Sequential Tart (ST) is an online magazine focused on comics and popular culture from a female perspective. It was created in the late 1990s to serve "as an advocacy group for female consumers frustrated by their historical neglect or patronizing treatment by the comics industry."[3] The magazine's title is a play on the term "sequential art"; the webzine's writers are referred to as "Tarts."[3]
Overview
Historically, the webzine's logo topped this self-description:
sequential tart (si-kwen'shel tart) n. -- 1. a Web Zine about the comics industry published by an eclectic band of women; 2. a publication dedicated to providing exclusive interviews, in-depth articles and news, while working towards raising the awareness of women's influence in the comics industry and other realms.[4]
Sequential Tart "combines interviews with comics creators, retailers, and industry leaders, reviews of current publications, and critical essays about gender and comics. It showcases industry practices that attract or repel women, spotlights the work of smaller presses that often fell through the cracks, and promotes books that reflect their readers' tastes and interests."[3]
ST contributor Kimberly DeVries "argues that the group self-consciously rejects the negative stereotypes about female comics readers constructed by men in and around the comics industry but also the well-meaning but equally constraining stereotypes constructed by the first generation of feminist critics of comics."[3]
A regular feature of the webzine was Culture Vultures. Traditionally, each new issue featured an illustration by a comics professional.
Publication history
Sequential Tart started out as "mailing list of female comics pros and fans" run by S. L. Osborne.[5]
Osborne discussed the impetus for the creation of the webzine in its first official issue (Sept./Oct. 1998):
It all started with Wizard, I think. Wizard has online polls and contests on their ... site..., like 'What are the top ten comics pickup lines to use on girls?' ... We complained. We cajoled. Please make the questions fun for women to answer! No such luck. About the same time, we were having a discussion about the frustration we feel when dealing with other female fans. ... Women look at us funny when we say we love Preacher and Johnny the Homicidal Maniac. It's very frustrating. We felt alone, we felt unwanted — Then we thought, hey —maybe we aren't alone. ... Maybe there are more women online who dig 'boys' comics'. Maybe other women get tired of seeing big-breasted bad girls every time they walk into a comics shop. Maybe they don't want to be told they should or shouldn't like ... horror or superhero, science fiction or fantasy. Maybe they want to make their own decisions, based on their own tastes instead of some preconceived notion. Maybe we could do something to make them feel that they aren't alone. Thus Sequential Tart was born.[5]
ST started out bimonthly, but with its third issue, released in January 1999, it moved to monthly publication.[6] In July 2007, the webzine became a weekly publication.[7]
For a number of years, cartoonist Pam Bliss wrote "a series of essays about making minicomics for Sequential Tart entitled Hopelessly Lost, But Making Good Time."[8] She collected those essays into a publication of the same title in 2002.[9]
Sequential Tart's August 2010 issue focused on Wonder Woman, with a "Tart Symposium on Wonder Woman's costume, a look at all of Wonder Woman's toys, and ... Visions of Wonder Woman, where the women talk about how they view Wonder Woman as a comic character and in pop culture. She's not always as popular among women as you might think."[11]
Columns
13 Questions — interviews with comics industry figures
Declaration of Independents – profiles of alternative comics and creators
Going Postal — letters from readers
Read This Or Die – "highlight ... comics that have impressed us and that we believe are deserving of a wider audience"[4]
Redirected Male – Profiles of male comics industry figures who meet the approval of Sequential Tart
Retailer's Corner – focus on the distribution and retailing end of the industry
Tart of the Month — profiles of an ST contributor
Tart To Heart – "a question to the Tarts as a whole"[4]
Impact and reception
Wired magazine writer Corrina Lawson called Sequential Tart "one the best websites I know for comics commentary."[11]
In his book Demanding Respect: The Evolution of the American Comic Book (Temple University Press, 2009), author Paul Lopes called Sequential Tart "one of the more popular comics web fanzines," and credited it for promoting "greater awareness of women artists and readers in comic book culture" while "maintaining general coverage of comic book culture."[12]
...the Sequential Tarts are increasingly courted by publishers or individual artists who feel they have content that female readers might embrace and have helped to make the mainstream publishers more attentive to this often underserved market. The Sequential Tarts represent a new kind of consumer advocacy group — one that seeks to diversify content and make mass media more responsive to its consumers.[3]
DeVries, Kimberly (2009). "Writing Wonder Woman: How Playful Resistance Leads to Sustained Authorial Participation at Sequential Tart". In Urbanski, Heather (ed.). Writing and the Digital Generation. McFarland & Company.
^Keller, Katherine (July 2, 2007). "July 2007 Editorial". Sequential Tart. The start of July (well, actually the second day in July) marks a shift in Sequential Tart's publication schedule. We're now a weekly publication
^Lopes, Paul (April 7, 2009). "The Heroic Age III". Demanding Respect: The Evolution of the American Comic Book. Temple University Press. p. 173. ISBN9781592134441.
^Erickson, Amanda (Dec 9, 1998). "December 1998 ARCHIVES". Planet Amazon. Archived from the original on 22 August 1999. Sequential Tart is an industry zine for women and by women in the comics industry. Sound niche? Well, it shouldn't be. Sick of seeing all the male-centric comic books? Read about women who are working from the inside to create quality and equality in the biz. Read insightful reviews of new comics. Good writing on a number of subjects. There's lots to do and see here.
^"Fanzines". About.com. June 2000. Archived from the original on August 16, 2000. The best comic 'zine written entirely by women just happens to be one of the best comic 'zines, period.
