Villains, and Not the Best People, but the Queerness!!
This week I interviewed Tashauna Knight, a Junior at SOU and a comic book reader since childhood.
I started by asking TK about which comics she most enjoys. She’s more into DC than Marvel, mostly because it was what she had access to when she was younger. TK’s older sisters were DC fans, and as she got more into comics she read the ones that they had around. Describing how she got into comics in the first place, TK said
“When I was younger I watched the cartoons mostly, Justice League, Teen Titans, Batman beyond, those sorts of things. Then as I got older I was like “oh these things are based off of comics?” because I wasn’t — You know, they’re like ‘comics aren’t real books,’ so I never read them… but when I got older I started getting into the comics too. My sisters were the ones who supplied me with all of the comics.
I asked TK to tell me more about what she meant about comics not being “real books”
“People, especially in the education system believe that if something has a lot of pictures or is really colorful, then it’s not heavy dense reading that can cover multiple topics or give kids perspective — it’s just something that rots your brain. I don’t know who told them that, but it was a lie. But I mean, in school if you had a comic during reading time they’d be like “no go and get a real book.” So then you just went and got like Harry Potter or Percy Jackson, which were just as like otherworldly and like explosive and imaginative, it was just — there are more words I guess? I’m not sure, but that was just one of those things, like basically were like you’re stupid if you read comics, so then no one wanted to be reading them cuz no one wanted to get called stupid.”
I asked TK how she though comics differ from other forms of storytelling and art. One of her main takeaways in this vein was that with comics instead of imagining the visuals like with a book, the reader sees exactly what the artists intended. She noted that this doesn’t necessarily lessen room for imagination among readers — it just shifts it, and it comes across in different ways.
“[In comics] What the author wanted you to see is right there in front of you, and you get to see their entire world and their entire imagination spread out before you, and that’s something that’s kind of very beautiful… and it’s something for everybody that‘s visual and beautiful that you can take part in.”
When I asked TK what she liked most about comics she responded in a similar vein, describing the bright and beautiful illustrations. She also talked about loving the action, being a fan of action genres in general, and so the fast paced nature of comics being something she really enjoys.
Next I asked TK about whether she sees herself in comics, and whether they related to her identity.
“Oh yeah!! A lot depends on the comic, a lot of comics are, you know, white superheroes, and I’m a black lesbian so I can only see so much in that. But definitely the the queerness I find in comics — and that is an identity that is heavy in Comics — and something I definitely love very much. That’s why I think I am drawn to, like Gotham City Sirens, and Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn very much so, cuz it’s just so gay, and it’s so good, and it’s like finally, the representation I’ve needed”
However, TK doesn’t necessarily go as far as to say she identifies directly with those characters.
“I don’t wanna say that I identify with like Poison Ivy or like Harley Quinn or Catwoman — they’re all villains and like they’re not the best people — but, I would say that I can relate to those characters on some level especially with queerness. For me Catwoman in my head is always black thanks to Halle Berry (even though that movie was awful) but I’ve never imagined Catwoman to be white. But like I don’t know, I can’t say that there’s any of them that I’m like you know like I feel this, but those three are some that are definitely my favorites.”
When I asked TK what she didn’t like about comics, she started by talking about the format. She said “ I read them too fast, I kind of I blow through really quickly, which I guess is not necessarily the Comics fault but I have to buy either a bunch at a time or I just have to like wait and I’m impatient so I guess that’s my only like real gripe with comic books.” I remembered her tone of voice from earlier in the interview when I asked about seeing herself in comics though, so I asked:
“You have no gripe with all those the white men superheroes?”
“Oh I mean! If you wanna go there absolutely I do. I always kind of not necessarily let it go, but comic books have been around for a long time, and Civil Rights has only been around for about 50 years and that’s even shaky so I don’t often expect especially earlier comics or storylines to be necessarily inclusive. When they are I’m very happy but I never really expect it. But when newer Comics come out and it’s like the same white dude, I’m like alright well you had your chance — you just messed that up.”
But TK is seeing changes as new comics come out.
“There are the Shuri comics, a lot of the recent black panther comics, and oh I don’t remember her name but the Iron Man girl (Riri Williams). I definitely see it changing. Artists are realizing that more than just white white male nerds who live in a basement are reading comic books. Any child — the black kid from the Bronx or the Mexican kid in rural Texas — anybody, anybody could be reading these stories.
And finally, I asked TK what her favorite comic series is and why.
“I’d say anything with Harley Quinn in it I am instantly in love with. I love her, she’s hilarious and just so awesome. And she’s so gay and it fuels me.”
