How growing diversity just might save the world of comics
Marvel comics reported increased sales for this year. Could growing diversity amongst comics fans save a previously struggling industry?
It is a truth universally acknowledged amongst comics fans that a superhero, once killed, is inevitably bound to return. Try as hard as you might to do away with Superman, Batman, Professor X, or any other big name hero, but be assured: they will return.
But what about the comics industry itself? To be frank, things have been looking pretty grim for a while. Reader numbers have been on the decline for years, ever since the industry’s nosedive in the mid-1990s. In no way can it compare to the huge readership numbers during the Golden Age of comics.
If you read post-crash comics from big publishers, it often seemed as if they were meant for excessively violent children. It’s true that the era has its own odd charms, while readers could uncover hidden gems if they worked hard enough. However, they also encountered big muscles, bigger guns, and the flat, high drama of a tired old soap opera.
It also wasn’t a friendly realm for women, people of color, or anyone in the LGBTQ community. How could you think so, when comics of the ’90s and onward doomed women to wear revealing clothes, pushed people of color to the sidelines, and made the editors reach for their smelling salts at the merest hint of queerness?
Nowadays, however, the landscape of comics is changing. Head on down to your comics store or its digital equivalent and you’ll find that some of the most popular comics now feature a previously unseen diversity.
There’s Ms. Marvel, written by G. Willow Wilson. It’s headlined by Kamala Khan, a teenager who is navigating the demands of American culture, her Muslim faith, her Pakistani heritage, and the sudden onset of some seriously weird super powers. Ta-Nehisi Coates is writing a Black Panther series (though one spinoff series was canceled). Batgirl is now an upbeat young student in Gotham’s version of Brooklyn.
Moonstruck cover art, image courtesy Image Comics
Smaller publishers making big moves
This change isn’t just happening at big name companies. In fact, smaller presses are taking even bigger steps. Image Comics just released Moonstruck, a supernatural comic that features a queer main character without centering her story on her sexuality. Image Comics also publishes ODY-C, a sci-fi retelling of the Odyssey in which the original’s genders are reversed, leaving us with a fearsome and awe-inspiring Odyssia. They also produce Kelly Sue DeConnick’s fan favorite Bitch Planet.
Meanwhile, Boom! Studios is publishing Lumberjanes. This series features a large cast of girls and women without any worries about skimpy costumes or cliched story lines. Not only that, but the creators do a wonderful job representing LGBTQ characters. One of the leads, Jo, is a trans girl whose character arc miraculously does not focus on her transition or gender presentation. She simply gets to exist and go on adventures just like any other character in the series.
People who actually drive comics sales make the message clear. They want more diverse comics
Originally, Lumberjanes was meant to be an eight-issue run. However, readers loved it so much that it’s now an ongoing series.
It looks as if this increasing diversity is paying off. In April, Marvel exec David Gabriel blamed a sales slump on the recent push for diversity. Others argued that the situation was far more complex and had more to do with sloppy management and editorial decision. At any rate, it now appears that sales for the same company are moving towards its early ’90s peak.
What’s happened? After all, it seemed as if the leaders in the comics industry were spending a lot of time wringing their hands over falling sales and lackadaisical readership. Hence all of the “events” and reboots throughout the years, from Marvel/DC crossovers to DC’s two universe-wide reboots within five years.
Growing diversity in comics
Editors are definitely paying attention to the interest generated by film adaptations. Axel Alonso, editor in chief at Marvel, says that movies have a marked effect on reader focus. “Interest in that character will spike for two to three months, and we always try to take advantage of that and have something available for readers that approximates the flavor.”
A greater number of readers can also access comics through digital sales and anthology collections. The increasing popularity of Japanese manga amongst American readers has also likely boosted sales. Comics have also gained prestige, as evidenced by the form popping up almost everywhere, from school libraries to features in The New York Times.
Still, it’s hard to deny the growing importance of representation and diversity to readers and creators alike. In spite of nonsense such as “fake geek girls,” fandom gate keeping, and general whining on Twitter, the people who actually drive comics sales make the message clear. They want more diverse comics.
It’s also important to note the growing numbers of female, LGBTQ, and POC creators in the world of comics. These include Gail Simone, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Roxane Gay, G. Willow Wilson, Ming Doyle, Kate Leth, Kelly Sue DeConnick, and Noelle Stevenson, among others. Diversity is increasing on both sides of the comic book page.
Wonder Woman’s early example
Need some historical backing? As it turns out, early comics could be surprisingly progressive.
Take Wonder Woman, for example. One of her creators, William Moulton Marston, was a psychiatrist who invented the lie detector test and lived in a romantic triad with two women (Elizabeth Holloway Marston, his legal wife, and Olive Byrne). He also believed that women were superior to men and would eventually rise to power. To that end, Marston specifically set out to create a form of “psychological propaganda for the new type of woman who should, I believe, rule the world.” (Marston’s life story is actually at the center of the upcoming film Professor Marston & the Wonder Women.)
Wonder Woman debuted in 1941. She quickly became a sensation, though later creators tried to push her into the mold of a pliant female stock character. Before the Comics Code Authority took the wind out of comics in 1954, Wonder Woman went on some serious adventures. She hailed from an island populated solely by strong, intelligent women. She campaigned for women’s’ rights, often breaking figurative and literal chains. Though no one dared to put blatantly queer themes into Wonder Woman tales, modern readers can find the (at the time) avant-garde attitudes towards sexuality in Marston’s Wonder Woman.
Once, Wonder Woman even saw a far future where female politicians dealt with a rising tide of men’s rights activists. She saves the day, naturally, and is sworn in as President of the United States. Pretty heady stuff for a time where U.S. women had only been able to vote for about two decades.
It gets even more surprising when you consider this in light of the Comics Code Authority, a self-imposed censorship program which hobbled creators until the 1980s. Neither were the extreme stories of the 1990s and subsequent editorial floundering very promising. Still, comics have survived and now appear to be growing in acclaim, thanks to their readers.
Black Panther (Image via Marvel)
Don’t deny the importance of representation
The truth of the matter is, all of the fanboys complaining on Twitter and worried publishing executives amount to only a portion of the modern comics fan base. Previously ignored groups, such as female readers, are becoming a considerable part of the fan base. Clearly, there’s growing interest in the genre from all corners. How exactly everyone got here is unimportant. Whether you’ve read all of the thousands of Batman issues or became interested in comics after seeing Chris Evans flex his way across a movie screen, you belong. You’re entitled to take part in the weird and beautiful world of comic books just like anyone else before you.
If everyone can take part, then it only makes sense that they will respond to more diverse and nuanced comics. Representation is important. If you love comics, what could be more meaningful than seeing yourself reflected within its pages? What could be more alienating than the realization that it has made no room for people like you?
Ultimately, it’s clear that the world of print comics and its fans are changing and becoming more diverse. To deny this would be to deny the readers who pick up each issue expecting to be treated as equals.Creators, editors and comics executives would do well to respond to this shifting tide in a smart, thoughtful way.