The Comics Reporter

November 21, 2013

Go, Look: Let’s Go On An Adventure

posted 11:00 pm PST | Permalink

BCA 2013 Kick-Off: Garen Ewing Wins Young People Comics Awards For The Complete Rainbow Orchid

According to a lengthy post at the FPI Blog, the British Comic Awards got underway earlier today when Garen Ewing was named the winner of Young People Comic Awards for is The Complete Rainbow Orchid, which was published by Egmont. This is an award where they roped in a significant number of school children to decide the winner, some of whom were in attendance at the award naming today. Other nominees were:

* Cindy & Biscuit #3, Dan White (self published)
* Hilda & The Bird Parade, Luke Pearson (NoBrow/Flying Eye Books)
* Playing Out, Jim Medway (Blank Slate Books)
* The Sleepwalkers, Vivianne Schwarz (Walker Books)

I think they're using the plural with "awards" there; apologies if I'm wrong

posted 10:40 pm PST | Permalink

Go, Look: Cool-Looking Beast Splashes

posted 10:35 pm PST | Permalink

A Few Quick Notes On Sexual Harassment Issues And The Explosion Of Discussion Of Same On-Line

Over the last few weeks, obtuse commentary floated about the personal conduct of the comics writer Brian Wood coalesced into a set of accusations about the writer acting in inappropriate fashion towards two fellow women industry members: an artist named Tess Fowler, and a then DC salaried employee named Anne Scherbina (then Anne Rogers).

Noah Berlatsky deftly sums up the progression of that initial story in his essay at the Atlantic, which like many subsequent pieces has roped in a discussion of sexism in comics more generally. I like his work on the Wood aspects of this enough to recommend that broader piece.

The best direct piece detailing how the Fowler/Scherbina/Wood aspects of the story unfurled is an epic-length blog post at [email protected].

If you're a participant in the comics industry or a person with any interest in that industry or this story, you should read both pieces and follow each out to various direct links provided. This is a sensitive-enough issue generally and an egregious enough set of accusations specifically, with major career and industry implications on the line across the board, that reading as much of it as you can stand is the responsible thing to do. I urge you to take that time.

If it's a choice between reading those pieces and this one, read those two pieces, particularly the latter.

For referral's sake as you read this article, key primary or near-primary sources cited in those posts are:

* Collection Of Tess Fowler Tweets And A Statement Regarding Her Incident With Brian Wood Made Before Wood Named
* Run Of Tess Fowler Tweets Indicting Brian Wood: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13
* Brian Wood's Statement In Response To Fowler (currently down)
* Tess Fowler's Response To Wood's Statement
* Anne Scherbina's Initial Tweet Citing An Incident With Wood
* Anne Scherbina's Primary Post About That Incident
* The Rich Johnston Post Where He Mentions A Private Apology For The Gossip Item
* Tweeted Discussion Featuring Wood About Issues Of Male Privilege
* Series Of Tess Fowler Tweets Characterizing A Subsequent Discussion With Brian Wood: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

There have also been a significant number of impassioned pieces on the implications of this story and the issues of harassment and sexism more generally. They have included but are certainly not limited to:

* Dr. Nerdlove
* Heidi MacDonald 01
* Heidi MacDonald 02
* Laura Hudson
* Maria Huehner
* Rachel Edidin
* Rantz Hoseley
* The Outhousers On Media Criticism Of Coverage To Date

I'm sure there are many, many more and that there are more added all the time.

I am privileged in my own life not to speak from anything close to the personal perspective offered in many of these posts. I have some experience with unwanted attention in the comics industry, but in only a very limited window, enough to hopefully provide me with a greater sympathy for those that endure these things all of the time, with much more at stake, with much less support. I know it's not the same. My reaction to such things does not provide a baseline standard for others' reactions. In addition, the degree and the extent to which one suffers from something matters, despite what the Internet may have taught us in that strange construction frequently used that the mere possibility of an alternative or competing scenario somehow trumps the horror of weight and repetition and reality. I am privileged here, and my writing almost certainly reflects that.

I have a few thoughts anyway. I didn't know that I would, but I think it's important the incident and issue be acknowledged here, even in this imperfect way. I think it's important that ideas and perspectives be shared, even limited perspectives such as my own, and I want to underline that this site exists as a platform for the discussion of industry issues no matter the potential quality of its contribution. I apologize in advance for my lateness in getting here. I apologize in advance for a negative outcome in my expressing these thoughts as there is every chance that anything I write will be perceived as upsetting or beside the point or not helpful, and that's on me. Heck, I may have already crossed that line. I fully admit I could be super-wrong about anything I write on this issue. Let me at least be clear that any mistakes and missteps I'm about to make are my own.

It also may be worth noting that I initially read a lot of this material at a reasonably far remove, on a trip that I turned into as much of a vacation as I could manage, which, having not worked ahead on the site, involved mostly a mental checking-out from all things comics between those times at Comic Arts Brooklyn and at the Billy Ireland Opening Festival, at which point I was submerged in the comics and comics-related things that were right in front of my face. That remove may have changed my perspective, I'm not certain. I am grateful to a number of you, including Christian Hoffer of The Outhousers, for keeping me roughly apprised of what was going on until I could catch up.

So:

* I'm sorry these things happened to those of you that have discussed them in public and otherwise written about them. Thank you for coming forward.

* I feel badly for all parties that many of these things are reduced to being adjudicated on-line, and think that's a failing of industry infrastructure, collective professional will and community intention.

* one thing we owe folks coming forward is to take on their accusations, their stories, with absolute and appropriate seriousness. This can be difficult, because it means that we must engage a story being told in serious fashion without sidestepping the issues involved through assumptions of bad faith. That means trying not to pick at the rhetoric employed or playing Internet lawyer to the exclusion of otherwise dealing with what's been said. That means not treating these real-world events as abstract discussions to be won or lost by typing in their direction. It certainly not responding with a torrent of abuse. Shame on you if that last one is you.

* I get that people are concerned with abuses that might happen when these kinds of stories enter the public sphere. The thing is, any concerns about abuses that can come with such stories being told can also certainly be dealt with by taking these things head-on and working through in serious fashion. The idea that a culture of dismissal and antagonism might protect a culture of casual abuse and workplace misery is intolerable and, I think, largely avoidable.

* we can't get sick of talking about it.

* now, that said, this story is extremely difficult as I understand news stories. The core story here is built out of accusations and the primary context is people talking on the Internet. Yikes.

* I'm not done with this story, and I hope to follow my curiosity on a few things. In the meantime, I think I have enough to share some things -- again: good, bad, clueless, harmful, I couldn't possibly say.

* my primary concern with what I've read -- beyond the human element of it -- is the intersection of the private sphere with the public. That's not my only concern, but it's my first. The most alarming thing to me in these stories is less the fact that certain people may have acted like assholes, but that they and others have done so in part in the shared spaces of industry and professional community. I believe strongly in that professional community and shared industry space as uniquely valuable things. Additionally, I feel personally responsible for the space I share with others. And admittedly, part of that focus is likely cynicism on my own part that while some people are going to be assholes no matter what is done, they may be restricted in how and where this is done. Harassment of any kind is tragic, awful and may border on evil. Harassment in public and at work is all of these things and bottom-line unacceptable.

* to that end, I think all cons and festivals need a sensible and straight-forward harassment policy, all companies should have the same, all recurring events (lecture series, drink-ups) should at least have an ethos that encompasses some sort of similar philosophy, and that all of this should be done yesterday. It shouldn't take long. We should check into this at every event we decide to attend. Everyone that participates in these institutions should be at least somewhat aware of these policies and never afraid to assert themselves on their behalf. No one should be made to feel bad for doing their job or participating in their chosen professional community. Really, I hope everyone revisits their policies or adds one by February 1, 2014, and that the person running each show, event, or company takes public responsibility for seeing those policies are implemented. I think that's achievable.

* and sure, it's never going to be perfect. All policies have limits. People perpetually impress with their capacity to suck and in finding ways to work around things thrown up in their way if they really want to behave badly. Any counter-value can be manipulated and subverted. Some things are hopeless to adjudicate, even in the court of public opinion. But you know what? That can't matter in terms of trying to do something about it. No comics-culture throwing up of the hands when a perfect outcome can't be guaranteed in advance. This is grunt work, and it's not pretty. Any instance of harassment is one too many, and we're never going to get to the number zero. And yet that also means every instance thwarted is a significant victory.

* let's admit something. If the industry and professional community pay more attention to this issue, there will likely be things about which smart, sensible, kindhearted and good-intentioned people will disagree. For instance, I know some feel any relationship between two people working in the same industry or for the same company is inherently unbalanced and at least fraught with difficulty if not outright out-of-bounds. I know others that don't feel this way; I send Christmas cards to some of those families. Some folks see the late-night social scene at a convention as an extension of that convention; other see it as personal time and therefore afford more leeway to personal conduct -- and to be perfectly freaking clear, the idea here isn't that "anything goes" off-hours and that creepers have full reign once the convention hall lights go out but that context makes some things worse during hours. Asking someone out for coffee the next day might be -- might be -- something you do after making a connection at a bar near Heroes Con for a couple of hours; it's never what you would do at the end of even the best possible portfolio review. The idea that harsh speech or humor or inappropriate joking can be part of harassment is unassailable logic to some, laughable to others and a terrifying minefield for a bunch of folks in between. So: disagreements. Sure. That doesn't mean we give up or not try. Those arguments will continue to work themselves out or continue in a state of flux, probably a bit of both. In the meanwhile, it's clear there's plenty of work to do. We apparently still have people groping people. It seems we have something of an institutional gossiping apparatus, including policies that don't even allow for a forceful response. It seems we have people acting out in aggressive fashion on the floors of cons and festivals. It seems we have a loss of trust that the majority of us would step in to help someone that felt distressed. It appears that people as recently as five years ago were taking upskirt shots at an industry event.

* we need to be self-critical. People are directly responsible for what they do and should be held to that, but we can all be responsible for making this better. Self-criticism in the comics culture is hard. We have something of a collective pick up the football and run to the end zone mentality. Deny something and get hammered for the refusal to face reality. Admit something, even in part, and it's "Oh my goodness, she even admits it, it's so bad." Hopefully folks can take this flurry of attention as a chance to look at your company's policy, your own behavior, your inability to recognize this behavior when it occurs in close proximity. I hope to join you. I don't think anyone is truly safe from criticism concerning some aspect of this very broad area. I know I've seen names in this round of discussion bandied about in unassailable positive fashion about whom I've heard not-flattering stories. Hell, there's every chance I've made someone uncomfortable with a dumb joke or a comment -- I did so for a few seconds just this week via a twitter exchange. We can all do some work here. The important thing is getting to a better place, not protecting ourselves from blow-back.

* this happens everywhere, of course. I traded stories this summer with a friend about a not-comics company, a professional firm, that all by itself seemed to have more crazy harassment and inappropriate behavior stories than everything I've heard in 20 years for the entire comics industry. And I've heard a ton of stuff, too, in comics, all the way up to a bad TV movie style "you will sleep with me or I will take your job" story from someone still around -- two people still around, actually, but one, the person who was doing the harassment, in a position of authority. That this exists everywhere is worth noting only in that we don't come up with baroque solutions that deny the real-world implications. Making sure everyone knows someone acted like an asshole isn't pursuing action within the comics institution involved isn't calling the police and we shouldn't mistake any one of those things for another. But as comics people, we need to work on the comics aspects.

* if I could suggest something about comics that this flurry of discussion has put into mind, I wonder if the way this exists in comics culture isn't partly -- partly -- encouraged by the widespread refusal to infuse comics with a more general professional standard for conduct in all things. The lines get blurred all the time in comics in a way that is reminiscent of those relationships that develop an inappropriate element, but that are benign because the people are benign. That seems worth noting. A lot of these stories, if you step back and look at them, get weird about three or four steps before they turn dismaying and actionable. Comics industry culture is defined by a tremendous, constant smearing of professional and personal lines, as well as a general anti-authoritarian distrust of even recognizing the value of having the lines in the first place. Maybe comics is at the point where some of us might be more cognizant of how strange this is. We're all going to have friends where we work and some of us are likely to fall in love there, or date, or whatever, but that doesn't mean our industry and professional community and responsibilities are the same as those we might have to a bunch of our friends. Maybe "let's all be pals" isn't even an ideal worth pursuing anymore. The same way more of us dress up for awards shows now, the way more of us have worked on our public presentations, the way that we've started to question the value of free work, maybe it's time to hit those notes even harder for the sake of something other than publicity and promotion. Maybe doing these things will help give us a framework for conduct and behavior and responsibility when things are no longer, you know, totally cool. A bunch of pals hanging out doesn't have to have a harassment policy. An industry institution should.

* I suspect that this won't change a whole lot, and that people value that casualness too much, and that it's true that it doesn't automatically lead to shitty behavior, and that we'll likely muddle through. I hope we think about it, anyway. Professionalism isn't a panacea, and assumed professionalism is outright pernicious. But it does seem to me that one way situations can be kept from turning bad is that the situations themselves start to be seen as odd or rare or unsavory even in benign form. Maybe it's time we stop dating the interns, or really think through our offers to mentor younger cartoonists and where the hell that comes from, or check ourselves before we tell a sexual joke at the Bethesda Marriott bar, or consider what it looks like when we get hammered in public at comics shows, or maybe not growl at people behind a panel table that are just there because they enjoy what we do, or give up reading gossip columns let alone feeding them, or no longer ask someone right there on the convention floor to go out, or stop considering bad behavior just something someone does that's hilarious and just the way they are, or stop squaring someone away professionally based on how awesome we think they are personally or stop making jokes about our personal lives on twitter without thinking first what that's going to sound like to a SCAD freshman who wants to know more about the industry and art form, or all of it, all together. It couldn't hurt, and perhaps along with the development of consequences for the instances of harassment themselves and the removal of stigma for the issue entire, might even help. One fascinating element about this story is that like so much of what goes on in comics these days it's a story that exists as if an audience doesn't.

* just a first few thoughts. Unfurling the Wood stories may be difficult beyond what we have right now, and I'm not sure the specifics will be at issue once again until there is a substantive development directly related to those incidents. I want to do a story about industry context concerning these specific incidents, and hope to return to the general issue of harassment and policies and the culture of comics in the future as I'm able to. I apologize for the insufficiency of what I've done here and will continue to do. I hope there's value of some sort in my insights and my posting them.

* mostly, though, and finally: I'm sorry these things happened to the people that have written about them them. I'm sorry they happen at all. I accept my part in this. Let's work on it.

posted 10:30 pm PST | Permalink

Go, Look: Michael Golden’s Dr. Strange Portfolio Art

posted 10:05 pm PST | Permalink

Collective Memory: The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum Grand Opening Festival Of Cartoon Art

this article has been archived

posted 10:00 pm PST | Permalink

Go, Look: Gagz By Lauren

posted 7:30 pm PST | Permalink

Assembled, Zipped, Transferred and Downloaded: Digital News

By Tom Spurgeon

* JR Williams is selling a PDF version of Sick Comics!! on a CD-ROM, if I'm reading this correctly. That would be cool to have.

* Claire Donner talks to Richard Sala about his -- and publisher Fantagraphics' -- digital-only debut, Violenzia. That comic has debuted, and I hope it's doing well. Richard Sala is criminally under-appreciated, and perhaps the work he's done on-line in disseminating imagery will have a positive effect on a comic book sold that way.

* the Periscope Studios site has been re-designed. That's the Portland-based studio featuring any number of mainstream/indy tweeners with significant skill sets; also Jeff Parker.

* there's a new Agent 8 up at Slutist that I totally missed being out of town. That's Katie Skelly's on-line comic of an adult nature (there's sex in it). I always thought we'd see more comics aligned with the bigger blog-driven sites, in the way that Filler was such a big part of Suck.com back in the pleistocene era of Internet publishing.

* finally, new George Jurard at Trip City.

posted 7:00 pm PST | Permalink

If I Were In Los Angeles, I’d Go To This

posted 6:30 pm PST | Permalink

If I Were In Brooklyn, I’d Go To This

posted 6:30 pm PST | Permalink

If I Were In London, I’d Go To This

posted 6:30 pm PST | Permalink

If I Were In Leeds, I’d Go To This

posted 6:30 pm PST | Permalink

Random Comics News Story Round-Up

* Richard Bruton on And Then Emily Was Gone #2 and I Don't Like My Hair Neat #2. Shawn Starr and Joey Aulisio discuss The Spotting Deer. Sean Gaffney on Senran Kagura: Skirting Shadows Vol. 1. Grant Goggans on The 47 Ronin. J. Caleb Mozzocco on a bunch of different comics. Gavin Jasper on Avengers #23.

* these massive articles by Ken Parille at TCJ are a treat; you should bookmark and return if you can't read it right now.

* the hobby business news and analysis site ICv2.com discusses the sales figures in their latest white paper. Spoiler alert: print makes a mini-comeback as digital sales slow down slightly from the crazy surges of the previous three years. Sounds about right to me.

* Fereshteh Forough talks to Leela Corman. Albert Ching talks to Geoff Johns.

* Mark Kardwell profiles Colin Smith's latest site devoted to reprinting material from UK comics 'zines. That's one of my favorite sites, and I agree with Kardwell that this kind of focused, near-obsessive documentation is a blessing and a treat. I worry about a lot of that fan material not making it out of the next quarter-century, so as much attention as we can pay to archiving it from all directions is an overall positive for our understanding of the art form.

* not comics: I wondered if there might be some slight Batkid backlash, as this post over at Robot 6 notes in a later paragraph.

* great title: "Why Does Ignatz Throw From Right To Left?"

* finally, here's a nice article about the comics holdings at the Library of Congress. Original Steve Ditko pages + issues of Papercutter = personally curated heaven.

posted 4:00 pm PST | Permalink

Happy 43rd Birthday, Jason Turner!