diversityinya:

By Faith Erin Hicks

1) Robot fight scenes are the hardest things to draw ever.

Over the past five years of working fulltime in comics, I’ve drawn a wide variety of things. Summer camps, creepy alien birds, graveyards, ships, ghosts, schools, ponies …. but nothing is as difficult to draw as two killer robots fighting to the death. Robots are hard enough to draw when they’re standing still, but drawing them flying through the air to do battle? I may have broken down weeping over my drawing desk a few times.

2) It’s important to escape the drawing desk every now and then.

I really love my job of making comics. I probably love it a little too much, because when I’m away from my drawing desk and not making comics, I’m mostly thinking about all the comics I’m going to make when I get back to the studio. This is kind of terrible and unhealthy! I got serious about running while drawing Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong, and can now jog 8 kilometers at a pretty good clip. I’d like to jog 10 kilometers at some point this summer. I hate jogging in the winter (I live in the often freezing cold Canadian city of Halifax), but in the summer it’s wonderful to get outside and spend some time with things that aren’t comics. Like the sun, and grass, and the ocean and even other people! Then I can go back to making comics.

3) I need to do better with diversity in my comics.

I was on a panel at a recent comic festival about diversity in comic books, which is a huge issue. Comics struggle a lot with representing different people, different ethnicities, different sexualities, and it’s something I want to do better. One thing that was brought up at the panel was the idea that diversity shouldn’t mean just making sure that “your group” is represented, it should be that all people are represented. I thought that was really important and useful. I’ve been very focused on women in comics (we are pretty underrepresented), and I feel I’ve been successful in making lots of comics with women and girls in them, and encouraging my fellow Lady Cartoonists. Now I need to look beyond that, and do a better job of representing the diversity of the world around me. 

4) Collaborating is great fun.

Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong is the first adaptation I’ve done of someone else’s story. It was really fun to dive into a fully formed story where I didn’t have to do too much reshaping, and just start drawing. Prudence did most of the heavy lifting for me already! All I had to do was beat her story into graphic novel shape.

5) I am a sucker for a cute boy and a geeky girl.

So, spoilers, but two characters in Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong get together in the end. That was not in Prudence’s original story, but I snuck it in at the end because I am a geeky girl, and I like seeing the geeky girl get the cute boy. Also I may secretly want Prudence to write a Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong fanfiction (can you do fanfic of your own book?) about Nate and Holly dating. Because that would be hilarious.

Find out more about the graphic novel at the official website for Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong.

Read Faith Erin Hicks’ graphic novels now (check them out on our online catalog by clicking here)!

beinggeekchic:

Editor’s note: A little context for today’s post. I find comic books very intimidating. I’ve read a few runs of Ms. Marvel and Wonder Woman, but the idea of diving into Spider-Man or The Incredible Hulk is totally overwhelming. The back catalogs are so intense and so deep, it’s almost scarier than the idea of watching all of Doctor Who. But of course, deep down you want to take it all in, but where’s the time? And so my brother, Adam, who is a much more versed in the world of comics offered to write a post on getting into the comic book vortex. Enjoy!

Iron Man 3 finally hits theaters tomorrow. But you already knew that, of course. Here’s something you may or may not have known: one day later, on Saturday, comic shops all across America will celebrate a rad little holiday known as Free Comic Book Day.

In honor of the weekend’s comic book-tastic events, I’m here to tell you, non-comic book readers of the world, that today is the day for you to start reading comic books. There is truly no better time than now. Here are just a few reasons why:

There are great jumping on points for you

You may say to yourself, “Comics are too intimidating and inaccessible!” I know the feeling, I’ve been there. Good news though, the comics juggernauts at Marvel and DC are aware of this common cry, and in recent days they’ve made efforts to extend a hand to new readers.

Marvel’s newest initiative, Marvel NOW! is offering up a fresh start for many of the Marvel universe’s greatest characters, with a bevy of #1 issues. There’s even a neat little red stripe at the bottom of covers in the Marvel NOW! line, which provided a newbie like me a very useful wayfinding tool while roaming the comic shop. DC Comics did the same a couple of years ago, launching 52 new #1 issues, known as “The New 52.” Both universes may still posses some unwieldy continuities and histories to confront, but these new efforts ensure they do little to get in the way for new readers like you. 

Read More

Just in time for Free Comic Book Day! Check it out :)

dcwomenkickingass:

All those teasers around the number one that Marvel has been posting began making sense today following an announcement at SXSW. Right now and through 11PM EST March 12 the company is making 700 first issues of its comics downloadable for free on Comixology and the Marvel Application.

I just went through the comics and it is a amazing list including everything from the first issue of the Fantastic Four to the recent first issues of FF and Fantastic Four from Marvel Now. There are one-shots and specials and issues from Marvel proper, Ultimate Marvel and even Marvel Knights. 

If you haven’t yet read Hawkeye, you can try it for free.

For those of you focused on female heroes I’d recommend first issues of Captain Marvel, X-23, three runs of Black Widow and one-shots with Rescue, Sif, Valkyrie and Dazzler. I also recommend the first issues of Mystic and Ruse. 

Of course you could just download them all, because they are free. Do that. Get ‘em all!

Only good until tomorrow, so hop on it!

(via teen-stuff-at-the-library)