Regine Sawyer

Last updated
Regine Sawyer
Occupation(s)Comic writer, manager, and entrepreneur

Regine L. Sawyer is an American comics writer, editor, and founder of Women in Comics NYC Collective International. [1] She is the author of The Rippers, Eating Vampires and Ice Witch. She is owner, writer, and creator for Lockett Down Productions, a small press company that employs all-female comic book artists with an emphasis on women of color. [2] She moderated the Women in Comics Panel at San Diego Comic Con in 2017.

Contents

Lockett Down Productions Publications was first established in December 2007 by Regine Sawyer. It made its public debut at New York Comic Con in April 2008. Sawyer created this multi-media company to specialize in comic books and promotional apparel. [3] LDP Publications has published several comics: The Rippers, Ice Witch, and Eating Vampires are all written and created by Sawyer. [4]

Women in Comics NYC Collective International or "WinC" is dedicated to giving a voice to women who work in the comic book industry and helping them better brand themselves and promote their projects. [2] Sawyer started this organization in May 2012 after hosting a Women in Comics Panel at Bronx Heroes Comic Con. At the panel, Sawyer recognized a highly underrepresented community of women of color in the comic book industry. WinC stresses being open to all women of any ethnicity, culture, or background with the goal of giving a monetary reason to continue in this field. [2] WinC has grown to have more than 100 members and holds workshops and panels all across the United States. [4]

Early life

Throughout her childhood, Sawyer expressed a passion for comics. She read them with her brother and her father would read the Sunday funnies to her. Her mother was a painter and encouraged her to read everything and anything. [5] Sawyer used her creativity to make her own characters along with stories and her own original illustrations. [4] She once convinced her mother to call the head of Marvel Comics to inquire if he wanted to buy any of her characters. [5]

College

Rather than pursuing a passion for comics, Sawyer attended college with the intention to "buckle down" and find a "real job". She received a bachelor's degree in technology and management which she used right after college when she received a job as a manager. [4]

After college

In 2006, Sawyer was reminded of her passion for comics after meeting Rob Taylor, owner of the independent comic company Superhuman Works. She accepted a job at his company where she would edit his scripts, scout for talent, take submissions from artists, and set up convention appearances for him. It only took a year for her to realize that this was something she could do. [4]

Career

She founded her own company, Lockett Down Productions, and published two comics, The Rippers and Eating Vampires. In 2012, Ray Felix, the executive director for Bronx Heroes Comic Con asked Sawyer to host a panel on women in the industry where she met numerous female comic creators and was inspired to create a space specifically for women in the comics industry. That year she founded Women in Comic Collective. [5]

Publications

Sawyer started writing The Rippers when she was 17-years old. In the series, an intergalactic, government-regulated bounty hunter named Rhiannon O'Cair is accused of a crime that she does not remember committing.

Her newest project is Eating Vampires, about a young girl named Evelyn who is the last of a race of Healers. Her vampire-eating guardian Rigel goes to great lengths in order to protect her from preternatural beings that want her dead.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dave Sim</span> Canadian cartoonist, creator of Cerebus

Dave Sim is a Canadian cartoonist and publisher, known for his comic book Cerebus, his artistic experimentation, his advocacy of self-publishing and creators' rights, and his controversial political and philosophical beliefs.

The Harvey Awards are given for achievement in comic books. Named for writer-artist Harvey Kurtzman, the Harvey Awards were founded by Gary Groth in 1988, president of the publisher Fantagraphics, to be the successor to the Kirby Awards which were discontinued in 1987.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marie Severin</span> American comic book artist (1929-2018)

Marie Severin was an American comics artist and colorist best known for her work for Marvel Comics and the 1950s' EC Comics. She is an inductee of the Will Eisner Comics Hall of Fame and the Harvey Awards Hall of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jo Chen</span> American comic book artist and writer

Jo Chen is an American comic book artist and writer best known for her highly detailed painted comic book covers. In the Japanese comic industry she is also known by the pen name TogaQ and is known as Jun Togai.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trina Robbins</span> American cartoonist and writer (1938–2024)

Trina Robbins was an American cartoonist. She was an early participant in the underground comix movement, and one of the first women in the movement. She co-produced the 1970 underground comic It Ain't Me, Babe, which was the first comic book entirely created by women. She co-founded the Wimmen's Comix collective, wrote for Wonder Woman, and produced adaptations of Dope and The Silver Metal Lover. She was inducted into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame in 2013 and received Eisner Awards in 2017 and 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maggie Thompson</span> American editor and columnist

Maggie Thompson, is an American longtime editor of the now-defunct comic book industry news magazine Comics Buyer's Guide, science fiction fan, and collector of comics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Friends of Lulu</span> American organization that promoted the participation of women in the comic book industry

The Friends of Lulu (FoL) were a non-profit, national charitable organization located in the United States, designed to promote readership of comic books by women and the participation of women in the comic book industry. FoL operated from 1994 to 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT themes in comics</span>

In comics, LGBT themes are a relatively new concept, as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) themes and characters were historically omitted from the content of comic books and their comic strip predecessors due to anti-gay censorship. LGBT existence was included only via innuendo, subtext and inference. However the practice of hiding LGBT characters in the early part of the twentieth century evolved into open inclusion in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, and comics explored the challenges of coming-out, societal discrimination, and personal and romantic relationships between gay characters.

<i>Ed the Happy Clown</i> Graphic novel by Canadian cartoonist Chester Brown

Ed the Happy Clown is a graphic novel by Canadian cartoonist Chester Brown. Its title character is a large-headed, childlike children's clown who undergoes one horrifying affliction after another. The story is a dark, humorous mix of genres and features scatological humour, sex, body horror, extreme graphic violence, and blasphemous religious imagery. Central to the plot are a man who cannot stop defecating; the head of a miniature, other-dimensional Ronald Reagan attached to the head of Ed's penis; and a female vampire who seeks revenge on her adulterous lover who had murdered her to escape his sins.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Comics in Australia</span>

Australian comics have been published since 1908 and Australian comics creators have gone to produce influential work in the global comics industry,

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lee Marrs</span> American cartoonist and animator

Lee Marrs is an American cartoonist and animator, and one of the first female underground comix creators. She is best known for her comic book series The Further Fattening Adventures of Pudge, Girl Blimp, which lasted from 1973 to 1977.

<i>The Ongoing Adventures of Rocket Llama</i> Webcomic

The Ongoing Adventures of Rocket Llama is a webcomic starring "a high-flying llama, a sword-swinging cat, and a rocket as loyal as a cowboy hero's horse." Created by Alex Langley while he was a student at Henderson State University, the comic first appeared in a comic book titled The Workday Comic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Project Fanboy</span> Comic book news website

Project Fanboy (PF) is an American website that publishes news, interviews and reviews about the American comic book industry. In addition, the site hosts comic book fan-voted awards. It was founded by Stephen Jondrew and Scott Williams in the fall of 2005 as an alternative site that covers mainstream comic book news, but also promotes smaller independent works.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Horror comics</span> Horror comics book

Horror comics are comic books, graphic novels, black-and-white comics magazines, and manga focusing on horror fiction. In the US market, horror comic books reached a peak in the late 1940s through the mid-1950s, when concern over content and the imposition of the self-censorship Comics Code Authority contributed to the demise of many titles and the toning down of others. Black-and-white horror-comics magazines, which did not fall under the Code, flourished from the mid-1960s through the early 1980s from a variety of publishers. Mainstream American color comic books experienced a horror resurgence in the 1970s, following a loosening of the Code. While the genre has had greater and lesser periods of popularity, it occupies a firm niche in comics as of the 2010s.

The East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention (ECBACC) is the Philadelphia region's first black comic book convention, bringing together hundreds of comic book, science fiction, and fantasy creators, their colleagues, and their fans. The ECBACC is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit community-based organization focused on education, literacy and the arts. ECBACC, Inc. was founded in 2002 by Yumy Odom, a multidisciplinary educator, scientist and researcher affiliated with Temple University, and Maurice Waters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South African comics</span>

A South African comic is a book or periodical published in South Africa that contains sequential art stories.

<i>Lumberjanes</i> Comic series published by BOOM! Studios

Lumberjanes is a comic book series created by Shannon Watters, Grace Ellis, Gus Allen, and ND Stevenson and published via the Boom Box! imprint of Boom! Studios. The story follows a group of girls spending summer at a scout camp, and the strange creatures and supernatural phenomena they encounter there. Originally planned as an eight-part series, the comic was made an ongoing series following strong sales and critical acclaim. The comic series came to a close after 75 issues with a one-shot finale in December 2020, ending its six-year-run.

Suzy Varty is a noted British comics artist, writer, and editor. In the late 1970s, she compiled, contributed to and edited Heröine, the first anthology of comics by women to be published in the U.K. Throughout the 70s, she was part of the Birmingham Arts Lab, and she has participated in the Underground Comix and Wimmen's Comix movements in the U.S. Varty remains active in the British Comics scene, frequently appearing at such conventions as Thought Bubble Comic Arts Festival in Leeds and the Canny Comic Con in Newcastle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alitha Martinez</span> American comic book artist

Alitha E. Martinez is an American comic book artist best known for her work on for Marvel Comics's Iron Man, the Heroes webcomics, and DC's Batgirl. Over the course of her career she has worked for all the major comic book publishers, including Marvel, DC Comics, Image Comics, and Archie Comics.

Christina "Steenz" Stewart is an American cartoonist and editor known for illustrating Archival Quality and currently authoring and illustrating the daily comic strip Heart of the City. They were born September 29, 1990, in Detroit, Michigan, and currently reside in St. Louis, Missouri. Upon taking over Heart of the City from Mark Tatulli in May 2020, they became the second nationally syndicated black nonbinary cartoonist, preceded in this distinction by Bianca Xunise only a month prior.

References

  1. Broadnax, Jamie (2015-08-14). "Comics Publications Owner Sawyer Helps Women Creators". Black Girl Nerds . Retrieved 2017-04-05.
  2. 1 2 3 "How Regine Sawyer and the Women in Comics Collective are Changing the Game, One Panel at a Time". The Mary Sue . Retrieved 2017-04-05.
  3. "About Us". Lockett Down Productions Publications. Retrieved 2017-04-05.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Interview with Regine Sawyer, Comic Book Creator and Author, NBF's Summer Writing Camp Alum". National Book Foundation . Retrieved 2017-04-05.
  5. 1 2 3 Howard Sheena C. Encyclopedia of black comics. ISBN   9781682751015. OCLC   992166823.

Lockett Down Productions official website

Women in Comics Collective official website