Today at TCJ, we've got an excerpt from the upcoming Chuck Forsman release, I Am Not Okay With This. Chuck is my brother from another mother, so you can view this as an abuse of power if you'd like, I am not in charge of your feelings. The new book is more teenage angst, and the first time Chuck did teenage angst, it got turned into a television series on Channel 4 with a soundtrack by the guy from Blur. Does it sound like i'm bragging about my friend Chuck? That's because I am. Because Chuck got a big time television show, and he got it by making a comic book in his house and selling it for a dollar a piece to people through the mail, as opposed to hanging around Meltdown in Los Angeles and chicken-hawking people with hooves for feet. If we don't brag about the times when good people find success, we're leaving the whole thing up to the assholes who are gonna run their mouths anyway. Congratulations, Chuck.
ELSEWHERE
Excerpts are all the rage, it seems--here's one from Julie Maroh over at Buzzfeed from her latest, Body Music. It took me a second, but then I got it. Okay, more than a second. You should time it for yourself!
If you wanted to read any of Lucas Siegel's articles for StarWars.com--why?--you can't, because they've all been removed from the site, and his bio page no longer exists. There's still been no public statement from any of the sites where Lucas used to work, despite the fact that all of the allegations of harassment made against him so far seem to have taken place during the time he was working directly for those companies. I asked Newsarama about the allegations earlier this week, and was told the following by the Senior Director of Marketing and Communications at Purch, the company which currently owns Newsarama.
"We will not provide comment on the specifics of Lucas Siegel’s employment at Purch, or the specifics of employment for any other Purch employee, other than to verify that he was an employee from 2009 – 2014."
What's interesting about this story so far is that, while it does appear obvious that these companies let Lucas go in part due to the allegations of sexual harassment made against him, none of these companies appear to be willing to admit that's what they've done. Normally, a company would want to get out in front of a story like this, and make it clear that, when an employee violates their sexual harassment policy (thus putting said company in danger of a lawsuit by the victims of harassment), they look after their people. That isn't what's happening here.
It's almost like these companies aren't worried that any of the websites that cover this particular subculture are going to take the time to write about this story in any substantive fashion.
ANYWAY
Here's a nice round up of what most struck the fancy of the Seattle Review of Books when they went by the most recent Short Run Festival.
I'm at a show myself right now (AASL), and while I'm sorry to miss seeing my friends at CAB--I can't remember the last time I didn't attend that show, and i've exhibited the last five--it would be disingenuous to act as if i'm not enjoying myself. Attending library shows with comics, even in the most minor proximity, is one of the most tremendously psychologically and professionally rewarding things one can do, and shows driven by buying and selling just can't compete. These shows aren't without their challenges, the primary one being that a good bit of the success comics has found in libraries has been won by using them as the gateway drug that will hook reluctant readers on "real" books, i.e. prose--but even the fact that that mentality is being acknowledged as a challenge is a good sign, and the conversations surrounding such subjects is one full of curiosity. I wish more comics artists and publishers would attend these shows for the artform as a whole, but selfishly--it sure does make what I do so much easier when there's only a handful of us to visit.
