Doing It Ourselves
Minicomics represent a do-it-yourself publishing phenomenon that is much larger than is widely known. The term “minicomic” originated in the United States and designates comics that are creator-published, produced in smaller runs, often photocopied and stapled like their cousin, the “zine,” and often, but not always, miniature in size. And also like their zine cousins, minicomics provide a great format for personal musings on various aspects of identity politics, resulting in an interesting range of subject matter. Like some other comic genres, their lineage may be traced back to the pint-sized Tijuana bibles of the 1920s, but the two primarily share in common a desire to circumvent limitations of mainstream publishing, including censorship, lack of autonomy, and getting one’s foot in the door. A number of cartoonists started out by distributing their work as minicomics before breaking into traditional publishing - Julie Doucet, Jessica Abel, Colin Upton, and Adrian Tomine, to name a few. But many other cartoonists remain true to the medium and have, in fact, gained cult followings in the world of comics fandom. Zine festivals and comics conventions (including San Diego Comic Con) frequently dedicate a sizable amount of space and representation to minicomics and their artists.
Read more about minicomics:
Dowers, Michael. Newave! The Underground Mini Comix Of The 1980s. Fantagraphics Books, 2010. PN6726 .N53 2010
Dowers, Michael, ed. Treasury of Minicomics. 2 vols. Fantagraphics, 2013-2015. PN6720 .T74 2013 and NC1420 .T74 2015
Topics in global politics told through the eyes of individuals, whether anecdotally or positionally, provide interesting content for minicomics.
Miriam Libicki has created and self-published several comics about her experiences in the Israeli military and Jewish identity more broadly, including jobnik!, Ceasefire, and Towards a Hot Jew.
Girls Against Pain is a minicomic by Ron Regé, Jr., created from the transcript of an interview with Arin Ahmed, a regretful would-be suicide bomber arrested by Israeli forces.
Colin Upton, one of the best known minicomic artists, self-published A Brief History of the Longest Undefended Border, about U.S.-Canada border conflicts over the long history of the two North American countries.
American BOOOM! by Alonso Nuñez and Patrick Yurick of Little Fish Comic Book Studio is the story of a young woman who develops a superhero persona and travels to Tijuana to avenge her father’s death at the hands of a cartel. The printed minicomic served as a companion piece to their former weekly webcomic.
Religion can take on many forms, being as eclectic and diverse as our many human populations. Like other areas of this exhibit which have explored the diverse spiritual backgrounds of superheroes and the rest of us, minicomics provide a perfect platform for establishing dialogues and promoting tolerance.
As part of Donna Barr’s Barr Wars series in which two cartoonists battle, Roberta Gregory and Kjartan Arnōrsson take on religion and unbelief in Dogma Fight (1989). Of course, there is no clear winner.
The beautiful What is a Witch, by Pam Grossman and Tin Can Forest (2016), is a defense of witchcraft and paganism through a feminist lens.
Not surprisingly, sexual orientation and gender identity are topics perfectly suited to the DIY medium. Zines and minicomics enable personal narratives like no other format.
Roberta Gregory, a longtime advocate of the queer community, created LGBTQ God Does NOT Hate You! to affirm everyone’s right to a dogma-free spiritual life, regardless of sexual orientation.
Chris Companik, who passed away in 2012, documented his struggle with HIV/AIDS through his comic strip, HIV + Me. The strip ran for years on his website and later in A&U Magazine. Companik also published a special print “mini” version for Prism Comics.
Erika Moen’s I Like Girls is a letter to her mother, in the form of a comic narrative, explaining that she is in love with another woman and asking for her understanding.
Dirtheads by Tara Avery and T-Gina by Gina Kamentsky address transgenderism and how it is tolerated by society
Leanne Franson’s Liliane in “Butchy Dykes” (part of her Liliane series) examines lesbian stereotypes.
Gender equality issues are frequent topics of zines and minicomics, but since we’ve devoted two full display cases to women’s issues, we’ll just highlight one new and exceptional minicomic here. Grab Back Comics refers, of course, to the now infamous recording of President Trump in a van telling Billy Bush how he gropes women. The anthology, published in 2017 and edited by Erma Blood, is a companion piece to the editor’s blog of the same name. Grab Back Comics addresses rape culture and sexual assault through the stories of numerous contributors. Blood writes, on her website, that “The election cycle and current political climate have been very rough for many survivors of sexual assault, myself included. I hope that having many stories collected in one place will be a resource that will empower us to connect with one another and fight together.”
Chuck Bunker’s Geriatricman is a satirical look at the many stereotypes inflicted upon the aging as well as society’s attitude as a whole towards senior citizens. The title character is a 99-year-old caped crusader who watches over the undeserving city of Plunkettville despite having been deposited against his will into a nursing home. The series appeared sporadically as self-published minicomics before garnering a wider release in 1987 by small press publishers C&T Graphics.
Curated by Anna Culbertson