How we doing party people?!
WE’RE BACK WITH ANOTHER INFAMOUS ARTICLE! I’M STARTING TO FEEL LIKE A BROKEN RECORD WHEN IT COMES TO THIS TOPIC. WHY IS DIVERSITY SO
CONTROVERSIAL? ANYONE? I’LL CUT THE SHIT AND EXPLAIN.
We get an interesting perspective from our staff and some #Summerofmanga finalists!
Tune in for more!
Frank Simmonds:
Diversity means putting mindful knowledge and the pursuit of it in the lead as we learn what brings us together similarly and what we can appreciate is different about one another. I have a lot more confidence to say that l’m even more a part of this world and want to keep proving I an here, for comics are a great medium to see the broad spectrum of how individuals bring their worlds to you from both mind and outside influence, and being someone who is known to draw well sometimes, and speak inaudibly a lot more, l’m another diverse example of why we still need comics and a community to keep growing.
Raymond Brown:
I am one of Saturday AM’s original Co- founders and the creator of the BULLY EATER series. I’ve been around from the very beginning. To me diversity is the ability for people to come together, regardless of different backgrounds and ideologies, to create something bigger than themselves. In Saturday AM’s case, we’re all working together to bring diverse stories to the world. The biggest shift for me was discovering the importance of representation. I grew up in an era where heroes had to look a “Certain Way” to be legitimate. Those heroes rarely looked like me or my community. For a long time, I just accepted the status quo. However, launching Saturday AM 9 years ago with Frederick and Whyt opened my eyes as to the power of having A+ quality content that features lead characters of various races and cultures. We all deserve to see ourselves as heroes.
Angelica R:
Hi! My name is Angélica, I’m an illustrator from Argentina. I participated in SOM 2022 with my one shot “Don’t lose your
head!” My entry to all the Saturday AM projects was March art madness 2022, even when I stayed on the 2nd round I was motivated to keep participating. Summer of Manga was the right opportunity that came months later. When I send my pitch I was very nervous, that was the most stressful part, and when I received the good news I was partying basically. Saturday AM is something I feel necessary and awesome in the industry, we need more manga that isn’t the same as the rest! And being part of it feels like a great opportunity to someone like us, non japanese/USA citizens, to share our works
in the industry. My advice to someone who wants to
participate is to keep it short and simple. Try to explain the concept in 1 or 2 sentences and it needs to make sense. And before drawing, do the storyboard as “ugly” and “scratchy” as possible, it will
save time if you need to make corrections.
Read more of this in our latest issue! #158 https://app.saturday-am.com/
