Comic Book Fans, Assemble! The “We Are Comics” Campaign Needs You!
We Can Be Heroes
I have a theory about the internet and human decency. In my experience, the longer a period of targeted toxicity continues, the higher the chances that a positive counter-movement of equal or greater force will arise. There’s evidence that this theory is about to hold true again — this time, thankfully, within the comics community.
Last night, writer and editor Rachel Edidin started a Tumblr called We Are Comics, which invites anyone — anyone — to submit a photo of themselves, a short bio of who they are, and some words on why they think comics are for everyone. The project’s still in its infancy, but it’s proving to be a much-needed boost after a disheartening month.
We Are Comics describes itself like so:
We Are Comics is a campaign to show—and celebrate—the faces of our community, our industry, and our culture; to promote the visibility of marginalized members of our population; and to stand in solidarity against harassment and abuse.
Naturally, we are on board with this.
The photos already represent a wonderful spectrum of human beings — women, men, straight people, queer people, trans people, people of color, parents, creators, enthusiasts, fans. We’ve spilled a lot of digital ink here about how comics belong to everyone, but nothing drives the point home quite like a visual confirmation. I want to hug everyone in those pictures.
If you’d like to add your image and voice to the mix, there are three ways for you to take part. You can submit a photo and a bio directly through the We Are Comics Tumblr. You can upload a photo and bio to your own Tumblr, and tag it with “i am comics.” Or, you can post a photo on Twitter with the hashtag #iamcomics, or tweet it to @WeAreComics.
Let’s go make something good.
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