‘Diversity’ in DC Comic Books- A statistical breakdown of the lead protagonists in DC Comic books released on 17/6/2015

I hear a lot about ‘diversity’ in comic books these days, so I decided to take one week in comic books, one publisher (DC) and to look at the comic books to see how ‘diverse’ they actually are. The following books are either single person protagonist books, or two person protagonist books. I have not included the ‘team’ books that were released in the same week by DC (Four titles) as all four titles had multiple protagonists, both male and female. All of the titles that are listed below are single-issue comics, and were released by DC comics on Wednesday 17th June 2015. The list is simple. Name of comic, then the age, gender and race of the main protagonist(s).




Astro City #24 - Non Human (ape)

Black Canary #1- Late teens/early twenties female (white)

Doomed #1 –Late teens/early twenties male (non-white)

Dr. Fate #1 – Late teens/early twenties male (non-white)

Harley Quinn & Power Girl #1- Late teens/early twenties females (white)

Martian Manhunter #1 – Alien.

Prez #1 – Late teens/early twenties female (white)

Robin Son Of Batman #1 – Early teens (male)

Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman #11- Early twenties (female)

Sinestro #12 – Alien

Superman Wonder Woman #18 – Early twenties male and female (white)

Wonder Woman (2011) #41 – Early twenties female (white)


Conclusions

- None of the comic books have protagonists over the age of 30 years old (excluding aliens).
- White male protagonists appear in two out of twelve books. Superman (an alien) and Robin (a prepubescent boy).
- Young female protagonists appear in six out of twelve books.
- Non white (human) protagonists appear in two out of twelve books.
- Non human protagonists appear in three out of twelve books, four if you include Superman.
- Young females dominate the list of protagonists in DC comics during the week of 17/6/15.
- White males and non-white protagonists are minorities, represented in only two out of twelve books.
- Aliens (or non-humans) are protagonists in more books (four) than white males or non-white protagonists.
- None of the human characters are over the age of thirty.
- DC Comic books protagonists (on 17/6/15) are all young, and the majority are female.


Is that ‘diversity’ in comic books? Here’s the dictionary definition of the word:

diversity (daɪˈvɜːsɪtɪ  Pronunciation for diversity ) 

Definitions
noun

the state or quality of being different or varied
a point of difference
(logic) the relation that holds between two entities when and only when they are not identical; the property of being numerically distinct


DC comic books don’t appear (at least based on this sample week) to be very different or varied at all.

This is not my opinion. It is factual information based on looking at their actual comic book protagonists. If you are a young girl, or an alien, that’s great, but what about the rest of us? For everybody else living on planet Earth (and for ANYBODY) over the age of twenty-eight, you’re not going to see yourself being represented within the pages of a DC comic book, at least this week.

If (like me) you are a white male in his forties, then forget it. You’ll see alien shapeshifters, young female rock-stars, talking Gorillas, and girl presidents (Prez #1) but a male in his forties? A male in the demographic of the actual people buying the comic books? Don’t be daft. Who would want to read a comic book about a guy who actually looks like the people who are buying comic books? Don’t be silly. Now, here’s my latest idea for a new teen female punk rock rebellious heroine. It’s super cool dude, those old comic book geeks will love it, and it’s super PC and ‘diverse.’





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