far larger numbers than the adolescent fanboy set (or any women at all).
But think about what my demographic means. To keep my interest, the comics that I read (and I read a lot of them) need to meet some basic criteria. They need to preserve the childhood joys while simultaneously offering adult pleasures — better plots, dialogue and characterization than the Silver Age was capable of. Childlike and grownup at the same time — it must be a challenge for writers, which is why so many of them fail at it.
Michelle’s post, though, helps me understand the problem in more detail. After all, an industry (or company) that deliberately targets adolescent boys is going to miss me as much as it misses her. Sure, I share their Mittyesque fantasies of power; but it has been a long time since I shared their perverse objectification of women, as scary fetish objects or whatever else. It just isn’t enough to have show me a pretty girl in a tight outfit, and occasionally have her either in chains or bursting out of them. I’m looking for stories about credible people, with credible motives and relationships. (“Credible” apart from, y’know, the flying and heat vision….).
In other words, the same kind of writing that ticks off thoughtful women is going to tick off (or at least bore) thoughtful men, at least once we get out of our teens and start earning enough money to buy comics.