Prism Comics
Encyclopedia
Prism Comics is a non-profit organization
that supports lesbian
, gay
, bisexual
and transgender
(LGBT
) creators
, stories
, characters
, and readers in the comics
industry.
Prism Comics was incorporated in April 2003 in the state of Georgia and received its 501(c) 3 charitable status shortly thereafter. The organization was initially composed of a small number of comics fans and professionals from across the United States
who had volunteered on an annual publication called Out in Comics, which was a listing of LGBT creators in comics that ran for three issues. These volunteers decided to form a nonprofit organization to provide services above and beyond an annual listing--feature articles and interviews, original art and content, expanded convention appearances and programming, and a full-featured website--and to pursue even more ambitious goals.
Winners are:
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
that supports lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
, gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
, bisexual
Bisexuality
Bisexuality is sexual behavior or an orientation involving physical or romantic attraction to both males and females, especially with regard to men and women. It is one of the three main classifications of sexual orientation, along with a heterosexual and a homosexual orientation, all a part of the...
and transgender
Transgender
Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....
(LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
) creators
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, stories
Narrative
A narrative is a constructive format that describes a sequence of non-fictional or fictional events. The word derives from the Latin verb narrare, "to recount", and is related to the adjective gnarus, "knowing" or "skilled"...
, characters
LGBT comic book characters
LGBT themes in comics are a relatively new concept, as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender themes and characters were historically omitted intentionally from the content of comic books and their comic strip predecessors, due to either censorship or the perception that comics were for children...
, and readers in the comics
Comics
Comics denotes a hybrid medium having verbal side of its vocabulary tightly tied to its visual side in order to convey narrative or information only, the latter in case of non-fiction comics, seeking synergy by using both visual and verbal side in...
industry.
Prism Comics was incorporated in April 2003 in the state of Georgia and received its 501(c) 3 charitable status shortly thereafter. The organization was initially composed of a small number of comics fans and professionals from across the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
who had volunteered on an annual publication called Out in Comics, which was a listing of LGBT creators in comics that ran for three issues. These volunteers decided to form a nonprofit organization to provide services above and beyond an annual listing--feature articles and interviews, original art and content, expanded convention appearances and programming, and a full-featured website--and to pursue even more ambitious goals.
Points of interest
- Publishes an annual resource guide, Prism Comics: Your LGBT Guide to Comics, containing feature articles and profiles of LGBT comics professionals.
- Maintains a comprehensive website, PrismComics.org, that posts LGBT-related comics news, reviews, and profiles of nearly 300 LGBT comics professionals.
- Produces the weekly article Queer Eye on Comics featured on the Prism website.
- Works with comics convention organizers to include LGBT content in their programming schedules, helping them to procure panelists, and promoting the panels in fan venues and in the LGBT and comics media.
- Purchases booth space at major comics conventions each year as an outreach effort to the industry to promote the work of LGBT creators in comics who are not having their work promoted sufficiently elsewhere.
Queer Press Grant
Prism awards a Queer Press Grant each September to a comics creator who is publishing a work of interest to an LGBT audience. In 2005 and 2006, the value of the grant was $1000; in 2007, it was raised to $1500.Winners are:
- 2005: Steve MacIsaacSteve MacIsaacSteve MacIsaac is a Canadian comics artist and creator living in Los Angeles. His work has been selected for several "Best of" anthologies.MacIsaac may be best known for working on Sticky with writer Dale Lazarov. However his work has appeared in a number of other places. He writes and draws a...
for Shirtlifter - 2006: Megan Rose GedrisMegan Rose Gedris-YU+ME:dream:YU+ME:dream is a manga-styled webcomic about a teenage girl called Fiona who spends all her time dreaming, until she meets Lia, who she falls in love with...
for YU+ME:dream - 2007: Justin Hall for A Sacred Text, True Travel Tales, Hard to Swallow
- 2007: Tommy Roddy for Pride HighPride HighPride High is an independent comic book created and written by Tommy Roddy. It follows the adventures of five friends who create a gay-straight alliance at their high school for super-powered youth...
- 2008: Pam Harrison for "House of Muses"
- 2008: Ed Luce for "Wuvable Oaf"
- 2009: Eric OrnerEric OrnerEric Orner is an openly gay American cartoonist whose works revolve around LGBT issues. He is best known for long running indy comic strip, The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green, which was adapted into a feature film and which received a limited national cinematic release in 2005...
for "StoryboxStoryBoxStoryBox is a high quality magazine publication released each month by Bayard Presse. It is designed for children who are just being introduced to reading...
" - 2010: Jon MacyJon MacyJon Macy is a gay American comics writer and artist. He began his career in 1990 with the series Tropo. Since then he has contributed to various LGBT comics anthologies and gay pornographic magazines, but is best known for his graphic novel Teleny and Camille, which won a 2010 Lambda Literary...
for "Fearful Hunter" - 2010: Tana Ford for "Duck"
- 2011: Robert Kirby (comics artist)Robert Kirby (comics artist)Robert Kirby is the creator of the syndicated comic Curbside.Curbside is the story of two young men, Drew, an aspiring writer, and Nathan, an aspiring musician, who meet and eventually form a tumultuous relationship...
for "THREE"