The Who Wants to Create a Superheroine contest announcement has been making waves.
TGCVersion2Point0 wonders at his ability to write a female character:
I do have to wonder if I have what it takes to create a female character that’s not a cliche and/or a completely unrealistic male fanboy representation of a woman. I guess I’ll find out. In the past when I write, my female characters tend to have that Farrelly Brothers syndrome, that being that they are a little too perfect and flawless. Either that or they are the most flawed characters in the story. One or the other. I do tend to have an issue with creating a strong but realistic female character. I wonder if that is because I am male and don’t really understand the female pysche or if it’s because I have issues with women.
While our own Lisa Fortuner is cautiously optimistic:
I see two downsides to submitting: 1) They could reject my idea. 2) They could accept my idea and let everyone know how stupid it is.
The upside is that whatever I can come up with will NOT be the dumbest thing on the pile.
(And that if it is, only I and the Shadowline editor will see it.)
Livejournalist heykidzcomix has doubts about the results of the contest:
I wonder how much actual female response they’ll get from it. One suspects not all that much.
So what do you think?
December 23rd, 2007 at 11:19 am
heykidzcomix missed the point of this contest. It’s not about getting more female creators out there, it’s about getting more headline female characters out there.
I mean, it’d be nice to get more female voices in comics today, but it’s just not the purpose here.
December 23rd, 2007 at 4:31 pm
I’d like to be optimistic and hope this might lead to the genesis of some interesting female protagonists in the superhero genre… but realistically speaking, it’s likely more Refrigerator fodder.
December 25th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
I share the same sentiment with Diana, because it isn’t rocket science to assume that the final votes will be cast mostly, in not 100%, by guys. Even if Newsarama chooses the most original concepts, voters may just go for the one that’s most familiar and comfortable to them. Depending on one’s viewpoint, this may not necessarily be a bad thing, depending on the quality of the finalists.