brendaonao3:

The world is pretty much a shitshow today, so I thought I’d counter it a story:

There’s a guy – let’s call him Lee – who works at my local comics store. Super sweet, super pleasant, super super nerdy but in a cool fun way.

(Yes, he’s middle-aged. Yes, he’s white. Yes, these are both relevant.)

So, the other week, I was in to grab my weekly stash, and he and I got to talking about how excited we both were that Joelle Jones was writing and drawing the new solo Catwoman title and how great her art’s been on the current Batman run (the prelude to a wedding series), and after a few minutes, Lee looked right at me and said:

“You know, it never occurred to me what you ladies were always talking about with the difference between making a character sexy and sexualizing them until I saw Joelle’s take on Selina, and then I realized that, wow, dudes just do not know how to draw her at all, and now I only want ladies to draw Catwoman and Harley and Poison Ivy and Black Widow”

And I laughed and told him, yeah, that’s why it’s so important that we had a lady director for Wonder Woman and one for Captain Marvel and all ladies directing Jessica Jones and why only an LGBTQ writer could write Midnighter and why only black directors should ever direct Black Panther movies (or a Falcon solo movie if we ever get one) and why we need more lady writers and artists and creators and more POC writers and artists and creators and more LGBTQ writers and artists and creators.

So, if anyone ever tries to tell you that it doesn’t matter who draws or writes or directs certain characters or tells certain stories, ignore them.
Because, yes FUCK yes, representation matters, and giving guys like Lee the opportunity to see that representation in action is everything.