Bitch rant whine

[secondlina]

Everybody I know is drawing pretty girls. I want to draw pretty girls too! PB and Marcelline for you all!

I saw this article quite recently, about someone being encouraged by an agent to eliminate the gay characters of her book so she can get them published. The agent even had the gull of telling her “if the book was very popular and sequels were demanded, (the character) could be revealed to be gay in later books, when readers were already invested in the series.”

WHAT.

Gay couples are not marketing ploys. They are not writing anomalies. Support homosexual literature, fanart and comics by writing, drawing, and publishing online and offline as much as possible. We do not back down.

In other annoying news, I am SO SO SO very tired of people that come up to us in the bookstore, ask us for advice on which comics to buy for their kids (while the kid is right there), have us pull out something that makes the kid happy and then have the parents check out the price and go "THIS MUCH for a comic? Something you'll read in two hours? We'll go get you a REAL book."

Or better yet "Manga is all boobs and violence."

Or my favorite "You should be ashamed of yourself, a fine lady like yourself reading comics. Honestly. Don't you want to get married and be a good wife?"

(Yeah, that last one is totally what the fuck).

OH WELL. Tomorrow is the Comiccon. That should help.

- Isa 

Comments

[autumnestuary.livejournal.com]

Oh god that's awful, definitely worthy of customers_suck. I get so frustrated when people don't get how beautiful and powerful sequential art can be, and just marginalize it with ignorant comments like that. *hug* I'm sorry you had to deal with assholes.

Also, in regards to the YA publishing thing, someone else on my flist pointd me in the direction of <a href="http://cleolinda.livejournal.com/993710.html'>this article</a>, which sums up what's been going on on all sides of the matter very coherently.

[putri-nih.livejournal.com]

Oy vey :(

What is wrong with all these people? The anti-gay book agency and those parents suck man.

[spankingfemme.livejournal.com]

"You should be ashamed of yourself, a fine lady like yourself reading comics. Honestly. Don't you want to get married and be a good wife?"

Seriously?!? What makes you 'unfine' to read comics? And the good wife bit is infuriating! :(

The fact that a publisher would want to mess with the integrity of an artist/author's work to simply cut out homosexuality or use as a 'prop' to create drama is sickening! *growl* Looking at the internet, one can tell there is a large majority of individuals that accept and are even turned on by homosexuality, so if they are afraid of 'lower' sales due to characters being gay, they must not know their market *eye roll* It's sickening that they want to force people to change their works at all to fit an imagined outlook of what's acceptable :( I feel blessed for the years I was strictly lesbian, I was in NYC which is fairly progressive and less hateful. The fact that gays still don't have the right to have civil union in 2011 is in itself proof of the mass ignorance the world shows. (One of the nicer things about Canada that you guys actually recognize gay marriage) .... oh my, I've gone on a bit of a tirade! LOL! Sorry! I'll stop here! ;)

[mangaka-chan.livejournal.com]

Don't you want to get married and be a good wife?

Wow, what. This person apparently missed the memo that we're no longer in the 19th century.

[amelia-seyroon.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that petition is all over LJ.

"You should be ashamed of yourself, a fine lady like yourself reading comics. Honestly. Don't you want to get married and be a good wife?"

OH HELL NO. -_-;

[brendala.livejournal.com]

It's ridiculous that a book aimed at teenagers is being forced to cut out two gay characters who do nothing more racy than peck each other on the lips. I really hope the attention this story gets leads another publisher to reach out to the author and let her publish the book the way she wants it.



Or my favorite "You should be ashamed of yourself, a fine lady like yourself reading comics. Honestly. Don't you want to get married and be a good wife?"

Wow. Someone actually had the gall to say that to you!?
You should have told him (her?) that you draw comics for a living in addition to reading them AND you're in a healthy relationship. It probably would have caused his or her head to explode!
The brain matter would take forever to clean up; but it would have been so worth it! XD

[choukoumei.livejournal.com]

Cuutttee sketches!

And I hate how under appreciated comic art is, it leads to so many amazing artists being severely underpaid and having to work their asses off just to make (somewhat of) a living.

[earthstar-moon.livejournal.com]

I saw that article over at the sounis community. It's so stupid, gay teens should be able to find characters they can relate to as well. Not to mention the fact that it's a good way to show straight teens that there's nothing wrong with being gay. GRR!

Also, those customer quotes. *bangs head against wall* I get some customers like that when asking on what crafts they should get for their kid. I remember one guy complaining about the price of markers and decided to just go to the dollar store.

[pip25.livejournal.com]

"You should be ashamed of yourself, a fine lady like yourself reading comics. Honestly. Don't you want to get married and be a good wife?"

This is so insanely stupid, it's almost funny. I wonder, if comics are so terrible, what did the ever-so-refined customer do in the store in the first place? XD

[io-stavroula.livejournal.com]

Wow. Someone actually said that last one to you? Holy crap. I don't even think I'd know what to say to that. Even like seven years ago at my first job, I was a grocery store bagger pushing carts back inside, and I got old ladies telling me, all the time, how that was a 'boy's job' and that I should protest.

Which I definitively did not, considering that part of the job gave me awesome arm muscles and upper body strength for a while :)

[rose.livejournal.com]

That's sort of why I was pissed when JK was like "OH BTW" about Dumbledore, after the fact. :T Like, a person's sexuality is not who they are. And being open with it is not always a necessity, either. It's whatever they want to do, or whatever they're comfortable with. And for many individuals, coming out can be scary. So, while it's realistic that in some series it might take a bit for them to do so - it's foolish to have it be a standard. Not everyone's going to have that "fear of God" in them, or be faced with pre-existing bullies, etc.
It completely depends!

But when it comes to fiction, usually there would be heavy hints, even with a secondary character... IDK, I just thought that was a "safe" move on her part. There was *zero* reason for her to wait so long, imho. :( And I don't think I would have been as encouraged to roll my eyes if it had been let out in an earlier interview. Like, around the fifth book - OH BTW than :T Argh. I hate to nitpick, but that was super disappointing.

[seiaa.livejournal.com]

eee girlies! <3 and... wow. someone actually said that to you?

Amy: The correct answer is "no"
me: fffffffttttt

Just. wow. >:| I'm sorry you have to deal with such things.

[ichiban-victory.livejournal.com]

Agents/editors exist to make the artist change their work. Back when Gary Larson was drawing The Far Side, his editor was always making him change something or another before he could get published. (It's really quite interesting to read his comments and see his original comics before they were edited. Sometimes the editor seemed to have a valid complaint. Other times, it was too much and completely killed the whole point of the comic.)

Granted, people like me exist that are not comfortable reading about such things, but to be fair, I don't like reading romance of any sort. It's not why I read a story. (In fact, when the Harry Potter series dove in to Harry's pursuit of the ladies, I started to dislike the books. I read through to the end, anyway, although I still don't really care for that part at all.) Agents/editors want something to appeal to the largest audience possible, which means not being as "extreme" with characters, concepts, what have you. They're a necessary evil in the entertainment business, unfortunately...

Your customers amuse me a bit. In regard to the parent balking at comic book costs, it might be good to inform them that a good comic is not a one-time read. For me, the best comics are those I do enjoy reading the first time, but that continue to call me back for future reading. (Maus is that comic, actually. I never get tired of it.) Not to mention, there are comic versions of some really great literary works, and the pictures within the comic version may help a child get through the great work more easily.

How old was the customer that questioned your want to be a wife? And what were they doing in a comic shop? ;)

[cartoonchic.livejournal.com]

DID SOMEONE ACTUALLY SAY THAT LAST ONE TO YOU?!
HOLY ****
I'm just..so shocked...it's so ridiculous I can't even comprehend it...
I think I would've just stood there in shock and perhaps spluttured out a "what?!"

And there is plenty of good Manga out there!(not that I know too much about Manga, but I have the Cardcaptor Sakura series on my shelf and some Honey and Clover - those for certain are NOT boobs and violence lol)

I'm very sorry that you have to deal with this crap. From what I hear, it's amazing the type of people one meets in any retail business. I Hope Comiccon cheers you up!
Working at a Comic book shop and going to a con - I am terribly jealous!! I also hope those headaches and sick feelings you were having have gone away.

[snapdragon76.livejournal.com]

"THIS MUCH for a comic? Something you'll read in two hours? We'll go get you a REAL book."

Or better yet "Manga is all boobs and violence."

Or my favorite "You should be ashamed of yourself, a fine lady like yourself reading comics. Honestly. Don't you want to get married and be a good wife?"

What?

WHAT?!?!?

My God, the ignorance of some people. You can't be feminine or even be a girl who likes comics without getting this kind of crap all the time. *fumes*

I mean, I know it's mostly guys who buy comics, but there are quite a few of us girls who buy them too. I hate the stigma that surrounds stuff like this. Pisses me off.

Anyway, have fun at the Con!

[yukinoomoni.livejournal.com]

Yeah I heard about that story, too. Both of my major stories have lesbian couples in them, and I will never change them or eliminate them for anything in the world. Seriously, the times are different. People need to grow the fuck up.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Thank you for your support!

To continue to support YA fiction with LGBTQ characters, I have proposed creating Permanent Floating YA Diversity Book Clubs. (http://rachelmanija.livejournal.com/976665.html) If you wish to participate, the link will explain how to begin one, join one, or simply pass on the word.

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

Oh, you're welcome!

Woah, that book club thing sounds really awesome. I'm torn, because I lack time to read (I have a good novel pile dating from a year ago just waiting for me). But I think I want to keep an eye on this, so I can note down the titles people mention.

I'm currently working on a graphic novel that features gay characters in a sci-fi setting. I'll be sure to keep you updated on that project if it interests you!

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Please do!

You could also just link people to it, to spread the word around and encourage people to launch their own.

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

I,ll definitely let people know! :D