June/July 2023 Edition of Devin's Chicago Comics Book Club Digest
Special Pride Month LGBTQ+ Comic Creators Panel
Happy Pride Month, everyone! I know I’m coming in under the wire on that, posting this on the last day, but it still counts! Lol We didn’t have a comic book selection this month. Instead, I moderated a panel discussion of local LGBTQ+ Comic Creators hosted by the Logan Square branch of the Chicago Public Library and sponsored by the library’s Rainbow Committee. It was a wonderful evening! We had a lively discussion, good turnout, and plenty of audience participation. Afterwards, some of us official Comics Book Club members got pizza.
I’ve embedded the video I took on my phone and you can also watch it on my YouTube channel. I hope the audio is okay. We had a sign language interpreter, too, which was awesome!
After introductions, I provided a brief history of LGBTQ+ representation in comics (the incompleteness of which will forever haunt me). I asked about eight questions of our three panelists about such topics as how they got into comics and what their experience as creators has been. It was a fun and friendly discussion. We opened up to questions from the audience for the second half and had lots of enthusiastic inquiries about how to break into comics, how to find the panelists’ comics, and queer indigenous representation in comics. And we still managed to end exactly on time!
We will return to form for our next meeting on Wednesday, July 19 to discuss The Backstagers, Volume 1: Rebels Without Applause. I’ve been called for jury duty that day, but hopefully I won’t be too late.
What We're Reading
July 19 - The Backstagers, Volume 1: Rebels Without Applause by James Tynion IV and Rian Sygh
August 16 - The Good Asian, Volume 1 by Pornsak Pichetshote and Alex Tefenkgi
September 20 - Heartstopper, Volume 1 by Alice Oseman
October 18 - Harrow County, Volume 1: Countless Haints by Cullen Bunn and Tyler Crook
November 15 - Unnamed Marvel Book
December 20 - The Perry Bible Fellowship Almanack by Nicholas Gurewitch
January 17 - Always Never by Jordi Lafebre
Hoopla has the individual issues of The Backstagers in addition to two collections, but we’re only reading the first full volume, which collects issues 1 through 4.
Shameless Self-Promotion
This month started off with some bad news when a grant application I submitted to complete an animated web series was rejected. Fortunately, that means I have more time to devote to making comics! And in that regard, I’ve got some great news: I’ve been accepted into Volume 2 of the SMASH Quarterly Anthology for next year!! Woohoo! I’ve written a four-page story with art by David Escobar. SMASH stands for Suspense, Mystery, Action, Sci-fi, and Horror. I’m not sure how much I can divulge, but I’d say my story falls into the Suspense, Mystery, and Horror categories. To say I’m really excited is a huge understatement. This is a dream come true! I will try my best not to talk about it nonstop for the rest of the year. :)
I’m still scripting two different 22-page one-shot comics, although one may have to expand to 24 pages given how printing pagination works. I've submitted to yet another anthology and I’m still planning to apply for the Mad Cave Talent Search. The inks are complete for my one-page comic and it has been sent to the colorist, so that may be finished and ready to post here by the end of summer.
NEWS
Thanks again to this month’s panelists! You can find Kat Leyh on Tumblr. Pamela Nuñez-Trejo’s website is here and her webcomic, The Witch of Luminoza, is on Webtoon. Whitney Wasson’s website is here and you can also support them on Patreon and at Big Cartel. Thanks again also to the Chicago Public Library, the Rainbow Committee, and everyone who showed up!
MariNaomi was named on the “People I Missed” slide of my presentation, and here’s their list of 20 Essential Queer Comics from the Past Five Years. Book Riot published this brief history of some of the first trans characters in modern American superhero comics. DC Comics’ 2023 Pride Anthology was previewed at them magazine.
Let’s get to the news! The major story this month arguably has been the Eisner Award nominations, but they revealed a lot of ugly truths at the heart of the nominating process and comics publishing as a whole. This was especially true in the four nominations given to Francis Rothbart! The Tale of a Fastidious Feral by Thomas Woodruff, a former Chair of the Bachelor of Fine Arts Illustration and Cartooning Department at School of Visual Arts known for hating the comics medium and abusing his students. The backlash to this was swift and included a petition to rescind his nominations.
As allegations of racist, ableist, and sexist behavior (and I don’t even know how to categorize forcing students to clean up your own excrement) continued to mount, Woodruff and his publisher Fantagraphics went through the motions of offering up what sounded like an apology, including the infuriating “I can’t be racist because I’m gay” defense, before Woodruff declined the nominations.
Unfortunately, this doesn’t address the systemic issues that led to his nominations in the first place, including the secrecy surrounding the nominating process and the overwhelming lack of diversity in comics, from the schools that are supposed to foster talent to the professionals who hand out prestigious awards.
Those awards will be given out at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, which is happening July 20 to 23. In what’s being called a setback, a lot of major production studios are not attending this year. This has led to a lot of jokes about “Comic-Con having to focus on comics again,” but it’s also being spun as an effect of the writers’ strike. I hope this doesn’t cause a lot of immature superhero fans to call for the strike to end prematurely. Stand with the WGA!
One bit of news that kind of flew under the radar was that Image Comics has signed an exclusive deal with Lunar Distribution. We have a retailer in our Comics Book Club, and I’m curious about his take on this. As happy as I am to see Diamond Distribution’s stranglehold on comics relax, part of me wonders if this isn’t replacing one monopoly with another.
This month had its share of sadness, too. Editorial comics website The Nib announced that it will be shutting down in August. This is really depressing. I've linked to their work here several times in the past, including in the short time I’ve had this newsletter on Substack, and I’m at a loss for words.
wrote a touching piece about the different artists featured on the site and some of the comics that had a significant cultural impact. wrote about his experience at The Nib, and you can find his work for them here.Artist Ian McGinty died at the age of 38. His heartbreaking final tweet lent an extra layer of irony and sadness to his passing, but it also inspired the #ComicsBrokeMe campaign, which exposed a lot of the deep flaws in an industry that literally works people to death to create art. Of course, since Twitter is a garbage fire, there were people who capitalized on this hashtag to troll others and be awful, but scroll past them for some true horror stories about people being overworked, underpaid, and treated like garbage to make comics.
John Romita, Sr. passed away at the age of 93. Even people who don’t read comics are familiar with his artwork, even if they don’t realize it. Primarily known for his work on Spider-Man, he was known also for being a decent, humble person.
wrote a poignant newsletter about what it was like to work with him. shared a sweet story about meeting him at 11 years old. Finally, here’s a YouTube video of John Romita, Sr. sharing his bafflement at superhero popularity and secret to depicting Spider-Man.No Thoughts This Month
I feel like I’ve talked enough already. I’ll have a short essay next month, though.
Feel free to share any thoughts or comments below! What did I leave out in my (brief) history? What LGBTQ+ comics do you recommend? Please subscribe if you haven’t already. Thanks for reading. See you in a month for The Backstagers, Volume 1: Rebels Without Applause by James Tynion IV and Rian Sygh!