They mentioned our new book, The Many Not the Few, in their newsletter today and incorrectly noted me having a PhD, as you can see next to ‘degree’.
But - I’m claiming that doctorate!
Call me 'Dr Wilson' from now on please, folks.
hehe...
Edinburgh University just made me a doctor - by accident!
They mentioned our new book, The Many Not the Few, in their newsletter today and incorrectly noted me having a PhD, as you can see next to ‘degree’. But - I’m claiming that doctorate! Call me 'Dr Wilson' from now on please, folks. hehe...
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Our book THE MANY NOT THE FEW has a launch event today in the UK parliament, the House of Commons. That is, as far as we know, the first time a comic book has been launched in Westminster Palace. Pretty cool!
Update: The event went very well - not only did Jeremy Corbyn and the shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, attend the launch event, Corbyn bought 4 copies of it and made a very nice speech saying how much he liked it and quoting from various chapters. Thanks JC! See more here: https://seanmichaelwilson.weebly.com/many-not-the-few.html The wonderful comic book writer Pat Mills on how he is being cheated by low royalties for the classic 2000AD work he did (and the artists too, of course). This is a common problem for us comic book creators.
https://www.millsverse.com/crownjewels/#comment-344 And my comment: Clearly its a very unfair situation and should change. The question is HOW? Of course, the situation is one in which most workers find themselves, in most industries. They are in weak position compared to the employer. Clearly, thats the basic nature of this bad economic system we are in. So what are our options to counter this? Many industries form strong unions to counter the power of the elite bosses, but the comic industry has not done that. Creators could go on strike, but, as you note above, are afraid that any such radical actions will mean they simply dont get work in the future. Readers could refuse to buy comics from any companies that dont pay a fair rate. But could we get enough readers to take that collective action? Recently i started a petition to try to increase the amount of grants that comic book creators get (as that is one way to bypass this bad market system). But its not had many people sign it yet (about 800, but it needs 10,000 before the government considers the idea). Hi all, short but somewhat important thing to say: I’m leaving Facebook today. Deleting account later, after folk have had a chance to see this. If anyone did not see it then i have not blocked you personally, Ive left it altogether.
I'm tired of all the negative stuff, aggression and narrow mindedness. Not just from right wingers but from some fellow left wingers too. And of course facebook's own bad political behaviour. Anyone who wants to keep in touch can check the contact details on this website here. Sayonara to the people who have been nice and Pogue Mahone to the ones that have not! One of the reasons I chose to focus on comic books 15 years ago, rather than continue working in films/TV, is that a good comic book on sociology/history/biography is normally considerably more accurate and sophisticated than a TV series or movie on the same subject.
Case in point this LONG list of academics and writers and progressive groups etc lamenting the terrible historical inaccuracies in Netflix's 'Trotsky' series. For example how active and impressive women are reduced to sex/love interests: "...the great Larissa Reissner is reduced to a femme fatale, the (mainly sexual) companion of Trotsky on the armored train. In reality, Reissner wrote about the civil war and had an important place in the Fifth Army and the revolution. She embarked on the Volga flotilla, took part in the fighting and participated in the German revolution – she was one of the most prominent Bolshevik female cadres until her death in 1926." Such TV/movies have too many people involved in creating them, in a very heirarchical working situation, with too much pressure from the money people in the corporations to make the thing a financial success and achieve a wide audience. Accuracy comes in a poor 3rd or 4th on the list, if lucky. Whereas comic books/graphic novels are normally the product of 1 or 2 people, sometimes 3 or 4, working in a tight-knit team of greater equality and with far less financial pressure on them to make the thing 'low-brow.' Comic books do it better! https://www.leftvoice.org/slavoj-zizek-nancy-fraser-fredric-jameson-and-more-join-trotsky-s-grandson-in-repudiating-netflix-s |
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February 2024
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