10th Anniversary Flying the Flag
skyangel on July 8, 2017
I've been wanting to do this pic for some time as it seemed a fun picture to do but after sketching it out I put it to one side as I didn't really know what sort of message it should convey and I didn't want it to come across as too political or pompous either but earlier this week I started thinking about my own comics origins and that helped make me decide.
2007 was a really special year for me because it was the year I discovered webcomics. Before that, all the comics I'd ever read were professional publications only available through selected shops and as such they seemed mostly guided by popular themes and sales figures. Here in the UK we also had a very clear boundary between comics for girls and comics for boys especially once they started to deal with more serious storylines. Boys got mostly war, football and spacemen while girls got mostly nurses, ballerinas, and school life. So when I came to the Duck as a reader I was seeing something really new and original in the comics world which also seemed very exciting as for the first time I was looking at comics covering issues that were no doubt too sensitive or unviable saleswise to the professionals, and yet the standard of writing and art was every bit as high.
Friction by Sad Takara was the first LGBT comic I ever read and what impressed me most was that not only was she a very talented young artist but she was also just an ordinary school girl putting her feelings and views out there for the world to read, each page emanating a very passionate message about what it was like to be born different in a world that had very set and blinkered ideas about what is normal. And it wasn't only something I could relate to in a way I had never done with a comic before but the fact that she was telling a story that I felt I could have written myself.
So although I've drawn the girls from SS raising the flag, it's not really a tribute to our own comic but to all the other LGBT comics that have made a presence on these sites too, giving a minority readership such as myself so much to relate to and enjoy over these last 10 years. And may they keep on coming!
New SS page is back one btw. :)
Locoma at 9:37AM, Jan. 9, 2021
happy anniversary!!
kingtidus390 at 10:50AM, May 14, 2018
I grieve every time I come back to DD about the loss of Takara and her comics.
kingtidus390 at 10:47AM, May 14, 2018
So we both became enthralled by Friction by Sad Takara. I love how some of your characters remind me a bit of Friction's main characters. I miss seeing a notification marking a new page on her comics. I find it incredible how people can find inspiration from one person and then build upon it in their own way.
Nishanity at 9:10PM, July 10, 2017
I love this so much!
DarkVisor at 3:47AM, July 12, 2017
One minor problem: you forgot one of the '0's :D
skyangel at 8:57AM, July 11, 2017
It came out better than I expected. :) I orinally meant it to fit the same template for the other retro covers but it just looked odd so I had to restyle the background.
DarkVisor at 8:45PM, July 10, 2017
Okay, just checked messages, and, while may not have been here from the _start_, signed up to The Duck because of this comic in 2010 (it was so could comment on the shop page with either the toy Dalek or toy Womble :D)
skyangel at 8:59AM, July 11, 2017
Haha Yes I can remember that! You probably are our longest running reader.
DarkVisor at 8:34PM, July 10, 2017
Heh, totally recognize more than a few of those titles :D
skyangel at 9:00AM, July 11, 2017
DV:I have copies of most of the girls titles anyway but I had to go online to search for more boys ones
tommym at 4:33AM, July 10, 2017
Dear Sky, A lot of people did work,suffer, and die fighting of their rights. This is one of your best covers out of a long list of great covers.My first webcomic was "Venus Envy" by Erin Linsey in 2009. I then discovered Drunk Duck and a host of LGBT comics. If I remember correctly my first comment was on Simply Sarah. You Sky sent me a Personal Quack. It as a very pleasant surprise. Emma Claire also encouraged me. It will be a sad day when you stop SS,but after 10 years you deserve a rest. Thank you so much for all that you have done. tommym
skyangel at 9:13AM, July 11, 2017
Tommym: It has been an amazing experience for me and when I think how nervous I felt about putting up the first few pages it's been the stuff of dreams to see it reach such a high and stable position on here for so long. I used to write and thank almost everyone who commented too as I had never spoken to anyone in another country before and it all seemed so amazing to think somebody in the US or Australia was reading our little UK comic so I was often as really curious about my readers as they were about me and I've always enjoyed that community spirit that's moved alongside it.
PBandJ at 3:20AM, July 9, 2017
I LOVE this cover!
skyangel at 9:14AM, July 11, 2017
PB: thankyou :)
fredhedges at 1:27PM, July 8, 2017
I think that your representation is quite political AND perfectly appropriate. A lot of people have died who, as it were, served under and defended that flag. I live in a very progressive city in the US, and just last evening I met a young man who has lived outside of town for all of his 30 years. He reported that his biggest fear as a teen was that he could be killed for being gay.
skyangel at 9:29AM, July 11, 2017
Fred: That's very true. Originally I had planned on having four completely unknown LGBT people holding the US flag as I do feel these people are still so often marginalised by certain states, attitudes and politics to feel inferior or unacceptable even though they have always been a big part of the US culture and heritage from the first, just as they are in any other country. It does seem quite surreal to me even now that in the UK here some 50 years ago people could be imprisoned for being gay, or as you say even killed for it.
Infected Blood at 12:55PM, July 8, 2017
Happy Pride, sky! I also remember the first few lesbian and gay comics back in the early 2000 and the joy finding them! Simply Sarah has always been one of my favorite ones and the ONLY one that actually continued. It's been quite a ride and very inspirational, too - it's also thanks to Simply Sarah that I am making my own comics, now. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart <3
skyangel at 9:35AM, July 11, 2017
IB: Thankyou, and you too! :) I started out on Friction, Heard and Yu+Me as well ELO. Others came and went though so often that I became very wary about following any more for quite a long while. did grieve when Takara abandoned her comics
fallopiancrusader at 9:41AM, July 8, 2017
I love the symbolism of this page! To me personally, it's very political, but that might just be my own personal projection. I grew up in San Francisco the 70's in the middle to the "flower power" scene, when the American underground comics movement exploded into being. Even though I was a child at the time, I felt a clear sense that I was witnessing a revolution. As a kid, I hated comic books because the only thing available was super-hero stuff, which I couldn't relate to. But suddenly that stranglehold was being cast off by independent artists. Suddenly, I was reading comics about feminism, gay rights, the sexual revolution, critiques of war, etc. I finally felt there were people out there who were writing comics about the things that I was actually witnessing in the real world around me. Simply Sarah (and many other webcomics as well) continues to buoy me for the same reason: a comic that actually addresses the stories and worlds that I care about and can relate to.
skyangel at 9:48AM, July 11, 2017
FC: It was pretty naive of me to think that such a famous pose could be used in a non-political way as the very pose says so much, whatever is on the flag. It really is such a powerful image. I totally agree with what you say and as LGBT comics are so available now it did make me pause to think what I used to read before the birth of webcomics! And it is the freedom we have to write any story we like without having to get some higher authority approval first that really makes webcomic sites so precious. I love Marvel and DC art and the most famous creations they have given us but I do feel the market is too saturated with the same kind of thing now. I got all excited last week to hear that a couple of guys in our town are opening a new comic book shop and then I read that they only intend to focus on Marvel and DC comics!!
Udyr at 5:40AM, July 8, 2017
What a beautiful drawing, love it. Its cute how they're standing on top of fiction haha. Its interesting this was one of my first LGBT webcomics and you're the only one who's still ongoing from back then (the first lgbt comics i remember online in 07). Simply Sarah will always be very special to me, started reading it back when I was 18 years old, now i'm 28 and im still reading it. It will be a sad day when Simply Sarah is finished, your comic was one of the things that inspired me to put comics online and to dare to actually do so. It felt so hard to find any LGBT comics back at that point in 2007 since it was fairly new so i was lucky to stumble into yours! Its good there's so much to choose from now, its interesting how it has transitioned from back in 07 up to this point!
skyangel at 9:54AM, July 11, 2017
Udyr: That's one of the things that always takes me aback the most, thinking that some readers were at school when this started and now they are grown up and in jobs,relationships, homes of their own! It makes 10 years suddenly seem like a huge span of time. Ironically though I don't notice it as much in my own life as I was pretty much in the same position 10 years ago as I am now, only with more sags and wrinkles!
KimLuster at 5:37AM, July 8, 2017
Wonderful tribute to an iconic image!! All good things are usually attained after a struggle!!
skyangel at 9:55AM, July 11, 2017
Thanks Kim, and that's very true! :)
BearinOz at 5:17AM, July 8, 2017
I love the pic. I love all the old comics - part of my youth over there too, of course. But are they an "Iwo Jima" conquered by the LGBT flag ? Hmmm....I guess they kind of are, after reading your text above. Conquering the old stereotypes as you mention. Even as a kid, I think I was the only boy who noticed (and missed) Prof. Peabody, the female scientist in Dan Dare, when she was removed. B-) ...maybe B.E.is part of that too ?