There is a a really good article here dcwomenkickingass.tumblr.com/post/7985599811/panels Go read and come back, I'll wait.
Now while DC head honchos laugh off this poor woman and her daughter I'd like to point out a little deeper an insult from DC. Here is a quote of an article in CBR
" A fan dressed as Batgirl who had been at every DC panel over the weekend asked whether the publisher was committed to hiring more women. Didio said that they were working to put the best talent possible on the books. Morrison asked, “Do more women want to write DC superheroes?” and when many female fans responded “Yes!” he simply added “Then send your stuff in.”
They hire the best. Ah, there’s your answer. And they certainly must know who the best female creators are, right?"
The essential problem with this is: DC COMICS DOES NOT TAKE SUBMISSIONS. I wasted an hour at the DC "submission" panel at SDCC a few years ago. A panel which is mandatory to attend their portfolio review at Con. After patiently listening to editors I finally raised my hand during the Q&A portion and asked "What about writers?" The answer was there are no submissions for writers. Period. If you are big enough and famous enough (forget talented, that doesn't seem to matter) then DC will ASK YOU to write for them. But other than that there IS NO RECOURSE for writers of any race or gender to become DC creators.
Now while DC head honchos laugh off this poor woman and her daughter I'd like to point out a little deeper an insult from DC. Here is a quote of an article in CBR
" A fan dressed as Batgirl who had been at every DC panel over the weekend asked whether the publisher was committed to hiring more women. Didio said that they were working to put the best talent possible on the books. Morrison asked, “Do more women want to write DC superheroes?” and when many female fans responded “Yes!” he simply added “Then send your stuff in.”
They hire the best. Ah, there’s your answer. And they certainly must know who the best female creators are, right?"
The essential problem with this is: DC COMICS DOES NOT TAKE SUBMISSIONS. I wasted an hour at the DC "submission" panel at SDCC a few years ago. A panel which is mandatory to attend their portfolio review at Con. After patiently listening to editors I finally raised my hand during the Q&A portion and asked "What about writers?" The answer was there are no submissions for writers. Period. If you are big enough and famous enough (forget talented, that doesn't seem to matter) then DC will ASK YOU to write for them. But other than that there IS NO RECOURSE for writers of any race or gender to become DC creators.
And this is why (among so many other reasons) I hate comic books.
I am a darn good comic book writer. I have good ideas. I have a lot to offer the genre. I also write very fun things. I STILL get people who have JUST read Dark Moon Diary popping up on Deviant Art saying "OMG I love the book where's the sequel?"
But DC and even Marvel to an extent are not that interested in new writing talent. A lot of comic book authors at both places are either people who have been in comics for years and years. Or Writers from Hollywood (Joss Whedon I'm looking at you >:( ) or NYT best selling authors like Laurell K. Hamilton. From my time in comics I never felt like there much attempt to find or nurture new talent. And there is a legit reason for this! Comics are SO SMALL. Probably 1% of 1% of an already dying print media. Of course no one wants to waste time with an unrecognized author. But this also leads to an ass load of inbreeding and stagnation within the industry. There are like 5 guys writing everything! Not literally, but you know what I mean! You see the same names, the same editors, and the same heroes over and over and over. But this policy has lead to the dead thing that comic books in America are.
I am a darn good comic book writer. I have good ideas. I have a lot to offer the genre. I also write very fun things. I STILL get people who have JUST read Dark Moon Diary popping up on Deviant Art saying "OMG I love the book where's the sequel?"
But DC and even Marvel to an extent are not that interested in new writing talent. A lot of comic book authors at both places are either people who have been in comics for years and years. Or Writers from Hollywood (Joss Whedon I'm looking at you >:( ) or NYT best selling authors like Laurell K. Hamilton. From my time in comics I never felt like there much attempt to find or nurture new talent. And there is a legit reason for this! Comics are SO SMALL. Probably 1% of 1% of an already dying print media. Of course no one wants to waste time with an unrecognized author. But this also leads to an ass load of inbreeding and stagnation within the industry. There are like 5 guys writing everything! Not literally, but you know what I mean! You see the same names, the same editors, and the same heroes over and over and over. But this policy has lead to the dead thing that comic books in America are.
The editors who spoke to this woman should have said this: "Honestly, we do what will sell the few comic books we sell a year. If the female characters aren't cutting it they are relegated to supporting caste. We, like every other company in the past 5 years have had to trim our staff so we decided to keep the boys club going because they are the known names in comics and a known quantity both in terms of sales and name recognition. We are not interested in your opinions until sales of JLA/Batman/X-Men/Whatever reach a point that change is forced. Please DO NOT SUBMIT YOUR WORK TO US we will just have to throw it away. So save a tree! And don't bother."
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