Woman Inkers

A recent post in a private FB group about comics (formally Cartoonist Kayfabe Ringside Seats – incidentally the only forum I still read as a member as they don’t put up with the usual shit by tiresome trolls that infect 90% of comic fan groups), makes a subtle point with a self-own about the pervasive nature of misogyny in the industry, and by extension the patriarchal systems in society in general. Fifty-three comments and the overlooked irony being how many women chimed in (hint: none). But whenever you point a finger there are three pointing back: speaking personally, self-reflection and awareness is a real challenge – it can be humbling if not painful. And there’s no better example of this in action than an insight after last year’s inaugural Pen & Ink studio art course I taught.

Another random post (image above) triggered some critical commentary in that there’s something missing in this lineup. It recalls the monumental shift brought about in part by postmodernism whereas before, if you read most art history books, you wouldn’t be wrong to walk away with the impression that, well, guess women just don’t make art. Same selective gatekeeping seen in ComicsGate, GamerGate et al; the whining from the old guard is the last vocal gasp of a changing paradigm. But almost at the very end of the semester to my chagrin I realized that I was guilty of the same omission: every single artist spotlit for examples of various techniques (stippling, cross-hatching, spot blacks etc) was male, and overwhelmingly caucasion.

Jackie Ormes (link)

A while back I did another search of "Top" lists, and here's the receipts: The top list in 2018 from Comic Book Resources 2018: Top 100 Comic Book Writers and Artists Master List from Comic Book Resources has only one woman writer represented out of fifty, and one woman artist out of  a field of fifty men; Atlas Comics' 100 Greatest American Comic Book Artists has zero women; The 25 greatest comic book artists from the last 25 years (2019) according to SyFy.com, has three women outta one hundred; Also three women out of one-hundred for The Comic Journal's Top 100 Comics of the 20th Century; one out of the 100 Greatest Comic Books - Comic Book Runs - Single Issue Comics & Graphic Novels of All Time from When It Was Cool; and lastly, Comic Vine's GameSpot has two on a top one-hundred. I mean come on… it’s just embarrassing. Theatre, music, poetry, literature, and hell, bad as it still is, even Fine Art is far, far better. It’s one thing to ignore half of the population as a potential market, but the moronic content takes it to another, even lower, level.

Pen + Ink/Examples: Bernie Wrightson, Maurice Sendak , Bill Waterson, Walt Kelly, Jack “King” Kirby, Jeff Smith, Edward Gorey, Frank Frazetta, Jim Woodring, Ed Koren, Mike Mignola , Robert Crumb, Charles Burns, Frank Miller, Ralph Steadman, Winsor McCay, Joe Sacco, Alootook Ipellie, and B. Kliban of course. 

Now, to clarify, each and every one of these artists is certainly more than qualified to serve as examples of pen + ink texture techniques, but collectively it sends another subliminal message of exclusion. So a new show & tell came about, featuring these creators who have works culled from the rolling cart of comics that is set up in every Beginning Drawing (and Cartoon & Comic Arts natch) class that I teach. *update: Tessa Hulls has her own little slide-show now btw.

Updated roster: Alison Bechdel, Amanda Conner, Emil Ferris, Fiona Staples, Sana Takeda, Marjane Satrapi, Wendy Pini, and a creator that I recently got turned onto, Howard Cruse.

I’m happy to say the physical buffet I set has been steadily inching towards a far better balance of creators – I just hadn’t yet gotten around to consciously focusing on making show & tells specifically highlighting women inkers. I got to show right off the bat the new set of slides for the second time around teaching the class. Oh noes, hope this never reaches the attention of Charlie Kirk’s infamous fascistic organization of censorship and intimidation, because this some woke shit, in the actual sense. 

PS: Here's a couple of groups that are good resources well worth some solid support: The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (and accompanying title) + Prism Comics.