Here’s some fun with numbers, prompted by yesterday’s post about Marvel’s Ultimate Comics Ultimates and its (unintentional?) sexism. In discussion of the subject, it dawned on me that Marvel only had one ongoing solo book with a female lead, which seemed so unlikely that I had to go check that I wasn’t forgetting something. Turns out, I wasn’t, but I was misremembering the number of ongoing series that Marvel publishes: Only 43 (excluding Icon titles). For some reason, that pushed me towards working out how many of those were solo books, and how many of those solo books had female leads, leads of color, and LGBT leads… and then I did the same thing for DC.
Why? That’s a very good question.
(For the record, books that had two leads (Marvel’s Captain America and Bucky and DC’s Fury of Firestorm and Hawk & Dove) weren’t counted as solo books – although I was really tempted in both cases, for some reason – and neither was Marvel’s Avenging Spider-Man, which is after all pretty much a modern-day Marvel Team-Up.)
Marvel
Of Marvel’s 43 ongoing Marvel Universe and Ultimate Universe titles:
- 21 (49%) are solo books
- 1 (4.8%) of solo books have female lead (X-23)
- 3 (14.2%) of solo books have leads of color (Black Panther: The Most Dangerous Man Alive, Iron Man 2.0, Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man)
- 1 (4.8%) of solo books have LGBT lead (Daken: Dark Wolverine)
DC
Of DC’s 52 ongoing DCU titles:
- 33 (63%) are solo books
- 6 (18.2%) of solo books have female leads (Batgirl, Batwoman, Catwoman, Supergirl, Voodoo, Wonder Woman)
- 6 (18.2%) of solo books have leads of color (Batwing, Blue Beetle, Mister Terrific, OMAC, Static Shock, Voodoo)
- 2 (6.1%) of solo books have LGBT leads (Batwoman, Voodoo)
So… Well, the most obvious thing to take away is that Marvel seriously needs to raise its game when it comes to not showcasing white straight dudes. But that doesn’t mean that DC should feel complacent, especially considering the reaction Catwoman and Voodoo have received from certain quarters…
September 30th, 2011 at 8:53 am
Shouldn’t Daken count as a lead of color (he’s half-Asian, I thought)?
September 30th, 2011 at 10:21 am
Interesting to see the breakdown of (lack of) diversity quantified like that. Somewhat bleak.
Also curious to see sales figures as it relates to this breakdown. My hypothesis would be that people will buy quality stories regardless of the color, gender, or orientation of it’s lead, but maybe the numbers would show something to the contrary.
September 30th, 2011 at 10:39 am
your silos dismissed birds of prey…all female team has to count for something…and even the newer dc teams have a pretty high female quotient…justice league international is about half female (so far), as is teen titans
September 30th, 2011 at 11:56 am
Not counting team books is silly. There’s only like 12 characters in comics that can reliably support their own ongoings for more than a couple years at a time. Team books are often where other characters get a lot of good page time.
September 30th, 2011 at 12:49 pm
good article
September 30th, 2011 at 1:02 pm
I’ve always felt Marvel’s female leads are not as strong conceptually as DC’s offerings. Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk, Spider Girl/Woman and to a certain extent, X-23, all owe their origins to other established male characters in Marvel (Captain Marvel, Hulk, Spider Man/SHIELD, Wolverine). DC’s flagship Wonder Women exists on her on merit and creates a myth around her that has nothing to do with other characters. Even Batwoman has her own narrative. The only thing she owes to Batman is her namesake. Perhaps that is a reason why Marvel is not as successful when it comes to solo female titles.
September 30th, 2011 at 2:53 pm
In my opinion marvel and dc are kind of = in female character’s,excludeing wonderwoman.I think the real big diffrence is dc has alway’s gone out of there way to pulish female lead book’s well marvel hasen’t.
Wish marvel would bring back spider-girl the mayday version!
October 2nd, 2011 at 7:30 am
I think you should run the same numbers comparing team rosters. Marvels strongest unique female characters are all part of teams (Emma Frost, Jessica Jones, Carol Danvers, Jessica Drew, and others), and in my opinion many of those females are prevalent in and intrinsic to their respective series. Also, I think its a discredit to just take a one time snapshot. DC just rebuilt their entire line, adding 6 of the titles listed in just the last month. Marvel has attempted to make numerous and diverse female series work, but they never hold the numbers, even if they are heavily advertized and critically well recieved. Should they be faulted when they are forced to cancel an unprofitable book?
Also, I would put it out there that Daken’s bisexuality pushes the envelope of average fanboy discomfort in a way that pretty lesbian characters definitely don’t. I have friends who like Daken, but can’t discuss it without talking about how uncomfortable they are with his sexuality. I doubt many people are turned off by Batwoman or Voodoo.
October 3rd, 2011 at 2:18 am
I think the point of eliminating the team books is that they’re a crutch for diversity. You can throw whatever you want in there, with the element possibly getting very little “screen time” and being carried by established characters. While that might be a decent way to get characters exposure on the way to more significant “screen time”, it’s not really a brave gesture.
October 3rd, 2011 at 2:25 am
Eliminating team books is still ridiculous considering Marvel has multiple teams lead by women and POCs
October 3rd, 2011 at 2:29 am
I also feel that if you come back in a year, these numbers are going to be very different as DC’s books start getting canceled.
October 3rd, 2011 at 3:05 am
”Eliminating team books is still ridiculous considering Marvel has multiple teams lead by women and POCs”
they both have team book’s with female lead’s,hell we could count virtigo book’s and the % would be even more in favor of d c .
October 3rd, 2011 at 5:25 am
to the other poster who said marvel just canclled female book’s for low sale’s,although for some of there book’s that is true.If you look at sale’s for some of there female lead’s they tend to end them even when they where outselling d c female lead book’s.It’s possible they could have been for profit’s but if there outselling ongoing’s from dc,then u would think they are for marvel.
October 3rd, 2011 at 6:11 am
This breakdown means very little less than a month into an across-the board relaunch of all DC’s titles. DC is reaching for underserved niche markets since they’ve been consistently losing the core market that up until just one month ago they’ve been competing for against Marvel. Hence more women and minority protagonists, as well as more non-superhero titles, seeking to catch the crumbs that Marvel has overlooked. But these are currently just sparks, not yet fires. Watch how many colors disappear from the DC rainbow over the next two years! Make the comparison in October 2013 and it might actually mean something.
October 5th, 2011 at 11:31 am
I can’t speak for minorities, but DC has pretty consistenntly had far more solo female leads than Marvel.
October 6th, 2011 at 2:40 pm
I’m not sure what every one is talking about. I think Marvel has had plenty of female leads,
October 7th, 2011 at 4:31 pm
Ugh. PC is so 90′s! Tell a good story with good art. When comics go for a quota instead of quality, sales suffer. Everyone wants to get paid. Maybe if someone wants to start their own company that is staffed by x making comics about x for x or people who like x, that would be fine. But, to try and shame a company because x isn’t represented is whiney and childish.