Monday morning, I was fortunate enough to get to sleep in for a bit. It was pretty neat; sleeping is one of the few vices I have left. When I woke up, I checked the daily update for our Queens Anthology on Kickstarter. (Btw, thanks for your support to those of you have pledged. To those of you have yet to do so, there’s still time) I was greeted by a less than pleasant comment….
To be fair, Zoidberg references never go out of style…
It should be noted that today, we were featured on the front page of Kickstarter so this attempt at trollery was likely in response to that. It’s cool though. It cost Wingnut a dollar to make the comment, so who’s the real winner here?
I guess it was inevitable that a comic anthology that focuses on feminist comedy would irk those who fancy themselves as comicsgaters, people (usually straight white males) who are opposed to comicbook characters that represent the underrepresented. As an upstart comics creator, I must admit that I keep this mentality in mind when writing stories as an example of what not to do. A personal philosophy I try to live by is if I don’t like a certain behavior, then I shouldn’t act in said behavior.
Over the last few years, certain comic book mantles have been undertaken by new characters designed to represent a broader cross-section of fans. This should be seen as a good thing, yet for a vocal minority, it is another target for them to project their insecurities onto. And it’s spread beyond comics. As a Star Wars fan for most of my life, parts of the fandom makes me hang my head in shame when I hear stories of online harassment levied towards actresses who apparently committed the crime of being born female and accepting work in a beloved film franchise.
“WHY CAN’T THEY STAR WARS LIKE I WANT THEM TO?”
I can type about the right and wrong sides of history til I’m blue in the fingers. Or I can be better than those I disagree with by continuing to tell stories that will hopefully appeal to a broader base of readers. More often than not, the people who are quick to complain about females, poc, and LGBTQ characters getting a fair share of the spotlight aren’t motivated to create stories that express their viewpoint. So instead, they take to their keyboards to post comments like the one from above and they go about their day thinking that they won this round. The reality is all they’ve done is remind me that we should keep pressing forward.
I just hope that future detractors will be more creative with their insults instead of relying on tired meme-based ones…
You can check out our Queens Anthology Kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/queenscomic/queens-conquering-sexism-with-feminist-comedy/dashboard?ref=email