October 18, 2007
Austin Comic Book Hero Takes On New Nemesis: Gentrification?
Austin artist Michael Schliefke—of Bolm Studios and one of the driving forces behind the annual East Austin Studio Tour (E.A.S.T.)—recently unveiled a new comic book side project that takes aim at all of the development shenanigans happening on the eastside.
"Towards the beginning of this year, I got the idea to do some drawings of East Austin before it was entirely cleaned up and was completely overrun by condos and lofts," said Schliefke. "My idea quickly morphed into making a little book, and that grew into a farcical comic book about a youthful white kid who dons a Mexican wrestling mask to stop the gentrification of East Austin."
Tales of the Really White Vigilante features 62-pages filled with social commentary, satire, and said 'superhero' from above spouting off such quotes as, "Damn hipsters! If only they took off their ironic rose-colored glasses and opened their eyes to just how ridiculous they are.."
The first shipment of comics is arriving in the coming weeks, and a release party is planned for late October. In the meantime, you can check out some preview pages below and gain some insight into the creative process over at his website.
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Sa-weet. Comic books and fruitless conjecture on gentrification are two of my favorite things, ever. (Um... not being ironical-- they really are.)
That being said, the cover art snags on something, at least for me: it looks a lot like a re-detournemont of Dawolu Jabari Anderson (currently at Jones Center / Arthouse), specifically his 'Knight Rider' series, comic book covers depicting a super-klansman trying to protect 'Aryan Birth Rights from a Negro Nation' (But don't ignore the pissed-off cyborg Remus). Anderson's medium might be better suited to avoid the cloying over-extension of the 'gag', as opposed to a longer narrative.
Check it out: Anderson
I'm not trying to knock anybody down, or accuse anyone of theft-- I just hope the comic's got enough meat to get decent mileage out of the novelty. Which, I guess I'll judge for myself, once my mom gives me $15.
Hmmm... should I care what Benji thinks? Can he relate to anyone living in low income neighborhood? has he taken a correspondence course from the University of Phoenix online on the History of Comic Book Art?
No?
No. I shouldn't care what Benji thinks.
Balloon animals!
LAME!
Wow. Didn't realize I said something that would make you leave such an assholish remark, or that I even criticized anyone. Do you sit around, waiting to unload malice? Because if you do, you totally suck. I'm actually looking forward to reading the comic book. Thanks for trying to keep it real, though.
(By the way, I never said anything about comic book art, I do live in a 'low income' neighborhood --how else could I white the place up so good?-- and it's Benj, not Benji. Not the least of your reading problems.)
Yes, only artists should be allowed to live amongst the "natives" on the East side, for only they appreciate the beauty of Section 8 housing, rabid dogs and crack hoes.
Thanks for all the comments, here's a few things I need to reply to:
* I've been on the EAST tour all five years it's happened, and the real driving force is Jana Swec, Joseph Phillips and Shea Little. We're all at Bolm Studios, and I help with the tour when I can
* The cover was done by Ian Shults,and on my advice was inspired by the cover of Capt. America #1, where the American hero punches out Hitler. I've been camped out in the studio working on the book so I haven't been able to check out the Texas Prize show, but the link was appreciated and definitely interesting and ties into things.
* The comic throws a bunch of ideas and thoughts about gentrification out there and lampoons a lot of it. I've seen gentrification happen for better and worse everywhere I've lived - upstate New York, Boston, Kansas City and Austin. If I didn't think my voice towards all of the things happening in East Austin wasn't important, it wouldn't have happened. I think it's a fair look at all the changes happening and decides where we go from here. Austin's growing up fast, and people have to realize that fact, and decide what we should hold on to and what we're losing at the same time instead of simply saying how cool it was x number of years ago.
"If I didn't think my voice towards all of the things happening in East Austin wasn't important, it wouldn't have happened."
I can't tell what you're trying to say. Too many negatives.
The tricky thing is, schlim, you are part of the east austin gentrification. I'm pretty sure you understand this. I'll be curious to check out your book and see how you feel about your role.
Gentrification is not an absolute negative. It can increase value and safety in a neighborhood, and the renewed interest and investment can help preserve some of the existing features everyone's so worried will be lost, especially when some features would be 'lost' anyway, due to economic decline and simple entropy. So... why is everybody pissing themselves over gentrification, instead of asking why neighborhoods fall into economic disrepair, and how it can be avoided? Finally, individuals under some imaginary grouping (the 'low income' ...banner?) do of course deserve a decent place to live, but not because they're low income-- becasue they're human beings. They're not spotted owls who need protection-- they're people who need, if anything, a more equitable distribution of wealth and better access to quality education, especially post-secondary.
I like the idea of a vigilante fighting gentrification, because it makes it obvious how 'cartoonish' this conflict can be, and yet, like cartoons and comics, can probably pull off a level of insight and satire you just can't get from something like a podunky local news and culture blog. ...No offense.
Everybody is pissing all over gentrification because the black community is getting ripped apart by assholes like you, Benji.
If a black man decided to rip everything down at Red River and 7th Street and open up high end clubs where you could not get inside because you were too poor, would you have a hissy fit over that? Would you want your voice to be heard in opposition to those changes? Or would you sit idly by and say, "Well, that's progress"?
Why are you so jumpy Benji? Is it because you know you're a part of the problem?
Michael Schliefke, what color is your skin?
I'm not going to bite if you say you're white. I just want to know if you're a member of the community effected by Eastside gentrification or if this is a case of white guilt getting boiled down to white defensiveness.
You prefer an oversimplification, because it gives you seemingly better ground to strand on. And you sound like a a racist. It's not a 'problem' just because it's a problem for you. But in any case, if you do see a problem, why is it you haven't said anything about a solution? Who wins anything when someone like you bitches about their misfortune, tries to speak for a whole group, and demands to know someone's race?
Cos, sometimes a pudding pop's just a pudding pop. But in your case, I doubt it.
What did I say that was an oversimplification, benji? And it isn't just a problem for me, it's a problem for everyone that felt at home on the East Side and enjoyed the peace and community we found there before you clowns started showing up.
I just want to know his race because I think it's pretty important place to start when we're talking about gentrification. If anyone is going to make a comic book about how gentrification is nonsense, I want to know what perspective they're seeing it from - the gentrifier or the gentrifyee.
Wow. The heat is ON all of a sudden!
I don’t equate gentrification with progress, either, Cos. I also don’t equate it with racism. It seems to me that demonizing gentrification (especially in the super-generalized way it’s always so loosely portrayed around here) is as useless an exercise as demonizing chocolate cake. And doing so along racial lines is worse because it steers the discussion away from objectivity and immediately into baggage-laden emotional conjecture. Why is that? Because there are plenty of upwardly mobile people of color “gentrifying” the eastside. Gentrification is a socio-economic phenomenon.
Lampooning it with racial overtones (the comic in question) is simply playing on that erroneous racial assumption. That’s part of what makes it so funny.
Cos - I'm white, I've lived in East Austin the entire time I've lived in Austin (6 years), and get to ask the hero himself "Just what kind of white guilt is this all about" in the book. I'd still hope you'd be interested in reading it.
You've only been here 6 years? You need to get out of east Austin and go back to upstate Bostoyorksas City, you pale-ass gentrifier!!1!!ONE!
Cos, whenever I hear a bonehead like you talking about gentrification, I am filled with the overwhelming urge to go vote straight Republican.
Please don't post around November. Thanks in advance.
The people who lived on the East side before the "clowns" showed up bought their houses with money, not their skin. The question is why those neighborhoods remained at such a low point, financially, so that the latest generation of middle class home buyers had the option to buy in such large numbers. And why traditionally 'white' neighborhoods have escalated beyond reason, creating an even larger gap between the upper middle class and the 'clowns' than previously exists between the 'clowns' and the 'low income' people whom you feel are more justified to live there.
It's real estate, man. It's not one of those contexts in which you're supposed to feel special. There is no 'deserve'. If you can afford it, you can. If not, go somewhere else. Fuck, man. Where do you think the clowns came from?
If you want to change it, you need to look beyond people buying into neighborhoods in decline. Try to see how their economic risk (well, maybe not in Austin) stands to benefit previously underrepresented neighborhoods.
Gentrification is a result of economic disadvantage, not a cause. The only clowns are the ones moaning about the symptoms, pretending its the disease, and calling people assholes for suggesting access to higher education and economic participation ought to be higher on the list of priorities. No one is going to build you a comfy little haven from inflation, property tax, and escalating home prices. The only solution is to share wealth and participate aggressively in community, not bitch from a standpoint of self-interest.
@12 & 13 - The Cos
Cos, please read the comic before you jump to conclusions as to its intent and origin.
Benj,
It almost sound like you've got a handle on things. But it feels like you don't quite have a handle on history specific to Austin.
Let me point this out: Gentrification does not equal revitalization. Gentrification becomes negative because of the disruption and displacement of community that was already there. A community that had already been displaced before in this city's history. It's not about deserving special treatment.
Schlim Schliefke,
CONGRATULATIONS!
mdahmus, you can vote whatever way you please. If you're pleased to vote Republican, go ahead but don't blame me for your own bad decisions.
But could you please tell me what I said that upset you so? If this is about people wanting to live near people of their race and feeling safer and happier living around people of their own race, then you have a lot of targets to shoot at. You can start at the China towns springing up all over North Austin and end in West Austin where all the white people live. I think there was even a study recently that said people feel safer living around people of their own ethnicity. Are you pissed because humans are humans? Maybe you should kill them all and see where that gets you.
salvo cheque, I'd like to read that comic book but the link posted on this page goes nowhere and the description isn't exactly in-depth. What it looks like from the outside is a white kid making fun of other white kids for wanting to keep East Austin the way it was with no support or help from the communities being displaced. Most of my comments are directed at Benji since I disagreed with Benji's first comment.
Benji, keep on barking.
Cos,
Gentrification whining is bullshit. That's what annoys me. You asking people to care because some white people are moving into your neighborhood is exactly as odious as some Confederate-flag wearing trailer dweller getting upset when a black family moves into _his_ neighborhood.
Get over it. People can and should live where they want if they can pay to do so, and there's no implicit right to stay in a neighborhood just because you were there first that trumps economics.
Who is selling "the gentrifiers" their property? Cos, you're pretending that this is the wild west and the white man is coming into the frontier with smallpox blankets and gunpowder to kill or forcibly evict "the natives." Newsflash. The people moving in are buying property from the people who were there. The people who were there are choosing to sell it, and are selling it for a nice profit. People that own property are allowed to sell it, and not dictate the race of the person who buys it. Why not rail against the people selling their houses too? It makes as much sense as railing against people buying them.
true dat heyzeus. people tend to think of the whole thing as such a black and white issue, but there are mexican-americans here too. so really, it's kind of a tan-ish colour. but I have a solution: let's just blame capitalism. speaking of which, $15 for a b&w comic book is pretty steep, hombre.
Maybe gentrification whining is bullshit. But it is obvious that education is necessary on this topic.
It is not about white people moving in. It is about severe disruption to a specific economic landscape. It is about capitalism. Unfortunately, not everyone is "choosing" to sell. When you're mortgage has doubled and tripled because of new tax appraisals, you have little choice in deciding what to do. Be crushed by debt or move out? Sounds like smallpox and gunpowder to me.
Look up the history of the Clarksville neighborhood. Similar things happening. That's generations of memories being wiped out. But it sounds like that's not what you value.
If Austin were the only city dealing with this, I'd say it was a real estate problem. But this is happening across the country. Economics is being used as a tool.
"Racism still alive, They jus' be concealing it"
- Kanye West, "Never Let Me Down"
reynard,
the comic is double sized, no advertisements, and independently published. $15 is a steal.
"When you're mortgage has doubled and tripled because of new tax appraisals, you have little choice in deciding what to do."
Interesting. "You're" [sic] mortgage must be different than mine - because my mortgage is fixed, and even adjustable rate mortgages don't depend on tax appraisals.
Perhaps you just meant your payment to the mortgage company. But even then, doubled? Tripled? Just because of property taxes? I call bullshit - the only way a property tax payment ALONE could cause your total housing bill to triple would be if your mortgage was paid off, at which point you wouldn't be paying the mortgage company anyways.
If you want to argue we should switch to an income tax to fund schools instead of this ridiculous property tax, I'm right there with you, but stop exaggerating in the meantime.
If your property tax has doubled or tripled, it means the value of your house is increased exponentially. You're selling it for a huge profit. Try having the opposite problem of dwindling property taxes, because the value of your house has plummeted. When people owe more than their house is worth, that's when people get foreclosed upon. Seems like a worse problem than selling for a big profit.
But as long as we keep funding our state with stupid property taxes, everyone on a fixed income will continue to be screwed.