I rather enjoy Pinterest. It’s almost an entirely self-contained social media platform in that I don’t have to be social at all. I browse through things that others have posted, check them out, save them for later, and occasionally post my own stuff. There’s no chatting or groups or whatnot, I just browse and browse and browse. It is utterly wonderous to be on a social network that lacks trolls and flamers. As I do so, Pinterest gets a sense of what I like and suggests things. Recently, the ‘Picked for You’ pins have lead to some rather brilliant comic strips. So I thought it’d be fun to share some of these artists whose work has moved and challenged me.
Right now, one my favorite artists (and Twitter personality, @GynoStar) is Rebecca Cohen. She routinely hits the nail on the head with her comics.
I find her style to be unique, elegant, and accomplished. Much like her humor and reasoning:
She’s probably best known for this great piece:
Another brilliant cartoonist is Molly Alice. Her work is accessible, clever, playful, and moving.
Plus, she’s drawn perhaps the coolest Batwoman I’ve ever seen.
These cartoonists are what turned me on to Tumblr where there are a slew of stunning talents. I’ve always kinda dodged Tumblr because I’m dismissive of memes and bored by gifs. Oh, and I loathe anime. But these pages drew me back in (yes, pun intended), and I’m glad for it.
I rather like my comic strips with significant text. Sometimes the text is the important part.
On occasion, the cartoon and what it conveys is just as powerful or moreso than the text.
But the real gems are when the text and art blend together.
To my mind, the best at doing this is a comic strip called Chaos Life done by two rather brilliant cartoonists. I discovered these comics fairly recently and have fallen head over heels for them.
It was the cats that got me, but it was the gender politics that got me to stay.
So that’s my current assortment of kickass feminist comic strips and feminist cartoonists. Funny, clever, and intelligent, these are the kinds of media we all need to challenge thinking and actions that would marginalize and oppress. They are at once escapist and confrontational and that makes them brilliant.
