Wild Unicorn Herd

blackfolksmakingcomics:

comicsalliance:

Outrage Deferred: On The Lack Of Black Writers In The Comic Book Industry

By Joseph Hughes, Editor-in-Chief

This is the first week of Black History Month, a four week celebration and remembrance of the significant events and people of the African diaspora. For many, myself included, it’s a month to reflect on where we’ve been, as a people and as a nation, and to contemplate exactly where it is we’re going. In terms of the comic industry, an obvious interest and passion of mine, there is one glaring and sobering fact that needs our attention: There is currently not a single black writer working on a monthly series for either of the two biggest comic book publishers in the United States, and precious few working for any of the others.

And yet, this fact has hardly been discussed recently, in the way some other diversity issues are. So what happened, exactly? Why is it that we no longer seem to care about this as much as we once did? Where has our outrage gone?

Read more.

Please read this article.

And, as always, don’t let some comments drive you mad. That’s what these trolls want you to do. Don’t give ‘em the satisfaction.

b-sama:

Abina and the important men: Getz and the new African history

Writing and analyzing the history of sub-Saharan Africa — especially the history prior to the decolonization of African countries and their emergence as independent nations — is especially difficult. Part of the reason of course lies with legacy. In the thrall of racism, either conscious or unconscious, historians prior to the early 1960s often imposes blatant biases and prejudices on African experience. Though not as flagrant in their abuses as, say, anthropologists, professional historians were often trapped in a manner of thinking that led them to conclude that Africans lacked their own histories.

If Africans did suffer from a deficit, the deficit was not history, but historical materials of the conventional sort: records, diaries, letters, reports, and the like. Such staples of literate societies were absent for various reasons in the sub-Saharan. And the records which did exist often were generated by colonizers and adventurers, interlopers with an agenda that rarely included fairness to Africans — or the impulse to document their authentic voices.

A new generation of historians of Africa are building into their scholarship innovative and creative ways of giving voice to the African voiceless. One of the most spectacular examples of such scholarship is the new book, Abina and the Important Men, by historian Trevor Getz, of San Francisco State University.

Drawing extensively on the trial transcript of a Ghanaian woman illegally enslaved in the 1870s by another Ghanaian, Getz creates a deeply informed and revelatory work of narrative history and nuanced interpretation. Treating his book as a mosaic of independent elements, he even enlists the help of a talented graphic artist to create a beautifully-drawn 75-page “graphic history” that seems ideal for pre-university students. When the graphic story is paired with the actual trial transcript, which Getz found in Ghana, and with lucid essays by Getz on the historical context of the trial and a “reading guide” that explores the “authenticity” of his own narrative, Abina and the Important Men presents a stunning multi-faceted experience of an African past that remains so foggy as to appear to be irretrievably lost. While prominent gaps in the evidence and his narrative and analysis remain, Getz tries to compensate in an unusually interesting ways. His big-hearted and perceptive “letter to the reader,” which opens Abina and the Important Men is worth quoting at length — for its insights into how creative scholars are trying to address a crisis of relevance, not only of African history but for the field of history in general:

“Abina and the Important Men is one of a number of projects that seeks to find a middle ground between scholarly and popular histories of regular people. [My book] is not a work of historical fiction, but instead a history because it aims for accuracy and authenticity even while recognizing that all historical works are at some level speculative and subjective. It is neither completely celebratory not holly critical; instead it attempts to show how these two impulses can be linked together…. [R]ather than seeking to be the final authorities on this story, we invite the reader to … see this work as a conversation we are having with Abina Mansah.”

Bringing African voices of the past, into the present, is a project of great significance. May Abina and the Important Men inspire more multi-dimensional studies of this sort.

princelesscomic:

wrench-wench:

princelesscomic:

Everybody, issue 2 is in solicitations…and Adrienne has something to say.

This is probably the greatest comic book cover I’ve ever seen.

Aaaaand…that just exploded.  51 notes in ten minutes.  Now I know what time Tumblr is awake!

ijustd0i:

So if you guys remember, I did a photoset a while ago.. And it was spawned from my love for Calvin & Hobbes and also how close I am to my little cousin, Logan.

I’d like to think we have a Calvin & Hobbes type of relationship (minus Calvin’s rebellious nature and curiosity) so for my final project in my photography class, I decided I would bring back the idea and make a whole series of it.

This is a preview.

princelesscomic:

Attention creators!  Princeless nearly swept the Glyph’s last year and I certainly don’t want to this year, because that means not enough of you are submitting!  

So…

If you are a Creator of Color

Or/And your comic features black characters or black issues, get your stuff ready and submit it to the Glyph Awards, THE award show that was created to honor black creators and characters in comics!

Face of Fandom: Static Phenom

19-year-old staticphenomenon is working on a fan film about Teen Titan Virgil Hawkins/Static, inspired by the cartoon series and milkydayy’s reimagining. But the excellent cosplay also stands on its own, I think.

Face of Fandom began as a tag for pictorial proof that fans of colour exist and has evolved into a sporadic series highlighting particularly awesome and devoted fans I’ve come across on Tumblr.

gailsimone:

One more, then I promise I’m done for the night.

This was at a rocking con near Memphis called the Mid-South Con, that I absolutely loved. It was an old-school con, I gather, run by people for the sheer love of what they do. Everything was designed to make people feel welcome and to have fun.

And good lord, were they wonderful hosts. They took us to see Graceland (interesting) and the Sun Records studio (REALLY interesting) and best of all, to Gus’s Fried Chicken, the best fried chicken I’ve EVER HAD bar none.

There was an awards dinner of some kind, for the life of me I can’t remember what it was about. But my husband and I had the good fortune to be seated at a table with these two folks. I will remember them forever. Invited guests were free, I think the attendees paid an extra fee to sit with the invited guests.

It’s a woman and her nephew. They were both incredibly quiet and polite. I kept trying to draw them out, as they both spoke very quietly and seemed very shy. My husband is amazing at getting strangers to feel welcome and join in but even he couldn’t really get them to talk. Salad came and went, they barely talked. Main dish, similar.

Finally, I asked why they wanted to come to the convention, what was it that they were interested in?

And, I love this, they BOTH wanted to make their own comics. No fooling around, no pipe dreams, they each wanted to write, print and sell their own comics.

Well.

That opened the floodgates. The reason she had been so shy is that she had a million questions and didn’t know where to start asking me. The reason he was so shy is that he’s just a super polite kid, I think he was waiting for his aunt to start talking.

So we sat for maybe two hours, if I remember right, me trying to answer every possible question about craft, every question about character, plot, dialogue, how to work with artists, how to distribute, everything. The aunt asked EVERYTHING and I could see she was taking it down in her head, she wanted to learn it and use it. Which I LOVE. Many times, someone will ask a huge question, “How do I make comics?” and then their eyes glaze over, not here. She was listening.

Then, I asked the young man what his comic was about and I swear, he just BLOOMED. He went through the entire plot, telling me all the characters and all the story and how it would look, I thought it was the most fun, thrilling thing I’d ever heard.

I looked over at the aunt at one point and my eyes must have had a little bit of skepticism or something, it seemed pretty ambitious for such a young guy.

She said, “Nope, he’s not kidding. He’s drawing it himself and he works on it every day.”

Dude, I MYSELF don’t make comics every day.

The best dinner ever. I loved it.  I had their email, we kept in contact for a while, but I haven’t heard from them for a bit. I hope they have made their comics. I hope they are telling stories. I hope, the next such dinner I’m at, they are sitting with attendees telling THEM how to make comics.

All I know is that they inspired me, I ran right to my room after and wrote half a completed script.

Again, coolest job EVER.