Comments on: Friends of Lulu to end in September

By: kiev escort

kiev escort — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 07:21:27 +0000

Nice! Thank you! I always wanted to write in my blog something like that. Can I take part of your post to my blog?

By: Sparky

Sparky — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 00:30:56 +0000

Change happens. I like the idea of a FoL brand. I miss manning the booth at SDCC, and enjoyed the meet-up one APE in San Jose. I’ve friends thanks to Lulu.

I’d support keeping the Lulu awards alive. I’d donate $ for that.

Let’s get FoL a FaceBook page.

- Alan AKA Sparky

By: Zemba

Zemba — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 00:25:21 +0000

“publicly sparred”? Wow, that’s putting it mildly. I’ve just spent the last few hours going through links to various articles on both of their blogs and watching Carlson and D’Orazio go at it somthing fierce. I haven’t seen this level of trolling outstide of the message boards on amazon.

Carlson’s own comments seem to imply that she’s more concerned with portraying D’Orazio as a lunatic than she is with the success of FoL, while D’Orazio looks to be completely frustrated and sick of all of it.

Given the comments made by both Carlson and D’Orazio on their respective blogs, one has to wonder if the tax status wasn’t the least of the problems, the bigger ones being childish cliques, in fighting and ego’s.

Also, a false charge of sexual assualt?

I guess this is all old news but I will say it was one of the more entertaining reads I’ve had in a while. And it was interesting to see The Beat on Carlsons site pointing out her “slant” and Carlson acting proud of it.

What does this all have to do with the continuing efforts to promote women in comics? Absolutely nothing.

Comic book people are exciting.

By: Saber Tooth Tiger Mike

Saber Tooth Tiger Mike — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 15:09:56 +0000

” The influx of female talent is making the market stronger and larger”
Where is the evidence for this statement? I’m not saying that you’re stretching the truth, but new female readers are flat out invisible to me. Judging by the scaling back of manga output, it could be argued that the crowd brought in by Sailor Moon might be leaving comics altogether.

By: Saber Tooth Tiger Mike

Saber Tooth Tiger Mike — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 14:53:24 +0000

As an outsider, I’m unsure of the organization’s mission statement.is this organization promoting women in superhero comics or women in comics in general? I think the former is a problem if there are relatively few women who read superhero comics. The grassroots approach may be exaughsted. Knocking on the doors of power can only do so much.
The best position for women may be to get in the halls of power–which include management–and change things from the top down. I know change that is top-down has its own negative connotations , but it may the only hope the industry has for bringing in new female readers, creators, characters, etc.

By: Things hvae changed

Things hvae changed — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 14:14:38 +0000

Things have changed for women since 1993 in comics. Although, you could always get work if you were good and made your deadlines. Many women who worked in comics then and today never joined FoL because it never really appealed to them and they didn’t want to be singled out as woman working in comics but as a writer or artists. For some of us it wasn’t relevant then and still isn’t relevant now.

By: Karalyn Johnson

Karalyn Johnson — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 13:36:13 +0000

I followed a link to this page from a Facebook comment that read, “The End of Friends of Lulu! It looks like THE MEN WIN!! We outlasted ‘em, guys! MEN FTW!!!!” How very sad. Is it not possible to empower a group of people without others feeling threatened and resentful?
FoL was never about helping women through hurting men. It was a way to help those who had little voice to be heard. By bringing women into the industry FoL helped to bring a semblance of balance to a medium whose views were overwhelmingly one-sided and limited in scope. Bringing in new talent with fresh views has brought in new readers whose thoughts and values were never previously addressed. The influx of female talent is making the market stronger and larger by creating a wider fanbase for an industry that desperately needs it.
If FoL does fold then something needs to take its place as a nurturing influence for those who want to be part of the industry we all love. We will all be stronger for it.

By: Trina Robbins

Trina Robbins — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 17:37:09 +0000

As one of Lulu’s founding mothers, I must chime in. My own personal experience with Lulu has been both positive and negative. It was incredibly encouraging for me to receive Friends of Lulu awards at a time when I would never have received an Eisner. (and in fact I just lost an Eisner to Berke Breathed, but at least I finally received a nomination!)I faithfully produced a hardcopy newsletter for almost 10 years, doing literally all the work myself, folding, stamping,etc., with only the volunteer production help of Lee Binswanger, who isn’t even a Lulu member. We both worked on it for free. I felt that if people had to actually pay to join Lulu, the least they could get from their money was a hardcopy newsletter. I finally had to stop in 2008 when I was getting chemotherapy, and simply did not have the strength or energy to continue with the physical part. I asked the board if they would take over the printing,folding, stapling, mailing task, and I would send them the completed, edited newsletters electronically. Nobody on the board was willing to take the few hours to do what I had done on my own, so that was the end of the hard copy newsletter. Shortly after that,the board discontinued their email list. There were no more Lulu cons either, so what were members getting for their dues? There is a strong need for an organization to promote women’s participation in comics, but somewhere along the way, the board dropped the ball. I hope someone can pick it up again.

By: The Beat

The Beat — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 19:53:20 +0000

There is more great discussion and insight in this one thread than there has been involved in anything FoL-related for years and years, I’m afraid. Thanks everyone for your candor.

I haven’t been officially involved with FoL in years, aside from helping out with the Awards and some brainstorming with various new boards. A while ago — four or five years?? after the Empowerment fiasco __ I told the folks running it that they needed to go on a listening tour and talk to ACTUAL WOMEN IN COMICS and see what they wnated and needed in an organization.

I think that was too time consuming for the time strapped folks who were running it. AND maybe…too dispiriting. I know first hand what it is like to hear complaint after complaint and not be able to do anything about it.

At the very first Lulu meeting it was just going around the room and hearing what all the women trying to make a living in comics saw as their biggest problem that made a few of us realize that at that time (1992) the biggest problem for women in comics was persuading publishers and retailers that THERE WAS A FEMALE AUDIENCE FOR COMICS. As insane as it sounds now, that was a real issue 20 years ago.

I suspect this kind of “internet going around the room” will result in a similar eureka moment for what is needed now.

By: Elin Winkler

Elin Winkler — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 19:24:01 +0000

I remember going to the first Friends of Lulu panel/meeting/discussion group at SDCC 1994. I’d only just started as an editor in comics at Antarctic Press, and was very excited there would be an organization for me. Aside from a couple of exceptions, I was not exactly welcomed with open arms- at the time, I was editing adults only comics, funny animal books and translated manga (which was Massively Uncool in 1994…) I got a definite feeling that what I worked on was NOT cool, even if I was a woman. So I shrugged and went on my way.

A few years later, on the urging of some good friends of mine in the industry, I checked back in with FoL, but the idea of paying yearly dues sort of put me off. Maybe it was just me, but as a publisher who published a *lot* of female creators, I sort of felt it was redundant for me to pay monetary dues to be a woman in comics. I mean, I was already paying printing bills, royalties, etc. And again, aside from exceptions who were already friends, I didn’t really feel welcome.

I’m sad to see the organization go, since I think it served a good purpose and did good works, but yes, times have changed.

By: BradyDale

BradyDale — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 16:28:01 +0000

Beatster:
As basically the biggest blogger in comix (or, anyway, one of), I’d say that if you wanted to launch THE BEAT AWARDS FOR WOMEN IN COMICS and got yourself a few other signficant ladies to serve as your vetting committee, those awards would be taken pretty darn seriously.
My two cents.
BR

By: Rob Pincombe

Rob Pincombe — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 15:33:30 +0000

It’s a sad thing losing Lulu. But I don’t like the dump on Val syndrome either. There’s no way so many problems can possibly be the fault of one person. I have rarely met anyone involved in a non-profit who did not essentially learn on the job.

A not for profit requires committed people working together with clear direction and rules for how things are done and how taxes and money is handled. If Lulu has lost that, its time to wrap it and go small again. Or its only going to get worse.

Finding some people to help keep the awards going is a good idea.

By: Maddy

Maddy — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 02:52:46 +0000

I don’t know much about FoL, but as I said in my comment on ComicsWorthReading, there’s also Girl-Wonder.org. They have projects like a Female-Friendly Comic Book Store Map, the Convention Anti-Harassment Project, they have forums, they host webcomics by women, they review comics by and about women, etc.

Synsidar,

Arguing that one is too busy with work to do that indicates a lack of concern about the status of women in the industry

LOL, what? A lot of women are already unpaid and underpaid for all sorts of work they do (in any industry, and outside of their careers too). Not having the time or energy to devote to thankless volunteer work on top of making a living, supporting themselves and/or family should not automatically translate to “a lack of concern about the status of women in the industry.”

Doing the kind of work that Friends of Lulu or a new organization like it would require is the kind of thing that should be paid work. It means the organizer(s) can truly focus on the work and be motivated to further expand/improve it, and make it far less likely that they’d have to leave or postpone work for the organization when outside problems/distractions come calling. Also, paid employees likely wouldn’t get away with misplacing financial records.

As someone who only started reading comics regularly a few years ago, from what I’ve observed there is still a great need for helping and advocating for women in comics. Maybe it is better than it used to be, but it’s still loaded with problems, and a handful of women working in mainstream comics right now doesn’t make it all better.

By: Cam63

Cam63 — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 01:23:41 +0000

Good luck.

By: Ursula

Ursula — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 00:01:14 +0000

Heidi was referring to Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel “The Handmaid’s Tale” which is chilling, awful, and should be read by everyone.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Handmaid’s_Tale