Statistics Show the Difficulties for Cartoonists of Color

By: E&P Staff The cartoonists of color taking part in the Feb. 10 comics-page action say many newspapers run no more than one or two so-called minority strips.

In a Friday blog entry on the Washington Post Writers Group site, WPWG executive Karisue Wyson has the numbers to prove it.

Wyson -- who's manager of marketing, licensing, and sales at the syndicate -- reports that WPWG last June used a professional clipping service to survey how 1,413 daily newspapers used 238 comics.

"The results are as striking as they are disappointing," she writes in her blog post. "The numbers show that newspapers aren't likely to run strips with minority characters and are even less likely to run more than one strip if they do."

Specifically, the syndicate found last June that:

-- Only 330 (24%) newspapers ran at least one strip with minority characters/by a cartoonist of color.

-- Only 90 (6%) newspapers ran two or more of these strips.

-- No comics by cartoonists of color ran in newspapers surveyed in seven states.

-- Only two papers, the Chicago Sun-Times and The Washington Post, published four comics by cartoonists of color.

But Wyson doesn't think racism is the main reason. "Lack of attention and lack of understanding result in a bias that keeps many strips out of consideration for comics pages," she wrote. "When I say 'bias' I'm not talking about race. Bias comes in when an editor sees a syndicate kit and makes decisions based on the most cursory of reviews.

"It's seeing 'Peanuts,' 'Pooch Cafe,' and 'Little Dog Lost' as 'dog strips.' It's seeing 'Luann,' 'Cathy,' and 'Six Chix' as 'women strips.' It's seeing 'Candorville,' 'Watch Your Head,' and 'Herb and Jamaal' as 'black strips.' And it's this last pigeonholing that has some cartoonists takin' it to the funny pages."

Wyson continued: "Editors' attitudes have to change. If they see 'black' as the first and primary feature of a comic strip, rather than seeing it as a 'family,' 'college,' or 'animal' strip, it's unlikely to be added to their comics pages if the pages already have a strip with minority characters...."

The comics-page action was organized by WPWG cartoonists Cory Thomas ("Watch Your Head") and Darrin Bell ("Candorville"). About 10 creators will do cartoons similar to one created by Thomas to lampoon the way some newspaper editors erroneously think comics by cartoonists of color are "interchangeable."

Wyson's entire post can be seen here.