Women In Comics Month: Interview With Anna Pederson

In honor of Women in Comics this March, PREVIEWSworld talks with Anna Pederson!

PREVIEWSworld: Tell us a little bit about yourself! What are you currently working on?

Anna Pederson: Currently, I’m the Events Manager and resident Fantagraphics baker. At one point or another I’m working with almost every single one of our current books and authors as I set up all author events, market those events, and handle the logistics of all our convention appearances. So if you see me at a show from the months of March-October, please be kind.

PREVIEWSworld: How long have you been working with sequential art? What titles, companies, and creators have you worked with over your time in comics?

Anna Pederson: Fantagraphics Books was my first foray into the comics world as an editorial intern while I was a senior in college. I took a break from Fanta and Seattle and lived in New York for about a year while I interned at the CBLDF and worked as a retailer for Forbidden Planet. After I moved back to Seattle, I lifted weights in the Fantagraphics warehouse until I was deputized into my current marketing role.

PREVIEWSworld: Did you have a mentor or hero in the industry that inspired you to pursue a career in comics?

Anna Pederson: Peter Bagge is who influenced by to pursue an internship with Fanta after taking a comics class with him at Seattle University. Since then I’ve met many wonderful people who champion the medium from the administrative side: Jacq Cohen, Eric Reynolds, Alex Cox. But the people that really inspire me to want to bring in as many readers as possible, are the cartoonists and creators who work tirelessly on their projects, because it seems like they’d go insane if they didn’t.

PREVIEWSworld: In your opinion, how has the comic book industry evolved in terms of gender?

Anna Pederson: Women have always been making comics. Joyce Farmer, Aline Kominsky-Crumb, Mary Fleener, Diane Noomin, Julie Doucet, and many many others. All brilliant cartoonists who remained underground despite their male contemporaries receiving a revered status. So in terms of evolution, the real difference has come not from women creating more comics, but from people being aware of them and calling for their recognition. When people talk about conventions that only showcase male creators, I look at the alternative comics scene at SPX or TCAF and see it more diverse than ever.

PREVIEWSworld: What stereotypes do you see surrounding women in comics? How could people of all genders go about breaking those stereotypes?

Anna Pederson: By allowing women to write and draw whatever they want. Maybe I have particular tastes, but the idea that women will get to create a book only if it falls into the particular categories of niceness or struggling victim, undermines the breadth of personhood and autonomy a woman possesses.

PREVIEWSworld: How do you want to see women represented in comic books 10 years from now?

Anna Pederson: When picking up a book (or watching a movie, or listening to a band) is done without gendered marketing consideration of dividing and conquering artificially created audiences.

PREVIEWSworld: If you could give advice to any aspiring editors, executives, writers, or artists, what would you tell them?

Anna Pederson: Your payoffs and rewards for working in this industry will be personal to you, so don’t measure yourself by another person’s perceived successes or failures. Also, get 5 hrs of sleep each night of a convention, take one shower, switch your shoes each day, eat breakfast, and water in between each drink.

PREVIEWSworld: And lastly, are there any up-and-coming women creators who you would recommend readers check out? 

Anna Pederson: Why I’m so glad you asked: Eleanor Davis, Anya Davidson, Liz Suburbia, Aiden Koch, Leslie Stein, Sophie Goldstein, Mickey Zacchilli, Julia Gfrörer, Gina Wynbrandt, Sandra Lanz, Tillie Walden, Katie Skelly, and Sarah Horrocks. (and many many many others that there isn’t the space for.)

 See more Women In Comics Month interviews in our special section on PREVIEWSworld!