The Comics Experience Blog

Cartoonists of Color and Queer Cartoonists Database logos designed by MariNaomi. Disabled Cartoonists Database logo designed by Rus Wooton.

Discussions regarding diversity and inclusion initiatives in the workplace and in creative sectors have picked up again lately, largely in response to Black Lives Matter’s efforts to publicize the lack of opportunities and pay parity for people of color in the business world.

Comics is no different.

“Diversity” and “inclusion” don’t function like slow cookers. Companies and creators can’t throw buzzwords into the pot and then step away. These are active principles, involving listening instead of talking, a commitment to constantly learning, and making sustainable changes when faced with criticism from marginalized demographics. For creators and editors wishing to live and work with diversity as a given rather than “set it and forget it” mindset, a trio of databases created and maintained by cartoonist MariNaomi (Turning Japanese, Kiss and Tell: A Romantic Résumé, Ages 0 to 22, Ask Bi Girls podcast) make for a valuable first step when finding the right fits for the right projects and providing opportunities for creators underrepresented in the comics scene.

The three resources: Cartoonists of Color Database, Disabled Cartoonists Database, and Queer Cartoonists Database (all funded via MariNaomi’s Patreon), contain a staggering array of talent, and includes pencillers, inkers, letterers, colorists, designers, and cartoonists. It’s even possible to find creatives by cross-referencing databases! No matter the genre or style needed for a project, there likely exists a potential partner to reach out to and inquire about their interest.

However, there are right ways and wrong ways to communicate with cartoonists from marginalized backgrounds and thoughtfully engaging with their work. Respect must form the foundation of any collaborative effort. Respect does not begin and end simply with proffering opportunities. MariNaomi took time to talk about the databases with us and how individual creatives and publishers alike can back up their words with actionables.

Comics Experience: What are some of your favorite creator stories from each database? What amazing works have come from creators using them and finding their dream collaborators?

MariNaomi: When I’m traveling–at conventions or on book tours–I’ve had a lot of young creators come up to me and tell me that they got their first art show, their first paying gig, etc., from the databases. In interviews and on social media, I’ve seen pros say they get gigs from the databases all the time. Editors, organizers, and other gatekeepers often tell me they use my databases to find people for panels, anthologies, magazines, etc. I’ve seen social media posts from bookstore owners saying they use the databases to diversify the work they carry.

Hearsay is about all I’ve got. When folks tell me these things in person, I’m usually in the middle of an event and don’t have time to ask questions. Also, I get emotionally overwhelmed with such happy news, and I get mad at myself later for not asking for details. Of course I’d love to know specifics, but it seems like a lot of investigative work just to make myself feel good. I’m just happy the databases seem to be working.

CE: Multiple Black creators have shared that they’re receiving bulk emails from artistic directors, writers, and editors, sometimes even requesting styles, genres, and art that isn’t even in their portfolio. This is obviously a rude and tokenizing approach. What would be a more respectful way for creators looking to diversify their teams to make inquiries?

MN: First off, I want to make it clear that none of those mass emails were done through my databases! The databases have been designed to safeguard against that kind of spamming. Creators have the option to allow themselves to be contacted, but in those cases, the people contacting them will not be given their email address—only if the creator responds will the emailer see their address. I’ve gotten lots of requests from folks asking to mass-email my creators, and it’s always a firm no. I care a lot about privacy.

That said, these folks should treat the creators with the same professionalism and respect that they would want. I hear complaints all the time from agents and editors who get inappropriate queries from authors who haven’t read their submission guidelines, for example. If you’re reaching out to a creator, you should do your research. Explain why you think they, specifically, would be perfect for your project. A little bit of courtesy goes a long way.

CE: How should publishers and indie creators diversify their teams without tokenizing or otherwise sidelining the contributions of their BIPOC, disabled, and/or LGBTQIAP+ collaborators?

MN: I don’t think it’s my place to answer this question—I don’t have the answers other than they need to balance the scales throughout their organizations. Don’t just decide to hire marginalized creators–hire marginalized folks to BE the decision makers. As a marginalized creator myself, I’ve found myself tokenized many times over the years, and it sucks. You always know when you’re there to make somebody else look good.

CE: Too often, publishers treat diversity and inclusion with lip service, touting both for marketing purposes but not promoting or recruiting BIPOC, disabled, and/or LGBTQIAP+ people as leaders. What’s the most effective way for creators and fans to hold them accountable so these values become a given practice and not buzzwords?

MN: Stay vigilant! Even after this phase is over, keep the momentum going. I think we’re seeing a lot of this as folks become less afraid to speak up. I’m also a fan of putting your money where your mouth is. Make a decision to purchase work by marginalized creators, and be vocal about it in all your avenues.

Often, publishers don’t promote marginalized creators nearly as much as their white counterparts. Call them on it when you see it, and do your part to keep lifting up your favorite marginalized creators by word of mouth, social media, and review sites such as Goodreads and Amazon. It’s lonely and HARD being the sole promoter of your own work, which is where most of us start out, and sometimes end. It’s enough to make creators want to give up. This is the importance of community and allies. Helping each other out is so necessary if we want to keep publishing diverse and interesting.

Thanks again to MariNaomi for the wonderful interview! Check out their work on marinaomi.com and support their art and database upkeep via Patreon.

In this entry in our Guest Retailer blog series, Steve Anderson, owner of Third Eye Comics in Maryland and Virginia discusses his stores’ multi-pronged approach to reaching customers with storefronts closed and the challenges faced when different lawmakers give different instructions on reopening.

By Steve Anderson

I look at COVID-19 as 4 stages, in terms of how we’ve been impacted and how we’ve adapted.

Stage 1 was in late January for me. I saw the news about Wuhan and had no idea how serious this was going to be, but started thinking in terms of the impact it would have on customer behavior if it did hit. I did not anticipate what it was, or what it has been, but instead thought we might just see something similar to when the swine flu was prevalent.

I ramped up our internal store cleaning procedures (which were already pretty hardcore), set up a contract with CINTAS for scheduled future deep cleans of our busiest storefronts, along with the installation of touchless soap, paper towel, and hand sanitizer stations (including public ones), and increased our store stock of hand sanitizer, wipes, etc, which are all things we had already been keeping on hand for normal day-to-day operations.

Stage 2 was around the end of very start of March. This was when it set in that this was going to be something that could potentially threaten the existence of our business, but again… we had no idea just how much. I made the decision to close our tabletop game store, Third Eye Games, and event space and cancel all in-store gaming events at the beginning of March.

Along with that, I began instituting some preliminary policies that are now major parts of our day-to-day. Disinfectant wipe-downs of high-touch surfaces throughout the day and other measures like that.

It was around this time I also began developing “just in case” models for how we could do business if shutdowns came our way — and, sure enough, on March 23, that came.

From there, that takes us into Stage 3 — our stores shut down to the public on May 23, and we could only offer curbside. By the 30th, curbside was removed as an option.

We instituted:

• Local delivery within 40 miles of our store
• Ramped up mail order with flat rate shipping
• Programs like ZOOM Personal Shopping
• FB Live Shows for selling clearance merchandise
• Curated reading packages
• The Third Eye Binge Box
• Third Eye Battle Bonds, gift cards packaged with rewards, depending on the tier.

We kept selling new comics, even when there were none to be sold. We’d spotlight and re-introduce old favorites, making sure to maintain continuity with our customers throughout the entire process.

In addition to thinking of survival, we also tried to keep positive by taking on initiatives we couldn’t when the store was open:

• We had to rethink the model of our game store entirely; 50% of the store was dedicated to play space, and that was going to be unusable for at least eight to 12 months. With pretty much zero budget to do so, we managed to change the space around and re-imagine the game store in a way that introduced new categories that we think will perform well and make up the lost revenue from the event space.
• We streamlined our internal processes and refined infrastructure.
• And, while it hasn’t launched, we re-imagined our e-commerce presence and have a better strategy for that going forward.

Through all of these processes, our customers were incredible. With their support, along with some smart decisions from our vendors, we survived Stage 3.

Now, we’re in stage 4 — and this is the hardest stage, by far: the recovery.

Our state made a decision one way for opening, our county made a decision another way, and our city made a decision another way for where the flagship Third Eye stores are based.

We’ve literally been having to retool the messaging of how we’re operating, and what we’re doing, on a near-daily basis.

We’ve finally been given a concrete date for when we can reopen, along with guidelines for capacity, so we’re hopeful about that. And, if I had to say, how’ve we been adapting now? We’re focusing on making sure we have everything as safe, and as ready, as possible for when we do re-open on June 1.

Our satellite stores in Richmond, VA and Southern Maryland have both been open for nearly two weeks now, and are doing great. We’re excited to get the Third Eye flagship stores in Annapolis open with them.

Honestly, this is a lot shorter than what I had for category 1, but really it’s this simple: you take whatever gets thrown at you, you figure out how to make it work, and you keep at it until it works.

You have to stay positive, stare straight ahead, don’t look up, don’t look down, just keep looking forward, and when problems arise… beat your head against them until you figure out the solution.

For us, our customer service and hand-selling has always been a big part of what makes Third Eye special. Not being able to offer that in-person was a huge disadvantage. We are very much an off-the-rack store, and very much not a catalog pre-order driven store.

In other words: locking people out of our shops is about the worst thing that could happen to us.

We didn’t overthink our Personal Shopping service. We put together a brief how to, encouraged people to schedule appointments, and then chatted and showed them the store via Zoom. It worked pretty well.

It was very helpful to us, especially in the first two to three weeks.

Thanks so much to Mr. Anderson for his contribution to this blog and detailed information about retail strategies that have helped during this ongoing pandemic. You may visit Third Eye Comics on the web and via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.

In this entry in our Guest Retailer blog series, Jen King, owner of Space Cadets Collection in Oak Ridge North, Texas discusses how the store has harnessed social media to keep operations running and the community engaged.

by Jen King

Because I have an amazing staff that I was unwilling to lose, I immediately figured out ways to keep them employed [when COVID-19 hit]. First and foremost, I was concerned with their well-being, so I gave everyone the choice to stay home and work from there if they wished.

That is where the art classes and trivia came to life, as they could do those live on our Facebook page and keep our customers engaged and connected. Because our youngest customers are so important to us (and also to help with the sanity of parents), I began a morning FB Live called “Kiddo Reading Time With Ms. Jen.”

It’s simple. I read books out loud, storytime style. We also had a part of our staff who could safely come in and work in the warehouse (we made safety zones for each employee where no other employee should go into). Those staff members ramped up our already-robust eBay store with hundreds more listings, and our regular shipping staff found themselves busy with shipping those and also orders being generated by our live sales. We provided curbside assistance from day one.

I love the quote from my good friend, Jesse James Crisione: “Always be selling comics.” We did every single safe thing that we could short of creating a web store (which is in the works still) to reach customers who wanted comics, supplies, collectibles, or wanted to just get comic news or reviews. I know that it wasn’t possible for some retailers who were sheltered in place to get physical copies to their customers, but my advice is to always be reaching out to be the place that already has their book held for them once they can move about safely.

Jesse and I have been doing Facebook Live on the Comic Book Shopping Network for quite a while (our two-year anniversary is on July 15). We knew we liked selling comics live, but we love lifting up our fellow retailers, and so started adding them pretty early on to the network. Working together in this way actually strengthens all of the stores.

We have proof of concept. We have roughly a dozen physical shops represented, like Chris Columbus’ Geek Geek Nerd Nerd, Aaron Haaland’s A Comic Shop, and Christina Blanch’s Aw Yeah! and also Jimmy Jay’s Jay Brothers brand. We also have a few publisher shows (Coffin Comics and BDI Ink).

The draw of that much great content and availability of product means that we have an abundance of vetted buyers spending money and helping shops stay afloat even with closed storefronts. We also reached out to shops just wanting to learn how to sell using the format on their shop pages and taught them everything we know. We want everyone to make it through this.

I am also involved in a fundraiser called Insider Art, which is raising money for female or non-binary store owners. It is a multi-faceted effort with three creative ways we are raising money: 1) Shelly Bond and a group of very talented editors have gathered groups of female and non-binary creators to put together a 200-page anthology titled Insider Art, 2) those same talented artists are also putting together a project on Spoonflower for an amazing Cat print set and 3) customers, creators and publishers are donating items that I am putting up for auction with all of the proceeds going to the fund.

I also, on the day that Diamond suspended shipments, started a Facebook group called Plan C, and populated it with all of the creators, publishers, and retailers that I could find and tasked them with brainstorming ways to get comics into the shops that still had any operating ability. Lots of connections have been made and I have been very happy with the large number of high quality super indie comics that I have featured in my shop and live to our customers, and it looks like the creators and other shops are as well.

Thanks so much to Ms. King for her contribution to this blog, as well as her efforts in promoting comic book retailers during a time of crisis. You may visit her store on the web and via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.

Congratulations are in order! Heather Antos, our own course instructor and co-host of the Make Comics podcast, has been promoted to senior editor at Valiant Entertainment! All of us at Comics Experience are proud of and excited for her new opportunity… and it’s safe to say she’s quite happy as well!

“If there’s one thing I’ve learned in the past year with Valiant Entertainment, it’s that we have some of the most passionate fanbases, full stop,” Heather says.

“I’m so thrilled to be able to continue to develop stories for this universe alongside colleague Lysa Hawkins. Together we have decades of experience working on top stories with the biggest talent the world has to offer. Together, this team is unstoppable.”

Understandably, she has to remain mum on some of the projects she’s working on. But not everything! She has some wonderful new titles in the works for those of you looking for some mysterious chills and thrills.

Heather says, “The two projects that I can speak about that I’m most excited for are the brand-new true crime thriller called The Final Witness (Ray Fawkes, Jeremy Haun, Nick Filardi, Clayton Cowles) and the horror comic Shadowman (Cullen Bunn, Jon Davis-Hunt, Jordie Bellaire, Clayton Cowles) [pictured, art by Rahzzah].

Both projects each are reaching into brand new genres for this iteration of the company, and these are creators and teams I thought I could only dream of collaborating with. And both are going to forever impact the Valiant universe is some terrifying ways… They are truly an honor to be a part of.”

The Valiant universe offers up plenty of rich and wonderful reads, and no doubt Heather’s work combined with these showstopping teams will leave a major mark. We’re looking forward to picking up their forays into some brand new genres, especially since their pioneering superhero work is already such a blast.

Secret Weapons was my Valiant gateway drug. I love street level books that tend to focus on the ‘outside’ characters. It’s an extremely relatable story of those seen as ‘freaks’ even within their community of psiots, and thus the rejected of an already disenfranchised community,” Heather says.

“Coming together to overcome extreme circumstances, Eric Heissurer and Raul Allen, and Patricia Martin crafted one of the most heart-wrenching and heartwarming stories in modern comics. Plus… Nikki has pink hair and talks to birds! One day I’ll get my comic where she talks to a penguin…”

Molly Lazer, one of the fine purveyors of professional critique in our Creators Workshop won honorable mention in the North Street Book Prize competition for her Lentils in Black Rice: Myths and Fairy Tales! You can read the wonderful review of her work and why it deserved recognition above tough competition here.

Lentils in Black Rice remixes familiar, traditional folk tales, mythology, and bible stories into one another, with fresh, layered interpretations of the material spanning multiple genres. It challenges how we share and perceive narratives over time and geography and how values and tastes shift.

We spoke with Molly about the honors she earned, as well as her thoughts on storytelling in different media.

Comics Experience: How does your experience in comics inform your approach to prose? How does your experience in prose inform your approach to comics?

Molly Lazer: Comics are obviously a very visual medium, and I like my stories to have vivid imagery. Since I don’t have art to go with the words, I have to paint a picture using just the right phrases to make my settings and characters come alive. There may also be something to the fact that super hero comics tend to have a never-ending parade of horrible things happening to their protagonists–and yet the protagonists soldier on. I tend to do awful things to my characters, and they still persevere. Perhaps that’s something I learned from reading comics!

I talked about this a lot on the Comics Experience podcast I did with Joey Groah, but my experience in prose informs my approach to comics quite a bit. I have a great deal of experience workshopping prose with colleagues and as a teacher, since I teach creative writing to high school students. The workshop is so important when it comes to honing people’s writing skills, and the lessons I learned in my prose workshops translate directly to the critiques I give people when I read their scripts for the Creator’s Workshop. I have also learned and practiced story structure and character development through my prose writing, and those are other essential story elements that translate directly to writing comics.

CE: What draws you to folktales, myths, and bible stories? What inspires you to remix them?

ML: I’ve always loved classic fairy tales, myths, and bible stories. There is something fascinating about those archetypes that translate from culture to culture, existing in different-yet-similar forms depending on who is telling the story. I have a whole shelf at home dedicated just to fairy tales, fairy tale retellings, and literary criticism about fairy tales. (One of my favorite classes in college was called Feminist Fairy Tales, in which we read different cultures’ versions of classic tales as well as modern interpretations and discussed them through a feminist lens.) Even though I love them, though, there are elements that bother me about them, and that is usually what inspires me to remix them. My novel, Owl Eyes: A Fairy Tale was formulated based on my trying to work out the answers to two questions about Cinderella: if he is not dead, drunk, or otherwise incapacitated, why would Cinderella’s father allow her to be a servant in his own household, and other than the fact that she’s pretty, why, really does the Prince want her?

My short stories usually come out of just thinking a lot about the stories and drawing connections between them–like when I recently reread Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid” and noticed that there were a number of lines in it that reminded me very strongly of the myth of Pygmalion and Galatea, so I decided to mix them together and have the mermaid fall in love with the statue of the human prince instead of the man.

CE: What is your approach to reworking the familiar in new and novel ways?

ML: As I mentioned, I like drawing connections between various stories and just seeing what happens. I ask a lot of questions, like what would happen if Sleeping Beauty never woke up but had the King’s baby in the tower anyway (as happens in Giambattista Basile’s Italian version of the tale)? That child would be trapped in a tower…like Rapunzel. Or what would happen if Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother wanted to eat her and the wolf instead of the wolf being the villain? The story would turn in to Hansel and Gretel.

I think that the fact that I have a pretty big knowledge base of myths and fairy tales is helpful, like when I wrote the last story I wrote for my collection and wanted it to be about parents who eat their children. I was able to come up with five stories in which that happens pretty easily!

Sometimes, though, my approach is to just have a myth in front of my or a really vague idea in my head, and start writing. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing when I started “Hatchlings,” the story that retells the myths around the children of Leda and Zeus. The three parts of the short story just kind of happened as I wrote them. Or when I decided to do something with the ten plagues and ended up taking a metaphorical look at each of them. That’s a really weird piece. I had the flu while I was writing it, so you can see what happens when I write while not altogether there in the head.

CE: Tell us the story of your big North Street Book Prize win!

ML: Yay! I entered the North Street Book Prize, which is for self-published books and small press titles, last year. I wasn’t totally sure about doing it, because I didn’t know how a book of short stories would fare among all the full-length works that were going to be entered, and also because the only two categories I could enter it in were “literary fiction” (which it is not, really) and “genre,” which is literally anything that is not literary fiction, graphic novel, children’s picture book, nonfiction, or poetry. But I figured what the heck, and entered anyway. I got news about two months before the winners were announced that I was a semi-finalist and that they wanted to see a hard copy of the book (I had entered with a .pdf file), so I mailed that in. And then the winners were announced, and I was awarded an honorable mention! It was really exciting for me because there were 1,600 entries in the contest. I don’t know how many were in the genre category, but I have to assume it was a lot since the category is so broad. The book got a really nice writeup, which you can see here.

You can purchase the award-winning Lentils in Black Rice: Myths and Fairy Tales in paperback or ebook format here.

Independent Creator Award winner and Ringo Award nominee Frank Gogol has a new and exciting comic launching June 14! The Creators Workshop member, course alumnus, and Source Point Press writer dips his toes into punk-flavored horror with No Heroine. Artist Criss Madd, colorist Shawna Madd, letterer Sean Rhinehart, and cover artist Ahmed Raafat all work closely with Frank to bring to life his story of a 90-days sober woman and her fight with heroine-dealing vampires.

Frank’s convention plans for the year, which included appearances on several Comics Experience panels, have obviously been cancelled due to COVID-19. We still wanted to hear his thoughts that he wanted to share with fans… and, of course, details about what we can expect from No Heroine!

Comics Experience: You’ve been offering free copies of Grief to everyone and sending relief bundles to retailers right now. How do you think comics creators can have retailers’ and fans’ backs right now?

Frank Gogol: I don’t know that there’s a one-size-fits all answer to how to help people right now. Readers and retailers have different needs. No two retailers necessarily have the same needs either. But my family and I are healthy, comfortable, and still working right now, so I wanted to help as much as I could. So I took a step back and asked myself what were the problems I saw and what solutions could I offer — and there were a few answers.

The easy and obvious one was that I could give people free digital comics. It costs nothing, so it has infinite potential to reach people who need it and Grief is a book that really resonates with people who have been through or who are going through tough times. So that was a bit of a no-brainer.

Lending a hand to retailers was a bit trickier because their needs differ from one shop to the next. But one of the things that’s affecting most retailers right now is the shortage or product because distribution has halted. So I started putting together retailer bundles — which include a physical copy of Grief and the recently released trade for Dead End Kids — and just sending them to shops that I had a contact at. But because of the current situation, I’ve also been able to connect with more retailers and send stuff to them, too. And I believe, to-date, I’ve sent about 100 bundles out.

I haven’t really spoken much about the bundles publicly because I wasn’t doing it to be recognized, but I do think it’s important to help people when you can. Retailers and readers are the lifeblood of comics and we don’t take care of them right now, there is no industry tomorrow.

CE: What would be a possible option to help out for newer creators or exclusively webcomic creators who may not have the physical copies of their books to send out?

FG: This is a good question to which I’m not sure I have a great answer. But if it were me — and your mileage may vary here — but if I had a non-physical book and I wanted to help retailers, I’d get set up on a platform like Gumroad and I’d commit to donating a portion of the profits to LCSs. I know that doesn’t seem like a big dent, and maybe it isn’t, but the thing to realize is that no one person is going to fix the problem. But every drop in the bucket helps fill it.

CE: Since your convention appearances and panels have been cancelled, what were some subjects you were hoping to discuss that you’d like to discuss here?

FG: Coming off the success of Dead End Kids last year, I was really looking forward to talking through that experience with prospective creators. I’ve been making comics for 4 years this month, and I’ve seen a decent amount of success in a short period of time. So, it would have been cool (and will be cool when cons do start up again) to get out there and show new writers that the dream is possible.

CE: Have you considered organizing online panels to talk to aspiring creators?

FG: I personally haven’t worked to organize any online panels or anything like that. I’m a big believer in letting the people who are best suited to a job do that job — and organizing events (of any kind) is a bit outside of my wheelhouse.

That said, I have been, and will continue to be, part of online panels as long as people will have me. I think they’re incredibly valuable and I think we’re sort of in a golden age where we have so much access to content and content that’s specific. Like, four years ago when I started writing comics, these kinds of things didn’t happen very often. Now, especially now, they’re available in spades and anyone who wants to make comics is in a good position to get started as a result.

CE: You’ve already spoken elsewhere about the way growing up around addiction influenced the creation of your new series No Heroine, so I won’t retread that water. However, I was wondering about the influence of punk music and anarchist ideals on this series?

FG: Growing up…troubled, for lack of a better word, led me to punk music. I was definitely an angry youth and punk was a very big outlet for that. It’s loud, fast, sometimes angry music that tends to address social issues and attract people who don’t have the best home lives.

So it was very easy to marry those ideas to the story of No Heroine because the story — while being an homage to Buffy the Vampire Slayer in a lot of ways — is, at its core, a story about interfamily trauma and a broken home.

The aesthetic of punk rock, too, was a great visual tool box to draw on when Criss, Shawna, and I were developing the lead character, Kayla, and the world she inhabits, too.

CE: What’s your working relationship like with your creative team? How do you work together?

FG: Of my collaborations, this one has been one of the best. For one thing, this is the first time that I am working with a team based entirely in the U.S. for the interiors of the book, which certainly makes collaboration a bit easier (closer time zones, easier to call, everyone speaks the same primary language).

On top of that, working with Criss and Shawna, specifically, has been great. They are a father-daughter artist-colorist team, so they’ve got a lot of creative synergy and work really well together. They’re constantly riffing one one another giving and implementing feedback from one another in real-time. That all just makes managing the project on my end so much easier, but it also, I think, makes the book better.

And Sean, who lettered Grief and Dead End Kids before this, just kind of comes in and does his thing and it looks great. We’ve worked together enough that the relationship is strong and there’s a trust there. Which, again, makes everything so much smoother.

Don’t forget to pick up your copy of No Heroine #1 by mail or by curbside delivery from your favorite local comic book shop on June 14!