click to visit larger image Epic of Sally Robertson, page 35 From the Fenworks |
I’ve come up with a name for this girl who’s tormenting Sally. I don’t remember how or where I got her name, but about two pages from now Sally calls her Sandra, apparently. Sandra is going to be fairly regular, as will be her dark haired friend. I’m hopeful that my drawings of them will improve with time, as well. I also need to work on Marshall some more.
Speaking of race… Sorry. This comic at large is not about ethnicity, minorities, or the concepts of race and racism. However, these things are part of the setting, and I do have things to say about them. And people are going to ask at some point anyway. And I just now read a really interesting snippit of an interview by the creator of Scott Pilgrim Conquers the World, Bryan Lee O’Malley. I don’t have his problem in that I’m a white guy, and I went and put a character in my comic who has exactly the same background as myself. But, I do have the same problem in that the area of the world that I’m writing about (the upper northwest corner of Washington State) is mostly full of white people. There are natives, but for a number of all sorts of reasons and excuses, we don’t mix much. And there are a lot of exchange students, mostly from various parts of Asia, but they come and go. And we really do have a lot of different white ethnicities, who all blend in together. And a fair number of Hispanic people, some migrants and some landed citizens, and many in between, but they’re from a different economic class than me so we don’t mix much, sadly. However our diversity is slowly growing. And, in the most classic phrase of all time, I have some friends who are black. But, for the most part, it is entirely possible and extraordinarily likely for me to go through an entire day without seeing anyone who is not white.
So, here’s what I think about that, what I’m trying to do about it, and my problem:
I think that it would be easier for me to deal with my own racist tendencies (whether from culture or from stupidity) if I had grown up in a town that was much more diverse.
I think that Liberty County, being halfway into the land of dreams and dictated largely by people’s imaginations should absolutely be more diverse than reality! It is part of the story that it wasn’t always so diverse, and that as the county has grown it has become remarkable in diversity, even including ethnicities that have been long forgotten, like Hittites or Fomorians. And I have no problem having that happen over the course of one day, such as what may appear to be happening in my comic right now (flip through the pages and look at the make up of Sally’s class). I have no problem with that because it’s the result of a plot point!
My problem is that if I don’t actively THINK about this, my reflexes are to draw white people. In fact, even when I do think about it, I still reflexively draw white people. So, while the diversity of the United States itself is growing, my own brain is not. At least not without a great deal more effort on my part than I’d like.
Anyway, you may have noted that Marshall’s dad is Brian Musante, the whitest little blond gang-banger you’ve ever seen. If you’ve been following the comic from way back when, you might surmise that Marshall’s mom would be Dakota, who is not. This may provide great confusion for some people, but I’m just not going to make a big thing about it in the comic. I hope not to make a big thing about it beyond this post here, in fact. I’m really just going on record right now, just in case anybody is wondering, and stating my ultimate goal:
In Jam, I hope to depict the world of race in the way it should be, without comment. Jam has other problems, anyway, but I’d like any hang-ups about race to be only what the reader brings to the table. Obviously, I’m going to fall a little short, due to my own upbringing as well as the catch 22 of several tropes (and there’s the continuity of what I’ve already written), but I’m going to continue to strive for this. And I’ve got two reasons for that: 1) People in minority have often expressed lately in articles that I’ve read that they are tired of reading about how they are minorities, and I don’t want to contribute to that exhaustion within my comic, and 2) Jam has other problems!*
Anyway, where ever I fail, I let those failures be the subject of future discussions between fans and detractors, and hopefully English professors, historians, politicians and anthropologists.
Now, we’ll talk about Sally being a girl when that comes up… Or maybe about Marshall not being a girl. 
* Now, you might ask why Jam has other problems and not this one, especially when it is a parody of the place where I live. I can’t decide if I should keep pressing the point and answer that, or simply stare until the question goes away. It’s probably better if I just keep making comics and let my readers decide if it’s worthy. Let’s just say you gotta pick your battles, and I’m more equipped to fight the one I’ve chosen.
Epic of Sally, enter Sandra originally appeared on Drawing Contraption on 2013/06/27.