Lady Writers on the TMNT

[Cipher]

Originally Posted by Ross Campbell

anyway, you rock, Cipher! these sorts of topics are great to discuss.

Thanks, man. Means a lot coming from someone actually in the field.

I was a newspaper editor at my university last year and worked with some really socially aware feminists who, along with my fiancee, brought a lot of issues to my attention I'd never even considered as a guy. I try to bring them up when possible because I know how easy it is to never notice or talk about them.

Also in this case I was legitimately curious.

[Heather Breckel]

Originally Posted by Cipher

Again, IDW seems to be a lot better when it comes to this.

IDW indeed is pretty awesome about having women working on their comics. 2 out of 3 of the things I've worked on for them were mostly female teams. I think in general most companies are working on improving this bit by bit, but there's still a long way to go.

One thing that can also potentially hurt women's representation in comics is the fact that we're not really encouraged to go down that path. I know a lot of women that do comics on the side for fun, but would never dare to try doing it professionally. They're mostly like "well there's no way I'm good enough to do that" or "there's no way I could make a living off comics". (even though they're talking to a fellow woman that does that very thing ) Even though they like and enjoy comics and enjoy working on them, they're too scared of taking the plunge into doing it professionally.

[Sophie Campbell]

totally, Heather, i didn't think of the fear factor. good call. it can be tough to overcome and see past that sort of ingrained socialization or whatever you want to call it, even when it's staring you in the face.

yeah, agreed on IDW being is awesome, i've only worked with Bobby but he's one of the best editors out there and i'll always be silently thanking him for getting Marley Zarcone on a Turtles comic!! (no ass-kissing here, i swear!! XD) i was so pumped about that. Oni is also great in this department, they have a great group of creators and editorial, Image is also great, and Dark Horse.

[Bobby Curnow]

Yeah, lots of interesting thoughts here, and a lot of it sounds spot on to me. Something that is heartening is that comics are diversifying in a lot of ways, very quickly. Hopefully that rate of change can keep everything sustainable, as the current "traditional" audience doesn't seem likely to.

As for Gail writing TMNT, I can't really confirm or deny— a lot of those early decisions were above my head at the time. She might have been talked to, but I don't think it was a serious discussion, I would have heard about it.

[Mewzard]

Originally Posted by Bobby Curnow

Yeah, lots of interesting thoughts here, and a lot of it sounds spot on to me. Something that is heartening is that comics are diversifying in a lot of ways, very quickly. Hopefully that rate of change can keep everything sustainable, as the current "traditional" audience doesn't seem likely to.

As for Gail writing TMNT, I can't really confirm or deny— a lot of those early decisions were above my head at the time. She might have been talked to, but I don't think it was a serious discussion, I would have heard about it.

Well, even if it wasn't brought up before, there's a name to keep an eye on (especially if her exclusivity with DC is up or nearing being up ).

I really do think, if any place can really open up for female creators, it's probably IDW (or Archie, Archie always seemed nice and open).

But, of course, it's always a matter of putting the right writer/artist on the right book. You find a good female writer who can come up with a great TMNT story? Give them a one-shot or Mini, and let the fans get a feel for their style of writing. Who knows? You might create even more legends of TMNT like the title had several times before in the past (and still is to this day, much to my enjoyment).

[Venom]

Originally Posted by Ross Campbell

Steph Dumais is a guy.

Ah! You learn something new every day! For years I've thought a woman drew that issue!

I've enjoyed this discussion a lot.

A couple of years ago there were two prose superhero novels written by Jackie Kessler and Caitlin Kittredge, each lady wrote her respective character from her point of view. I've only read the first book, Black & White, but also have the sequel Shades of Grey. I enjoyed Caitlin's character a little more, but both had a fantastic grasp on the superhuman genre and making them interesting (even without pictures! ).

EDIT:
Note to Bobby: This discussion also highlights what made Tales of the TMNT great, the diversity of talent to work those books was awesome! Heck, IDW's had three Tales talents work for them (Cario, Tristan, Ross), imagine a new Tales that brought in a wider pool of talent.

It'd be like a TMNT talent showcase!

[Matches Malone]

Yeah, this is definitely a very tricky subject, and sensitive to many I'm sure. I love how obviously passionate Ross is about gender equality.

As Bobby pointed out, many good observations here that are valid and insightful. The lack of female writers/artists/creators on TMNT, and in popular media in general, is systemic as Andrew pointed out. Arbitrarily hiring women for no other reason than their gender isn't the solution because we are just observing the symptoms of a larger cultural phenomenon, and we would get a very artificial diversity. Token or unqualified minorities aren't the answer.

Comics are a "boys club" because of all our history and what's already out there. It's hard to know what to do beyond encourage women (and everyone!) to follow their passions, even if it falls in the realms of something typically dominated by a different group. Since culture is so abstract, we can only push for an organic and natural change in the way we think, read, talk, everything! Awareness is definitely key and I took thank Cipher for sparking this civil and thoughtful conversation; it was very interesting to read. And things like the Catwoman issue can be a little disheartening, but I'm definitely not here to bash on anyone's tastes. Let's just keep talking about and pushing for more diverse selection.

[CyberCubed]

Its been said the next set of micros will be a "villain" set coming sometime later this year. We already know Alopex is getting one, but I assume Karai will probably get one too.

It'd be interesting if the Karai micro is done by an all-female team like the April one was.