Light Carries On - September/October 2024 Edition of Devin's Chicago Comics Book Club Digest

Also, Some Thoughts on "Politics in Comics"

Hello, everyone! Much like last month, we talked about the Democratic National Convention and I hyped an indie comic con. This time, one of our official members who had attended the DNC told us what it was like and answered our questions about it. Later, I encouraged people to attend Indie Comix Expo 2. [Also, as with CAKE, I don’t think I’ll be able to give it the C2E2 treatment, but it was a lot of fun with awesome comics and live music. I arrived late because of my day job and left early because I had my day job in the morning, but I got to meet the organizer,

Jon W

, a lot of creators from previous cons, and a couple new people!]

The word sweet was used throughout our conversation to discuss this book, both in regards to the central relationship and seeing so much of Chicago represented. There were plenty of favorite spots on display, both touristy (the Bean) and local (the Empty Bottle). The person who had recommended Light Carries On had first read it more than a year ago and was happy to see that it held up. Some people were initially hesitant because of the art style or dichromatic coloring, but quickly got used to both. Seeing the Chicago skyline in this art style was singled out and the occasional splashes of red were seen as a highlight for emotional moments. Similarly, Cody was first seen as an annoying character but grew on several readers as the story progressed. He was revealed to have hidden depths and certain charms, and wasn’t the shiftless jerk that he appeared to be. Whether that was by choice or a façade he presented as a defense mechanism was lightly debated. If there was one critique, it was that the Chicago of the 1970s did not feel that different from present-day Chicago, but we all agreed that didn’t detract from the work as a whole. Our next meeting will be Wednesday, October 16 to discuss Gideon Falls, Volume 1.

What We're Reading

October 16 - Gideon Falls, Volume 1: The Black Barn by Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino

November 20 - Earthdivers, Volume 1: Kill Columbus by Stephen Graham Jones and Davide Gianfelice

We made a tentative choice for December, but I’m not presenting it here yet because attendance was light and there have been very few responses to the 2025 Survey. Please fill out the Google Form if you are so inclined!

Shameless Self-Promotion

The big news this month is that Nonprofitable, the animated web series I’ve been working on with Onicia Muller, is getting its official debut next week on Thursday, October 3! If you’re in Chicago and you’re free that night, please come to the official premiere party we’re having at La Catrina Restaurant!

The official synopsis reads in part, “Before and after the 2020 COVID lockdown, friends Tapala and David are forced to take their volunteering efforts for a local charity online, where they question the politics and morals of the people running the organization. One is more bothered by this than the other.” I’ll be sending out a special newsletter about the premiere party and updates on individual episodes as they drop!

Onicia and I have been working on this series for many years. (You can probably tell that by the “early days of the pandemic” detail of the setting. Lol) She’s the reason I first submitted the pilot script to Sundance, and she encouraged me to continue to develop it as a web series once the pandemic hit. Onicia has worked countless hours animating this (entirely in PowerPoint, no less!) and I couldn’t be more thankful to have such a talented, funny collaborator.

Project: Weird Wild West has reached the lettering stage! In addition to all the incredible people already involved, local artist and designer Winston Gambro has designed the title for this series. I’ve been a fan of his for a long time, and I’m so glad I got the chance to work with him! I’ll have more to share after returning from vacation in November.

The Blackout comic I’m working on with artist Michael Howe is almost done, and way sooner than I expected if I’m being completely honest. You can see another preview of a finished page on Michael’s twitch channel here. I’m hoping to have a print proof before leaving on the aforementioned vacation. Stay tuned!

Finally, CyberSync is available for purchase. The next anthology I’m going to be in is still in pre-launch, so click through to follow. Let’s see if we can get it up to 100 followers before the campaign starts!

About What We’ve Read

Another short selection this month. Light Carries On was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Original Graphic Novel/Anthology earlier this year. Creator Ray Nadine spoke with Gay League about the book and its origins and development. To learn more about Nadine, you can visit their website.

I don’t normally include reviews in the newsletter, but I miss Multiversity Comics, so I’m linking to their write up about it here.

The latest NEWS digest is available here. The next NEWS digest will be posted in two weeks.

Some Thoughts on “Politics in Comics”

I had intended to write an essay about ghosts. I had three paragraphs written about my personal views on them, the experiences of people I’ve known, and the varying internal logic stories can require of them. But then I saw a video about “keeping politics out of comics” that someone I respect recommended and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.

I think Light Carries On is the perfect comic to talk about this topic, because of how adjacent its subject matter is to issues that could be (or have been) addressed by public policy. The plot features an interracial gay couple. Is that political? Cody is a gay punk rocker who drinks too much and does cocaine. Is that political? Leon is a veteran with PTSD. Is that political?

There are ways to answer this question that involve thinking about how one’s politics and political views can inform one’s artistic expressions, that detail how something as nebulous as politics can be expressed through the themes of an artistic work, and how abstract metaphors can affect how one approaches concrete solutions to everyday problems through political activism and legislative policy decisions and campaigns. But is any of that what people mean when they talk about “politics in comics”?

Regarding Leon especially, I was reminded of this passage from Tim O’Brien’s essay, “How to Tell a True War Story”:

A true war story is never moral. It does not instruct, nor encourage virtue, nor suggest models of proper human behavior, nor restrain men from doing the things men have always done. If a story seems moral, do not believe it. If at the end of a war story you feel uplifted, or if you feel that some small bit of rectitude has been salvaged from the larger waste, then you have been made the victim of a very old and terrible lie. There is no rectitude whatsoever. There is no virtue.

[. . .]

You can tell a true war story if it embarrasses you. If you don’t care for obscenity, you don’t care for the truth; if you don’t care for the truth, watch how you vote.

If Leon had given an impassioned speech about the unjustness of war or Cody had gone on a diatribe about gay rights, it would have brought the story to a screeching halt and felt completely unnatural. Despite agreeing with those positions, I would have been dismayed by the inorganic way these points were made, and that is the root of the problem.

People who complain about “politics in comics” always see it as inorganic, and they aren’t really talking about politics. Any diversity is decried as “forced diversity” and “politics” is shorthand for “the presence of marginalized people.” The existence of marginalized people is not inherently political, and is only treated as such because one side of the political spectrum has chosen to demonize them in the first place. If their presence is political, how is their absence apolitical?

That isn’t to say there aren’t obnoxious scolds out there who want to police people’s language. That Tim O’Brien essay begins with an anti-Asian slur, the quoted passage is broken up with the justification for using a specific misogynistic term, and it goes on to describe a truly horrific act of animal abuse. Some people might object to me referencing it at all! And they’re free to do that. But being overly zealous about other people being insensitive or exclusionary isn’t equivalent to wanting to erase other people from existence. I’ve lost whatever patience I ever had to pretend these positions are remotely similar. I would rather err on the side of inclusivity.

The most frustrating part about this new wave of Comicsgate is how it’s being treated by people as reasonable, either ignorantly or naively. “They just want good stories without social justice issues shoehorned in,” people will say on social media and right-of-center blogs, “that makes sense.” What does “social justice” mean in this context? Does it mean working to improve society as more equitable and less oppressive for certain members of the population? Or is it an empty buzzword thrown around to disguise one’s true intentions? Because being “anti-social justice” has a pretty clear obverse: being pro-white supremacy.

I know how inflammatory that is, which is why I saved it for the end. Let’s stop kidding ourselves. I’ve had friends and colleagues harassed and vilified by people questioning their talent. I’m sure some will protest that “anti-social justice” is just “pro-status quo” but if you think the status quo isn’t racist, misogynist, ableist, and homophobic, I’ve got some banned books to recommend. The fact that they were capable of being banned should tell you something. Part of the purpose of art, including comics, is to expand one’s horizons, and working against inclusiveness while shouting about being silenced is the opposite of that.

I’ve been meaning to get many of these thoughts off my chest for a while and I could have gone on for much longer. I’m sure my stance is a surprise to no one. Lol Feel free to share any thoughts or comments below, provided we keep it civil around here. Please subscribe if you haven’t already. Thanks for reading. See you next month for Gideon Falls, Volume 1: The Black Barn by Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino!