Janelle Asselin pretty much rocks. Best Shots crew member and a co-host of Shots in the Dark, Janelle went on to be an Assistant Editor at Fangoria Comic, an Assistant then Associate Editor at DC Comics, and a Magazine Editor at Disney (for their Marvel kids' line). Troy and Matt swear that she's one of the best editors around, especially since she worked on "Short Straw". Janelle recently completed her Master's Thesis, which she'll soon be turning into a book. Her particular interest lies in the different ways that women participate in and are represented by the comic book industry.
What It Feels Like For A Girl (In Comics) by Janelle Asselin
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| Sarah Jaffe and Janelle Asselin, Chicago 2008. You're welcome. |
Every person who loves comics has a different experience. We all have different opinions on where the value is in the industry – is it in the graphic novels that do well beyond our industry’s borders or is it in the superhero books the industry is known for? My favorite characters are not your favorite characters and if we were those kinds of people we’d probably fight about it on the internet (and maybe I’ve even done that in my younger days).
Within this geeky stew we call comics are the subset of geek ladies. We are probably rarely what you would expect. Stereotypes need not apply. We are young, old, curvy, thin, girly, tomboyish…you name it, you’ll find a geek gal like that. I think that’s easy for people to forget. Just like the men in the industry are not all like the Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons, neither are women in the industry exactly what you’d expect. And while the fight rages on for equality and acceptance for my gender in comics and beyond, we are also often blessed and cursed with experiences that male geeks will never encounter.
So here are some of my favorite and least favorite moments of being a geek woman, so that those of you who may never know what it’s like to be one can maybe spend a minute walking in my shoes. In part 2, you’ll get to hear from geek women all across the industry who wanted to share THEIR geek experiences with you (anonymously, no less, so expect some scandalous revelations. That’s probably not true, but who knows what will happen when it’s anonymous?!). Take a minute and keep an open mind.
