Rainbow Coalition: Prism Comics
By Lyn Jensen
Greg Fox, whose Kyle’s Bed & Breakfast regularly graces the pages of The Blade, is a member of Prism Comics. Other members and supporters of this self-described non-profit advocacy organization include Lynx Delirium, Tommy Roddy, Erica Friedman, Yamilla Abraham, Justin Hall and more than 300 other comics industry professionals. Some are GLBT artists who do comics, others are artists who do gay-themed comics, still others are involved in the gay comics scene some other way.
Prism Comics was established in 2003, originally comprised of members of GayLeague.com, a site for fans of gay comics, and volunteers who put together Out in Comics, a listing of GLBT comic creators. They formed Prism Comics to offer services beyond a Web site and annual listing.
As an organization, Prism established the following goals:
• Educate the public about GLBT comics,
• Recognize GLBT creators and other personnel in the comics industry,
• Promote the mainstream achievements of GLBT comic artists,
• Encourage the exploration of GLBT themes in the “straight” comics industry,
• Facilitate GLBT forums at comic cons and other places.
David Paul Brown, Prism’s treasurer and on-line store manager, encourages aspiring artists to submit a creator’s profile online at www.prismcomics.org. Membership is free. To apply, go on-line and include a resume, financial statement, and portfolio samples. Or attend Comic Con down in San Diego this July and stop by the Prism booth.
“We work with gay creators even when they don’t do gay content, and non-gay creators who use gay content,” Brown said. Brown’s been involved with Prism for about two years. He and his partner, Lynx Delirium, an artist of indy comics including Pride High, run Carabosse Comics, a (very) small comics publisher based in Garden Grove. His relationship with Delirium led to his volunteering to help with the Prism booth. Other members noted his business background and persuaded him to run the on-line store that sells GLBT graphic novels. Artists and publishers donate books to help raise funds for the organization. It may be the only sales outlet on the Web dedicated soley to GLBT comics. There is no known brick-and-mortar equivalent, at least not yet.
What began as the Out in Comics listing has evolved into a series of guides, the most recent being the 2008 edition, available on-line for $7.95 plus shipping. The next guide will be published in 2010. About one-third of the current guide consists of features and articles, the rest is made up of brief samples of members’ comics.
2008 Queer Press Grant winners Justin Hall and Tommy Roddy are represented, with Glamazonia: The Uncanny Super Tranny! and Pride High, respectively. Brown describes Pride High as, “a positive look for all ages and youth coming out or having issues, it’s GLBT superheroes.” It’s a look at teen angst in a school for psychics – fans of X-Men may see a similarity.
Many members are happy to tell of their Prism experiences. Yamilla Abraham, who owns Yaoi Press, submitted a portion of her Winter Demon manga to the 2008 guide. She says that she’s been involved since 2006, when she met the Prism people at the New York Comic Con, “They liked that a yaoi publisher wanted to reach out to the gay community. I made sure they knew that the owner (me) was a lesbian and many of our creators were also gay. They sent invitations to us to take part in Unsafe for All Ages 2 where we submitted a portion of Winter Demon 2.”
Tina Anderson is a straight writer, but she has a listing on the Prism site, and Prism sells her graphic novel Only Words, about an encounter between a Hitler Youth and a seminarian in World War II. She says, “I came across Prism when [artist] Caroline Monaco and I were still making fan comics... I just felt as if what I was doing at the time did nothing to advance gays in comics. I inquired about Prism’s comic guide just so I could get one and was told they were interested in having a place for me in the guide. (The editor had e-mailed and said Only Words intrigued him and did I have anything else.) So I decided to send along Roulette,” another of her gay-themed comics.
Erica Friedman, who contributed an article to the 2008 guide about the lesbian or “Yuri” comics she publishes, says, “The Prism folks are a stellar bunch of people...This was my first time writing for the Prism guide--I was really glad to be a part of that. I hope to be able to write another article in the future. And I hope that a lot of people support the artists that the Prism Comics umbrella brings together. These are independent artists who are amazingly talented--and a lot of fun, too!”