Some questions are better left unanswered

After running errands on Saturday, I decided to visit Terry at his comic book shop. A little while later, a young mother came in with two small boys (both probably under five). They were very polite, but very curious and had lots of questions about the characters, so I decided to help.

"Excuse me!" one would say to me and then lead me to a comic. "Who is that?"

"That's Hobgoblin."

"What does he do?"

I don't really know much about Marvel characters, so my answer was vague. "Um, he's a bad guy. He doesn't like Spiderman, so flies around and throws things at him."

"What does he fly on?" he asked.

Terry helped me out with "a glider." And then the other brother had a question.

"Excuse me! Who's that?"

An easy question. "That's Supergirl. She's Superman's cousin. She has powers like Superman's."

"Excuse me! What's that?"

I turned and saw the other boy was pointing at a comic called North 40. For those of you know don't know, it's a book about librarians accidentally raising Cthulhu in a small, southern town. The cover has a deputy cowering while tentacles from offscreen slither towards him.

"Um, that's a sheriff." I deflected.

"What's a sheriff?" he asked.

"He's like a policeman."

He pointed to a tentacle. "What's that?"

"Um, that's Cthulhu," I said brightly.

"What does he do?"

I smiled brightly. "He's an elder evil god."

Before the boy could ask anything else, Terry mercifully interrupted. "He's a giant frog that lives in the ocean."

"Maybe we should look at the comics over here," his mother suggested, leading him to the kid-friendly section.

How to Get Chicks into Comics

Every couple of months, someone, usually male, writes about how to get females to read comics. I find this entertaining. Usually, the article is little more than a list of “female-friendly” titles and writers. I play a little game before I read the article to see if I can guess which comics the writer will suggest. I can usually guess them all, unless the writer has really put some thought into it or likes manga (not my thing). The comics he suggests are usually good ones, some of them even are my favorites, but that’s not the point. Usually, the writer’s passion is genuine and the advice is well-intentioned, but it misses the mark. This happens so frequently that I am compelled to write about this topic from a rabid fangirl perspective. Luckily, getting a female to read comics is a two step process.

First, ask yourself one simple question:

Step One: Why?

That's right, why do you want to get females to read comics? Is it to get your girlfriend/wife/mom off your back to get rid of your 20 long boxes of comics? Is it so that your girlfriend/wife won’t roll her eyes when you want to go into a comic book store or go to a movie based on a comic book? Is it because you want to see more women at the comic book store because that’s the only place you feel comfortable but you still want to get laid? Is it because you don’t want women to go slack-jawed and dead-eyed when you go on your 30 minute tirade about how Hal Jordan is a better Green Lantern than John Stewart?

Have I offended you yet? If so, please keep that feeling in mind. It’s how we feel when someone says “all women like this or do that.” Don’t fall for that trap. If your motivation for doing this is because you want to introduce a special someone to excellent writing, gorgeous artwork and a fun medium that combines the best aspects of reading and movies, please move on to step two.

Step Two: Ask her what she likes.

No, really, ask her what she likes to do, what movies she likes to see, what she likes to read. Take a good look around her (or your) place. What books or magazines do you see lying around? What artwork is on her walls? What is/was her major or her hobbies? Chances are good that there might be a comic title or graphic novel that is related to something she is already interested in.

I lied; there is a third step.

Step Three: Better yet, bring her into a comic shop, let her look around and offer to buy something for her.

If you really want her to understand your hobby, act like a drug pusher and make the first one free.

Don’t point anything out unless she asks. Don’t explain anything to her unless she asks. If she is going to be interested, she will naturally gravitate to the things that are attractive to her, the same way you did when you first got into comics. Let her choose and don’t make fun of her choices or reasons for liking something.

Be prepared that she might never like comics. Even if she decides she does, she might not like the same comics as you or enjoy talking about them. The best that can come out of this is that she will understand your passion for comics. If she becomes a fan herself, that’s all gravy.