By Lucas Gutiérrez Images: Secuencia Disidente In a traditionally male-dominated environment like comics, where it's often difficult to find references or characters that engage with dissident sexualities, a group of LGBTQ+ comic artists decided to come together to create, challenge, share, and raise awareness collectively. Their work quickly went viral on both online and offline networks. On Tuesday, December 12th at 7 pm, they will meet again, this time for an open event for LGBTQ+ comic artists from across Argentina. It will take place at the Recoleta Cultural Center (Buenos Aires), as part of the Comics and Sexual Diversity Conference. There's a bonus: in addition to showcasing the Secuencia Disidente digital anthology —the group's fan page—they will also present the anthology published by the Rosario Municipal Publishing House and the Sexual Diversity Department, resulting from the LGBTQ+ Comics Contest. There will also be talks, a book and zine fair, and a musical closing performance by Lola Bhajan and Sheila Rozensveig.

The community

LGBTIQ+ Comic Artists of Argentina was born in October 2017 as a closed Facebook group to bring together LGBTIQ, non-binary, and other creators. “The goals are to create community, raise awareness of how many of us there are and who we are. And from there, to activate things and generate a safe space to inhabit within the world of comics,” Luciano Vecchio, one of the group's founders, tells Presentes. Vecchio is 35 years old and works freelance for DC Comics. Among his personal creations are works like 'Sereno,' a superhero who challenges all norms, which can be found on the Tótem Comics website. “The group was inspired by the experience of participating in the festival. Let's go, girls!by female comic artists, which was a refreshing burst of energy and a paradigm shift in comic book events. And then, to find out that it was partly an emerging force from the closed group of female comic artists Tolendas Meats", says.

From competition to book

The LGBTQ+ comics scene is gaining ground on several fronts. The municipality of Rosario recently published the book "LGBTI Comics," featuring the ten winning strips from a contest. The first creation in this anthology is by Paula Suko (aka Sukermercado). Cumbia, young people, transvestites, and the vibrant colors of a dance hall poster come together in a story light-years away from the heteronormative concepts so common in the world of comics. This 23-year-old designer and animator says that "discovering this group of LGBTQ+ comic artists meant finally finding a place where I can talk about more concrete and 'nerdy' comic book issues without having to endure the misogyny and homophobia that exists in many comic book spaces. We need to keep creating spaces like this." Upon meeting and realizing there were many of them and that there was already a significant body of work, they decided to create an open fan page to showcase who they are, what they do, and invite others to discover more voices and artwork (both digital and traditional). And so it was born: Dissident Sequence. “The intention is that if we show our work together, it will gain more visibility and encourage us to produce more. Comics, humor, and fiction are fields we can reclaim as a collective to continue building our sex-dissident culture,” Vecchio explains about this new platform. “Where they told us the story before, now we tell it ourselves,” asserts the presentation of Secuencia Disidente, which opens with a compiled of glances at the Pride march. If we start scrolling, there will be Lemebeles sharing wall with higui, there are the strips of the artivist Effy Beth inhabiting the same space with new voices. There's a lot there, and it promises much more. Gabriela Binder is 43 years old, designs, manufactures, and sells handbags and cosmetic bags, and is the creator behind comic strips like Chica Trans and Cross Life, which are also part of Secuencia Disidente. “I like to define myself as an illustrator, perhaps even emphasizing being a comic artist, since I think being trans and underground go hand in hand,” Binder tells Presentes.

– Why do you consider it important to state that you are an LGBTIQ+ group?

Binder: “It’s not just any kind of comic, it’s a comic that is 'friendly' in many ways, so people will have the peace of mind of knowing that they will read something that will take care of them and contain them in a certain way.” Chicatrans It reflects everything from personal experiences to invented stories. “I try to use humor and sometimes sarcasm as a small critical weapon against things I notice in the collective,” Binder explains. Another artist who also draws on his personal perspective and experience to create universes in comic strips is cartoonist and caricaturist Rubén Gauna. His name is synonymous with bears and hunters in a comic book style.

"The space for identification that many kids need"

“I’ve always struggled to find role models in comics. Especially in the superhero genre, which is what I read most,” Gauna tells Presentes. And this is something that happens (has happened) to most of the authors who come together in this new space. “I think the emergence of LGBTQ+ comics will, on the one hand, create that space for identification that many young people need. And on the other hand, it will redefine the sexist position of many comic artists, which I hope will change from now on towards us.”“Gauna shares. In her own workshop, carpenter and blacksmith Maia Venturini Szarykalo tells Presentes that this is where her love, passion, and pride reside. At 37, this comic artist draws 'Scenes from Lesbian Life' and now shares it with Secuencia Disidente, contributing: “a lesbian perspective and voice, and an anti-neoliberal cry.” Maia started drawing three and a half years ago. At first, she would sit down and draw whatever came to mind, with no other aim than to make her lesbian friends laugh. “Heterosexual people have told me that after reading the comic, they’ve rethought a lot of things related to their heterosexual privilege and their heterosexist violence. Which pleasantly surprised me; I wasn’t expecting it,” she tells Presentes.

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A new league

Each week, Secuencia Disidente features interviews with its contributors. With the spirit of a heroic series filled with diverse and unique characters, this ever-growing team is built. Like a Lollapalooza for LGBTQ+ and dissident comics, the Secuencia Disidente fan page brings a multitude and variety of voices to the stage. The audience passionately likes Diego Trerotola, reads Patricio Oliver, Constanza Oroza, and more, listening intently to all the contributions. In addition to the comics, there will be events, workshops, calls for submissions, invitations, and new spaces to visit. We look forward to the festival on December 21st and 22nd. Queer InkThis Tuesday the 12th we can go to the presentation from the LGBTI+ comic book compilation published by sexual diversity area of ​​the municipality of Rosario along with the public inauguration of Secuencia Disidente.

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And every week, every day, discovering material from different authors. Many clues, too many universes, and a range of comics that create another rainbow.

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