DC Comics took a few on the chin at Comic-Con International and in the week that followed as attendees at their multiple "New 52" panels asked them over and over again, "What happened to all the women?" Sean posted about one panel in particular earlier this week; you can see more color on it over at The Beat, as Heidi was there, and on ComicsAlliance, where Laura Hudson lays out a thoughtful post on the subject.

Yesterday DC Comics responded with a post on The Source by co-publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee:

Over the past week we’ve heard from fans about a need for more women writers, artists and characters. We want you to know, first and foremost, that we hear you and take your concerns very seriously.

We’ve been very fortunate in recent years to have fan favorite creators like Gail Simone, Amy Reeder, Felicia Henderson, Fiona Staples, Amanda Connor, G. Willow Wilson and Nicola Scott write and draw the adventures of the World’s Greatest Super Heroes.

DC Comics is the home of a pantheon of remarkable, iconic women characters like Wonder Woman, Lois Lane, Batgirl, Batwoman, Catwoman and Supergirl as well as fan favorite characters like Black Canary, Katana, Mera and Starfire. We’re committed to telling diverse stories with a diverse point of view. We want these adventures to resonate in the real world, reflecting the experiences of our diverse readership. Can we improve on that? We always can—and aim to.

We’ll have exciting news about new projects with women creators in the coming months and will be making those announcements closer to publication. Many of the above creators will be working on new projects, as we continue to tell the ongoing adventures of our characters. We know there are dozens of other women creators and we welcome the opportunity to work with them.

Our recent announcements have generated much attention and discussion and we welcome that dialogue.

Best-

Jim Lee & Dan DiDio

DC Entertainment Co-Publishers

DC has a reputation of having a "duck and cover" approach to controversy, so I have to say I'm a bit surprised and pleased that they would put out an official statement. Good on them -- now how about opening up the comments on The Source so you can start a dialogue again with fans?