I'm getting into comic books now but I'm really overwhelmed by the poor representation of female artists, writers, and kick ass characters. Do you have any suggestions to steer me in that direction?

I definitely feel you on this one, but i really like to think the industry as a whole is moving in the right direction, especially in the past couple years there have been a lot of great comics that are changing the paradigm. There are so many I’m going to miss when I make this list but, here are a few of my personal favorite comics that you may be interested in to get you started.

• Saga - Hugely popular. Great female characters. Alana is the best.
• Sex Criminals - Incredibly sex positive and hilarious and endearing and I wish Suzie was around to tell me about the birds & the bees when I was a kid. 
• Pretty Deadly - Written by kellysue, drawn by steinerfrommars, colored by jordiecolorsthings - essentially the triumvirate of badass female creators. Pretty Deadly is beautiful and complex - art in every sense of the word. 
• Ms. Marvel - Written by gwillow, edited by Sana Amanat - Starring Kamala Khan, a Muslim teenage girl from New Jersey. THE breakout Marvel comic of the year. 
• Captain Marvel - Also written by kellysue - Carol Danvers is a fighter pilot, an Avenger, and who I want to be when I grow up. 
• Love & Rockets - The quintessential indie comic. It features some of the most iconic female characters ever and is epic in every way. 
• Rachel Rising - terrymooreart creates some of the most realistic and engrossing characters I’ve ever come across, and I’m absolutely in love with his art. 
• Wet Moon - I just read this for the first time recently, but it focuses around a group of girls in college and has the feel of an amazing early 2000s indie movie. 
• The Big Feminist BUT - Comics about Women, Men and the IFs, ANDs & BUTs of Feminism
• Today Is the Last Day of the Rest of Your Life - A long, dense, sensitive, and minutely observed autobiographical masterpiece recalling the summer of 1984, when Ulli Lust, a rebellious, punked-out 17-year-old, hitchhiked her way across Italy.
• Lumberjanes - A kickass comic by kickass women (gingerhaze, ohheygrace & brookeallen) about kickass girls at a super spooky summer camp. 

I could keep going for a while and it’s criminal the amazing comics I’m leaving off this list, but that’s a good start! I’m sure people out there have plenty suggestions of their own. Reblog this list with your additions!