Monthly Matinee August: Fiction Relationship Analysis: Hunchback of Notre Dame

Fiction Relationship Analysis: What Our Favorite Stories Are Really Telling Us

This Month: Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame

by: Melissa Koons
www.melsmagnificentmusings.com


Copyright all imagery used in this post belongs exclusively to Disney and their animated film.


Popular culture has a huge impact on our social and psychological development. We shape many of our beliefs and perspectives about ourselves based on popular culture and our reaction to it. This can have both positive and negative effects on our development and personal identity. Sometimes, we become stronger because we were inspired by our favorite superhero to stand up for what is right and be allies for those who cannot advocate for themselves. Sometimes, we feel weakened because our lives aren’t falling into the normal storytelling arc and we wonder what is wrong with us. (Hint: life doesn’t have a formula like a good story. It’s not you, it’s your conditioning.)
While popular culture can shape many and all aspects of our perception— from our body image, to our character, to our passions, to our choice for a career— one of the most significant (and problematic) aspects it shapes is our perception of relationships.
Within literature, film, video games, graphic novels, and all other manners of storytelling, we are exposed to thousands of very toxic relationships. Toxic workplace dynamics, toxic friendships, toxic family relations, and toxic romances. While not all stories romanticize these toxic relationships, our perception and interpretation can. When we see these characters get a resolution (happily ever after or otherwise) we can use that to reason or excuse similar toxic behavior in our own lives. Instead of recognizing the resolution for what it is and what it is meant to be, we make it into more or are disappointed when it isn’t.
This month’s Fiction Relationship Analysis is going to focus on Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame. This story has a lot of conflicted feelings about it and some people love it, hate it, or have very mixed feelings about how all the characters are left at the end of the story.

Warning: there be spoilers ahead!
 

Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame is a loving adaptation of the Victor Hugo classic. The ending was greatly changed from Hugo’s original novel, and I think we are all better for it. While French Gothic Literature has a special place in history and there is a certain literary genius to it, it is super depressing. Yes, the original ending is beautiful in its tragedy, but Disney’s is beautiful in its re-imagining and actually has a better message about relationships.

Quick Summary

Set in Paris, France 1482, Frollo is a self-righteous judge who is focused on cleansing the city of gypsies and other ethnic minorities. The movie starts with Judge Claude Frollo setting a trap for a group of gypsies trying to escape the city. As their ship is stopped by law enforcement and the occupants are dragged out and shackled to be imprisoned, one woman escapes with a bundle which the audience knows to be her infant child. Frollo and his men pursue under the belief that she is fleeing with stolen goods (which emphasizes Frollo’s racism and prejudice against this group of people that he doesn’t even consider for a moment that she may be holding her own belongings or child.)

The woman runs to the steps of Notre Dame—one of the largest cathedrals in the center of Paris—and begs for sanctuary. Before the priest can let her in and grant her safety (per the rules of the church and pope. All within its walls are protected by God and cannot be persecuted provided they offer penance. This plays a big role in the movie,) Frollo grabs her baby from her and kicks her down the steps, killing her. When he discovers the bundle is a baby, who suffers from a deformity, he goes to drown the child but the priest stops him. In a moment of guilt, the priest convinces Frollo to spare the child and care for him. Frollo agrees, provided the child can live, locked away, in the bell tower. He names the child Quasimodo, and that is the hunchback’s tragic origin story.

After about 18 years of being trapped in the bell tower ringing the bells for mass, Quasimodo gets an itch to go out into the city and live his life. Frollo doesn’t allow it, so he chooses to escape without Frollo’s permission to attend the Festival of Fools. Everyone is dressed in crazy clothes and masks, so he blends right in.

While Quasimodo is plotting his escape, we are introduced to Phoebus, Frollo’s new captain. Phoebus walks through the streets and we witness the discrimination Frollo shows gypsies in Paris when Phoebus sees Frollo’s militia chase the gypsy Esmeralda and try to confiscate the money she earned as a street performer under the assumption that she stole it (seeing a pattern? Sounds like the same prejudice that got Quasimodo’s mother killed. That’s not by accident.) She escapes, but loses some of her hard earned money. Phoebus, in an act that shows his disagreement for Frollo’s method and racism, returns the money to her.


Phoebus is eventually brought to Judge Claude Frollo, where he learns of the evil judge’s plan to wipe the gypsies out with an act of genocide (let’s not sugar coat it, that’s totally what he’s doing. Disney went there.) Phoebus disagrees, but as a man of honor and military training, he also knows he has to follow orders lest he be dishonorably discharged and hanged for treason. (Frollo’s threat of torture doesn’t help.) Phoebus isn’t looking at very great options right now. Be party to genocide, or be hanged for doing the right thing. Quite the moral dilemma, but I digress.

Seriously, look how creepy Frollo is when threatening his new Captain with torture. Phoebus is understandably apprehensive, Frollo is seriously disturbed.
Quasimodo makes it down to the street festival and he’s having a grand ol’ time. He’s very self-conscious, but no one seems to notice because they believe he is wearing a mask like they are. This is where he meets Esmeralda and is shown the first kindness and compassion from another person he’s ever received in his life (except the priest.) It is important to note, that his brief conversation with Esmeralda before the street show starts is probably his first interaction with a woman, ever. After some good fun and a quirky musical number, he is discovered as the bell ringer and Frollo enacts a public punishment for Quasimodo disobeying him by turning the crowd against him and allowing them to humiliate him. Esmeralda is the only one to step up and stop the bullying, untying him and making a public statement about how her people are treated similarly inhuman by Frollo and his militia.

 

Phoebus stands at Frollo’s left hand. He suggests calling the cruelty of the crowd off before Esmeralda steps up, but is denied by Frollo and he has to follow his orders. This, again, shows his compassion and disagreement for Frollo’s methods. After Esmeralda rescues Quasimodo, Phoebus is given the command to arrest her. Phoebus chases her to Notre Dame and they have a squabble.
Esmeralda is defensive, but Phoebus proves that he is really on her side although he is limited in what he can do for her. When the rest of the militia and Frollo catch up, Phoebus lies and tells them that Esmeralda claimed sanctuary so they cannot touch her for she is under the protection of the church (see, I told you it was important.) He saved her life to the best of his ability because he knew she was innocent. Frollo and his men are forced to leave, but they stand post outside the cathedral so that, should she leave, they can arrest her once she no longer is protected by the church.
Quasimodo finds Esmeralda in the church (she is kind of stuck there,) and they have a nice chat—the first human chat he’s ever had with another person. She shows him kindness, acceptance, and compassion—all things he’s never gotten from Frollo. Smitten, Quasimodo helps her escape and avoid capture.

Meanwhile, Frollo is wrestling with his own inner demons. He, too, is smitten with Esmeralda. He is drawn to her beauty and it is horrifying for him. Not only because he took a vow of celibacy, but because he is a racist jerk who thinks that her ethnic group is sub-human. He is struggling with his own emotions because he’s dealing with sexual attraction and that attraction is toward a person of color whom he has every intention of wiping out with that whole genocide plan. His solution? He will give her the option to become his mistress or he will burn her. Sex slave or death; not a great ultimatum to be faced with.


Dude is seriously not handling his obsession well.

Frollo discovers that Quasimodo helped Esmeralda escape and is furious. He commands his men to scour the city looking for her and arrest all people he considers to be gypsies or sympathizers. Phoebus follows orders, to a point. Frollo is having his men burn the city down (literally) in his search, but when he traps an innocent family with children inside their burning house because he believes they are withholding information, Phoebus loses it and breaks rank. He saves the people and is marked a traitor for it. Frollo orders his death but Phoebus manages to escape and is saved by Esmeralda. She brings him to Quasimodo for help and safe keeping. Quasimodo is heartbroken because he sees Esmeralda and Phoebus kiss, solidifying that his love is unrequited. After she leaves, Quasimodo is angry with Phoebus but they still form an alliance to help save Esmeralda and her people from Frollo’s genocidal ways.

 

Frollo tracks Quasimodo and uses him to locate the gypsies’ hideout and arrest all of them. He gives his awful ultimatum to Esmeralda and she chooses the pyre. Quasimodo is chained in the bell tower, and Phoebus is going to be killed with the other gypsy prisoners, leaving them all divided and rather helpless. Through motivation (no longer driven purely by the prospect that Esmeralda may love him in return but now that she is someone he cares about and he can’t let his friends and all these good, innocent people die,) Quasimodo breaks free and saves her from the fire. He also frees everyone else and there’s an epic battle. Frollo perishes, Esmeralda lives, it’s all great.
The very end shows Esmeralda and Phoebus brought together with Quasimodo’s blessing, and the two of them bring him out of the bell tower where he finally finds acceptance among his community. (The victor Hugo ending had Esmeralda die from smoke inhalation and Quasimodo starve himself to death beside her body. Pretty sure Frollo and the captain character both died, too. It’s French Gothic Literature, so it’s safe to assume everyone died.)



Okay, so that wasn’t such a quick summary but I have reasons for why I focused on all these plot points. Some of the disagreement and mixed feelings with the ending are based on our perception of how these relationships were wrapped up. I don’t think anyone disagrees with Frollo falling to his death into a pit of fire and lava. That was one of the most cathartic villain deaths in a Disney movie. It paralleled his intense faith that he twisted and perverted into the belief that he was superior to others and that certain races and people were sub-human in comparison by literally having him fall from heaven (the bell tower of Notre Dame, one of the most exquisite cathedrals and monuments of the Catholic faith) into the pit of hell (the very fire he had started with his own cruelty and genocide.) An ironic and poetic end for one of the most evil Disney villains. No, what people tend to have a problem with is what happened after Frollo met his demise.
Phoebus is often considered a “bland” character and not whom many viewers wanted Esmeralda to end up with. Some people view that their relationship was forced, or that she should have ended up with Quasimodo. While these perceptions are valid, I’m going to tell you why Disney’s ending was actually the best way to wrap up these relationships.

Esmeralda is unarguably the connective tissue of this entire story. It is her relationships with the three main men that ties them together and moves the plot forward. Through these relationships, we see very different approaches and perceptions of what a romantic relationships are.

 
Frollo = Toxic

 Frollo’s attachment to Esmeralda is obviously toxic. He is racist and prejudiced against her and her ethnicity, but finds her sexually appealing despite his horrible perception. He objectifies her, mainly because he doesn’t believe her to be human to begin with. To appease his own inner struggle and (horribly misguided) moral dilemma, he reaches the solution that he can still go about his “cleansing” and feel righteous about it provided she chooses to be his mistress. “Be mine and mine alone,” he sings. To him, she is a possession and exists purely for his own satisfaction and desire. She is something to be owned and kept, not a human person with feelings and a life of her own.


Esmeralda's expressions of disgust in this movie are on point.

He is obsessed with her sexuality and he reasons with himself that it will not be sinful if he makes her “his” because then he will be committing a selfless act of mercy by sparing her and her evilness and making her “good” by affiliating himself with her. It’s all very twisted and toxic. Yikes.


 

Quasimodo = Toxic

To fill out the dichotomy of the toxic scale, there is Quasimodo’s toxic attachment to Esmeralda. Similar to Frollo, he is obsessed with her. He’s not obsessed with her body or sexuality like Frollo is, instead he is obsessed with her compassion and kindness. She is the first person to treat him humanly, and the first woman. She fills the void of the mother Frollo killed, and gives him the acceptance and compassion Quasimodo has always sought from the world. He loves how she makes him feel, not who she really is as a person. He loves what she gives him, and he takes it greedily making their relationship incredibly imbalanced. He needs her validation and affection, but he isn’t able to return it in a healthy way. He cannot support her emotionally because he relies on her to heal him and fix his wounds. This is incredibly toxic because Esmeralda will forever be in the position of giving and her needs will never be met. More than that, Quasimodo idolizes her. Since she is the first person (and woman) in his life to fill that void, he put her on a pedestal where he worships her. She can do no wrong in his eyes, and that dehumanizes her by making her divine. She is no longer a person with thoughts, feelings, and mistakes.

 
To his credit: while it hurts him, Quasimodo does accept her choice to be with Phoebus and gives his blessing on the relationship as a friend. He doesn’t hold it against her or hate her because she didn’t choose him (which we often see in the toxic “nice guy” perception.) He befriends Phoebus and learns that he is a good, honorable man and Quasimodo chooses to help him and Esmeralda despite being rejected. He’s also not waiting for her to change her mind. His character develops and he understands that to love someone means loving them and their freedom to make their own choices. So, bright side is that while their relationship started off toxic, it concluded with a healthy balance. Quasimodo accepts her as a friend and from this position he can get his needs met without preventing Esmeralda from getting the same.

Phoebus = Healthy

 For starters, Phoebus isn’t a bland character. He is an honorable, intelligent man who shows compassion towards others—especially toward those who are different than him. He is an ally for all people who face discrimination and he tries his best to use his position of power to help them, but he is limited by his own station and orders. He does not agree with Frollo’s plan to commit genocide, and starts to vocalize it but is shown by Frollo what will happen to him should he step out of bounds (the former captain was tortured for being inefficient and a sympathizer.) Still, facing the threat of death for being marked a traitor, he does what he can to help Esmeralda and others.
While he appreciates Esmeralda's physical beauty, he admires her passion, fire, and strength to stand up to a corrupt system. He loves her for who she is and he doesn’t try to imprison her by objectifying her and making her “his,” nor does he put her on a pedestal where she is forced to constantly be the giver. Instead, he approaches her as an equal. He wants to work with her, not for her or above her. He wants to support her, and in return she offers him support. It is a mutually beneficial relationship where both parties are on the same level and there is no power imbalance. Because of this, both parties can give and receive equally, ensuring that their needs are met.

Phoebus is the only character who perceives Esmeralda as human and treats her thusly. She is not sub-human because of her ethnicity, nor is she divine because of her compassion. He respects her, loves her, and admires her exactly as she is.
Phoebus was the best option for Esmeralda to end up with, and their mutual interests and respect for each other is what gives their relationship a strong foundation. Their relationship was never forced, it just wasn’t dramatic. They started off on opposite sides, but only because of their stations. They always agreed with each other and once they could get past the cultural divide, they were able to fulfill their relationship potential. Their relationship was organic, and had to overcome many obstacles—their love and attraction for each other just wasn’t one of them.
Pop culture has influenced us to believe that a good relationship has to overcome all kinds of dramatic emotional obstacles or differences to work. That’s not true. As evidenced by Phoebus and Esmeralda, the emotional part should come naturally. Yes, they still had obstacles to overcome—both internally and externally—but that didn’t pull them a part. In fact, it brought them closer together because they chose to overcome them together. They had to overcome the distrust that their own experiences have put on them (Esmeralda and law enforcement,) societal and legal expectations (Phoebus following orders,) and cultural/societal discrimination and racism. This was plenty for them to tackle and it didn’t mean that they had to hate each other or need to fight constantly with a whole will they/won’t they tug-of-war.

One of the worst expectations pop culture has given romantic relationships is that every hurdle is ongoing. Many stories circle back to the same conflict again and again in a relationship. The characters can’t let something go, or can’t trust their partner, or whatever else that keeps the same strain on the relationship. This isn’t healthy, and it isn’t good storytelling either. You can actually overcome an obstacle and have it be in the past. And left in the past. Esmeralda overcame her distrust of Phoebus because he proved to her that he respected her and actually agreed with her fight for equality (it wasn’t something he was lying about to get into her pants.)  That distrust was never revisited in the story because it was done. They overcame it together and now they had that foundational trust that strengthened their relationship.
Phoebus overcame the societal expectations he had to endure by standing up for what he believed in and confronting an action he knew was wrong. Once he was able to do this, it was never a conflict or struggle they had to overcome again. There was no need. He had support on the other side and didn’t have to tackle this obstacle on his own anymore.
Phoebus and Esmeralda's relationship might seem bland, but that’s because a mutually beneficial, balanced, supportive relationship is. (And I mean that in the best possible way.) They are strong together and they find strength from each other to take on whatever life throws at them. Their relationship doesn’t need to be tumultuous because the world and life is hard enough already. Instead, their relationship is the steady force that keeps them going. WHICH IS WHAT A RELATIONSHIP IS SUPPOSED TO BE.

A relationship isn’t about belonging to someone and finding validation in the fact that they are with you (Frollo.) It isn’t about fixing someone or having someone complete you and fill the void that has been left by your experiences (Quasimodo.) A relationship is about finding someone who respects you and empowers you to be the best version of yourself and gives you the strength and support you need to meet your own goals (Phoebus.)
What the story is NOT telling you: that it's okay to set your needs aside to help someone heal and/or to fill their emotional void nor that it's okay to be objectified by your significant other.
What the story IS telling you: the best partner will be one that sees you as an equal and wants to join you on your life path because you have mutual goals and aspirations. Trust is the foundation in a relationship, as is an equal balance of emotional and physical support.

Monthly Matinee April: Researching Your Comic Characters' Cultures

And Now, A Terrifying Sight!

Courtesy of PHD Comics

Research!

Yes dear readers, research. Want to write something in the future? The past? Another culture? That's going to take some research. The more misconceptions there are about a group or a topic, the more research you'll want to put in to get it right.

'But why do we need to do all this extra work?' I hear you grumble. 'I mean, it's just comics.'

Yes, gentle readers, it is comics. And comics are a powerful medium. Stories are all the more salient when told in images.

Sticks And Carrots Of Good Research

Let's start with the obvious: if you don't do your research, you look like an idiot. Witness DC's blunder in all its glory: 

 Superman/Wonderwoman Annual #2

No, DC. No, no, no. They do not speak Pakistinian in Pakistan. And finding that out takes a 10 minute Google search. 10 minutes' work, or 10 years' shame. Your choice.

And then there's the more insidious, sharper stick. Every time you perpetuate a falsehood, you perpetuate the ignorance and disrespect. Not cool.

Now, I may come off as a little self-important when I say these things. But here's the kind of carrot you can get when you do solid cultural research. This email was written to me concerning the steampunk comic I draw for, which revolves around a culture based on the Romani people.

It is worth it to put in the work and get details as right as you can, because when you do, you make sure somebody out there knows they're seen and valued.

But How?

So, how do we do solid research? How do we make sure we write diverse characters well? How do we ensure our history is well done?
Here's some tips.

• Research, research, research. And I don’t just mean hitting the books! Odds are you have friends or ways to reach folks in the communities you’re writing about. Talk to them one-on-one, if they’re willing to help, and ask questions about how they experience life. What are the small things people wouldn’t expect? For example, I had to look into how anxiety manifests in different people (not just myself) to ensure that my characters with anxiety weren’t all cookie-cutter stereotypes of the disorder.

• Vet your sources! Give preference to websites with .edu endings, which come from sites that aren't (generally) trying to sell you something. Check for references. If a site doesn't have them, don't use it. Stick to books written after the 70s unless it comes highly recommended: pre-1970s books often have out of date or erroneous information.

• When you're feeling unsure, here are 7 solid places to start research courtesy of www.dailywritingtips.com :

• 1. Infoplease 
  From current events to reference-desk resources to features about history, this site puts a remarkable array of information within reach. Guides to the nations of the world, timelines of political, social, and cultural developments, special quantitative and qualitative features like “The World’s Most Corrupt Nations” and “Color Psychology,” and more cover just about anything you could think of.

• 2. The Internet Public Library 
  Unlike the other reference centers on this list, the IPL is a portal to other Web sites, brimming with directories of links in topics like Arts & Humanities. (Dictionary of Symbolism? Check. Ask Philosophers? Right. Legendary Lighthouses? We got your legendary lighthouses right here.) If you need background information on either fiction or nonfiction projects, stop by for a visit — I just dare you to leave without a digressive click or ten.

• 3. The Library of Congress 
  The online presence of the official repository of knowledge and lore of the United States is an indispensable resource not only for nonfiction writers seeking background information for topics but also for fiction authors seeking historical context for an existing project or inspiration for a new one.

• 4. Merriam-Webster Online 
  The publishing world’s dictionary of record is at your fingertips online as well as in print, with a thesaurus and Spanish-English and medical compendia, to boot. The dictionary also includes refreshing can’t-we-all-just-get-along usage commentary. (That and which, as pronouns that introduce restrictive clauses, are interchangeable.) You’ll also find video tutorials on usage from dictionary staff, a Word of the Day feature, word games, and a variety of language-watch features.

• 5. Refdesk
  Refdesk.com, like Infoplease, is a clearinghouse for online research, with links to headline news and timeless information alike. You can easily get lost in its Daily Diversions directory, which includes links not only to humor, games, and trivia sites but also to more respectable resources like DailyWritingTips.com (whoo!). If you have a question, chances are you can find the answer on this site.

• 6. Snopes 
  How do you verify that this self-described “definitive Internet reference source for urban legends, folklore, myths, rumors, and misinformation” is what it claims to be? Go to the site and find out. The fine folks at Snopes.com will set you straight about any one of hundreds of posts — each with a prominent judgmental icon, and commentary to back it up — about that one thing you think you remember you heard about that one thing. (For example: Posh comes from an acronym for “port out, starboard home” — the ideal respective locations for accommodations on a luxury liner — right? Cue the buzzer. Bogus.) TruthOrFiction.com is a similar site.

• 7. Wikipedia 
  This user-generated online encyclopedia got a lot of flak a few years ago for some inaccurate information posted by someone with a grudge, but that was an isolated incident. Also, many sources warn against using Wikipedia as a primary source for research. That said, don’t hesitate to avail yourself of the wealth of information available on the site — much of which is written by subject-matter experts in the field in question. Then click on one of the online sources linked in the footnotes, or take your search to one of the other sites in this list.

• When you’re talking to people, first ensure they’re willing to help! Be respectful of their time, their boundaries, and any sensitive subjects. They’re doing you a favor and being a marginalized person is incredibly difficult, especially in our current socio-political climate. So make sure that you are a positive force, not a negative one. You’re doing this to write good representation and to help their community, not to stroke your own ego.

• Get beta readers and sensitivity readers from the community you’re writing. Again, make sure you get people who have time and desire to help, and that you’re respectful. Sometimes you think you’ll have something down pat, but a sensitivity reader will point out something that didn’t even cross your mind as problematic or misrepresenting a group of people. It can be a shock, but take their comments gracefully and make the changes you need instead of arguing or defending poor writing choices.

• Make sure your characters are well-rounded and well-written characters. Don’t make them caricatures or build their entire personality around being part of a diverse community. Being part of a marginalized group is not a personality trait. It affects our worldview, some of our habits and actions, and the ways we interact with others, but it isn’t the entirety of who we are.

So hit the books, do the work, and produce something you and those you portray can be proud of. It's worth it.

Backstage Pass April: Dylan Edwards

Here's Your Pass!

Let's Slip Backstage And Meet

So Dylan, tell us a little about yourself!

Born in Colorado, grew up in Texas, moved to the UK, moved to Boston, moved back to Texas, and now back in Colorado. I think this means I have to move back to the UK next.

Main Projects: 

Valley of the Silk Sky is my current main project, a graphic novel I'm serializing as a weekly-ish webcomic.

http://valleyofthesilksky.tumblr.com/
I've always been a fan of genre fiction and had wanted to create my own since forever. It's my excuse to draw lots of weird creatures and environments, and to include queer and trans characters in a sci-fi/fantasy story. Everything else is up at http://www.studiondr.com/ and fun stuff is up at http://www.feepingcreatures.com/

 Other Hobbies, Guilty Pleasures and Obsessions

I enjoy reading, and playing games of all sorts (board, video, role-playing).

So, tell me about your early experience. How did you fall in love with telling stories in pictures?

I didn't read comic books much as a kid (I had a few, but didn't collect them as an ongoing thing). My comics diet consisted mostly of collections of newspaper strips like Pogo, Peanuts, Calvin & Hobbes, and Bloom County.

Around age 8 or 9 I decided I was going to do a daily newspaper comic, so I cranked out a bunch of three-panel strips that were just pencil on plain paper, at what would have been print size. Most of the jokes were stolen directly from Snoopy-centric Peanuts, except Snoopy was replaced by a talking horse named Donder.
When I was 10 or so I tried to do an actual comic book, this time about Paul McCartney as a private investigator (not really sure where that idea came from). I made it two pages in before I realized how much work was involved and abandoned it for other pursuits.
So the impetus was always there. I can't really say it was a conscious choice, just something I was naturally drawn to.

What media and programs do you work in to produce your work?

I do most of the work in natural media: pencil on bristol board, inked with Pigma Sensei and Copic pens, colored with Copic marker and gouache.
These days I do the lettering digitally in either Photoshop or InDesign, depending on what the project calls for. I know a lot of people are cranky about digital lettering, but I unfortunately have a permanent injury to my drawing hand that makes hand-lettering painful and debilitating. Also, let's be real, my hand-lettering is borderline illegible and requires an enormous amount of digital cleanup. So I *could* spend 75% of my comic-making hours on my absolute least favorite part of the process, or I can letter digitally and spend most of my time actually drawing.

 Can you tell me about your typical day or strip-creation session? How does your work process flow from idea to finished page?

What I do on any given day depends on where I am in my creation cycle.
I generally start by typing out a script. Scripts for personal use generally just have dialogue and very minimal stage directions. Scripts for editors have image descriptions in addition to the dialogue, and are broken out into panels and pages.
I revise the script until it hits a point where I feel like it's ready to thumbnail. I do my thumbnailing digitally at full-size so I can make sure the dialogue or other text actually fits on the page. I also typically cut a huge chunk of text at this point, once it becomes more clear how much of the heavy lifting will be done by the art.

I like to let the thumbnails sit for a few days so I can come back to them with fresh eyes and do more revisions. If I feel like they're scanning well, I'll move to pencils. It's not unusual for me to revise thumbnails while I'm penciling, like if some detail I drew on page one might change what I need to do on page five.
For Valley of the Silk Sky, where I work on a chapter at a time, I pencil the whole chapter first in case I need to go back and revise something, again based on details that show up in the art. Pencils are also mostly last call for dialogue revisions (I may still revise the text further down the road, but it gets to be a pain in the ass once I move on to indelible media). I keep scans of all the pencils for reference.
After the pencils are done I ink the pages. I can only ink about one page a day due to the aforementioned hand injury. Then the inks get scanned.
Finally, I color the inked pages, scan them, clean up the scans, superimpose the inks over the colored pages to get the black line art nice and crisp, letter everything, and prep for web. (Prepping pages for print is a different process, but I don't bother with it until I'm setting up print-ready files).

 What’s the most difficult part of your work?

Writing is the most difficult part, drawing is the most labor-intensive part. Also, self-promo is my nemesis. I hate doing it, but it's necessary when you're an indie creator.

Can you tell me about your storytelling process? Do you prefer to script your stories, fly by the seat of your pants, or somewhere in between?

In general my stories are very tightly scripted, whether it's one page or a big project like Valley of the Silk Sky. I have other artistic outlets where I can be loose and free, but for storytelling I prefer to be very precise.

How much of a buffer do you like to keep on your ongoing projects?

I post new Valley of the Silk Sky pages when I have an entire chapter completed.

If you could send a note back to yourself when you began working on your skillset, what would you say?

I got a late start making comics because I didn't believe my art was up to snuff, so I was waiting until I would magically become good enough at drawing before making any comics. But the only way to get good enough to make comics is by just sitting down and making some comics. And yeah, that early work will probably sear your eyeballs when you go back and look at it later, but if you don't ever get started you'll never hit that learning curve.

I've also learned to get less bogged down in perfectionism. Comics involves making hundreds of drawings just to tell a single story. Not every panel will be a work of genius. Just keep moving, keep looking for ways to improve.

 Your work often deals frankly and cheerfully with very difficult, very personal topics. Our readers often bring up how difficult it is to find the courage to continue when dealing with difficult topics in their own work. How do you do it?

I have to be able to get some emotional distance from an issue to address it in a comic. That's not going to be possible for every subject. For instance, the gun violence comic I did for The Nib (https://thenib.com/gun-response) I had originally intended to do as a longer piece. But just those four panels really took it out of me, and I was thoroughly relieved I hadn't committed to something bigger.
With queer or trans topics, those are just kind of running in the background of my life all the time and have been for a couple of decades, so I guess I'm just kind of used to talking about them. For sure, using humor as a framework helps me discuss the more difficult bits.
There are some topics I don't know that I'll ever put in a comic. At one point I thought about trying to do an autobio comic around my experiences with extremely severe depressive disorder, but I'm not sure I can, honestly. Even though the story has a happy ending more or less (meds absolutely worked for me), like the gun violence topic it's too much to immerse myself in it to the extent I'd need to to write a story.

You’ve launched a pretty successful career as an indie comic artist and have great business sense. When you got started, where did you stumble? What advice would you give to others who’d like to follow in your footsteps?

Ha ha, well, I think "successful" is very relative and somewhat deceptive, and I'm not at all sure I have good business sense! I do okay with retail-like environments, like conventions, because I do have several years of experience working in entertainment retail. And I have several years of corporate graphic design experience, so things like signage or book covers I can do. But, like, I am thoroughly clueless about how to market myself online or really leverage social media. I'm just flinging things around hither and thither and hoping something clicks. Marketing is definitely one of my weak points.

As far as actual useful advice goes, two things:

1. Conventions are loud, crowded, and overstimulating. People are going to spend at most a couple of seconds glancing at your booth to decide if they want to step closer. To cut through that, your display needs to be as easy to scan as possible. Don't pack things too densely, and have some very pithy signage explaining what you've got (I have a sign that just says "QUEER COMICS" in giant sparkly letters). I'm pretty introverted and not good at sales patter, so I made little shelf talkers for each comic: just a short sentence describing each book.
2. Your book cover is an advertisement for your book. Put some effort into making it as sharp as you can. Go look at lots of professionally-designed book covers and pay attention to which ones draw you in. Then deconstruct them to figure out how all the elements are working together (title, author name, imagery). As much as people like to repeat the canard about not judging a book by its cover, the fact of the matter is, a bad cover can actually repulse potential readers. But a good cover pulls them in. As a bonus, you can use a good book cover for other advertising material like bookmarks or ads, so you don't have to create a whole separate slew of images.

What, to you, is the key ingredient to succeeding as an indie creator?

Part of it is stamina - you probably are not going to become an overnight sensation, so you need to be able to stick with it past the point where your friends and family are cheering you on (they'll get tired after about a year and aren't going to be coming out to every show you do).
Part of it is finding community, particularly if you're from a marginalized group. My experience with queer comics people is that they're very excited to have more folks making queer comics and have generally been very welcoming and supportive. A huge amount of my published work was the result of a recommendation rather than cold submissions.

 If people would like to read more LGBT-focused works, which are your favorites?

First of all, let me recommend a wonderful tool set up by MariNaomi (whose comics you should be reading, by the way): The Queer Cartoonists Database. You can set up your own search criteria for browsing, and there are hundreds of listings to check out:

http://queercartoonists.com/

Some other recommendations:
Taneka Stotts, who works on several different comics and also assembles some of the best queer-focused anthologies I've read. Elements: Fire is excellent, as are both Beyond anthologies (and I'm not just saying that because I have a story in the first Beyond anthology, I promise).
Sfé Monster is a trans nonbinary creator who does a lot of wonderful work, including the genderqueer fantasy epic Eth's Skin. Sfé is also one of the editors for Beyond.
Der-Shing Helmer does a lot of stunningly gorgeous work. Mare Internum is a great piece of sci-fi storytelling.

Mildred Louis is another phenomenal artist, who draws amazing facial expressions. Her comic Agents of the Realm is all about queer magical girls.
It's been fun to watch Melanie Gillman's career really take off. Their comic As The Crow Flies just received a very well-deserved Stonewall Book Award.
Kathleen Jacques does a comic called Band vs. Band which I enjoy quite a bit. A very fun lesbian rock & roll romp.

Blue Delliquanti's comic O Human Star is another great queer sci-fi work.
Ed Luce does a really fun comic about queer metalheads called Wuvable Oaf. It certainly helps if you're into metal and/or pro wrestling, but even if you're not his characters are engaging and unique.

 If allies outside the LGBT community would like to support creators like you, what’s the best way for them to do it? What helped you when you got started?

Giving money to marginalized creators is one of the most important things you can do. Buy books, back Patreons, leave tips on Ko-Fi, snag some original art. The fact of the matter is, even someone who appears to be "successful" is probably still scraping by on a very modest income [coughs demonstratively]. There's this illusion that getting published means you're set, but it's much less true than you'd think. It's a long road from "I got a one-time payment of $500 for this one story" to "I'm able to support myself full-time from my art."
Folks who don't have a whole lot of cash to throw around can still help: write reviews on Amazon or Goodreads or wherever, tell your friends about this comic you really like, share links, etc. People who don't know me aren't going to pay that much attention if I'm blathering about my new book - it'll just get filtered out in all the noise. But if their best friend is saying "I really like this new book," they'll actually listen. We place a huge amount of stock in what our friends like.

 

What message do you hope readers take away from your work?

Broadly speaking, I like to write about figuring out who you are and how to make that work, and about finding your community. I'd say that holds whether I'm writing autobio comics or sci-fi adventures.

 What keeps you devoted to telling the stories you’re telling?

My own personal interest in a topic. If it's a subject I care about, I can go on for quite awhile.

Thanks Dylan, looking forward to seeing more of your work! 

Sunday Revue April 8: Valley Of The Silk Sky

There Is A Valley Beyond Your Imaginings...

Enter  this valley, and you step into a new world. Do not apply your own rules or expectations here: they have no place. You are in a new place that plays by its own rules. Learn fast, or things might get a bit...

Dangerous...

The creator, Dylan Edwards, describes the story like so: 

Valley of the Silk Sky is a queer YA sci-fi webcomic for ages 13 and up. Follow the adventures of a crew of queer and trans scientists as they attempt to discover new medicinals, find lost artifacts, and generally try to avoid being eaten by the more dangerous denizens of the Valley.

Valley of The Silk Sky can be read here . Even better, it can be bought on Amazon, Gumroad, or read in many forms available at the artist's main site. 

The Rating

A glorious gem of a story, it only needs a touch of polishing.

The Raves

There is so much to love about the Valley. Especially if you have a scientific bent. Especially if you enjoy good worldbuilding. Especially if you're into adventures that don't ask you to leave your brain at the gate. Especially if you're part of the QUILTBAG  cohort. Especially if you like coming of age stories that don't beat you over the head with the message. Especially if...aw heck, you see where this is going.  

This is the perfect story for an adult and the tweens and teens in their lives to share. It's got enough action to hold an 11 year old's attention, enough nuance to interest an adult, and a really lovely sense of interpersonal humor. The creator has taken the leap that so few world builders dare to do, truly creating a world that is its own entity rather than an analog of our own. Many of the issues we expect to see reflected simply don't apply. That doesn't mean there aren't issues. Oh gods are there issues. But they are not the tired horses of bigotry that we have collectively beaten to death. Now, don't get me wrong, those issues should and do need to be addressed regularly, so that we can understand them. But it's so refreshing to see a story that lets us look at the world as it could be on the other side of the fights we're in today: a world where race and gender are such non-issues that they don't need addressing. The diverse groups of characters, human and otherwise, binary and otherwise, are shown as people. Simple as that. 

The characters in these stories have other things to worry about.

Things like bandits, invasive plant life and deadly predators. Oh, and misfiled paperwork. Lots of it. 

One of the things to love in this work is the relatability in the interpersonal relations and the situations. Strange as it is, we share the characters' frustrations with bureaucracy:

We laugh with them as they experience the wonders and the exasperations of cultural exchanges. And we give a sappy sigh at the power of friendship. Come now, you know you like to give a sappy sigh once in a while.

Another selling point: this story is clever. One of the plot points revolves around invasive plant species. Does the plant eat people? No, but it wipes out economically valuable native species and impoverishes communities by wiping out their livelihood.
*Leans forward over podium* Gentle readers, do you know how rare it is to find a story with a real-world issue that is not overtly violent being used as a main plot point? Especially one that involves the economic value of plant life?
Let me tell you. Vanishingly rare. Hen's Teeth rare. The bookish squeal of delight I let out when I read that scared my cat.

The clever use of science, ethnobotany, biology and architecture makes the world creation a character in its own right. Without beating you over the head at any point, the story subtly weaves its readers into a new biosphere with its own traits. I especially appreciated the nicely understated way in which the creator shows the view of the world through human and non-human eyes to make it clear that the world does, indeed, look different to us all. Especially if 'all' includes beings who see in heat signatures.

The story also makes us question our own assumptions in the best possible way. What at first glance to Western human eyes looks like an alien cheesecake art piece turns out to be a bathing ritual. Yep, Harakos clean themselves and each other the way cats do, with their spiny tongues. No sex involved. Get your mind out of the gutter, you!

I also devoured the chapter addendums, each of which is a witty and well-thought-out world building dissertation. No, this is not boring, dear readers. This is fascinating, and the perfect thing to read with your youngsters in order to get them interested in the underlying structures of their own world to boot. Of course you can always read it yourself, for the sheer joy of exploring new ideas. I know I did. 

The Razzes

The only thing that knocked this story down a peg was the art. Lovely and fascinating as it is, it's also got a bit of work still to do on creating anatomically natural moving characters. Too often, the characters are stiff, especially at a distance. They often seem to be missing joints as well, creating wooden arms and/or legs and a hard-to-pin-down sense of something 'off'.

I'd also like to see a smoothing out of the color washes. The general stylistic effect is nice, but in some areas the effect gets a bit too scribbly and could do with some cleaning up. 

The coloring issues can be aided by running a *slightly* dampened sponge over the color laid down by the marker, as long as the creator is using a water-fast marker for the linework. The body dynamics are best worked on by doing a little more with wire-frame sketches before setting down those final lines. And by that, I don't mean draw more wire-frames. Many, many great artists have used wire frame and still ended up with stiff characters.  Instead, focus on lines of action. 

Art By Patchy9

The line of action technique starts a character not as a series of blocks attached by lines, but as a single flowing lines with other lines radiating from it. The body shapes are then drawn in over these lines, and a character emerges.

Art By Matt Smith

If the creator would like to improve on their fluidity, I'd recommend working on line of action warm up drawings once a week for a while, and maybe working it into their art style.

The Revue

This is a great story. Hand it to your kiddos. Hand it to your nerdy buddies so you can geek out together. Hand it to your favorite biology-field folk. Hand it to some teachers, this would be great in a classroom. It has a lot to teach folks.
What you learn from it may surprise you.