From: jrd@frame.com (James Drew)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc
Subject: Re: ANIA Statement in CBG (was Black artists condemn DC)
Date: 14 Dec 1992 19:49:14 -0600
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu

John LaRocque (4224_5201@uwovax.uwo.ca) writes:

>     Upon numerous personal requests I am reprinting ANIA's ad in CBG #989.

Thank you.  However., you did not reprint it as it appeared in CBG.  The
Ania tirade against Milestone came *after* the page with BLACK POWER on it.
Context is important in this case, as which page you read first could color
(pun intended, as always) your perceptions.

>could someone post the Jim Drew response...?

How about me?  B-)


"Oh, So!"
Comics Buyer's Guide
700 E. State Street
Iola, WA 54990

This is an open letter to ANIA (The Association of Black Comic Book
Publishers...

Dear ANIA:
	Rarely have I seen such an overt example of racism in the comics
industry as in the double-page advertisement you took out in CBG #988.
	Yes, racism.

	If the ad had read: "White Written.  White Drawn.  White Distributed.
White Marketed.  White Owned.  White Controlled.  WHITE POWER," you would have
been all over the advertiser for racism, white supremacy, KKK leanings, etc.
The fact that your group are members of an oppressed minority does not make
your display of reverse-racism right or justifiable.
	Based on your ad, I can only assume that you have no desire for
non-Blacks to even read your comics -- you certainly do a good job of driving
them away -- thereby cutting yourselves off from some 80% of your potential
audience.  Not the best of economic moves.

	Africa Rising, ACB, Dark Zulu, UP Comics, Hype Comics, Omega Seven
Comics, and Bedford-Stuyvesant Underground Press.  I will keep these names in
mind.  If and when I see comics by these publishers on the shelf, I will try
to give them a fair shake, but it may be difficult, knowing the underlying
feelings of the association to which they belong.
	There is an imbalance in the portrayal of black (and other minority)
character in comics, and your choice to attempt to correct the imbalance is
laudable.  In using reverse-racism to correct it, though, you have gone about
it the wrong way.

				Sincerely,
					Jim Drew
					October 20, 1992



A response to their rebuttal is in the works.  The gist of it being that (a)
I made no reference to Milestone, so they should not assume I disagree with
that part of their advertisement; and (b) not getting 80% of the market
does not mean you get the other 20%.

(I have been told by some people that my letter would have been more
powerful without the final paragraph; I included it to ensure that *I*
didn't come off as anti-Black.  I have also been told by some people that
they were appalled by Don and Maggie's lack-of-editorial-response; they
*did* choose to withhold my address, though, and not by my request.)

------------------------------
                             |      Ron's eye was caught by a booth featuring a
Jim Drew                     | clothing catalog claiming to feature "The Look.
jrd@frame.com                | The Lifestyle."
(Furry: Randy Puritan)       |     Ron picked it up, and put it down just as
"Innocent, but not naive."   | fast.  "Not *my* look," he said.
B(2)h t c k s g+(p) rv p e   |     I had to agree.  "If that's the *look*, I'll
S8/5 g l+ y+ o+ a+ u++- j++  | just take the feel."
{opinions: mine != frame's}  |     Ron looked at me with arched eyebrows.
                             |     "I really have to watch what I say around
                             | you people, don't I?" I said, blushing.
                             |		- Marc Lynx, "Awl's Fare"
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc