Representation, Inclusion, & Diversity in Comics
Elephant in the room time. Why is a straight white CIS guy from the burbs talking about Representation, Inclusion, and Diversity? What business do I have starting a comic publisher with these priorities? Is this another act of White Savior Complex or an outright con?
All justified questions. So let me take them head on.
I got out of the Army in 2011. No, this is not another “As a Veteran…” story (how I loathe those). This was a time in America when performative patriotism was at an all time high. Everyone proclaiming how they “support the troops”, slap that yellow ribbon magnet on the minivan and quick with a “thank you for your service.”
People fell over themselves to demonstrate their patriotism. None of them were ever interested in the Vet though. As soon as you wanted to talk about something other than great war stories, if you wanted to tell someone what you actually did and saw, interest was lost. If you didn’t have tales of IEDs survived and terrorists killed then nobody really had time for you. If a Vet dared to have the audacity to speak truth to power, to give true representation to their experiences, Americans no longer cared.
The faux-patriotism we ran into left us angry. It turned me resentful and I stayed that way for years. I learned what it is like, to some degree, to be tokenized. To be turned into a stereotype that fit into a nice neat narrative for politicians’ photo ops and corporate PR stunts of social responsibility. Every November we see it on steroids.
Within the Veteran community there are people who get this treatment twice over. All the Women Vets, Black Vets, Indigenous Vets, LGBTQIA Vets, and Latinx Vets know the patronizing pat on the head all too well.
This was a point of introspection for me. I took my anger at American apathy and turned it towards empathy. I saw how insincere diversity campaigns and false representation was the norm for pretty much anyone who wasn’t like me. I also recognized that I was in a position to do something about that. Americans might not truly understand Vets, but they do give us a status of honor and many privileges. Those are tools I can use to fight for more honest representation of all people.
If the Veteran community is composed of people from all these other identities then you cannot support one without supporting the other. You can’t selectively support the troops. You don’t get to cherry pick the Vets who you think ‘look like a Vet’ and only support them while erasing the others. There is an intersection here of Performative Patriotism and Selective Support. It is an intersection of bigotry and hate. It is something that needs to be called out and fixed in our society.
Publishing comics that prioritize Representation, Inclusion, & Diversity is how I choose to approach this fight. The motto “For your freedom and ours” motivated me in military service. It has stayed with me as a pretty good way to live a life worth living. Having representation as the priority for Band of Bards isn’t a stunt, it’s not a marketing gimmick, it’s simply the right thing to do. If the stories we publish aren’t speaking truth to power then what is the point of telling them?
So that’s how I arrived at this point. That is why a guy like me is passionate about representation. I think this is something that resonates with far more people than anyone would at first assume. It can be seen every day in the comics community if you stop and pay attention. Yes, the Big 2 should be playing a role and be doing more. But I’m of the mindset that change starts at the bottom. So in that true punk rock spirit we are bringing into the world the change we want to see.
I hope you’ll see the power in this. We’re going to craft some wonderful, entertaining comics. They’re also going to serve as a way to bring some hard truths into pop media. If you see value in this then come join the band.
#ComicsDoingGood