Friday, October 19, 2012

Matt Fraction on writing female characters in comics

From Comic Book Resources: FRACTION BIDS FAREWELL TO THE "INVINCIBLE IRON MAN"

I started to realize that if I had a daughter, there would come a day when I would have to apologize to her for my profession. I would have to apologize for the way it treats and speaks to women readers, and the way it treats its female characters.
“I knew that if we had a daughter, because I know my wife and I know the kind of girl she wants to raise and I know the kind of girl I want to raise, she was going to look at what I did for a living and want to know how the fuck I could stomach it. How could I sell her out like that?” Fraction continued. “That conversation is still coming, and I’m bracing for it in the way that some dads brace for their daughter’s first date or boyfriend. I became acutely aware that I had sort of done that thing that lots of privileged hetero cisgendered white dudes do. ‘I’m cool with women, and that’s enough.’ It’s not enough. It’s embarrassing to say, because we somehow have attached shame to learning and evolving our opinions, culturally, but I became aware that there was a deficiency of and to women in my work, and all I could do at that moment was take care of my side of the street.
I've always been a fan of Matt Fraction’s writing before, but now, I’m especially a fan of Matt Fraction as a human being. More of people like him please. 

Do yourself a favour and pick up some of the comics written by Matt, like "The Immortal Iron Fist", "The Invincible Iron Man", and his current series, "Hawkeye".

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