Title

Diversity Comic Con: Panel Discussion: On Being Marginalized in Comics

Contributor Names

Chu, Amy

Mirza, Omar

Sawyer, Regine

Sapolsky, Fabrice

Date

2020-10-17

Description

The comics industry has long been dominated by voices representing a very narrow band of the population, with the voices of marginalized creators often shut out or minimized, particularly at major publishers. While the publishing industry has begun to improve this situation in some ways, significant work yet remains to meaningfully address existing inequity. Panelists will discuss where the industry has been, what the current environment is, and where they think the industry is headed based on their own experiences. With Amy Chu (Alpha Girl), Omar Mirza (ZIndan Comics) and Regine Sawyer (Women's Comics Collective). Moderated by Fabrice Sapolsky (FairSquare Comics)

As part of its Civility Week, FIT hosted the Diversity Comic Con for a third year, and in 2020 it was completely online. The comic con features panel discussions, speed networking, drawing contest, cosplay challenge, a comic anthology an a virtual marketplace/exhibition.

While the medium of comic books has been around for almost a century, the presence of minorities—as both subjects and creators—has been sorely lacking. But times are changing, and the participation and visibility of multicultural art and stories are more crucial than ever.

More and more, the lines between print and screen media are blurring and merging as stories that were once the domain of comic books become the movies and television shows of today. Comic books are the beginning of visual storytelling.

Diversity Comic Con gives students an opportunity to be exposed to careers that are truly multidisciplinary while providing a venue to showcase their work to publishers, professionals, and the general public. This event gives them an invaluable experience and will widen their horizons.

This event is fully sponsored by a grant from the President's Diversity Council.

Type

Moving Image

Subject

Comic books, strips, etc.

Publishers and publishing

Book industries and trade

Authors and publishers

Graphic novels

Racism

Diversity in the workplace

Rights

In Copyright

This video was produced by the Fashion Institute of Technology ("FIT") and is the property of FIT. FIT expressly prohibits the copying, displaying, or uploading to a website of any portion of this video, except for the purposes of fair use as defined in the copyright laws, without express written permission from FIT. This video has been made available online by the Fashion Institute of Technology Gladys Marcus Library strictly for research and educational purposes. If you are the copyright holder for content in this video and have any objections to this work being made available online, please notify us immediately at [email protected].

Identifier

FIT Repository ID: aod_000198