ElusiveNewReader

September 12, 2012 10:35 pm I really liked this article, sort of like seeing the "new reader" thing from the other side. While I don't want to touch the issues of trolling and sexism in fan communities with a ten foot pole (at least not at the moment!) I would like to provide some perspective as someone who really is that "elusive new female reader"... On the topic of people asking you "how do I get my wife/gf into these?!" - the thing that worked for me was seeing how comics were related to larger literary worlds. Superheroes dovetail well with classicel mythology, for instance. I may not have bee bought up on comics, but I teethed on Bullfinch's. So, seeing this genre presented as not a closed off community but a large and vibrant part of literature primed the pump, so to speak. "Part of getting new people into comics has traditionally been a quest for validation on some level, as if convincing cool people that comics were cool would prove we weren’t insane" - this is exactly how I feel with my "fandoms", such as 19th century lit or obscure artists. You can lead non-fans to the font of your fixation, whatever it is, but you cannot make them dip a toe in. Someone who's really new to comics, or poetry, or art, whatever has to see what's in it for them. Then they may try. Sadly, that is often complicated or outright prevented by lingering sexism, which I said I wasn't going to get into. But real quick: one surefire way to get women - of all sorts - interested is to let them see what's in it for them. And I'm not just talking subject matter of individual comics. Seeing articles like the above that call out exclusion behaviors, especially by male authors, is one step towards letting previously non-fan women know that there's a place at the table for them!