Hey guys,
SD COMIC CON is over, but the heated debate as to why DC does not hire more women in their line up of Creators, writers, artists continues as hot as it happened on day one. I just heard news that DC made their panels available in podcasts but for some reason, the panel to the NEW 52 was edited, not including the full extent of what happened there that day.
I just found a report at THE BEAT of someone there, with the WHOLE scoop (he was sitting obviously in a better seat than me, closer to the panel) and even an excerpt of a statement made by Mr. Dan Didio that IF TRUE (I was not able to hear that particular conversation since it was supposed to be “private”), puts Mr. Didio in my black list of disappointments, just where Mr. Grant Morrison landed sometime later after a few comments that he sneaked to his colleagues and I was able to catch during the panel.
Here is the link to THE BEAT report on WHAT REALLY HAPPENED AT THE INFAMOUS DIDIO/HIRE MORE WOMEN INCIDENT
And to this discussion, where names and statistics came flying to and fro between audience and panel, DC makes an statement where they discredit the fact that DC’s drop of female creators from 12% to only 1%. Here is what DC had to said
(source information from COMIC VINE)
Even if these numbers are not accurate, the uproar that followed took the internet comic bloggers by storm. The fan reaction so heavily impacted DC’s higher ups that on Friday they published a press release on DC Source blog. stating that DC takes their fans’ “concerns very seriously.”
We’ve been very fortunate in recent years to have fan favorite creators like Gail Simone, Amy Reeder, Felicia Henderson, Fiona Staples, Amanda Connor, G. Willow Wilson and Nicola Scott write and draw the adventures of the World’s Greatest Super Heroes.
DC Comics is the home of a pantheon of remarkable, iconic women characters like Wonder Woman, Lois Lane, Batgirl, Batwoman, Catwoman and Supergirl as well as fan favorite characters like Black Canary, Katana, Mera and Starfire. We’re committed to telling diverse stories with a diverse point of view. We want these adventures to resonate in the real world, reflecting the experiences of our diverse readership. Can we improve on that? We always can—and aim to.
We’ll have exciting news about new projects with women creators in the coming months and will be making those announcements closer to publication. Many of the above creators will be working on new projects, as we continue to tell the ongoing adventures of our characters. We know there are dozens of other women creators and we welcome the opportunity to work with them.
Our recent announcements have generated much attention and discussion and we welcome that dialogue.
Regardless of whether DC had been actively seeking out women to work for their company or not (which they claimed to have been doing), the fact that the publisher recognized and responded to the demands of both male and female fans alike regarding the demand for more women working on their comics is not something that should go unrecognized. Was this response generated by a young woman who was brave enough to ask the tough questions at Comic-Con? Or had DC been actively pursuing female creators (like they claimed) and simply could not find any? I’ll go with the former. What do you think?
