Thread by @letsgoayo, not calling out anyone, but here are some things that I've asked [...]

not calling out anyone, but here are some things that I've asked of everyone:

1. comics conventions/festivals. Can we have more ideas of things to do than stand behind folding tables and sell? Are we just a flea market for the already-obsessed? Who are these works *for* anyway?

2. also comics conventions/festivals. Panels and programs. There's a lot of generalization and vagueness. "Women in comics." "Sci-fi/fantasy...as social metaphor?!" "career spotlight on This One Artist."

These are topics often answered by their own blurbs.

I've said, since 2003, that the most electrifying part of the very first MoCCAA Art Festival was in the afternoon when people didn't know what to do, clusters of attendees just started sitting on the floor and reading their comics with their friends. THAT inspired me most of all.

beyond comics conventions.

We live in a world where every 18 months or so, some publication does the "BAM ZAP CRASH: COMICS AREN'T JUST FOR KIDS ANYMORE" story. And it'll be like. Here's a comic. It shows a zombie. It's a metaphor for society. Anyway, watch the show based on it.

"ZAP POW BANG: COMICS AREN'T JUST FOR KIDS ANYMORE" headline is literally older than some of the top tier comics talent, these days. They've been kicking that can since the late eighties. But if that wasn't bad enough, yeah, it's so often "Batman MURDERED a guy, wow,"

I just don't think that folks understand how this shit lands with normal people. In other words, it doesn't land. It's so pointless that you might as well fire yourself.

Comics are not "for kids," they never were. Don't act like they are

here's what you can do, this is actionable TODAY:

if someone says something that implies that they think that comics is For Kids, then you just turn. You look at them. You kind of sneer as if you can't believe someone would be so foolish

hit em with this face

and then you continue talking as though they didn't say anything because their comment is so ignorant that it doesn't even warrant engaging with. You just turn your head back to another person in the room and carry on talking as if your brain is deleting the fool you're ignoring

comics are an art form and that art form is perfect.

Don't let anybody say, imply, or even THINK that comics aren't allowed to talk about politics, talk about history, talk about sex, talk about the mundane, talk about the fantastic Don't allow people to feel confident that comics must be limited and simple.

but most of all, you must create and you must ENFORCE a context in which comics can truly thrive.

for the benefit of my comics community, i have oriented my mind and heart toward a form of comics that is portable and able to be woven into habitats that don't yet realize that comics are right for them.

There are other pathways but I know my path is legitimate and it works

if every magazine, newspaper or periodical would hire a cartoonist to make a recurring comic for their publication, they would see a return on that investment. It never fails. People love comics.

y'all don't know!

No disrespect to Avery Hill, but the picture book thing set me off. What sort of careers are available for sequential artists? Narrative illustrators? How many of those careers could support a life, nevermind a family??

To say nothing of the fact that picture book illustrator is a DEEPLY MALIGNED art form that is much more tragic than you'd think, considering how it's made by adults and there's no sense of...like, feedback or community...with other adults??

at least comics creators can kick it with their fans. No money but you get fellowship.

i don't know how to explain to people that i wasted my entire life on this nonsense and nobody with institutional power could give less of a fuck. I've gently nudged, I've loudly demanded and it makes no difference. These people don't WANT to exist

comics is a subculture that has been bent on self-annihilation since before 99% of us were born.

people are very individualist and so they often think things like "you should do x"

It takes a community to create a context. One person isn't going to build the kind of infrastructure that is needed. And one person isn't going to be the social infrastructure necessary

and you see in comics, time and again, what happens when an entire sector of the field rests on one person's shoulders. And then that person dies/retires/gets a paying job.

The entire sector collapses overnight. It happens all the time because you never learn

I've had to resist and overcome my social programming and learn to share my ideas freely with people. It's the only way to attempt to get a large number of people onto my program! I explain my thoughts of why I want to do something. We need team work! And social momentum

yes, there is a reason why i insist on drawing comics in this particular way that I use. There's a reason why I aspire to a certain structure. There's reasons why I emphatically chose short works over long works, why I chose portability and speed over all else.

I don't think that people have to do what I do, but I know that a percentage of people will be similar enough. Those people should join me. And not really "me," like I'm a leader of something. Just get with the program.

I wouldn't want someone to dim their light to be more like what I like to do. But other folks who *do* make weird little pictures like I do: we should consider what our actual options are. Maybe it's possible to make stuff that harmonizes, reflects, creates an environment

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