Steenz Visit – Jamilah Ganyuma

We had the pleasure of having Steenz visit our classroom and give a presentation about their life and work. They talked mostly about their comics and their work, both professionally and within the community. One of my clearest takeaways was that developing a welcoming, accessible community is one of their main goals in the comic world. Steenz created the Standard Comic Stript, a blueprint for new comic artists who are not familiar with the publishing world. They also provide a lot of free community events for upcoming and beginning comics. They talked about how difficult it can be to get into this industry if you know nothing about it, especially because it is relatively new. They have expertise in all sectors of the comic industry and dedicate time to sharing that knowledge. The tone of Steenz’s presentation and their personality exemplify this. They are so down-to-earth and cool. They joked around with us and were very honest about the comic industry. Being able to talk to the cartoonist I am following this semester was such an exciting opportunity. Their talk really deepened the industry for me, as they spoke about all the steps and processes it takes to publish a single comic strip. It makes me appreciate the entire process a bit more. Steenz especially puts a lot of effort into the storytelling aspect of Heart of the City, which was more of a daily gag strip without much of a plot. Now, we watch Heart and her friends grow. I think of the readings that talk about visualization, and how comics are a form of visualizing a story.