Women in Comics Statistics, DC and Marvel: Winter 2019 in Review

My latest “Women in Comics, By The Numbers” article went up at The Beat a couple weeks back, and the year is not off to a great start for female creator representation at DC or Marvel. The numbers for women at both publishers are noticeably below where things ended in 2018, and even further below their recent highs.

At DC, after posting one of their highest totals in some time last December, the numbers dropped sharply through the new year. DC came in at 16% female creators overall, a loss of more than a point from the fall. The breakdown by category didn’t have much good news either. Female cover artists, writers, letterers, and editors were all on the decline, with little to counterbalance this but some gains for assistant editors.

Marvel ended 2018 on a downward swing, and opened 2019 in an even deeper hole that they were starting to slowly dig themselves out of by March. They posted 14.8% female creators overall, a point and a half drop from the last round. And by category, while there were some strong showings including gains for female cover artists and solid totals for female writers, pencilers, inkers, and editors are all languishing in single digits right now, while letterers remain a goose egg, as always.

All together, it’s an underwhelming beginning to 2019. Head on over to The Beat to check out the full stats! Then, as always, check out all of the other wonderful articles there and give the site a follow to keep up on comics news.