…what makes you maddest about today’s comics? What ONE THING would you fix or change, if you could?
No restrictions, say whatever is griping you.
I’m fed up with LGBTQ characters and POC characters gettting thrown under the bus for cis straight mighty whitey characters. I would…
I don’t think it’s too much to ask at all, I think it’s the bare minimum that should be expected at this time in history.
I think this is where activism in the readers really CAN make a difference. When I did the Women in Refrigerators site, I have no illusions that it would make a difference, or that anyone was even listening. But they did, and it DID make a difference. It didn’t solve every crappy sexist trope, but it did present an argument that only the dumbest creators could ignore (which some did and do to this day). And publishers took note. And things DID get somewhat better.
The Girl-wonder.org thing, same story. They objected to an horrific portrayal of a character they loved and for all the scoffing they took from all kinds of white, straight male sources, they fought back anyway, and now that character is not only alive, but headlining her own book and carrying on a respected mantle.
It can be done. Perry Moore’s Wir-like list for gay characters, however flawed the list itself might be, did grab people’s attention. You yourself, with your online activism for lgbtq and racial fairness (and people should check out http://neo-prodigy.livejournal.com/ for what I’m talking about), that sort of stuff does sink in when the creators, publishers and editors are exposed to it.
It’s a matter, I think, of having your activism visible. Grousing to the converted, something I do a lot, is more of a social thing. It’s valuable, it’s a nice release, but it’s the visible stuff that changes hearts and alters age-old habits. So getting the activism seen and read is key…Women in Refrigerators made a difference partly because it couldn’t be ignored, easily. It was too high-profile (it just happened, I didn’t plan for that).
I’d like to see more of this kind of activism in the places where it is harder to ignore. A nice piece on lgbtq portrayals on a website that fifty people see is fine, but if that same piece were in Wizard, or Newsarama, or a college newspaper or national magazine, then it can have an IMPACT.
I’m not telling anyone what to do with their activism, it’s all important when done well and with sincerity. But there are so many good writers writing on these topics and not getting their message heard because they place that writing in these dark corners…where the people who NEED to see that message will never stumble across it. I’m not calling anyone out, especially you, lord knows you do your share and have stayed on-point even in the face of some RIDICULOUS bullshit. Seriously, you already know that I think you are an inspiration.
But in general, I would like to see those messages move from the fringe of fandom (by which I mean the size of the audience reading them) to the main stage, as it were, where it has to be addressed.
