This is the first time in several years I’ve skipped SDCC — and, in my experience, it’s pretty welcoming to fans/geeks of the distaff persuasion. A large portion of the con hall is devoted to Manga/Manhwa/Anime, there are tons of cosplayers for girl-centric/friendly fandoms (Harry Potter, Naruto, etc.), and, unlike Robin Brenner, I’ve seen plenty of ‘glomping’ and tomfoolery with ‘yaoi paddles’ (if you don’t know, best not to ask) on the floor over the last few years.

Personally, I don’t care for shojo manga (though I used to like the Maison Ikokku anime way back in the day), but just like any other subgenre, it has it’s share of good and bad works.

I actually think most ‘adult male fans’ feel the same way: Shojo manga may not be their cup of tea, but no fanboy with an IQ above room temperature would deny that it has a rightful place at an event called ‘Comic-Con International.’

I think the reasons you’re seeing a backlash against ‘Twilight’, as opposed to other girl-centric fandoms boils down to the following:

1)Twilight is so aggressively mainstream that, in fact, many younger fanboys (and not a few fangirls) who have been ‘typically dismissed and marginalized’ are instinctively disdainful of it b/c a large portion of Twilight fandom is composed of the exact same folks who engaged in said dismissing and marginalizing. This is a fandom with a disproportionately large chunk of ‘mean girls’, not another group of geeks seeking common ground.

2)Along those lines, the majority of Twilight fans are openly contemptuous of anything not directly tied to Meyer, Pattinson, or Stewart. ‘I’m only here for Twilight,’ T-shirts were a frequent sight on the floor last year, which is one reason I’m very skeptical of the idea that Twihards represent a potential new comic/manga crossover audience. As fandoms go, it seems to be pretty monomaniacal.

3)Even relative to other hardcore fandoms, Twilight fans are notorious for their bad behavior, as even a brief perusal of Fandom Wank (or, really, any portion of the internet) will make clear.

Bottom line: Liking/respecting fangirls =/= not liking/respecting (extreme) Twilight fangirls* — there’s a BIG difference.

To be fair: I know (and like) a few non-extreme Twilight fangirls, and they’re often the first ones to point out their fellow fangirls’ craziness.

The other thing I’d add is that superheroes are just one avenue into comics. For many younger female comic fans (in the US, at least), it was Tokyopop’s Sailor Moon that got them hooked. Would that still be the case if DC published a Wonder Woman comic for the under-12 set? Hard to say, though I think both manga and superheroes are equally valid introductions comics as a medium.

There should simply be comics that don’t adhere to sexist, racist and other -ist conventions. You can’t create equality by pointing fingers. You can only do it when you’re leading by example.

If you read the message boards at some of the sites that first covered the Twilight story, I think you’d have a greater appreciation for why we did that post. Many of the comments directed at Twilight fans were rude and sexist. Coming on the heels of the LA Times’ “Girls’ Guide to Comic-Con,” in which female readers were advised to check out TV and movie panels featuring “hot” male actors (comics be damned), the Twilight haters’ comments were the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. We’re just asking to be treated with the same respect that male fans are — nothing more, nothing less.

As for Kyle’s point, it’s a good one: how do we raise the profile of girls’ comics? We’ve tackled that issue several times at Good Comics for Kids, most recently after the cancellation of Shojo Beat, the only American magazine for female comic readers. There’s no simple answer to this question (as the failure of DC’s Minx imprint attests), but it is one that many, many female critics are actively discussing.

Now, if we want to have a discussion on why comics targeted at girls are marginalized, let’s have it. But that has nothing to do with the Twilight situation at SDCC.

Heck, a better discussion would be why we NEED comics that are targeted at girls, as opposed to, say, making mainstream comics more friendly to people who aren’t straight guys.

Ideally, everyone will just get along, grab a stack of comics, and enjoy the camaraderie of fandom that the movie studios at the con seek to capitalize on.

From everything I see, the “typical” middle-school Twilight fan turns out to be the kind of high school girl most fanboys don’t like, anyway.

Just a thought.

Well, yeah. Of course.
But that covers ANY book or ANY movie.

Those who go on rants to criticize forms of entertainment that they’ve never watched/read/listened to, etc… have no legs to stand on.
NONE.

I’ve never read Twilight or saw the movie. So I have no opinion about the work
Those who have read/watched it and enjoyed it, good for them.

Isn’t this “Don’t criticize something you’ve never read or seen” one of those no-brainers?
Doesn’t it make perfect logical sense?

Why in the world is this still an issue?

Amen to that, Sarah. Most of us have read some or all of the series, and few of us would argue that it’s great literature. At the same time, none of us want to have to distance ourselves from Twilight fans (or publicly diss the books) just to be taken seriously by the tights-and-capes crowd.

Thanks for the linkage and the thoughtful comments!