Good morning! We’re officially into the month of May this week, which means a solid third of the year is over. Go ahead, sit and process that one for a few.
Doing okay? Yeah, me either. Let’s press on!
First, let’s put a debate to rest: In an interview with Greg Silber for PanelXPanel, Grant Morrison confirmed that while they’re not strident about enforcing correct pronoun usage, their correct pronouns are in fact they/them. Other outlets, you’re on notice.
Similarly, this New York Times piece about the banning of Maia Kobabe’s 2019 Ignatz-shortlisted Gender Queer is a master class in missing the point. Over the course of the article, Kobabe is frequently referred to by eir last name in place of eir pronouns, despite the article itself specifying those pronouns (e, eir, em). It’s a sneering, passive-aggressive display of contempt, and a perfect example of the uphill climb trans and nonbinary people face when it comes to societal acceptance; we cannot even get the “Newspaper of Record” to respect us when talking about us, or even directly to us.
ReedPop made a fun splash last week when they announced that they were dropping their mask and vaccination policies ahead of this year’s C2E2. It’s a staggeringly irresponsible move in the face of a still-ongoing pandemic, and a signal of just how many folks would prefer to stick their heads in the sand and pretend the whole thing goes away. It’s frustrating to see so many organizations pretend that mask and vaccine policies are something they just can’t keep enforcing now that the official mandates have been dropped, especially given those same companies have no problem banning weapons, or requiring shirts and shoes. It’s craven to make this kind of change given how regularly reports like this continue to crop up in the wake of public events.
Speaking of craven displays of inhumanity, cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz is the first Latino recipient of the Herblock Prize, for his highlighting of such acts. In this piece for the Washington Post, Lalo talks about his origins as a cartoonist, as well as the role a cartoonist plays in speaking truth to power. The Herblock Prize is so named in honor of the famous Washington Post political cartoonist Herb Block, who spent 55 years drawing incisive political commentary.
We also said goodbye to some beloved folks in comics last week:
- Justin Green, famed autobiographical comics creator who inspired the likes of Art Spiegelman, passed away due to colon cancer. He was 76. News of his death was met by an outpouring of love for his life and work, as evidenced by this loving obituary by his friend Marc Weidenbaum.
- We also said goodbye to comics legend Neal Adams, famed for his work on Batman, X-Men, Green Lantern/Green Arrow, and more. Adams was at the forefront of an entire artistic movement in comics, elevating anatomic detail to never-before-seen heights. Adams, who passed due to complications from sepsis at the age of 80, was also a strident defender of creators’ rights, and instrumental in the push for companies like Marvel and DC to return original art to artists.
- Finally, Ivy McLeod, wife of Understanding Comics author Scott McCloud, died last Thursday in a car accident. She was 61 years old.
