Dr. Sheena C. Howard Wins 2014 Comic Con Eisner Award for Book "Black Comics: Politics of Race and Representation"
By goodblacknews on August 13, 2014
Dr. Sheena C. Howard
More than 100,000 people attended the International Comic Convention (aka Comic Con) in San Diego this year, but only a few walked away winners of an Eisner Award, one of the most prestigious honors in the comics industry – an Eisner is equivalent to an Oscar. I was honored to be one of those winners, along with co-editor Ronald Jackson for the book, “Black Comics: Politics of Race and Representation.”
In 2009 I embarked on writing my dissertation at Howard University on Aaron McGruder’s “The Boondocks” comic strip. Much to my dismay there were no published works that provided a historical account of the contributions of African-American cartoonists on the funny pages.Most books that dealt with the history of American comics, failed to even mention Black artists – this was the impetus for the book, “Black Comics: Politics of Race and Representation.”
Admittedly, I had not been an avid comic book or graphic novel reader as a child, but even so, as a critical media scholar I knew I needed to do whatever I could to fill this void within academic literature.When I first heard about the Eisner nomination for Best Academic/ Scholarly Work during the winter of 2014, I was amazed. Rarely, does an academic have the opportunity to cross over to the popular culture realm for an academic book. Since this was my first book, I was just happy to be nominated but did not expect to win.
On Friday July 25th, the Eisner award ceremony was held at the San Diego Hilton Bayfront hotel, with doors opening at 7:00 p.m. The ceremony consisted of fans seated in the back and Eisner nominees seated closest to the stage. Upon entering I immediately noticed the attendance of Jack Mendelsohn (writer for “Ninja Turtles”), Reginald Hudlin (Producer of “Django Unchained”) and Orlando Jones (actor).
I didn’t have to wait long before Kelly Hu read the nominees in my category for Best Scholarly/ Academic Work and ultimately recognized “Black Comics” as the winner. I was more than honored to win this award, for a work that meant so much to me. The thing that was most touching, was the fact that African-Americans have long struggled to break into the comics industry as writers and today remain underrepresented as writers at big publishing houses, such as Marvel and DC. As a result there has been a lack of mainstream comics that feature diverse characters. To win an award for highlighting the many men and women who made significant contributions to the comics industry since the 1920s was historical.
We are living in a time where the comics industry as a whole is making a concerted effort to diversify its characters, however the problem is many of these characters are not well written and not included in the story line as a staple but rather a sidekick or afterthought. This speaks to the issue of inclusion and not diversity. Going forward, the comics industry needs to make a concerted effort, not to simply include minority characters for the sake of diversity, but actually incorporate them with the intent of inclusion. Critically analyzing comics over the last several years, has taught me that there is a huge difference between diversity and inclusion; this distinction has implications not only in the comics industry but in the broader social and political landscape as well.
I appreciate this work you’ve done, but the simple answer is for more black people to do their own comic book writing. White people are only able to be white, don’t expect more. else we are saddled to read the writings of those that contribute.
Admittedly, I had not been an avid comic book or graphic novel reader as a child, but even so, as a critical media scholar I knew I needed to do whatever I could to fill this void within academic literature.When I first heard about the Eisner nomination for Best Academic/ Scholarly Work during the winter of 2014, I was amazed. Rarely, does an academic have the opportunity to cross over to the popular culture realm for an academic book. Since this was my first book, I was just happy to be nominated but did not expect to win.
Reblogged this on Getting in? One Girl's Perspective: Blacks in Art and commented:
Love this. Will be providing a grad school update soon! But enjoy the reblogs for now…
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Reblogged this on William Chasterson.
I appreciate this work you’ve done, but the simple answer is for more black people to do their own comic book writing. White people are only able to be white, don’t expect more. else we are saddled to read the writings of those that contribute.
reblogging and sharing now that I have found you.
thank you so much. really appreciate the share!