Part Three: The British Are Coming

From across the pond in the 1980s there came an infusion of “new blood” into the mainstream comic scene.
This new, British blood brought with it many new ideas, taking mainstream super-hero comics in startling new directions and pushing the boundaries of what comics could do not only as a storytelling medium but as a valid art form in and of itself.
Among the most notable names in this new British Invasion were Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, and Grant Morrison, each of whom brought a unique perspective to the medium, expanding it well beyond its simple juvenile male power fantasy structure.
Perhaps not surprisingly, this new breed of comic stories, which brought a new “realism” to comics and brought much more of a focus on characterization, and explored complex themes while making rich use of symbolism, elements of popular culture, and literary allusions, helped to draw in a new audience to comics, including a great number of women.
Many new series were born during this time period, some of which still clung, to a certain extent, to the existing super-hero formula even as they reinvented the formula, but many others went of into different realms of fantasy, psychology, and often psychedelia.
Most of what was being offered by these new creators and the creators who followed them were aimed at a more mature, literate audience, and had very little in the way of restrictions on content. Realizing that they were being read by a different kind of audience, the creative forces behind these new comics were able to more effectively tailor their stories to an audience that had a much larger female representation.
In “Sandman,” for example, Gaiman often featured female characters prominently, with a greater depth than had previously existed in the medium, and was able to explore feminine themes, which was obviously appealing to women, but he did so without alienating his core male audience.
It probably didn’t hurt Gaiman’s stock any that he was referred to in song, on more than one occasion, by his friend, singer Tori Amos.
Because the target audience had shifted, though not necessarily along gender lines, the content of even the most mainstream of titles changed considerably as well, and the more “out-there” titles helped to draw a new female readership base to the more standard titles.
So at this point there is a much larger base of female fans than there ever had been in my earliest days of fandom, and as an audience, women and girls are actually cultivated and sought after to a much greater extent.
Indeed, once upon a time, as I mentioned with the example of Barbie at the start of this, they were actually driven away.
I still don’t personally encounter female fans that often, but then I don’t often encounter anyone, so that’s hardly indicative of the size of the general population.
It had been my intention to talk a little about women who actually work in the comics field, but honestly, there isn’t that much for me to say. There are many more women working as writers, artists, and editors than there once had been.
Fifteen years ago I probably could have given you the name of three women working in the industry (Those three would probably have been Louise Simonson, the often mentioned Wendy Pini, and Trina Robbins. If pressed, I might have been able to think of another name or two, but I doubt it.).
Now I can easily rattle off at least a few more: Karen Berger, Jo Duffy, Colleen Doran, Jill Thompson, Gail Simone, and Donna Barr, to name some.
Not coincidentally, some of them came to my attention thanks to their work on “Sandman.” Karen Berger in particular deserves special notice, as she was a major force behind some of the non-mainstream books that came about as a result of the British Invasion.
(By the way, I didn’t feel like finding URLs with information on all of them, so if you’re interested in doing so, feel free).
For another article (that was actually researched) on women in comics, as readers and as creators, go here.
If I were less lazy than I am, and perhaps less mindful of the fact that much of my audience is uninterested in this material (not because it’s about women but because it’s about comics), I could have produced something much more comprehensive and extensively researched.
However, I am lazy, and I am also mindful of the lack of interest on the part of many Threshold readers. Since this was mostly intended to lay out my perspective on this subject, I think I’ve at least managed to get down the broad strokes.
Maybe someday I’ll revisit the subject ant give it some more thought and effort, but…who am I kidding? I’ll probably never come back to this again.
But I’ve at least done something.
I may be back later with an end of the week wrap-up, but in the meantime I want to tweak the settings on my new bad-ass monitor a little.