Newsarama series investigates 'fangirl' phenomenon

Hollywood and the publishers know a good thing when they see it.

If Comic-Con attendance is any barometer, then companies seeking to market genre entertainment to both genders are well aware they can now reach thousands of female fans (an estimated 40 percent of the 2009 'Con audience were women).

Veneta Rogers, with the comics and pop culture site Newsarama, started a series this week examining the increasing role of women fans in the comics, science fiction and fantasy realm.  And of course, movies, television and the Web have a lot to do with that.

I argue with my friends all the time about how big the audience really is for comics, sci-fi and the like. This is a topic well-worth some thoughtful examination.  In the first part, Rogers makes it clear that this "fangirl" thing goes a lot deeper than "Twilight."