Comic-Style Pride Postcards: A Q&A with NorthWest Press

Last week, NorthWest Press announced they’d be releasing Pride Postcards, a way that each of us can have colorful images of Pride sent directly to people we care about all over the country.

The idea is for backers to let NW Press know where to send Pride Postcards for their family and friends; then they’ll be printed and mailed directly from the vendor to those addresses, postage paid. The postcards will be machine-handled to avoid contamination. Rewards range from $5 for a single card to $50 for thirty, and you can even provide a short, personalized message for each address!

Rather than hold Pride over Zoom meetings and email, NW Press has provided a great way for something bright and fabulous and real to land in our loved ones’ mailboxes all over the country as a reminder that our community can still celebrate.

Also, it’s an opportunity to support LGBTQ comic artists when opportunities might be scarce. NW Press is starting with five artists who are creating brand-new images of Pride for the project and will add more artists and images if the campaign exceeds its goal. We chatted with Joey and Zan of NW Press to learn more about the goal behind this project.

What inspired this project?
Joey: I’d been feeling a bit overwhelmed with Pride being canceled all over the country, for obvious reasons. My friend John Jennison suggested we do some guerilla art along what would have been the parade route: messages of hope/empowerment and love. As we talked, I realized what I really wanted was to make my friends feel loved at a time when we’re having to forgo a lot of what makes Pride special. I reached out to Zan to talk about sending postcards, and he helped create the pitch and firm up a plan to make it possible.

What can you tell us about the artists you have onboard already?
Zan: Of course, we have John, who’s an artist in his own right, and we wanted to have a piece of his in the mix. Joey and I both knew Tana Ford, who started doing her own indie comics and is now also doing great work for Marvel and Dark Horse. Diego Gómez and Sina Grace both had short stories in the last Northwest Press anthology, the LGBTQ horror book Theater of Terror, and I love working with them. And Joey was able to get Bishakh Som, who has had work published all over the place and has an amazing, dreamlike style.

How do you hope to celebrate Pride amidst the coronavirus?
Joey: By sending these postcards, calling friends, sending nudes, and probably eating a lot of cake, honestly.

Zan: I will be doing at least three of those four.

Who are some of your favorite comic book characters?
Zan: I started reading X-Men comics when I was a teenager, but I’ve been a Wonder Woman fan since way before then. My Dad was a little embarrassed that I watched the TV show as a kid, and always called her “Wonder Person.” My Mom was mad that I stretched out her blue, wool poncho because I was wearing it around my waist and twirling around like Diana Prince.

Joey: I love, love, love Iceman, and what Sina has done for him, but my favorite queer comic character is Mr. Sinister (from the X-Men comics), and you can’t tell me he isn’t [queer].

How do you hope to progress representation in the comic industry?
Joey: Creating support for queer artists is the key to this. Making it a viable career to create queer art allows queer artists to thrive and tell the stories that are overlooked by the mainstream.

Zan: Absolutely! Our creative folks need all the support they can get, especially now that a lot of freelancers are out of work and often can’t get unemployment assistance. There’s LGBTQ representation in comics at every level these days, but I always think the best, truest stories come from the indie comics, where people can express themselves exactly as they want.

Check out their Kickstarter, and order your own Pride Postcards here.