Cartoonists Plan Protest of Racial Grouping in Newspapers
The St. Petersburg Times reports that on Feb. 10, a group of notable black cartoonists will be running variations of the same joke in each of their comic strips in order to shed light on a perceived "lumping together" of cartoonists by ethnicity. With many newspapers looking to shake up their format by making changes to the comics section, many of the creators involved in the protest argue that their strips are only included at the expense of other strips created by people of color. This is due to an unwritten rule in the newspaper industry prohibiting more than a certain number of "ethnic" strips in a single issue, the creators claim.
According to The Times:
"…each of them will draw the same strip featuring their own characters – a joke about how readers and some newspaper editors see their work as interchangeable, simply because of the ethnicity of the characters they draw."
Creators named as participants in the protest include Darrin Bell (Candorville), Charlos Gary (Cafe con Leche and Working It Out), Cory Thomas (Watch Your Head), Stephen Bentley (Herb and Jamaal), Jerry Craft (Mama’s Boyz), Stephen Watkins (Housebroken), editorial cartoonist Tim Jackson and Keith Knight (K-Chronicles).
When Boondocks left the comics, the WashPost brought in something stupid about college students that I don't read. But I think the only other black-oriented comic is Candorville. Half the two characters in Prickly City are black and Frazz has probably close to half black characters, but neither of those are black-oriented.
I guess if someone had a comic called Fried Chicken & Watermelon then some more newspaper would run them. It seems to me that black voices (latino voices, asian voices, etc) are looked at like TV. In other words if there is all ready an black animated super hero on (let's call it Static Shock) why do we need another? Let's say that black animated show (let's call it Static Shock) was a BIG HIT. Why are there no toys for that show? Is it because the show was black or is it because the people in charge of the plush (that's toys, games,underroos, etc) simply do not think their is a market there? What do I think? I can't say…really I can't.But I would be interested in knowing why that is.
Hey, Trevor Von Eeden just got a royalty check for Black Lightning action figures! Black Lightning — you know, that series he and Tony Isabella started 32 YEARS AGO!Fried Chicken & Watermelon? Is that talking fried chicken & watermelon, or is that a pantomime strip? Will you pitch that to Denys Cowan at BET?
One of those nouveau restaurants would probably shape watermelon in a chicken form and fry it.
Michael, remember when I recommended Joyce Scott's work? Here's one of her most famous: Man Eating Watermenelon. (Just in case: http://www.tfaoi.com/am/10am/10am236.jpg )
Hmmm, that would be Watermelon.
I am so glad that you chose to show a panel from Herb and Jamaal. It's my all-time favorite. ;-)