With DC Comics' Gotham Academy Are They Finally Targeting Young Women?
You know what the fastest growing demographic of comic reader is? Women aged 17 to 33. No, I did not make that up. No, that is not a skewed number. Facts, baby, all the way.
With that fact looming it’s not surprising to see a demographic that has been basically ignored by Marvel and DC Comics suddenly getting love. And by that I mean teenage girls.
It makes sense. The earlier you can hook a reader, the more likely they’ll be a comic reader for life. DC and Marvel have done that with dudes for years. But younger women? Eh, not so much.
Oh, they had books with younger characters - Batgirl and Spider-Girl come to mind, but those were a rarity. And DC Comics has certainly talked about going after that audience. I can still remember during the launch of the new 52 the Supergirl team saying they wanted the female audience reading “The Hunger Games”. If anyone has seen what is going on with Supergirl these days you’ll know that goal failed.
Marvel has dived full-in with targeting the younger female audience with Ms. Marvel. That book featuring a teen age girl is accessible to all ages and is one of the best comics of the year.
But yesterday, on a day when DC also announced a eye raising new team for Wonder Woman they also announced a book that has its eye on the female audience - Gotham Academy.
And you know what? I think they’ve got it right.
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