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Interview: Women of BOOM! – Whitney Leopard

Posted on December 12, 2013 by Brett

We’re at lucky seven when it comes to our “Women of BOOM!” features, 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 Whitney Leopard, an assistant editor for the company.

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

Whitney Leopard: I was majoring in Psychology at UNC Charlotte when I realized the error of my ways and transferred colleges. I ended up majoring in Sequential Art at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, GA. It was there that I realized I wanted to be an editor and it was there that I made a great network of friends that helped me push my way into the industry.

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

WL: Sort of. I would steal my brother’s X-Men and Spider-Man comics whenever I was stuck at home but I never really got into comics until high school when I started buying manga and discovered indie graphic novels like White Out. I definitely read comics now, between my pull-list at my comic shop and keeping an eye on new graphic novels, I’m pretty sure most of my free time is spent reading comics.

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

WL: I actually interned for Archaia last summer! They were my first inside look into the industry from a publisher’s point of view and I just fell in love. I worked a lot of odd jobs afterwards from being an extra on tv shows to freelance editing, the latter of which ended with me learning about BOOM! from an artist that I worked with at the time, sent in my resume and after lots of prayer and luck, I now work for one of the best companies in the industry!

GP: How would you describe your job for people?

WL: I get to work with amazing creators who all want to do comics. I get to work at a place where I can have a Die Hard action figure next to a LSP pop doll, and that’s not weird. My desk is probably the least interesting one in the office. At work I read comics, talk to amazing people about comics, and then I get to make sure more comics happen. I kind of live the dream. The way I describe it to my grandparents? I publish funny books.

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

WL: Don’t give up! I thought I was going to be a psychologist when I was 18, a designer when I was 20, and then an editor when I was 22. Give yourself time to figure out what you really want to do without being too hard on yourself and then pursue it with passion. If you want to be an editor, figure out ways to get the experience. Put together an anthology, get an internship, go out there and make connections. Connections will always be important.

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

WL: Since I went to school for a degree in comics, I had several people to help me but the one who pushed me the hardest was my professor Tom Lyle. He’s the one who asked me if I had ever thought about being an editor, the one that showed me that I didn’t have to be a writer or an artist to be passionate and have a career in comics. He was and still is a great help and a great person to talk to. I’ve had a few people email me to ask questions about becoming an editor and I’m happy to give anyone advice but the fact remains that everyone ends up here in a completely unique way, they’ll just have to find their own path.

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?

WL: I’ve heard crazy stories about women being turned away from portfolio reviews because they were “dressed too cute”. I have a friend who was turned down for a job when she met the people in person, a month later at a convention her boyfriend was setting up her table and the same people came up and wanted to hire him based off her art. He impersonated her, got the job and then they didn’t inform the company of the mix up until after she had been paid. That said, I also know a lot of women who are currently in the industry and aren’t going to be leaving anytime soon. Maybe I’m just really lucky to be surrounded by a company that judges people on their talent and personality and not their gender, but I would like to think that it’s being overcome everyday.

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?

WL: I think it’s because BOOM! is constantly thinking ahead instead of being stuck in the past. We’re not trying to relive some sort of golden age, we’re trying to create a new one and that means creating a team that will be able to handle whatever the world throws at us. I think BOOM! has a great team. (I might be biased.)

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?

WL: My sister was told that she couldn’t pick up the new Static Shock comic because she was neither black nor a dude and therefore she wouldn’t be able to relate to the character. She handled it like a boss and continued buying the series while it was still going. I know there are worse stories out there and I’m thankful that I’ve never had anything like that happen to me, but when I think about it happening to all the amazing women out there who just love comics, it’s depressing. I’m not sure how I would handle in person, but I hope I never have to.

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

WL: You can do it! It will take a lot of time and patience, but it’s definitely worth it. I hope when you get here that you’re surrounded by amazing and encouraging people and that when you get here, you’re here to stay.

Interview: Women of BOOM! – Meg Gandy (graphicpolicy.com)
Interview: Women of BOOM! – Jasmine Amiri (graphicpolicy.com)
Interview: Women of BOOM! – Noelle Stevenson (graphicpolicy.com)
Interview: Women of BOOM! – Dafna Pleban (graphicpolicy.com)
Interview: Women of BOOM! – Hannah Nance Partlow (graphicpolicy.com)
Interview: Women of BOOM! – Rebecca Taylor (graphicpolicy.com)

Interview: Women of BOOM! – Rebecca Taylor

Posted on December 5, 2013 by Brett

We’re up to a half dozen of our “Women of BOOM!” features, 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.

Up this week is Rebecca Taylor, an editor for the company.

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

Rebecca Taylor: I studied writing in school, and I always knew that I wanted to work in some form of collaborative storytelling. I interned at a few places in Hollywood before finding Archaia. Once I was there, I performed a sit-in and simply refused to leave. They kindly let me stay, and I’ve been here ever since.

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

RT: I’m embarrassed to say that I was unaware that they still printed comics until I was about fifteen and my mother—yes, my mother—brought home Hush from the bookstore because she knew I liked Batman. Ever since then, I’ve been reading comics. I definitely still read them now. My iPad storage is 5% photos, 10% music, and 50% comics.

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

RT: As I mentioned, I started as an intern at Archaia. They offered me amazing opportunities to grow in editorial, to work on incredible projects and with remarkable creators. Moving with Archaia over to BOOM! just feels like another one of those great opportunities to grow.

GP: How would you describe your job for people?

RT: I always tell people that an editor is an ambassador between a creator’s imagination and a readers’. My job is to figure out exactly what story the creator is trying to tell and make sure that that’s the story the reader ends up reading. I’m the creator’s first reader and their biggest fan. I also moonlight as a part-time drill-sergeant, psychologist, and cheerleader.

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

RT: Spend time working in collaborative environments. Whether it’s retail, team sports, workshop classes, teaching, or writers’ groups, find a place where you can be a part of a team and use your communication skills. Most of the major publishers have internship programs, so take advantage of those if you’re still in school. If you want to go into editing, the other thing to do is to just consume content. Read, read, read. Read comics. Read novels. Read plays. Watch television. Watch movies. Then read some more.

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

RT: Since Archaia has always been such a small team, I think we’ve all taught each other things. I feel like I’ve grown up there in many ways, learning from everyone. I’ve loved being able to run the Archaia Internship Program. I’ve met some incredible young people who are going to make big impacts in this industry. I try and engage their curiosity and encourage their enthusiasm as much as I can, because we need as many smart, passionate, intelligent people coming into the industry and bringing fresh ideas as we can get.

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?

RT: For me, I actually think it was an asset. A lot of companies are looking for diversity now on their staffs. I think the bigger challenge is once you get in the door. I’ve always been lucky enough to work in extremely open, accepting, and encouraging companies, but even so, there are still very few women in top positions at comic book publishers. Editors-in-Chief, Publishers, and CEOs are still men pretty much across the board. I hope that’s the next step forward that we can collectively change, and I feel that most people in this industry, both men and women, share that hope.

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?

RT: I think for both companies, there’s such an incredible diversity to the kinds of stories that we tell, that it makes sense for everyone from our readers to our staffs would reflect that diversity. We don’t care if your story is for adults or kids, horror or humor, painted or drawn in ballpoint pen—if it’s good, it’s something we want to do. Same goes for the people—doesn’t matter what you look like or where you come from, if you’re good at what you do, you belong here.

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?

RT: I think most of the uncomfortable instances I’ve had while in comics are mostly born from guys not thinking things through rather than out of maliciousness. When I point it out to them later, they apologize profusely most of the time. It doesn’t change the fact that it sucks when it happens, but at least I’ve always felt encouraged to speak up when it does. Contrary to some beliefs, 95% of the guys in comics don’t want to make women feel discriminated. They just do it without knowing it sometimes, so pointing it out when it happens is good for everyone.

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

RT: Don’t be afraid to be you. You have to be willing to stand up for yourself. Just trust your instincts. Don’t be afraid to like the things you like and say so. Have no fear!

Interview: Women of BOOM! – Meg Gandy (graphicpolicy.com)
Interview: Women of BOOM! – Jasmine Amiri (graphicpolicy.com)
Interview: Women of BOOM! – Noelle Stevenson (graphicpolicy.com)
Interview: Women of BOOM! – Dafna Pleban (graphicpolicy.com)
Interview: Women of BOOM! – Hannah Nance Partlow (graphicpolicy.com)

Interview: Women of BOOM! – Meg Gandy

Posted on November 28, 2013 by Brett

It’s the fifth 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.

Up this week is artist Meg Gandy, the artist on Archaia’s Spera Vol. 3 (out now, hint hint)!

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

Meg Gandy: I started a webcomic after college. Not long after that, a small time publisher saw it and offered me a work-for-hire contract, which was simultaneously one of the best and worst things I ever did–worst because it was a truly awful experience. Best because once a few of the local writers heard that I was available to work, I started lining up projects.

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

MG: I did when I was introduced to a comic worth reading. The Sunday papers with Calvin and Hobbes were good, and Disney Adventures briefly ran Bone. I had a babysitter that had a massive box of older comics, like Casper the Friendly Ghost, Richie Rich, Archie, that sort of thing. But I had never seen a comic shop, and the rare superhero comic that made it my way was invariably ugly and dull (it was the 90s). So I wasn’t a regular fan until high school, when I first encountered manga. I read tons of books now.

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

MG: Josh Tierney dropped me an email, so it’s more that I was working with him than Archaia. I had already heard of Spera, and been a fan of both Tierney’s and Archaia for some time, so I was thrilled.

GP: How would you describe your job for people?

MG: Long hours, shit pay, incredibly lonely, often tedious, crazy fulfilling.

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

MG: Be good at budgeting and expect to be quite poor. Make sure you get some manner of exercise. Take your vitamins. Learn to like backgrounds. Pull out your favorite comics and study why they work so well. And draw, draw, draw. There’s really only one way to get good at making comics, and that’s to make comics. Start a webcomic. And kiss your social life goodbye.

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

MG: No, and no. I like the idea though, and I hear Sean Gordon Murphy is looking to do something like that for a few lucky people.

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?

MG: Having never worked for the companies people usually mean when they say “the comic industry,” I can’t speak to the issue personally. What I can say is the #1 obstacle to my working for them isn’t even if they want me, which I’m sure they don’t, but that I don’t want them. The books I want to make are not the books they want to sell. The stories I want to read and write are not the stories they want to give anyone. The characters I want to know about are not the ones they want to make. And working for them would mean compromising values I’m not willing to give up. And that’s not even addressing how badly work-for-hire contracts suck. If I’m going to be poor, it’s going to be on my terms, making the kinds of books I want to make.

MG: There’s a number of things at play here–for starters, Archaia was originally founded to publish Artesia. This is a company founded only a little more than a decade ago to publish a fantasy book about a female character in reasonable armor, who made the leap from concubine to general, outlives her king and sets out to avenge not her king, but her sister-wives (some of whom assist her from beyond the grave). I found this book by chance in a musty, crowded used book store and through that, discovered Archaia. After Artesia, Archaia published things like Mouseguard, Cursed Pirate Girl, and of course, Spera. Fantasy is a culturally safe genre for women, so there’s already a reason for women to be interested. The overt sexualization used by other publishers to attract readers just isn’t common in Archaia’s line-up. And since the books are creator-owned, women get to keep what they create, rather than just hope to tack onto some other guy’s idea. I can’t speak for other women, but having NOT grown up with mainstream comics, the whole set-up of how they work kind of appalls me. And their PR is awful. The response to serious criticism is never “well if you think we’re racist/sexist, don’t read our books” because I will always respond “okay” and go and spend my money, and take my talent, elsewhere.

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?

MG: I’m not well known enough that anyone’s ever felt like I needed to be taken down a peg. I have seen the bullshit flung Kate Beaton’s way. She handles it with great hilarity and grace. I don’t know that I would be so kind about it.

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

MG: That you don’t really have to anymore. The most useful thing I ever did was start a webcomic. Writers and publishers can see up front what I can do and decide for themselves if they’re interested in working with me. I can self publish using any number of tools available on the web. If you’re willing to do the work, you can be in comics.

Interview: Women of BOOM! – Jasmine Amiri (graphicpolicy.com)
Interview: Women of BOOM! – Noelle Stevenson (graphicpolicy.com)
Interview: Women of BOOM! – Hannah Nance Partlow (graphicpolicy.com)
Interview: Women of BOOM! – Dafna Pleban (graphicpolicy.com)

Diversity in Comics? Rethinking Green Lantern #0

Posted on November 25, 2013 by

This is an adapted version of an article published on Reading with Pictures.

In September 2011 DC Comics attempted to create their first major Arab Muslim American superhero, a new rendition of the Green Lantern, a staple character in the DC lineup dating to 1940. This new superhero, Simon Baz, made his appearance in Green Lantern #0, written by Geoff Johns with art by Doug Mahnke and Christian Alamy, and added a spark of diversity to the publisher’s largely white cast.

Unfortunately, they did so with a deeply troubling origin story in which Simon Baz stole a van that, unbeknownst to him, had a bomb in it. He was quickly arrested, taken to Guantanamo Bay and tortured. He was saved by the Green Lantern ring, which chose him as the world’s next protector. The ring allowed him to escape, whereafter he was pursued as a dangerous terrorist by the Justice League. All of this was published under the guise of authentically narrating the experiences of Arab and Muslim Americans.

Newspapers as respected as The New York Times reported on the Arab Muslim addition to the DC comic book universe, and interviews with writer Geoff Johns revealed his Lebanese ancestry — this, it was made to seem, gave him the credibility to write about Arab and Muslim American experiences.

Indeed, while it is critical that the experiences of racial prejudice, harassment, suspicion, and violence perpetrated almost daily against Arab and Muslim Americans be represented, there remains the damming potential for such representations to be the only way in which media consumers come to know Arab and Muslim characters. By default, these representations become the lens through which they come to view not only fictional people, but real lives.

The problem is one of character design: how the characters are created to be. This is a problem for all media, though it is particularly crucial for comics, since the industry is currently undergoing a push from fans and new creators to be more representative.

What this often means, as Green Lantern #0 shows, is checking off identities on a list of non-white/non-male categories, with the aim to please by name and number. Companies like Marvel Comics can now say, “Yep, we’ve got an Afro-Puerto Rican Spider-Man” and DC can say, “Yep, we’ve got an Arab Muslim.” But DC’s 2011 attempt at diversification also shows that diversity is limited, often to aggrandized stereotypical stories that, say, frame Arabs and Muslims as terrorists (even if by accident). So how about a little background on this issue.

To say that life has not been easy for Arab and Muslim Americans after the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon in September 2001 would be farce. As literary critic and self-identified Arab American Stephen Salaita pointed out in his fantastic study of Arab American literature, Arab American Literary Fictions, the concept of Arab or Muslim Americans as a unified, racially distinct segment of the population emerged in response to fears of foreign Islamic fundamentalist terrorism, and the need to control potential threats at home.

Even before 9/11, Edward Said’s concept of Orientalism — that brand of racial ideology that fetishizes the Arab world, the East as a whole, and its cultural products as an exotic, mysterious, and must-have Other (i.e. “not us”) — had long structured America’s view of Arab and Muslim immigrants to the U.S. In the 1950s-1970s they were regarded as a model minority alongside Indians and Eastern Asians. Regardless, they were not considered a distinct group with identifiable and discernible characteristics.

In other words, unlike Blacks and Latina/os, Arabs and Muslims didn’t bother white middle-class suburbia. You know, those so-called “average Americans.” Arab and Muslim Americans were not disruptive enough to white society to need designating as a specific racial group. This is in part because before 9/11 “The Arab” and “The Muslim” were doofy Ottoman costumery, children’s parodies (Aladdin), and occasional bad guys (Indiana Jones).

In the wake of 9/11, violence against Arabs and Muslims, whether American or not, increased exponentially and was governmentally sanctioned via the stripping of Constitutional rights for the purpose of national security. Arabs and Muslims were widely depicted in film and on television as the enemy. Scholarship on the issue of Arab and Muslim representation has finally reached a headway, a result of the growth of Arab American Studies as a discipline emerging out of the long-established field of American Studies, and is best exemplified in Evelyn Alsultany’s Arabs and Muslims in the Media (NYU, 2012).

The violence, in many cases, is often spurred by the inability to read beyond media representations and to think critically about the plurality of Arab and Muslim lived experiences. Sikhs, non-Muslim Arabs, non-Arab Muslims, Muslim Arabs, and sometimes Jews are conflated with the identity of the singular, Otherized muslimarab-arabmuslim, a seemingly insoluble identity that is, according to government policy and popular belief, potentially engaged in fundamentalist Islamic activity or at least aware of such activity.

Not all Arabs are Muslim, not all Muslims are Arab. The United States hosts some 3.5 million Arab Americans, whose group identity is based largely in shared cultural and linguistic traditions which hail largely from the twenty-two members states of the Arab League.

Some are Christian, Jewish, atheist, Baha’i, etc. Muslims, on the other hand, number roughly 2.6 million, only 26% of which are of Arab descent. Many are from South(east) Asia, are black Muslims, white, or Hispanic, according to the 2006 American Community Survey, and in 2009 and 2011 they made up the largest percentage of immigrants to the U.S.

So where does this information, a context which we can use to critically read Green Lantern #0, leave us? Ultimately, it reminds us as readers who have market influence in comics more so than in almost any other format of Nerd media, that we need to demand more than stereotypes. I have not read Ultimate Spider-Man, but I have heard many fans attest to the sincerity with which Bendis writes Miles Morales. Gail Simone, likewise, writes female characters with an eye to their long history of being sexualized, fetishized, and abused by creators and fans.

We have to demand more than a story that, by all means, breaks boundaries but which simultaneously places other barriers to diversification. When “terrorist” and “Arab” or “hijab” and “Muslim (woman)” are binaries used to define an entire population of radically diverse lived experiences, we have to be willing to call bullshit. We have to be willing to exert the same kind of buying and petitioning power as when we got Orson Scott Card kicked off Adventures of Superman.

If anything good came out of Green Lantern #0, it’s the possibility to learn from a company’s mistakes and do “diversity” better. We’ll see how Marvel does with Ms. Marvel, and hope a lesson was learned.

Interview: Women of BOOM! – Jasmine Amiri

Posted on November 21, 2013 by Brett

It’s the fourth 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.

Up this week is Assistant Editor Jasmine Amiri.

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

Jasmine Amiri: It kind of happened organically. I went to school for film and realized half way through that the film industry would have sucked my soul dry. Comics was something that I had always flirted with, but never thought I would pursue, like a pipe dream of sorts. I applied for my college internship at BOOM! not thinking anything would really happen. Well, something happened. I landed the internship and quickly realized that the comics industry was a special place where creativity could thrive and there was no room for jaded, vacant personalities and people were actually happy. I saw myself being happy in comics. It was exactly what I’d been looking for my whole life.

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

JA: It was a bit harder for me to get ahold of comics growing up since there wasn’t a local comic book store in my home town. I’d have to wait for trades or for a weekend when my parents needed to drive into the city. Once I got to college, there was a comic book store across the street. I started to get back into reading them and basically went nuts from there. I was reading literally everything I could get my hands on and it’s been history since then.

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

JA: I started off as an intern. As my internship was about to end, the folks at BOOM! asked me if I could stay on as a temp to cover for one of the operations staff members who was going on maternity leave for a month. Towards the end of the temp job, I approached Bryce Carlson about possibilities of getting into editorial. At the time, they had just hired someone and had no available positions, but he knew of other positions in the accounting/operations area. I agreed as long as there was room to eventually move into my dream editorial job. From there, I worked for a year in Operations under Phil Barbaro (who is
the raddest boss ever), and I was actually pretty good at it. After a year, a position opened in editorial and I approached Matt Gagnon about it. He was sort of caught off guard, but the great thing about Matt is that he honestly looks out for his employees and if you approach him about something you’re serious about, he’ll take it seriously as well. A month later, Matt pulled me into his office and offered me a position as an assistant editor. Here’s the catch—the operations team had offered me a management role at the same time as well. I chose to stick to my guns and start from the bottom in editorial and it’s been a Cinderella dream come true.

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

JA: Never give up. Never surrender.

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?

JA: All of my experiences with breaking in and making it in this industry have been with BOOM! Studios, which is the least sexist environment I’ve ever been in professionally. So, from what I’ve experienced, it’s been about the same to break in as a woman. The only advice I’d give is this: if you feel that your sex is a factor AT ALL in a company’s decision making, you should get the hell out of there. Fast. No one needs that drama and your talent will be better appreciated in an environment where you don’t have to constantly prove that you’re capable because of such a minor factor.

JA: I can’t speak for other publishers, but I can speak for what I’ve experienced here at BOOM! The people in decision making positions at this company don’t look at you as a woman or a man. It’s just not a factor. The only thing that matters here is being good at your job. It’s clear in every facet of their management. I can go into Bryce’s office and talk about baseball or punk rock or whatever and he’ll treat me like he would any dude. I mean, Ross and I used to literally check in with each other every day to compare quest notes in Skyrim. I’ve been in work environments where people would be shocked if I name dropped Half Life 2 which is just plain ridiculous. It’s just not a thing in the BOOM! world.

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?

JA: Unfortunately, this is something that is a reality. I’ve been at the booth selling comics and people will walk up assuming I don’t know basic comic industry terms like “CGC.” And being hit on is sometimes a problem at cons. It happens. People forget that it’s supposed to be a professional environment and look at it more like a big party. There’s a line between having a good time, and being a super creep. When I politely decline your offer to buy me a drink, please be a gentleman. Do not continue to push the drink on me seven more times.

That being said, I’ve heard of similar things happening to guys at the company and the roles being reversed. So, I’m not entirely sure if it’s a sex issue so much as it’s the environment a convention can create.

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

JA: The same advice I’d give to anyone looking to break into the industry. Become great at what you do, get out there, and flaunt it. Also, get down with your bad self.

Interview: Women of BOOM! – Noelle Stevenson (graphicpolicy.com)
Interview: Women of BOOM! – Hannah Nance Partlow (graphicpolicy.com)
Interview: Women of BOOM! – Dafna Pleban (graphicpolicy.com)

Interview: Women of BOOM! – Hannah Nance Partlow

Posted on November 14, 2013 by Brett

It’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.

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.

Interview: Women of BOOM! – Dafna Pleban (graphicpolicy.com)
Interview: Women of BOOM! – Noelle Stevenson (graphicpolicy.com)

Interview: Women of BOOM! – Noelle Stevenson

Posted on November 7, 2013 by Brett

Last week we kicked off 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!

Up this week is Noelle Stevenson, a triple threat as a writer, artist and cover artist. She has worked on Nimona (an original comic), Fionna and Cake, Bravest Warriors and Adventure Time!

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

Noelle Stevenson: I became interested in comics as a medium during a Sequential Art class at art school. I began drawing and posting my own webcomic in the summer of 2012, and also started attending conventions. I interned with BOOM! and got some experience there.

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

NS: I didn’t read many comics – I read Calvin and Hobbes, Tintin, and some old Spider-Man.

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

NS: I interned last summer with Boom! Studios, and then began freelancing for them!

GP: How would you describe your job for people?

NS: I draw comics day-in and day-out, both for myself and for other people.

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

NS: Put yourself out there! Make something you believe in, and show that you can make something cohesive – scraps of concept art don’t show your skill in telling a long-term story. Attend conventions! Make friends with other industry professionals!

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

NS: One of my mentors was Joan Hilty, my Advanced Sequential Art teacher at school. She is a professional editor and really helped me with NIMONA when it was in its early stages. She gave me a lot of valuable advice. My other mentor is Shannon Watters, editor at BOOM! She was the one who hired me for the internship, and really took me under her wing during that time! She’s given me a lot of freelance opportunities too!

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?

NS: I think they do for a lot of reasons. One of those is that there just aren’t that many women in the industry right now, so there isn’t much of a model for us. If we look up to famous comic artists, they are usually male. The female creators are few and far between. The other thing is that I think more respect and attention is given to stories written by men and geared towards men – anything too “girly” is eye-rolled away. There’s just a pervasive attitude in the industry, a sort of antagonism towards women, you see it at cons and in feedback all the time. And normally if a woman creator is asked to be on a panel or to give an interview, it’s more often than not about “women in comics.” Not that those panels and interviews aren’t important – I think we need to be talking about this stuff! – but it feels like we’re considered a sub-category sometimes. That’s of course mostly just about the mainstream comics industry, though – the same thing isn’t true for indie comics and webcomics, in which there are a ton of female creators and stories with female leads! I think that the mainstream comics industry can learn a lot from webcomics. BOOM! has been doing a great thing, hiring webcomic artists to work on the KaBOOM! titles like Adventure Time, and it’s been a huge success. I want to see more of that in other big comics publishers.

NS: I don’t know if it’s much more complicated than that. People talk about “affirmative action” or “tokenism” when it comes to hiring women or minorities, but I really don’t think it’s that hard. Like, there are women in the industry who are looking for work – hire them! Lots of them! They’ll bring something new to the table and encourage a more open-minded, innovative approach.

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?

NS: As a webcomic artist, most of the sexism I see is through social media. I think I have it a lot easier than many female creators. Honestly, most of the flak I get is when I speak up about issues like sexism, on my blog or on Twitter. But again, I don’t get it as bad as others. The rest of it is kind of standard-issue – you know, getting grabbed or hollered at Comic-Con, being condescended to in comic book stores, people using derogatory language towards me online – I feel like every woman has multiple stories like this. The way you deal with them is a lot like the way you deal with being yelled at from a car – you don’t look at them, or acknowledge them, or show you’ve been bothered, and then later you tell people you trust about it and complain. You can get mad, and I get mad sometimes, but that brings a whole new level of harassment sometimes, and sometimes it’s just not worth it.

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

NS: Make comics that you believe in, and don’t absorb the poisonous attitudes perpetuated by male comic creators – that only certain kinds of stories are good or worthwhile. If the kinds of comics you want to read aren’t being represented by the industry, make them yourself and show everyone!

Interview: Women of BOOM! – Dafna Pleban (graphicpolicy.com)

New Ms. Marvel Announced—What Does It Mean?

Posted on November 5, 2013 by

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I haven’t written in awhile, secluded as I have been in an ivory tower composed entirely of grad school reading lists and stacks of assignments I need to grade, held sturdy by a growing number of empty coffee tins piling up near the recycling. But the new Ms. Marvel announcement has brought me out of hiding—there’s just so much to be said!

The New York Times book section announced in a charmingly titled article (“Might, Muslim and Leaping Off the Page: Marvel Comics Introducing a Muslim Girl Superhero”) that, coming this February, Marvel will be bringing us a superhero who is not a white man, but is in fact the lovely new character Kamala Khan, a Pakistani Muslim American teenager from Jersey. This announcement comes after Marvel’s October teaser poster that simply had the word “Ms.” with a faded number “1” in the background, and which some suspected would turn out to be a new series for Jean Grey, whose first codename was Marvel Girl.

The new Ms. Marvel series, which will debut in February, is to be written by G. Willow Wilson, a fantastic sci-fi/fantasy author and comic book writer, as well as an ardent and well-spoken critic of Nerd media. Ms. Marvel is the brainchild of Sana Amanat and Stephen Wacker, Marvel editors who work largely of Spidey books, but also dabble in Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain Marvel, and Hawkeye, to name a few. Joining Willow Wilson is artist Adrian Alphona, who co-created Runaways with Brian K. Vaughn, and whose art is engagingly beyond the frustratingly redundant, uninnovative style of so many mainstream books.

So what does this mean? That’s the big question, and the same question people were asking when Marvel announced that Ultimate Spidey would be a black Puerto Rican kid and when Batgirl introduced an openly trans* character this past year. The growing “diversity” (and, yes, I do mean the quotes, because that’s really the idea being interrogated here) of comic book characters’ identities, while miniscule, has two general meanings.

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Primarily, the growing diversity of characters who aren’t white male heterosexuals signals a response to audience desires. Anyone with a tumblr account knows that there is a huge community of non-white and/or non-male and/or non-heterosexual comic book fans whose lives are just as devoted to Barda and Superman and the Avengers as the stock fanboy (yeah, I’m glaring at you, Big Bang Theory). Creators and executives at major comic book companies are not only trying to do good by their audiences, but also by their creators, who are becoming increasingly demographically diverse as well. This does not, however, signal a major shift in the industry, but is certainly part of a slightly growing trend at the Big Two.

The second meaning I read into the growing “diversity” might piss some people off. To be candid, I think economics motivates the creation of “diverse” characters. In a world where a black man is U.S. president and some women hold public office, the populace lives under the illusion that our society is a post-racial one devoid of gender disparities. This ideology ignores the persistent and growing inequalities of gender, race, class, religion, age, (dis)Ability, and ethnic/national identity.

I do not mean to accuse individual creators, like Geoff Johns or Gail Simone, of capitalizing or intending to capitalize on diversity, but I certainly accuse the industry as a whole for utilizing diversity as an advertisement strategy. Think, for example, what it means that the New York Times broke the news, which spread to a dozen other major media sites over the course of the day, and trickled its way into the usual comic book journalism sites like ours. Major announcements like this come from reputable news sources more often, but the racialized aspect of this announcement certainly calls for analysis.

What’s more, the announcement of a female teenage Pakistani Muslim character came at a surprising time for me. As of writing this, I had just finished up an article for Reading with Pictures about racism, critical reading, and Green Lantern #0, which featured the first major Arab Muslim American superhero, Simon Baz, as the new Green Lantern. That comic has disturbed me since I first read it, albeit a bit belatedly, this summer. It originally debuted on Sep. 5, 2012, just six days before the 11th anniversary of 9/11/2001. What struck as odd about that comic—and in fact what bothers me deeply about comics with “diverse” characters—is the overbearing reliance on the white lens to tell stories of diversity.

What’s disturbing about Green Lantern #0 is not that it introduces the first Arab Muslim American as the Green Lantern (hello, big huge deal! This guy’s been around since the ’40s and has been one of DC’s biggest heroes ever since!), but that the story forced the issue of terrorism, public bombings, and Guantanamo Bay into the plot. This is based, of course, in truth, as many Arab and Muslim American could testify; Geoff Johns, the writer, is himself a Lebanese American who grew up in Detroit.

To be sure, Arab and Muslim Americans became a homogeneous identity for many Americans in the wake of 9/11, and governmental policies stripped them of constitutional rights for the sake of “national security.” This plays out in Green Lantern #0, allowing for a simple reading: “this comic represents negative effects of anti-Arab and anti-Muslim stereotypes, while creating a hero from the ashes of prejudice.” All good, right?

Sure. Wait…no! My problem lies in the fact that the audiences of comics—and of the large amount of novels, TV shows, and films published or made post-9/11 which featured Arab and Muslim characters—rely solely on the iconography of Arabmuslim-Muslimarab who is indelibly caught up in issues of terrorism, whether as an inaccurate accusation or actually as a terrorist.

Diversity, however, requires recognizes the plurality of lived experiences. Rather than typifying every character of Arab of Muslim background by a stock story interrelated to what (largely) white audiences imagine to be the homogeneous, singular lived reality of Arab and Muslim Americans, diversity requires drawing on experiences that break the status quo beyond simply being able to claim a Muslim superhero.

I don’t mean to say that Simon Baz as Green Lantern is a bad character, nor do I mean to suggest that there is no meaningful lesson to be learned from his story. Instead, I am suggesting that, while we can read Green Lantern #0—and any story of a “diverse” character—as a story that tells us something about the structural racism and violence enacted by individuals and governments against groups of people, we can also read the ideological lens that shaped the narrative’s creation. We have to look at both our society and the comic narratives to understand why certain “diverse” characters are being created and think beyond the wow-that’s-awesomes to question their social significance.

These questions have shaped my response to the Ms. Marvel announcement. I am thrilled, of course, because G. WIllow Wilson is a phenomenal author and Adrian Alphona a sensitive and wholly enjoyable artist. Kelly Sue DeConnick has done fantastic work with Captain Marvel, and in general Marvel has blown me out of the water of late with its publications, like Daredevil and Battle of the Atom (the event as a whole), which place emphasis on the emotionality of lived experiences, paired with lively, viscerally, at times painstakingly beautiful art.

I do believe that February 2014’s Ms. Marvel has the potential to deliver an artistic experience that will defy the consumer-driven “diversity” of so many similar publishing decisions. I guess we’ll see.

Interview: Women of BOOM! – Dafna Pleban

Posted on October 31, 2013 by Brett

There’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!

GP: 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.

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.

Around the Tubes

Posted on October 21, 2011 by Brett

The weekend is almost here! What are folks up to? While you’re still deciding, here’s the news you might have missed.

Around the Blogs:

The Mary Sue – Did NYCC Prove The Need For Diversity In Comics? – As opposed to all of the diversity at other conventions that didn’t? Why hasn’t this call been made after any of them?

Kotaku – The Voice Actors of Batman: Arkham City, Unmasked – This is pretty cool.

Kotaku – Missing Catwoman Codes Impacted Half a Percent of Batman: Arkham City Gamers, Here’s the Fix – I’m hoping there’s more than just giving what people paid for.

Kotaku – Your PC Can Probably Run Arkham City – I’m sticking with my console(s)

Con Coverage:

The Beat – SDCC 12: Parade nixed, but Balboa Park may be in the works

CBR – NYCC: Archie Comics Packs the House

The Beat – NYCC 11: Far in the madding crowd

ICv2 – NYCC Saturday Photos, Part 1

ICv2 – NYCC Saturday Photos, Part 2

Around the Tubes Reviews:

CBR – Justice League #2

Saffron Walden Reporter – Northlanders: Metal