Comic loving girls everywhere, unleash your wrath!!

[leaveoutalltherest]

Got this courtesy of silversolitaire

Girls and Comics - Oil and Water

by Hal Roth

I have been the assistant manager of a popular Florida comic shop for seven years. And I am also a long time fan of comics. I was first introduced to comics before I could read and I have been reading comics for thirty years since. So it is safe to say that I am an authority on comics and those who read them.

The fact is Girls should not read comics. This is the truth. To say that girls don’t read comics, is stating the obvious. But I have come to the conclusion that comics are not for girls.



The girls that come into my comic shop are usually brought there by their boyfriends and they show no respect to the art-form of comics. These girls pull comics half way out of the back-issue bins, trying to touch them as little as possible like they were dirty socks, then snicker at the covers. Frequently a girl will bring a comic over to the boy they came in with and poke fun at the comic! I feel bad for these boys, I can see the shame in their eyes as they pretend to laugh. Those girls are embarrassing themselves and their boyfriends.

I am a keen observer of human behavior and the attitude of a girl in a comic shop is like that of a Vulcan amongst Ferengi. They think they are so much better than comics. Those girls don’t think I’m watching them from my stool behind the counter as I bag and board comics. But I am. I see them in their little belly-shirts acting like they are so above comics.

The reality is that girls lack the imagination of boys and cannot comprehend the bold archetypes portrayed in our (boys’) sequential art-form. Over the years the comic community has made many attempts at reaching out to girls, and in doing so have created many splendid characters, only to have the majesty of fantasy lost on girls. If only girls could see the wonder of such great female characters as Shrinking Violet, Jocasta and Spider-Girl. These girls don’t know what they are missing, and I believe, can’t understand what it is they are missing.

I have heard a lot of talk about there not being enough comics for girls. This is utter rubbish. There are many great female characters. But some people believe that more girls would come into comic shops if there were a wider variety of comics. Let me translate that for you; a wider variety of comics should be read as, “boring comics.” I’ve heard people say that different genres, themes and artistic approaches may help not only bring in women, but many other possible readers who are not coming to comic shops now. I could not disagree more.

If girls and God knows who else aren’t attracted to the most dynamic and fantastical genre comics have to offer, why would they be attracted to boring stories with sub-standard art? They wouldn’t be! This is all a ploy to dilute the real essence of comics. And I suspect, to generate employment for the creators of these less than desirable comics.

As far as I am concerned, girls can stay out of my shop. Comics are for boys, and it’ll be boys who go down with the ship of comics. I may even impose a, “no girls allowed,” rule at my shop. I’ll have to get approval from the owner first, but I am going to suggest it!

Even if they do wait outside, I’ll still keep an eye on them surreptitiously while bagging and boarding back-issues. Just cause you wear a belly-shirt doesn’t mean you can disrespect comics.

Comments

At first glance...

[drharper.livejournal.com]

...this seems a little like flamebait. You know, things are slow so he deliberately throws out something guaranteed to turn into a net.Holocast and phrases it in as inflammatory way as possible.

However, as a regular buyer and reader of Hellblazer, Y: The Last Man and Lucifer (along with certain Sandman Presents series that manage to catch my eye), I feel a need to correct him in case he's (God forbid) serious. I looked at the article and am having a hard time finding the response link. Is there one? Where do we go to flame his mysogynistic ass?

Re: At first glance...

[silversolitaire.livejournal.com]

Below the title where his name is. When you click it you get an email-addy. My mail was returned though, but it was returned by an AOL addy even though I sent it to theirs. So there's hoping he'll get it anyhow. I'll wait a bit and then I'll see if I can find an actual email-addy. Fucking coward... *mumbles*

::flames::

[yonaelka.livejournal.com]

What a dipshit. My e-mail bounced too. Stupid freaking cowardly bastard.

[trishalynn.livejournal.com]

Heh. I started a thread at Silver Bullet Comics that we can respond to. Have at it, ladies!

http://www.silverbulletcomicbooks.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2802 (http://www.silverbulletcomicbooks.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2802)

[trishalynn.livejournal.com]

And after looking through the other columns, I'm more convinced that he doesn't exist... which is bad, because now we're angry at something that was satire and parody and makes us look like fools because we didn't get the joke.

Well...

[threnody.livejournal.com]

On the other hand, we're angry because we know plenty of people really DO think this way. I think it's more sad than bad, that women/girls are on the defensive as soon as they see something like this. I know there's at least one shop *I* won't go to because of some jerk who looks at me like I might go postal and rip up something valuable, just because I'm not a guy.