Vive la Révolution, Page 4

PANEL 1

Young Rachel discovers Japanese manga, including Sailor Moon.

Caption: "When I first saw shoujo manga, I was amazed! America had nothing like it!"*

*Footnote: "Japanese girls' comics"

PANEL 2

Rachel questions this gap while reading more manga.

RACHEL: "Why didn't we?"

Caption: "As I grew older and read more shoujo manga, my discontent grew."

PANEL 3

A globe showing North America.

Caption: "North America needs a good publisher of girls' comics."

PANEL 4

Several diverse girls happily reading comics together.

Caption: "A publisher who would use the budding industry to send a positive message to girls..."

PANEL 5

A magazine rack showing problematic women's magazine covers with titles like "Self Esteem," "Thin Girl," "Beautify," "What Men Want," "Follow Me," suggesting unrealistic beauty standards.

*Caption: "...not just to sell clothes and cosmetics by promoting a low self-image."

I loved Sailor Moon growing up. Naoko Takeuchi was a great inspiration to me. Because of her creation, I tried to draw better and started studying Japanese. I saw the need for a publisher of girls comics. I still think we need a publisher of positive girl-geared comics, but with the publishing industry wallowing around in the digital age, I’m not so sure if it would resemble the girls comics publishing company I envisioned as a teen.