• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

DC and Female Characters

Started by mrwoogieman,

49 posts in this topic

ChrisInBaltimore

ChrisInBaltimore

Posted
Posted

Is World's Finest any good? I always liked the Huntress character.

 

It is interesting that difference. The only thing I'd say is that I don't think most of those DC books are of a high caliber or will endure in the long run. Marvel has tried solo female books in the past, but they just don't make it unfortunately.

 

Someone should get Rucka to write a female lead book. He just seems to write believable, solid female leads. His books are always top notch too. Queen and Country is a lot of fun. He could write a Spider-Women book or a solid female, espionage, Noir book. The possibilities are endless really.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Balham's Finest

Balham's Finest

Posted
Posted

Yeah, I agree. Not sure how many of the DC books will hit 50 issues, for example.

 

Batwoman is very good - a properly realised character. Some of the others (e.g. Katana...) not so much.

 

I don't mean to harp on about Grant Morrison, but I've always thought he writes women well too. I'm very much looking forward to his Wonder Woman OGN with Yanick Paquette.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
stanley1883

stanley1883

Posted
Posted
Thought I'd take a look at the numbers of titles led by female characters from DC and Marvel's October and November 2013 solicitations (September is a bit skewed for DC with villains month). Ignoring one-shots and minis, the tally is:

 

DC

 

Batgirl

Batwoman

Birds of Prey (team)

Catwoman

Harley Quinn

Katana

Suicide Squad (team)

Supergirl

Superman/Wonder Woman (team)

Trinity of Sin: Pandora

Wonder Woman

World's Finest (team)

 

Total: 8 solo titles, 4 team

 

Marvel

 

Captain Marvel

Fearless Defenders (team)

X-Men (team)

 

Total: 1 solo title, 2 team

 

That's pretty striking. Obviously Marvel has strong female characters, but it's clear they are not currently being featured in the way they are at DC - e.g. they appear in Avengers and X-Men titles that are not female led.

 

It would be really interesting to know whether the readership demographic reflects this, but other than speaking to their marketing departments it's probably not possible to gauge that.

 

 

 

Isn't there also a stand alone She Hulk title? And if you count Suicide Squad you have to count the new and original Fantastic Four, as well as any Avengers title with female characters. Marvel could also do a revamped Spider-Woman a d I would personally love a Spider-Woman/ Ms. Marvel title. ( the pre Captain Marvel Carol Danvers, hate the short hair look)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Balham's Finest

Balham's Finest

Posted
Posted
Isn't there also a stand alone She Hulk title?

 

No

 

And if you count Suicide Squad you have to count the new and original Fantastic Four, as well as any Avengers title with female characters

 

No. Unlike Suicide Squad, neither Fantastic Four nor Avengers are titles that are LED BY female characters. The point isn't that Marvel has no good female characters - they do - but that they don't give them solo titles or team titles which they lead. I probably should have included FF though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
the authority

the authority

Posted
Posted

Marvel and DC both have 1 female lead in the top 50 comics sold in August. X-men 4 at number 17 in sales and Batgirl 23 at number 48. The fact that a book with the title of X-Men is only on issue number 4 and is selling outside the top 10 comics should give you some idea as to why there is no rush on Marvel's part to push female led comics. This isn't to say the books outside of the top 50 aren't worth reading. It only illustrates the fact that Marvel promotes books that are likely to move. It's a profit driven business and there apparently isn't as much profit in the female leads for whatever reason IMHO .

Link to comment
Share on other sites
stanley1883

stanley1883

Posted
Posted
Isn't there also a stand alone She Hulk title?

 

No

 

And if you count Suicide Squad you have to count the new and original Fantastic Four, as well as any Avengers title with female characters

 

No. Unlike Suicide Squad, neither Fantastic Four nor Avengers are titles that are LED BY female characters. The point isn't that Marvel has no good female characters - they do - but that they don't give them solo titles or team titles which they lead. I probably should have included FF though.

 

 

So I'm hallucinating every time i see Red She Hulk, as that's not an issue and Red She Hulk isn't a female?

 

An argument certainly can be made that Harley is the leader of Suicide Squad, I'd say shes the most popular, but not the leader, unless you were referring to Waller as the leader. Have to re-read the most current issues but I dont think Harley was team captain. Again, unless "led-by" infers to the most popular among the characters.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
otherworldcomics

otherworldcomics

Posted
Posted

I think the biggest problem over at Marvel is that they just don't have writers that are able to write a solo female book. Not saying they don't have talented writers. Just that it seems Marvel comes up with lame female characters to do books on. They rebooted Spider-woman as this young girl and it didn't last. I did like the Emma Frost and Mystique books, but they didnt last. Storm seems to get a solo mini every couple of years.

 

Marvel has great characters but they don't seem to put their talent on female books. They just seem to want to keep remaking the same books. "Hey, lets make yet another Avengers book! We have Mighty, Secret, New, Academy, Uncanny...Lets make it Midtown Avengers! Yeah, thats it! All our heroes are based in NYC anyway."

 

Ugh!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
stanley1883

stanley1883

Posted
Posted
I think Zenoscope is leading the way in featuring female characters on its covers.

 

True but I haven't heard great things about the Zenescope writing. I think they sell because of the covers, not necessarily the content. If I'm wrong I apologize and really am curious which Zenescope title is a good read.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
the authority

the authority

Posted
Posted
I think the biggest problem over at Marvel is that they just don't have writers that are able to write a solo female book. Not saying they don't have talented writers. Just that it seems Marvel comes up with lame female characters to do books on. They rebooted Spider-woman as this young girl and it didn't last. I did like the Emma Frost and Mystique books, but they didnt last. Storm seems to get a solo mini every couple of years.

 

Marvel has great characters but they don't seem to put their talent on female books. They just seem to want to keep remaking the same books. "Hey, lets make yet another Avengers book! We have Mighty, Secret, New, Academy, Uncanny...Lets make it Midtown Avengers! Yeah, thats it! All our heroes are based in NYC anyway."

 

Ugh!

 

Yes, Emma Frost, Mystique, and even Elektra all started strong around the same time period and then fizzled out. I also agree with about Avengers books in that they are in overkill mode and you didn't even mention Arena lol

 

They do have some new inventive stuff like Superior Spider-man going on and it's written by a guy who used to write a very good She Hulk. I'm a firm believer in the old saying, "nothing too good or too bad lasts too long "

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Dr Chaos

Dr Chaos

Posted
Posted

Marvel did a good job with Hit Girl but it was a mini - series and outside of Marvel continuity.

 

Marvel had some strong female characters but many of them (Frost, Magik, Mystique) while interesting are not what most would look for in a hero.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
the authority

the authority

Posted
Posted
Marvel did a good job with Hit Girl but it was a mini - series and outside of Marvel continuity.

 

Marvel had some strong female characters but many of them (Frost, Magik, Mystique) while interesting are not what most would look for in a hero.

 

I think hit the nail on the head (thumbs u

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Comicopolis

Comicopolis

Posted
Posted
Isn't there also a stand alone She Hulk title?

 

No

 

And if you count Suicide Squad you have to count the new and original Fantastic Four, as well as any Avengers title with female characters

 

No. Unlike Suicide Squad, neither Fantastic Four nor Avengers are titles that are LED BY female characters. The point isn't that Marvel has no good female characters - they do - but that they don't give them solo titles or team titles which they lead. I probably should have included FF though.

 

Only recently there was a Red She Hulk book.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
stanley1883

stanley1883

Posted
Posted
Isn't there also a stand alone She Hulk title?

 

No

 

And if you count Suicide Squad you have to count the new and original Fantastic Four, as well as any Avengers title with female characters

 

No. Unlike Suicide Squad, neither Fantastic Four nor Avengers are titles that are LED BY female characters. The point isn't that Marvel has no good female characters - they do - but that they don't give them solo titles or team titles which they lead. I probably should have included FF though.

 

Only recently there was a Red She Hulk book.

 

But thats my point, we were talking about current female leads. Red She Hulk now or original She Hulk then, she was always a leading lady for Marvel.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Balham's Finest

Balham's Finest

Posted
Posted
Isn't there also a stand alone She Hulk title?

 

No

 

And if you count Suicide Squad you have to count the new and original Fantastic Four, as well as any Avengers title with female characters

 

No. Unlike Suicide Squad, neither Fantastic Four nor Avengers are titles that are LED BY female characters. The point isn't that Marvel has no good female characters - they do - but that they don't give them solo titles or team titles which they lead. I probably should have included FF though.

 

Only recently there was a Red She Hulk book.

 

But thats my point, we were talking about current female leads. Red She Hulk now or original She Hulk then, she was always a leading lady for Marvel.

 

I think you've gone a bit mental. We are talking about CURRENT female led titles. Red She Hulk was cancelled a few months ago. There is CURRENTLY no She Hulk title and no Red She Hulk title. So we are not including them in the list of CURRENT female-led titles.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Go to topic listing