Skip to content
1981
1-2: Comics, Conscience and Gender
  • ISSN: 2040-3232
  • E-ISSN: 2040-3240

Abstract

This article pays attention to gentrification, race and gender in the work of Ezra Daniels and Ben Passmore, as well as the specific forms of ‘erasure’ that connect these themes in their work. The erasure of identity that stems from racial, economic and gender disparity – the processes of marginalization that affect non-white voices and identities through logics of white supremacy and cultural appropriation – have been abiding themes of these artists. Reading Passmore’s and Daniels’s approach to these themes as part of a longer history of black comics activism, their work (like 2019’s ) can be seen as an example of an ‘intersectional’ urban conscience, one that is mindful of the underrepresented history of black women’s participation in urban struggle (whether in the form of direct action or the production of graphic media), and how this participation is a key nexus in the web that connects race and gender with the problem of gentrification.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/stic_00120_1
2025-01-28
2025-03-15
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Berlant, L. (2011), Cruel Optimism, Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Berman, M. (1987), ‘Among the ruins’, New Internationalist, 178, pp. 89.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Berman, M. (2010), ‘Falling’, in M. Beaumont and G. Dart (eds), Restless Cities, New York: Verso, pp. 12338.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Coates, T. (2011), ‘A hard look at gentrification’, The Atlantic, 1 July, https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/07/a-hard-look-at-gentrification/242286/. Accessed 1 February 2023.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Daniels, E. (2020), ‘Join me on this edition of “An Art School Dropout’s First Steps into Lit Theory”’, Instagram, June, https://www.instagram.com/p/CBvrE-eDlVJ/?hl=en. Accessed 20 August 2023.
  6. Daniels, E. (2022), e-mail to the author, 13 July.
  7. Daniels, E. and Passmore, B. (2019), BTTM FDRS, Seattle, WA: Fantagraphics.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Dedman, B. (1988), ‘The color of money’, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Power Reporting, 1 May, https://powerreporting.com/color/color_of_money.pdf. Accessed 20 August 2023.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Denvir, D. (2023), ‘Why Marx’s Capital still matters: An interview with David Harvey’, Jacobin, 12 July 2018, https://jacobin.com/2018/07/karl-marx-capital-david-harvey. Accessed 27 June 2023.
  10. Florida, R. (2002), The Rise of the Creative Class, New York: Basic Books.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Funk, K. and Glickman, J. (2023), ‘Exploring the 15-minute city concept and its potential for communities of all sizes’, National League of Cities, 13 June, https://www.nlc.org/article/2023/06/13/exploring-the-15-minute-city-concept-and-its-potential-for-communities-of-all-sizes/. Accessed 20 August 2023.
  12. Hartman, S. (1997), Scenes of Subjection: Terror, Slavery, and Self-Making in Nineteenth Century America, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Harvey, D. (2008), ‘The right to the city’, New Left Review, 53:1, pp. 2340.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Howard, S. C. and Jackson, R. (eds) (2013), Black Comics: Politics of Race and Representation, London: Bloomsbury.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Johnston, R. (2018), ‘Bleeding Cool bestseller list, 6th May 2018’, Bleeding Cool, 6 May, https://bleedingcool.com/comics/bleeding-cool-bestseller-list-6th-may-2018-dc-nation-0-carried-the-week/. Accessed 20 August 2023.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Kamen, A. and Weiser, B. (1981), ‘3 SE men plead guilty to murder of housing activist’, Washington Post, 16 November, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1981/11/17/3-se-men-plead-guilty-to-murder-of-housing-activist/530f8f37-4bc2-4b9b-98d6-23be95d312be/. Accessed 20 August 2023.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Kot, A. (2018), Days of Hate, Portland, OR: Image.
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Navarro, M. (2014), ‘“Poor door” in a New York tower opens a fight over affordable housing’, New York Times, 26 August, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/27/nyregion/separate-entryways-for-new-york-condo-buyers-and-renters-create-an-affordable-housing-dilemma.html. Accessed 20 August 2023.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Packingtown Museum (2014), ‘The people of the stock yards’, https://www.packingtownmuseum.org/people-of-the-stock-yards. Accessed 20 August 2023.
  20. Passmore, B. (2018), DayGloAyHole #1, San Francisco, CA: Silver Sprocket.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Peppard, A. (2018), ‘“A cross burning darkly, blackening the night”: Reading racialized spectacles of conflict and bondage in Marvel’s early Black Panther comics’, Studies in Comics, 9:1, pp. 5985.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Rizer, A. (2023), ‘We live in a society: A brief introduction to the social horror genre’, Book Riot, 19 May, https://bookriot.com/social-horror-books/. Accessed 28 November 2023.
  23. Rorty, R. (2020), ‘The horror of gentrification: Creators Ezra Claytan Daniels and Ben Passmore on their graphic novel BTTM FDRS’, 8 July, https://southsideweekly.com/the-horror-of-gentrification-bttm-fdrs/. Accessed 25 May 2023.
  24. The Comics Journal (2020), ‘Genre as a Trojan horse: A roundtable with Tanna Tucker, Ezra Claytan Daniels, Ben Passmore, and Ron Wimberly’, 2 April, https://www.tcj.com/genre-as-a-trojan-horse-a-roundtable-with-tanna-tucker-ezra-claytan-daniels-ben-passmore-and-ron-wimberly/. Accessed 1 February 2023.
  25. Tobocman, S. and Kuper, P. (1986), World War 3 Illustrated #6, New York: Independent.
    [Google Scholar]
  26. United States Census Bureau (2022), ‘Quick facts Baltimore city (county), Maryland’, 1 April, https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/baltimorecitycountymaryland/HSG445221. Accessed 19 August 2023.
  27. Vinsel, L. and Russell, A. (2020), The Innovation Delusion: How Our Obsession with the New Has Disrupted the Work that Matters Most, New York: Currency.
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Wainwright, O. (2017), ‘“Everything is gentrification now”: But Richard Florida isn’t sorry’, The Guardian, 26 October, https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/oct/26/gentrification-richard-florida-interview-creative-class-new-urban-crisis. Accessed 19 August 2023.
    [Google Scholar]
  29. Walker, D. (2018), Bitter Root, Portland, OR: Image.
    [Google Scholar]
  30. Warr, P. (2012), ‘Maker Faire Africa: Schoolgirls create urine-powered generator’, Wired, 9 November, https://www.wired.com/2012/11/urine-powered-generator/. Accessed 20 August 2023.
  31. Womack, Y. (2010), Post Black: How a New Generation is Redefining African American Identity, Chicago, IL: Lawrence Hill.
    [Google Scholar]
  32. Zukin, S. (2010), Naked City: The Death and Life of Authentic Urban Places, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1386/stic_00120_1
Loading
/content/journals/10.1386/stic_00120_1
Loading

Data & Media loading...

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error
Please enter a valid_number test