DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Launch "DC Super Hero Girls" Initiative

[GlennSimpson]

This is totally different from Bic's "pens for her" thing, because in this case it really is a different demographic with different tastes and needs. I like Velvet, my daughter likes My Little Pony. Girls aged 6-12 have different tastes and respond to different marketing approaches than males aged 20-50. This gets DC into the very desirable pink shelves in Target, Walmart, and other major stores, and as a parent of a child in the target demographic I totally approve of this. It's not stupid at all.

Just to amend for clarity "The bulk of girls aged 6-12 have different tastes and respond to different marketing approaches than males aged 20-50. And marketing has to appeal to the biggest group it can target, not to every individual situation."

[JBatmanFan05]

DC and Marvel are tripping over each other to see who can get the most media praise.

They all want praise from the hipster community.

[GrandKaiser]

This is totally different from Bic's "pens for her" thing, because in this case it really is a different demographic with different tastes and needs. I like Velvet, my daughter likes My Little Pony. Girls aged 6-12 have different tastes and respond to different marketing approaches than males aged 20-50. This gets DC into the very desirable pink shelves in Target, Walmart, and other major stores, and as a parent of a child in the target demographic I totally approve of this. It's not stupid at all.

To you maybe, but I think it's just pushing "girly stuff" onto girls as the media often does. While girls may like things that boys don't and vice versa that comes down to human nature and has nothing to do with gender. So what they're doing is labeling something to appeal to a specific gender when girls should be able to like anything they want and not have to be forced to only read their "for girls" comics.

[Ceebiro]

But why can't Harley and Ivy be villains?

[scary harpy]

I am thrilled at this development and will try to support it. I hope this is a success like MLP.

[Icefan]

Wish they had a little more diversity (with regards to powers, not ethnicity) among the cast.

I mean we have 2 glorified acrobats, 1 person who wears a powersuit, 1 who manipulates plants through science, and two god tier characters. I'd gladly trade Barbara and Harley for Fire and Ice.

Yeah, It'd be great to see Tora and Bea as a part of this. Hoping this ends up being something like a mash-up of Batman: The Brave & The Bold and The Power Puff Girls. Something parents will enjoy watching with their little girls.

[John Aston]

But why can't Harley and Ivy be villains?

Frenemies?

My youngest step-daughter loves Batgirl. I don't know why. It's not like there's any real amount of merchandise or a bombardment of media for the character to get on her radar. I should qualify her fondness of the character by dressing up as Batgirl at non-costume events. Seeing the Batgirl episodes from the Batman '66 set was magic for her (she's 8).

My oldest step-daughter, 10, likes Wonder Woman, which is extremely easy to find clothing, towels, bedding, etc. but mainly at adult-targeted stores like Spencer's.

DC has an extremely wealthy library of female characters, which can and should be aimed for females. Boys and girls are different. Just like men and women. They may like the same IPs, but they do have preferences, though not absolute, on how stories are delivered. This DC initiative should have these projects hold their own yet be accessible to males, too.

A young female targeted line isn't a clichéd throw against the wall hoping it'll stick.

Women are liking this Super-Hero stuff in the theaters and TV (Guardians of the Galaxy's audience was nearly split male-female, according to Forbes, Daily Beast, and many other sites reporting on the film). Doesn't matter if the film is a Marvel, DC or other. If a comic-based Super-Hero film is generating as many female eyeballs as male, why not start farming a younger female audience to influence future sales?

In the end, it would be nice not to struggle to find something Batgirl.

[nightrider]

Wish they had a little more diversity (with regards to powers, not ethnicity) among the cast.

I mean we have 2 glorified acrobats, 1 person who wears a powersuit, 1 who manipulates plants through science, and two god tier characters. I'd gladly trade Barbara and Harley for Fire and Ice.



Take out Supergirl (since she's kind of redundant with WW on the team) and replace her with Solstice.

I think thats abit ridiculous. Take out super since shes redundant with WW on the team?
Why don't we take WW out of justice league since shes redundant with Superman on the team.
I think you should know that Supergirl, WW, batgirl and harley are the 4 most popular and iconic female characters in DC. They also sell the most merchandise (they even have a supergirl flagship store in aussie) so its pretty much a no brainer to add them in. I think we don't need to worry about diversity since they're not limited to those on the posters. There would be more female characters merchandise being sold including minorities.

[MajorHoy]

Comics for girls is like Bic's "pens for her" thing. It's basically like you're segregating two different demographics, letting the men have their comics while creating comics specifically for girls. That's stupid. I know tons of girls who are avid comic readers and don't need a specific line to contribute to their love of comics. I even know little girls who love the kids comics DC has already been releasing. So this is just stupid and it's obviously being done for good PR.

But for those girls who DON'T already love / already read DC comic books, what should DC do? You create a gateway to attract the attention of those who haven't already taken a plunge and hope it will lead to some converts in the regular lines.

Plus, anything that DC does to possibly create more young readers isn't necessarily a bad thing, is it?

[Kenozoic]

Fantastic. I have 5 nieces, who love comics to various degrees, and LEGO too.

I agree that Hawkgirl, Vixen, Fire & Ice should be included. And I am thrilled that Bumblebee already is included - another Teen Titan getting more exposure!

[Vakanai]

I know what I'm buying my nieces for Xmas.
This is a pretty great idea. Though I would've liked to have seen Vixen and the Hispanic Aquagirl included. Hopefully they'll be added in the future.

Hawkgirl and Amethyst would be cool as well.

I loved those Amethyst shorts, I'd still watch a series like that.

So we give less exposure to Vixen for Bumblebee who is the only girl in the group that has not been seen in the new 52. Unless she is being used because she was on Young Justice, a show that attracted girls. Of course that doesn't explain not using Ms Martian & Wonder Girl-who were on that show.

Bumblebee was also on Teen Titans occasionally (Titans East) as well as Young Justice, and just because she hasn't been seen in the new-52 doesn't really matter since this isn't a part of the new-52. And while I'd personally love to see Miss Martian (and Raven and Starfire, plus some characters who haven't been animated before), I can understand them not wanting to start too big. Yeah, we can all bemoan the characters not being used we'd like to see, but honestly if this is a success chances are a good number of them will be added to the line-up later. To use the DCAU as an example, you needed to set up the smaller 7 member JL before going full out with the JLU. A handful of characters to get the brand going, and then more once you've gained momentum.

[Doctor Know]

I think thats abit ridiculous. Take out super since shes redundant with WW on the team?
Why don't we take WW out of justice league since shes redundant with Superman on the team.

Because Clark is a man and Diana is a woman. They both bring something different to the team. For this show Diana and Kara will be the same age and sex. Why do we need two people with the same physical capabilities?
Plus WW >>> Kara

I think you should know that Supergirl, WW, batgirl and harley are the 4 most popular and iconic female characters in DC. They also sell the most merchandise (they even have a supergirl flagship store in aussie) so its pretty much a no brainer to add them in.

Yes I am aware, but at the same time the team is stacked with 3 people from Batman's line (one of which is a derivative of him), Supergirl (who is a derivative of Superman), Bumblebee (who wears a suit to get her powers), WW (who I have no problem with) and Katana (who only has her swordsmanship). The team could be more "super" and "diverse" is what I'm saying. Again, not talking about ethnicity but in variety of titles and powers.

Why not throw Starfire in place onf Supergirl on the team? Or sub out Harley and Ivy for Zatanna and Mera?

I think we don't need to worry about diversity since they're not limited to those on the posters. There would be more female characters merchandise being sold including minorities.

I was not talking about "racial" diversity. I was talking about diversity when it came to powers. They've compiled a superhero team with only two people who actually have powers.

Batgirl is a glorified acrobat.
Harley Quinn, glorified acrobat with a mallet
Bumblebee's powers come from the suit she wears
Ivy manipulates plants with science.
Katana is an expert swordsman.

Again, my suggestions would help diversify the team from being a bunch of people who don't have powers standing next to two god tier characters who do.

Zatanna, Mera, Starfire, Fire, Ice, Raven, Terra, Vixen, Shayera, Halo, Solstice, Jesse Quick etc, would all make better additions to the team. You wouldn't comprise a team of 7 and have 3 of them be Mr. Fantastic, Plastic Man, and Elongated Man would you? Mix it up. It's not like DC or Marvel has a shortage of superpowered women.

[Vakanai]

Hopefully it'll stay longer and not get axed like Green Lantern or Beware the Batman.

It has a decent chance, since it won't be a cartoon series on CN. Toy line still needs to sell, but without CN there to give it the axe, it'll have a chance.

[MatchesMalone]

Just because something is marketed to girls (which means that it's made more attractive for them), it doesn't preclude boys from not finding it cool too. And to anyone saying that they are segregating this universe to their mainstream one because the latter is unfriendly towards girls, where is your support and enthusiasm towards Bizarro and Bat-mite (which are all-ages titles) and Prez?

I for one am really happy with this initiative!

Marketing has a huge effect. Look at how Legos started. They marketed it to the whole family and then in the 80s to 90s shifted to just marketing to boys. The company got so backwards that they opted to do a "girl oriented" Lego set with pink and purple colors. The sets were of salons and cafes and didn't have any of the really cool stuff like Pirate or space adventures.

It's true that anyone could play with the toys. But realistically, how we talk about something and what the kids hear influence their worldview.

[Imacomicfan]

dc fans never happy even if it's good news.

They are starting a brand and you want to use your big guns (Wonder woman, supergirl, batgirl and harley quinn). Testing the waters and you dont want to use your lesser known characters cuz you want this brand to succeed of the bat and compete with the disney princess line. Geoff John did said this is the tip of the ice burg and more characters are coming and those big guns characters are very well known to the general public. Little girls knows them and buys their cute little outfits and swags at target/walmart.

Like Geoff said more characters are coming so man chill. I can see this like the little pony brand they have so many characters.


ex:
like JL/JLU: They started with the 7 characters by the time of JLU they bought everybody in that universe.

Young justice: season 2 they expanded the rosters with more characters. So I can see DC doing similar expanding after phase 1 of the brand