Moral/Ethical Considerations

Personally, I think that an understanding of equality and diversity would mean that illustrators are pushing for more diverse characters within graphic novels. From what I have gathered while researching, the comic industry has become increasingly more inclusive, especially in more recent years.

A recent example of this comes from Alice Oseman, the incredible author and illustrator for the series “Heartstopper”. In all of their work, they show an understanding of inclusion with their varied cast of characters, with the series’ main focus being the blossoming romance between two queer teens: Nick and Charlie. Oseman herself has stated in an interview that she ‘turned to queer men’s experiences when writing certain aspects of Nick and Charlie’s experiences – books, articles, documentaries, YouTube videos’(2019) to gain a better understanding of their identities, and overall create better representation.

I think that this is a great example of how to go about creating characters from a marginalized group you are not apart of yourself. While it is important that different groups of people are represented in media such as graphic novels, it is even more so that the representation itself is accurate; all illustrators have a moral responsibility when it comes to the perpetuation of negative stereotypes. This is why doing research about a given group is so important when working on these projects, some even hire what is known as a sensitivity reader who would be able to point out anything that could unintentionally make a reader feel alienated.