Dave Press

I think about cosplay as an almost uniquely female response to comics/games/etc. In every other dimension of society — especially the arts — women are celebrated for their skill and taste with fashion, style and craft. They dominate those areas of our world, and yet when it comes to the oh-so-sacred superhero thing (or related whatever), we rain down hellfire on these girls because it’s not something we would do or, more realistically, because it’s not something we understand. There are lots of things men and women do differently that are mutually misunderstood, often endearingly so, but for some reason cosplay is this insidious thing that must be policed. I think that women respond to comic book characters or games or animations by processing their enthusiasm into costumes and performance is fucking awesome. Cosplay injects much needed panache and indeed beauty into a scene that needed it very badly. Call it a woman’s touch, if you like. Harris’ direct antagonism towards cosplayers expresses a confounding way of thinking about women in comics, games, etc. that we cannot burn out this scene soon enough.

All the best artists I know NEVER stop working at their craft. They draw, and draw, and draw. It’s something they do their entire lives— always looking for how they can make their artwork better.
One of my role models is the famous animator, Chuck Jones. (He’s the guy who created the Road Runner and Wyle E. Coyote— and directed some of the BEST Bugs Bunny cartoons). He had a wonderful saying, “Every artist has a thousand bad drawings in them, and it’s good to get them out of the way as soon as possible.” That’s advice *I* use in my writing— and in any creative endeavor I try to start— you just keep at it, try your hardest, don’t let anything keep you back, and you produce, produce, produce! Okay, THAT said… It’s one thing to run a race as hard as you can, but if you’re not running in the RIGHT direction, you’ll never reach the finish line. Effort and passion are great— but you have to channel them in the right direction. For example, if there’s a problem with your art, then drawing that same problem a hundred times isn’t going to fix it. Does THAT make sense?

Because it annoys me. I find fishing like that annoying. I can’t like anyone who doesn’t like themselves. If you do not think you’re worthwhile, why should I? In spite of you? And why say it? What do you want? Do you want to feel better about yourself? Is that why we stayed up all night, talking? So I could say nice things about you?