Women & NB Creators at DC Comics, February 2020 Solicits, 33 Creators on 29 Books

It’s February, and that means no more festive shenanigans! Thank goodness. Christmas being on a Wednesday really complicated the last couple rounds of solicits. We’ve got a normal month here, and a strong showing from DC. I was a little worried about widespread representation after January was dominated by female and non-binary creators working on Wonder Woman #750, a one-time special, over-sized issue, but we’ve got impressive representation across the board this month. Let’s take a look at who’s doing what at DC this February:

• Amanda Conner: Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey #1 (co-writer, interior art, cover)
• Amy Reeder: Amethyst #1 (writer, interior art, cover)
• Carmen Maria Machado: The Low, Low Woods #3 (writer)
• Cecil Castellucci: Batgirl #44 (writer)
• Dani: The Low, Low Woods #3 (writer)
• Gurihiru: Superman Smashes the Klan #3 (interior art, cover)
• Jan Duursema: Wonder Woman #85 (interior art)
• Jenny Frison: The Low, Low Woods #3 (variant cover), Wonder Woman #85 (variant cover), Wonder Woman #86 (variant cover)
• Jessica Dalva: The Dollhouse Family #4 (cover)
• Jody Houser: Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy #6 (writer), Supergirl #39 (writer), Superman: Villains #1 (co-writer)
• Joelle Jones: Catwoman #20 (writer, cover)
• Kami Garcia: Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity #3 (writer)
• Kamome Shirahama: Lois Lane #8 (variant cover)
• Kat Howard: Books of Magic #17 (writer)
• Kelly Sue DeConnick: Aquaman #57 (writer)
• Laura Marks: Daphne Byrne #2 (writer)
• Marguerite Bennett: RWBY #3 (writer)
• Marguerite Sauvage: The Dreaming #18 (interior art)
• Meghan Hetrick: RWBY #5 (interior art)
• Michelle Delecki: Inferior Five #6 (interior art), Metal Men #5 (interior art), Shazam! #11 (variant cover)
• Mirka Andolfo: RWBY #5 (interior art)
• N.K. Jemison: Far Sector #4 (writer)
• Nalo Hopkinson: House of Whispers #18 (co-writer)
• Nicola Scott: The Flash #750 (variant cover)
• Rachael Stott: Supergirl #39 (interior art)
• Rachel Dodson: Batgirl #44 (variant cover)
• Reiko Murakami: Basketful of Heads #5 (cover)
• Sarah Stone: RWBY #5 (cover)
• Stephanie Hans: Amethyst #1 (variant cover)
• Stephanie Phillips: DC Crimes of Passion #1 (co-writer)
• Tiffany Turrill: Lucifer #17 (cover)
• Yasmine Putri: DC Crimes of Passion #1 (variant cover), DCeased: Unkillables #1 (variant cover)

All together, there are 33 different female creators scheduled to work on 29 different comic books at DC this February, two more creators than in January across eight more books. As best I can tell, there are no non-binary creators listed in this round of solicits. The increase overall is minor, though a plus nonetheless, but it’s especially good to see these creators spread across so many books. While the new Hill House Comics horror line is a big help in that regard, we’re also seeing a decent amount of appearances across the main line.

By the numbers, with women working on 29 of DC’s 72 books in February, that gives us representation of 40%, one of the best totals we’ve seen from either publisher since we started tracking this metric and a big 12% jump from January’s 28%. Women and non-binary creators should be working everywhere at the publisher, as a matter of course, and it’s good to see the publisher moving in that direction. For this month, at least.

In terms of new names, I think Stephanie Phillips might be the only brand new creator listed above. We’ve got a couple of rad returning favourites, though, with Marguerite Sauvage stepping in for an issue of The Dreaming and Amy Reeder writing and drawing a brand new Amethyst series.

The new Amethyst is one of DC’s two major female-led launches in February, the other being Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey from famed Harley Quinn team Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti. The former is a regular, ongoing book, while the latter is a prestige, bi-monthly Black Label situation. There are a few other dude-centric books coming out too, as well as the special The Flash #750, which appears to feature no female creators apart from one variant cover. Not great there.

Overall, February’s looking relatively decent for female creator representation at DC. The numbers are up, the work is widespread, and a couple of major launches are putting female characters in the spotlight as well. The publisher is lacking in non-binary creators, though, and hopefully the coming months will see some growth in that regard.

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