In Your Face Jam - Feb 6, 2013

[CBR News]

After looking at Marvel's recent sales figures, writer Brett White went into a possibly over-reactive panic about the publisher's female-led ongoing series and decided to write a call-to-arms.


Full article here.

[Songbird/Diamondback]

Yeah, these always get me nervous. I mean, what can you do to convince a larger majority of fans to pick these books up? I mean, they're cheaper than the $4 books, and those can be sold to trade for even cheaper!

[thc-1138]

Age of Apocalypse and Xtreme X-men were canceled? That sucks. Now I'm down to only 2 marvel books.

[Jaded Devil]

I buy comics to be entertained, not to advance any kind of social agenda. I don't care about the race, gender, or sexual orientation of the characters in the books that I read. All that matters is whether the book is well-written and well-drawn. If it fails to hold my interest, I don't care if it's the only book on the market to feature a solo female character, I'm not going to buy it. I found Captain Marvel to be overly boring and drawn out, so I dropped it. I find Red She-Hulk to be entertaining, so I'm still buying it. That's the only criteria that should truly matter.

[kalorama]

I buy comics to be entertained, not to advance any kind of social agenda.

Yeah. Buy what you like. Don't buy what you don't like. That should be pretty much the primary motivating factor behind any discretionary consumer spending.

[CircularLogic]

Yeah. Buy what you like. Don't buy what you don't like. That should be pretty much the primary motivating factor behind any discretionary consumer spending.

The problem is with comics that some people buy books they don't even like just because it's a habit, or an urge to be a completionist. I've met people who buy Iron Man every single month with no intention of stopping, even though they really don't like the new direction. They could easily use that money to buy a C-list title they might enjoy just as much, but still they pump money into things like Batman: The Dark Knight, a completely superfluous title, while critical darlings like I, Vampire get the axe.

[Songbird/Diamondback]

The problem is with comics that some people buy books they don't even like just because it's a habit, or an urge to be a completionist. I've met people who buy Iron Man every single month with no intention of stopping, even though they really don't like the new direction. They could easily use that money to buy a C-list title they might enjoy just as much, but still they pump money into things like Batman: The Dark Knight, a completely superfluous title, while critical darlings like I, Vampire get the axe.

This.

People habitually buy the big names even when they don't care.

[The Animal Man]

until the main stream community realizes these characters exist it's gonna be a tough job keeping these titles alive

Now while i don't read red-she hulk or captain marvel i do read journey into mystery and have to say it's nice to have a marvel title that dives into fantasy elements as well as using a underrated thor character

[C. Earl]

Thinking about it now, I realized that I've always preferred female comic book characters more than male ones and have quite a few in my collection--Witchblade, Ghost, Queen Sonja, Power Girl, Birds of Prey, etc. I don't know what it is with DC and various independent comic book companies...maybe it's just that you know their female-led books won't be cancelled after just 12 or so issues, I dunno.

With Marvel, well...I definitely try to support books with female leads as much as possible, but I had to drop Captain Marvel because the art just wasn't working for me. I'm still hanging onto Red She-Hulk though. I also picked up Fearless Defenders this week and added that to my pull list, and I intend to do that with the all-female X-Men when that comes out.

[Derek Metaltron]

until the main stream community realizes these characters exist it's gonna be a tough job keeping these titles alive

Now while i don't read red-she hulk or captain marvel i do read journey into mystery and have to say it's nice to have a marvel title that dives into fantasy elements as well as using a underrated thor character

Which is why in my opinion Marvel seriously needs to consider doing a female lead solo movie, probably either Black Widow or more likely Ms Marvel/Captain Marvel. Carol could come out of an Avengers movie but shine on her own merrits, pacing the way for future super heroine movies who are freed from the curse of bad writing and depiction.

Of course for me the problem lies in the fact that comics are usually too expensive when they first come out for me to consider investing in them until trade, though the digital line is shifting this attitude. I like to hope that Marvel will be prepared to accept some low figures and simply try to consider ways of continuing a comic like Captain Marvel or Fearless Defenders rather than resort to cancelation too hastily.

Oh, and do a Kitty Pryde and Lockheed comic. I'd buy that day one for sure.

[zlbenson]

Journey into Mystery has been bad ass.

[Pat Thomas]

I will check out a new series if I think there is any possibility that I might enjoy it, and sometimes just to try something different. However, nobody has the authority to tell me to buy a damn thing I don't want to because a character needs my support. This is money that I earn and set aside for whatever the hell I want to buy. If I want a shitty Spidey one-shot over a critically acclaimed book, that is my right, without having to explain why. Currently I am supporting all the Marvel female lead titles, but I'm losing faith in Captain Marvel due to the art. If the current artist becomes permanent, I'll be unable to read it, and have to drop it. It's nobody's business but mine, unless someone wants to start buying my books. Otherwise, I'll get what I want, when I want.

[Spaced]

I'll happily try anything if the creative team and/or concept appeals to me. Unfortunately none of the current Marvel female led books do. I'm boderline on X-Men (like Wood, don't like Coipel) and the $3.99 dosen't help, plus the potential for double shipping.

[santino27]

I buy comics to be entertained, not to advance any kind of social agenda. I don't care about the race, gender, or sexual orientation of the characters in the books that I read. All that matters is whether the book is well-written and well-drawn. If it fails to hold my interest, I don't care if it's the only book on the market to feature a solo female character, I'm not going to buy it. I found Captain Marvel to be overly boring and drawn out, so I dropped it. I find Red She-Hulk to be entertaining, so I'm still buying it. That's the only criteria that should truly matter.

Agreed on all counts (including the fact that I dropped Captain Marvel but am still enjoying Red She-Hulk).

That said, I'll almost always give a series a chance if it has characters I like in it. Since most of my favorite characters are female, I'm a lot more likely to try out a female starring series than otherwise. However, if the comic does not hold my interest, I'm not going to keep buying it, regardless of who the main character is.

[TehJofus]

Got to agree with people saying just buy what you like. I happen to quite like Captain Marvel, so I'm buying that. On the other hand, Journey into Mystery and Red She-Hulk just don't interest me.

I think Marvel really needs to put some big names on female-led books. Brian Wood on X-Men is a good start, but I'd like to see Ed Brubaker writing Black Widow, Jason Aaron writing X-23 and Mark Waid writing anything. Wasp, Storm, She-Hulk, Spider-Woman, just give him whoever and it'll be great.