Rock, Paper, Scissors: Choosing between Race and Gender in Comics

December 5th, 2011 by Guest Contributor

And this goes beyond just black women. Where’s Cassandra Cain? Where’s Talia al Ghul? Where’s Rainmaker? Does anyone really believe Katana will receive the same promotion and panel time as Black Canary or Poison Ivy? Does anyone believe that Element Woman will receive the same attention as Wonder Woman or even Mera? I certainly don’t. And I don’t believe they’ll receive the same attention as the Atom, Robin, or Blue Beetle either. For all the extolling of DC’s female-led ongoing books and all the talk concerning DC’s female-friendliness compared to Marvel, no one is talking about how that friendliness only extends to certain women.

So, one weighs the pros and cons and makes the best choice from what’s available. DC offers a lower price, a fresh start, an active fandom, and a quality creative team. Marvel offers an active fandom, a quality creative team, and female characters of color that play an important role in the Marvel universe. Four beats three and I opt for DC.

Yet, I can’t help but want it all.

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Posted in comics, diversity, gender, race & representations | 22 comments

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  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1354247011 Troy Hunter

    “Comics, completely consumed by superheroes, has only two active fandoms—Marvel and DC.” Wow. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say…something else. There are TONS more fantoms in comics, not only around publishers but individual titles, artists, genres…

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1274377806 Tek Gomez

    lower price >=female characters of color?

  • Anonymous

    i read this at digital femme when it was first posted and i’m glad that y’all have posted it here. more exposure will lead to a more nuanced and accurate discussion

  • Anonymous

    i read this at digital femme when it was first posted and i’m glad that y’all have posted it here. more exposure will lead to a more nuanced and accurate discussion

  • Comic Book Colorist

    Can race and gender be separated? Honest question, I’m just wondering. When I look on my life experiences, it feels obvious to me that my whiteness and my femaleness are intertwined and couldn’t possibly be separated. If I were a woman of color, I know for sure that my experiences would be as different as if I were a man. 

    I completely agree that in comics women of color are secondary characters. They are never fully developed as human beings and are just there as fillers. I hate that. I would totally buy and read a comic staring a woman of color. I could only hope that it was written by one too.

    Fantastic post! 

  • Comic Book Colorist

    Can race and gender be separated? Honest question, I’m just wondering. When I look on my life experiences, it feels obvious to me that my whiteness and my femaleness are intertwined and couldn’t possibly be separated. If I were a woman of color, I know for sure that my experiences would be as different as if I were a man. 

    I completely agree that in comics women of color are secondary characters. They are never fully developed as human beings and are just there as fillers. I hate that. I would totally buy and read a comic staring a woman of color. I could only hope that it was written by one too.

    Fantastic post! 

  • Comic Book Colorist

    Can race and gender be separated? Honest question, I’m just wondering. When I look on my life experiences, it feels obvious to me that my whiteness and my femaleness are intertwined and couldn’t possibly be separated. If I were a woman of color, I know for sure that my experiences would be as different as if I were a man. 

    I completely agree that in comics women of color are secondary characters. They are never fully developed as human beings and are just there as fillers. I hate that. I would totally buy and read a comic staring a woman of color. I could only hope that it was written by one too.

    Fantastic post! 

  • Anonymous

    Hey, nothing wrong with wanting it all. Queen wrote a song about it and everything!

  • Anothercomicnerd

    I too was upset to see that Cassandra Cain was not in the new universe. She was actually my favorite incarnation of Batgirl and I got my hopes up when the briefly brought her back as Black Bat. Both Marvel and DC have had their share of racefails, but Static Shock has in own comic finally and Cyborg is now going to be a full member of the Justice League. Keep the faith.

    Also, Batman transcends race, gender, and class, so stick with DC.

  • Jessica Isabel

    Wonder Woman is my favorite hero of all time – especially after her badass portrayal in Justice league: New Frontier. Things got even better with the 2009 animated movie, which I highly recommend. In general though, I think Marvel gets race right more of the time.

  • Jessica Isabel

    Wonder Woman is my favorite hero of all time – especially after her badass portrayal in Justice league: New Frontier. Things got even better with the 2009 animated movie, which I highly recommend. In general though, I think Marvel gets race right more of the time.

  • Jessica Isabel

    Wonder Woman is my favorite hero of all time – especially after her badass portrayal in Justice league: New Frontier. Things got even better with the 2009 animated movie, which I highly recommend. In general though, I think Marvel gets race right more of the time.

  • SunlessNick

    “And this goes beyond just black women. Where’s Cassandra Cain? Where’s Talia al Ghul?”

    For that matter Wonder Woman herself usually looks remarkably more pale than she ought.  While the Amazons were a Greek legend, they weren’t *from* Greece according to it.  Wonder Woman should look more Turkish or Armenian.

  • SunlessNick

    “And this goes beyond just black women. Where’s Cassandra Cain? Where’s Talia al Ghul?”

    For that matter Wonder Woman herself usually looks remarkably more pale than she ought.  While the Amazons were a Greek legend, they weren’t *from* Greece according to it.  Wonder Woman should look more Turkish or Armenian.

  • SunlessNick

    “And this goes beyond just black women. Where’s Cassandra Cain? Where’s Talia al Ghul?”

    For that matter Wonder Woman herself usually looks remarkably more pale than she ought.  While the Amazons were a Greek legend, they weren’t *from* Greece according to it.  Wonder Woman should look more Turkish or Armenian.

  • Roy Harper

    ” …no one is talking about how that friendliness only extends to certain women.”
    Untrue. DC’s routine, awful whitewashing is railed against routinely on this blog and many others. The problem is no one is listening – least of all DC.

  • Roy Harper

    ” …no one is talking about how that friendliness only extends to certain women.”
    Untrue. DC’s routine, awful whitewashing is railed against routinely on this blog and many others. The problem is no one is listening – least of all DC.

  • Roy Harper

    ” …no one is talking about how that friendliness only extends to certain women.”
    Untrue. DC’s routine, awful whitewashing is railed against routinely on this blog and many others. The problem is no one is listening – least of all DC.

  • Roy Harper

    ” …no one is talking about how that friendliness only extends to certain women.”
    Untrue. DC’s routine, awful whitewashing is railed against routinely on this blog and many others. The problem is no one is listening – least of all DC.

  • Lonnie

    One reason I think it’s transphobic is that we’re not accounting for the entire lack of transgender characters in comics, so even if a character were a trans man, I doubt they would be recognized by a large publisher like DC since LGB characters are rare, and T characters… are there any?

  • Lonnie

    One reason I think it’s transphobic is that we’re not accounting for the entire lack of transgender characters in comics, so even if a character were a trans man, I doubt they would be recognized by a large publisher like DC since LGB characters are rare, and T characters… are there any?

  • Lonnie

    One reason I think it’s transphobic is that we’re not accounting for the entire lack of transgender characters in comics, so even if a character were a trans man, I doubt they would be recognized by a large publisher like DC since LGB characters are rare, and T characters… are there any?