Posted in: Comics | Tagged:

On The Inventor Of The High Five, Queer Tropes, And Happy Endings

Published Sun, 12 Mar 2017 09:00:39 -0500

Zora Gilbert writes,

The high five didn't always exist. If you're reading this, and you're over the age of 40, it didn't even always exist in your lifetime.

In 1977, Glenn Burke raised his hand and clapped palms with Dusty Baker moments after Baker circled the bases to round out a spectacular home run in Dodgers stadium. After that the gesture took off, securing itself in the heart of American habit through the magic of sports TV and cultural diffusion. It followed Burke to the Castro, where he moved after ending his short-lived baseball career, and took on a life of its own as the Dodgers' trademarked logo.

So, Zora, you say. You edit queer comics. Why are you so interested in Glenn Burke?

Well, dear reader, it's because Glenn Burke was gay.

It's no secret. Most people who know who Burke was also know about his sexuality—he wasn't subtle while he was technically in the closet, and he came out publicly in 1982. What people don't know, though, is that this gesture that's as easy as breathing for most of the western world is the legacy of an openly gay man. And that's cool as heck.

See, queer folks have been living happily and changing the world for as long as people have existed, in any place you can name (and in most that you can't). And the fact that it might be news is why my co-editor, Cat Parra, and I started Dates.

Last year, we published Dates! An Anthology of Queer Historical Fiction, raising almost 2.7 times our $10,000 goal in barely a month on Kickstarter. Dates is a series about queer people finding affirmation and acceptance throughout time and across the world. It's our way of reminding the world that we have always been here, living our lives and changing the lives of others. Now, we bring you Volume 2. Volume 2, themed around progress, is specifically about queer folks affecting change in their lives, their communities, and their worlds—whether that change is personal, technological or societal. It's a love letter—or a thank you note—to all the amazing queer people, known or unknown, who built the world into what it is today.

We started Dates when we had reached our limit, exhausted with the one-note queer representation in media—especially in historical fiction. We were fed up with feeling that spark of identification with a character, having our hopes climb that maybe this one will make it out and be happy, and then seeing them dashed down by a plague, or a loose arrow, or that tired classic: period typical homophobia. We were also acutely aware that in a large part, these queer characters were white, cis, and from the west, which entirely obfuscates identities from other cultures and histories.

So we designed an anthology of comics, illustrations, and prose with three rules:
1. The pieces had to be historical fiction, set before 1965.
2. The protagonists or focal figures had to be queer, at least by our western understanding.
3. There could be no tragic endings.

And y'all, we found that people were just as excited about positive queer media as we were. Dates 1 and, now, Dates 2 are full of amazing stories from more than 30 creators that take place on five continents, spanning much of human history (right up to 1964, of course), and starring characters kids and adults alike. While you won't find Glenn Burke in Dates 2—he came around just a little too late—you will find stories about nonbinary seafarers off the North American coast, gruff translators in 13th century Spain, and Japanese women soldiers-turned-teachers.

At the time of writing this, Dates 2 is just 2% away from hitting its base goal of $22,000, but we're still far from being able to reprint Dates 1 (at $37,000). So if you want stories about queer folks dodging tragic tropes and finding happy endings, head on over and back the book! It's just $10 for a PDF, $25 for a paperback, or $30 for the book and some sweet bonus comics. If you want to see more previews, or just get to know our creators a little better, you can also pop over to our blog.

Dates has been a labor of love for us, and we're very grateful for the support we've received. To our contributors, who not only made the book happen but made it absolutely beautiful, and to our fans and backers who help us carry on: thank you for reading this, and we hope you love the project as much as we do.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!