Welcome to the new, improved Nerdgasm. I’ve deleted my old posts (all six of them) and I’m working on a makeover. Why? Because I got a new job at a comic shop, and I just know I’m going to have things to blog about now.
For example, my shop requires I chose a “Pick of the Week” to highlight a comic I’ve read for the customers. Speaking as a retailer, you’d ideally want to pick something that doesn’t normally sell. This way, when a customer asks after your pick you can push a book that could actually use a sales boost. Most of the time, I suspect I’ll be doing just that simply because I’m female.
Women identify with female characters. Men, likewise, identify with male characters. This isn’t always strictly the case - I’m not saying a woman can’t identify with a male character - it’s just a general truth. I’ll most likely pick titles with a female lead, or several female characters. This means that the 98% male clientele of our store are going to be exposed to more women in their hobby than they’re used to.
Example in point:
Male Customer: “Poptart*, I see you’ve chosen Wonder Woman** for your Pick. Isn’t that a little sexist?”
I do not lie, those are the exact words coming out of a customer’s mouth to me on my first New Comics Day (every Wednesday, for the uneducated). My response was that I simply liked Wonder Woman, but I was tempted to fry him where he stood.
Comic books are a male dominated industry. It’s a boy’s game, and for that reason 90-98% of their content is written by men for men. Female heroes are few and far between, comparative to male heroes, and female titles barely exist at all***. Why should it be considered sexist for me to pick the most well-known female hero’s title for my pick, but not sexist for the other two employees to pick two male-oriented titles?
(Truthfully, my manager had picked Detective Comics #855, which features two lesbian leads right now. But as Detective holds a strong history of being Batman centric, I believe my argument is still sound. Also, my peer chose Spawn.)
I was told by the general manager of our stores that I should have let a little sass out. Perhaps next time I will.
For those who don’t know me, I also read The Walking Dead, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. I’m going to start reading Batman and his accessory books (Robin, Nightwing, etc.), JSA, JLA, Green Lantern, and possibly some X-titles (I’m required to read at least one Marvel title, but as I really don’t like Marvel’s work I’m loathe to do so). I’d hardly call myself sexist in my choices.
What do you think?
* My name has been changed to protect my innocence!
** Wonder Woman #34, review pending.
*** An arguement could be made that this is a changing phenomenon, but only time will truly tell.