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This week, we have a gorgeous new piece of guest art by illustrator, cartoonist, and novelist Dee Fish. I love this piece; The Bombardier is practically popping off the page! You can find more of Dee’s work at her website.
In the U.S., the presidential election is one week from today. If you haven’t voted yet, or made a plan to vote, you can find out everything you need to know here.
You’ve probably heard about Project 2025 by now. But if you’re not familiar, or would like to know more about how it will impact your life, check out this excellent — and very thorough — site, which breaks it all down in comic form!
Our democracy is a precious gift, and if we don’t participate in it, we could lose it. Please vote.
It’s Thanksgiving in the US. Ideally, this is a time to reflect on your life and acknowledge the things you have to be grateful for. In practice, it’s an excuse to gather with family and overeat to an obscene degree.
This year, thanks to the COVID pandemic, many people are eschewing the gatherings. And, given the state of the world, it may seem difficult to think of things to be grateful for. But we hope that, whatever your circumstances, you’re having a safe and happy day. And we want you to know that we’re grateful for you, our readers.
Until recently, many white people (myself included) have either been completely unaware of Juneteenth, or weren’t quite clear what it was about. It’s an unofficial holiday to commemorate the day General Gordon Granger declared all slaves in Texas free on June 19th, 1865. The Civil War had been over a couple of months by that point, but it took a while for Union forces to get to Texas to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation. (Slavery wouldn’t officially be abolished until the ratification of the 13th Amendment in December of that year.)
Juneteenth has been an important day in Black communities for generations, but the end of slavery is something we should all celebrate.
We didn’t set out to create a comic with themes of social justice. It just kind of happened. We’d already decided that we were going to set our story during WWII. As we were creating the cast of characters, we wanted there to be some diversity, so we included two women, a Jewish kid, and a Black man. That left us with a decision to make about how to represent these characters’ lives in this setting.
We could have gone the purely anachronistic route, and never mentioned the challenges of being anything but a white man in the 1940s. That’s been done before (think of the Howling Commandos from Captain America: The First Avenger), but we went the other way, and have tried to portray the sexism, antisemitism, and racism of the time realistically. As white men, we may not be the best people to tell these stories, and undoubtedly, others could have done a better job. But it didn’t feel right to gloss over the uncomfortable realities of the time.
Of course, I’m talking like the 1940s were some distant era whose ways have been left far behind. But the truth is that racism and other ideologies of hate have never left, despite the hard-earned civil rights victories that have been won in the intervening years. Whether we admit it or not, we are still a deeply unequal nation.
All this is to say that Al and I are furious and heartbroken over the racial injustice that continues to plague our country. We stand with the Black community in demanding justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and every other Black life that has been needlessly, senselessly snuffed out.
The American promise of freedom and equality has never been kept. It’s time for us, as a nation, to live up to our own hype. And one step toward that goal — one of many — is to acknowledge that Black lives matter.
But the world doesn’t need another white man’s take on racism. Nothing I can say can express the pain and frustration that author Kimberly Jones conveys in this video. (NSFW language.)
Al and I are deeply grateful for all of our readers, and the community we’ve created in our little corner of the internet. We wish you all the best during this holiday season, and in the upcoming new year. Whatever holiday you observe, we hope your celebrations are safe and happy!
For those who celebrate it, Al and I would like to wish you the happiest of Thanksgivings!
Whether you celebrate Thanksgiving or not, this is a perfect time to express our gratitude for all of our readers. We’re so happy to be putting out new pages again, and we’re thankful for all of you who have stuck with us through the years, and through our long hiatus. Thank you!
