http://kalinara.blogspot.com/2006/03/not-all-female-comic-readers-like.html

Found this while browsing blogs. Thoughts? Agreements? Disagreements?

"And I don't see the point of endless musing on death and eternity. Death's death. It's an inevitability. So why dwell on it?" - ways to get to this point?

well...i'm female...and i've never been goth...and i loved Sandman from the moment i first laid eyes on it. i always loved comic books when i was younger...Marvel comics in particular. The Silver Surfer was my favorite hero.
and i even wrote a term paper on the Dark Knight graphic novel (and i know Batman is not a Marvel hero...but the darker, intense Dark Knight was more compelling) for an American Civilization course in college...i still have it lying around somewhere.

Same here, female, not a goth, I like the Sandman. As far as I'm concerned not everyone has to like it though. I'm happy to be part of a small exclusive club that get it, but the club is not that small in fact.

Maybe the stereotype comes from the fact that it was one of the first comics designed especially for adults and people assume that girls are less into video games/ superheroes / Star Trek and that sort of geeky stuff. So if they like any comics at all it has to be the Sandman. I don't think this reflects the reality anymore even if it did once.

Well, I like Sandman, I'm female, and I am a Goth from time to time. But I became interested in the Gothic separately from comics.

I'm with waspfearer. Female, goth, like Sandman. But I like Goth stuff because of the music and the style, not Sandman. And likewise, I didn't read Sandman because it looked Goth.

Not everyone has to like it. Everyone has their own tastes. Also, I know plenty of guys who like Sandman too.

I didn't even realise that Sandman was a 'goth thing' until I read the copanion, years after starting reading it.

The thing that bugged me about the blog entry was that she somehow stereotyped the comic herself -she was complaining about people stereotyping her as a 'typical' female comic fan, but she seemed to only say 'No, I'm not your typical female comic fan' instead of 'There's no 'typical' female comic fan, just as there's not ypical male comic fan', which is what would make sense to me. Like she enjoyed the stereotype being there so she could say 'I'm different'.

But maybe that's just me. I also find the comment baout Death being an 'empowering' character because she eventually takes everyone a bit silly...

And, btw, I like the Sandman, and I'm not a goth. I like it just because it's good storytelling, it's got myth and folklore references I recognise and I like the art. I also like Hellblazer, Swamp Thing, Alan Moore comics and most horror stuff. I tend to not like superhero comics only becuase there's a certian soap-quality to them that intimidates me. Although I've always enjoyed Batman...

Good point Clover. The lady stereotypes, despite her complaining about stereotyping. I do like Sandman, as the "typical girl comic reader" apperently does. But, I also love Iron Man, and Alan Moore comics... along with various others. super hero comics probably would not be "typical girl comics". The girl just seemed to want to stand out and be different...

And yes, I too found the Death comment a little... much. Saying she's the most powerful because she takes everyone is silly. She's just a girl like any other Who happens to be the grim reaper, that's her job. It's not a super power, or anything, she just makes sure souls get to where they where they're supposed to go. Saying she's the most "powerful" character in the DC universe and some sort of female empowerment character... well... it's funny really.

i like gaiman's works and i'm very inspired of them. and i dont like labels like "goth", "punk, "clubber" or such. i wear whatever i want to wear and also i read whatever i want to read at a particular time. actually i'm 90% sure what i read or what i listen is totaly different from the girls that she knows. none of my friends who like sandman is "goth". to be honest, nearly none of the girls i know read comics. so, it doesn't seem logical to me to think that all the girls who read sandman like the same things.

quote:

Originally posted by All your eggnog are belong to us:
Good point Clover. The lady stereotypes, despite her complaining about stereotyping. I do like Sandman, as the "typical girl comic reader" apperently does. But, I also love Iron Man, and Alan Moore comics... along with various others. super hero comics probably would not be "typical girl comics". The girl just seemed to want to stand out and be different...

And yes, I too found the Death comment a little... much. Saying she's the most powerful because she takes everyone is silly. She's just a girl like any other Who happens to be the grim reaper, that's her job. It's not a super power, or anything, she just makes sure souls get to where they where they're supposed to go. Saying she's the most "powerful" character in the DC universe and some sort of female empowerment character... well... it's funny really.

Considering that she's Death in a comic book universe, you could argue she's one of the least powerful characters, since nobody really stays dead for very long....
:-P

quote:

Originally posted by The Lord of YARRR!:
Considering that she's Death in a comic book universe, you could argue she's one of the least powerful characters, since nobody really stays dead for very long....
:-P

Haha! Very true

From her blog...

"But anyway, I just don't get Sandman. I don't get a lot of stuff, I'm not worried about it."

Enough said.

Well, I am a female, and I am not a goth, and I love Sandman.

In fact, I am a female student at a Christian university. Probably your least likely Sandman-lover suspect.

i just read and love Sandman. does it really matter of being female/ male, goth / rainbow ???

quote:

Originally posted by saint_nobody:
Well, I am a female, and I am not a goth, and I love Sandman.

In fact, I am a female student at a Christian university. Probably your least likely Sandman-lover suspect.

If that university is anything like Notre Dame (my closest example), you could just as well be an atheist yourself. Well, I assume you are a Christian yourself if you brought it up. You'll find others around here.

And welcome to the boards

I've never read Sandman...I find it really hard to concentrate on that form of writing and I much prefer prose...even poetry is hard for me, despite the fact that I love some poets and that I used to write poems that were actually considered quite good (I only say that because whatever writing ability I once had has long since dried up ).

At any rate, though, I am waiting for my Sandman to come, now--I thought I would try it. I assume I will struggle through it and be a fan...if Neil's writing is true to form.

And I am not goth--I am more an eccentric/ beachy/ granola type and am a schoolteacher so yay for defying stereotypes unless I hate it and then, I guess, yay stereotypes? Ew, I don't like that idea at all.

Sandman's the first comic book i was able to read all the way through. I'm female, and not remotely goth. I liked it, but i didn't love it. But even me liking it is pretty good, considering i don't generally like stuff like that. And i thought it got better as it went along. I've only read the first book collection thingamajig, but i'll definitely read the others

I like Sandman so far, but I've only read the first four volumes. I'm no goth, if anything I'm a gamer and a nerd. (I feel strangely elated to admit those things.)

again, female not goth, though i think some of the goth stuff is pretty.

i like the sandman because i love the universe he creates (yes, i know that a bunch of it is the DC-verse, but Neil makes plenty of new worlds to play with).

i like it because of the phenomenal characterizations- i love Rose Walker, I love Wanda, I love Thessaly. I love Death and Delirium and i love to watch Desire. I adore Barnabas. Lucien is fabulous, as is Matthew. (again, i know that Matthew came from elsewhere. still, he's a cool raven, which he wasn't before.)

i enjoy the mythological elements. he plays with so much stuff, it's a lot of fun when you get the jokes (the annotations that are online someplace are amazing).

i think that the blogger is really oversimplifying. she's so focused on the Death and sadness aspect of it, that she misses the fact that it's an incredibly complex story. if she doesn't like it, that's fine. everyone has a right to their opinion. but please don't narrow a ten-year opus down to "girls like it because they are goth."

I was introduced to it by a male...that is gothic...hahahaha..But I love stories...and I force everyone I know to read Sandman...which causes me to keep buying the same paperbacks over and over...thus helping my local comic book store stay in the money and helping Neil eat more cookies.

by the way I tried to make my cats read Sandman but they just purred and laid on them....

Did anyone else notice that she assumed that she was being asked because she was female, and not because The Sandman is a fairly well known comic? Most of my friends don't like comics that much, just as a medium, but they've at least heard of it. So it's usually the first thing that comes to their head when they're trying to make small talk.
It's like if someone told you that they really liked fantasy/magic books and you ask them if they've read the Harry Potter books.