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Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum Blog

Dear Trina, Angela, and Rebecca, I'm writing to all three of you because Rebecca says frequently mail is not shared with other members of the collective. I (and other lesbians) was surprised and disappointed to find that only one tiny panel of one page in the entire WC #16 showed a lesbian perspective of men. I was also surprised the intro was purely heterosexual. Lesbians jokingly call the book Straight Wimmen's Comix, but it doesn't seem so funny to me. I can't understand how dykes can be so invisible, especially since we've been workin' so hard through the Lesbian Cartoonists' Network to get our work out there! When I spoke to you, Rebecca, you said the collective, as per usual, called three lesbians (and Roberta who's bisexual and doing straight toons). Only Jennifer wanted to submit. You speculated that Leslie Ewing and Alison Bechdel were either "uncomfortable with the subject ("a tribute to men")," or "burned-out on the subject." From what you tell me no further outreach was done. You had never heard of LCN, even though I sent debut issues to Trina and the collective, care of Angela and P. Glockner. The 46 other lesbian members of LCN were completely in the dark as to the subject, deadline, editor, format, terms, etc. Those of us who made blind submissions are still unsure that Rebecca has even seen our work. We got absolutely no response — no note telling us what the subject was — not even a rejection slip. Wimmen's Comix is a feminist endeavor open to all women, right? Lesbians are a huge part of the feminist community, and we are a sizable part of the WC readership. Poorly representing us is like People of Color Comix doing a "Tribute to Whites" with Asian, Arab, and Latina/o stories and including only one panel of African-Americans. I've worked on collectives. I know it's exhausting and because of the loose structure things slip through the cracks. But if there's a willingness to include male artists surely energy can be found to better include lesbians. Rebecca promised to write to LCN members when the decisions for issue #17 have been made, and here are the addresses as I promised. Four of us live in San Francisco and Roxxie lives in Berkeley, runs a cartoon club and publishes a cartoon 'zine. Can you let these dykes know when the next meeting is and allow them to attend? We want to be a part of the collective and we can sure work hard. How's that for a tribute to lesbians? In sisterhood, Andrea Natalie

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January 24, 2025 / 782 x 973 px
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