Venuszine talks to Brian Wood

Venuszine.com, the website for the women & culture magazine Venus, interviews Brian Wood about writing female characters:

Have you ever thought about the prevalence of really great female characters in your work? In other words, is it a conscious decision when you sit down to write?
I think a lot of what I do is on instinct — I'm one of those people that are called "instinct-writers", designers, etc. — but it should be very clear to anyone that opens up a popular American comic that female characters are in a sad state. They tend to fall into two camps for the most part: amped-up, sexed-up, power wielding vixens, or flighty idiots who invariably become victims. A lot of them like to go shopping, too. I don't know if its just part of the "heroic" nature of the superhero thing — damsels in distress or something, or just popular culture at play — but it's horrible. It's no wonder hardly any women read American comics; they read more Japanese comics, which offer a greater balance of character types.

So the fact that I write more female characters than male may just be an unconscious reaction to all of that. I don't always sit and make a plan and think about if the lead in my new project should be a man or woman. It just happens, I just do what feels right in the context. I do think there should be more honest, genuine female characters in comics, but I don't believe in creating them just for the sake of it. There should be a reason behind it, otherwise it comes off forced.

Read the whole interview.