Richard Boom over at Broken Frontier posts Bluewater Production’s solicitations for this June. Among the indy publishers typical fare is a new Female Force comic devoted to conservative Laura Ingraham. Bluewater’s copy reads: “Born into a middle-class family, Laura Ingraham has become an American success story. Denounced by many early in her career as a bigot because of her deeply held Christian views, Ingraham has drawn strength from them to succeed at almost everything she’s tried. Whether as a speechwriter for Ronald Reagan, a best-selling author or host of a radio show listened to by millions, Ingraham has made her mark and become one of the most influential voices in America.”
Last month Bluewater publisher Darren Davis sent a press release regarding his company’s upcoming Rosie o’Donnell bio comic. In this press release Davis stated Bluewater is a gay owned company, which is true, and that the Lost Raven graphic novel, written by Davis, features a gay man coping with the news of an HIV diagnosis, which to me seemed and still does seem, open to debate. Zak Raven does indeed learn he’s become HIV positive, but nowhere in the novel or any subtext that the character is gay. Davis disagreed with me in his comment on my piece. Fair enough. I wouldn’t mind Raven being straight because straight men can become HIV positive.
Davis is free to pursue publishing comics that he believes will sell. Despite right wing rhetoric that Obama is turning America socialist, this is still a free country. I do not think that the LGBT community should bury its collective head in the sand and not be knowledgeable about various people who stand in opposition to it, nor do I believe every other person should have the exact same philosophy that I hold. But Bluewater’s attempt to cast Ingraham as a martyr for her deeply held Christian beliefs is affront. Perhaps once having avoided restaurants where she feared waiters might be gay who would then try to expose her to HIV by touching her silverware or spitting into her food speaks as much about ignorance as it does bigotry. Admittedly, the two often go hand in hand. As editor of Dartmouth Review, she painted the Dartmouth campus gay rights group as “cheerleaders for latent campus Sodomites”. True, she supposedly did somewhat soften her views on homosexuality, at least with regard to the plight, humility, and humilation experienced by her gay brother and his partner in the face of AIDS. Still and all, Ingraham clearly is not a supporter of gay civil rights and equality.
If Bluewater does indeed and not just in words want to promote itself as a gay owned company then I find its continuing decision to capitalize on right wing politicians and pundits personally disconcerting.
We have made a point to focus on both sides of the fence with the subjects. We keep them unbiased which has made us successful with these.
I am a publisher that happens to be gay. We have been self publishing comic books for the last 4 years. When was the last time you bought something from Bluewater? Exactly….
Joe has had a problem with Lost Raven for the last 3 years….It has won national awards and I stand by it 100%.
Darren
http://www.bluewaterprod.com
Darren, I have bought one Bluewater comic. That was back somewhere toward the beginning of Bluewater’s incorporation I imagine. It was your Wrath of the Titans book, the first issue. There wasn’t enough there to continue grabbing my interest for the rest of the story. In the years since then I’ve looked at a few different ones in my shop. Most of my interests fall outside of the subjects you publish. It’s my personal choice to go to other sources when I want to learn about people like Sarah Palin, Bill O’Reilly, Glenn Beck, Sonia Sotomayer, Hilary Clinton, Lady Gaga et al.
I had some interest in the Ellen bio comic. The art was good, but the story seemed to be more about the writer’s relationship to Ellen the public figure rather than about Ellen herself. I understand that as a publisher you do and should stand by the comics you publish. But my simple and unvarnished opinion regarding the art on the Rosie book makes the comic a shame to print on paper because printing it uses natural resources. That artist is simply not ready to have his/ her work printed commercially at this time and I think it is a disservice to him/ her as a person whose art skills need practice and improvement to be told or led to think/ feel differently. And if it were my company I would pay the artist and writer, and postpone the project until a more suitable artist was found and contracted.
So, yes, you have received very little of my money for your product. Accordingly, one may think that I should have no opinion as I’ve not paid to have one. OTOH, when publishers, yourself included, send links to free PDF copies of work for review purposes, is any reviewer then not entitled to an opinion and to express it publicly? Is the reviewer’s opinions then suspect because he/ she received a free copy?
For what it’s worth — or not — whether it should or could be worth anything now — I think the art based on what I saw of your upcoming Royal Wedding book is really quite nice. But it isn’t on my pull list because I’ve zero interest in the event and the couple.
Do I have I problem with Lost Raven? Yes, yes, I do. What I don’t have a problem with is the intimate thoughts, feelings, and questions that Raven faces after learning he has HIV. Those parts resonated with me tremendously. Grafting this on to the part where he’s shipwrecked on an island where a super secret government project to genetically engineer humans for long term space travels throws me right out of inner journey part, but it’s your story, not mine. Maybe one day I’ll figure out an interesting way to portray my story of my diagnosis, but I doubt it. And I don’t see a single thing visually or textually that indicates Raven is a gay man, which in itself isn’t the issue. HIV doesn’t have a preference for sexual orientation. I say Raven isn’t, you say he is gay. Please point out anything in the graphic novel which supports your point and I’ll post a copy of it here and publicly apologize.
The thing that causes a problem for me is saying you’re a gay publisher (or a publisher who happens to be gay) is when AFAIK you’ve done a small handful of gay comics only recently compared to the larger number of comics of right wing/ conservative figures you’ve published. Did you approach Laura Ingraham and or her agent by saying you’re a publisher who happens to be gay? If, as I seem to recall is the case, you published a Reagan bio I’d be very interested in knowing whether and how his stance on the early AIDS crisis is portrayed. But then I am biased. When Bluewater does a comic on the Sacred Band of Thebes, or one of of the homoerotic stories of other Greek gods, or Walt Whitman, or a real “gay” cowboy story as opposed to a vaudevillian farce like Rawhide Kid I’ll be interested and willing to pay money. But I suppose the paying target audience for those kinds of stories is tiny in comparison to those of your various bio comics.
Joe
Joe -
You have always had a problem with Lost Raven because you can not identify with it. This is my story not yours. It is based on ALL my journals when I found out I was HIV positive. I NEVER once had a problem with my medical history in the 11 years I have had it. It has ALWAYS been an emotional journey for me. When I went through support groups for it – they put my in with people that had it for 20 years – which I did not identify with. I never knew anyone that had it (that I knew) and I never knew one person that died from it. I have also slept with women as well as men – so once agin – this is my story. I was also working for the AIDS Organisation a nd watching a lot of so called straight men sleeping with women and making them postitive. I did this book for myself to show people there is another side to the disease. Straight or gay – you can STILL get it.
I am proud to be who I am – I might not fit into all the labels 100%, but I am confident and proud of myself, my life and my 8 year relationship. Do I hang a flag outside – no – but that has never been me – gay or straight. Everyone that knows me. KNOWS ME.
I said this before – doing “gay themed comics” is not a business choice I tend to do. They do not sell. We do have lots of strong gay characters in our mix.
We do both sides of the tables on the biographies. I don’t aggree with all of them – but that is never seen in the comic books. They get people talking – like this. So I did my part.
I stand by the Rosie artwork too – I like it. You might not but there are tons of people we both know that should not be published, but they are and continue to be.
I am not a fan of writing on message boards – so this will be my last one. If you want to do an interview – go for it.
I am proud of what I have accomplished over the last 10 years of publishing.
Darren
Why can’t people stop bashing Bluewater and Darren Davis?
Laura Ingraham is a bigot, despite the solicitation copy trying to paint her sympathetically as persecuted for having “deeply held Christian views”. The Bible was once used as an excuse for slavery in this country, too, but no one dares say this today because they’d be declared a racist.
Oh, and it would be nice if you would actually look at the art and the writing on the O’Reilly and beck books i wrote – not to mention Zuckerberg and nixon – and tell me that those books are not thoroughly researched and tell compelling tales.
Come on, I double-dog dare ya:)
Mr. Maida, my comic shop orders a handful of Bluewater titles that I’ve noticed over the past 3 or 4 years. It’s doubtful G-Mart has any. I don’t recall writing that I think your incapable of writing a good story. As I have stated before, when I seriously want to learn about such people as O’Reilly and Beck I turn to other sources, and while I was rather young, I lived through the Nixon administrations and had some awareness at the time of the man. And based on what I’ve seen on the few Bluewater comics I have, whether in PDF format or in my shop, I’ll pass on your double-dog dare.
I would triple dog dare you to send PDF copies of each, but then perhaps my opinion would be worthless as I’d not purchased them.
Your opinion is not worthless. I will send you a hard copy of at least one if there is a possibility you will keep an open mind. All I would need is an address to mail it to.
I hate when people say, based on the Bluewater titles I’ve read, since there is a 99% chance i have not written them or researched them.
I’ll try to be open minded then. I may not like subjects like Beck or Nixon, but my dislike doesn’t preclude that, as you say, the product is well written. My mailing address is:
Joe Palmer
2109 W. White St #199
Champaign, IL 61821
Thank you. I will send ASAP.
I’ll look forward to receiving them!
Took me a bit, but I will be sending you them tomorrow. Please let me know what you think!