Confessions of a Comic Book Guy is a weekly column by Steve Bennett of Super-Fly Comics and Games in Yellow Springs, Ohio.  This week, Bennett compares comics to other entertainment that's been more successful at attracting broader audiences. 

Last week I wrote at considerable length about Doctor Who, the television series that somehow went from being almost universally regarded (even by those of us who love it) as being hopelessly clunky, cheesy and male skewing to having a devoted female fan base.  I did that so I could suggest that if this was possible, you might be able to do the same for superhero comics.
 
For starters we need to come to grips with the fact that entertainment in the 21st century has essentially become unisex.  Sure, there are some pockets of every medium still primarily intended for one gender or another, but more and more everything is intended to appeal to everyone.  "Soap opera" was once used as a pejorative, presumed to be the exclusive province of women, shut-ins and college kids who enjoyed them "ironically," but now there are elements of the genre in everything from police dramas to professional wrestling to… superhero comics.  While in theaters the romantic comedy is still regarded as a "chick flick," made for young women and the men who grudgingly accompany them, it's hard to name a Top 10 sitcom that isn't also at least partially a rom-com.  And every superhero movie has to have a romantic sub-plot (here's a confession; the woman in my life wants to see both Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Thor: The Dark World a lot more than I do).
 
This is not due to some sort of sinister agenda to "feminize" popular culture but just plain old fashioned capitalism at work (i.e., the more people an entertainment appeals to the more money it makes).  So this notion that superheroes as a genre is too "testosterone-driven"* to appeal to women is wishful thinking.  Not only is it a damnable lie, but it's also demonstratively untrue.  I could give all sorts of examples, but at this time I would like to place into evidence this quote from a recent piece, "Time for rise of the 'nerd girl,'" by Martha Carr, which appeared on the online version of the Athens-Herald:
 
"The nerd world at large is just starting to catch up with the women’s movement from 40 years ago.  All of a sudden, women who are into gaming, science, sci-fi and graphic novels are speaking up about being ignored or even put down by their male counterparts."
 
I really don't feel comfortable tossing around lightning rod buzz terms like "white male privilege," but what else can you call the assumption that the audience for comics isn’t just predominantly male but that's also the way it's always been and should be.  This sort of resistance to accepting the obvious is the lone, pitiful wail of the entitled as someone else encroaches on one of their prerogatives; "this is ours, exclusively for us, you can't have any because you don't belong."

So, if women are already reading them the question becomes why there aren’t more of them.  After all, large numbers of women have shown a predilection for fantasy themed serialized dramas featuring people with outlandish names, powers and apparel who wage relentless love and war against each other.  As long as it’s called True Blood and Game of Thrones.  So, why not superhero comics?  The answer is, obviously, content.  As previously established, I'd prefer it if the standards for superhero comics mirrored those of network television, but if you really want them to be "viewer discretion advised" there’s a way of dealing with all the sex and violence in a way that doesn't alienate a female audience.  Or to quote online entertainment and culture editor at Wired magazine Laura Hudson (back when she was at Comics Alliance):
 
"I have long maintained that to bring in more female readers, superhero comics don't even need to specifically target women as much as they need to not actively offend them. […] Female characters are only insatiable, barely dressed aliens and strippers because someone decided to make them that way. [...] It isn't an inviolable reality, especially in a comic book universe that has just been rebooted."
 
This week I was planning to write, at considerable length, about some of the comments made during (and after) the Television Critics Association press tour panel for the new PBS documentary series "Superheroes: The Never-Ending Battle."  You probably have already read about it but if you’d like a cogent recap you should go read "Mark Millar's rape comments, 'Superheroes' TC panel: The comics world responds" which appeared on the Los Angeles Times Hero Complex site.  But I decided against it, seeing as how they've been thoroughly hashed and rehashed online, but I will respond to just one quote from Gerry Conway who was commenting on a question about both female and minority characters in comics:
 
"I think the bigger question is why readers are not interested in those characters.  Comics follow society.  They don’t lead society, they reflect it."
 
Yes, yes they do, but the trouble is comics don’t reflect society, they reflect the insular, presumptively white, male and straight world of its creators and readerships.  And this is a mistake, not because social justice and diversity and inclusivity, but because money; the bigger the audience the bigger the profits, and to appeal to the widest possible audience you have to include everybody.  People like to be included, they respond positively (i.e., buy) when they see themselves positively reflected, and if comics is ever going to grow its way out of its death spiral somebody needs to crack a window in our snug, smug, hermetically sealed like clubhouse. 
 
It wouldn't be hard to institute the changes need to make this happen; both publishers and creators know what they need to do.  All that's required is that somebody make an effort.
 
* But the question of what a woman's role is to be in a superhero world was actually addressed in the recent Phineas & Ferb: Mission Marvel special.  Since, in the words of stalwart neighbor girl Isabella "none of the women superheroes showed up" she and the boys' sister Cadence begin to question amidst all the "testosterone, powers and fighting" how they could contribute to the fight against the villains.  But naturally Isabella's quick thinking and Cadence's fearlessness (well, misplaced self-esteem) ultimately save the day.

The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.