September 21st 2011: Women Comic Book Readers Day!

Comic book fans have displayed mixed emotions at the announcement that DC would be essentially "rebooting" their entire universe come September.  The move by DC is undoubtedly an attempt to gain new readers, considering the stagnation comic book sales (complex continuities can be intimidating to newbies, as are the glut of titles being offered).  Concurrently, women comic book fans have been taking DC to task for a lack of gender diversity behind the page.  This gave me an idea:  I want more gender diversity in the bullpens (racial diversity is hopefully on the way with the new Spider-Man) and I want more people to fall in love with comics, a form that means a lot to me.  My idea is to bring the two together and to make September 21st 2011 (the launch date of Wonder Woman #1) Women Comic Book Readers Day.  Essentially, if we want more people to read comics and greater diversity, let's show the industry that women matter.  

My argument is that writing editorials and grilling personnel about the lack of gender diversity simply isn't enough.  In order to get a profit industry to adopt radical change, they need to be affected where it really matters:  their finances.  

Here are some numbers to consider:  

The American comic book industry is in a pretty bleak position and the adaptations of films have not given it as much steam as one might assume.  For instance, an issue of Superman/Batman in 2004 sold approximately 140,000 copies.  This was during a time period in which many comic book films were being released.  Now, put that up against the average sales of a Dell title in the 1950s:  800,000 copies.  American comic book sales peaked in 1952.  They are, according to Jean-Paul Gabilliet, "no longer a mass medium."  To make matters worse, Japanese Manga now outsells American comic books domestically.  

Now, let's look a bit deeper at this harsh reality (for women at least):  

A 1999 American Library Association survey stated that only 33% of 11-18 year olds read comics.  The gender break on that was 42% boys, 27% girls.  Adults, given the diverse distribution network of the American comic book industry, are harder to track.  A 1997 retailer survey tracked the audience for comics at about 1,250,000 people with 94% being men and 6% being women.  A Marvel survey from 1983 showed the same result (I'm getting most of these numbers from the Gabilliet book, which I highly recommend).  

Quite simply, and this is my theory about the low number of women both in the bullpen and on the page, the American comic book industry is not aware of the female audience.  They have access to the same statistical data (and, as with the Marvel survey above, have even commissioned them).  Sure, the surveys are dated and the samples (especially in the 1997 survey) seem problematic, but this is the information they have.  While we can attempt to change this with editorials and dressing up as Batgirl to ask editors questions, the more effective solution is to use the power of the all-mighty dollar.   

My proposal is for all comic book readers (women or not) to go and purchase a comic book title with a woman attached (writer, artist, or even protagonist) on September 21st.  It doesn't have to be Wonder Woman, but let's get the industry to wonder about women.