Comic Turns

Every now and then you see an idea that's so brilliant you stop and think "I wish I'd thought of that!" One such concept is Comic Turns by comic artist/writer Karen Rubins. It's a card game where every card is a different panel of a comic strip that can be arranged in any order to tell a different story! Ingenious!

I first saw Karen's prototype of this years ago when it was called Hand of Fate and it's good to see it modified and improved. Karen's looking for backers for the project on Kickstarter and it's an idea that deserves to succeed so I hope you'll help to support it.  

Go to Karen Rubins' Kickstarter page which contains all the information about Comic Turns and what you'll receive for your pledges...
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/karenrubins/comic-turns/

International Women's Day

It's International Women's Day and although I don't have much time for blogging today I didn't want it to pass without a shout out to some of my female friends and colleagues currently working in the industry. There was a time when comics were almost exclusively male dominated but over the years there's been a refreshing increase in women creators working in the business, although there's still a way to go for a proper balance. Bizarre at it seems to any rational person, not so long ago there was an attitude by shortsighted men that "women can't draw comics". (I've actually heard blokes say that.) The few examples here blow that prejudice right out the water.

Here's a quick gallery of the diverse styles of just a few of the women artists currently in the business... 

Art by EMMA VIECELI (From the CBR website)

Art by LYNNE TRIPLETT

Art by LORNA MILLER

Art by YISHAN LI

Art by JESSICA MARTIN

Art by RACHAEL SMITH

Art by LAURA HOWELL

Art by RACHAEL STOTT

Art by KAREN RUBINS

Art by LISE MYHRE

Art by PAULINA VASSILEVA

Art by EMMA CHINNERY

This is just a sample of course. There are other female comic creators such as writers Leah Moore and Alex De Campi, Beano colourist Nika Nartova, editor Deborah Tate and more. And with the rising number of women attending comic shows who are clearly into comics and sci-fi it's evident that the number of women entering the comics profession will increase, and rightly so.