Missed It: Pushing Comics Forward (The Launch Of It, Anyway)

I had a couple of people over the weekend e-mail and ask why I never commented fully on something called "Pushing Comics Forward," which I'm told came to the attention of most people via this interview with BOOM! Editor-In-Chief Matt Gagnon. From what I can tell this is a public initiative/campaign emphasizing comics' need for increased diversity at all levels of participation, which I believe in comics almost always also encompasses representation on the page. I mostly missed that one, except to make a couple of jokes about the phrasing, and to see Brandon Graham ask after the basic BOOM! deal as opposed to the basic Image deal, which is fair game. The campaign also explains a couple of tweets directed my way, one by Ross Richie of BOOM!, that I was also pushing comics forward. I'm sure I responded with a dumb joke. Sorry, Ross.

I'm all for whatever people need or can best use to keep these issues in focus. I'm also sympathetic to the idea that the benefits of a more diverse industry are so obvious that maybe it should be ingrained in our DNA at this point rather than something we need a virtual clubhouse and some tag lines to foster. There's a fine line between victories worth celebrating and long-overdue, fundamental shifts that should maybe make us wince. I think we're in a between-place on all of this stuff. From similar efforts I've seen in other art forms there can be non-ideal results. One is that campaigns sometime hinder people from the kind of self-analysis and change that might make a difference: there's a tendency when presented with something like this to define yourself as one of those so on board you're just glad that what you've already been doing has a name, as opposed to really digging deep and figuring out if you've done as much as you think you could have. I think there's also a tendency for one kind of representation issue to manifest itself at the expense of others. So if I'm presented with something like this, and I have, say, a pretty good work history hiring and publishing women, I might point that out and be relieved I'm on the right side of things rather than use that as a first step to dig into how well I've been doing with similar issues based on race, religion, orientation, ability, and so on. Neither of these -- nor anything related -- is a reason not to pursue such goals, but they might be worth keeping in mind.

I wish the absolute maximum success to everyone who participates in this and those that will move in the same direction. I think the next couple of years will be interesting on issues of diversity and other topics at the heart of comics because there will be an increase in chances for people to make practical and meaningful moves in the direction of the industry they want to see. I think that's where comics can get creative. Yes, this will mean some arguing and rallying on the Internet, but it will also mean things like declining to be on a panel without representative make-up when that panel purports to be about an entire industry, or refusing to work on something for free you think should include a payment, or perhaps requesting that a job you've been asked to put in for also be pitched by someone that isn't privileged in the same way you are. There's always some work and usually some risk involved, but we're all richer in the end.
 
posted 9:55 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Daily Blog Archives
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
 
Full Archives