{"id":13568,"date":"2020-06-17T08:52:53","date_gmt":"2020-06-17T12:52:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/?p=13568"},"modified":"2020-06-17T08:52:56","modified_gmt":"2020-06-17T12:52:56","slug":"episode-376-calvin-reid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-376-calvin-reid","title":{"rendered":"Episode 376 – Calvin Reid"},"content":{"rendered":"

Virtual Memories Show 376:
\nCalvin Reid<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/virtualmemories\/Episode_376_-_Calvin_Reid.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div>

Podcast: Play in new window<\/a> | Download<\/a><\/p>

Subscribe: Spotify<\/a> | TuneIn<\/a> | RSS<\/a> | More<\/a><\/p>\n

“The biggest shift in comics right now is the explosion of independent publishing, the impact of Kickstarter on the ability of artists to not have to go through the superhero gatekeepers, the explosion of diversity in terms of creators and in genres, and the impact of the book publishing world.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Through his work at Publishers Weekly<\/em><\/a>, editor Calvin Reid<\/a> has been an important advocate for comics and graphic novel publishing for decades. We get into his history with comics and making art, how he began writing about the book publishing world, and the weirdness of having to update the annual retailer survey to reflect the effect of the pandemic on booksellers. Calvin talks about the transformative nature of Black Lives Matter, the lack of diversity in publishing (which he wrote about 25 years ago), and how Black artists are represented in mainstream comics, as well as how wearing a mask helps protects him from COVID, satisfies his superhero fantasies, AND gets him likes on social media<\/a>. Give it a listen!<\/a><\/p>\n

“BLM has been transformative in every way. It’s triggered a sense of looking around at the systemic nature of racism, of realizing that maybe what’s killing young black men has been stifling careers, suppressing voices, and so much more. I’m astonished and inspired to see what young people are doing.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n