Thoughts on Comicsgate. The time is now to speak up.

A couple of days ago I tweeted about Comicsgate. This seems to have made a lot of people angry. Well, that’s too bad, but I fully stand by what I said. For too long, too many creators and members of the comics industry, who are not straight white men, have been harassed, abused and attacked online, when all they want to do is tell stories and make comics. This is not right. 
If you don’t like the stories these creators are telling, then don’t buy them. That is your right. What is not your right is to attack them and try to silence their voices.
I had hoped more creators who, like me, have had the privilege to create comics free of this sort of abuse and scrutiny, because we are white, and we are men, would have joined me in denouncing Comicsgate. I know many of you feel the way I do. I noticed that many popular and significant creators “liked” my tweet. And that’s great, but it’s not enough. If we can’t use our voices to stand up for the next generation of comics creators, editors and the next wave of voices that will keep our medium alive and vital, then what’s the point of having them?
The time is now to stand up for female comic book creators. The time is now to stand up for transsexual comic book creators. The time is now to stand up for creators of color and of all sexual orientations, races and religions.  If we don’t do that, we don’t deserve to keep making comics ourselves. 
So, don’t just like tweets. Say something. Let marginalized creators and voices know that we are with them. Comics are for everybody. Let the world know that.
-Jeff Lemire
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Published on August 24, 2018 18:02
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message 1: by Joacim (new)

Joacim Fredriksson A big thumbs up for your voice (and pen)!


message 2: by Sara (new)

Sara Salazar great support!!


message 3: by Jimbo (new)

Jimbo Jeff,
I have ALWAYS admired your writing and now I can honestly admire the man. I am in total agreement. I am not a comic book writer, although I always wanted to be, but I LOVE the writers of color, the female writers, the trans and gay and every other writer out there. The stories are from a different perspective, a new way to see. Art is about seeing what is new, different, and sometimes scary, sometimes pleasant. But Art makes us open to the new. I am not a fan of the way everyone jumps on the band wagon to harass others. It seems cowardly to me. If you are a religious person - the one tenant I wholeheartedly believe is that "Love others and you love yourself" There must be so many that hate themselves.
Writers write because that is what they want to do, that is sometimes what they have to do. Tell your stories. Don't listen to the haters. The freedom that we share is that we can, as you said, not buy the stories we don't like. But courage is facing others stories, other lives whether it is Biographies, Novels, Comics, or in life itself.


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