#dc boycott

It’s recently come to my attention that there’s been a call to boycott DC comics because there’s been a no ongoing mainline comics centring around a black main character. You can read here to learn more about it.

I want to express my support for the boycott and my participation with a few footnotes addressing a few concerns that I have personally and a few that others have brought up, which I will cover later. But as a white creator that wants to show her support for the Black community, this is how I will be participating.

1. I will not buy any new dc books that aren’t from Black creatives (ie. Zantanna) or centered around a black main character (ie. absolute green lantern). I will instead pirate, buy 2nd hand, or borrow any issues that fall outside that category. This way, my money is showing DC demand for more black voices and characters. I implore you to do the same, but for those with pre orders through a local comic book store or have pull lists, please refrain. The loss of financial support will then fall to the store, not DC.

2. While I will continue to post more batfam comics and continue my ongoing series, I’m going to actively include more of Duke and other black members of the Batfamily in my comics. Duke Thomas is severely ignored by both DC and the fandom, and I’m guilty of this as well. I’m also aware of Lucas Fox aka Batwing although I’m very unfamiliar with his character, and I will make an effort to read more of his issues.

That being said, here are a few concerns I’ve seen from people online, black or otherwise, that I’m also concerned about.

1. Lack of support for black creatives in the field.

The organizer has called for a blanketed boycott for all of dc comics, including comics being headed by black creatives as well as comics centered around black characters that aren’t in the mainline universe such as Absolute Green Lantern.

2. Lack of support for upcoming Pride issues.

Again, because of the blanketed boycott, people have expressed concerns about how it might LGBTQ+ community’s representation in comics and the intersectionality of queer black people.

3. Local Comic Book Store’s role in the boycott

The boycott has been quite sudden and gives comic book stores little to no time to react or adjust. People pulling their preorders means that they will have unsold stock and lose money from it.

Overall, I’m not an expert in this area at all. I won’t debate anybody on me “having to do this”. I want to show my support for black creators and people who just want to see themselves represented. Your decision on how you want to participate in the boycott, if at all, is up to you. You don’t have to participate, but you can still be supportive of it. I won’t tolerate any racism in the community I’ve garnered, along with any other bigotry.

I want to conclude this by acknowledging that I am a white queer woman, and although I do belong to some minorities, I’m not part of the black community and therefore, lack insight to issues and nuances to many situations. I do my best to listen to black voices and be actively against racism, but I have made mistakes and will probably make mistakes in the future. If/when I do make those mistakes, I will listen and apologize and change.

Something about this whole thing feels wrong for numerous reasons. I read the message, I saw their reason, and yet this all feels too sudden.

If DC sees that we can't follow through with a boycott started only 3 days ago, they won't learn a fucking thing. For the record, I'm not mad at the DCsowhite movement, as in the people who started it.

I feel like DC saw the movement and instead of starting production on black-led comic books, they instead sent legal threats to the hosts of the movement. That's the only reason I can think of them ending it so soon.

but the arguments i've seen against the boycott are genuinely so stupid. "this will hurt local comic shops!!" as if the only comics they sell are dc 🤨 "but... but what about absolute green lantern??" absolute universe is NOT the mainline universe. where is this attention to poc in their main universe comic runs??

I’m here to help you minimize the collateral damage to your FLCBS (friendly local comic book shop) and make sure that DC is the one who takes the heat from your boycotting.

(source: I work at a FLCBS. I am intimately familiar with the behind-the-scenes mechanics.)

FLCBS Shelf Customers

if you’re someone who buys your new comics off the shelf every week, you’re good to go. don’t buy those DC books. it’ll make the shops buy less DC books going forward.

if you can, try to pick up a new marvel or indie book. Even better, buy backstock DC comics. DC gets absolutely no profit from backstock comics; all of that profit goes directly to the store itself. only new comics are DC profit.

go pick up a run you haven’t tried before. dip your toe into a series you’ve had your eye on. fill out the gaps in your collection.

just don’t buy anything new.

Pull List Subscribers

sorry, your part is slightly more complex

if you are someone who has a pull list, do not unpull your upcoming DC books. only unpull the DC books whose final order cutoff date (FOC) has not yet passed.

if you unpull books whose FOC date already happened, then your local comic shop is the one who's gonna eat that cost. DC made their money from that comic weeks ago. Your shop ordered that comic for You Specifically, not to put on their shelf to sell. People who buy comics off the shelf are the ones whose immediate boycott will send a message; yours will just hurt the comic stores. Pull list books are profit in the bank for comics stores. Shelf books are the ones whose profits aren't guaranteed.

below the cut is a list of all the upcoming DC books whose FOC date has already passed (aka DC already has your money, basically, and the comic book shop is the one who’s on the hook now).

tl;dr

if you normally buy comics off the wall (or off of amazon or ebay or w/e): you’re golden. stop now. the message will be perceived appropriately. also, buy other stuff from your FLCBS instead if you can.

if you have a pull list: go unpull everything whose FOC date hasn’t passed, right now. pay for everything that arrives for you in the meantime, or else you’re only hurting your FLCBS

but it kind of seems like a mess?

I don’t really agree with boycotting books like Zatanna, which is written by Jamal Campbell… a Black artist and writer. Same with Absolute Green Lantern, drawn by Jahnoy Lindsay.

I also think there’s a lot of examples of mandated books doing poorly because the writer doesn’t really care about the source material or it’s just a repeat of the characters “greatest hits”…

Mainverse Wonder Woman… Generation X-23…Nightwing…

Idk if I want writers who aren’t passionate about the Milestone line or Vixen or Terrific doing books for them because of outrage.