Diversity

Comedian Jim Jefferies Shines a Light on Bigotry and ‘Diversity in Comics’

Australian comedian Jim Jefferies travelled to San Diego Comic-Con to speak with , Richard C. Meyer the founder of the ironically named ‘Diversity & Comics’ YouTube channel. Meyer is a central figure in the hate-fueled, anti-diversity Comicsgate movement which traces its origins to both the misogynistic bottom-feeders of Gamergate and the white-nationalist “alt-right” movement.

Jefferies balances Meyer’s bigotry by interviewing a diverse panel of cosplayers (and Doug), who make a passionate case that giving everyone a chance to see themselves on the pages of comics is a good thing — not the end of the industry as we know it.

Like Sacha Baron Cohen’s subversive interviews, Jefferies deepest cuts occur when he simply gets out of the way and allows Meyer to express himself in his own hate-filled words. But Jefferies parting comment does elegantly sum up the overall stupidity of Myers and the entire Comicsgate movement.

“Look, Richard’s clearly upset,” Jefferies said. “He can no longer pick up any comic book and instantly relate to the characters he sees. And that’s a real feeling, because it’s how women and minority groups have felt their entire lives. Wake the fuck up, Richard. The comics you don’t like aren’t written for you.”

Preach.

Batwoman

‘Batwoman’ Television Show in the Works at CW Featuring an Openly Lesbian Kate Kane

Last month, the CW announced that Gotham heroine Batwoman would be the centerpiece of the annual network-wide “Arrowverse” crossover event. Yesterday, it became clear that we were getting much, much more than that.

According to TV Line, Batwoman is getting her own television series on the CW, expanding their already considerable stable of superhero and comics-related programming.

From the press release:

Armed with a passion for social justice and a flair for speaking her mind, Kate Kane soars onto the streets of Gotham as Batwoman, an out lesbian and highly trained street fighter primed to snuff out the failing city’s criminal resurgence. But don’t call her a hero yet. In a city desperate for a savior, Kate must overcome her own demons before embracing the call to be Gotham’s symbol of hope.

Batwoman will add another female-led superhero show to the Arrowverse, and will be the first openly lesbian character to carry a superhero television show. TV Line is also reporting that the network is searching for a lesbian actress to play the lesbian crimefighter.

While superhero movies make timid steps in the direction of queer representation, the lower-risk world of television has been blazing ahead and proving that diversity can be a key component to mainstream success.

Caroline Dries (The Vampire Diaries) will write the project, executive-producing alongside Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter and Geoff Johns.

C.B. Cebulski, Marvel’s New Editor-in-Chief, Wrote As “Akira Yoshida” 13 Years Ago

Was often hired to give an “authentic voice” to Japanese-infused comics.

Thirteen years ago, a young writer from Japan was making waves in the comic book world. After some success in the world of manga, Akira Yoshida wrote comics for Dreamwave, Dark Horse and Marvel Comics, among others.
He was especially prolific at Marvel where he wrote 12 issues of Thor: Son Of Asgard, six issues of X-Men: Age of Apocalypse, five of Elektra: The Hand, five of Wolverine: Soultaker, five of X-Men: Kitty Pryde – Shadow & Flame and five of X-Men/Fantastic Four.

One of the comics set in Japan written by “Akira Yoshida”

Marvel editors and executives sung his praises. They claimed to have met him at conventions, received him at the Marvel offices and even taken him to lunch. Then — as suddenly as Akira Yoshida appeared — he vanished.

There was only one problem. He didn’t exist. It was confirmed this week that “Akira Yoshida” was a pseudonym for C.B. Cebulski, who worked as an associate editor for Marvel at the time, and was just named Editor-in-Chief on Tuesday.

As an editor working for Marvel, Cebulski was prohibited from writing for other companies for competitive reasons, and prohibited from writing for Marvel to avoid favoritism — where the various editors would pass work back and forth to each other to pad their own wallets. So Akira Yoshida was born.

But this week, after Cebulski was announced as EIC for Marvel, Image Comics Brand Manager David Brothers tweeted out a challenge to industry journalists:

Hey comics journo friends: we should definitely be asking Marvel and new EiC CB Cebulski on why he chose to use the pen name Akira Yoshida in the early 2000s to write a bunch of “Japanese-y” books for them.

Journalists took him up on the challenge, and discovered that “Yoshida” wrote frequently about Japan, infused his books with Japanese culture and created Japanese characters. Part of the reason this worked so well was that Yoshida could speak with an authentic Japanese voice. He actually was Japanese — except he actually wasn’t.
Bleeding Cool’s Rich Johnston cracked the case on Tuesday.

Cebulski confessed to Marvel execs what he had done. He could have been fired, but he pled his case internally to the highest authority at the company. The story was that back then, he had been planning to leave Marvel, but set up a writing career first — and Akira Yoshida was a fiction he created to get his first writing gig on Darkstalkers for Dreamwave and then Conan for Dark Horse. And it was from that gig that his fictional pseudonym was approached by another Marvel editor, quite unaware that Cebulski was Akira, and Cebulski found himself hired by his own company. And kept the lie going.

And as to the Akira Yoshida that Marvel people had met, including his bosses, that was a Japanese translator who had visited the offices – and yes, who had had lunch with Mike Marts – and who was mistakenly identified as Akira Yoshida. So everyone remembered having met him – even though they never did

Cebulski did live in Japan on and off in his 20s, and even edited some manga — but “living in Japan” is not the same thing as “being Japanese.” Yoshida was often hired because he brought an authentic voice to comics infused with Japanese culture. Now that it has been revealed that Yoshida was actually the very white Cebulski, accusations are flying of “cultural appropriation” and “yellowface.”

Cebulski gave a statement to Bleeding Cool, explaining his side of what happened.

I stopped writing under the pseudonym Akira Yoshida after about a year. It wasn’t transparent, but it taught me a lot about writing, communication and pressure. I was young and naïve and had a lot to learn back then. But this is all old news that has been dealt with, and now as Marvel’s new Editor-in-Chief, I’m turning a new page and am excited to start sharing all my Marvel experiences with up and coming talent around the globe.

Whether this will be enough to placate Cebulski’s numerous critics is anyone’s guess.

Big H/T to Bleeding Cool.

Time to Be a Hero

I have tried (imperfectly) to remain non-partisan on this site, because I truly believe there are good people from across the political spectrum and that we can unite for a common cause we believe in without allowing our differences to divide us.

But at some point, we are no longer discussing Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal — we are discussing right and wrong.

While the primary focus of Heroic Girls has always been gender equality, we also believe in equal treatment of people of all creeds, races, sexual orientation and national origins.

It is through this lens that we have viewed the events unfolding here in the United States in the past week or so. And I no longer feel I can remain silent on an issue that is so important. Silence is complicity.

The attempt to ban people from entering the United States based on their Muslim faith and to deny haven to refugees fleeing from war and death is morally reprehensible and against the very precepts this country was founded on. I do not view this as a partisan issue anymore than I view the fight for gender equality as a partisan issue.

What use is it to promote the idea of the heroic ideal if we are unwilling to stand up for what is good and right when the world has gone horribly wrong? And make no mistake, this attempt to  target people based on their religious beliefs is wrong.

I am sorry if this ends up politicizing a forum that I did not mean to politicize. But I cannot be silent anymore. This xenophobic madness must end.

Thank you.

John Marcotte
Founder
Heroic Girls

art via Maryne Lahaye
art via Maryne Lahaye

Follow Maryne Lahaye

Twitter
Instagram
Facebook
Society6
Patreon