As an intern for Marvel in the late 70’s, racist jokes were routinely, as in every day, thrown my way. By white intellectuals, By people who did not regard themselves as racist and did not regard their remarks as racist simply by virtue of the fact they were the ones making them. Marv Wolfman routinely had me making multiple xeroxes of Gene Colan’s gorgeous pencils for TOMB OF DRACULA, and, after a few passes, the pencil graphite would be all over my hands. Several staffers, some who are still in the Marvel offices today, would pick my hand up and show the graphite-covered hand to the bullpen while exclaiming, “Hey— your hands are black!” (Marv never did this, by the way. In fact, Marv rarely came out of his office. I started to think he WAS, in fact, Dracula).
I was the office mascot. The little black kid. The co-key operator for the Xerox machine (with John Romita, Jr., who enthusiastically relinquished the top slot to me). My how liberal we are. Jim, go grab this, “In a jig.” Staffers, some still in the biz, used to come by and rub my head “for good luck.” One staffer kept little jigaboo figurines on his desk: warped, offensive little gnomes in white face eating watermelon. Denys Cowan stole one off of this guy’s desk and gave it to me as a Christmas present. I keep it on my desk here to remind me some of these people still work there…
I didn’t know Larry Hama when he suddenly became my boss on CRAZY Magazine in 1980, but I had been warned that he was, indeed, the best man for the job because he was thoroughly nuts. “Two-Gun” Hama, as he was called behind his back, arrived at Marvel and, like Denzel Washington in Training Day, immediately went about turning my life upside down. Hama has had the most profound and lasting influence on my life, my sense of self, and my sense of honor and morality. He is the most important father figure in my life, and I am most grateful to God for the years we struggled together in that tiny office at Marvel.
The first thing Hama did was build himself a bunker. Steel flat files cases and a drawing easel were arranged in such a way that people passing by the office could see me but not him, and had to stop and deal with me before they dealt with him. He installed red gels in the overhead light grilles, which gave our office a hellish tint and made the mood even more off-putting and less inviting to the rubes. EPIC ILLUSTRATED’s Peter Ledger painted Larry’s office phone bright red and molded little icons all over it, and Larry played Jefferson Starship and The Ramones as he held court with the likes of Bobby London, Mary Wilshire, Heidi MacDonald, Shari Flannigan and other top artists from NATIONAL LAMPOON and other humor magazines.
First day on the job, Larry took me to lunch to explain the New Deal to me. Before his arrival, I had been paid twenty-five dollars a month (yes, a month) to be Paul Laiken’s assistant on CRAZY. Larry was incensed that Marvel had allowed this, and immediately gave me a raise to a whopping $400 per month, which, for a nineteen year-old, was a good deal. Larry later worked to get me on staff (I was, officially, a freelancer), and soon I was making an actual salary, with benefits and so forth.
At the restaurant, as we waited for an open table, a lovely blonde and her lunch companion stepped past us, and the host appeared and began to seat them. Hama objected, politely— we were here first, and the host quickly sat us instead. Hama sat at the table, removed his mirrored aviators, and said, “Jim— never let the white man take advantage of you.”
And, I guess, that’s when it hit me: Larry was Japanese American. A guy many people sidled up to and spoke loudly and slowly, hoping he could understand them. Larry was a Hollywood actor, having appeared in many films. His diction was perfect, and he spoke English better than I did, and in as many dialects as he wanted to.
Larry suddenly made my world make sense. Suddenly, somebody at Marvel had my back. Staffers were much less likely to rub my head or make the black-hands jokes once Larry arrived.
Christopher Priest (via assistedrealityinterface)
Suddenly I am much more interested in Larry Hama than I was five minutes ago. That guy sounds AWESOME.
(via bigfootrock)
I LOVE LARRY HAMA.
(via ungyo)
it’s comforting to know that no matter how badly i screw up my life i will never make choices as terrible as dc comics
One of the most consistent creative teams since the start of the new 52, writers Haden Blackman and J.H. Williams III have quit the Batwoman series. And there is no dancing around why based on a post on both Williams’ and Blackman’s web site where they note they are “heartbroken” about leaving but editorial interference including being “prohibited from ever showing Kate and Maggie actually getting married” is the cause.
Not going to happen. Read on.
DC Comics. Very disappointed in you. Why have you not yet learned that the fan community, not to mention your far-more-progressive-than-you creative staff, will react badly when you start meddling in ways like this?
Because DC are a bunch of fucking cowards who desperately want to pander to all the fucking bigoted little silver age obsessed losers out there who are frantically masturbating to the various cis white hetero heroes that this company INFESTS their various comics with
Reminder that in the Adventure Time comics, Finn, Jake, and the Ice King go into a dungeon of illusions created by the Lich…and it’s absolutely heartbreaking.
WHY DID I READ THIS
So one of our kids is back.
We’ve been out of the superhero comics loop for a while, honestly. We’ve focused on our creator owned books, and haven’t looked for work at Marvel or DC for years. As for reading, the big two seemed to always have major events happening, and once we fell behind we felt pretty clueless.
But we understand that Prodigy is back in Young Avengers. We’re thrilled to see him being used, and thrilled to troll Tumblr and see that his appearance has caused some fans to go back and discover his roots in our books.
But then this thing happened, see…
David kissed a dude. And fandom started freaking a little.
A straight guy had been ‘turned gay.’
The dreaded R-word (Retcon) started getting tossed about.
We’ve seen some message boards saying it’s clear our intent was never to have David be gay.
So let us be 100% clear.
Our intent was never to have David be gay.
And let us be 100% clear. We have no problem whatsoever if David’s new writers make him queer, or bisexual, or simply questioning.
Life is funny. People can move through it certain of one thing about themselves, and then realize something else entirely.
David, as we wrote him, had real feelings for Noriko.
But that doesn’t mean he isn’t gay.
We haven’t read the issues of Young Avengers yet, but we plan to.
But in principle, we have no real problem with this new direction.
Would we have gone that way? Unlikely, but who can say for sure? What matters is this… what we would have done with him is irrelevant. It’s a shared universe, so he’s someone else’s character now, as much as he ever was ours. Besides, this isn’t a retcon unless they take away his history with Noriko.
And in stories, just like in life, people evolve. Teenagers especially.
We’re just glad he’s still alive and still a part of the living breathing world of Marvel Comics.
Are you tired of having to comb through dozens of articles trying to figure out if DC Comics has done something cringeworthy today?
Bless this site.
lol i was looking up tfatf stuff and someone was like “why don’t they ever run out of gas?” and my only response was “shut up, that’s why!”
I’ve got three things I’ve got to get turned in today, two kids to get fed and dressed and a bag to pack and a flight to catch, so I can’t respond to this the way I’d like, but I’m putting it here so I don’t forget.
I also need to let my temper subside a bit. If I were to reply right now I’d resort to name-calling and insults and we all know there’s no ground to be gained there.
Instead, when I’m not shaking anymore, I’ll recount my career trajectory AGAIN. [Magazine writer/research assistant—>comic reviewer—>7 years /10K+ pages adapting manga into English—>anthology shorts—>co-writing gigs—>one-shots—>minis—->ongoings]
Maybe I’ll get Alejandro Arbona to attest—AGAIN!—that I was blind-submitted for my first gig at Marvel. I’ll offer that if you’re looking for Men to Credit for My Career, you should look first to Neil Gaiman, Warren Ellis, Peter Rose, Steve Niles and Jamie Rich — all of whom were responsible for making introductions or getting me chances to submit my work well before Matt Fraction had any pull in the industry. (I’ll also state in no uncertain terms that I wasn’t sleeping with any of those men, because I know, dear Anon, that is your next assumption.) Or Brian Bendis, who had championed my work in a way I will never be able to adequately thank him for. (Ditto Steve Wacker.)
(Also not sleeping with Brian or Steve, just so we’re clear.)
Maybe I’ll ponder why it isn’t Fraction who’s considered to have benefited from nepotism. After all, more than 10 years ago now, Matt Fraction was my plus one to Joe Quesada’s 40th birthday party and it was me who sent copies of Last of the Independents to Joe and Axel. I mean, clearly, it was those gestures that got Fraction his career — certainly not the merit of his work, right? I mean, come on — those Hawkeye Eisner noms are part mine, right?
(I can’t imagine how sick Fraction must be of hearing me tell that story. But I bet it’s not half as sick of it as I am.)
(The first person I met in the industry was Wil Rosado. Through him, the first editors I met were Andy Ball, who’s since moved on, and Joey Cavalieri. Just in case anybody wants to make a chart. This would be… maybe 4 years before I met Fraction, Gillen, Ellis, McKelvie et al on the WEF.)
Okay, deep breath.
Bendis is going to tell me that I shouldn’t acknowledge this, that I’m feeling trolls, but here’s the pickle: people deny that this happens. We’re told that the insults to our dignity working women face are in our imagination, that it’s a thing of sexy Mad Men past. It’s WOMEN who make this a thing, right? (Hysterical, don’t you know.) We’re to the point where I meet young women who won’t identify as feminists because the struggle is over and it’s only a thing if you make it one.
Bullshit.
It’s not a natural assumption to leap to the conclusion that I got my job because of my marriage. It’s the product of deeply-ingrained sexist thinking. I can name for you a half a dozen men who did, in fact, get their first big two gigs because of who they knew and their dignity and their qualifications have never been called into question. I’m lucky if I go a week.
I was recently directed to a post on a snake pit of a message board (what was I thinking, even going to look?) by a man I’d known as long as I’d known my husband, a man I’d met at the same time—a man who had felt free to ask professional favors of me on multiple occasions—who was lamenting how “easily” I’d gotten to where I was because of Fraction. When friends of mine pointed him to my CV, he half-apologized because he had no idea. Apparently he thought Marvel—a publicly-owned company—was in the habit of handing out gigs to freelancer’s wives just for kicks. Then he threw up the bit about it being a natural assumption.
I would say simply ‘fuck that guy’ and chalk it up to his not being half as smart as he thinks he is, but here’s the thing:
That guy has daughters.
For them, and for my daughter and for your daughter, I am going to occasionally shine a light on these things… even though it both enrages and embarrasses me.
I don’t know if it’s the right call, but I know that ‘ignore it and it’ll go away’ isn’t working.
I need to figure out a way to contain my outrage enough to talk about it in a way that doesn’t attack, but invites dudes like Anon to rethink their ‘natural assumptions’ without setting myself up as an uppity bitch that they’re invested in proving wrong.
I… I clearly don’t know how to do that right now. But I’m going to figure it out.
Later.
Right now, the kids need breakfast and my son has questions about the xenomorph that can’t wait another second.
I’m out.
Men In Comics: Systematically Taking Away Everything Women In Comics have Accomplished
Actually i suppose you don’t need the “in comics” bit.
This is completely unacceptable behavior, thinking, believing. As an industry it’s never going to get better for women until the men in it say FUCK THAT. My wife was published long before me. My wife was writing in comics before me. She was in comics even before she knew me. And on top of working her ass off, she (and surely innumerable others) have this ANONYMOUS BULLSHIT slung at them. She’s earned every one of her gigs and more on her own. And she works harder than many and hasn’t once taken to a message board anonymously to sling this kind of rancid bullshit at others.
And this dick of a little boy thinks the reason she gets to do his dream job is me.
antique-romantic
