Women & NB Creators at DC Comics, January 2020 Solicits, 31 Creators on 21 Books

With the December solicits, DC listed a bunch of their titles for the first week of January, and I decided to keep those books out of the official tally. Most of the comics were DC’s usual first week of the month fare, just scheduled early, so they fit better with the January solicits. So with that in mind, let’s take a look at who’s doing what at DC in the New Year, starting with the newly listed books:

• Adriana Melo: Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy #5 (interior art)
• Becky Cloonan: Basketful of Heads #4 (variant cover)
• Carmen Maria Machado: The Low, Low Woods #2 (writer)
• Cecil Castellucci: Batgirl #43 (writer)
• Colleen Doran: Wonder Woman #750 (interior art)
• Dani: The Low, Low Woods #2 (interior art)
• Elena Casagrande: Wonder Woman #750 (interior art)
• Emanuela Lupacchino: Birds of Prey #1 (interior art, cover)
• Gail Simone: Wonder Woman #750 (co-writer)
• Jenny Frison: The Low, Low Woods #2 (variant cover), Wonder Woman #750 (variant cover)
• Jessica Dalva: The Dollhouse Family #3 (cover)
• Jody Houser: Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy #5 (writer), Supergirl #38 (writer), Superman: Heroes #1 (co-writer)
• Joelle Jones: Catwoman #19 (writer, interior art, cover), Wonder Woman #750 (cover)
• Kami Garcia: Wonder Woman #750 (co-writer)
• Kat Howard: Books of Magic #16 (writer)
• Laura Marks: Daphne Byrne #1 (writer)
• Marguerite Bennett: RWBY #4 (writer), Wonder Woman #750 (co-writer)
• Mariko Tamaki: Wonder Woman #750 (co-writer)
• Meghan Hetrick: RWBY #4 (interior art)
• Michelle Delecki: Metal Men #4 (interior art, cover)
• N.K. Jemison: Far Sector #3 (writer)
• Nalo Hopkinson: House of Whispers #17 (co-writer)
• Rachael Stott: Supergirl #38 (interior art)
• Rachel Dodson: Batgirl #43 (variant cover)
• Reiko Murakami: Basketful of Heads #4 (cover)
• Sarah Stone: RWBY #4 (cover)
• Shannon Hale: Wonder Woman #750 (co-writer)
• Tiffany Turrill: Lucifer #16 (cover)
• Vita Ayala: Wonder Woman #750 (co-writer)
• Yasmine Putri: Daphne Byrne #1 (variant cover)

And the holdovers from the December solicits:

• Bilquis Evely: The Dreaming #17 (interior art)
• Cecil Castellucci: Batgirl #42 (writer)
• Michelle Delecki: Inferior Five #5 (interior art)
• Rachel Dodson: Batgirl #42 (variant cover)
• Yasmine Putri: Lois Lane #7 (variant cover)

All together, it adds up to 31 different female and non-binary creators scheduled to work on 21 different books at DC in January, the same number of creators as in December but across three fewer books. That’s some fairly consistent representation, though when we look at the total number of books from this round and the carryover from December we’ve got female and non-binary creators on 21 of DC’s 74 different issues, good for a rate of 28%. This is a big drop from December’s 36%.

While January’s got a lot of creators, they’re not very well spread out. A considerable number of the writers and listed above are working on one title, the super-sized Wonder Woman #750. All of these names are a good boost for the creator numbers, but it does concentrate the representation much more than usual. It also doesn’t bode terribly well for February, since this is a special one-time issue and most of the creators involved aren’t guaranteed a gig next month.

In terms of new names, the aforementioned Wonder Woman #750 boasts several returning favourites and what I think is the single issue debut for Shannon Hale at DC, which should be very cool. She’s done some great work on longer form superhero books. The Hill House Comics line continues to expand as well with Daphne Byrne from new-to-DC writer Laura Marks.

It’s a quiet month for new books with female characters, though. There’s Daphne Byrne, of course, and a re-solicited Birds of Prey that’s now part of DC’s Black Label line for some reason. Apart from that, Lois Lane and Supergirl are involved in the Superman: Heroes special, and that’s about it for new titles and specials.

Overall, while the total of female and non-binary creators remains relatively solid, the numbers may not be sustainable and we’re seeing noticeably less representation across the board. DC will need some new books or some creative changes in February to keep up with the standard they’ve set over the past few months.