http://tammy212.livejournal.com/28296.html
On Tamora Pierce’s blog (she does YA books and did a comic for Marvel), talks about the frustration of dealing with Marvel and DC and how those 2 companies show a disrespect to female writers. Reading her post, I thought about how what she was saying applied to the young women of Mangapunk who are trying to make comics, but it became very clear to me that there is a clear generation gap in female creators. There’s the Wonder Woman on one side and Fruits Basket on the other. Yes there is crossover to a point (better than men for sure), but I’d also argue that a lot of women aren’t aware of their comic choices.
I bring this up because if women readers and creators truly organized, then they’d become a bloc that publishers can’t ignore. Yes there are already organization out there similar to that, but they all seem too niche or dated.
Yes, I’ve argued before that the gap between manga and comics need to be closed, but maybe this is a more specific way to accomplish that. Also has female creators develop and evolve from their root sources, the need for a home for them will become more clear. Look at Rachel for example, she’s no longer manga, but she’s a far cry from superhero comics, so where can her comics find a place called home? Yes you could say the internet, but that’s still fairly loose and disorganized and really doesn’t make a true market yet. Right now all publishers are going for the easy cash, that’s why in your bookstore you have Batman next to Bleach, and kids don’t know any better because you can’t look or ask for a book you haven’t heard of yet.
With a more organized united front, you could have booths at cons that promote these books. Yes you’d have some creators at the booths but you’d also show books for people who couldn’t make it. Also, there wouldn’t be a limit to the type of con. Booths at Comic, Anime, Sci-Fi, and Literary cons. Also you could do appearances at book stores, and the appearing guests can mention the other creators. Also creators could do interviews with local news and media and direct them to a website that mentions all the other creators involved. So instead of just one creator doing promotions on a small scale, you effectively have a large network doing promotions on a national scale.
