Editors frequently tell me that the next strip they pick up has to have some ethnic diversity to which I respond, “all of the animals in Tundra are black, hispanic, oriental or gay. You just can’t tell because of the fur.” That argument hasn’t worked for me yet though.

I was under the impression that comics were supposed to be funny and offer the readers a break from the often harsh reality of everyday life. Editors should judge a strip by whether it is funny, interesting or thought provoking, not by the charactors color or whether or not they are gay. If a strip is funny, interesting or thought provoking, who cares about the race or sexual preference of the charactors?

I am pretty isolated from the real world up here in Alaska, but are there really readers that are upset because there isn’t enough diversity when it comes to race or sexuality in the comics section?

There’s a movement within the gay community to downplay the stereotypical “gay ” fem character and a bit of a backlash against it. An interesting podcast form NPR This American Life adresses this issue…

http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=46

Whether your characters are gay or not isn’t the point. Adult cartoons have limited markets no matter what the sexual orientation of the characters. Yes, gay themes will be harder to get across to a mainstream audience- even the young and hip can be prejudiced – but the strip that I (a straight man) created about a large bisexual woman wasn’t going to feature in the Poughkeepsie Bugle either.

Now, all of that said, I’ve been drawing a weekly gay comic syndicated to gay newspapers for about 12 years, and, while I do sometimes find it frustrating to have a limited audience, I also like being able to use adult innuendoes and stereotypes when necessary, without fear of angering my editors. I could try my hand at safer, more easily sellable material, but a famous cartoonist once gave me good advice: Write what you know.

If a strip concerns itself with social issues and a character’s sexuality is pertinent to the storyline or plot, then the character’s sexuality should not even be an issue, it’s a legitimate part of the story.

However, if a writer is so determined to wedge in an irrelevant item regarding someone’s sexuality that it stands out like a dog’s cojones, that is not only bad writing, it’s agenda-setting and as such a total annoyance.

There’s no NEED to man the ramparts or stand as advocate for gays in the comics. The art form and the profession have many bigger problems to contend with.

Ellen seems “do okay” as a gay media mogul.
She is funny and people like her.

I think as more “well written” gay characters emerge in the media things will get better over time. I think gays, blacks, hispanics, jews, indians, asians, etc… will alWAYS get “dissed” by the media.

This is one reason the media (TV, newspapers, dead tree comics(everything except “the Internets”) is having trouble keeping viewership.

People don’t like to watch “themselves” get “dissed” by the “media”.

“Gay” themed media seems to do better on cable. Unfortanatly we cartoonist don’t have a “cable” like alternative ($an$ webcomic$).

I think this article just shows how limiting “dead tree comics” are for anyone who wants to “think outside of the box”.