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The Internet has often served to provide a space in which members of a marginal group might
resist stereotypes and (re)construct their identities without being constrained by the dominant
culture (Nakamura 2002, Bell 2001, Turkle 1995). This identity work is shaped not just by the
already existing structures participants seek to escape or subvert, or by the dynamics of online
communities, groups and networks, but also by the technology itself. Though a wide range of
online groups have been studied in terms of their social structure, discursive behavior, or
political activity, comparatively little attention has been paid to how technology itself interacts
with the structure of an online community and channels participant behavior in certain directions
rather than others. In cases where this dynamic has been explored, the focus has been almost
exclusively on how corporations have tried to channel the behavior of individual users (Bruns
2008, Schaefer 2009). Looking at the way Sequential Tartis designing for participation can
reveal to what extent users can leverage their own participation and even channel the behavior of
corporations in response to their resistant activities. Further, this research examines the way
members of Sequential Tart exhibit many characteristics of heterogenous participation (Schaefer
2008) . Tart has defined itself as stated below in an epigraph that appears at the top of every
issue, and which makes clear their resistant position and their own recognition of differences
among participants:
sequential tart (si-kwen'shel tart) n. -- 1. a Web Zine about the comics industry
published by an eclectic band of women; 2. a publication dedicated to providing
exclusive interviews, in-depth articles and news, while working towards raising
the awareness of women's influence in the comics industry and other realms.1
1 Also a pun on the description of comic books as 'sequential art' and on 'tart' as a
derogatory term for women who are too forward
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(www.sequentialtart.com)
In fact, the topics covered are now far broader than comic books, including film, television,
music, books, events, and a variety of cultural phenomena ranging from Olympic scandals to a
grandmother's feelings about her first computer. But, to understand participation in this webzine,
we need to first understand what motivated its creation.
Strong Roots in Feminism and Fan Culture
Comic book culture has long been recognized as the province of fanboys, who almost by
definition are hostile towards women (Jenkins 2001) and their domination of an already marginal
social group (comic book fans) has become ever more vexing to women as their position with
regard to gender equality improved in other areas. Faced with a stubborn adherence to gender
stereotypes, many women disengage from comic book culture, but the founders of Tart chose
instead to create an alternate space in which other voices could be heard. Feminist scholar Teresa
de Lauretis has argued that this step is crucial for women:
I believe that to envision gender (men and women) otherwise, and to (re)construct it in termsother than those dictated by the patriarchal contract, we must walk out of the male-centeredframe of reference in which gender and sexuality are (re)produced by the discourse of malesexuality...(de Lauretis, 1987, 17).
Sequential Tartwas founded in 1997 by a group of women who all belonged to another comic
book-centered email list who "didn't like their [Wizardmagazine's] extremely limited coverage of
the [comic book] medium" and how "we just couldn't find a magazine about comics that we liked
to read, one that talked about the kinds of comics we were reading, in the way we wanted to see
them discussed" (Keller, 2002). These women agreed that stereotypes about the comic books
women were or ought to be reading largely accounted for this lack; the male-dominated industry
assumed women preferred cute and fluffy comics, while at the same time some voices railed
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is applied, from the first participants in Sequential Tartexhibited a passionate commitment to
changing perceptions of women comic book characters and creators through publication of
commentaries, reviews and interviews. In generating this original material while engaging with
corporate artifacts, the Tarts represent a clear example of convergence, in which corporate
producers use every possible medium to attract and hold an audience, while members of the
audience appropriate material from all kinds of sources and media to create new content (Jenkins
2001). Sequential Tartrepresents a pioneering effort in the latter category that continues to this
day in its work to reclaim popular media by reinterpreting it and re-inscribing its meaning to suit
their own interests and ends, rather than those of corporate producers.
Firm resistance is required of any fan who disagrees with the practices of major comic book
publishers.2 In the comic book industry, some of the most aggressive marketing strategies can be
observed, particularly now that so many film adaptations of superhero comics have been
produced. Will Brooker further elaborated the dynamics of fan responses to convergence in his
discussion of 'overflow,' the process through which a media corporation tries to control fan
experiences of product that primarily exists in one medium, by flooding other media with
associated content. For example, in conjunction with the broadcast of a new Doctor Who Series
in 2005, the BBC launched extensive webpages associated with the series, along with novels
based on the show, guides to monsters of the show, action figures, and so forth. By flooding all
media channels with corporate products, the BBC hopes to cash in on any possible interest fans
might have in buying products related to a program they enjoy. More importantly, they may
preclude fan production of competing products and interpretations. This strategy is especially
2 The two largest US comic book publishers are DC and Marvel; the former is a subsidiary of Time-Warner whilethe latter is a subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment, self-described as a "mini-Disney." (Raviv 2002)
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evident in the way fans are invited on the website to vote for favorite episodes or characters,
suggest new monsters and otherwise participate. Not incidentally, fans of the show at the same
time provide demographic information and useful feedback to the shows producers. In comics,
this kind of strategy has often been enacted based on very narrow assumptions about the gender
of readers or what might interest women readers3. So in fact, women feel excluded even from
this corporately controlled manner of participation. When women encounter overflow in the
comic book industry, the ways in which it does not suit them are usually blatant, often offensive,
and may lead to open rebellion, as in the case ofSequential Tart. As will be discussed, the
activities that have been spawned in this rebellion place Tart's user activities mainly within the
categories of accumulation and construction, and later technical developments allow an element
of archiving to develop (Schaefer, 2008, 2.2).
However, Sequential Tartdid not begin in order to explicitly resist media overflow and they did
not merely reject the way women were represented. Instead they focused on the responses of
women readers and opened a dialogue in which problematic representations of women could be
discussed without denying or outlawing the enjoyment women take in comic books. Thus rather
than rejecting comic books themselves, they reclaim and redefine the medium. In addition to
creating their own space apart from, yet intersecting the world of 'fanboys,' the Tarts also
promote women taking control of the way others respond to and interpret real women as icons or
objects.
Or as founding Tart Katherine Keller succinctly put it, 'instead of just bitching and pissing about
3 A recent example would be some of the merchandise produced for the last Spiderman movie, including onestatue of a scantily clad Mary Jane washing Peter Parker's spider suit by hand.http://www.sideshowtoy.com/?page_id=4489&sku=68181#
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how much we were dissatisfied with the current state of comics journalism we decided, WTF,
let's do something.' But tackling this reclamation is easier said that done, and plenty of groups
and websites devoted to empowering a subaltern group have come and gone over the years, as
have numerous magazines and websites devoted to comic book culture. Sequential Tart's unusual
longevity was recognized as early as 2001 at the San Diego ComicCon, at which the Tarts were
invited to present a panel on how they had survived for 4 years alreadyat that time an eternity
for online communities and journals.
This history may suggest that from the start, members have been unified in their motivations and
in their goals, but this is far from true. Among the core of the staff, most resent gender (and
other) stereotyping in comic books, but many of them still love superhero comics which have
often been the worst in this way. Some want to make sure women and other under-represented
groups are more able to participate in the industry itself as creators, editors, journalists and what
have you. A few of the more casual participants have these goals and motives as well, but many
simply wanted a space where they can voice opinions that had previously been ignored because
they did not match what the industry wanted to project or the sexist opinions typical in the wider
comic book fan culture. The most unifying motivation and goal are a love of the comic book
medium and a desire to promote greater appreciation of comic books in mainstream culture.
Tart's continued survival and growth in the face of continued gender stereotyping, increasing
efforts of media conglomerates to cash in on comics, and the varying goals members hold and
levels of participation they can offer depends on Sequential Tart's roots in both fan culture and
feminist practice, how Tartmanages its relationship to the 'real' world, and how it has designed
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participation into the platform on which the webzine is published. Examining in more detail the
kinds of activities carried out by the Tarts, and the way they have designed their publishing
platform, further suggests that groups like Sequential Tartmay endure not in spite of
heterogenous participation from users and an ambiguous relation with the industry, but because
of them.
Entering the Land of Sharp-Tongued Women
As the magazine developed, the Tarts have made several choices that distinguish their
community from other similar sites. Most of these choices boil down to emphasizing
accessibility (for writers and readers) both in "policy" and in technical design. Along with their
determination to combat gender stereotypes, an important and explicit goal for all Tarts is
encouraging other people to read and enjoy comic books, and promoting this agenda is behind
most policy decisions. For example, from the beginning Sequential Tartportrayed itself as
professional site, including a masthead listing credits and contact information for the staff and all
writers. In addition to making individual contacts easy, the Tarts invite readers to participate by
providing a link in every article for readers to click if the reader wishes to respond, or if they
wish to open a new thread in the associated bulletin board system (BBS), Tartsville. Those who
choose to respond directly to the article are then asked if they would like their response printed
in the next issue. Not only does Sequential Tartprint every response in the "Going Postal"
section, but authors of of the article in question always write back. Readers may even be invited
to write an article themselves after this kind of interchange. In this way readers may make a very
small and easy contribution and are assured a response that often then prompts further
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participation.
Along with encouraging participation, this willingness to hear and respond to all voices gives
Tart the credibility to make quite pointed critiques of both the comic book industry and of
individual creators. Consider Figure 1, which pokes fun at the hyper-developed breasts women
now sport in many mainstream comics. In this illustration the realistic proportions of Wonder
Woman4 are contrasted with the oddly proportioned figures in the center,5 which also appear in a
real comic book. A future heroine is following this line of evolution has been supplied by the
article's author, Lisa Jont. It is humorous, but also makes a real argument about the illusionary,
or perhaps delusionary proportions many artists assign to female characters. Jont frames her
critique as the findings of a committee charged with studying the mutagenic effects of
environmental disaster on super heroines. The dry humor of her report is capped by the stinging
mockery of the following footnote:
While some heroine's breasts are merely abnormally large, some are so distorted
that they appear to have become separate entities from their host bodies, with an
all-round cleavage that suggests that said breasts are in fact completely
detachable. This researcher witnessed a pair of the aforementioned 'balloon'
breasts as they broke free of their minimal restraint and wafted gently
heavenward. After several moments of frustrated calling, (in which the breasts did
not return) the owner, one Vengeancia, was forced into pursuit of the truant ta-tas
("Bizarre Breasts," Sequential Tart7/01)
Note that in the footnotes mentioning 'Vengeancia,' Jont, herself a professional illustrator, takes
4 Wonder Woman #166 by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito, DC Comics
5 Avengelyne: Armageddon #2 by Scott Clark, Extreme Studio.
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aim at Scott Clark, creator of 'Avengelyne,' for being so poor an artist. Rather than commenting
directly on the inherent sexism of Clark's illustration, Jont makes the argument that the
proportions he represents are not only unreal, but can only be the product of an environmental
disaster, which makes the world of his comic series dystopian in a way Clark probably didn't
intend. Thus we see an example of how Sequential Tartrevises the response to representation of
women in comic books. Establishing credibility and maintaining authority are important
activities in fan culture, but as will be addressed later, they also lead to a visible influence on
comic book publishers.
Identity Correction
In 1997 Lovink and Garcia defined tactical media as:
Tactical Media are what happens when the cheap do it yourself media, made possible by
the revolution in consumer electronics and expanded forms of distribution (from public
access cable to the internet) are exploited by groups and individuals who feel aggrieved
by or excluded from the wider culture. Tactical media do not just report events, as they
are never impartial they always participate and it is this that more than anything separates
them from mainstream media (Lovink and Garcia 1).
By definition, Sequential Tartis a tactical media group, and like others, they practice "identity
correction," changing the public performance and reception of established and well known
identities, such as those of large corporations. Some tactical media groups like the Yes Men are
famed for their hijacking of corporate identities and performing outrageous stunts in that guise.
However, members of the Tart staff practice another kind of correction in the way they represent
their own identities. Rather than co-opting an existing identity or creating and presenting new
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identities, the Tarts rewrite the interpretations made of their own original identities. The staff
biographies allow the Tarts to transform their real selves into superheroines, lest readers have any
doubt. These actions are supported by technology; the webzine's extranet has an easy user
interface for creating these revised identities, which then are automatically linked from the
masthead. Transforming interpretations rather than identities allows the Sequential Tart
community to change perceptions through exemplary and often humorous behavior. Though not
as highly publicized, these corrections have helped to empower individual Tarts to become more
successful and influential, and will be discussed later.
Sometimes however the critique is more serious and direct than identity correction; In the
excerpt below, Rebecca Salek makes her criticism explicit when she comments on Wizard
Magazine's list of ten greatest comic book heroines, arguing against their interpretation of what
defines a great heroine:
But why only mainstream characters? Why only spandex-or kevlar-clad super
heroines? Why only current characters? And why are they all white (with the
exception of Cassandra Cain)?
***
There are other kinds of heroines besides super heroines. Police officers, for
instance. Comic books are filled with strong female police detectives not to
mention private detectives. Space ship captains. Spies. Archaeologists. Witches.
Elves. Goddesses. Angsty teenagers. And ordinary women who struggle through
the pain and joy and uncertainty of everyday life.
In the above passages Salek addresses the basic and obvious problem of racial exclusion, but
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perhaps more importantly, she points out a lack that may not be so obvious to casual comic book
readers, and that is the poverty of storylines built around women. By focusing only on busty
white super heroines, Wizard sends the message that no other women are at all interesting. In
fact, by this measure, no real women are interesting or worth our admiration. By this standard,
nothing that real women might actually do deserves to be chronicled; strong admirable women
exist only in fantasies. Salek goes on to consider how this contemporary Top 10 List does not
even reflect the minimal progress made by the mainstream comic book publishers in representing
women and people of color:
There are other heroines besides white heroines, even at the mainstream
publishing houses; the presence of Cassandra Cain on the list attests to that fact.
No black or African-American women? ... Are comics so white-biased
(historically, even unconsciously) that there are no credible Native American,
Hispanic, African-American or other contenders?
The answer seems to be an unfortunate yes. Historically, the protagonists were all
white men, while white women filled the role of sidekick/Girl Friday/ girlfriend-
in-peril. The industry was slow to respond to the critiques of the Civil Rights and
Women's Rights Movements. ...
[And now] Nine over-bosomed super powered white women, and one Asian
teenager.
You've come a long way, baby.
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***
So, I'll end the article this way, instead. I want you all to do something for me.
Everyone who reads this article draw up your own list. Send it in to Tart. Send
it to Wizard. Send it to every comic or pop culture or art list to which you
subscribe. Share it with all your friends. Get a conversation going. Talk about
these characters, these women what you like about them, what you admire,
why they are important to you. The more conversation, the more debate, the
better. The louder the conversation, the more attention it will attract, and The
Powers That Be will take notice. They'll notice just how important these
characters are to us and treat them with more respect and dignity. Give
languishing characters a second chance. Maybe even invent a few new role
models for our daughters (Salek, Sequential Tart, April 2002).
This article was published on 1 April, 2002. By 10 April, 68 responses had been posted on the
Tartsville BBS offering a wide array of admired heroines, and sharing what individual posters
liked most about them. This public BBS serves to strengthen the community around Sequential
Tart by helping readers to connect with each other and with the Tarts themselves. Further, the
BBS is another way to recruit new writers for the webzine and to communicate the feelings of
the Tarts and there readers into the larger comic book industry. The line between the Tarts, their
readers, and members of the industry is often quite blurry, and interactions among them are
generally characterized by a far friendlier tone than is typical between users and corporate
producers.
The Industry Takes Notice
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In creating such an atmosphere the Tarts give power to others just as they want power given to
them, and in doing so, create a community that is far more attractive to other fans than those
communities based on competition over who has been there longest, or is most knowledgeable in
comic book trivia, or what have you. In other words, alternate viewpoints and identities are
welcome. This dynamic may represent an example of 'TechnoVolksgeist' as described by Peter
Lunenfeld, which he proposes as a way to understand digital cultures: "the communal sensibility
that develops as individuals struggle to form groups with others with whom they share a deep
culture" (8). Lunenfeld argues that digital culture generally has been characterized by a gift
economy in which prestige is the most valued commodity; prestige is acquired through the
demonstration of programming skill. In this economy, prestige is important because many
websites , lists, and other forms of community services are provided through the volunteer work
of members, and money rarely enters the equation (7). Sequential Tartfits the definition in so far
as all the Tarts volunteer their time and expertise, whether they are writing, doing illustrations
and graphics, programming, or administration. But as Lunenfeld points out, any community can
deteriorate into nationalism or xenophobia, and certainly hostility to outsiders is a familiar
attitude in some online communities. In this scenario, members often perform their prestige
through flamewars, taunting newbies, and acting intolerant those technologically
inexperienced, apparently having to defend their status constantly. Because the Tarts wanted
their own heterogenous views, motivations, and contributions to be recognized, acceptance and
even encouragement of heterogeneity shaped both social and technical practices and is now
deeply embedded in both the community and the online platform. This in turn attracts more
participants.
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In the Sequential Tartcommunity, each member does not have to maintain her own prestige,
rather the community offers positive reinforcement for all its members, based on appreciation for
good writing, editing, drawing, and programming, but also on behaving in a reliable, courteous,
and supportive way. Because the boundaries of this community are so fluid, the practices of the
community mayn expand into the larger comic book culture. Perhaps more importantly when it
comes to catching corporate attention, because Sequential Tart is know to be a safe zone for
participants, comic book creators are very willing to be interviewed and to contribute original art,
which substantially increases Tart's authority in the eyes of fans and comic book publishers alike.
So, while Sequential Tartwas not founded to explicitly resist a hegemonic industry, it has
facilitated resistance by creating a space in which other views are welcomed and given voice,
and allowing the views to be heard outside that space. In creating this space and strengthening
these voices, the Tarts act to subvert the dominant narrative of the comic book industry. In
Writing a Woman's Life, Carolyn Heilbrun defines women's writing as subversive whenever they
privilege it over interactions with men (44). More broadly, we can define the writing of any
group as subversive when members privilege their own words and stories over that of the
dominant group. So whether that Tarts are writing against a corporate worldview or not, they are
choosing to privilege their own responses to comic books and culture generally, over any
stereotypical views that others might try to assign. Because it has lasted so long and has been
growing steadily, Tarthas caught the attention of the mainstream comic book industry itself and
has demonstrated to publishers focused on the bottom line that other readers beyond young white
men matter as well.
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The Growing Influence of Sharp-Tongued Women
Evidence of this growing influence can be seen in the reprinting of reviews and interviews from
Sequential Tarton the websites of comic book publishers and creators. For example, theElfquest
website posted a two-part interview with well-known creators Wendy and Richard Pini originally
published in Sequential Tart.Elfquestis a venerable comic that has been around since 1977,
perhaps the first series to really take off independently of comic book publishing giants DC and
Marvel. The Elfquest website has now reprinted the interview; allowing a lengthy interview by
Tart Dani Fletcher and then posting it on their own website illustrates the high regard Sequential
Tartnow enjoys. Dani's interview with the Pinis also demonstrates another reason creators are so
cooperative with and supportive of Sequential Tart; when Tart assigns an interview, they send
someone who knows the comic, and they solicit questions from anyone else on the staff who has
an interest, so that unlike the elementary and dull questions that typify interviews in popular
magazines, creators enjoy a conversation with interviewers who are already familiar with their
work and often with other interviews they have given. The positive response of individual
creators has expanded to publishers as well.
Many publishers displayed their respect for and trust ofSequential Tartduring MegaCon 2002
(A national comic book convention in the southern US). For the first time, Sequential Tart
experimented with running a booth, and focused their efforts (as always) on outreach. The Tart
staff gathered and compiled nineteen recommended reading lists divided by genre, each with
about 5 titles listed with a brief description and a 'if you like X, try Y' tagline. When they
contacted the creators of the series to let them know they had been selected, the response was
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was gratifying; many creators and publishers contributed comic books and graphic novels to be
given out as free samples. Editor Lee Atcheson reported afterward that:
Creators such as Colleen Doran (A Distant Soil), Terry Moore (Strangers in
Paradise), Carla Speed McNeil (Finder), and Alex Robinson (Box Office Poison) and
publishers such as DC Comics (Sandman, Lucifer, Starman, The Authority), CrossGen
(Meridian), CPM Manga (Aquarium, Dark Angel), Oni Press (Whiteout, Hopeless
Savages) and Fantagraphics (The Evil Eye, Safe Area Gorazde) were just a few of the
many people and publishers who contributed comics to our booth (Atcheson, Sequential
Tart, April 2002).
An even greater show of support was enjoyed at the 2003 San Diego ComicCon (an international
comic book and pop culture convention) when to celebrate its five year anniversary, Sequential
Tartran an even more elaborate booth than at MegaCon. In addition to publishers donating many
comics and graphic novels, many comic book creators volunteered their time for signings and
their autographed works for a free raffle. The booth also received rave reviews from members of
the BBS community, who relished the chance to meet the Tarts in person.
The positive response from publishers is not so surprising; Sequential Tart provided them with
some great free publicity as well as valuable stamp of approval. This kind of exchange takes
place less explicitly as well in the steady stream of free items (including comic books, dvds, free
movie tickets, press passes, and so on) sent to staff members in the hopes of garnering a good
review, and article, or an interview. This might create a conflict of interest, except that since
most of this material is entirely unsolicited, the staff feels no obligations to respond unless they
really enjoy the material, or unless they find it so egregious that a response is required.
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Since 2003, when Tart gained higher visibility, several staff members have moved into paid
editorial positions with other comics magazines, or have been hired comic publishers (as
creators). Further, one founder, Katherine Keller, was invited to sit on the panel judging
nominees for the Eisner Awards, the highest given in the comics industry. Thus we see that the
Tarts have moved beyond poaching from comic publishers and big media to sometimes taking
official roles in those industries, and in any case changing the industry perception of women.
They have helped the industry entertain the notion that audiences beyond the youthful male, and
creators beyond the generally white male, deserve attention and more importantly, respect.
The interdependent relationship that has evolved between Sequential Tart and the industry differs
markedly from the often adversarial dynamic seen in the music or film industry. Two factors
explain this: the Tarts never infringe on copyright and they quite clearly are always trying to
promote comic books as a medium, a goal they have in common with any comic book publisher
or creator.
Unlike many other forms of entertainment or publishing, the comic book industry has always
been characterized by highly permeable borders between fans, creators and publishers; a do-it-
yourself approach; and a complicated, ambivalent relationship with copyright laws. Since the
1950s at least, fans of and participants in this industry have long been grappling with issues
often assumed to have been made prominent by the expansion of the web.
Comic book creators have never needed institutional credentials to get started. Even
the major American publishers, Marvel and DC, still find new talent by trawling conventions
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and now websites for talented writers, illustrators, inkers, etc. Because fans become creators
with relative ease, they feel a far greater sense of ownership over the media and tend to be
more active in related organizations or communities. At the same time, because comic book
publishers have a long record of abusing the rights of individual creators, and comic book
history has been peppered by many bitter and highly publicized lawsuits, both fans and creators
are far more aware of intellectual property issues. In fact, legal disputes over rights are such a
problem for individual writers and artists that many well known creators and publications,
including Sequential Tart, have commented publicly on the problem in an effort to educate
others and prevent novice creators from losing control of their characters and series.6
But even though an adversarial relationship exists between publishers and creators, because
many members of the industry started as fans or creators or both, they share many unspoken
but shared beliefs. Chief among these is the sense that comic books occupy a permanently
precarious position in American culture. Ever since the creation of the comics code in 195? in
order to protect children whom is was argued were the primary audience7, comic books and
their creators have lived under the constant threat of censorship and struggled to reclaim their
early status as a medium capable of producing sophisticated, thought-provoking, adult work.
Though the code was finally repealed in 198?, mainstream perceptions seemed fixed on the
idea that comic books are for kids. Though most creators, editors, and fans agree this is a
problem, corporate executives have realized that children have significant buying power, and
6 For example, Stan Lee, creator of Spiderman, filed a lawsuit against MarvelEntertainment in 2007 over his rights when the characters are licensed for use in other
media.
7 Frederick Wertham made this case most in his inflammatory and influential book,
Seduction of the Innocent, which led directly to creation of the code.
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so they pitch even adult series and movie adaptations towards younger audiences, perpetuating
both misconceptions about the audience for comic books and feeding the fears of those who
feel comics are a bad influence.8
Creator rights to characters or series are also recognized by publishers, creators, and fans as a
crucial issue, but the nature of those rights is hotly debated. In cases where a single person has
been responsible for creating a series, such as Neil Gaiman was forSandman, the vast majority
of fans agree that the stores and characters belong to Gaiman and his versions of both are
"canon," that is to say they are definitive, even if fans would have preferred something
different. Further, fans will often not share illegal digital copies of these works, or will share
them in addition to purchasing print copies because they don't wish to deprive the creator of
royalties or sales numbers. Again, because comics are always preceived as precarious, most
fans take a protective view of favorite creators and series.
However, characters and series that are own by a publisher and are created by a revolving set of
writers and artists are regarded quite differently. These are considered fair game for parody,
slash versions, and other appropriations, not to mention extensive file-sharing. Members of
Sequential Tart have a complicated view on this latter situation. While many of the Tarts
privately might engage in any or all of these, only parody occurs with any regularity and
occasionally slash versions are mentioned in the webzine itself, while file-sharing is not
mentioned at all. In fact there have been heated but private debates about piracy in the staff
email list, but none of these have yet been made public because agreement has not even been
8 The most recent Batman film, the Dark Knight, is a case in point.
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and retailers, or organizing readers to influence those entities. But all of this positive activity
would be short-lived if Tart was not designed to make participation easy for its own staff.
Keeping the Door Open
Any online community is bound to affected by issues of access, and Sequential Tartis no
exception. Barriers to participation can be both social and technological and the Tarts are always
working to help potential readers overcome these hurdles. The e-zine and the BBS are relatively
low tech on the front end, not requiring special plug-ins or software for viewing, which makes
them easier for readers to access. Far more importantly, access is also eased for contributors.
Tart has always been a work of love, depending on the volunteer efforts of women who can
write, or code, or create graphics, or otherwise contribute needed labor. In its early days, each
monthly edition was jointly authored via several mailing lists, one for discussion among all
members, one for monthly staff, one for submissions, and one just for editrices. The editrices
then coded the html pages by hand, which was enormously time-consuming, even after they
taught even the least technically inclined Tarts to use the webzine's standard tags. An even
greater burden fell on Lee Atcheson, who has been webmistress from the start. She created the
entire Tart website from scratch, hosted it on her server, which she also administered. This
continued until 2002 when she created (again from scratch) a web-based system for submitting
reviews that maintained a database of information entered in each text field.
The addition of online submission forms for reviews (and later for articles) ensures that all
pertinent information is supplied, saves contributors from having to worry about formatting, and
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fans because with every month of reviews and articles they add to a growing archive of data
about comic books and popular culture. This growing archive of reviews not only aids other
reviewers as described above, but also benefits Sequential Tart's readers. New reviews are
published each week, but readers may also go to the Reviews Section where they can filter the
archive by genre (movie, comic book, manga, website, and numerous others), and then sort the
results by reviewer, grade, title, or again genre. Being able to access the reviews this way is
useful not only for casual readers or fans, but also for those who wish to carry out more serious
research. Comic books are not catalogued the way books or periodicals are, and many publishers
don't maintain very accessible records of publication data. Thus being able to find any records
at all, let alone records that can be accessed online, is a great benefit. The reviews and articles are
especially important because Tart emphasizes drawing attention to overlooked or marginal
creators and titles, many of which are not documented elsewhere.
Perhaps as importantly, the Tarts do not scold people who are inexperienced with computers or
with writing. While many of them are by their own admission rather geeky, the Tarts recognize
that not everyone has the interest or the money to get very involved with computers. So when
people make mistakes in contributions they post, someone typically will explain via email the
correct way of contributing an article or formatting the text, if the issue exceeds what is covered
by the submission system. Further, extensive documentation on how to write various kinds of
articles is available in the extranet, and contributors can get help via the list with the content of
their article, not just the technical aspects. The Tarts allow any women who is interested to write
for them, regardless of whether that woman's preferences in comic books matches anyone else's
or not, and regardless of technical expertise. This openness might lead to the magazine becoming
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have full-time jobs and greater responsibilities there, along with long-term relationships and
sometimes children. In order to avoid participants burning out and to accommodate these
changes, some senior Tarts have traded roles , have trained assistants, or have even stepped down
to become occasional contributors, for short or long periods. In a social sense as well,
heterogenous participation has been explicitly recognized and accommodated.
In the already marginal world of comic books, women have used the web to create sites like
Sequential Tartto subvert the stereotypes and overcome technical barriers that prevent women's
greater participation. Rather than trying to regularize participation, they have instead created a
technical platform that supports heterogenous efforts from staff members, and also explicitly
encourages participants to participate at whatever level they can offer. Sequential Tart illustrates
how users can harness their own free labor by designing a system to support heterogenous
participation. But this case also shows how an ambiguous relationship between users and
produces may be not only a natural consequence of user participation in a culture industry, but in
fact a crucial ingredient ensuring the survival of industry and fans alike.
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http://www.sequentialtart.com/bb_0701.shtml
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