Artists say it’s still an uphill battle getting editors to believe that a comic strip with minority characters can gain a mainstream following.
As a kid, Darrin Bell devoured newspaper comic strips. He even read “Mary Worth” and “Apartment 3-G.” Nevermind that the storylines of those soap opera-style strips were far removed from his life.
So it was disappointing whenever editors refused years later to add his comic strip, “Candorville,” to their funny pages as soon as they saw that his lead characters were minorities. The editors would say they already carried a so-called Black strip.
The problem, according to Bell and others, was that these decisions didn’t fully consider his work. Furthermore, why couldn’t newspapers run more than one cartoon with minority characters and themes? After all, strips starring characters of color differed from each other just as strips starring White characters differed from one another. And considering the commercial popularity of “The Cosby Show” and other TV shows highlighting minorities over the years, why did editors automatically assume a comic strip with minorities couldn’t gain a mainstream following? “
