"Comics are the best storytelling medium - period." - Steven Charles Rosia 

 

While comics can sometimes be a lonely man’s game, is it really fun to play it that way? I talk a lot about collaboration on the show, but know one knows it’s power better than the one and only Steven Charles Rosia. I call him the King of community, and if you want to survive in indie comics, you’ll want to heed his advice.

 

As we all know, nerd culture has a way of overlapping. What began as a late night viewing of the vastly popular anime Trigun turned into a love for manga. This love for Japanese storytelling eventually lead to a local comics shop and that’s where Steven’s grass-roots passion begins. After spending some time dedicated to the craft of making comics (everything from all the layers of illustration to writing his own stories), Steven soon learned about the power of community in comics. He fell in love with the medium right around the time a new comic culture was beginning to blossom in Calgary so finding like minded souls was easier than you might think. With that said, a brief stent on the convention circuit revealed a major flaw in comics. New creators just were not given the proper time of day. To Steven, this was unacceptable.

 

Thanks to friendship, some frustrated inspiration, and a few brews, Steven was able to gather the forces of comic greatness while planting seeds of hope and possibility for the indie comic world, the result: panel 1 was born. What began as a few fundraisers to provide help for some comics shops down on their luck, quickly turned into a community of like-minded creators ready to get down to business helping new comic creators everywhere (or at least in Calgary, Alberta). Many more opportunities for community sprang up from the soil of awesomeness and it’s not going anywhere anytime soon.

 

Steven is also a very big proponent of representation in comics. There’s a controversy in comics and nerd culture right now around free speech versus safety and representation. The comicsgate community essentially believes harm is coming to comics as a result of inclusivity and representation being overdone. Steven and the rest of comics community believe there’s no such thing as too much representation. Either way, when it comes down to it, empathy will always lead to a stronger more connected world and hate in any capacity will never accomplish anything. Being a presence that stands against hate and for safe space and community is something that the indie comics community as a whole has stood for ahead of the curb for a long while and colorful diversity will always win the day as long as everything begins with strong, pure storytelling. If we can learn anything from Steven I’d say it’s make something, be outspoken and be the kind of human that others want to be around. If we can stand behind those mantras, there’s no reason our own definitions of success shouldn’t be right around the corner.  

 

 

References

Trigun- https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=88

Daughters of Knights: https://www.comixcentral.com/products/daughters-knights-chapter-1/

The Streaker: https://www.comixcentral.com/products/the-streaker-1/?no_frame=1

Panel One: http://www.panelone.ca/

Calgary Expo: https://www.calgaryexpo.com/en/home.html

Comicsgate: https://www.inverse.com/article/41132-comicsgate-explained-bigots-milkshake-marvel-dc-gamergate

Where to find Steven

Twitter: @Stevenrosia

Instagram: @Stevenrosia

Facebook: @StevenCharlesRosia