TY TEMPLETON responds

Another writer/artist/musician/actor/skydiver/world traveller/composer/madman. Ty wrote and drew half of one of the great unsung mini-series of all time, "Mad Dog." If you see it, just buy it.  If  you don't like it, I'm pretty sure it's YOUR problem. He's also written the wonderful "Gotham Adventures" series and is working on a graphic novel for Vertigo. Plus, he once did a concert with Peter Tork, and that's more than you could say for John Grisham or Stephen King. (GS)

Ty: You know...there's something, slightly, to what you said... but the list of dead and depowered men is pretty long too... fiction is filled with tragic heroes... that's part of the point, ain't it?

gail: I posted the list at a comics board, not condemning, just asking the question, and MAN, did I get called foul names. So you think it's a loaded question?

Ty: Old news... NO ONE likes the truth.

gail: it was pretty ugly.

Ty: I mean....you could point out all the dead Jewish Superheroes if you wished, and compared them to a list of live ones....or Black Superheroes, or gay ones....there's no shock in discovering that the comics industry, like all of America is pro white male...

gail: There may not be shock in it, but I didn't approach it with the assertion that comics creators are misogynists... I approached this way... "Hey, does this seem weird to you?"

Ty: I wholeheartedly agree that your assessment is based on a creepy rot in American society... but I don't think it's particularly centered on the comics industry, any more so than the entertainment industry in general.  America is a misogynist and racist society... sometimes, it takes someone living in another country (as I do) to notice.

gail: hmmmmm... Interesting. So you think it's partly reflective of America in general?

Ty: Believe me, Canadians (and most other countries around the world) notice the inequity of societal roles in yer country... you live there, so it's not so often pointed out to you... but we love to fill the op ed pages of our newspapers, and practically every discussion  about your country with thoughts on the inequity of yer culture.
 You're like the last country on Earth not to have ever elected a female leader at some point in their history...

gail: True. Can I quote you on this, or would you rather put it together yourself?

Ty: you can quote me.

gail: thanks!

Ty: You're a country that couldn't pass the FUCKING ERA in the seventies and eighties, Gail. What do you expect?

gail: Hmmmmmmmmm... Interesting.

Ty: Pay equity in Canada isn't complete, but at least we don't have your 67c on the dollar rule up here. And we've happily elected female mayors and Prime Ministers around here... the last Mayor of Toronto (the fifth largest city in North America)was Hazel McAllion... we recently had a female prime minister...

gail: We're held back by a small but powerful Religious Right.

Ty: This sort of question isn't part of Canadian culture... any more than race relations are... we all get along up here... EXCEPT FOR THE GODDAMN French.

gail: goddamn French!

Ty: Your country was founded by religious fundamentalists escaping persecution for their BACKWARD AND STRIDENT religious outlook OVER THREE HUNDRED YEARS AGO. If you could be backwards and strident in the 18th Century...

gail: yay strident! Thanks, Ty! This is a unique perspective so far!