Ladies Making Comics

Reblog/update for the evening crowd! And if you missed the original post, I’ve decided these are going to be part of the regular schedule (usually/hopefully going up by Monday), while the $3-tier patron perk will be a list of all the links from the previous week I didn’t include in the main links round-up. Because there are a LOT of great things that I could have included but would have taken a whole other week to write up.

My Favorites

• Pakistani cartoonist Unaiza Ali Barlas now holds the Guinness World Record for creating the longest comic strip at 267.38 meters (877 feet) long.
• The Billy Ireland Museum and Cartoon Library at OSU has a digital exhibit about Edwina Dumm, the first woman employed in a full time position as editorial cartoonist, starting in 1915. Her comic strip, Cap Stubbs and Tippie, ran for six decades starting in 1918.
• #VisibleWomen happened two weeks ago, but it’s not old news because the Beat just posted their own rundown both of the Kelly Sue DeConnick-sponsored hashtag, and also the Queer Cartoonists/Cartoonists of Color databases run by MariNaomi. (See also: This HuffPo article.)

Other News

• That’s right, get your money, Patty Jenkins! Seriously though, what a damning indictment of the whole film industry this part is: “[She] expects to be paid substantially more and the same as a male director would receive after such a box office coup.” She doesn’t just want a raise, she wants as much of a raise a man would get!!
• Ignatz nominees? Is it SPX time already?? Yes, and it’s awesome because 9 out of the 10 award categories are dominated by women, including the 5-for-5 “Promising New Talent” and “Outstanding Minicomic” categories! They’ll be awarded at SPX, Sept. 16-17 in Bethesda, MD.
• Speaking of awards, Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda’s Monstress vol. 1: Awakening won the 2017 Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story. In addition, all but two categories were won by women.
• Gena Robertson-Dworet is taking over scripting duties for the Captain Marvel movie. It’s not clear if she’s working from Nicole Perlman’s screenplay or starting over, but either way it’s great news. Robinson-Dworet also wrote the forthcoming Tomb Raider movie, and a treatment for a Gotham City Sirens movie.
• Stats! Women buy more than half of all comics sold in France. Women make up 46.15% of self-identified European comics fans on Facebook. Tim Hanley counts 25 female and nonbinary creators on 24 DC Comics books in October 2017, while Marvel has 20 on 21 books.

Interviews

• Elisha Lim discusses facing sharp resistance to portraying 19th century Chinese national hero Qiu Jin as a queer woman in their series 100 Butches. See an early draft of the first page here.
• Mimi Pond discusses The Customer is Always Wrong (the sequel to her fictionalized memoir Over Easy) with CBR and Jezebel. Did you know she wrote the first episode of The Simpsons? And wasn’t offered a staff writing job because showrunner Sam Simon was going through a divorce and didn’t want to be around any women? SMH.
• Rainbow Rowell talks to Marvel.com about what we’re going to see in her Runaways series, and teaches her non-comics reading YA audience how to pre-order comics.

Crowdfunding

• Do you wish you could buy comics and support Planned Parenthood at the same time? Do I have the Kickstarter for you! It would be easier to list the major creators not contributing, so just go check it out yourself.
• Hope Nicholson (The Secret Loves of Geek Girls) is putting together a gothic romance anthology, featuring both diverse creators and characters.
• The Sun and the Wayward Wind anthology is reimagining North American legends and lore. This is the first Kickstarter by the Dandelion Wine collective, and they’ve set an ambitious $32,000 goal so that they can pay their contributors. Go check out the art samples posted and you will have no doubts they deserve every penny.

Reviews

• The Customer is Always Wrong, by Mimi Pond (“addictive”)
• Generation X #5, written by Christina Strain (9/10)
• Genius: Cartel #1, art by Rosi Campe (“Check it Out”)
• Moonstruck #1, written by Grace Ellis, art by Kate Leth & Shae Beagle (“super-cute”; #2 out this week)
• Wonder Woman #28, written by Shea Fontana (“fun, looking forward to more”)

The Rest of the Week

• All the Previews I Could Find - Calla Cthulu GN, Clueless: Senior Year GN, Detective Comics #963, ElfQuest: The Final Quest #21, First Strike #2, Harley Quinn #26, Hi-Fi Fight Club #1, Jem and the Holograms: Infinite #2, Josie and the Pussycats #9, Lumberjanes #41, Mighty Captain Marvel vol. 1 TPB, Power of the Dark Crystal #6, Red Sonja #8, Rick and Morty #29, Science Comics: Plagues SC, Sisters of Sorrow #2, Sky Doll: Sudra HC (prvw of #1), The Storyteller: Giants HC, War Mother #1, Wonder Woman vol. 3 TPB
• Events - Aug. 24: My Favorite Vampire release party, Floating World Comics, Portland, OR.
• Birthdays - Marie Severin, Bobbie Chase (Aug 21); Anna-Maria B. Cool (Aug 22); Tara Madison Avery, Christian Beranek (Aug 23); Amy Reeder (Aug 25); Yumiko Igarashi (Aug 26); Wendy Snow-Lang, Catel Mueller, Melissa Mendes (Aug 27)

ICYMI: Sanya Arwar and Magdalene Visaggio are part of this year's DC Comics Writers’ Workshop. And you can buy a Kamala Kahn costume at the Disney Store. Also Molly Crabapple teamed up with Laverne Cox on a video about the history of trans rights.

As promised, here’s the first weekly links round-up over on my Patreon page. I had said the subsequent ones were going to be a $3-tier exclusive, but the more I worked on it, the more I realized how stupid that idea was. So now these are going to be part of the regular schedule (though usually/hopefully going up by Monday) and the $3-tier will be a list of all the links from the previous week I didn’t include in the main links round-up. Because there are a LOT of great things that I could have included but would have taken a whole other week to write up.

ETA: And tonight I’ll update and reblog this post with the whole roundup on here. I just can’t do it now because I’m at work and there’s no easy way to copy it over on my phone.

(That’s right– I’m back and begging for money!)

I started Ladies Making Comics while in law school in November of 2010. From a simple tumblr made on an impulse, it grew into a wiki, a physical library, and a multi-platform up-to-the-minute resource of what remarkable things amazing women were doing in comics.

Then, just as I was hitting my stride, I had to slow it down.

I had graduated from law school, started a whole other non-legal job, and found myself moving every summer for three years straight. Blogging had to take a backseat, then be put on ice. And then, once I had finally settled down geographically, I decided to throw my career into upheaval all over again: I was ready to take the bar exam and actually become a lawyer. After a lot of studying (and even more paperwork, it feels like) that finally became a reality in a little over a month ago.

But I’ve never stopped loving comics, the people who make them, or their wild and crazy history. There’s so much about comics I want to keep discovering and sharing. At the same time, I’m still job hunting for my first real lawyer job while working full-time at my current job. While I’ve frequently imagined my triumphant return to comics blogging! with a great splash and much fanfare, I’ve concluded that, nah, I’ll just start doing things again.

What things, you may ask? Well, getting back in the habit of researching for the wiki and acquiring and cataloging materials for the library, for one thing. Finally debuting a brand-new project, restoring the comics of public domain action heroine Betty Bates: Lady-at-Law that I’ve been working on sporadically for the past year and a half, for another (see the first page and find out more at @lady-at-law!) 

As for actual blogging? I’m still trying to hammer out what that’s going to look like– reviews and creator profiles most likely, maybe some kind of column format. That’s where you come in.

I’ve set up this Patreon to be pay-per-post both to motivate me to keep posting regularly and to be fair to you guys if I don’t. I’m keeping the reward thresholds low, so even keeping up with my current posting plans shouldn’t break your bank. So, to help you figure out how much, if any, you want to pledge, here’s the rough schedule I’m planning on:

• A new restored Betty Bates page every other week
• A review/creator profile/column on LMC proper the other weeks
• A weekly links round up for $3+ tier subscribers (I’ll be posting the first one for free in the next day or so so you’ll know what you’ll be getting.)

To translate that into monthly terms:

• $1 pledge = $4-5 a month
• $2 pledge = $8-10 a month
• $3 pledge = $24-30 a month
• $5 pledge = $40-50 a month

That’s it. And of course, if I don’t stick to the schedule, you won’t pay as much. I’m committed to doing this, but life happens. It’s better for everyone if you don’t feel like your pledge is wasted just because I get sick one week, or have to put in extra hours at the office another week. Also, if the tiers or schedule ever change, you’ll get plenty of notice to adjust your pledge. 

So, please check out my Patreon and consider pledging, or at least keep it in the back of your mind. If you don’t want to commit to a subscription yet, but wouldn’t be averse to kicking me a few bucks, I also have a ko-fi profile for Betty Bates.