Girls as comic book fans; thank Supergirl, Princess Leia and Buffy the Vampire Slayer
A few weeks ago, I posted a piece entitled, "Comic-Con and the toy industry; what's Strawberry Shortcake doing there?" which expressed my surprise that that Hasbro was pushing Strawberry Shortcake at the historically male driven Comic-Con. At the time I said that I wouldn't be surprised to see more companies bringing female gender properties to Comic-Con as well.
Well, it appears that they are already are. In a New York Times piece entitled "Girls at Comic-Con Find Marketers Ready for Them" I learned that the female comic enthusiast market is further along than I thought. Here is how the author, Gregory Schmidt, puts it:
"For years, the stereotypical Comic-Con International attendees were male comic book fans who gathered every year in San Diego to dress as their favorite superheroes and debate esoteric topics like which Green Lantern is the best ring slinger and whether Darth Vader wears socks.
But as comic book fans grew up, married and raised children, a new fan base emerged: their daughters, who have grown up in a world ruled by Supergirl, Princess Leia and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And marketers, including publishers, toy manufacturers and Hollywood's entertainment giants, used Comic-Con 2010 last month to promote products for girls and to build anticipation for new ones."
The article goes on to discuss Mattel's efforts at Comic-Con to promote its new Monster High franchise while Warner Brothers is pushing a Supergirl clothing line for JC Penney while DC Comics and Mac Cosmetics is promoting a Wonder Woman cosmetics line.
If that's not enough, the article tells us that: "The women who are stars of the Marvel Comics universe are featured in a new series called Girl Comics. Marvel plans to publish three issues of Girl Comics, an anthology written and drawn by women, as part of its Women of Marvel celebration, a yearlong campaign."
It seems that the first issue will feature a picture on the cover of She-Hulk arm wrestling Iron Man. Wow!
Verena commented:
Some thoughts on this:
a) Buffy the Vampire slayer was broadcast in the 1990s. Those girls who grew up with it are now probably in their twenties or early thirties. But somehow I can't imagine them collecting "My Littlest Pet Shop" or "Polly Pocket" figurines (and sharing them with their daughters). Is that just my stereotype? BTW, Dark Horse is releasing the comic only Season 8 of Buffy and seems to be really succesful.
b) The number female comic readers also grew because of the rise of manga in the US. Note that Japan has an entire comic segment only for girls, made by female artists. Theses seem to be stories every girl can connect with. On the contrary, Marvel has to run a campaign to promote women artists and female heroes (Scott McCloud pointed this out already in 2000).
Daniel Pickett commented:
Also Mattel was selling a 3-pack of Polly Pocket and her friends dressed as Supergirl, Wonder Woman and Batgirl as well as a Hot Wheels version of Wonder Woman's invisible jet.
www.actionfigureinsider.com/main/san-diego-comic-con-2010-products
