IDW Publishing Forums

[Sprite]

I don't know if I've gone into this yet here, but I've been lauding MTMTE in places as a gender-neutral book: a comic that's highly appealing to readers of both sexes (as opposed to Mike Costa's run, which I felt distinctively male-oriented). That's funny perhaps as it only has male characters (or anyway characters-perceived-as-male), but what with the focus on characterisation and character relationships and all, those are highly relatable for women as well. Which goes to show that you don't necessarily need female characters (strong or otherwise) for or specifically cater to female readers to attract them. I wouldn't be at all surprised if we saw a rise in female readership for Transformers from DoOP onwards (all the more reason why those adverts are inexcusable).
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D&D/TMNT/MLP modding, avatar tech support and shattered trousers repair.

[ultramagnus1]

Im not a fan of the adverts gracing the back covers I have to say. If my wife saw them she wouldnt be happy. Dont blame her.
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Who else but shirtpants? Hes shirtpants shirtpants hes trying to remember but he really cant. Hes shirtpants shirtpants. All I know for sure is I wear a shirt and pants.

[Urzu Six]

[Sprite]

Not in my case. I'm quite happy and comfortable with how I look and FYI, I have the most perfect set of boobs in the world.
No, you can't see them.

If there was just, say, one in ten female characters in comics that was presented in this fasion, I doubt there would be much of a fuss kicked up about it. You could take them at face-value, take 'em or leave 'em. Actually there are a few female characters I like who are portrayed that way (check my discussion on the Gold Digger comic in the Chit-Chat section for an example, for one). I can appreciate female beauty and sexiness. It becomes a problem when it's the dominant presentation and defines the norm.

And I know you, so I know you're more laid-back about that yaoi stuff. But I assure you there are more than a few regular male comic book readers who would complain if this was the norm (and this is purposely some of the more sedate covers out there).

(As an aside it also shows that, no, the idealised male image in superhero comics is not what most women find attractive (or female-drawn comics would be full of it). This is. The avarage superhero figure is a male power fantasy directed at males, not a female sexual fantasy directed at females, so let's not pretend it is anymore, shall we?)

And I deliberately did not name the Danger Girl ad because a) I want people to take out their comics, look at the ads and draw their own conclusions and b) it's not the only advert portraying women in a sexualised way we got the past two months.
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OK to print.
D&D/TMNT/MLP modding, avatar tech support and shattered trousers repair.

[ultramagnus1]

[Urzu Six]

[The Father of Grain]

Sprite, if I'm understanding you right, you're saying that by representing females more in comics, it'll grow female readership.

I posed this same question to the late Dwayne McDuffie on a message board about 10 years ago when he said the comic book industry could use more African-American readers. (Dwayne was the guy who founded Icon, a branch of DC comics that featured African-Americans in lead roles). Dwayne was calling for a larger representation of black characters in comics. His heart was in the right place, but it begged the question if a majority of black readers truly cared. The answer was no. Icon did not add more black readers to the comics industry. Those that read comics, continued to read comics and those that didn't just didn't. And for those who read comics, a lot of them didn't read Icon. Strangely, most of the people who bought Icon comics weren't black.

Now, I may not be female so you have the advantage here, but I'm wondering do a majority of female readers feel the way you do? In other words, is this another Icon-type of incident where you, like Dwayne McDuffie, have your heart in the right place, but from a sales perspective it may not reflect that good-natured call? If we took out most of the scantily-clad female characters, increased their roles to better prominent characters who seemed more realistic as women...would this increase female readership? I say this because I know plenty of women who still wouldn't read comics. It's not so much the lack of representation and the inaccurate portrayals that push them away from comics...for most women who don't read comics (which is, let's admit A LOT), they don't read them because they perceive the entire medium itself as unintellegent and juvenile. THAT's why I think a majority of women aren't into reading comics. There's something about putting art and words together that they find "illiterate". (By the way, I'm not trying to represent women or anything...but that's just what they've explained to me. The thought of sexism in comics really wasn't a big issue with them as much as the idea of the medium itself. I would observe that a majority of women in this part of the world have a very closed mind into trying comics and video games. They have no problem watching a Batman movie with a leather-touting Catwoman, but they refuse to read Batman comics)
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Okay to print all the sh*t I say. Please quote me as RiceDaddy7. Not Father of Grain.

[ultramagnus1]

[Urzu Six]

So it's purely a stylistic choice? The poses and implied themes don't bother you?
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http://blacksquareart.deviantart.com/

Okay to print, and all that jazz

[CyclonusArmada]

[ultramagnus1]

[Sprite]

[Cyberstrike]

[ultramagnus1]

[Focksbot]