In 2015, Scarlett Johansson played an Asian character in the adaptation of Ghost in the Shell, sparking outrage among PoC. A petition was created which begs: “The original film is set in Japan, and the major cast members are Japanese. So why would the American remake star a white actress?”

A fair question indeed. It is sad to acknowledge that Asian representation in media has never been one to be proud of. A legacy that created and reinforced harmful stereotypes, that till this day, is something we have to overcome.

In critiquing the representation of Asians in the comic industry, we realized that the problem runs deep. Upon referring to misrepresentations one often talks about the West. But we forget that the white-washing actually originates from the East, or more specifically, Japan. …

We’ve all had to improvise while having to work from home this year. We now know that operating an entirely online working environment comes with its share of difficulties: communication issues, differences in work ethic, a lack of clarity and direction, to name a few. COVID-19 made it so that 88% of organizations have encouraged their staff to work from home, but the effects of the pandemic on remote workers have made it even tougher. …

We know that the cultural and creative sector has probably been hit harder than any other during this year’s events. Conventions and pretty much every other event related to comics have had to turn digital, and life has moved online for the most part. In times like these, it’s hugely important to share other people’s art, creative work, or donate to crowdfunded events if you can afford to, to empower their platforms. …

Katy Perry once said “I believe in a lot of astrology” — and honestly, we admire that. Astrology dates back to around 2400 years ago to the Babylonians who developed their own form of horoscope. Today, we are acquainted with two predominant forms of horoscope: the Western Zodiac (based on birth date) and the Chinese Zodiac (based on birth year).

So looking at the stars can tell us about ourselves?

We’re glad you ask, but technically, it’s more complex than that. Western Astrology functions on the belief that planets and stars alignments — depending on when and what time you’re born — influence an individual’s mood, personality, along with their environment. …

In part 1, we discussed the importance of including Black heroes in comics, as well as giving Black creators the space to create their own uplifting characters and stories. The mainstream comics industry neglected the importance of POC characters for many years — but this only pushed independent artists and publications to evolve.

Now, we’d like to shift your focus to the importance of the Black female in comics, and how that came to be. While there have been male Black characters as early as the 1960s, Black female characters were and still are a neglected demographic in comics.

When taking a look at the Big Two, 26.7% of DC and Marvel characters are female (as of 2017), with only 12% of mainstream superhero comics having female protagonists. Out of that, the amount of Black female characters can be counted on the fingers of one hand. All of this is without including the notions of supporting role or main role, and without looking at how one-dimensional Black female characters tend to be compared to their white or male counterparts. …

“There is no caped crusader coming to change this, but there is the creativity of writers and artists who take risks to capture the zeitgeist of our culture, imperfectly bringing hope to Black children’s imaginations.”

While we’ve been seeing some growth of positive representation of PoC in mainstream media, it’s nowhere near where it should be. PoC characters still tend to be the second choice for mainstream publishers. Black characters in comic books have primarily dealt with the unfair share of being sidekicks to the white main characters. Although the number of characters on screen and the pages of comic books has grown, PoC characters still struggle to take the role of the main characters. It took years before Black Panther got his own comics — and many more before his own movie adaptation. …

Remember the times when you were sitting in front of the TV, or reading a comic after school, being totally captivated by your favorite heroes every time they appeared? Those were the good days. We previously talked about comic book characters that represent the queer community, which sparked a passionate discussion between our colleagues in Uncultured Schwein. It seems that everyone has that one special LGBTQ+ character they look up to.

Today we are paying tribute to the characters that influenced our colleagues the most throughout their lives; to dive deeper into how they felt with these characters. We took the time to interview some of our teammates, and asked them — “Which LGBTQ+ comic, manga, or anime character inspired you or meant something to you, and what makes them meaningful?”. We received some great responses that we are excited to share. Our company has people from all around the world currently working on a special comic with relevance to the real world. …

“As a child, I longed to see something so simple as this story: just a human tale of a superhero boy meeting a superhero boy.”

Since their beginnings, comics have been sending this message to people of all ages — you can be whoever you want to be, and save the world while you’re at it. In a world where the underdog can become the hero, queer people have not always been visible. The stories of the LGBTQ+ community were rarely told in comics, causing queer fans to feel hidden, tokenized, and neglected. …