Cartoons Have been Grooming Kids for Decades
The last 12 months has witnessed a bit of a frenzy surrounding kids’ entertainment, from bisexual Superman to the first gay dads in Sesame Street to a brief kiss from a lesbian couple in Pixar’s new animated feature Lightyear. In response, reactionaries are rehashing moral panics from previous decades, based around the idea that homosexuality is the result of nurture rather than nature, a “corruption” brought about by a gay “ideology” pushed by the left.
via newspapers.com
The late 1990s and early 2000s saw its own culture war battle over kids’ entertainment. Teletubbies — specifically, Tinky Winky, who was male but liked to wear dresses and carried a handbag — drew the ire of preacher Jerry Falwell. His war on this supposed agent of the gay agenda led to headlines and news reports across the country.
Big Think, “inspir[ing] people to build a better world,” looks at reports
of grooming going back to the early 20th Century (teddy bears).
“Thou Shall Submit 10 Cartoons A Week”
A faux commandment of having to submit ten cartoons a week has been popping-up in interviews for some time, so much so that it seemed to have become (sorry) a gospel truth.
© Michael Maslin
Scofflaw Michael Maslin tells magazine cartoonists there are no “rules.”
Frederik L. Schodt takes 2022 Tom Spurgeon Award at CXC
Cartoon Crossroads Columbus (CXC), the international showcase for cartoon art, is proud to announce that the second annual Tom Spurgeon Award will go to writer, translator and manga scholar Frederik L. Schodt.
The Spurgeon Award honors those who have made substantial contributions to the field of comics, but are not primarily cartoonists.
Read the CXC article honoring the historian.
Alison Bechdel Voted Best Cartoonist of Vermont
© Alison Bechdel
Alison Bechdel gets another Daysie from Seven Days readers.
New CG for Cat Garfield Announced
The new fully-CG-animated Garfield movie will be serving up saucy feline funnies in theaters in under two years … Sony Pictures has set a post-Valentine’s date of February 16, 2024.
© PAWS Inc
The pic will voice star Jurassic World‘s Chris Pratt (The LEGO Movie, Onward, Untitled Super Mario Bros. Movie) as Garfield and screen legend Samuel L. Jackson (Incredibles, Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank) as Garfield’s father, Vic, a new character.
Animation Magazine carries the available details.
Webtoon Wages
We’re sitting down with leaders on the business side of the creator economy to get their best advice for creators looking to launch and develop their careers. This week, we spoke with David Lee, vice president of content at Webtoon.
We spoke with Lee about Webtoon’s ad-revenue sharing program, stipends for creators, publishing deals, upcoming tipping system, and more.
The Daily Dot interviews David Lee and Webtoon cartoonist Mike Birchall.
Despite his success, Birchall acknowledged he is lucky to be one of the few success stories from a sea of people trying to make a living as a comics creator. He said he personally almost gave up as an artist when his first comics didn’t do well.
Substack and Skottie
For Year Two, Substack Pro creators will no longer get a six-figure advance from Substack, instead they will get 90% of Substack subscriptions.
But rather than find ways to appeal to Skottie Young‘s subscribers to re-up their payments, Skottie is going the other way and making everything free for all, paid and free subscribers alike.
© Skottie Young
That’s a major change in the way one of Substack Comics’ more prominent creators, Skottie Young, is doing business. Expect other big changes happening across the Substack Comics strata in the next week or two.