Notes
The Batgirl of San Diego
Fans are upset with DC’s drop from 12% female creators to just under 2%, or, well, 3 total. And fans, most notably the Batgirl of San Diego, asked about it at San Diego Comic Con. DC’s Dan DiDio responded by demanding of a male fan, “What do those numbers mean to you?” and “Who should we have hired?” The Beat has a firsthand account of the interaction. Comics Alliance‘s Laura Hudson wrote on what those numbers meant. Comic Book Grrrl has some thoughts, and a fan created a petition asking DC to hire more female creators and included a list. Now Dan DiDio and Jim Lee have written a joint letter saying they have heard fans and affirming their commitment to diversity. Bleeding Cool suggests no one wants “a repeat performance,” but I bet there will be a lot of Batgirls at New York Comic Con. And the petition is a good way to help DC keep listening.
Categories: Notes
Tagged as: 2010s, activism, Batgirl, capitalism, comics, conventions and festivals, Dan DiDio, feminism, gender, industry, Jim Lee, Laura Hudson, publishing, San Diego, San Diego ComiCon, sexism, Stephanie Brown, superheroes, the ladies, work
Published by Carol
Carol Borden was editor of and a writer for the Toronto International Film Festival’s official Midnight Madness and Vanguard program blogs. She is currently an editor at and evil overlord for The Cultural Gutter, a website dedicated to thoughtful writing about disreputable art. She has written for Mezzanotte, Teleport City, Die Danger Die Die Kill, Popshifter and she has a bunch of short stories published by Fox Spirit Books including: Godzilla detective fiction, femme fatale mermaids, an adventurous translator/poet, and an x-ray tech having a bad day. Read and listen to her other shenanigans at Monstrous Industry. For her particular take on gutter culture, check out, “In the Sewer with the Alligators.”
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The Cultural Gutter 
Not to knock Bleeding Cool, but there are no sources cited besides “I understand…” and “I’ve heard that…”.
Unspecified, off-the-record rumors are awesome, but let’s see it happen before we declare victory.
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Yeah, personally, I hope people keep up the pressure on DC. It’s the only way things will change, especially when I have the sense that DC doesn’t really see the problem.
Also, how messed up is it, that even it’s progress when DC finally issues the generically polite statement that any other company would have issued long ago. And it really is progress compared to their past responses.
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