So I was watching this #PushComicsForward hashtag erupt over twitter (pretty cool to watch some of the ideas, many common and quite a few original) - I had this sudden idea. I tweeted it. Got a lot of favorites & positive responses, thought I'd bring it to

Well, it’s by choice, in my case, actually.

I have been offered a-list, male lead books lots. I was offered both Flash and Green Lantern.  But my feeling was that those books were doing fine, whereas other books might be struggling and could use some extra attention. 

I have never chosen assignments just for the paycheck or for where they are on the sales charts. I am fortunate enough to be able to choose based on what sounds challenging and fun, but also might help grow the diversity of characters in comics. So I would take the All-New Atom and Red Sonja over most of the a-list books, my friends are always baffled about it. But I only have one asset in this game, which is my name, and I choose to use it to try to move the needle a little. 

I get offered stuff all the time. And I have done major male lead books, like ACTION and JLA and DEADPOOL (which were all very successful), it’s just that either I put my money where my mouth is, or I don’t. It’s kind of that simple.

The thing I am most grateful about is that I am known enough, and have enough of a readership, that I have the luxury of being able to choose books that mean something to me, that I hope will mean something to others. 

If I was offered a major book like that again, with a male lead, I might take it at this point, if I could bring some of that to the title. I do like to mix things up. But it’s not really how I choose assignments. I am pretty proud of the choices I have made, looking back, there are only a couple assignments where I feel I made a poor choice. Mostly, I am very proud of my record on this stuff; BIrds of Prey, Red Sonja, All-New Atom, Tomb Raider, Batgirl, Wonder Woman, etc. etc.  Almost all books with leads that were underrepresented…I feel like if we all did that even just a little more often, it would transform the entire industry AND better reflect the readership. 

That’s my thinking, anyway. :)