I remember a few months back there was a similar poll where women said video games were a turnoff. Just makes me laugh considering for over a decade they have been really pushing the idea that there are waves and waves of women who want to buy super hero comics or waves of women just dying to play video games that generally appeal to men.
I know with comic books there was a poll during the height of the MCU that showed that 50 percent of women liked the movies. Which anyone could see that the people going to the movies weren't reading the comics. Of course Gail Simone and her fridging nonsense caused comic book head to bend the knee to this nonsense instead of seeing who actually buys comics. As for gaming, I remember it being 2018 when I finally cancelled my Game Informer subscription when every issue was either something about women in gaming or some ridiculous lecture about toxicity or lack of diversity in gaming.
Don't forget the sob stories of women who cried about going into a comic book store and having to "be quizzed" by nerds (i.e. an unattractive man asked her what comics she liked). All this is why with rare exception I just watch stuff that was made 2014 and prior. Just with the 80s and 90s there is so much I didn't see growing up and I am catching up on (like I am currently watching the Sleepaway Camp movies on Tubi).
Sorry for the long message, but I found that poll to be pretty funny.
It's almost like those studies that showed that were all biased or based off of bad data like Facebook polls, and women who like comics and video games are still tomboy nerds who are different from normal women. And yet, all these companies threw away millions of dollars to attempt to pull it off and appeal to them.
I suppose the one good thing is I think we are legitimately turning the corner back to sanity on the topic. Between Trump winning the popular vote (showing his ideas are in fact mainstream now), and the mounting failures of brands that went all in on Woke (even if they never went totally broke, they did see massive declines), we are seeing many brands going back toward pro-USA and typical "normie" advertising. Like how now that the left failed at trying to cancel American Eagle with the Sweeney ad, apparently now they are up in arms over a patriotic Dodge Ram ad. And Dodge also doesnt care. There is a part of me that thinks the 250th American anniversary will be a true turning point, and we may even hit 1980's levels of "AMERICA! RAAHH!" after it.
Honestly they should’ve just come up with comics that appeal to girls/women like they did with romance soap opera comics years ago. Make some fantasy/supernatural story mixed with romance. Manga understands the audience and literally has something for everyone
It has been one of the eternal problems for comics though: For some reason, even during their golden age, they just couldnt get away from doing anything but superheroes. And then it got worse (IMO) when they decided they were going to do only superheroes that have fantastical powers fighting godlike entities and move away from superheroes with no powers fighting street level violence (my personal favorite hero of all time still falling in this category: The Rocketeer).
I also think another thing that holds comics back compared to manga (and is an issue regardless of gender) is that most manga has a definitive start and end point. Comics have dozens of first issues, reboots, alternative timelines, and other things that make it next to impossible to actually get in and start reading, while Manga has (as an example) One Piece #1 and then follows that chronological order.
Great points all around. Super hero comics were just one of many genres. There were war comics, western, sci-fi, horror, etc. To this day when I find old reprints of tales from the crypt or weird tales I buy them up. I love sci-fi and horror comic anthologies. They just don’t make them anymore.
I’ve only recently gotten into Manga and being able to get a volume one omnibus is very convenient
The problems you list are why I all but shun Marvel and DC. Every other publisher has managed to put out comics that I can enjoy because they're not shackled to the endless reboot cycle or the super hero genre.
Honestly the super hero genre is the problem with the American comic industry.
Twilight got remade as a shoujo manga. No way any guys were buying that one.
Isn't that just monster rape hentai?
Can you imagine how terrible the 250th anniversary would have been under President Harris?