Marvel’s vice president of sales has blamed declining comic-book sales on the studio’s efforts to increase diversity and female characters, saying that readers “were turning their noses up” at diversity and “didn’t want female characters out there . Oh, reeeaaally?

This sound bite, reported by The Guardian really made my blood boil. What do you think, peeps?

As The Guardian points out, “Online, readers scorned Gabriel’s remarks, pointing to Marvel’s tendency over the last few years to focus on restarting and rebooting storylines, creating a complicated web of interwoven universes, as well as an overwhelming output that fans struggled to keep up with…Writer of the Kamala Khan Ms Marvel series, G Willow Wilson responded to Gabriel’s comments, writing that “diversity as a form of performative guilt doesn’t work” and criticising Marvel’s tendency to introduce the new iterations of fan favourites by “killing off or humiliating the original character … Who wants a legacy if the legacy is shitty?”

As as rule, I kinda loathe revisionist writing, whatever the agenda. And especially annoying – for me anyway – is when these ‘female versions’ of established characters are introduced to much-loved storylines/canon. Typically these female ‘reboots’ – the tired tropes of comic-book misogyny need little in the way of explanation from me, nor does the dreaded Mary-Sue, much loved of fanfiction writers [The prototypical Mary Sue is an original female character in a fanfic who obviously serves as an idealized version of the author mainly for the purpose of Wish Fulfillment. She’s exotically beautiful, often having an unusual hair or eye color, and has a similarly cool and exotic name. She’s exceptionally talented in an implausibly wide variety of areas, and may possess skills that are rare or nonexistent in the canon setting. She also lacks any realistic, or at least story-relevant, character flaws — either that or her “flaws” are obviously meant to be endearing.] – out-think, out-perform, and out-class the original male character. Female comic fans often love this, see it as feminism and celebrate it for tropes such as, “Women being Awesome”. Me? I find the derivative nature of the practice intensely patronising and sexist, and when it’s a favourite male character of mine – Sherlock Holmes, Sinbad the Sailor, Odysseus, James Bond, Marvel’s Hawkeye, The Man from UNCLE (The Girl from UNCLE?!! I mean, really??!! She’s not 12 years old; how is this okay?) being upstaged, humiliated or superseded by a distaff counterpart, I seethe with anger.

Take Hawkeye. I remember reading a blog about Kate Bishop, the female version of Clint Barton in the critically acclaimed Fraction/Aja reboot, Hawkeye: My Life as a Weapon, and seething. I’ve nothing against Kate per se. Whilst still clearly drawn for the ‘male gaze’ (Grrrr), she’s generally highly regarded; seen as more than just a ‘hot girl in a sexy outfit.” For a start, she’s not Hawkgirl, or Lady Hawkeye, Hawkette, or Miss Hawkeye—she’s just Hawkeye: “She takes on the mantle without it having to be adjusted for her gender. She’s not a spinoff or a sidekick, she’s the real deal, as is borne out by her eventual leadership of the team.” – Talking Comicbooks. Hmmm… Anyway, so yeah, this blogger maintained that whilst Kate’s accrued ‘column inches’ are limited, she is not merely derivative because she appears at key junctures in the plot to nudge Clint into making the right decision; she is his moral compass, if you like, and therefore of vital importance in driving the story.

Aaargh. For me, that’s the very definition of derivative though. Kate’s ‘role’ in moving the plot seems utterly defined by Clint; his prevaricating, his helplessness, his maleness… [Many distaff counterparts are defined primarily by their relationship to the male counterpart.] And, while the positive discrimination is all well and good for Kate, for Clint, not so much. Our poor male hero is what? Too dumb? Too immature? Too morally bereft? A grown man needing timely ‘The Reason You Suck‘ speeches from a teenager in order to make the grade as a decent human being, nevermind a (super)hero? For me, while Kate Bishop gets to shine, Clint Barton is diminished, and I don’t like the trade off. He’s why I’m reading the damn comic after all – I like that he’s a flawed everyman – snarky, highly skilled (because he’s trained for decades!), sometimes prideful, brave, intelligent, often reckless, acrobatic, physically disabled – from an intensely humble beginning, yet still managing to more than hold his own along side fellow Avengers – Gods, geniuses, and enhanced/superhumans…

I realise I’m probably in the minority here but why would I enjoy reading about my hero, Hawkeye, being out-thought, out-snarked, out-driven, out-SHOT (!) by teenage, female Hawkeye? As a woman, am I supposed to cheer? I don’t like the sexism and I don’t like the double standard that this approach to writing female characters too often entails; holding women to an impossible ideal and depicting men as naturally inferior. Nope. Not good. The obvious solution is give Hawkeye her own comic but this, this, is what the comic industry seems to have such a problem with – giving well rounded, realistic female characters awesome vehicles of their own. 🙁

Art credit: ©Marvel Comics