Responderbot 3000

It's been pretty quiet in our corner of the world, mostly because we are preserving our witty repartee for the Love & Rockets event that we'll be attending at Fantagraphics this Sunday.

That said, a blogger/editor named Lisa Jonte brought me out of my shell with a fairly universal list of wants from women comic readers. Anyone who has read this blog for a while has correctly pigeon-holed me into a "indie comic reader." While I hate to resolve myself to a predictable demographic, Lisa succinctly states all my reasons why I am content with this label.

Sure, I've dipped my feet in the 'giant pond' by reading series like Y: The Last Man and DMZ. But those aren't the same. They aren't the ripped costume, giant breasted superhero comics that I've missed out on. They are smart, edgy, well thought out, and have a point. I would be lying if I said that on some level the 'superhero' stories don't interest me. I would love to read a comic that had superheros, especially if they were all as awesome as Watchmen. But honestly, every time I've been driven to check out a title like JLA or 52 Weeks (by reviews or cover or name recognition) I've had three reactions:

• Confusion: in order to get anything out of the story, I have to be familiar with the characters. Normally this wouldn't be a deterrent, but the characters from the gate can be pretty bland without the construct of years of back story and without anything interesting me in my motivation to learn more is nil.
• Anger: I don't understand the hypersexualized nature of the comics and don't understand how it contributes to the story, other than fueling fanboy (and fangirl) masturbatory needs. I think it's dismissive of potential character development and distracting.
• Isolation: the writers and editorial boards direct story lines and arcs in a way that cater to a single audience: the aged fanboys who have been reading their favorite superhero comic since they were 8. I'm sure there are exceptions, and there are really innovative, exciting titles out there, but there are far too many examples of this that crush my spirit of exploration to find what these titles might be.

This confession isn't to start some defensive flame war (though if you have good examples of something to check out, I'd be game). This confession is to support Lisa's wish list. The things she list are pretty straight forward and not surprising, but she makes a point that they aren't necessarily universal. But they are and I think any partially intelligent editor could come up with that laundry list on his or her own. But the fact that they don't, and still sit there wringing their hands about how to conjure up a new audience is disappointing.

At Yet Another Comics Blog, a good point is made. Superhero comics are a niche - a strong, viable niche. David even makes a stronger point in that there really isn't a need for it to evolve and cater to an audience that may or may not like them at the risk of alienating the loyal reading base, especially when that evolution puts the book in a position where they may not be read at all. But from my perspective, as someone who who is interested but has fundamental issues with the current content, I can only hope that some publisher is willing to risk it a bit to appeal to a wider audience.

As I hop off my soapbox and mentally prepare for the awesome that is coming our way on Sunday (and the following Saturday), we command thee to drop us a line if you will be here on Saturday. Since we live in the COOLEST NEIGHBORHOOD ON EARTHtm we like showing people around.