The big story for March is that Gail Simone is off Batgirl, and DC’s all around bungling thereof. In terms of the numbers, losing one female creator isn’t so huge at first glance, seeing as hundreds of creators get solicited each month. However, when of those hundreds only ten or so are women, losing one is sort of a big deal. Gail Simone represents roughly 10% of the solicited female workforce each month at DC, and that’s a lot to lose.
Luckily, Gail Simone is still in the March solicits. “HOW?!” you may exclaim. “Was there a reprieve?!” No such luck. There’s a new Vertigo anthology issue, Time Warp, that she has a story in, so she’s in the solicits. Just not for Batgirl. Barring a new series in April, Simone won’t be officially gone until next month.
Let’s take a look at the rest of the March 2013 solicits:
- Ann Nocenti writes Katana #2 and Catwoman #18, while Christy Marx writes Sword of Sorcery #6.
- Nicola Scott pencils and does the cover for Earth 2 #10, Sandra Hope inks Batman #18, and Emanuela Lupacchino is on cover duty for Birds of Prey #18.
- Over at Vertigo, Lauren Beukes writes Fairest #13, Yuko Shimizu does the cover for The Unwritten #47, and Gail Simone has a story in Time Warp #1 (the only lady in a lengthy list of creators on the book).
- For new series, Constantine #1 premieres in March, written and drawn by dudes and starring a dude. However, Ame-Comi Girls is now an official ongoing series!! There have been a series of character-centric issues for the past few months, but now it’s a regular ongoing book starring everyone: Wonder Woman, Power Girl, Supergirl, Batgirl, Robin, Steel and The Flash!!
March doesn’t look like it’s going to be the busiest month, really. We’ve got 8 female creators on 9 books, down from 11 female creators on 12 books in February. This is still better than when we used to have 4 or 5 ladies each month, but it’s a drop nonetheless. And, again, it’s set to drop further in April if Gail Simone isn’t on something else. Plus Fairest #13 is the end of the arc, so Lauren Beukes might be gone too. Hopefully we’ll see some new names or familiar faces in new places in April, or it could be a bad month.
An ongoing series starring a group of female superheroes is exciting news, though, even if it is inspired by somewhat problematic statues. The cover for Ame-Comi Girls #1 isn’t too bad in terms of skin showing and sexualized posing, so that’s a plus. And the character-centric issues and digital stories seem to have been fairly well received across the board.
Overall, March 2013 doesn’t look like it’s going to be DC’s best month for fictional or real life women, but it’s not terrible either. Hopefully we’ll see some growth in both in the April solicits!!
TIM HANLEY 