Funding Friday, "Moonshot" - Comics & Crowdfunding News

Moonshot: The Indigenous Comics Collection Vol. 1
Edited by Hope Nicholson

Hope is rapidly becoming the most cited person on this blog, which I suppose goes to show just how busy she's been this past year-and-a-bit. Having brought both Brok Windsor and Nelvana of the Northern Lights back to our bookshelves, Hope is building a reputation for being the go-to person for comics Canadiana and it makes perfect sense to me that she was the one Andy Stanleigh approached to edit Moonshot, Alternate History Comics' next cultural comics codex. Just this past year AH released another kickstarted anthology, The Jewish Comics Anthology, edited by Jewish librarian Steven Bergson, and hinting at what may become this publisher's modus operandi: collecting well-curated and respectfully presented collections of cultural stories as a literary window onto worlds which we as modern readers may not entirely understand.

Cover for Moonshot; original painting by Cree artist Stephen Gladue

For me, this respectful approach is one of the shining highlights of the Moonshot project. K.D. Callaghan's interview with Andy for PaperDroids.com directly addresses the issue that immediately struck me as the biggest problem a project such as this faces: cultural appropriation. Andy met the question head-on.

One of the biggest concerns when working with Indigenous stories and culture is that of cultural appropriation. You’ve noted that any traditional stories are being printed with the permission of the elders in their respective communities—a wonderful and respectful way to deal with this issue. Were there any other concerns around appropriation with this project? If so, how did you handle them?

There were definitely concerns about appropriation, and both Hope Nicholson and I are big comic book fans who have seen a lot of the character stereotypes out there. Even with the best of intentions, non-indigenous writers and/or artists can unwittingly cross that line from tradition to stereotype/appropriation. The way we’ve dealt with this is being extremely selective with which writers and artists we bring on board. The collection will be comprised of over 90% indigenous creators, who have all had a say in who they work with on MOONSHOT.  As well, the non-indigenous creators involved are all experts in the field who have a massive history of work in the community behind them, and are welcomed by the indigenous creators involved.

Now, that answer made me pretty damn happy, so when I got around to reading Hope's mission statement for Moonshot (as posted by Sequential), it was the icing on the cake.

1. Accuracy – No mish-mash of cultures or appropriation. (ie. If a traditional story is being relayed from a Metis culture, don’t have characters with Cherokee outfits).
2. Permission – a writer brought up that some stories are not meant to be told outside of the community. When in doubt in regards to the appropriate public telling of traditional stories, I’ve asked the writer to consult with an elder if possible. Google is a great place to start with research, but must be used judiciously.
3. No addiction or self-harm in the stories. Not because these issues aren’t important or relevant, but when you turn on the news and that’s the only representation you see, it becomes a biased view of what everyday culture is. I know there is a greater variety of stories that can be told.
4. Creators – Together, the publisher and I researched and found a great variety of artists and writers that identify as indigenous. Having stories told by members of the community, and to encourage young aspiring artists/writers is very important. It’s also important to me to prove that there is no excuse for a non-indigenous writer/artist to not create a complex indigenous character, and there are a few non-indigenous creators involved in this collection.
5. Romanticizing – Too often a writer will see old-fashioned stereotypes and go so far in the other direction that they end up doing the exact thing they wanted to avoid. Any reference to a brave, dying culture rings to me as an untruth and stories that portray this type of depiction are not included.

I think the second item on the list is crucial. I'm far from being an expert on First Nations culture and one of the least comfortable people when it comes to engaging in the seemingly tenuous relationship between the North American indigenous peoples and all us other folk who came from somewhere else. But the sentiment I am most familiar with, and which coincides with what Hope mentions in her blurb, is that these stories are not ours to tell. I can't even begin to elaborate on what all that issue entails, and I won't try, but I'll say that it seems to me the Moonshot project is going about this matter in all the right ways.

"Water Spirit" - Haiwei Hou

As mentioned in that fourth item on Hope's list, the project sports an impressive team of artists and writers.
Claude St-Aubin (R.E.B.E.L.S., Green Lantern, Captain Canuck)

Jeffery Veregge (G.I. Joe, Judge Dredd)

Stephen Gladue (MOONSHOT cover artist)

Haiwei Hou (Two Brothers)

Nicholas Burns (Arctic Comics, Curse of Chucky, Super Shamou)

Scott B. Henderson (Man to Man, Tales from Big Spirit)

Jon Proudstar (Tribal Force)

George Freeman (Captain Canuck, Aquaman, Batman)

Mark Shainblum (Northguard, Corum: The Bull and The Spear)

Elizabeth LaPensee (Survivance, The Nature of Snakes, Fala)

Buffy Sainte-Marie (Fire & Fleet & Candlelight, Coincidence & Likely Stories)

Richard Van Camp (Path of the Warrior, Kiss Me Deadly)

Ryan Huna Smith (Tribal Force)

David Robertson (The Evolution of Alice, Stone)

Steve Sanderson (Darkness Calls, Journey of the Healer)

Michael Yahgulanaas (RED)

Michael Sheyahshe (Native Americans in Comic Books, Dark Owl)

David Cutler (The Northern Guard)

...and more!

Stamps by Jeffery Veregge

The campaign is offering a slick-looking selection of backer awards, including a set of limited-run Canadian postage stamps, some artsy bookmarks (something which AH did for the Jewish anthology too, and are well worth the money), and an assortment of prints and digital options. No original art offerings have been posted yet, but there are some canvas prints for those so inclined. Great looking rewards. Oh, and you can get the book too. In case you were wondering.


Suffice it to say I'm hardly the only blogger out here chronicling cool comics crowdfunding campaigns (though I may be the only one obsessed with alliteration), and certainly not the only one following this project. There's a whole host of worthwhile interviews, ponderings, and reviews out around the web that you should take a gander at. And while you're out there exploring, read this thing on First Nations creation narratives that Rebecca Solnit just wrote for The New Yorker. It's pretty rad.

Paper Droids
Geek Hard
Sequential
The Beat
Digital Drum
They Stand on Guard
Pastrami Nation

Everclear & Los Bros.: Appropriation or Homage? (Warning: May Contain Flippancy)

Let me set the stage for you. Until yesterday morning, I only knew the name "Everclear" as a commercial brand of moonshine. I'd never heard of the alt-rock band from Portland until they made an appearance in a disgruntled post on my news feed. "Lichtenstein would be proud", the article stated, referring to the band's appropriation of art from the Hernandez brothers' iconic comic series Love & Rockets for their Summerland Tour poster. Shortly afterwards I uncovered this post on of Facebook by Seattle cartoonist and Fantagraphics editor Eric Reynolds. Now, brace yourselves: I've never read Love & Rockets. I know, I know, gasping all around. I'm working on it. I just picked up my first Los Bros. Hernandez volume yesterday, and I'm looking forward to an evening when I have the time to crack it open. So while I still count myself among the ranks of the yet-to-be-enlightened, I definitely have a side in this debate which, frankly, I don't think is much of a debate.

Side by side: Jaime Hernandez's cover for Love & Rockets #24, and
the Summerland Tour poster by the artist popularly known as "some hack"

Jaime Hernandez owns the image. Period.

That's the line Reynolds laid down last night, taking no shit from anybody on Facebook when a graphic designer started arguing ambiguities about the work: "The most likely scenario here is that the original L&R poster was a 'work for hire,' in which case the artist gave up any claim on copyright", and "you may say 'Jaime owns his image,' maybe he does, but I would ask how you know this to be true,", to which Reynolds replied, "because I'm the publisher of the image and I'm telling you it was not work-for-hire and Jaime Hernandez owns it outright." BOOM. End of story, far as I'm concerned...at least legally.

Clearly, the copyright isn't to be disputed. Even so, the Comics Guys and the Music Guys have been at each other on Twitter over this (the poster was released in March; while it's not exactly news it has been reignited in the past 24 hours) disputing the meaning of "homage" 140 characters at a time.

shame on @Eve6 @EverclearBand @soulasylum and @SPACEHOG for ripping of the great Jaime Hernandez http://t.co/Xnl5qe46u2
— inkstuds (@inkstuds) July 21, 2014

@inkstuds @Eve6 @EverclearBand @soulasylum @SPACEHOG truly meant as a celebration of something I Love....Art Alexakis
— Art Alexakis (@artalexakis) July 22, 2014

@artalexakis @inkstuds You cannot use an image without paying for it, asking permission, giving credit. PERIOD. #1 rule in design
— Skipper tweets (@TweetsSkipper) July 22, 2014

@TweetsSkipper @inkstuds I agree...That's why there is an L+R on the guitar...I get plagiarized and copied in "questionable" ways often
— Art Alexakis (@artalexakis) July 22, 2014

.@artalexakis @TweetsSkipper Do you get paid if someone covers one of your songs and makes money off that cover?
— inkstuds (@inkstuds) July 22, 2014

@inkstuds @TweetsSkipper if they straight out cover it...and Sell it...yes... They pay a mechanical royalty ...not the same thing
— Art Alexakis (@artalexakis) July 22, 2014

My personal favourite suggestion:

@artalexakis @inkstuds @TweetsSkipper A better tip would be paying Los Bros to do your gig poster instead of copying it outright.
— Andy Khouri (@andykhouri) July 22, 2014

...and all followed by this tool who hates education and the English language.

@TweetsSkipper @inkstuds u guys r being ridiculous ormaybe ur just mad cuz uve never done anything worthy of a TRIBUTE!Lay off @artalexakis
— John McClure (@johnlmcclure) July 22, 2014

I don't know who the artist was who whipped up the tour poster for Summerland, and I don't know what they got paid, but Summerland ought to ask for their money back. As an artist, you shouldn't be getting paid to do homage. Homage isn't work for profit; it's personal, a labour of love paying respect to someone you feel ought to be respected. Art Alexakis is the guy in this whole situation who wants to pay tribute to Los Bros., and that's great. So, Art...put your back into it. Write a song. Give them a shout-out on stage during the tour. Invite the brothers to your show, give them backstage passes, show them in your own way through your work that they mean something to you. Or, pay them to draw your poster. What better way to show an artist that you love their work? But paying another artist to recreate their intellectual property as some kind of a subtle nod? That's a slap in the face. Let's go back to Andy Khouri's suggestion there, because it's awesome. I, personally, love the idea of liking an artist's work, wanting to put it on something or acknowledge its influence, and then paying the artist to do work for you. It's such a great concept, it's almost novel. It shouldn't be.

To all the comics folks out there, getting their righteous anger on, chill the hell out. It's not the first time comics have been appropriated, or even mistreated by the music industry, and it sure as heck isn't going to be the last. We all know Roy Lichtenstein; every art school has seen hours of argument about intellectual theft, High vs. Low art, and the true meaning of "appropriate". And if you know the name "Picasso", then you know the heights to which a career can be built on the appropriation of ideas. It's old hat. This isn't Lichtenstein, and it's not Picasso. This is more akin to Axl Rose walking into Robert Williams' studio in '87 to buy a painting, at a time when someone could talk about Axl Rose and someone else would say, "Sorry, who?". Williams sold it to him at street value. That painting became the cover for an album that promptly took top position on Billboard charts and is now the best-selling debut album in history at over 21,000,000 copies. Williams has never seen more than the money Rose paid up front for that album cover.

Appetite for Destruction. It's history, man.

Now, that's a damn shame. A lot of people would say, man, that's just not fair. And obviously it's not, unless you're sitting on the side of the fence that's selling twenty-odd million records, in which case it's totally fair. "Fair" is subjective, right? I'm really hoping Art Alexakis weighs in on this when it goes live, because I genuinely want to hear his thoughts on it. Rose walked into that studio in '87 because he thought that painting was rad and wanted it on his cover. He paid the artist, took the art, and shot off into the stratosphere of metal with it. The Summerland Tour and Everclear thought Los Bros.' Love & Rockets was rad and wanted it on a poster..so they paid a different artist.

"Fair" is still subjective, right?