A.B.O. Comix is a fiscally‐sponsored non‐profit organization based in Oakland, California, that supports
LGBTQ
LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (sexuality and gender), questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, Asexuality, asexual, ...
prisoners by publishing their
creative works, advocating on their behalf, and providing a platform for global recognition of incarcerated artists. Founded in 2017, the organization produces an annual anthology of
queer
''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...
prisoner comics - with proceeds directly benefitting contributors through commissary donations - as well as individual
graphic novels
A graphic novel is a self-contained, book-length form of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comics scholars and ...
,
memoirs
A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobio ...
, and
nonfiction literature. It also disseminates a free quarterly newsletter containing resources, submission opportunities, updates, and artwork for prisoners.
History
A.B.O. Comix was founded in 2017 in Oakland by a small collective of queer activists and
comic artists
A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the literary ...
, including co-founder Casper Cendre. The project originated when the founders - drawing on years of experience in prison advocacy - began corresponding with incarcerated LGBTQ individuals through penpal programs. An initial call for submissions, placed in outlets such as the
Black and Pink
Black and Pink is a United States prison abolitionist organization supporting LGBTQ and HIV-positive prisoners. The group organizes a pen pal program, distributes a prisoner-written newspaper to its incarcerated members, provides court accompa ...
newspaper, resulted in a flood of letters and creative works from prisoners nationwide. This unexpected response encouraged the group to compile their first anthology, a project that evolved from a one‐off experiment into an annual publishing venture that not only showcases prisoner art but also channels funds back into the lives of its contributors.
Awards and recognition
A.B.O. Comix has earned recognition within both the comics and activism communities:The organization is a
Prism Award The Entertainment Industries Council is a United States non-profit organization founded in 1983 that promotes the depiction of accurate health and social issues in film, television, music, and comic books. The Council provides guidelines on the depi ...
winner (2019 and 2021) for Best Anthology and was nominated for the 2021
Ignatz Award
The Ignatz Awards recognize outstanding achievements in comics and cartooning by small press creators or creator-owned projects published by larger publishers. They have been awarded each year at the Small Press Expo since 1997, only skipping a ...
in the categories of Outstanding Anthology and Outstanding Series.
A.B.O. Comix work has been profiled by outlets such as
KQED,
Nerdist
Nerdist Industries, LLC (also simply known as Nerdist) is part of the digital division of Legendary Entertainment. Nerdist Industries was founded as a sole podcast ( The Nerdist Podcast) created by Chris Hardwick but later spread to include a net ...
, NeoText Review,
Street Sheet, and
Women Write About Comics.
[{{Cite web , last=Morningstarr , first=Krysta , date=2017-11-16 , title= omicDiatribes of a Morning Starr , url=https://www.streetsheet.org/comic-diatribes-of-a-morning-starr/ , access-date=2025-02-23 , website=Street Sheet , language=en-US]
See Also
*
Prison abolition
The police and prison abolition movement is a political movement, mostly active in the United States, that advocates replacing policing and prison system with other systems of public safety. Police and prison abolitionists believe that policing a ...
*
LGBTQ rights in the United States
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights in the United States are at risk of erosion under the Second presidency of Donald Trump, with transgender rights being most at risk. While lesbian, gay and bisexual rights remain ad ...
*
Comics anthology
A comics anthology collects works in the medium of comics, typically from multiple series, and compiles them into an anthology or magazine. The comics in these anthologies range from comic strips that are too short for standalone publication to co ...
*
Artivism
Artivism is a portmanteau word combining "art" and "activism", and is sometimes also referred to as "social artivism".
History
The term artivism in US English has its roots in a 1997 gathering of Chicano artists from East Los Angeles and t ...
References
Prison abolition movement
LGBTQ rights in the United States
Publishing in the United States