Rebecca,

>> A comic book featuring Indian characters would, in my case, be very cool. <<

I think it's cool in everyone's case—but then, I may be biased. <grin>

>> In fact, do you write/create these comics? <<

Yes! I do everything but the art. Unfortunately for me, that's a big part of the job.

>> Have you ever considered offering/selling/distributing them to reservation schools? <<

Yes, indeed I have. I have a page on my website dedicated to educators. I've talked to a few of them, but like most people, they tend to come and go without committing. Which is somewhat understandable. For them, the comic is a big unknown.

I know of one librarian who has put PEACE PARTY in her library—at Dull Knife Memorial College in your neck of the plains. A publisher of Native reference books is distributing copies if someone buys the whole set. A couple of friends have volunteered to show copies to their children's teachers. One acquaintance is distributing flyers at a Winds of Change conference. A teacher at a Navajo school is enthusiastic, as are his kids.

That's how it's going so far—slowly but surely. But I plan to do much more. In fact, I was about to send a message to the 4Directions educational project based in Laguna, New Mexico. They thoughtfully provided an e-mail form for contacting all their teachers at once. <g>

>> Or is your stuff more adult-oriented, on the order of the Love and Rockets (I think that's the name) or Maus series? <<

It's borderline adult-oriented. It's not as "gritty" or "dark" as your examples. It's mainstream action/adventure done in a real world where cultural, social, and political issues inform people's lives.

The example I always give of the level I'm aiming for is The Simpsons TV show. That has sophisticated satire for adults, but cartoonish high jinks for kids. That's what I want to do: an intelligent but accessible comic.

So the prime reader may be the average comic book reader, who is 17-18 years old these days. But I've heard from fifty-something adults who said they loved PEACE PARTY. And I've heard from two adults who said their kids 10 and under loved it.

One was Jim Northrup, the writer of Fond du Lac Follies, whose 9-year-old grandson gave it "3.5 moccasins." That works for me. <g> I quoted him on my website, you may be sure.

In short, the target market is a bit hard to define. I'd say the comic is most appropriate for junior high or high school students. But I'd love it if teachers used it to challenge their younger students.

If you have some ideas about approaching the Native education community, I'm all ears. Sending information to tens of thousands of Indian teachers would be prohibitively expensive, as you can imagine. I need a strategy to reach a large number of them cheaply and haven't come up with one yet.

Meanwhile, you can visit my site, where I have pages and pages of information. I'm going to post your stereotype entry there too. If it's the best one of the month, you'll win.

Check out my site and let's talk more. I'm looking forward to it.

Rob

Related links
PEACE PARTY's objectives
Our Board of Advisors
More on the publisher's background
Classroom activities using PEACE PARTY
Quotes from interested educators

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