Again I can’t deny that the people who dig it do so honestly, but for more than a decade I’ve read or overheard dudes on forums or IRL offer it up as some kind of “comics for girls” thing and the notion just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. And while I’m more than aware that mainstream spandex and boob-window books are more likely to be a turn-off there are so many books that dovetail into the big picture of non-spandex comics; books like Painkiller Jane, Preacher, Transmetropolitan, Y-The Last Man, Hothead Paisan, etc. There are even a few spandex-centric books that treat the reader as an adult, usually (hey, even Buffy had some stinkers!), such as The Authority or Planetary. Hell, I think Death’s solo book works better

It’s like trying to get someone into anime by showing them Miyazaki and expecting them to get into the whole larger scene. It’s unlikely because he’s unlike pretty much everyone he gets lumped in with and while their life might be enriched because of Howl’s or Spirited Away grabbing the next DVD in that section is apt to produce confusion and disappointment.

Secret Acres: http://secretacres.com/
Drawn & Quarterly: http://www.drawnandquarterly.com/
Fantagraphics: http://www.fantagraphics.com/
Sparkplug: http://sparkplugcomicbooks.com/
Spit and a Half: http://spitandahalf.blogspot.com/

And there are plenty more out there!

In high school, college, grad school and then “adulthood” in the 90s I had that negative stereotypical image of comic book readers being geeks/boys/etc. I actually identified as a geek but comic books/graphic novels were not part of “my” geekery.

A few years back a friend who worked at the bookstore where I sling music and movies recommended Y: The Last Man. I read the first one and was hooked. Not that I’ve become an avid comic reader, but it certainly changed my perspective!

There’s now a great book called Womanthology which is an anthology of women comic artists…Hunt for it you won’t be disappointed!

If you like comics, you buy and read them, irregardless of gender. That’s It. Show the haters who is the boss. You don’t need a special day for it (in my personal opinion). Heck, just organize a reading circle with males and females and talk about comics openly.

Seriously, what’s so hard about it?

I’m glad more women are reading comics. I’ll be a lot gladder when women and men alike are reading GOOD comics.

Haven’t heard it called Women Read Comics In Public Day before, but it doesn’t seem like a necessary addition.

Well, why have a Read Comics in Public Day in the first place?  Because some people are shy about reading comics in public.  It stands to reason that a disproportionate number of them are women.

I’ve never been shy about reading comics in public, but if this helps people who are, more power to ‘em — men, women, as broad or as narrow as you like it.

I bought the first couple issues of Y: The Last Man for my dad (I’d read them as borrowed copies from a friend) and he now owns the whole set. I’ve also purchased Superman: Red Son for him. 

Fables – Bill Willingham, on-going series about characters from fairy tales in the modern world.  It hearkens back to their dark and gruesome origins, before Disney sanitized them all.

Planetary – Warren Ellis, a great meta-series that examines the damage that the publication of Fantastic Four #1 did to the history of pictorial fiction. No costumes, but still loads of glorious fight-scenes. It also had the greatest Batman story ever told.

Why I Hate Saturn / The Cowboy Wally Show – Kyle Baker, two graphic novels of uncontained hilarity.  The quotes you will steal from both books will make you the cleverest person at any social gathering.

Cerebus / Cerebus High Society – Dave Sim, what started as a parody cross between Conan and Howard The Duck turned into something amazing. While Dave’s later issues became joyless, the first 50 issues of his series are a genuine masterpiece of writing and artwork.

Doom Patrol – Grant Morrison, a bizarre reinterpretation of the schlocky 60s DC superhero group. Grant’s greatest work, imho. He morphed their main bad-guys into a gang of art-terrorists (“The Brotherhood Of Dada”) and turned comic-ad pitchman Charles Atlas into a superhero. Plus, who can argue with the awesomeness of the love shared by a Marxist talking gorilla, and an evil brain in a jar?

I, like a lot of my peers (of both genders), grew up with a lot of different kid’s comics. I started reading comic albums like Tintin and Asterix around… um… 10? In my teens I read a lot of comics aimed at boys; some of the usual superhero comics but also a lot of war comics (WWII etc). More or less anything I could get my hands on in the local used books store. Although the “traditional” girls were reading less comics at that point, I think a lot still did up until their middle to late teens. This is unfortunately where a lot of kids stop reading comics, I think mainly because they don’t know about the more “mature” comics… but… I have never felt that I would have needed to hide that I read comics. (One of our rooms is a comics room, actually. :) )

I usually read digital comics, but today I grabbed a couple trade paperbacks to read in the park over lunch.

I mean less to paint comic book readers specifically with my unfairly broad brush, more to appeal to a general fear of the neckbeard/alpha nerd. 

But it’s a go-nowhere discussion with an unfair premise I admit, so I will sheepishly bow out and we can pretend like it didn’t happen :)

I have, in my life, been approached in creepy ways by dudes I’d rather not be approached by. Reading comic books in public isn’t the defining factor of those encounters … nor should it be a reason for women to NOT read comic books in public. 

Girls got more to worry about from bro-dudes than they do from nerds. If comics keep away the bro-dudes it’s a net win.