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An Open Letter to The Comic Industry

By Zak Edwards
August 8, 2013 - 22:30

An Open Letter to the Comics Industry:

Our brave heroes!

Hi Michael Kantor, Todd McFarlane, Len Wein, Gerry Conway, and Most Major Comic Book Publishers in North America,

Thank you for being so brave, for being so open and honest about the current state of the comic industry, especially you four courageous and influential men that Alyssa Rosenberg wrote about at the TCA press tour this week.  You who brought us such characters as The Punisher, Wolverine, and Spawn and have risen to the status of ‘legendary’ in the comic book industry.  Your words have been monumental for finally putting to rest these nagging issues that have plagued comics ever since women started impeding on our male privilege with their nonsense about being able to write, draw, or otherwise contribute to the comic book industry.  Thank you especially to Todd McFarlane, a fellow Albertan, who quite profoundly said, “If I wanted to do something that I thought was emboldened to a female, I probably wouldn’t choose superhero comic books to get that message across... It wouldn’t be superheroes because I know that’s heavily testosterone-driven, and it’s a certain kind of group of people. That’s not where I would go get this kind of message.”  I’m just so glad that a person of your calibre has finally stood up, as a father of two daughters and comic creator, to tell everyone that comics is a boy's club and biologically so.  You, Mr. McFarlane, write and draw with your balls, not with your head or something ridiculous like your heart.  You create in testosterone-laden pools of hypersexuality and pure fantasy and thus it makes entire sense that superhero comics are inherently for men and by men.  After all, as your fellow panelist Gerry Conway so eloquently said, “Comics follow society. They don’t lead society.”  And why should they?  They aren’t of worth, they don’t impact the minds of their readers, and they certainly don’t shape our understanding of things.  Superhero comics, the never-ending battles between heroes and villains, after all, aren’t repetitive morality plays.  No, they are disposable floppy books biologically designed for male consumption because we, like you creators, read with our balls.  And my balls read the hell out of comics.  Fortunately, lacking any sort of memory functions, they quickly forget and my readings never impact the way I think about things.

And the comments by these men got me thinking about Tim Hanley’s “Gendercrunching” articles over at BleedingCool, which regularly point out that Marvel and DC Comics each have what some would consider appallingly low  female employment rates in terms of actual credit in the comics themselves.  Thank you, Marvel, for getting it right this May, boasting zero female pencillers, inkers, and letterers, so that literally every visual aspect of your comics, except for the sneaky 6.4% female cover artists, are handled by men.  Men who probably all draw, ink, and letter from their balls for other men, the only real people who can get anything from superhero comics.  Even better, Marvel Comics hasn’t had a female letterer in 2.5 years, which goes to show that there aren’t any talented female letterers, so why even hire them?  It reminds me of Johnny Depp having to be cast as Tonto.  It wasn’t because the film or character exists in a system of racist thought, but because there are simply no Native American actors, at all, so they had to cast Depp.

Iron Man, a man, doing manly things, for men to watch.

And for those who would think that these stats and the ideas of those panelists are somehow connected, I would say that is stupid.  Comics are bought by readers and made for readers.  If something isn’t selling, it isn’t the responsibility of the publisher to publish it.  After all, it’s not like comic publishers can somehow influence the culture they are selling to or have a long history of fostering a community proud of their hobby.  You publishers are merely followers, not actively involved in the production of culture through cultural products.  Any suggestion that the limitation of voices and the alienation of female readers directly contributes to the types of comics sold clearly don’t understand how reactive publishers are.  After all, you can’t predict how and what will sell and tailor accordingly!  No, instead, you publishers must stay within your bounds, make safe bets on things you already know work and simply hope for the best.  Superheroes have been around for seventy years, so us fans can trust that you know what works.  Just be careful not to colour too far outside the lines.  It’s not like the genre and medium ever need a shake-up or could benefit from differing perspectives.

Hopefully you can now start to weed out those annoying creators who are doing a ‘good job’ at this whole estrogen-ization (or worse, de-testosterone-izing) of comics.  Traitorous men like Brian Wood, J.H. Williams III, and Brian K. Vaughan, who aren’t creating from their balls but from something else, and girl writers like Gail Simone, who will maybe, finally take the hint and stay fired, her work never sells anyways.  We should make sure they stick to indie projects, like how you, Mr. McFarlane, said that “there’s nothing stopping the people that want to do those from doing it.”  Mr. Conway valiantly agrees: “There may be some people who are actually very, very passionate to do that themselves, and they should. I mean, I don’t think there’s a barrier necessarily in the field [of independent comics].”  If women want their comics, they can make them, and if they can’t break into the mainstream, write some superhero books, gather some fans, and do what they like, that isn’t the comic industry’s fault.  Nope, it’s these women’s lack of determination and inability to see that comics don't want them.  You want to tell your girly stories?  Try TV, or movies, or regular books.  This here’s a Boy’s Club.  We don’t need your estrogen interfering with our testosterone-driven escapist fantasies.  Women don’t read comics anyways, and are incapable of reading with balls on top of that.  All those girls at conventions and stuff are either models, chaperones, or Fake Geek Girls, so why even bother trying to connect to that half of the population, except to maybe harass them a bit?  I’m sure Tony Harris would agree.

So thank you, DC, Marvel, Michael Kantor, Todd McFarlane, Len Wein and Gerry Conway.  Thank you for saying and doing what we’ve all been thinking.  Thank you for reminding these blowhard feminists that comics are for men, by men, and not responsible or important enough to impact the culture they perpetuate and replicate.  You are brave men and, while I know that you each have plenty of awards and recognition in the industry, I want to say that you deserve a special award I just came up with for you: the Brotherhood Operating Now for Estrogen Repression Award (the Boner Award for short).

Sincerely,

Zak Edwards.

(The above is obviously sarcastic and I encourage everyone who feels so inclined to comment below.  Of course, The Comic Book Bin does not tolerate harassment and aggressive comments, so think about what you would like to contribute to the conversation.  Thank you in advance.)

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12