Category Archives: Gender

Interview: Women of BOOM! – Hannah Nance Partlow

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Hannah Nance PartlowIt’s the third week of our “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.

Up this week is Hannah Nance Partlow, an in-house production designer and freelancer who has hand-lettered such comics as Adventure Time: Candy Capers.

Graphic Policy: How did you get involved in the comic book industry?

Hannah Nance Partlow: I’m sure everyone says this, but “it’s complicated.”

My background is in art – I double-majored in Fine Arts (painting/printmaking) and Graphic Design in college (hence my focus/obsession with lettering and typography), and when I started dating comic book writer Eric M. Esquivel, I naturally started experimenting with the comic medium. It’s the perfect union of visual art and text (referencing my educational background). He and I began collaborating on a few things, and I started attending cons with him right after graduating college. I wasn’t feeling a whole lot of graphic design love at the time, but the comic industry was incredibly warm and inclusive, so I started gravitating more and more toward that. I saw that there was a niche that wasn’t really being filled at the time with lettering – this medium has so much potential to utilize really illustrative lettering and I didn’t see a lot of that – but I wanted to. I started hustling lettering work in comics by talking to creators and publishers, and …here I am.

GP: Did you read comics growing up? Do you read them now?

HNP: Absolutely! I’ve been reading Betty & Veronica comics since I was little. I used to buy the Double Digests from the grocery store every week. I’ve read newspaper comic strips my whole life, and when I was in middle school I started reading manga. I think I read Azumanga Daioh and Chobits first, and Archie comics always. My current pull list is a bit more extensive and diverse: I read Fraction’s Hawkeye, I LOVE the new Batman ’66 series, everything by Daniel Clowes, Francesco Francavilla’s work, Jim Rugg’s work, webcomics, Kochalka, Dorkin, lots of Bongo comics, VizKids’ Hello Kitty line, and of course all of the Adventure Time and Bravest Warriors comics. As a visual artist I’m always drawn to creator-owned and indie/artsy/handmade comics, too.

GP: How did you come to work with BOOM!/Archaia?

HNP: I started working with Boom as a freelancer first. I met Ross Richie at the Amazing Arizona Comic Con in January of this year (Eric was a guest of BOOM! at the show promoting Freelancers, and I was exhibiting in Artist Alley). I literally handed Ross a drawing I’d done on a postal sticker, my business cards and some cutesy leave-behinds (custom drawings and screen-printed stickers, just fun stuff) and introduced myself. I gave some things to Vince Frederick (our former Convention Organizer) and he told me he’d pass it along to Shannon for me.

I met Shannon, Jasmine, and some of the other editorial staff in Seattle at ECCC this year, and passed around my business cards, a few tiny screenprints, personalized ink drawings, watercolor doodles (cutesy leave-behinds are kinda my thing, apparently) . I kept in touch via Twitter, and a few weeks later I got an email from Jasmine Amiri, one of our assistant editors. I’d just finished a project with Marlo Meekins and I think Jasmine saw our Twitter convo, then hit me up to see if I’d ever be interested in hand-lettering for Kaboom. I accepted that invite, tested for Adventure Time work, then got an email from Whitney Leopard (Kaboom’s assistant editor) offering me a job for an Adventure Time mini-series. I was still working in Arizona at the time. Not long after that, maybe a month, I got a Facebook message from Kassandra Heller (a Cartoon Network artist now, she used to have my position at BOOM!) asking if I’d be interested in taking over her position as a designer at BOOM! since she was leaving. She set me up with Shannon’s email… and I sent in a resume. After a few weeks of Skype convos (super colloquial), BOOM! offered me a position and moving incentive, and I packed my bags and moved to Los Angeles.

GP: How would you describe your job for people?

HNP: By day – I’m an in-house graphic designer at BOOM!’s office in LA. I work on trade dress for new comics, print production stuff for singles, comic con displays, business card designs, all kinds of things… BOOM! has pretty diverse needs these days, especially since the release of 2 Guns.

As a freelancer, I’m currently the letterer for the Adventure Time: Candy Capers mini-series and have a few other projects in the works. I do hand-lettering, so that means I write/draw all of my letters traditionally and scan, clean, and place them on the digital art.

It’s an unusual position to be in, working both in-house and as freelancer for the same publisher. I’m paid separately for each, so I’m LITERALLY living a double-life. Like Batman.

GP: For people who want to pursue a career in what you do, what advice would you give them?

HNP: Just make work. Do whatever it is you ULTIMATELY want to do (if you want to write comic books – write comics. Don’t try to break in through lettering or flatting. If you want to draw comics – draw your own characters and stories first – to show editors and collaborators what style you work in). Build a portfolio that’s representative of what your end goal is, and then you’ll be able to show that to the people who can get you work in comics.

GP: Did you have a mentor to help you break into the industry? Do you mentor anyone yourself?

HNP: I wanted a career mentor so badly at one point in my life – but now, I’m glad I never had one person to go to. I’m the type that if I HAD had a one-woman or one-man mentor, I’d probably have just ended up trying to copy their career path and that never works out well. I think it’s for the best that I’ve had to learn from anyone and everyone, all the time. “The power is yours,” and all that.

I’m not currently, formally, mentoring anyone, though I tend to be somewhat didactic in my social media, so I’d like to think that helps other people struggling with the same career issues and aspirations that and have.

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?

HNP: I think there are some issues that women deal with in comics than men historically haven’t had to, but it makes me a little nervous that it’s such a hot topic right now. I say that because the act of analyzing different experiences based on gender is itself polarizing. I think that sexism exists – we all face sexist behaviors professionally, personally. The thing to do about it is not to let it get you down, keep working, keep trying to succeed at whatever it is you want to do, and if you’re good people will see that. Who wants to work for a bigot, anyway?

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?

HNP: I think that “BOOMChaia” (as we affectionately joke) has a diverse staff because the goal has always been to be a strong company, and we hire a lot of people who are young in their careers. The management team hires people based on their skill set and personality (ability to fit the company culture), so we end up with people from diverse professional backgrounds coming together to produce the amount of books of companies who have twice the size of our staff. Everyone who is hired is an asset, and we all have flux responsibilities. I don’t know why other companies have a hard time with this — it’s troubling.

I’m super proud of this company, but it’s crazy that this is even something to commend — I can’t believe it isn’t the norm to have a diverse office. I’m proud to work for a company that stands out for being equal, but it’s peculiar that it’s even an issue, know what I mean? I think some other publishers try to stick with hiring people who’ve been in the industry for half a decade already, and as a result they have more homogenous employee stats (whereas BOOM tends to “break a lot of people in”).

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?

HNP: I don’t handle comic-industry-related harassment any differently than I handle other situations regarding sexual harassment. I tend to be a pretty outspoken person, so if someone is making me uncomfortable (re: sexism in the comics biz), I always make it a point to tell them so. That said, the “booth babe” comments at conventions do get taxing, and the mere fact that the Bleeding Cool awards have a title named “the Prettiest Person in Comics” (or something similar) is pretty objectifying. In terms of personal experience beyond weird looks or catcalls (which I don’t think is unique to comics), as the partner of another growing name in comics (speaking of writer Eric M. Esquivel), I do sometimes get brushed over as “the girlfriend” rather than someone who has her own respectable career, so I’m sensitive about that. I think the best way to respond to harassment related to gender in comics is just to make good work and get your name out there, and to keep the conversation positive. The more equal the industry becomes, the more outdated those gender-based behaviors will be.

GP: What advice do you have for women looking to break into the comic book industry?

HNP: I have the same advice for everyone: Just make good work and promote yourself. Make the kind of work you want to keep making, and show it to everyone. Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram – use them all. Use new platforms. If you want to become “a name in comics” you can’t afford to be a hipster about which social media you use (as much as I pretend to be). Another important point – actually going to comic cons and meeting the people who can ultimately give you work is invaluable.

The same rules apply in the comic industry that apply to the job force at large – Be proud of your work, be confident, and act professionally. Act like a professional before you are one, and people will treat you as such.

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Interview: Women of BOOM! – Dafna Pleban

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photoThere’s much discussion of the treatment of women in the comic book industry and lack of female creators or staff. Really those discussions are about the “big 2,” because when it comes to small publishers, webcomics, indie comics and self-published comics, women are thriving. You can see that by taking a tour of most artist alleys at conventions. Also, much of the discussion circles around writers and artists, doing an injustice to those who toil behind the scenes as editors, in marketing, in production, sales, fulfillment and more.

So, we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the kick-ass women in the comic industry who don’t get the credit they deserve. And we’re starting with BOOM! Studios, a publisher who is showing there are kick-ass women in the comic book industry out there and most importantly hiring them. Some have told us that the publisher’s staff is composed of 60% women, but it’s not like we’ve done a headcount. All you need to do is go to their booth at any convention to see the diversity of the company. This is a publisher that’s shattering stereotypes when it comes to the workforce and showing success as a publisher. When it comes to innovation, it’s not just the comics they’re publishing, but also the diversity of the team that’s doing that.

BOOM! (and KaBOOM! and Archaia) has given us unprecedented access and the chance to ask questions to that 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.

Up first is Dafna Pleban, an editor for the company who has worked on such series as Hypernaturals, Dracula: The Company of Monsters, Planet of the Apes and more!

Graphic Policy: How did you get involved in the comic book industry?

Dafna Pleban: Being really, really cheap and wanting to get into Comic Con for free, so naturally that meant learning how to set up, record and publish my own podcast so as to score a press pass. Spoilers: it worked. One thing led to another and after a brief stint interning at Entertainment Weekly (and trying to get into Comic Con for free there as well) I was hired by BOOM! Studios to help set up their podcast (as well as work as a marketing assistant) and through a little emotional haranguing convinced them to let me be a lowly assistant editor full time…one thing led to another and now I am an actual editor with the business cards to prove it.

And I haven’t paid for a Comic Con badge since.

GP: Did you read comics growing up? Do you read them now?

DP: I did. Like many a young lass, the siren call of Robin booty drew me in too deep to ever get out. I still read comics, but my taste has expanded to include the mighty fine booties of Marvel too!

comics-boom-studios-logoGP: How did you come to work with BOOM!/Archaia?

DP: Persistence and luck and Chip “Cuddles” Mosher. As the marketing guy for BOOM!, we had been in contact in order to try to get some BOOM! writers on the podcast, one thing led to another and he put my resume in front of Ross and I got hired to do the one thing I like to do most: talk and comics. Not a bad gig.

GP: How would you describe your job for people? 

Haranguing cats. I know the saying goes “herding cats” but no, what I do is more haranguing than herding — you ask nicely, and then you ask firmly, and then you ask nicely again. Rinse, repeat, begin to use smiley icons unironically and eventually stop feeling bad about it. Most of all, I have a lot of fun making books I’m proud of with people I’d kill to work with any day.

GP: For people who want to pursue a career in what you do, what advice would you give them?

DP: Comics is an inherently collaborative medium, and there’s little room in collaboration for ego, much less when you’re the editor — you’re not here to make the book in your voice, you’re here to make the best book out of many voices.

Learn to be forgiving. To yourself, to your collaborators, to a lot of things. Perfection is a myth, and in the end, the only person that’s going to see those flaws are you. Your most favorite comic of all time? You speak to any of the writers, artists or editors, and they can list off all the things they would have done differently, if given a chance. This is always going to be the case with everything that you do, so if you really want to be a functional human being in this industry, much less in life, it helps to be forgiving. Or at least, it doesn’t hurt.

GP: Did you have a mentor to help you break into the industry? Do you mentor anyone yourself?

DP: Chip “Cuddles” Mosher encouraged me to pursue editing even if it meant leaving a marketing team that worked really well together, and I’ll always be grateful for that. Matt Gagnon taught me the importance of strict scheduling and collaborative story noting when I was his assistant, and I am definitely a stronger editor for it. More than anything, BOOM! Studios gave me the opportunity to grow in the direction of the work that interested me. They let me make mistakes and learn on the job, and you can’t ask for a better opportunity than the risk of screwing up royally.

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?

DP: The reality is, if you’re trying to break into mainstream/superhero comics, yeah, it is, its hard to network if you don’t have regular access to the convention circuit, and let’s face it, the convention circuit is still pretty hostile to women. More than anything it’s irritating, constantly getting your nerd-cred checked, and constantly fearing that simple networking might come off as mixed signals. Frankly, it can suck.

But luckily the medium has expanded so much from that, and there are so many ways of reaching an audience than existed before, that aiming for the mainstream needn’t be our only goal anymore. It’s both terrifying (in that there’s no set path from a–>z for success) and awesome (in that the traditional barriers of entry for anyone not white and not male are no longer, well, that important.) but the cons and comic shops are no longer the be-all, end-all of the industry, and women are finding success in carving their own niches and defining their own audiences. And that success on your own terms can often translate to the mainstream coming to you in return.

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? 

DP: I think it’s exponential — diversity breeds diversity. The more you’re used to having different voices around you, the less scary/difficult it becomes. And frankly, it makes for a better creative environment — when you have access to creators and editors with different life experiences than yours, it’s all additive, it’s just more wells of creativity you have access too, and that’s never going to be a bad thing.

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?

DP: I’ve worked in comic stores where I’ve been overlooked when a customer needs help, assumed to be the girlfriend of the person who “really” works there, who needs to be educated on the comics she sells, or who is open season openly, crassly be hit upon. And it sucks, of course it sucks, but it’s also not the be-all/end-all of my experiences, thank god.

GP: What advice do you have for women looking to break into the comic book industry?

DP: Don’t wait for us. Really. You’ll have so much more fun just doing whatever the hell you want to do. We’ll catch on eventually, it always takes us a little time, we’ll get there.

“Comics are Gay!” A Flash History of LGBTQ in Comics

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Originally posted at The Mass Media. Cross-posted with their permission.

It’s no secret that Nerd culture is generally hostile to anyone non-white and non-male. Attempts to challenge the sexualization of women in games and comics, for example, have long met with vocal opposition, some violent. But not all of Nerdom and Geekery are as heteronormative as the mainstream media reports.

In fact, LGBTQ characters and themes have long held a place in the comics industry — not always securely, and certainly on the margins, but as our social and legal culture is growing to recognize LGBTQ rights, so too are comics embracing homosexual, bisexual, transgendered, and queer lives.

The-Lavender-Menace-452x700In 1954, German-born Fredric Wertham published “Seduction of the Innocents,” a direct attack on the comics industry. Werthem argued that comics of the late 1940s and early 1950s were corrupting children’s psychiatric health and causing delinquency. His book led to U.S. Senate hearings and ultimately the creation of the Comics Code Authority, a censorship board for the comics.

Homosexuality was among Wertham’s many targets. He believed, for example, that Wonder Woman comics expressed BDSM themes and that she was a lesbian. Additionally, Wertham labeled Batman and Robin’s crime-fighting partnership gay. In an era when homosexuality was considered a mental health issue, the government was particularly afraid of its presence in children’s reading material, and the Comics Code Authority banned any mention of homosexuality or gay themes.

But nerds always find a way. As the underground comix scene exploded in the late 1960s and 1970s amid the potted-up counterculture movement and racial strife of the period, LGBTQ themes found a home. By the mid-1970s gay and lesbian comix became a medium for discussing LGBTQ rights, culture, and sex in a safe space. Comix like “Gay Heart Throbs” and “Gay Comix” were a hidden means of cultural and sexual expression that gave voice to LGBTQ communities, but which still remained largely hidden from the mainstream.

The 1980s and 1990s saw a shift in the acceptability of LGBTQ comics. American culture in general opened itself to incoming Japanese influences, which heavily shaped the gaming and comic book media. Long accepted in Japan, “yaoi,” “yuri,” and “bara” manga with explicit homosexual themes were now available in the United States.

The 1990s also saw the creation of comic book publishers like Image, Dark Horse, Malibu. Unlike DC and Marvel, these new companies gave their creators more artistic freedom, challenged and ultimately abandoned the Comic Code Authority, and led an industry-wide rise in depiction of violence, gore, sexuality, and other themes deemed “immoral” by the Code. Not surprisingly, DC and Marvel followed this trend, and it became more common for gay, lesbian, transgendered, and queer readers to see familiar faces and themes in the panels of their favorite comics.

This is not to say that things have completely opened up for LGBTQ readers of mainstream comics. Controversies still abound, like the recent announcement by Dan DiDio of DC that marriage will no longer be allowed in DC’s comics — conveniently, this announcement came some three issues after the lesbian character Batwoman became engaged to her partner — or the narratively awkward announcement in “Batgirl #19” that Barbara’s roommate is transgendered (at least I felt it was awkward, not because of the addition of a transgendered character, but because it felt like an LGBTQ easter egg thrown into the middle of Barbara’s traumatic storyline).

STK613253LGBTQ characters continue to fight crime in the pages of comics while challenging heteronormativity in American culture. But superheroes aren’t the only ones with LGBTQ lives in comics: Indie, alternative, and non-superhero comics also support and feature LGBTQ casts and themes. Archie Comics, which has been around since 1939, added the openly gay Kevin Keller to their cast in 2010, and in August 2013 issue 10 of his eponymous series became the first Archie-world comic to feature a gay kiss — and was the first Archie Comics issue to ever sell out.

LGBTQ characters, themes, and creators have long held a place in the comics industry. At times marginalized to underground movements after the backlash of moral panic, gay, lesbian, transgendered, and queer characters continue to gain recognition among the major publishers, fans, and even at their own presses, like Northwest Press.

The growth of widespread availability of “gay” comics in the U.S. and internationally signals a positive cultural turn toward the recognition of LGBTQ rights, while detailing the particular struggles of queer people and communities worldwide.

10 Questions With Transformers Prime Writer Mairghread Scott

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STK620454Mairghread Scott is living a fan’s dream. Not only does she work on the cartoon television show of a property that she’s been a long time fan of, but she also gets to write the comic based on that television show. The property is Transformers, and Scott gets to work as a writer for Transformers Prime. She also made history by being the first female writer ever for an official Transformers comic book.

With all of that, we get to get our geek on, chatting a bit about her career and what it’s like being a woman in the entertainment and comic industry.

Mairghread Scott is the next person up for Graphic Policy’s “10 Questions.”

Graphic Policy: You write not only the Transformers Prime comic but also for the television show, how did you get involved as a writer? How would you describe your job for people?

Mairghread Scott: I was the Writers’ Assistant on Transformers Prime and got my first professional script from that show. Writers’ Assistant and Script Coordinator jobs are a traditional “breaking in” job for animation writers: you’re in the room, taking notes, reading all the drafts of all the scripts and helping keep track of everything. It’s a little overwhelming at points, but truly plugs you into your show’s universe. It was because of my “super-insiderness” (and Mike Johnson’s generosity) that I got to write on Rage of the Dinobots and when they wanted to do an ongoing comic series that plugged into Season 3 of Prime, it just made sense to do that too. Of course, this explanation doesn’t express the level of obsessive nerdiness and possessive love I feel toward the Prime brand, but it sounds more professional.

GP: Some sites have mentioned you are a long time Transformers fan. What was the version that got you interested in them and what was it about it? Do you have a favorite character?

MS: Beast Wars got me involved, hands down. I loved Airazor. I hated Blackarachnia. I wanted to ride Dinobot into battle and stab Megatron through the spark chamber. Such is the life of a Midwestern geek in the 90s.

GP: Did you read comics growing up? Do you read them now?

MS: I actually did not start reading comics until halfway through high school. I’d always loved superhero shows, but there wasn’t anyone in my life who could help me “jump in” to actual floppies until my boyfriend in high school (who used the Ultimates line as a starting point, so good job, Marvel – it worked!). Comics had felt, frankly, intimidating from the outside (Issue 376? Coming out every week, but really once a month? Which Spider-Man do I read first?), and they still seemed very, very male. But once I got in, it felt like the most natural thing in the world and I was able to reconnect with my childhood heroes on a new, more adult (not that adult), level. I was hooked and have been reading ever since.

GP: Did you have a mentor to help you break into the entertainment industry? Do you mentor anyone yourself?

MS: Yes and no and yes and no. I say that because the word “mentor” always makes me think of an old kung fu master who teaches you for years on some isolated mountaintop. That doesn’t happen. No one who has anything worth teaching you will spend all their time doing it and looking for that “magic guru” gets a lot of people in trouble. Instead, I’ve had a dozen different people help me at different points in my career: who opened a door, or mentioned a job, or read a script, and there are people like that throughout your life. I try to be that for some people now. But the only person who knows what’s ultimately best for you, who always sticks in your corner, has to be you. Otherwise, you’ll never make it.

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?

MS: Yes, definitely. 50% of those problems are the result of BS, old wives tales the industry tells itself and that women tell themselves. The mere thought that we aren’t wanted is often enough to hold back very talented writers and artists. Why devote your energy to a career that everyone says you’re not welcome in? No one does comics for the money. The tragedy is that once you get in you find out how much BS it all was. Don’t get me wrong, companies (ALL companies) could be doing a lot more to go after the female market, but your editors, your artists, your peers – are often just as interested in promoting female characters as you are and the only thing they’re looking at is what talent you’re bringing to the table. The other 50% of our problems are just from the fact that it is REALLY hard to break in. Stores can be fickle with their ordering habits; you have to market yourself like crazy and there is a lot of rejection, missed chances, and failed starts to slog through. By the way, that’s true of any creative profession.

The answer to all of these problems is for women who want this to keep fighting for those jobs and for female fans to fight for their characters. Writing professionally requires a certain level of skill, but what most often separates professional writers from amateurs is sheer, unbridled endurance. Marketers may think a character won’t sell, but if they consistently make money, someone is going to figure it out. Eventually, talent (and profit) wins.

GP: We recently did some digging using Facebook stats and found that women make up about 41% of Transformers fandom. Does that surprise you at all?

MS: It’s more surprising to me that anyone actually researched it. But, no, female fans have been telling me how much they love the brand since before my first issue came out. And we do almost nothing to service them. There are literally three female transformers in all the IDW books on the shelf right now, period. Two of them are in Beast Hunters specifically because I put them there (there are actually several incidentals in Beast Hunters I wrote as female, but the average reader wouldn’t know that, so I don’t count them). What I’ve dedicated myself to proving is how much more this 41% would buy from us (and how many more women would join them) if we just paid attention to them. I think, I hope, that people are starting to understand.

GP: Have you done anything at all as a writer in an attempt to diversify what has been considered a “boy” franchise?

MS: Yeah. I added women. Not stupid women. Not every character being turned into a woman, but just having some intelligent, competent, clothed (I guess you could debate that one) women without acting like it’s a big deal. Because 41% of our fans are female, so it shouldn’t be.

GP: We’re coming up on the 30th anniversary of Transformers. Why have they endured for so long and any hints at some of the excitement we can expect to celebrate?

MS: I think they’ve endured because they are such great characters and there are so many of them. There’s always room to explore on Cybertron and there’s a great push-pull you can have as a writer with how alien these aliens really aren’t (or are). But in terms of spoilers, you’ve come to the wrong place. I can only hope Hasbro makes the wait worth your while.

GP: For people who want to pursue a career in what you do, what advice would you give them?

MS: Get your writing out there. If you want to write comics, make a comic, if you want to write TV, submit to contests, to fellowships, to managers. Even if your script isn’t completely perfect, it’s useless until people start reading it.

GP: What advice do you have for women looking to break into the comic book and entertainment industry?

MS: The same advice as the above but shouted a thousand times louder. Some women (myself included) have this idea that they’ll be ‘discovered’ and so all they need to do is hone their craft until the time is right and a Prince Charming-type editor turns up. That is not going to happen. Knock on the door, then kick down the door. Ask to be involved, then shout it. You are ALREADY NOT hired in the job you want, so the worst thing that can happen is that you will CONTINUE to not be hired. There is no downside. Remember that.

And, of course, if you (male or female) have any questions or comments (or funny GIFs, I’m a sucker for those) you can always reach me on Twitter at @MairghreadScott or Tumblr at http://mscottwrites.tumblr.com/

Wizard World Realizes There’s More Choices than Male & Female

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It’s so much easier to cover negativity when it comes to the geek community, but when this came across my desk, it was hard to not point it out and give praise. Recently Wizard World announced a film festival and for those interested in judging applicants they had to fill out a form about themselves. Instead of the usual two choices of male and female, Wizard World also included “other” with a blank spot to fill out. The company has realized there’s more to gender identity than two choices.

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Now compare this with a certain company that recently launched their own digital comic shop. Months later and there’s still only the choice of male and female.

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Kudos to at least one company in the “geek” sphere for being progressive.

Review: Hominids #1-3

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This review originally appeared in a slightly different form on my now-dead, short-lived personal blog back in May. But Graphic Policy is a much better location for this review!

Chapter-2_cover_SmallA few months ago (back in May) I helped to organize a local convention at my university, serving as a panelist coordinator, and while the convention wasn’t the most successful to date in the history of cons, it was nonetheless a wonderful experience to be involved in, and especially to meet all of the wonderful artists, writers, cosplayers, and even actors who participated in our wide-ranging panels. I got the opportunity to check out our exhibition hall, where we had several comic book industry insiders, including Brandon Jerwa (Vampirella, Battlestar Galactica, G.I. Joe), Mark Rahner (Vampirella, Warlord of Mars, Rotten), Mike Catron and Gary Groth (co-founders of Fantagraphics Books and the guys who took over The Nostalgia Journal and turned it into today’s famous The Comics Journal), James Taylor (artist and co-founder of Jet City Comic Show), and a number of authors (Danika Dinsmre, Janet Lee Carey), several professors from Western Washington University and the University of Washington, and many vendors from Portland, OR to Vancouver, B.C.

One of the best finds of the con, however, was meeting Jordan Kotzebue and cashing in a well-spent $15 for the first three issues of his Hominids series. Kotzebue’s work in this creator-owned, independent comic series is outstanding, with a playful artistic style that is beautiful, fun to look at, and richly detailed. One quick flip through his books and I was sold (quite literally) on their ability to at least visually captivate and tell and solid story. I was not disappointed, either, by the writing, especially after the story comes into its own in issues #2 and #3 (it feels as though #1 was written by someone completely different).

Hominids is not just good and original art, though, it’s also a really intricate and playful story which deals with complex issues that plague society today. While it’s not necessarily a good review to say “this connects to society,” since almost every comic or piece of Nerd media nowadays is talking about issues pertinent to modern, globally conscious citizens (this is, after all, due to the fact that media is partly a reflection of its time and grapples with the complexities its consumers face in situ), Koztebue’s work does more than just calmly allude to race and, to a lesser extent, gender relation in the U.S. and elsewhere. Instead, Hominids vividly challenges notions of biologized racial attributes by showing that culture and historical circumstances are what shape individuals’ and groups’ actions.

Disavowing the idea that racial and ethnic groups have innate, born-in-the-bled differences is incredibly important to achieving racial inequality, since arguments about biologized race have been the basis for oppression, genocide, ethnocide, linguicide, and slavery for hundreds (thousands) of years of interaction between Western Euro-America and the largely non-White rest of the world. And while I can’t say for sure that Kotzebue means to create a parable about race and the nature vs. nurture/biology vs. culture debates, the prehistorical context with multiple Hominid groups vying for dominance in their respective ecological niches provides a great foil for this kind of fun, lighthearted exploration of a very serious present-day issue.

By virtue of its temporally distant setting, Hominids can call into question the belief that race is something genetic. The Homo sapiens (Humans) in the second issue are shown as a violent species, constantly warring with the other Hominid groups, but especially Kotzebue’s forest-dwelling, tree-climbing Homo neanderthalensis (Neanderthals). With the introduction of the human character Icari, who was cast out of his human city for believing he found the One True God (which looks like a demon on a spaceship…time travel?!), antagonism and mistrust erupts in the Neanderthal pack, who want little to do with a violent human. However, pack leader Zona points out that this human might be proof that the humans’ culture is to blame for their violence, and not their nature.

The second and third issues are packed full of useful insights that hearken to issues of colonialism worldwide, but which especially parallel the struggle of Native Americans against Whites, a point made all the more potent since all the humans drawn thus far are ‘Caucasian’ (and, curiously, so are the Neanderthals). There are also issues raised about disability, given that two of the main characters are albino; while not a physical or mental disability, albinism is definitely a social one.

In terms of gender dynamics, it could be pointed out that the female characters bearing their breasts is sexualizing, but given the context of the story (Hello, they’re Neanderthal’s…who look just like humans…) and the fact that Zona and Sno don’t seem to be hyper-sexualized like most comics these days, Hominds doesn’t strongly reinforce stereotypes about female characters, and even goes so far as to provide a major female leader. It is possible, though, that Sno’s albinism and Icari’s fascination with her could easily develop overtones of objectification of Sno as a goddess figure. I trust in Jordan, though, given Hominids‘ other overall themes.

Issue-3_store_largeAs a reader, I’m wondering whether or not the savage and chimp-like peoples will get their fair say as well, or if Zona’s argument about culture driving action will fall in on itself and contradict what is one of the most socially conscious and critical points of the whole series thus far.

I find Hominids a thrilling, light-hearted and yet somehow serious, additional to my comic collection. Primatology and Hominid evolution is great fun to study in class, but it’s so much more exciting in fiction (think, Planet of the Apes, Tarzan of the Apes, Auel’s Earth’s Children series), not the least of which because pondering what-ifs regarding our nearest ancestors and cousins is so delightfully threatening to our assumed specialness as evolved, intelligent, and evolutionarily successful critters.

If it could be put on your local comic bookstore pull list, I would recommend everyone to do so. Unfortunately, for now, we’ll have to settle for the online version and what becomes available in Kotzebue’s e-store. Hominids is available page-by-page online and updated every Tuesday, but I thoroughly suggest that you buy the individual issues through his e-store, not only because they are a wonderful addition to any comic collector’s stash, but because they look so much better in person! Also, I’m a sucker for getting to interact physically with the media I consume–there’s nothing better than smell and feel of new comics and old books! And supporting an up-and-coming artist is a way you can contribute personally to the creation of great, socially conscious art.

You can check out Hominds on Facebook, and follow Jordan Kotzebue on both Twitter and Tumblr, where you can check out his non-Hominids art and experience the full range of his dynamic style.

Story and art: Jordan Kotzebue
Story: 8.5  Art: 9  Overall: 9  Recommendation: Buy

Gender Through Comic Books, The Free Comics Course

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DiplomaMark Waid on his blog last night posted about the new online course by Ball State University, “Gender Through Comic Books.” The all-star group of comic creators getting behind this education experience includes Brian K. Vaughan, Scott Snyder, Matt Fraction, Jason Aaron, Dan Slott, Terry Moore, Jonathan Hickman, Brian Michael Bendis, Gail Simone, Waid and more. That’s an impressive line up of talent.

The course is the brainchild of Christy Blanch. It’s a Massive Open Online Course, which makes it freely available to anyone, anywhere across the world. As long as you have web access, you’re good. There’s no cost, no obligation, and you can enroll now here.

Here’s the description directly from the course website:

The course, led by Christina Blanch of Ball State University, uses a study of comic books incorporating highly interactive video lectures, online discussions between students, and real-time socially driven interviews. Interviews with the comic industry’s biggest names such as Terry Moore, Brian K Vaughan, Mark Waid, as well as others address questions of gender representations and constructions involving both men and women.

There’ll be live weekly interviews as well with creators and editors who will be taking questions live through Twitter.

If you’re still not convinced, here’s a video promoting the course.

 

Some Reaction to Brian Wood’s All Women X-Men Isn’t Shocking

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Yesterday it was announced Brian Wood‘s X-Men will feature a full female team. It quickly shot up as one of the top comics I’m looking forward to in 2013 (it’s Wood + X-Men = What’s not to like). Not shockingly the reaction to the awesomeness this will be wasn’t all puppies and rainbows. Queue misogyny in 3…2…1…

A lot of comments commented that the title of the book should be “X-Women” to which Wood retorted and asked when these women stopped being X-Men.

52 Reviews, Part 3

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So, for the fun of it, I’m going to be collecting all 52 DC #1 issues. And I’m going to review them all. Keep in mind, though, that I’m generally a Marvel fan and, while I’m working may way through DC’s recent big events, I’m only up through the middle of Countdown and I haven’t read any of DC’s non-event comics in a long time, so I’m coming at these stories with a bit of a disadvantage in terms of chronology and character knowledge. Since DC is certainly trying to attract new readers, though, this makes me come at them with a perspective similar to their hypothetical new fans…

Batman #1 (DC) – Maybe DC should just stick to stories about Batman or written by Scott Snyder. They seem to do well with those. I’ve liked all of the Batman issues of DCnU and this one is no exception. Greg Capullo does a great job on the pencils on this one. This story gives us a great intro to many of Batman’s enemies, reaches out to Batman’s wider universe of allies, gives a great nod to his past and leaves us with a great mystery at the end. This is a very good comic.

Story: 10 Art: 9 Overall: 9.5

Birds of Prey #1 (DC) – Unlike some of the other creative teams this week, Duane Swierczynski and Jesus Saiz at least try to balance the “hotness” of their female characters with a good story and clothing that is functional. Sure, they’re still models and there is still some titillation, but the costumes are legit for superheroines and the women are well-written characters in a well-written story.

Story: 8 Art: 7 Overall: 7.5

Blue Beetle #1 (DC) – So far, this is DC’s best attempt at diversity. There have been a number of other minority characters in the new comics, but they all seem to be colorblind attempts at diversity, with the black characters not being stereotypical, but also not being distinguishable from white characters beyond the visual elements. In this issue, Jaime Reyes is written as a real human being and his Hispanic heritage is not ignored and he doesn’t descend into a characature, either (although a few of the other characters come dangerously close). There is also a great Spanglish joke that was my favorite moment of the week.

Story: 9 Art: 8 Overall: 8.5

Captain Atom #1 (DC) – The art is a bit too loose for my tastes and I’m not sure that I like this particular take on Captain Atom, but J.T. Krul does commit to a particular vision of the character and does a good job of being consistent and creating a coherent narrative and personality for Captain Atom and his supporting cast. Definitely worth a continued look.

Story: 7.5 Art: 6.5 Overall: 7

Catwoman #1 (DC) – The art by Guillem March is bad enough to sink it (near-Liefeldian body proportion problems mixed with Macfarlane-esque contortions). Tht title of the story is “most of the costumes stay on,” which has to be ironic, since in the three pages before we learn that title, we see five separate panels showing Selina’s bra-covered breasts. The rest of the issue has naked hookers and a throwaway woman who is beaten and killed for no particular reason. The story seems like a man’s revenge fantasy of what a woman would do to a man who had brutalized and killed another woman. Sort of like his heart’s in the right place, but he doesn’t quite understand women. And the concept is undercut by the wall-to-wall TNA and the uncomfortable Batman sex scene. One positive note: through 39 DCnU issues, Catwoman’s contact Lola is the first female character I’m aware of who isn’t skinny. She’s still in skin-tight clothing and is somewhat sexualized, but it’s something

Story: 1 Art: 4 Overall: 2.5

DC Universe Presents #1 (DC) – Another issue where there is a coherent vision for the character and an attempt at creating a style and tone for the series that, while I may not love it, I can appreciate the quality of what is being done. This issue has some interesting things in it, including a possibly unintentional homage to the movie Fallen, with Denzel Washington, that works well.

Story: 7 Art: 7 Overall: 7

Green Lantern Corps #1 (DC) – This issue isn’t perfect, but it’s still very entertaining. The Guy Gardner-John Stewart team-up works well. Artist Fernando Pasarin’s strength appears to be the big, epic shots. In a GL story, there are a lot of those and most of them in this issue are breathtaking. Definitely a series to keep reading. So when I said above that DC is really getting it right on Batman, I’d add the Lantern stuff to that, since I think all of the Lantern issues have been well done, too.

Story: 8 Art: 9 Overall: 8.5

Legion of Super-Heroes #1 (DC) – Not surprisingly for a Legion comic, there are too many characters here to really grab on to any of them. It’s not a bad issue, it’s just not something that is really interesting. Good, but not great.

Story: 6 Art: 7 Overall: 6.5

Nightwing #1 (DC) – It’s a little confusing at times and the art isn’t my favorite, but it’s very good, if necessarily derivative of Batman comics.

Story: 8 Art: 7.5 Overall: 7.75

Red Hood and the Outlaws #1 (DC) – This comic is very sexist. It’s all about objectifying Starfire, her having sex with random people in the perfect male fantasy, and spying on her and posting pics of her in a bikini on the Internet without her knowledge. I think Jason Todd and some kind of plot are in there too.

Story: 1 Art: 7 Overall: 4

Supergirl #1 (DC) – The issue is all action and the action is pretty good. The art isn’t great and I keep getting the feeling that if she turned the wrong way, Supergirl would accidentally be bottomless, that’s how skimpy the bottom of her costume is. Also, it seems like DC is relying too much on the “reveal” of a major character guest appearing in another issue, despite it not really being a surprise most of the time. This is at least the fourth or fifth time that Superman or Batman has shown up on the last page of a comic starring someone else. This one does have a lot of potential, though, so I’ll be back.

Story: 7.5 Art: 6.5 Overall: 7

Wonder Woman #1 (DC) – I’ve never cared for Wonder Woman since I’m not a huge mythology fan and I was prepared to really dislike this comic. I couldn’t have been more pleasantly surprised. While this issue has some of the same wardrobe problems and male fantasy takes on what women should be like that other issues this week have, they are minor here compared to other issues and this one is superior because of a very good story. The comic is almost cinematic in its tone and Diana is clearly established as a strong female character, something we can’t say for Catwoman or Starfire.

Story: 9 Art: 7.5 Overall: 8.25

Where is Amanda Waller?!

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Oh Amanda!

Suicide Squad #1 had a few good points (mostly involving King Shark) but one major problem is on EVERYONE’s lips: Where Is Amanda Waller?!
The REAL Amanda Waller.

She is the only middle-aged, African-American, woman of size in comics. Actually she is one of the few characters who is any one of those things. What is gained by representing even fewer types of people in comics? What is gained by diluting her iconic presence?

Waller is one of those characters who you can’t help but remember and be impressed by. Sure, in the real world as someone who believes in the Constitution and human rights, I would be disgusted by her politics– she makes even Cheney, Kissinger and their war criminal cronies look moral. But no-one can doubt her power as a character and all she has overcome to get where she is.

DC mentioned one of the reasons for the relaunch was to impart some realism to comics (not sure if that’s what they need but let’s follow that path).

Realistically, women working in male dominated government agencies don’t wear their shirts unbuttoned so low their bra hangs out (heck, even I don’t do that and I work in a liberal workplace). As the daughter of two federal employees growing up in the DC suburbs I was surrounded by powerful women (like my Mom) who worked for the federal government. They don’t dress like fake Amanda Waller.  They dressed like real Amanda Waller (and in the 80s they even wore those awkward floppy ties). They are also a range of ages and sizes. Amanda was one of the most realistic-looking characters in comics (don’t get me started on hobby horse about grown women characters wearing crop-tops out and about during the daytime like they’re going to a 80s dance party).

One of the other reasons for the relaunch is to appeal to more readers. Well, DC just told middle aged women and women of size that they don’t exist. They don’t wield power. Does that move comics?

And if all it takes to move comics is t&a they’d be selling a lot more books than they are today. So lack of t&a isn’t whats’ hurting the industry.

Bring back Amanda Waller.
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Sign the petition and Tweet a message to DC to bring The Wall back!

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