11-Year-Old Girl Asks DC Comics Why There Aren’t More Female Superheroes

My brother and I had a ton of animated idols growing up, but Wonder Woman and Lisa Simpson always held a special place in my heart because they were like me. As great as I thought the Ninja Turtles, Superman, and Batman were, none of them were female.  It always bothered me, and that's why this letter from an 11-year-old named Rowan that's circulating hits so close to home. In it, she completely calls out DC Comics for the gender imbalance in its superhero roster. "I love superheroes and have been reading comics and watching superhero cartoons and movies since I was very young. I’m a girl, and I’m upset because there aren’t very many girl superheroes or movies and comics from DC," Rowan wrote in the letter, which was reprinted on the blog How Did We Get Into This Mess.  She first noticed the problem when she received some Justice League Chibis for her birthday. "I noticed in the little pamphlet that there are only 2 girl Chibis, and 10 boys. Also, the background for the girl figures was all pink and purple," Rowan pointed out.  The Chibi thing got her thinking. "There are Superman and Batman movies, but not a Wonder Woman one. You have a Flash TV show, but not a Wonder Woman one. Marvel Comics made a movie about a talking tree and raccoon awesome, but you haven’t made a movie with Wonder Woman," Rowan said in perhaps the most unintentionally hilarious burn ever. It's true: Marvel managed to make a movie with a character that only spoke three words and a sassy woodland creature, but DC can't seem to get it together to bring us a story about Wonder Woman. Its most recent effort, a 2011 failed TV pilot from David E. Kelley starring Adrianne Palicki, was deemed "embarrassing" by one critic. David Perry, who printed Rowan's letter, notes that a new Wonder Woman adaptation "is coming," but "Rowan will be 13 by the time she gets to see her first movie with a female lead." It's not just about getting those TV and film adaptations, though, Rowan smartly noted. "I love your comics, but I would love them a whole lot more if there were more girls." She wishes the few female characters DC does make were available as action figures.  "Please do something about this. Girls read comics, too, and they care," Rowan concluded. DC, to its credit, took to Twitter to acknowledge that there is a problem, and that its working on it. It's about time. (How Did We Get Into This Mess)