Women & NB Creators at DC Comics, October 2019 Solicits: 27 Creators on 27 Books

October has five Wednesdays, which means an extra round of comics hitting shops this month. The solicits confirm what we’ve noticed since DC reduced its output: Fewer books means fewer opportunities for female and non-binary creators, beyond simple proportionality, and the inverse is true. Let’s take a look at who’s doing what at DC in October with an extra week of books:

• Adriana Melo: Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy #2 (interior art)
• Amanda Conner: Wonder Woman: Come Back To Me #4 (co-writer, cover)
• Bilquis Evely: The Sandman Universe Presents: Hellblazer #1 (cover)
• Cecil Castellucci: Batgirl #40 (writer)
• Emanuela Lupacchino: Birds of Prey #1 (interior art, cover), Lois Lane #4 (variant cover)
• G. Willow Wilson: Wonder Woman #80 (writer), Wonder Woman #81 (writer)
• Gurihiru: Superman Smashes the Klan #1 (interior art, cover)
• Jenny Frison: Wonder Woman #81 (variant cover)
• Jody Houser: Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy #2 (writer)
• Joelle Jones: Catwoman #16 (writer, interior art, cover)
• Kami Garcia: Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity #1 (writer)
• Kat Howard: Books of Magic #13 (writer)
• Kelly Sue DeConnick: Aquaman #53 (writer), Aquaman Annual #2 (co-writer)
• Marguerite Bennett: RWBY #1 (writer)
• Michelle Delecki: Inferior Five #2 (interior art), Metal Men #1 (interior art), Shazam! #11 (variant cover)
• Mirka Andolfo: RWBY #1 (interior art)
• Nalo Hopkinson: House of Whispers #14 (co-writer)
• Nicola Scott: Legion of Super-Heroes: Millennium #2 (interior art)
• Paulina Ganucheau: Dial H for Hero #8 (interior art)
• Reiko Murakami: Basketful of Heads #1 (cover)
• Sandra Hope: Superman: Up In The Sky #4 (interior art)
• Sarah Stone: RWBY #1 (cover)
• Tiffany Turrill: Lucifer #13 (cover)
• Tula Lotay: Wildcats #3 (variant cover)
• Vita Ayala: Aquaman Annual #2 (co-writer)
• Yasmine Putri: DCeased #5 (variant cover), DCeased #6 (variant cover)

All together, there are 27 female and non-binary creators scheduled to work on 27 different comic books at DC in October, seven more creators than in September across a whopping 11 more titles. These are substantial gains. While the extra week of books explains some of this gain, this is more than proportional.

We can see that when we look at the numbers more closely. DC is putting out 83 books in October, a big jump from September, and having female and non-binary creators on 27 of them means representation across 33% of the line. That a seven point jump from September that puts DC back in line with where they were a few months back. Not that the numbers were impressive then! But they’ve dropped since, and it’s nice to have things moving up again.

In terms of new names, we’ve got a couple current Marvel regulars with some DC gigs. Gurihiru are drawing Superman Smashes the Klan, which looks spectacular, while Vita Ayala is co-writing an Aquaman annual. Cover artist Reiko Murakami is brand new, Kami Garcia is writing her first single issues at DC, and we’ve got the return of a classic pairing with Marguerite Bennett and Mirka Andolfo on RWBY.

I don’t really know what RWBY is, but I gather it’s some kind of cartoon with female leads? And anything that reunites an old DC Comics Bombshells team is bound to be a fun read. We’ve also got a new Birds of Prey title, but with Brian Azzarello at the helm my hopes are rather low. There are some “giant” issues listed in the solicits with no creator information, including one for Wonder Woman and one for the DC Super Hero Girls. Since there are no creators associated with the books, they’ve been left out of the overall count. Details released later include a handful of female creators in the mix for the books’ new stories.

Overall, October marks some solid gains for female and non-binary creators at DC. More books means more opportunities, but it’s more than that. The top of the pecking order is clearly dominated by male creators, so with fewer books they get more jobs. More books means those lower down the list get opportunities, and we’re seeing how much of a difference that makes this month.