Girl gamers? Not such a minority anymore...

So I got the EB World email, along with 1 million other gamers. And I was surprised to see 42% of those gamers ... were female!

Say what?

I know. For a moment, I thought someone may have made a typo as well. But I'm going to go with it. In fact, the surprise was a happy one. All I ever hear about in regards to girl gamers is the gender disparity in the community - mostly represented by the question: "Wait - you play games? You?"

Yes I do. And apparently so do a lot of other women.

This what it must've been for all the gamers in 1986, victoriously finishing Metroid after hours only to find... *GASP* Samus Aran is a girl!

You crafty bitch! I couldn't see your swimsuit under all that power armor!

That might not seem like a big surprise but in 1986 - it was! Whahhh? A girl?
The creator actually put this reveal in to surprise the player - which to be surprising has to be unexpected. And it was, despite coming out early in the line up, Samus was surrounded by Contra, Super Mario Bros, a ton of male sprites in assorted sport games, Castlevania etc etc And Samus caused a stir. She even has a trope named after her...

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SamusIsAGirl

Despite being created for shock value, Samus also created a female presence in games. While many people perceived her as hardly making any strides forward for female kind because under the power armor she could be anything - male, female, alien - that's not really the point. She just is a woman. The story isn't any different, she kicks butt like any other character would. She definitely isn't helpless. And she's a chick.

Why did I even mention Samus? Because she represents! I'm a woman and I don't mind playing male characters but that doesn't mean I *only* want to play male characters.
Portal's Chell is a modern version of Samus. She's a woman for the reason that... she is. There is no reason. It's not a big thing. She just has girl-parts instead of boy-parts. There should be more of this.

And I agree, we are getting much more! RPG games would have a female character choice as a standard now.
FPS usually have at least a 1 in 4 chance of a woman. Borderlands is the one I've been playing recently. Left 4 Dead is another.

But I want more. I want a female protag in a Bioshock type game. I want a Wonder Woman game as awesome as Batman: Arkham City!

Games are still mostly representing males, it's true. A quick view at Playstation's Coming Soon List confirmed my suspicions (along with a very high number of sequels?) I think all the titles in the next few months have male looking characters on the covers.

But hey, if 42% of gamers are apparently females... then we have a weighty presence. We BUY almost half your products. Want to sell more games to 42% of your market? I have a few ideas how...

Angel: Blood and Trenches by John Byrne

Set in WWI!

I picked this one up because of the artwork actually. Not just the cover (above), but the artwork is a bit different than what I usually see, and very cool. John Byrne is the writer and artist for this one, and the graphics are actually pencilly looking. There's no real ink work. No clean lines. No real colour for most of it! The pictures look like sketches.

I think that's awesome!

The only colour that appears that departs from graphite - is the colour red. I'd say it was Sin City-esque but Sin City is so clean and sleek - this isn't. This is rough. And it works.

The artwork is great - what about the story?

Basically, Angel is in New York, reading some news articles about the war, and (without spoiling you too much) he sees "something" that he believes might require his attention on the front line. *ahem* vampires.

That's not really a spoiler, it was a pretty high chance the antagonists in the story would be vampiric. Or demonic.

Anyway, Angel gets himself on a boat and starts investigating while working as an ambulance driver.

Sound interesting? It is! Actually this is only a few pages but that just sounds enthralling to me. I want to know MORE. I wanted to see more of his interactions with the other people. I wanted more build-up. I want MORE backstory, more character tension, more every-day situations and how hard they are for him at that time. But what I got was still great. I just wanted more...

Angel as an ambo in WWI.

This story is more of a character study about Angel, dealing with his nature. This is a lot closer to his Angelus days than we usually saw in the series. Which is great. I like exploring Angel's past. I always wished there was more of it in the show - and a graphic novel form is the perfect media.

Byrne writes Angel very well. He's very reserved in this era - and has a lot less control over himself and his actions than the Angel we're used to. He's still trying to come to terms with himself. He's not there yet.

The story is pretty simple, though told in a not-quite-linear fashion which stops it from going dry too quickly. I liked Angel's headspace in this one - he flees a lot, he's not strong, and he's not quite in control. It's a great look at a character I love.

I recommend it.