I read a lot of webcomics and only a portion of them are GLBT oriented and an even smaller number have any sort of trans inclusion. Though this post isn't about the need for more trans people represented in webcomics (Would be great though). Its more about the expectancy I have with all of those non-GLBT webcomics and to a lesser extent, the GLB ones. Maybe I am jaded but I always have a sort of expectation that they are going to have some sort of transphobic fail sooner or later. A couple have and I either stopped reading them or decided to put up with it and hope things improved. I don't generally have the same expectancy with with homophobia given the amount of GLB characters and acceptance in many of the webcomics.
Today Multiplex met that expectancy with
this webcomic with basically what seems to be a tranny joke. Now I like Multiplex a lot, it feeds my inner movie geek and seems to have much more PoC main characters then any other webcomic I read, so I am less inclined to just drop it and move on. Instead I am trying to engage the creator about the problems with the strip. Fortunately there is a forum and they seem to be an active part of it. Currently I am engaging with them in
this thread.
Hopefully it could lead to something positive.
Of course webcomic creators have autonomy over their own works and what goes into them. And they most likely get plenty of complaints as it for things often inane like a spelling error for pages they probably spent a decent amount of time working on. But I cannot imagine most of them are looking to contribute to bigotry
(though they may argue whether it is or not). Even internet fame means webcomic have the same sort of impact as a book or a movie with bigotry in it though maybe at a smaller scale. There are plenty of webcomics out there so just finding a new one that is less problematic is usually possible but that doesn't really do anything to fix the problem.
So I will rabble rouse until the authors make amends or reveal they are not worth reading anymore and ask others that are interested to contribute with an email if they can. If it does not work out then maybe I can make a list of webcomics to recommend against to go along with the list that I usually recommend.
Edit: In the case of Multiplex the author
replied to my complaint. His response seemed more continuation of the privileged responses of others on the forum though.
