gailsimone:

This ‘flood’ thing is a myth. There’s no ‘flood’ of diverse characters. The vast majority of titles are still led by white, cis, straight characters who aren’t PWD.

I mean, if we’re identifying a problem, let’s at least be honest what the actual situation is.

Here’s the truth. I don’t agree with anyone who says, “MAKE NEW CHARACTERS” or “PROMOTE/ALTER OLDER, MORE ESTABLISHED CHARACTERS” as the only answer to comics’ diversity problem. It’s ridiculous, it’s a non-starter as a debate topic because there’s no reason to only go one path.

Most of us who care about this stuff do both. I am always trying to promote great diverse great characters created by others, there’s no reason to stop creating new ones. Character creation is not a finite resource. We don’t know which ones will pop. Do both. 

And people who get mad about it, they are often missing the point. If a book has all new characters and every single one is, say, lgbtq, that will make a lot less news (which is something retailers and publishers care about) than saying, GREEN LANTERN IS GAY or CAP IS BLACK.  Retailers and publishers rely on buzz and news sites and mainstream coverage. Joe Writer creating a new character called HERO XKRZ who is gay is not going to make that happen. 

You need both.

There’s no ‘flood,’ it’s (I’m sorry) a ridiculous thing to worry about, it’s like carrying an umbrella in case it starts to rain toasters. I wish there WAS a flood, we could use the sea change, but that is nothing like the trickle that’s happening now.