The topic of diversity/representation/appropriation has been a hot topic in the comicbook world in recent months. As it happens, this month’s MKE Comicbook was scheduled to discuss that topic as well – diversity in characters and creators. And, as every month, the folks in attendance brought a lot of good books and thoughts to share.
The conversation started with talking about Marvel’s hip-hop variant covers, and whether or not they were sincere and appropriate, or just a greed-driven move by marketers. We also talked about the difficulty inherent in creators trying to write characters that were outside their own personal experience. It was agreed that writers >can< write outside their own experience, but that it does need to be done pretty thoughtfully and with an awareness that it might be done poorly at first. Someone mentioned an interview with Junot Diaz, where he spoke about writing female characters. He had this to say:
“I think that unless you are actively, consciously working against the gravitational pull of the culture, you will predictably, thematically, create these sort of f*cked-up representations. Without fail. The only way not to do them is to admit to yourself [that] you’re f*cked up, admit to yourself that you’re not good at this shit, and to be conscious in the way that you create these characters.”
The topic of privilege also came up, and someone mentioned an interesting analogy they’d heard: “it’s like being in a culture where some people always ride bikes, and some always drive cars, and most people can mostly get where they need to, but the system is BUILT to favor cars…”
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The sharing of comics was to center on diversity of characters and creators in the comicbook world. It seemed appropriate then, that the discussion started with Kate bringing up the work of Dwayne McDuffie – a comicbook and cartoon writer who passed away far too early. McDuffie created Damage Control for Marvel, Static for Milestone Comics, and also did a LOT of cartoon writing, too.
Kate also mentioned Concrete Park, Ichiro (about a half-Japanese boy who grows up in the US, and then moves to Japan), and Blue Beetle (particularly the family reunion issue that was presented in Spanish with no English translations).
Justin shared two popular Hellblazer spin-off books from Vertigo – Papa Midnite and Lady Constantine.
Molly shared fan-favorite Pakistani-American hero Ms. Marvel and also a book from Image called Genius. She summarized Genius with “what if the greatest military mind ever seen was born into a young woman in a rough neighborhood of LA?” Molly also brought “Moped Army” by Paul Sizer – “a sorta trite teen futuristic story, but it also deals with class and privilege.”
Dillon, Molly’s son, showed another Paul Sizer book, Little White Mouse.
Luke didn’t have any specific comics to share, but spoke a bit for why John Stewart will always be his favorite Green Lantern.
Jony shared two classic Marvel X-books – an issue of New Mutants that focused on Dani Moonstar, a significant Native American character, and an issue of Uncanny X-men that featured the interacial relationships between Storm and Forge – African-American and Native American characters.
Melva brought a classic Power Man and Iron Fist issue, and she and Don both shared issues of Black Panther (“Back then, I probably bought this with my babysitting money!”. Melva also mentioned the web-comic “The K Chronicles” by Keith Knight.
Don found, at a recent comic-show, a copy of “Wonder-Woman: The Women’s Lib Issue”. As Don said, “Understandably, I have a pretty complicated response to this…Denny O’Neill is a good writer – but not this time…”. Don also mentioned Harbinger (“like Runaways crossed with Scanners”) and DV8: Gods and Monsters, both of which feature fairly diverse casts. Batgirl also was shown some love for a diverse cast and dynamic artwork. Aya of Yop City was also mentioned and praised, as an “African character written by an African – it’s a day-to-day, sorta Love and Rockets kind of book…if you liked Persepolis…”
Emilio shared “Johnny Hiro” – whose tagline is “half-Asian, all hero!” – a fun book that also deals with race and economic issues.
I shared March Vol. 1, the autobiographical graphic-novel co-written by Representative John Lewis, about his coming of age during the Civil Rights Movement. I also shared Mister Terrific and Xombi, from DC/Milestone Comics, which feature, respectively, a black super-intelligent, tech-powered inventor and a Korean-American adventurer of the weird. My final share was Valiant’s “Quantum and Woody” – the “world’s worst superhero-team” comprised of an “Odd Couple” of two brothers – one black, one white; one responsible, one not so much.
Before we closed for the night, we all had our brains tested by Don’s monthly comicbook trivia-contest! Thank you to Anodyne Coffee for letting us use the “laboratory” for our meeting!
