We can have a debate about the pandering, but Marvel today announced that there’ll be a new God of Thunder in a new series by writer Jason Aaron and artist Russell Dauterman, coming this October.
The publisher has evolved once again in one of the “most shocking and exciting changes” ever to shake one of Marvel’s “big three” – Captain America, Iron Man and Thor – Marvel Comics will be introducing an all-new Thor, God of Thunder. No longer is the classic male hero able to hold the mighty hammer, Mjölnir, a brand new female hero will emerge will who will be worthy of the name Thor. Who is she? Where did she come from and what is her connection to Asgard and the Marvel Universe?
Marvel editor Wil Moss explained in a release that there’s more to this change:
The inscription on Thor’s hammer reads ‘Whosoever holds this hammer, if HE be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.’ Well it’s time to update that inscription. The new Thor continues Marvel’s proud tradition of strong female characters like Captain Marvel, Storm, Black Widow and more. And this new Thor isn’t a temporary female substitute – she’s now the one and only Thor, and she is worthy!
It was emphasized by Aaron that this isn’t some knock-off:
This is not She-Thor. This is not Lady Thor. This is not Thorita. This is THOR. This is theTHOR of the Marvel Universe. But it’s unlike any Thor we’ve ever seen before.
Thor is the latest in the ever-growing and long list of female-centric titles the company has launched since their All-New Marvel NOW! initiative kicked off. This female Thor is the 8th title to feature a lead female protagonist and aims to speak directly to an audience that long was not the target for Super Hero comic books in America: women and girls.
Before an hour ago, I didn’t know who Neko Case was, nor did I know about Ellie Kemper or Kelly Hogan. But it would seem I’ve been missing out on a whole realm of awesome music and comedy, as a recent post by The Mary Sue introduced me to a new music video called “These Aren’t the Droids,” with vocals by Neko Case and Ellie Kemper, and lyrics by Rachel Axler, Tamara Federici, Neko Case, and Kelly Hogan. Give their video a listen first, then we’ll talk:
We’re dealing with comedy music at its finest: socially critical, humorous, and artistic. This video and the music were done for a charity music album called 2766, produced by the Levinson Brothers and Rob Kutner, a writer for The Daily Show. The album is being sold to raise money for the charity One Kid One World, and is given the following synopsis:
The year is 2776, and on the thousandth birthday of America, an evil Alien (Martha Plimpton) threatens to destroy the nation, unless the President (Will Forte) and his Secret Service agent (Aubrey Plaza) can convince her it’s worth saving. Together with a cranky George Washington (Paul F. Tompkins) they travel through our nation’s history—past AND future, taking on everything American — immigration, religion, the media, sports, politics, sex, droids, and rock n’ roll. Along the way they meet notable Americans, from God (Patton Oswalt) to the Common Cold (Aimee Mann). Can America be saved? Kind of. It’s complicated.
Despite its quality, humor, and message, The Mary Sue didn’t exactly appreciate the video, and instead stated that:
Neko Case knows there are female superheroes, right? And that women and girls are actually a huge part of the geek sphere, and have been for decades? Please, someone, show her the light. Because her music video with Kelly Hogan for “These Aren’t the Droids” would’ve been really cool—Ellie Kemper is saved by science! Feminist utopia! That rocking Leia/Spock outfit! And it’s for charity!—if not for the part where geekery is explicitly stated as being the realm of immature manboys.
Meanwhile, io9 seemed quite confused about the video as well, summing up the confusion by saying:
It’s hard to tell exactly what Case and Hogan are trying to say here, because a lot of this is just them goofing around. But they are very clear about one thing: they think geek culture is for 13-year-old boys, and that women have no place in it. They sing about a feminist future where geek culture is replaced by girl power and kittens, which is frankly weaksauce. Why not just join the geek girl revolution that has been going on for — oh, ten years or so? Still, the video also features a woman (Ellie Kemper) who is liberated by science, so I’m honestly not sure what the hell Case and Hogan are trying to say.
I have to say, frankly, that I’m surprised at these reactions. Very much so. These reactions commit a complete misinterpretation of the video that results from a not so careful reading, as it were, of the lyrics. Case and Hogan do not explicitly state that nerd culture is the realm of immature manboys, or, to use their words “teenage guys.”
Instead they argue that “the future was designed by teenage guys.” And what they have to say, if attended to with more than a casual listen, is pretty damn feminist. And funny. I took some time to write out the lyrics; granted, I missed some words here and there, and I’m not sure if my line breaks are ideal, but I think reading the lyrics while listening to the song another time through is worthwhile.
The future (the future!): It seems so exciting. It looks so inviting.
Space-drinks,space clothes, space silver jumpsuits, space world harmony,
space silver moon boots (so much silver!).
But we didn’t realize: the future was designed by teenage guy-uy-uys!
So now we’re here in 2091 and it looks like a permanent comicon.
There’s robots and aliens from every realm
And all the dudes are psyked but we’re kind of underwhelmed.
These aren’t the droids, these aren’t the droids I was looking for. Designed by boys for [word?] boys.
Welcome to the future, ladies! Booooooring.
There’s Aquamans and Supermans and Spider-Mans,
Ant-Mans, Batmans, and Wing-mans, Y the Last Mans.
There’s a man of ice who can freeze himself.
[Something about a map to Mars or Venus?] Where’s our Shackleton?!
Baseballs and basketballs and tennis balls and footballs and eyeballs and guy balls and
balls, balls, balls, balls.
Three-boobed aliens on stripper poles who want shiny sex-bots with only holes.
So that’s [something, something, something] ’cause, hey, we love a Wookiee, but I mean, come on!
It’s way past time for a revolution to your hairless post-apocalyptic constitution,
Which is, let’s face it, basically Maxim, mixed with MAD and Cracked…it’s Craxim!
If we designed the future, it’d smell so much better.
There would be no war, just some Greco-Roman wrestling (hairy dudes in singlets!)
And we’d still have guns, but they’d shoot feee-eeelii-iii-iii-ii-iii-iings.
No waxing! No shaving! Everybody’d have more hair!
A fundamental appreciation of literacy but less shades of grey;
There’d be an entire section of government devoted to inventing no [poodle shapes?].
Girl power would be an actual fuel source with zero carbon footprint.
(Made of actual girls?
Huh?
Ah, you know what I mean!)
Kittens everywhere! Yeah, baskets of them, everywhere.
In restaurants! (Yeah!) In bathtubs! (Yeah!) In the Senate! (Yeah!) On the moon!
And when our clocks start tickin’, we just point to a dude’s body anywhere,
And that’s where the baby grows, and kittens and puppies come out.
And a cougar is an animal. An animal that eats you whole and poops you out on a rock.
Yeah, and we’re finally gonna get equal pay, but no one’s gonna work, so who cares anyway?
But don’t worry, guys, we’ll keep some same stuff like before, like actions figures still in their packages
Because, duh, they’re worth more!
These aren’t the droids, these aren’t the droids, these aren’t the droids I was looking for.
[Something about noise?] These aren’t the droids I was looking for.
We’re gonna own 2091 with reading and crossbows and way more fun!
It’s gonna rule!
Come join us, dudes, but if you don’t dig it well that’s still cool.
We’ll just grow our own custom dudes.
Hydroponic dudes. Hairy dudes with pubes. Dudes with boobs. Yeah, dudes with boobs!
Growin’ in tuuuuuuuuuuubes.
Case and Hogan present the argument that nerd culture is made by dudes for dudes, in a nut shell. And while some online commentators have critiqued the music video, saying that it seems to be ignoring what progress has been made, Case and Hogan are asking they’re viewers not to take pittances and minor allowances for widespread, industry or society-wide change in gender inequality.
Pittances. “These are the droids I was looking for.” Social change in geekery and nerdom will not come about because half-a-dozen female comic book creators were hired at DC, or because Marvel has half-a-dozen female-lead series. Compared to the hundreds of comics that come out every week, these are pittance.
And whether humorously for humor’s sake, or humorously to mask the sad fact that the industry diversifies greatly below the rate of an expanding market that demands, quite angrily, books about us (women, PoC, LGBTQ, etc.), the point made by Case and Hogan is a powerful one.
Yes, my daughter, who is two and a half, will grow up in a nerd culture that knows (at least right now) a very diverse cast of comic book, video game, and science fiction/fantasy characters. Some well written, others shells of faux feminism or icons of the “we need a black character because, well, they sell” persuasion.
But this doesn’t change the fact that the people making these decision, by and large, are men. The titans of nerd culture, the bastions of ungodly power who decide what games we’ll get to play and what comics we’ll get to read, are largely men.
And while The Mary Sue is as fantastic and as useful a source on feminist nerd culture that there is, I’m disheartened to see their response to this video. Especially because what Case and Hogan are arguing is that the centers of power and authority in nerd culture are not in the hands of women (or, to push it further, though they don’t say so, people of color, LGBTQ, individuals with varied ability, etc.). This is a fact that nerd feminism is acutely aware of, since the past decade, and especially the last five years, have witnessed an arduous uphill battle just to get the pittances currently available!
And yet: rape threats, online gaming harassment, rampant sexism and violence against women in comics, and a general inability to handle even iconic female characters, like Wonder Woman, well (read my discussion of the Finches here) persist. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be in a fury about a new screwed up thing that happened to backtrack the fight for equality in nerd culture ever few weeks!
“These Aren’t the Droids” shouldn’t be confusing. It shouldn’t be ambiguous or difficult to parse. It’s full of jokes about men birthing kittens and guns that shoot emotions because the people involved and the project that it belongs to is comedic in origin.
We comic book lovers don’t shy away from masks, and certainly we don’t shrink from the challenge of unmasking heroes or villains or industry “secrets,” so why is the Internet collectively failing to unmask the clear messages of this song and music video?
“These Aren’t the Droids” challenges and mocks and overturns, albeit in a funny and non-threatening way, patriarchy and misogyny-ridden nerd culture, and demands a nerd culture dominated by Kelly Sue DeConnicks, Ursula K. LeGuins, Anita Sarkeesians, Wonder Womans, and Gail Simoneses.
If even light-hearted, humorous attempt to point out the need for change can’t be interpreted as politically motivated and endowed with a will to make change, then how can we hope to enact change through and in comics?
It’s been less than a week and the announcement that comics writer Meredith Finch and artist-husband David Finch are taking over as Wonder Woman‘s new creative team with issue #36 is still an open sore, the constant media reminder of which continue to drive me into a fury. On the one hand, because half of the commentators hardly care or don’t see any harm in the creative change; on the other hand, because savvy writers who do get it are just as outraged.
Some might think “outrage” and “fury” are harsh, maybe even over-reactive descriptors. But consider for a moment our collective comic book fandom outrage when Orson Scott Card, homophobe extraordinaire, was slated to write 2013’s Adventures of Superman. Comics fandom won a major battle with help of media coverage, the artist Chris Sprouse, a petition by AllOut.org, and comic shop owners who refused to stock a comic written by Card. (This was not unlike the response to Gail Simone’s firing from DC’s Batgirl that got her quickly rehired.)
Recalling these moments in recent comic book history (hmm, both having to do with DC’s creative choices…), imagine now that Orson Scott Card had been asked to write a well-known gay or lesbian character, and that he had stated in interviews his desire to make the character decidedly “not that gay” or generally uninterested in the narrative purposes put to the creation of an LGBTQ comic book hero. We’d be burning down DC’s boors and firing Dan DiDio! (We should anyway after this.)
So why aren’t we now? To put my and other commentator’s frustration into context, let’s consider the facts of the Wonder Woman creative team change. On June 30th USA Today announced that Meredith and David Finch, a wife-and-husband duo, would take over Wonder Woman, signaling the end of the three-year and 36-issue-long era of Brian Azzarello, Cliff Chiang, and to a lesser extent Goran Sužuka and Tony Akins. While this team defined an entirely new Wonder Woman steeped in the mythos of a redesigned Greek pantheon of hipster gods, badass goddesses, and an as yet unbeatable First Born, all good comic book runs must come to an end.
Alone, this announcement was a disappointment: Meredith Finch is an almost unheard of writer, unless of course you’ve read Zenescope Entertainment’s Grimm Fairy Tales Presents: Tales from Oz, a series of one-shots. Bleeding Cool, who wrote severalarticles based on “informed sources” starting in February 2014 about the potential for David Finch to take over drawing Wonder Woman and the suspicion that his wife, Meredith, would write, decided to take a look at one M. Finch’s oeuvre, reviewing it in view of the possibility that she might write the Amazon princess’ monthly. The reviewer, who badly needed a copyeditor, concluded that despite an abundance of sexist imagery, the comic displayed “a definite awareness of feminine stereotypes,” and, ultimately, was about warriors being warriors, “which is probably what you might want for Wonder Woman.”
Zenescope Entertainment is essentially the Playboy of the comics industry, a company whose income is derived solely from comics based on public domain fairy tale and fantasy narratives that are populated with scantily-clad, huge breasted women and the warriorest of warrior men. Their “warrior women” usually look something like the image to the left, with dialogue by M. Finch. All of this said, it is exciting to see a new female creator come on board at DC, though her politics seem to accord generally with the “we’re not feminists” stance of DC’s creative heads.
“Hey, there, stud. I’m not a man-hater, just a strong woman.”
Turning away from Meredith’s inexperience, her husband, David Finch, is not the greatest artist for female characters, and the art he supplied for the “big reveal” is atrocious, unrefined, and cookie-cutter. His is a Wonder Woman who looks like she works at a strip club in order to show how empowered women are by showing their skin. In other words, a “strong female character” made for men, like basically everything else. For a discussion of some of the problems with the strong female character trope, see Shana Mlawski’s poignant article.
These were just my thoughts from the night of June 30th. Then came July 1st and the Comic Book Resources interview with M. and D. Finch. Some highlights of the interview include David Finch’s curt “No.” to the question “Have the two of you collaborated on a creative project together, either in comics or outside of it?” and the quick follow-up by Meredith, in which she points out that, in fact, she’s helped him on plotting and layouts for years. Finch then came up with a brilliant save by pointing out that he probably ignored any advice she gave, complete with “[Laughter].” What a guy!
When asked what direction the team will take, either following Azzarello’s mythos or not, Meredith responds that, “we’re definitely going to steer the book a little more into a more mainstream — I guess I’d say there will be some superhero stuff in it. It really will still be a very character-driven book, though.” The desire not to tread on Azzarello’s heels in understandable, especially for a complete newcomer to superhero comics writing. But, for me and many other readers, Wonder Woman of the New 52 has been defined by Azzarello’s reluctance to bring the book into the larger DCU, especially his resistance to incorporating Superman as a love interest. As noted in their interview, M. and D. Finch fully intend to bring in Superman.
“I’m not a feminist! Just strong! And sexy…”
Thus far in the interview we’ve seen variations on viewpoints regarding the type of character Wonder Woman is and should be, the genre of narratives she should be engaged in, and her level of involvement in the DCU. Azzarello’s reluctance to bring Wonder Woman into the DCU is, of course, a point of frustration for many readers, and though I highly admire his Wonder Woman run and would love to see it continue for a hundred issues, the character’s critical presence is lacking from the DCU in a major way that Superman and Batman, who have multiple books to themselves, are not. Eric Diaz at Nerdisthas some solid thoughts about Wonder Woman and her current place in the New 52 line-up.
The interview ends with a question about what aspects of Wonder Woman the team hopes to play out in their opening issues of their run. M. Finch wants to write a Wonder Woman of the 1970s, a female icon of power and strength. D. Finch wants to draw “a strong — I don’t want to say feminist, but a strong character. Beautiful, but strong.” With these closing words, D. Finch articulates the central concern of this creative team change. With his final lines he highlights the greatest challenges for female characters across all media today:
Strong women aren’t by default feminist because
Feminist isn’t something we want to label female figures of authority
There is an inherent and contradictory relationship between attractiveness and strength
Superheroines must be overcome this contradictory relationship by being beautiful and strong, resulting all too often in hypersexualizations like Power Girl
I’m not the first to voice my objections: Susana Polo at The Mary Sue offers a summary of the issue, Janelle Asselin at Comics Alliance gives a short background to Wonder Woman’s entirely obvious feminist legacy, and Jenna McLaughlin at Mother Jonesprovides some insight from the director of the documentary Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines.
Whether commentators and Internet trolls like it or not, Wonder Woman has had obvious feminist deployments by comics writers and in the feminist movement in general, and her origin in William Moulton Marston’s bondage and male-dominance stories of the 1940s hearkens to a history of radical writers, mostly female, suggesting that the patriarchy get a taste of their own medicine. Wonder Woman’s Themyscira was an updated, superheroic version of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s feminist utopian Herland(1915). Utopian visions of female-only worlds abound in the history of science fiction and fantasy literature.
I do not mean to suggest that feminism advocates for a replacement of the patriarchy by a matriarchy, one in which women rule over and enslave men. Rather, these examples serve the point that, like it or not, Wonder Woman is a feminist icon. However, as Lillian S. Robinson warns in Wonder Women: Feminisms and Superheroes, we should not confuse her iconic status in the history of women’s rights and the feminist movement for feminism in general. As Shana Mlawski points out, strong female characters on their own, can harm the fight for equality for women by using scantily-clad, sexy, but strong kick-ass women to cover up the lack of social equality or justice outside of the comics, movies, and films populated by Xenas, Buffys, and Wonder Womans.
Moreover, “feminism” is a continuously evolving, often overlapping, and sometimes contradictory set of individualized, group-specific, and differently-theorized feminisms. Feminism is not a monolith, but a nexus of ideas about social justice and equality. Characters like Wonder Woman may stand as an icon, but they are far from descriptive of feminism as a whole; they describe particular feminisms. Janelle Asselin at Comics Alliance, for example, offers a critique of the current Azzarello and Chiang run, arguing that the retconning of Wonder Woman’s born-of-clay origin and the revelation that she has a father, namely Zeus, was a negative change for the character. Her biological attachment to Zeus undermined her self-made status.
Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman #1
What’s at stake, then, in denying Wonder Woman the feminist title is not necessarily denying that she can be analyzed as a feminist character or, even, that she will cease to be used as a feminist icon in the ways that she has been for 74 years. It is instead a misogynist attempt to rein in positive social change in the mainstream comics industry, to deny readers’ desire for characters that bring about social and ideological change not just in the DCU or the Marvel Universe, but in our world as well. It’s also a slap in the face to common sense: there’s just no humane reason not to be feminist.
We want heroes who make change, and heroes cannot make change if they are denied identities that advocate for social justice. We want a Wonder Woman who’s not afraid of the “F” word and a creative team who understands that.
At the very least, come August we’ll have a new Wonder Woman comic to turn to: Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman.
It’s Thursday which brings us a new interview and our 32nd “Women of BOOM!” feature, spotlighting the many kick-ass women that work at BOOM!, Archaia and KaBOOM! We’re focusing on everyone, editors, designers, writers, artists, you name it! We’re making sure to include the hard-working folks whose contributions are often overlooked in the process.
BOOM! (and KaBOOM! and Archaia) has given us unprecedented access and the chance to ask questions to their staff, and creative teams, to find out why the publisher is so successful in hiring women and their experiences in the comic industry as women.
Stephanie Hocutt helps with the company’s marketing as the PR Assistant, that means she gets to work on ALL of the comics!
Graphic Policy: How did you get involved in the comic book industry?
Stephanie Hocutt: I studied animation in school, but during that time I realized that my real passion was for comics. I was a freelance artist for a while, and when I heard about the internship at Archaia, I packed my bags and moved across the country in one epic road trip. After the internship, I started working at a comic shop, and now I’m here at BOOM! It’s been a wacky, winding road!
GP: Did you read comics growing up? Do you read them now?
SH: I was a voracious reader growing up, but I was kind of a late bloomer when it came to comics. My parents didn’t read them, and I grew up on military bases that didn’t really have comic shops. Instead, I was watching Batman: The Animated Series, The Adventures of Tin-Tin, Justice League Unlimited, Batman Beyond, and the 90s X-Men all the time. I started reading manga late in high school, and in college my friends started inviting me to conventions, which is where I picked up American comics. Around that same time, I studied abroad in France, where I fell in love with bande dessinées. I got hooked on European and American comics around the same time, so now my pull list consists of a wide variety of comics, and I have a library that is quickly outgrowing my apartment!
GP: How did you come to work with BOOM! or one of its imprints?
SH: I interned at Archaia a while back, and once it was over I just sort of dug my claws in and refused to go back to Virginia. I got a job at a comic shop, kept in contact with the Archaia crew, and when I found out that BOOM! was looking for a marketing assistant, I jumped at the opportunity.
GP: How would you describe your job for people?
SH: I pretty much get to talk about how awesome comics are all day! It’s incredibly exciting and I always have to think outside of the box, because there are a lot of awesome comics out there that all want to be noticed. I set up interviews with creators, work closely with press sites, host the Buzz on BOOM! YouTube show, and do everything I can to get people excited about BOOM!
GP: For people who want to pursue a career in what you do, what advice would you give them?
SH: A big part of working in this industry is knowing the right people, so get out there and mingle! Go to conventions and talk to people face-to-face, and snap up internships if you can. The most important part of an internship is the connections you make, so keep in contact with them. You’re not gonna get your dream job if you’re hiding in the shadows! It is a balancing act, though, because you also don’t want to be harassing industry professionals and come off as overbearing. Just remember to be friendly!
GP: Did you have a mentor to help you break into the industry? Do you mentor anyone yourself?
SH: I’ve had a lot of people in my life who have been incredibly supportive and helpful! One in particular is Mel Caylo, who was the Marketing Manager at Archaia when I was an intern. He taught me a lot about marketing and helped me realize that it’s a pretty rad job! Now, several years later, he’s the Marketing Manager at BOOM! and I get to work with him. Full circle!
GP: Do you think women have a more difficult time breaking in and making it in the comic industry? If so, why? And if yes, how do you think that can be overcome?
SH: Comics have been a male-dominated field for so long that it really can be difficult for women to get involved. There’s this archaic idea that inviting the girls into that treehouse is just gonna ruin it for everybody, and there are a lot of people out there who are just so afraid of change that they don’t even want to recognize it’s already happening. Women are all up in that comics biz!
So that being said, I’m going to look on the bright side and say I think it’s getting a little easier every day. It’s an awesome time to be a woman in the comics industry. Yes, there are a ton of problems that still need to be fixed, but we’re actually talking about them. People are speaking up and recognizing the problems, comic forums and conventions are creating safer spaces for women, and we’ve got awesome campaigns like “We Are Comics” that support equality and diversity in the industry. It’s an open conversation, which is the only way things will actually change.
GP: We notice that when it comes to women in the comic industry, BOOM! and its imprints have a lot of diversity present. Why do you think they have succeeded when so many other publishers struggle with this?
SH: This is actually a really difficult question to answer, because I don’t know why it’s harder for other publishers! BOOM! just works with awesome people, and those awesome people come from all walks of life, so our comics tell a wide variety of stories. It’s a great big world out there, so why would you limit yourself to working with only a specific group of people? Broaden those horizons!
GP: We’ve heard horror stories concerning women in the industry. Have you ever seen or been discriminated/harassed and if so, how did you handle it?
SH: I’ve been pretty lucky in that I haven’t been the target of a lot of harassment. When I worked in a comic shop, I would occasionally get a guy who didn’t think I actually read comics, or was really surprised when I asked if I could help him find something, but that was pretty rare because my LCS is open and inviting. Conventions have traditionally been the worst places for women, so I’m really glad people are stepping up and changing that. If I’m ever bothered by something a guy or gal says, I just call them out on it. They’re either being jerks or they didn’t even realize what they said was offensive, and now they’re learning.
I know there are a lot of women out there who haven’t been so lucky, so the most important thing is to stand together and shut that mess down. Silence kills progress, so speak up and don’t let it slide!
GP: What advice do you have for women looking to break into the comic book industry?
SH: Figure out what you want to do in comics, and do everything you can to be the best person for that position. Be persistent, friendly, and positive!
I was going through my Facebook feed this morning and came across this post of cosplay from someone in the comic community. With comments like those below, is it any wonder women might feel unwelcome by the comic community?
It’s Thursday which brings us a new interview and our 31st “Women of BOOM!” feature, spotlighting the many kick-ass women that work at BOOM!, Archaia and KaBOOM! We’re focusing on everyone, editors, designers, writers, artists, you name it! We’re making sure to include the hard-working folks whose contributions are often overlooked in the process.
BOOM! (and KaBOOM! and Archaia) has given us unprecedented access and the chance to ask questions to their staff, and creative teams, to find out why the publisher is so successful in hiring women and their experiences in the comic industry as women.
Kris Mukai is an artist who has contributed a short story to Spera Vol. 2 as well as a cover for KaBOOM!’a popular Adventure Time.
Graphic Policy: How did you get involved in the comic book industry?
Kris Mukai: I have been self-publishing comics for about 6 years.
GP: Did you read comics growing up? Do you read them now?
KM: I read a lot of manga scanlations as a kid, mostly shounen stuff that I don’t read so much anymore. My hometown public library had a great selection of journalistic comics, I read a lot of Joe Sacco, Peter Kuper, and Seth Tobocman’s comics. Becky Cloonan’s early works were also hugely inspirational.
GP: How did you come to work with BOOM!/Archaia?
KM: Yuko Ota and Ananth Panagariya started writing a comic for BOOM! (Candy Capers), and they suggested me to their art director as someone to draw a cover. Since it was for their book, I was excited to do the piece, although BOOM! ended up printing the image on a different book.
GP: How would you describe your job for people?
KM: Clients pay me to draw anything.
GP: For people who want to pursue a career in what you do, what advice would you give them?
KM: Draw what you want to draw and clients will seek you out to draw that thing. Be kind to your peers, they are the art directors and editors of the future.
GP: Did you have a mentor to help you break into the industry? Do you mentor anyone yourself?
KM: The ladies of the Love Love Hill collective were my mentors, I was penpals with Kim and Saicoink and everyone drew on the same oekaki board and encouraged each other. They introduced me to self publishing and to getting shit done yourself. Joshua Ray Stephens and my classmate Jane Wu (art direction at LAUNCH) mentored me in college. I got my first big breaks in illustration from Max Bode and Jordan Awan.
GP: Do you think women have a more difficult time breaking in and making it in the comic industry, if so why? And if yes, how do you think that can be overcome?
KM: I work largely in the illustration industry, and there is a huge amount of women creators working in illustration. Many of the illustrators I know also create comics, so they are coming at it from a different direction. There is no one path that leads to your goal.
There are also many women comic artists publishing their work through small press publishers, art book and children’s imprints, and through web publishing. Their work shouldn’t be dismissed simply because they aren’t making work for Marvel or DC.
GP: We notice that when it comes to women in the comic industry, BOOM!/Archaia has a lot of diversity present. Why do you think have they succeeded when so many other publishers struggle with this?
KM: It seems like BOOM! and Archaia are making an effort to hire creators to make new content, whereas other companies are hiring artists to re-hash old content.
GP: We’ve heard horror stories concerning women in the industry, have you ever seen or been discriminated/harassed and if so, how did you handle it?
KM: I was offered a job that wanted to pay me $3000 for a years worth of work, basically $20 per page from sketches to color. The client assumed that I would be jumping for joy at the “opportunity” to create a “real” comic book, even if it meant working for far less than minimum wage.
I have the luxury to decline job offers from rude or inconsiderate clients, but unfortunately many artists don’t have this option.
GP: What advice do you have for women looking to break into the comic book industry?
KM: Don’t do free work for those that have the ability to pay you
It’s Thursday which brings us a new interview and our 30th “Women of BOOM!” feature, spotlighting the many kick-ass women that work at BOOM!, Archaia and KaBOOM! We’re focusing on everyone, editors, designers, writers, artists, you name it! We’re making sure to include the hard-working folks whose contributions are often overlooked in the process.
BOOM! (and KaBOOM! and Archaia) has given us unprecedented access and the chance to ask questions to their staff, and creative teams, to find out why the publisher is so successful in hiring women and their experiences in the comic industry as women.
Moro Rogers is the writer and artist of the Archaia original graphic novel, City in the Desert, which is now available in two volumes which you can purchase here and here.
Graphic Policy: How did you get involved in the comic book industry?
Moro Rogers: I was in animation, but I was between jobs and I decided that would be a good time to do something independent, and if I wrote a graphic novel I would have the kind of control I wanted. In animation it’s tough to tell a story with a big scope, especially if you like working alone.
GP: Did you read comics growing up? Do you read them now?
MR: I didn’t actually read a lot of comics growing up, I was more into movies. Before the internet, I wasn’t really aware of comics outside of the funny papers and superheroes. My parents had a book of B. Kliban stuff, which I memorized, and I read a lot of The Far Side, but when I wanted a story I’d watch a movie or read a book. I read a lot more comics now. They’re slowly taking over our bookshelf.
GP: How did you come to work with BOOM!/Archaia?
MR: I submitted my graphic novel to several comics publishers and it got picked up by Archaia. Woo!
GP: How would you describe your job for people?
MR: I draw and write City in the Desert. (I usually work digitally so I spend a lot of time looking at a screen.)
GP: For people who want to pursue a career in what you do, what advice would you give them?
MR: If you think you have a story to tell, don’t wait for someone to give you a chance, just find a way to do it. It’s not anyone else’s responsibility. (Also, um, check out your local parks and hiking trails! This advice is for everyone, I guess.)
GP: Do you think women have a more difficult time breaking in and making it in the comic industry, if so why? And if yes, how do you think that can be overcome?
MR: Everyone has a different experience. I’ve been lucky as far as that goes. My parents, teachers and peers have always been very encouraging.Women have more freedom to make comics than ever, and more tools at our disposal, so we just need to keep at it.
GP: We notice that when it comes to women in the comic industry, BOOM!/Archaia has a lot of diversity present. Why do you think have they succeeded when so many other publishers struggle with this?
MR: BOOM!/Archaia seem to be pretty cool about trying new things and giving new people a shot. Sometimes, I think, publishers and producers decide they want to try a story from a different point of view, but then they get cold feet and decide it won’t sell, so it ends up very similar to everything else. BOOM!/Archaia embraces weirdness, so that’s good.
It’s Thursday which brings us a new interview and our 29th “Women of BOOM!” feature, spotlighting the many kick-ass women that work at BOOM!, Archaia and KaBOOM! We’re focusing on everyone, editors, designers, writers, artists, you name it! We’re making sure to include the hard-working folks whose contributions are often overlooked in the process.
BOOM! (and KaBOOM! and Archaia) has given us unprecedented access and the chance to ask questions to their staff, and creative teams, to find out why the publisher is so successful in hiring women and their experiences in the comic industry as women.
Haiwei Hou is an artist focused on visual development, character design, illustration, animation, and storyboarding.
Graphic Policy: How did you get involved in the comic book industry?
Haiwei Hou: I love visual storytelling. If I have a great story in mind, I’m desperate to draw it out neglecting the fact of getting paid or not.
GP: Did you read comics growing up? Do you read them now?
HH: Yes, I grew up reading, so have a huge influence from Manga and Anime. I still read them when I need some inspiration.
GP: How did you come to work with BOOM!/Archaia?
HH: One day, there’s an email from Jasmine. She asked me if I’m interested and I said yes.
GP: How would you describe your job for people?
HH: I deliver the project on time and they love my work.
GP: For people who want to pursue a career in what you do, what advice would you give them?
HH: Never stop trying, even when professionals tell you that you are hopeless. Everyone can get to the level they want in time, but passion is what keeps you moving forward. When your artwork is strong enough, jobs will come to you.
GP: Did you have a mentor to help you break into the industry? Do you mentor anyone yourself?
HH: I didn’t have a specific mentor that helped me break into the industry. I met up with new artists and learned from their experiences.
GP: Do you think women have a more difficult time breaking in and making it in the comic industry, if so why? And if yes, how do you think that can be overcome?
HH: Personally, I don’t see that there’s a problem for woman to break into the comic industry. Lots of my co-workers at BOOM! are female. It is just a mindset. Women have to stop destructing themselves and just pursue what they really want in life.
GP: We notice that when it comes to women in the comic industry, BOOM!/Archaia has a lot of diversity present. Why do you think have they succeeded when so many other publishers struggle with this?
HH: BOOM! is an uprising studio. It is not huge, so there are more opportunities opened to new artists. It is a fact that women play an important role in our industry. More than half of my schoolmates are female. They just need an employer with an open mind to hire them.
GP: We’ve heard horror stories concerning women in the industry, have you ever seen or been discriminated/harassed and if so, how did you handle it?
HH: If someone harasses me or my friends in person, I will crack a joke and offer him a beer. If someone harasses me on the internet, I will reply with a laugh. I never take them seriously because most of them do so because they are drunk.
GP: What advice do you have for women looking to break into the comic book industry?
HH: Gender is not an excuse to stop you pursuing your dream. Just go and do what you really want.
It’s Thursday which brings us a new interview and our 28th “Women of BOOM!” feature, spotlighting the many kick-ass women that work at BOOM!, Archaia and KaBOOM! We’re focusing on everyone, editors, designers, writers, artists, you name it! We’re making sure to include the hard-working folks whose contributions are often overlooked in the process.
BOOM! (and KaBOOM! and Archaia) has given us unprecedented access and the chance to ask questions to their staff, and creative teams, to find out why the publisher is so successful in hiring women and their experiences in the comic industry as women.
Hae Mi Jang is a Korean artist who has worked on BOOM!’s Hellraiser: The Road Below and Clive Barker’s Next Testament.
Graphic Policy: How did you get involved in the comic book industry?
Hae Mi Jang: I was in a group of six artists who wanted to start work in US comic book industry. We were supported by Korean governmental agency named ‘Korea Manhwa Contents Agency'(KOMACON) which put together a six month project for introducing our work and seeking for comic book publishers.
GP: Did you read comics growing up? Do you read them now?
HMJ: Yes, I read a lot of comic books and and watched animation. I usually read Korean and Japanese comics as a teenager, but now I’m into various books and media, like novels, photographs, paintings and movies. It all helps a lot for drawing many things in comics.
GP: How did you come to work with BOOM!/Archaia?
HMJ: The six artist made a portfolio about our work and KOMACON connected us to the publisher’s actively to introduce us. They got the portfolio and the style of my work, which was black and white, inky and dark. It was good for drawing Clive Barker’s comic.
GP: How would you describe your job for people?
HMJ: Creating a new world on a piece of paper with a pen is amazing. I feel so gratified when the flow of the story I draw can touch people emotions.
GP:For people who want to pursue a career in what you do, what advice would you give them?
HMJ: It’s not always fun, you need to study hard about the flow of the story, panel, perspective and characters movement. You need to observe everything in the world. Because drawing comics it’s not only creating a new world but also copying the real world in the paper.
GP: Did you have a mentor to help you break into the industry? Do you mentor anyone yourself?
HMJ: Korean comic artist Hyun Sae Lee was the leader of KOMACON who supported us. He is an icon of the Korean comic history. Also he is the professor of the University I was in. He always gives good advice for younger comic artist in Korea.
GP: Do you think women have a more difficult time breaking in and making it in the comic industry, if so why? And if yes, how do you think that can be overcome?
HMJ: I think there is no difficult thing to break in and make it in the comic industry because you’re a woman. People read and watch my drawings, not me. Comic book is the communication between readers and artist (also writers). It doesn’t matter what your gender is or how you look.
GP: We’ve heard horror stories concerning women in the industry, have you ever seen or been discriminated/harassed and if so, how did you handle it?
HMJ: Well, I draw horror comics. I think it’s just a taste of what people like. and it’s not just concerning women, some men doesn’t like horrors. so many men, so many minds. And also personally I’m not a big fan of horror or violent things but I like to draw a dark side of the world and people and it doesn’t harassed me at all. :)
GP: What advice do you have for women looking to break into the comic book industry?
HMJ: Don’t care about the fact you’re a woman or not. What you draw and how can you draw/write a good story is the important part. Readers know what is good or not.
It’s Thursday which brings us a new interview and our 27th “Women of BOOM!” feature, spotlighting the many kick-ass women that work at BOOM!, Archaia and KaBOOM! We’re focusing on everyone, editors, designers, writers, artists, you name it! We’re making sure to include the hard-working folks whose contributions are often overlooked in the process.
BOOM! (and KaBOOM! and Archaia) has given us unprecedented access and the chance to ask questions to their staff, and creative teams, to find out why the publisher is so successful in hiring women and their experiences in the comic industry as women.
Lorena Carvalho is an artist who has provided covers for BOOM! on Steed and Mrs. Peel, and Hellraiser: The Dark Watch.
Graphic Policy: How did you get involved in the comic book industry?
Lorena Carvalho: I love drawing and have been reading comics since I was a child. My dream was to become an illustrator so after 10 years it has been an inevitable destiny.
GP: Did you read comics growing up? Do you read them now?
LC: I grew up reading Japanese comics because of the anime series broadcasted on Catalan TV. Later when I was a teenager I started to be interested in American and French-Belgian comics. Nowadays I read a little bit of everything, but I confess that I like American comics the most.
GP: How did you come to work with BOOM!/Archaia?
LC: The editor Chris Rosa contacted me after seeing my work on internet and asked me to work for BOOM! Studios.
GP: How would you describe your job for people?
LC: Every time I’m asked about my job, it’s difficult for me to describe it and even more so if the person who asked me doesn’t know about the comic world.
For me it’s lonely work, difficult and with some kind of slavery because it takes a lot of the hours of the day.
You have to face critics in a proper way and you have to be aware of everything that is going on out there. One could say that it’s more than a job it is a way of life.
And every request is a personal and professional challenge.
GP: For people who want to pursue a career in what you do, what advice would you give them?
LC: Well, although it could sound a typical I’d tell them that if they really want to pursue a career in the comic world, they should never give up, they should keep on practising ( drawing, writing…) until they are proud of what they are doing. No matter what other says. they should never compare themselves, everyone has to find their own tools and style and try to promote the skills and style that makes one person’s work different from other. You should be constant, patient and learn from other. Also you have to be self critic and selfdemanding. However I think that if you are faithful in every aspect you can get what you desire.
GP: Did you have a mentor to help you break into the industry? Do you mentor anyone yourself?
LC: Santi Casas, another professional of the comic sector, has been always advising and guiding me. He was the one who taught me everything I know. He taught me to work with photoshop and help me to introduce me into the comics and he got me the firsts illustration jobs. I’m really grateful because without his help I wouldn’t have progress that much. I admire him very much and nowadays I keep learning from him.
GP: Do you think women have a more difficult time breaking in and making it in the comic industry, if so why? And if yes, how do you think that can be overcome?
LC: Maybe ten years ago It was difficult but now I think it’s not. I think that everyday more women are involved in this industry, professionally and as readers. I have to say I never had any problem.
GP: We notice that when it comes to women in the comic industry, BOOM!/Archaia has a lot of diversity present. Why do you think have they succeeded when so many other publishers struggle with this?
LC: I don’t know…
It may be because BOOM! Archaia makes it easy to get to work with them. Boom!/Archaia bet by new artists offering various opportunities and large projects from the first moment.
GP: We’ve heard horror stories concerning women in the industry, have you ever seen or been discriminated/harassed and if so, how did you handle it?
LC: In my personal experience I have never been discriminated for the fact of being a woman. Instead, I have always been supported and appreciated.
GP: What advice do you have for women looking to break into the comic book industry?
LC: The same advises that I have given before, but I would add that If they are so unlucky of being discriminated for being a woman, they should be strong and shouldn’t care. They should keep on fighting and get over difficulties. They should ask themselves which is the origin of this discrimination…Is it that origin that some men now feel intimidated by women making great works in the comic industry? That isn’t an enough reason. Today women are contributing to the world of comics and illustration as never they did before, and this is a good thing!
Zenescope Entertainment is essentially the Playboy of the comics industry, a company whose income is derived solely from comics based on public domain fairy tale and fantasy narratives that are populated with scantily-clad, huge breasted women and the warriorest of warrior men. Their “warrior women” usually look something like the image to the left, with dialogue by M. Finch. All of this said, it is exciting to see a new female creator come on board at DC, though her politics seem to accord generally with the “we’re not feminists” stance of DC’s creative heads.
and 
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GP: Did you read comics growing up? Do you read them now?
GP: For people who want to pursue a career in what you do, what advice would you give them?
P: How did you come to work with BOOM!/Archaia?