Who let the girls in?

Before I get into this let me confess that as a girl, I have not read many comics. We’re talking one, maybe two comic books in my lifetime. A couple of months ago a male friend here in Toronto took me to Hairy Tarantula on Yonge Street. Looking around inside I felt like I was in another world, and I was interested to explore it. I do read two webcomics daily on the Internet that I absolutely love, Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal and Questionable Content ; both written by men but the latter being one in which there are some kick-ass female characters. However my exposure to comics is rather limited. That being said, there is a trend in comics that I and many other people have been noticing for years, and that trend is that the world of comics is a “boys’ clubhouse”. Whether it be the characters, superheroes, writers, or buyers/readers, most of them are boys. And I can’t help but wonder, where are the girls?

I am aware that there are some awesome female characters, writers, and readers out there, but they seem to be lost among all the males. Reading an article on the “Best and Worst Super-Heroines in Comics” I sadly realized that I have heard of less than half of these super-heroines, and I was less than impressed with most of the costumes on these characters, particularly the lack of bottoms on Scarlet Witch. Yikes. So last week I was happy to read an article a friend sent me about “Girl Comics“, a collection of comics done completely by women that came out last March (see, almost a year later and I’m just learning about it now – totally out of the comic loop). In my opinion, the female editors at Marvel who came up with “Girl Comics” have created a bigger spot for girls in this boys’ comic clubhouse, and more attention needs to be drawn to it. I’ll be making a stop by the Hairy Tarantula and buying a copy to show my support for the ladies, cuz let’s face it – it’s tough being a girl in any guys’ world.

~ Tasha