Women In Comics Statistics: DC And Marvel, February 2013 Odds And Ends

The monthly numbers for February 2013 are up over at Bleeding Cool, so let’s dig into the stats a bit more and see what interesting things were going on this month.

DC COMICS

DC’s numbers improved from last month, but how did they do compared to their 2012 averages?  Here are the numbers side by side:

Their overall average was higher than their 2012 total by 1.3%, which is decent.  Cover artists, writers, and letterers were up a bit from 2012, with assistant editors also making a big jump.  A lot of categories were firmly in the average range, and nothing was lower than the 2012 numbers by any sizeable amount.  That’s a pretty good showing.  Here are some other notes:

• Writers being 2.1% more than their 2012 average may not seem like a huge jump, but relative to that past percentage is an increase of nearly 64%.  With such little numbers to begin with, seemingly small changes are relatively large.
• In fact, there was at least one female writer every week in February.
• The Young Romance: The New 52 Valentine’s Day Special #1 featured 4 female creators: Ann Nocenti wrote and Emanuela Lupacchino illustrated a Catwoman story, Shelly Bond edited two stories, and Eva de la Cruz coloured a story.
• Three new series started in February: Katana #1 at 2 of 7 (Ann Nocenti writing and Rachel Gluckstern editing), Justice League of America #1 at 2 of 7 (Sonia Oback coloring and Katie Kubert assistant editing), and Justice League of America’s Vibe #1 at 1 of 9 (Katie Kubert assistant editing again).
• The busiest book of the month was Young Romance: The New 52 Valentine’s Day Special #1 with 29 credited creators, 4 of them women.
• There was a tie for the highest percentage of female creators, Fairest #12 and Smallville Season 11 #10 both at 3 of 7.

MARVEL COMICS

Marvel was down overall in February, but they were in record territory last month so I suppose we can’t be too upset about the drop.  We shouldn’t expect them to be near record totals every single month.  Let’s look at their numbers compared to their 2012 totals:

Up 1.5% overall from last year is good, and there were some strong showings by category.  Cover artists, inkers, and colourists were down slightly, but not by any huge amount.  Writers and pencillers saw decent gains, while editorial blasted past their 2012 totals!  They remain well ahead of last year’s numbers.  Some other notes:

• The large editorial gap two months in a row is good, but also shows the limits of this format.  Editorial started very low in 2012 and grew over the course of the year, and the average ended up not so great.  Once we’re a bit further into 2013, I’m going to change up the average comparisons so they’re against more recent data.  Or perhaps change it to a rolling six month average comparison.  We’ll see.
• Again, no lady letterers.  That makes it 819 DAYS since Marvel has had a female letterer.
• There were a bunch of new titles in February: Fearless Defenders #1 at 2 of 10 (Veronica Gandini colouring and Ellie Pyle assistant editing), Powers: Bureau #1 at 1 of 7 (Jennifer Grünwald editing), Secret Avengers #1 at 1 of 15 (Lauren Sankovitch editing), Uncanny X-Men #1 at 0 of 16, Alpha: Big Time #1 at 0 of 8, Nova #1 at 1 of 14 (Sana Amanat assistant editing), and Guardians of the Galaxy #0.1 at 1 of 9 (Sana Amanat assistant editing again).
• The busiest book of the month was Uncanny X-Men #1 with 16 credited creators.  There are no ladies on this book or All New X-Men #1, both of Bendis’ new X-books, but Bendis is usually decent for female creators, as evidenced by two of his other titles above.
• The book with the highest percentage of female creators was Monsters, Inc: Humanween Party #1 at 5 of 8.  Dark Tower: Sheemie’s Tale #2 was at 3 of 5, and the main line Marvel book with the best total was Astonishing X-Men #49 at 4 of 7.
• To learn more about this statistics project and its methodology click here, and to see the previous stats click here.

Women In Comics Statistics: DC and Marvel, February 2013 In Review

The full monthly stats for February 2013 are up over at Bleeding Cool, and Marvel was tops again for the overall percentage of female creators.  Marvel was at 13.6% overall, a drop from last month though still high, while DC rose to 12.1%.

We also take a look at how many books feature at least one female creator and how that’s grown steadily over the past two years.  The more widespread presence of female creators gives me some hope that this will become the new normal and the number of female creators will grow even more.

So head on over to Bleeding Cool and check out all the stats fun!!

Wonder Woman #19 Full WTF Foldout Cover Revealed OR Oh Yay, Wonder Woman Got The Lamest One

Every New 52 comic this month has a foldout cover that’s supposed to reveal some sort of shocking scene.  It was originally called “WTF Certified”, with a logo and everything, but then DC realized how spectacularly stupid that sounded and canned that idea.  Nonetheless, “WTF?!” is the theme they’re going for.

And we’ve seen some big surprises.  Not necessarily good, but big… Carrie Kelley as Robin on Batman and Red Robin #19, Bruce Wayne pointing a gun at Commissioner Gordon on Batman #19, Superboy’s parents potentially being Superman and Lois Lane on Superboy #19 (whatever happened with that? I didn’t care enough to read it).  There have been shocking revelations and big guest stars.  Wonder Woman #19, however, is so, so, so lame.

Here’s the first half of the cover that we’ve had for a few months now:

Wonder Woman and Orion battling it out!  It’s very exciting.  Wonder Woman will kick his ass, of course.  I wasn’t sure what the other half would bring.  Maybe it would be more New Gods, coming to Orion’s defense?  Perhaps it would be the First Born, whose arrival forces Wonder Woman and Orion to work together?  There were some cool options.

But this is what we got, via Bleeding Cool:

Ugh.

I’m sure there’s a very good reason she’s kissing him, but it’s such a tacky, stereotypical reveal.  Wonder Woman deserves much better.  And you KNOW it’s going to turn into a whole big thing when her boyfriend, Superman, finds out.  Which I’m sure will be handled with aplomb by Scott Lobdell in one of his many Super-titles (he said with the most sarcasm a human could possibly muster).

Plus, Wonder Woman’s been kissing a lot of dudes lately!  She was making out with Superman all over the place back in August and sporadically since, kissing Apollo on the cover of Wonder Woman #12, and now she’s all over Orion.  Are Batman and Superman making out with scores of ladies on their covers?  I think not.  But Wonder Woman’s a girl, so I guess we need romance and kissing and the like.

Again, ugh.  Lamest reveal ever.

I was really hoping for Big Barda.

Oh man!!  Wonder Woman kissing Big Barda!!  Now that would have been a surprising reveal.  Big missed opportunity there, DC.

The Wonder Woman And Superman “The Kiss” Statue OR I’m Legitimately Curious: Is Anyone Planning To Buy This?

Last August, Wonder Woman and Superman became an item in Justice League #12, and the cover featured them kissing way up in the clouds.  It was, and continues to be, a dumb and poorly done storyline, but it sold a few more books than usual which was, I’m sure, DC’s primary objective.  I don’t think I saw any reaction to this new romance that was in the ballpark of positive, though a few people probably liked it.  And now, months later when no one is really talking about it anymore because they haven’t done much with the Wonder Woman/Superman romance since, DC is commemorating that majestic kiss with this new statue:

If this picture isn’t enough detail for you, head over to DC’s site where they have a video that is literally a full minute of the camera spinning around the statue.  Interestingly, the statue isn’t based on the actual cover, which looked like this:

But rather the second printing, which looked like this:

The first cover was the one that was plastered everywhere in August, but I guess they didn’t like its statue potential.  Maybe they thought it was too bondagey.

So now, this September you can buy this glorious recreation of this famed kiss and display it proudly in your home.  It’s over 14 inches tall, has that weird metallic look DC’s been doing with a lot of their statues and toys lately, and is finely crafted by sculptor Tim Bruckner.  Also, it costs $249.95.

Wow, that’s a lot of money.

Which leads me to this question: Is anyone actually planning to buy this statue?  I completely understand the appeal of statues and toys and such.  My place is riddled with action figures, and I have a super cool Jim Lee-designed Batman Black and White statue too.  But all of my superhero collectibles are doing cool, superhero things, not fixing to make out in the clouds.  That strikes me as an odd moment to capture forever and place on your mantelpiece.

I’m actually very curious whether people are going to buy this statue.  If you are, let me know in the comments.  I completely fail to see the appeal, so tell me what I’m missing here.  DC clearly thinks that a fair number of people will gladly pay $250 for this statue, and I’m just not seeing it.  Enlighten me in the comments, if you are so inclined.

Women In Comics Statistics: DC And Marvel, January 2013 Odds And Ends

Hey gang, we’ve got a new format!  Running through the weekly totals for both companies was fun and all, but I don’t think it’s all that necessary.  Monthly seems like more than enough, and seeing as most books come out on a monthly schedule anyway that’s probably the best way to look at the numbers.  I find the weekly numbers interesting because I’m weird and super into charts and such, but monthly more than accomplishes a comprehensive look at women in comics statistics.  My monthly “Gendercrunching” column will continue at Bleeding Cool, but instead of accompanying it with two round-ups of weekly stats we’ll have this new column!

DC COMICS

I thought it would be interesting to compare our monthly numbers to an average, to see how the month stacks up, and seeing as we’ve just finished 2012 we’ve got a nice annual average to work with. Thus this is our new chart set-up:

Overall, January was slightly above average for DC, which is good to see.  Writers, letterers, and assistant editors had particularly strong months, while pencillers, colorists, and editors saw some noticeable drops.  Other interesting notes:

• Writers in January 2013 were actually more than double their 2012 average, which is huge!
• Letterers more than doubled their 2012 average as well!
• Whenever I say “letterers”, I mean Saida Temofonte.  She’s the only lady lettering comics at the Big Two right now.  If there’s ever another one, I’ll let you know.
• Because Boxing Day was on a Wednesday, DC rolled their usual fourth week comics into the first week of January, taking advantage of January’s five weeks.  Thus there are a lot more books than usual.  Also, the rolled over December books accounted for DC’s second lowest week of the month.
• There were three new books in January, Threshold #1 (1 of 8, with Kate Stewart assistant editing), the print version of the digital series Injustice: Gods Among Us #1 (1 of 10, with Sarah Litt assistant editing), and a non-New 52 book I know nothing about called Insurgent #1 (1 of 6, with Kristy Quinn assistant editing).
• The busiest book of the month was Action Comics #16 with 16 credited creators, 1 of them a lady (the always excellent Jordie Bellaire colouring the backup story).
• The book with the highest percentage of female creators were Fairest #11 and Smallville Season 11 #9 at 3 of 7, with Catwoman #16 at 3 of 8 as the best New 52 title.

MARVEL COMICS

Marvel had a great January, coming very close to their record setting overall total from December.  They’ve broken the record twice in the past five months, and been over 14% for three of those months.  It’s been quite an impressive run.  Let’s see how their January numbers stack up against last year’s averages:

The total is 2.1% more than their 2012 average, which is a solid improvement.  Only inkers and colourists were down, and by fairly small margins.  Cover artists, writers, and pencillers were all slightly better than average, while editors and assistant editors blew last year’s totals right out of the water.  It was a really impressive month for Marvel.  Other interesting notes:

• Both editors and assistant editors were 10% better than their 2012 average, which is huge.  Marvel’s female representation at editorial has been growing like crazy.
• Still no female letterers.  The last time a woman lettered a Marvel comic was January 26, 2011, so as of now it’s been 796 days.
• Marvel had a ton of new books in January.  They were: Marvel’s Iron Man 3 Prelude #1 (1 of 7, with Sana Amanat editing), Morbius the Living Vampire #1 (1 of 9, with Sana Amanat editing again), New Avengers #1 (2 of 12, with Nei Ruffino colouring a variant cover and Lauren Sankovitch editing), Punisher: Nightmare #1 (1 of 8, with Lauren Sankovitch editing again).
• And that was just the first week!!  Here are the rest: Dark Tower: The Gunslinger – Sheemie’s Tale #1 (3 of 5, with Robin Furth co-writing, Sana Amanat editing, and Ellie Pyle assistant editing), Superior Spider-Man #1 (1 of 12, with Ellie Pyle assistant editing again), Marvel’s Thor Adaptation #1 (1 of 5, with Sana Amanat editing), Savage Wolverine #1 (2 of 9, with Jeanine Schaefer editing and Jennifer M. Smith assistant editing), Deadpool Killustrated #1 (1 of 7, with Veronica Gandini colouring), Uncanny X-Force #1 (1 of 12, with Laura Martin colouring the cover), and Young Avengers #1 (1 of 10, with Lauren Sankovitch editing).
• Whew.
• Marvel NOW! is kind of exhausting.
• You’ll notice that while women are getting lots of gigs, it’s a lot of the same ladies in a lot of the same jobs.  There were no female writers, pencillers, or inkers in those many new books.
• The busiest book of the month was Avengers #3 with 14 credited creators, 1 of them a woman (another now-familiar name, Lauren Sankovitch, editing).
• The book with the highest percentage of female creators was Monster’s Inc. #2 at 9 of 12 (the Italian team of artists who drew the book included a lot of ladies), with Captain Marvel #9 (3 of 6) and Astonishing X-Men #58 (4 of 8) tying for the top spot among Marvel’s superhero books.
• To learn more about this statistics project and its methodology click here, and to see the previous stats click here.

Women In Comics Statistics: DC And Marvel, January 2013 In Review

Aw yeah, stats!!  The monthly stats are up now at Bleeding Cool, and it was a decent month for both publishers.  Marvel was firmly in front at 14.2% female creators, but DC’s 11.7% was a relatively good total for them.

We also take a look at Marvel’s 2012 stats in review, seeing how they compare to 2011 and what trends we can see moving forward into 2013.

Also, look for a brand new stats follow up early next week.  I’m replacing the week-by-week rundown with a new look at the stats that I think should be a good time.

Head over to Bleeding Cool to see all of the stats fun!!

Women In Comics Statistics: DC And Marvel, December 2012 In Review

The monthly stats are up over at Bleeding Cool, and Marvel AGAIN broke the record for best overall percentage of female creators!!  They had 14.4% female creators overall, while DC put in a very strong showing at 12.5% female creators.

We also take a look at all of DC’s stats for 2012.  Comparing the averages for the year to the 2011 numbers, there were no real changes at DC, which is good in that nothing dropped too far, but terrible in that nothing improved either.  We also look at the trends for each category over the course of the year, and while the year as a whole might not have been great, things actually seem to be moving in a positive direction for 2013.

Head over to Bleeding Cool for all the stats fun!!