Contemporary Authors

• Bingo Love - 2018 Image Comics , https://smile.amazon.com/Bingo-Love-Tee-Franklin/dp/1534307508/ref=la_B077S8SVGY_1_1_twi_pap_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1530502359&sr=1-1

• Amazon - https://smile.amazon.com/Bingo-Love-Tee-Franklin/dp/1534307508/ref=la_B077S8SVGY_1_1_twi_pap_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1530502359&sr=1-1

  Biography
  Tee Franklin is a Queer, disabled, Black woman who writes comics: The Outfit (Nailbiter #27), Love is Love, Inclusive Press/Image Comics Queer romance graphic novella, Bingo Love and Jook Joint.

  Franklin won the 2017 Queer Press Grant for Bingo Love and raised almost $60k for this graphic novella via Kickstarter. Franklin created her own publishing company, Inclusive Press, in order to publish her own comics, as well as comics by other marginalized creators. She signed a deal with Image Comics to publish Bingo Love in 2017, which has a release date of February 14th, 2018.

  Franklin resides in New Jersey with her three children, and for some unknown reason, is a Jets fan. She’s also a social media influencer, an activist, public speaker, domestic violence survivor and a constant tweeter - @MizTeeFranklin

• Tee Franklin - http://teefranklin.com/about-me/

  Tee Franklin is a Queer, disabled, Black woman who writes comics: The Outfit (Nailbiter #27), A Blazin’ (in the Ignatz award-winning Elements Anthology), Tears (in the Eisner-winning and New York Times Best Seller, Love is Love), and Inclusive Press/Image Comics Queer romance graphic novella, Bingo Love.

  Franklin won the 2017 Queer Press Grant for Bingo Love and raised almost $60k for this graphic novella via Kickstarter. Franklin created her own publishing company, Inclusive Press, in order to publish her own comics, as well as comics by other marginalized creators. She signed a deal with Image Comics to publish Bingo Love in 2017, which has a release date of February 14th, 2018.

  Franklin resides in New Jersey with her three children, and for some unknown reason, is a Jets fan. She’s also a social media influencer, an activist, public speaker, domestic violence survivor and a constant tweeter.

  TV/FILM:

  Franklin is represented by Ari Lubet of 3arts. Email: alubet@3arts.com

  WRITING:

  Franklin is represented by Duvall Osteen of Aragi.

  PUBLICIST:

  Pamela Mullin Horvath of Superfan Promotions. Email: pamela.mullinhorvath@superfanpromotions.com

• Bingo Love Comic - http://bingolovecomic.com/creators/

  Tee Franklin might be new to comics, but she’s definitely not new to being queer, disabled and Black. Tee Franklin’s voice in comics has been loud when it comes to the lack of representation in comics, which led her to create several inclusive #BlackComicsMonth panels at NYCC. Now, writing comics of her own, Franklin hopes to change the game with her unique voice and show that inclusion is needed in comics.

Bingo Love
Kristina Pino
Booklist.
114.14 (Mar. 15, 2018): p30. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2018 American Library Association http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Full Text:
Bingo Love.
By Tee Franklin. Illus. by Jenn St-Onge.
2018. 88p. Image Comics, paper, $9.99 (9781534307506). 741.5.
When Hazel and Mari met at a church bingo game and fell in love as young women, they were torn apart by their families because it was the "wrong" kind of love. Decades later, both have "traditional" families and separate lives, but when they reunite, what would be a more perfect spot for it than another church bingo? It's a different time, and their love for each other hasn't diminished one bit, so they decide to take the plunge. This book has it all: body positivity, African American heroes, LGBT romance, and, best of all, grannies as sexual beings who have needs and desires beyond filling up your plate. It's gorgeously presented in full color to maximize the effect of what's happening on the page. Happy moments are splashed with bright, cheery colors, and Hazel, lover of all things fashion and feminine, really shines with all her beautiful outfits and her graying hair. Despite the story being over too soon, the pacing and characterization are pitch-perfect. Readers who loved the San Junipero episode of Black Mirror will adore this, too.--Kristina Pino
YA: Hazel and Mari's story begins when they're in high school, and teens who love any and all romance will adore how their story plays out decades later. SH.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Pino, Kristina. "Bingo Love." Booklist, 15 Mar. 2018, p. 30. Book Review Index Plus,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A533094479/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=75c314fc. Accessed 1 July 2018.
1 of 3 7/1/18, 10:29 PM
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MA...
Gale Document Number: GALE|A533094479
2 of 3 7/1/18, 10:29 PM

http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MA...
Bingo Love
Publishers Weekly.
265.7 (Feb. 12, 2018): p64. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text: Bingo Love
Tee Franklin, Jenn St-Onge, and Joy San. Image, $9.99 trade paper (88p) ISBN 978-15343-0750-6
This gentle sweetheart story begins in 1963, when Hazel Johnson first sees Mari McCray at their church's bingo hall in Paterson, N.J. The two black teens go to high school together and quickly become best friends. Hazel falls in love with Mari, but hides her feelings for years. But nearing graduation, when Mari gets into a fight with her grandmother, and Hazel comforts her, they kiss for the first time. Their brief happiness is ended, as their families separate them after discovering their romance. Thinking they will never see each other again, both marry young. Hazel goes on to raise three children with James Downing, an Air Force pilot, and becomes a grandmother before she sees Mari again. Their serendipitous reunion takes place in another bingo hall, in an uplifting second-chance turn to the tale (complicated, still, by family). Mari and Hazel's period-appropriate outfits and hairstyles are lovingly rendered by St-Onge, and their tender moments are accompanied by flights of doves and showers of rose petals. With the buzz around this release (Franklin was awarded the Prism Queer Press Grant in 2017) and the hunger for inclusive, positive love stories, this should find a large, welcoming audience. (Feb.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Bingo Love." Publishers Weekly, 12 Feb. 2018, p. 64. Book Review Index Plus,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A528615512/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=5b934396. Accessed 1 July 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A528615512
3 of 3 7/1/18, 10:29 PM

• School Library Journal
  https://www.slj.com/2018/06/reviews/books/bingo-love-tee-franklin-slj-review/
  Word count: 298

  Bingo Love by Tee Franklin | SLJ Review
  By SLJ on June 13, 2018 Leave a Comment

  Get the latest SLJ reviews every month, subscribe today and save up to 35%.

  redstarFRANKLIN, Tee. Bingo Love. illus. by Jenn St-Onge & Joy San. 88p. Image. Feb. 2018. pap. $9.99. ISBN 9781534307506.

  Gr 7 Up –Franklin’s first full-length graphic novel follows a love story between two black women. Hazel and Mari meet as teenagers in 1963 and become fast friends. A kiss in front of a church turns their relationship into something more. Their romance blossoms until Mari’s grandmother catches the couple and her homophobia tears the two apart. As time passes, Hazel marries James and starts a family, and her sexuality becomes invisible to all but her. A serendipitous night out at the bingo hall reunites Hazel and Mari, who are now in their 60s and have a second shot at love. Equally heartwarming and heartbreaking, this roller-coaster romance is a powerful tribute to social change across generations—and a reminder to today’s teens about the long struggle for LGBTQ rights. When Hazel comes out to her family as bisexual, James starts to reveal his own hidden past. The text directs readers to online bonus content to find out his secret—an unnecessary distraction from the honesty of the moment and the otherwise sharp characterization. St-Onge’s art is cinematic and expressive, brought to vivid life by San’s rich colors, and seamlessly connected to Hazel’s emotional states. Scenes from the past have a rosy quality in comparison to the stark present. VERDICT This tender, beautifully rendered coming-out tale deserves a place in all graphic novel collections.–Alec Chunn, Eugene Public Library, OR

  This review was published in the School Library Journal June 2018 issue.

• The Comics Journal
  http://www.tcj.com/reviews/bingo-love/
  Word count: 1283

  Bingo Love
  Tee Franklin, Jenn St-Onge
  Image Comics
  $9.99, 90 pages
  BUY IT NOW

  REVIEWED BY Leonard Pierce Mar 28, 2018

  In an era when representation has become an almost obligatory subject in any discussion about any art form, one objection that gets raised when critics weigh in on a story that isn’t written by or targeted at their specific race, age, gender identity, or sexual preference is expressed thusly: “It isn’t for you.”

  Fair enough. Not everything is for everybody. And for far too long, the domination of conversations by mostly white, mostly male, mostly cisgender, and mostly heterosexual critics was taken as the normal state of affairs, just as was the invisibility of characters from outside those definitions in the art itself. If we are undergoing a reckoning, it’s one that’s a long time coming, and that we (my ‘we’ is that of a cis white male) brought on ourselves with decades, even centuries, of exclusion, intentional or otherwise. We can rightly lay a lot of the sins of our current time on the internet, but one unimpeachably positive effect it’s had is that of giving voice to the voiceless, and of allowing people who want to tell stories that weren’t often told before to do so. Not only that, but those stories can now be funded and publicized through a medium that speaks directly to their target audience, and for critics representing their peers to have conversations about their meaning.

  Nothing comes without cost in the internet era, though, and representation, however positive its value on its face, has been accompanied by some unintended consequences. One is the slow but steady degradation of the concept of ‘universality’, of the notion that great art is able to speak to everyone everywhere regardless of their conception of self-identity. We can lose that without tremendous gnashing of teeth, I think; art that is truly universal has always been precious and rare, and for the most part, the idea has been invoked as a dodge to protect the narrow interests of a cultural elite that served specific class, race, and gender constituencies. Much more specifically, though, we have lost the idea of criticism as a professional class.

  In a lot of ways, that’s okay; professional criticism, by design or by accident, has always had an element of gatekeeping to it, and often served to exclude voices that badly needed to be heard. But now, when literally everyone’s a critic, there have been predictable results: the quality of criticism has plummeted, the role of the critic as an artist has diminished to the point of mockery, algorithms have replaced irreplaceable human qualities with data points that serve only commerce, and criticism has gone from dangerous uniformity to dangerous balkanization.

  What does all this have to do with Bingo Love, a charming and wonderfully intended but seriously flawed graphic novel released this month by Image? More than you might think. Funded by a successful Kickstarter campaign, aimed at a pre-teen audience, and released as part of the company’s intention to feature more diverse creators and subjects, it tells the story of Hazel Johnson and Mari McCray, a pair of African-American women who meet as adolescents and fall in love. Facing the disapproval of their religious families, they’re forcibly separated and spend the next fifty years building lives and families of their own; eventually, however, they’re reunited late in life and get a second chance at happiness.

  It’s a very sweet story, and it’s told with a certain degree of charm and flair. And unquestionably, it’s the kind of story we need to see, especially in comics, where there’s a dearth of anything but lunkheaded superhero variants from companies like Image, let alone stories that center older queer women of color. It was produced outside of traditional venues of publishing, and it showcases creators who don’t normally get this degree of attention. The book’s good intentions are obvious. So…what’s the problem?

  There’s a lot of answers to that question. Bingo Love doesn’t seem to know exactly who its audience is; it sometimes seems aimed at kids, sometimes at teens, and sometimes at young adults. The art, by Jenn St-Onge, is in a familiar style that’s all over YA-centered books these days but doesn’t much appeal to me; it’s slick and too cute by half. It's technically proficient and probably works well enough for the target audience, if you assume that they can't be trusted with unconventional choices, but it's literally cartoonish -- meaning that it lends itself only to the broadest and most easily parsable emotions and actions. It's bad at reflecting nuance and subtlety, which the story sometimes requires, and its gloss and generality flatten out all the stylistic elements of time and place that ought instead to be enhanced. It's also a bit flavorless, in a work that ought to be bursting with flavor. It's not that anything about it is objectionable, but rather that it doesn't have anything like the strong individual voice that books like this are supposed to be elevating, and the end effect is like an after-school special. Narratives about stories we've traditionally ignored deserve better than art styles we've seen a million times. To that point, Tee Franklin’s story has a lot of appeal, but it’s tonally off at times, and the pacing seems awfully scattered; there are moments where the payoff is so long in coming that it almost seems like an editorial mistake. And having a major plot point take place entirely outside of the book in an online supplement seems pretty cheap.

  A lot of the timing bothers me; much of it takes place in flashback, but parts of it take place in the future, which adds absolutely nothing to the story. It could just as easily have set its flashbacks a little earlier, which would have also allowed it to avoid the pitfalls of having them take place in a weirdly depoliticized version of the civil rights era, and of having all the characters speak like 14-year-olds instead of senior citizens. Finally, for a book that is entirely centered around love and acceptance, there’s a real reluctance to honestly come to terms with the real meaning and consequences of the plot; it sets up a lot of situations and then pulls its punches, reading more like a fairy tale than a real story.

  But all of these objections are easily answered by “It’s not for you.” What’s wrong with writing for a wide audience? Who cares if the art doesn’t appeal to someone who’s not part of that audience? Why not build a brand? Why focus on events outside of the personal story it’s trying to tell, or make the dialogue accessible to the people most likely to read it? And don’t they deserve their own fairy tales? All fair questions, and ones that won’t be solved here. There’s a tension rising between shedding our tendency to review things that appeal only to our tastes and accepting without question art that is designed to appeal specifically to our tastes. As a much less reputable comic once asked, “Does existence precede essence, or what?” We can’t expect Bingo Love to answer that question, but we still owe it to ourselves to ask.
  FILED UNDER: Image Comics, Jenn St-Onge, Leonard Pierce, Reviews Tee Franklin

  Leave a Re

• Lamda Literary
  https://www.lambdaliterary.org/reviews/fiction/02/05/bingo-love-by-tee-franklin/
  Word count: 877

  ‘Bingo Love’ by Tee Franklin, Jenn St-Onge, and Joy San
  Review by Cathy Camper
  February 5, 2018

  With the graphic novel Bingo Love, writer Tee Franklin and artists Jenn St-Onge and Joy San bring us the much-needed, generation-spanning love story of Hazel Johnson and Mari McCray, two women of color who first meet as teens at their grandmothers’ church Bingo hall in 1963. When I say this book is much needed, I mean both the story itself and the author’s voice. Writer Tee Franklin is a queer, disabled black woman, and her voice is one of the many that mainstream comics have too long ignored.

  Over the years, Franklin’s comics have reached larger and larger audiences. She’s had pieces in both the Eisner Award-winning anthology Love is Love and the Ignatz-winning Elements Anthology. Bingo Love won a 2017 Queer Press Grant, and Franklin raised almost $60,000 via Kickstarter for to fund the project. It’s all ample evidence of readers’ hunger to read her stories and to see themselves in comics like this – comics that feature realistic women of color from multiple generations, written and drawn by women of color.

  The book begins with Hazel and Mari as old women, reflecting back on their lives and how they met. It all starts when Hazel catches a glimpse of Mari at the Bingo game, and is smitten with a schoolgirl crush, which only deepens when she learns that Mari will also be in her class at school.

  Readers follow the relationship through Hazel’s eyes:

  Mari was tall, beautiful and she smelled like cocoa butter. She was a honey glazed goddess. I stared at her in class and just daydreamed about us being friends and hanging out.

  The two girls become BFFs (the sixties version), sharing school events, sports, and after school meet-ups for hot chocolate. But a kiss on the cheek from Mari awakens something else in Hazel: she realizes she’d love to grow up to marry Mari. But she keeps her feelings secret, unsure that Mari feels the same.

  We really loved each other as friends…but I wanted something more. I wrestled with my feelings for Mari for years. Was it worth ruining our friendship if she didn’t feel the same way?

  A fight between Mari and her mom ends in tears outside the Bingo hall. Hazel takes a chance, and kisses her friend. To her delight, Mari reciprocates. They go out to the soda shop to talk and share their feelings. Hazel says, “Mari, it happened when the time was right. I’m just glad that it happened.” Mari replies, “ I love you Hazel Johnson. I had a great time today, Elle [her nickname for Hazel]. I wish we could be open about us.” Hazel replies, “I know, but we have to be careful. The world isn’t ready for our kind of love.”

  And given the cultural climate of the sixties, she’s right. Mari’s grandmother catches them kissing, and Mari tells Hazel she’s being sent away. That’s the last the two see of each other for many years.

  Hazel gets married to an upstanding Air Force pilot and has several kids with him. Her marriage is OK, but something’s missing, not quite right. Mari is always at the back of Hazel’s mind. And her sexual relationship with her husband is mainly revolves around her husband’s desire for children.

  Years later, Mari shows up at Mother’s Day Bingo. The two talk and discover they love each other as much as ever. But reuniting as a lesbian couple isn’t easy. Hazel’s daughter is angry that her mother is breaking up the family. Hazel discovers that her husband has some secrets too (a note says there will be a spin off story about this). And Hazel and Mari must build a new life that melds their relationship with the other people important to them: friends, kids, grandkids, and family.

  But while change can be hard, it also leads to good things. The women’s marriage on the beach in Puerto Rico, on Mother’s Day 2016, celebrates both how far they and gay rights have come (another note hints at a future spin-off about their honeymoon, to be done by Marguerite Bennett and Asia Kendrick-Horton).

  This is a romance with a happy ending that both younger and older readers will appreciate. Jenn St-Onge and Joy San’s art, as well as Genevieve FT’s cover, epitomize the upbeat, buoyant feeling of being in love. The artwork masterfully captures the nuances of emotion and family relations, at the same time retaining the wonderful playfulness of comics as a genre. A lesbian love affair this great is hard to find in comics. This tale brings it on: when Hazel and Mari kiss, the sky celebrates with love, hearts, doves–and unicorns!

  Bingo Love
  By Tee Franklin with art by Jenn St-Onge and Joy San
  Image Comics
  Paperback, 9781534307506, 88 pp.
  February 2018

  Tags: *Lesbian, Bingo Love, comics, Jenn St-Onge, Joy San, secondary, Tee Franklin

• Syfy
  http://www.syfy.com/syfywire/behind-the-panel-bingo-love-writer-tee-franklin-on-the-power-of-comics
  Word count: 571

  Bingo Love Writer Tee Franklin On The Power Of Comics (Behind The Panel) | SYFY WIRE
  Behind the Panel: Bingo Love writer Tee Franklin on the power of comics
  Contributed by
  Default contributor image
  Syfy Wire Staff
  Apr 2, 2018

  Tee Franklin is not only the first black female writer at Image Comics but also an activist and the instigator of Black Comics Month. She's also received some well-deserved critical acclaim for her touching LGBTQIA romance comic, Bingo Love.

  Her first graphic novel, Bingo Love was published via a highly successful Kickstarter campaign that raised nearly $60,000. The story centers on two black queer women named Hazel and Mari who met and fell in love in the 1960s but were separated by their prejudiced families and society. Meeting again decades later while in their mid-60s, the two grandmothers rekindle their romance when they come to realize they still love each other.

  SYFY WIRE recently sat down with Franklin, who explained how comics were actually part of her life for decades and shared a funny story as to how it all happened. Going back into comics a few years ago after she had to give it all up to raise a family, she realized that the world of comics did not really represent black, queer, disabled women like her.

  "Back in 2014-2015, when I finally got back into comics, I just noticed that finding someone who looked like me — not just on the pages of the comic but on the cover of a comic — was really far and few between and it just really irked me and I wanted to yell about it. But when you're on social media, you can p*** people off. And I noticed me talking about the fact that there were no black women writers in Marvel, people listened," Franklin told us.

  Before Bingo Love, Franklin's debut into comics was actually a four-page horror story titled "Skin," published in Image Comics’ Nailbiter #27. She then went on to crowdfund Bingo Love, raising three times the amount she was targeting in just five days.

  "I could have taken it to Image from the beginning or Dark Horse," Franklin said. "But I wanted the people to tell me… I wanted the public to say 'no we don't want to read this crap' and then I would know that 'okay, thought I had something.' But it just took off." The book ended up selling out at Image Comics before it even hit comic book stores, with Image promptly ordering a second printing. "People might be tired of superheroes and the same recycled stories," she added.

  Franklin then spoke about her next comic book title, Jook Joint (which she wrote after her four-page horror story), which Image describes as a "five-issue time-period horror miniseries about a brothel/jazz club exposing the social evils of racism, rape, domestic violence, and inequality." Penned by Franklin with art by Maria Nguyen, it's set to be released in October, right on time for Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

  Dive deep into our video interview for more with Tee Franklin, including how listening to Beyoncé's Lemonade helped her tap into her inner serial killer for Jook Joint.

  Additional material by Nathalie Caron.
  Videos
  Comics
  Features
  Behind the Panel
  Original Video

• Geek.com
  https://www.geek.com/comics/tee-franklin-on-bingo-loves-golden-graphic-novel-romance-1730838/
  Word count: 1190

  Tee Franklin on Bingo Love’s Golden Graphic Novel Romance
  By Jordan Minor 02.13.2018 :: 3:00PM EDT @JordanWMinor
  Stay on target

  11 Other Black Superheroes That Deserve Their Own Movies
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  What will it take to sell you on Bingo Love? That it’s about two relatable New Jersey, Proud Family-looking Black grandmas who fall in beautifully written and illustrated love? That it’s smart and touching and a great Image comic unique among even other great Image comics? That it’s the perfect graphic novel Valentine’s Day gift? That it’s one of the best recent, vaguely futuristic, queer women love stories we’ve seen since Black Mirror’s “San Junipero“? That’s it’s the most black AF comic we’ve read since Black AF?

  Well it’s not our job to sell you cool things, just let you know they exist. And who better to tell you about Bingo Love, available later this month, than author Tee Franklin, who created the book alongside artists Jenn St. Onge, Joy San, and Genevieve FT. So we interviewed Franklin for her thoughts on fresh perspectives and taking art projects directly the people.

  What were some of your inspirations behind Bingo Love? Is any of it based on people that you’ve known?

  Besides Bingo Love being inspired by a commercial, the majority of this story was inspired by my own life. I knew that I was different as a child and didn’t really like boys, I was beyond attracted to girls. I was married with kids and came out later to my children after being divorced.

  My daughters also inspired the characteristics of Hazel and Mari – my oldest daughter is very shy, helpful, caring and sensitive like Hazel, and my youngest daughter is extremely sarcastic, blunt and while she is a sweet individual, she has the tendency to be a bit sour at the same time, just like Mari.

  Why did you decide to tell the story mostly from Hazel’s perspective?

  Dark-skinned, plus-sized Black women are rarely seen in comics and I wanted Hazel to be front and center. There are many little Black girls who don’t see themselves in comics, and it was important to have Hazel tell the story on how she met the love of her life.

  Bingo Love is about queer, old, Black, women. Four identities the traditional comic book industry doesn’t always seem super interested in courting. When crowdfunding the project, were you afraid it wouldn’t find an audience? Or that the underserved audience wouldn’t be enough? What was your reaction then to its success?

  When I created Bingo Love, I knew from the beginning that I wasn’t going to take it to the white gatekeepers, as I would’ve heard no… if I would’ve heard back at all. So I decided to take it to the people, because they’re the ones that this book is for. When I put together the Bingo Love Kickstarter, they responded so loudly by funding Bingo Love in five days!

  I had a feeling that Bingo Love would barely make its funding and I’d have to beg people to pledge within the last hour of the Kickstarter. Seeing Bingo Love being funded within five days and making almost three times the goal was extremely surreal. Honestly, I still can’t believe this is happening.

  What made you want to tell the story as a graphic novel?

  Frankly, I didn’t want Bingo Love to be a monthly series. This is a story that wasn’t meant to be told with cliffhangers – “come back next month to see if Hazel leaves her husband” – this is a love story and should be read as a novel. Just because it’s told with Jenn St-Onge’s amazing art and Joy San’s mind-blowing colors, doesn’t mean that it had to be told every month.

  When you pick up a romance novel – let’s say from award-winning and Queer author, Rebekah Weatherspoon – you’re getting yourself comfortable to read a book, not 20 pages and wait until the following month for the next 20 pages.

  If I decide to create another Bingo Love book, I’m sure it will be told as a graphic novel. I have no immediate plans to make it a monthly series.

  During the 1960s part of the story the characters suffer because their religious family members don’t approve of their relationship. The Black church at the time was doing a lot of good political work for the Black community and civil rights movement, but is the hypocrisy of its (ongoing) homophobia something you wanted to address?

  Church, as a whole, is still homophobic and full of hypocrisy, only thing that’s changed is the year.

  James, Hazel’s husband, tells Hazel a secret that the book says will be revealed in an upcoming Bingo Love spin-off. Would you want to continue making comics set in this world?

  It’s not really a spin-off, these stories were a part of the Bingo Love Kickstarter. What people don’t understand is that this book was created with the help of 1,950 people. These amazing backers were given an incentive – if we reached whatever monetary goal, we’d have a story done by Shawn Pryor (F.O.R.C.E.) and D.J. Kirkland (Black Mage).

  I would have liked to have added these stories within the Bingo Love graphic novel, but I had no more money to pay Jenn, Joy, Cardinal Rae and Erica Schultz. If the book was picked up by a publisher, they would’ve given an advance and I could’ve made Bingo Love longer than 88 pages. Which, BTW, originally was going to be 60 pages, which turned to 80 pages and then we were finally able to make it an 88 page book – thanks to the backers.

  Some of these creators are donating their time to do these stories for free and the backers will be getting these stories as soon as they are completed. This isn’t a marketing ploy to get people to buy these extra stories – those amazing backers helped make this dream come true for me and I’m thanking them by giving them free content.

  As I mentioned earlier, I’d love to continue to create stories in the Bingo Love universe. This particular Bingo Love story is how Hazel viewed her life, and what she went through to get her happily-ever-after. There are so many characters in the pages of Bingo Love that have stories of their own, it’s just a matter of creating them, people reading these stories and, of course, if Image allows another book to happen.
  Buy Bingo Love

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• Paste Magazine
  https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2018/02/tee-franklin-gail-simone-on-bingo-love-ignoring-th.html
  Word count: 4129

  Tee Franklin & Gail Simone Talk Bingo Love, Ignoring the Haters & Paying it Forward
  By Steve Foxe | February 15, 2018 | 2:35pm
  Main Art by Genevieve Ft
  Comics Features Tee Franklin
  Tee Franklin & Gail Simone Talk Bingo Love, Ignoring the Haters & Paying it Forward

  Forget Metal and Doomsday Clock and whatever Infinity crossover Marvel is kicking off—writer Tee Franklin and artist Jenn St-Onge’s Bingo Love is a true comics event. First published as part of a massively successful Kickstarter and released this week—on Valentine’s Day, no less—to wider audiences by publisher Image Comics, Bingo Love is the story of Hazel Johnson and Mari McCray, queer women of color who meet in 1963 but are kept apart by family and society until decades later. Franklin and St-Onge cover a staggering amount of ground, from Hazel and Mari’s teen years in intolerant families, to their eventual marriages to men, to a near future where the two women, now grandparents, discover that there’s no time limit on finding your own happiness in life.

  Beyond the story on the page, Franklin has worked tirelessly to see Bingo Love through to publication, carving a niche for herself as a queer disabled Black woman in an industry overwhelmingly dominated by straight white able-bodied men. Along the way, one of Franklin’s most fervent boosters has been writer Gail Simone, herself one of the most prominent women in modern superhero comics, and a trailblazer on books like Deadpool, Birds of Prey, Secret Six, Batgirl, Wonder Woman and, most recently, her creator-owned series Crosswind with artist Cat Staggs, which is headed for television development. In celebration of Bingo Love’s publication with Image, Paste got the two creators together on the phone while Franklin prepared to head out on her first book tour. As you’ll find below, the two have a lot to say about their friendship, the challenges of forging your own path and paying it forward for future creators.

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  BingoLoveRR.jpg
  Bingo Love Cover Art by Genevieve Ft

  Gail Simone: Hello Tee!

  Tee Frankling: Hi baby, how are you?

  Simone: I’m good! You’re embarking on an adventure shortly. That’s amazing.

  Franklin: I know. I’m literally packing right now.

  Simone: How long are you going to be away from home in total?

  Franklin: In total? Probably about two and a half weeks.

  Simone: Wow

  Franklin: Yeah. I’m still trying to understand what’s going on.

  Simone: That’s awesome! Your life is going to be full of Bingo Love for these few weeks at least.

  Franklin: I know. You called it! You so called it.

  Simone: I tend to be right about these things. [Laughs]

  Franklin: Yeah, I am never taking your word for granted, ever again. Ever. It’s so surreal. I’m going to California, and Portland, and everywhere. It’s a little too overwhelming for me.

  Simone: It’s going to be amazing. I was kind of wondering, first of all, and people ask me this question too, and I really don’t know the answer in your case: when did you know that you wanted to write, and that you wanted to write this story in particular?

  Franklin: Oh boy. I didn’t know I wanted to write at all—I didn’t know I had the writing chops, per se—it was a lot of peer pressure from Alex de Campi. [Laughs] She literally put me on the spot. There was this tweet for the Elements anthology, and she quote-retweeted it and was like, “Hey Tee, you need to do this!” And I’m like, wow, you just called me out in front of thousands of people. Okay, I’m doing it! That was really it. That was how I got into writing, and literally a few months later, Joshua Williamson, when I went to interview him, he’s like, “Yeah, you want four pages?” What is going on? You guys are peer-pressuring me a little too much here! But I’ll take it! Okay, I’ll write.

  Simone: You got recruited. That’s sort of what happened to me too. I didn’t intend on it, and I just kept trying, kept doing it. But what was really remarkable about you, that first short story that you sent, you were like, “Oh, I wrote this story, it’s going to be in Nailbiter. Could you take a look at it and maybe edit it for me, you know, let me know what you think.” And I read it and thought, Oh my god, this is amazing, how did this happen so quick with you? It takes a lot of experience normally to know what to do with a comic page. It really does. To have you take four pages and make the job out of the gate—

  Franklin: How do you think I felt? I remember I gave you three stories, and was like, I have this one, this one and this one, and I don’t know which one to pick. You were like, oh, I’ll be your editor. And I was like, you want to be my what? Gail wants to be my editor? Okay! How can I turn that down? It was a no-brainer. Yeah, sure, whatever you want. Tear it up if you want, have fun! I’m not going to tell you no. And you came back with minor changes—I remember the first thing you said to me was, “What the eff is wrong with you, Tee? I love this, this is brilliant.” I skinned somebody alive and it’s brilliant? Yes! That was just the best ever. I didn’t think I’d be able to do four pages. I don’t have a lot of confidence in myself when it comes to writing.

  Simone: Some people never do, and you still have to do it regardless sometimes.

  Franklin: Right, and you’ve definitely told me that. It’s still not sticking. Maybe one day. I did 16 pages before Bingo Love. It’s all I had, it’s all I’d written and published, 16. So I don’t know Gail, I’m telling you, overwhelming anxiety is through the roof. And people love it, people want more, and I don’t get it.

  Simone: This is the perfect example of, if you don’t see it, create it. When you sent me the PDF for Bingo Love and I sat down and read it, I thought to myself after, how in God’s name did this woman create this graphic novel, with no experience basically, and have it be the best thing I’ve read all year. And everybody who’s read it practically is in tears by the end. Not only is it romance difficult to write and have it not be cliché and predictable and yadda yadda yadda, but to write romance that all ages can basically read? That’s another thing.

  And to write it as a queer romance, with women of color, women of different body styles, it was just all these things that people spend so much time saying cannot be done. I was just astounded and so happy this book exists. I’m so happy it exists for you and I’m so happy it exists for the readers who are going to get their hands on it. I really have felt from the first time I read it that it’s going to be a book that people loan to people and not get back. So they’re going to have to go buy another copy for themselves. [Laughs] So I think it’s really important, and it’s going to touch a lot of people. And yeah, there’s going to be haters, but so what?

  Franklin: I wanted, definitely, for all ages [to be able to read it], because as a youth, I didn’t have this. Growing up, the library was my safe place. There was nothing I could take home without my mom knocking me with a frying pan. There was nothing I could do or bring into the house that wasn’t Christian. It was, “No, that’s a sin, this is a sin, I’m going to beat you like they beat Jesus!” This was my life, so the library was my safe spot. If there was a book like this that I could have read when I was younger, I don’t know. I love my kids, I really do, but maybe I would have held out hope that there was someone I could be with and not just rushed head-on into a marriage.

  Simone: Maybe not followed the path that was laid out for you by other people.

  Franklin: Yes, yes, so I just really wanted to have an all-ages story, so parents can read it with their kids, the kids themselves can read it, grab it from the library, because I know that, even now, libraries are the safest space for some youth, and they can’t have this book at home and they can’t bring this book to their parents. I’m glad that people at home, and especially the youth, that they’ll be able to read this and just hold on to some sort of hope. And I did not think this would happen. I wanted to pitch so many things, and I kept getting shut down. It was always, You’re not going to sell enough, or You’re a Twitter personality, you can’t write, so we’re not going to give you a chance.

  I remember coming to you and asking for your advice, because you went through it as one of the trailblazers as a woman in comics. You went through your own stuff. And you came out and you’ve touched so many people’s lives. I know you’re not a woman of color but you’re still a woman in comics and your advice—I guess I need some more advice from my fairy comic-book mother? [Laughs] On how to keep those people, those Negative Nancies who say this book isn’t going to sell, and to quiet them, to get them out of my ear. They get under my skin, and I listen to them a lot and think that they’re right.

  BingoLove1.jpg
  Bingo Love Interior Art by Jenn St-Onge

  Simone: I know, and I’ve had years of people telling me that things aren’t going to work. A comic with a female-led cast isn’t going to work, let alone three that don’t gossip and fight with each other, it’s just not going to work. Or Wonder Woman comics being really about womanhood isn’t going to work. When you have a clear vision on something that hasn’t been done before, you’re going to get that. And the sooner you accept that, the more it will help you. I learned early on that if you’re not getting a certain amount of backlash, then you’re not doing something new. People resist and fight against things that are new that they haven’t seen before, especially if they make them uncomfortable. But fiction is a safe place to tell these stories and to reach out to people and maybe affect them and make a difference in their lives.

  And with Bingo Love, what I love about it, is that you didn’t shy away from the fact that this might not be easy, and there is a struggle, and there is hope that you can have happiness and the life that you want, even if the decisions are not easy and other people resist and say horrible things to you. You still deserve the life that you want and that makes you happy. And that’s such an important message for everyone, that is going to resonate with a lot of people. And I don’t think that sales are going to be a problem. [Laughs] You’re going to have people who flip you crap because it’s different and it makes them uncomfortable, and I say good, and that’s kind of the attitude that you need to take on so it doesn’t stop you from doing the things that are different that you have in your head that haven’t been done before.

  Franklin: That is sound advice. I’m not going to lie, I felt really vindicated when they announced a second printing. Ah, in your face fools, told you! But it’s really funny because now I’m getting emails from editors saying congratulations and I’m like, didn’t you just say not too long ago that it wasn’t going to sell?

  Simone: Sometimes people have a hard time taking that risk. You took that risk. You took it to Kickstarter because that’s where it needed to go to get it done. The risk was all yours, and now the reward is all yours.

  Franklin: And speaking of Kickstarter, I know you did Leaving Megalopolis there. I have been going through Hell with this Kickstarter. I love it, I’m so grateful. I was so shocked, funded in five days. It was really extreme, but getting these books out to everybody has been the biggest pain in my backside forever. It is so stressful! So when you did your Kickstarter, did you go through a fulfillment center or did you send the books out yourself?

  Simone: Well, actually, Jim Calafiore, my co-creator and partner, did a lot of that. Because I was writing so much that I couldn’t spend the time doing the business-y stuff like you had to. So I was blessed in that way. He actually got one of his local comic stores to allow him to store the pallet at their store, and he brought in pizza and beer and they stuffed envelopes. We did Surviving Megalopolis through Dark Horse so we would not have to do that. If I were to do Kickstarter again, I would definitely do a fulfillment center or something else. If you measure up the time it takes, the time it took away from Jim to actually create his art, and for me to write, it’s huge. People who support Kickstarter, we love them all, we’re so grateful we have these products out here that allowed us to keep the copyrights and own them and everything, but people don’t realize just how massive an undertaking it is.

  Franklin: Yeah, seriously. I remember I had four huge pallets, over 5,000 books in my garage. I think I have a little bit under 3,000 left I need to ship out. It’s like I’m drowning in books. They’re going to come alive and eat me.

  Simone: Between the time we did our Kickstarter and we were mailing stuff out, postage had doubled. And we didn’t account for that either, and people don’t realize that can just happen, and throw you off too. It’s really, really difficult Tee, but look what you have at the end of it. You have a product that you own that people are going to read and love forever and there’s going to be more of, it might even make it to the screen, and you have all those rights.

  Franklin: Yes, it’s the best thing. I will say that. I’m telling you, when I came to you and was like, “There are these two companies who want it and I don’t know who to go to,” you were like, “Image.” You said it so matter-of-factly: “Image.”

  Simone: Yeah, it’s just really important that you retain the control, because it has such a clear vision, you don’t need anybody interfering with it. And Image is so professional and so good at doing this stuff that we don’t want to do. [Laughs] It really takes a lot of pressure off.

  Franklin: Well you know we just moved and I just came across pictures of when we first met, when the girls were just little, little, little ones, in Baltimore. When we first met you, the children were just these tiny little things and now they’re annoying teenagers. [Laughs]

  Simone: They’re still beautiful!

  Franklin: They are, bless their little hearts. But I never thought—I remember when I first introduced myself and you were like, whoa, I love your hair. And this is forever ago, and now I’m like, Gail is donating tiers to my Kickstarter, she’s editing my books—what happened between these few years that just turned everything around? It’s so wild.

  BingoLove2.jpg
  Bingo Love Interior Art by Jenn St-Onge

  Simone: Well I am just so happy—you deserved it. And there are not very many people who could take that on and see it to completion. You know how hard it is, but you actually did it. A lot of people just cannot do it, or if they do it, the end product isn’t the quality of yours. So it’s just a remarkable thing you did and you should just never doubt that.

  Franklin: If I didn’t have amazing people like you and Kelly Sue [DeConnick] and Shawn Pryor, [Erica Schultz]…I was able to use [them] as a sounding board, and a lot of creators don’t have professionals like you in their corner.

  Simone: That’s true, but a lot of people don’t have the courage to show their work either. They might do the work, but they don’t have the courage to show it and to figure out what to do with it from that point. There’s a lot of stuff in there that you did that a lot of people don’t do.

  Franklin: For those who are going to be reading this, what advice would you give them to follow through and complete? I love when you give tips on Twitter. Even now I still highlight your threads and save them because I know I can screw up sometimes. What kind of advice would you give them?

  Simone: Well, it’s pretty simple advice in terms of: figure out what you have to say that no one else has, that no one else can do or has done, and see it through to finish. And get it out there for people to see. All the steps in between, you can go online and get lots of advice and figure out your own path, but you still have to start, and to finish, and so many people drop out between those two things. It takes a lot of guts, it takes a lot of determination and a lot of stubbornness and a lot of shutting out the voices telling you that you can’t do it, and knowing that you can do it and you are going to do it. And it doesn’t matter where you’re from or any of that anymore. If you have something to say, especially that’s different and needed, then do it. And if you have to do it online or go to Kickstarter, however: beginning and end.

  Franklin: And definitely start small.

  Simone: No one does an 80-page graphic novel out of the gate, Tee. [Laughs]

  Franklin: This is true, this is so true. I know I go into my long tweet threads and sometimes it goes place and sometimes it doesn’t. Because I know it’s hard for marginalized creators to actually get in the door—not everybody can get an offer from somebody like Joshua Williamson to say, hey, here’s a four-pager in Nailbiter, it’s all yours. Do you think that if creators who have books, like how Kelly Sue is giving some creators who might not get a chance to create stories [a spot in Bitch Planet], do you think that maybe if those creators who want to be allies and want to help other creators, if they actually started to give them spots in their books for a short little page here and there, to allow them to play in their toybox, it would help?

  Because come on—it’s like 95% straight white people in comics with a few drips and drops of marginalized creators here and there. I think it’s time that the tide changes and we start adding more creators of color, disabled creators, queer creators into comics. We can write about superheroes and Vikings and mermaids. Why can’t we have marginalized creators telling these stories? I think the creators who actually have books and can get people in the door, can give us chances, a few pages. How do you think we can make that happen? To convince creators to give people a four-page, or a two-page backup, or something. Because I want to see more people like myself succeed.

  Simone: Of course. And any industry is going to benefit from opening the doors and broadening the content and the perspective and the way of doing things. The problem with the bigger publishers is to come to them and ask them, “Hey, can we have two pages out of these?”—it an be really hard to get through. What I love is the anthologies that happen, that pair a creator who people recognize with a creator where people maybe don’t recognize their name, and get their name out there. The Womanthology book got a lot of people jobs, inside and outside the industry, and I think stuff like that tends to be really effective. You have something in print that you can point an editor or a publisher to, and it makes a huge difference for a lot of people. Any time something comes up where there is an extra page somewhere, take advantage of it, but it’s so difficult with the Big Two [Marvel and DC Comics] in particular. I really suggest people go for anthologies when they can.

  Franklin: Right, I’m sure the Big Two is hard, but an Image book or Dark Horse or BOOM! or somebody, I feel like there should be more chances than there are. If Joshua didn’t give me my four-pager, I don’t know if Bingo Love would have happened.

  Simone: It’s really, really important to find ways to get your work seen for sure. I know a lot of us talk about it and do what we can to make it happen, but I’m not sure where to go from here.

  Franklin: I know I’m going to have to figure some things out and practice what I preach and give other people a spot in the story. If Image—hi, Image, if you’re listening—if I’m able to do Bingo Love 2, maybe I’ll have somebody do a story. I definitely want to see how I can get people to do a little short. Now that I’ve got one foot in the door—I’m not fully in, still got the bad leg out—because I know we’re so talented and we have these stories and I want to give someone an opportunity like Josh did for me. And how you did for me, to edit my first—you edited my first published story! I had an A-team: Juan Ferreyra was the artist and Taylor Esposito was my freaking letterer. It’s wild and amazing and I just want to give that opportunity to someone. It can set your career off, obviously. You know me Gail, I’m one of the loudest mouths out there when it comes to inclusion in comics. I’m going to spout and talk stuff, maybe do a challenge. I’m going to figure something out, damn it!

  Simone: You will, I’m sure!

  BingoLove3.jpg
  Bingo Love Interior Art by Jenn St-Onge

• Hollywood Reporter
  https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/bingo-love-is-one-2018s-buzzed-comics-1080786
  Word count: 1685

  How 'Bingo Love' Became One of 2018's Most-Buzzed-About Comics
  Writer Tee Franklin says she always pitches the love story as 'Moonlight' meets the 'Black Mirror' episode 'San Junipero.'
  Jenn St-Onge/Image Comics
  Writer Tee Franklin says she always pitches the love story as 'Moonlight' meets the 'Black Mirror' episode 'San Junipero.'

  Bingo Love is a comic unlike any other — which might explain the buzz surrounding its upcoming release from Image Comics.

  The creation of Tee Franklin, the woman behind Black Comics Month, and artists Jenn St-Onge and Joy San, Bingo Love is a love story with a difference: It reunites two African-American women decades after their initial love affair, when both have not only children, but grandchildren and extended family to deal with.

  Originally announced as a crowdfunded indie campaign, the graphic novel was picked up by Image Comics last year, and has already been announced as going back to print weeks before the first edition hits shelves. Heat Vision talked to Franklin about the project, and what it is about Bingo Love that has audiences so excited.

  Where did the idea behind Bingo Love come from?

  I’m sure it was a lazy day — as I have those from time to time, because self-care is important to me — and while I was watching TV, I saw a heart hospital commercial featuring two older black women. These women were sitting on these brownstone steps and started to sprint walk, while walking, an older black gentleman was walking the other way and smiled. They turned around to look at him and just started to giggle like high school girls. I instantly thought how dope that commercial would be if they were looking at a woman instead of a guy.

  I totally zoned out after that, I grabbed my notebook and started to jot down ideas for a story which turned out to be Bingo Love. It’s wild how random things inspire you.

  How did you hook up with Jenn St-Onge and Joy San? What they bring to the story is immeasurable.

  I am extremely blessed to have Joy and Jenn help bring Bingo Love to life. They’re so talented! I put out a tweet looking for artists who were available for a paid gig on a romance comic — many submitted, but it wasn’t exactly what I was looking for. I then remembered that Jenn and I were going to work on a YA series I was writing, and asked if she was free. I was thrilled when she said yes.

  Immediately Jenn started taking the ideas I sent her for Hazel and Mari, the queer grandmas of Bingo Love, and came up with some beautiful concepts that made me cry. It was during this time that I also put out another ad looking for a colorist. Joy San had placed her link in the tweet and Jenn knew of her work and, as you can see, that was definitely one of the best decisions I made.

  Jenn and Joy breathed life into my words and I am forever grateful.

  There’s such a humanity they show in all the characters.

  Here’s the thing: While it may or may not include bingo, this is someone’s life. Lately, we’ve been seeing feel-good articles where men and women in their sixties, even some in their nineties, are coming out of the closet. These people coming out so late in life have been married with kids. I was married with children. I have three children — 24, 17 and 15 — and I was married for quite a long time, albeit an abusive marriage, but I came out just last year to other members of my family via an article in the Huffington Post. I told my children a few years ago, and they subsequently “duhh’d” me because they already knew I was queer.

  There were many times when I cried while writing Bingo Love, because it reflected not just my life, but so many others who just want to be accepted by their families. Many don’t have that luxury of acceptance, I know I didn’t when I was growing up. So I waited until my children were old enough to tell them and in the meantime, I taught them to be accepting of others, which led to them being accepting of me.

  Was there any nervousness about writing a story that’s so unusual for comics on any number of levels? Comics is a medium that can do anything, but comics is also an industry where a romance between two queer women that reignites when they’re grandmothers is so rare that calling it a rarity feels like an understatement.

  I was already nervous about Bingo Love, as it’s my first book; I’d written a total of sixteen pages, that had been published, up until that point. I knew that I couldn’t approach publishers, as there’s a lot of gatekeepers... White gatekeepers. I’m queer, black and disabled, and there was no way I was going to reach out to editors to publish a graphic novel about two queer, black senior citizens and get a yes.

  There aren’t many senior citizens in mainstream comics as a whole — you could probably count them on one hand. Now once you factor in that they’re queer black women, you definitely have an anomaly on your hands. I’m not certain why these things are so rare in mainstream comics. Actually, that’s a lie; stories like Bingo Love wouldn’t be a rarity if the gatekeepers would actually let marginalized creators in and let us publish stories.

  As you said, “comics is a medium that can do anything” but, unless you’re a straight white man, the odds of you actually creating something and getting that book picked up by publishers — run by straight white men — are super slim. Which is why so many Black women writers and creators turn to other venues, like Kickstarter, Patreon, and webcomics to get our work out there.

  You mentioned Kickstarter, and the Kickstarter campaign for Bingo Love was wildly successful, and quickly gained the support of a number of outside creators. Were you surprised by how big the campaign became? Did you have any idea that the audience was looking for this kind of story?

  I had no idea. I’m still trying to figure out how Bingo Love was funded in five days and it’s going on ten months later. I reached out to creators like Kelly Sue [DeConnick], Kieron Gillen, Scott Snyder, thinking I needed their help to get the Kickstarter off the ground, and it turns out I didn’t. I went out to dinner with Gail Simone and her husband during the Kickstarter campaign and she asked me if she could be involved and donated a Skype tier. I believe so many creators wanted to help because they saw the potential in the project.

  The Kickstarter exceeded my expectations and I remember being so scared around the forty thousand mark, that I almost clicked the green button to refund everyone’s money and cancel the Kickstarter. I was so overwhelmed and scared that I was going to let everyone down. People wanted to read about queer, black grandmas!

  As I stated earlier, I knew that if I took Bingo Love to publishers, I would’ve gotten a no, or no response. So I decided to take it to the people. I wanted them to tell me no, not the gatekeepers. The people responded with an emphatic yes and gave me almost sixty grand to fund Bingo Love.

  Talking about emphatic yeses, the Image Comics edition is already going back to press before the first print has been released. What do you think it is about Bingo Love that has touched a nerve and excited so many people?

  We’re so hungry for stories like Bingo Love. I always pitch Bingo Love as Moonlight meets Black Mirror’s “San Junipero.” There aren’t that many LGBTQ stories that don’t participate in the “bury your gays” trope. So many times we’ve seen LGBTQ lives cut short to further the main character’s story. It’s played out and we’re tired of it, so when a story like Bingo Love comes around where they actually achieve a happily-ever-after, folks are shoving their money towards it feverishly.

  Getting the news that Bingo Love was headed to a second printing so quickly brought tears to my eyes. Knowing that so many people are picking up this title — whether it’s for themselves, or a young person, or donating it to a youth center, or even to their own queer grandma — brings me so much joy. The main reason I created Bingo Love, was to tell the young people that happily-ever-after’s aren’t just for straight people; it’s why I wrote it as an all-ages story. The LGBTQ youth needs to know that they can achieve happiness, I believe it’s vital information and I pray that Bingo Love can help change the way the youth think. We don’t have many LGBTQ stories featuring people of color that depict us well into our seniors, I’m optimistic Bingo Love changes that.

  I intend to tell many stories in the Bingo Love universe, the culture needs it.

  Courtesy of Jenn St-Onge/Image Comics

  Courtesy of Jenn St-Onge/Image Comics

  Courtesy of Jenn St-Onge/Image Comics

  Courtesy of Jenn St-Onge/Image Comics

  Courtesy of Jenn St-Onge/Image Comics

  Courtesy of Jenn St-Onge/Image Comics

  The Image Comics edition of Bingo Love will be released digitally and in comic book stores Feb. 14.

• CBR
  https://www.cbr.com/bingo-love-tee-franklin-interview/
  Word count: 1411

  Tee Franklin Hits the Jackpot with ‘Queer Grannies’ Romance Bingo Love
  01.04.2018
  by Brigid Alverson in Comic News Comment
  Tee Franklin Hits the Jackpot with ‘Queer Grannies’ Romance Bingo Love

  Tee “Vixen” Franklin’s Bingo Love hit the jackpot last March, when her Kickstarter to fund the graphic novel blew past its $19,999 goal in just five days and went on to raise a total of $57,148 — with help from such well known creators as Gail Simone, Scott Snyder, Steve Orlando, Kelly Sue DeConnick and G. Willow Wilson.

  And then, this past October at New York Comic Con, Image Comics announced it would publish Bingo Loves, bringing an even higher profile to the project, illustrated by Jenn St-Onge and colorist Joy San.

  Bingo Love, which is scheduled for release on the apt date of Feb. 14, is Franklin’s first full-length work; her previous comics include the story “The Outfit” in Nailbiter #27 and a story illustrated by Carla Speed McNeill in the Love Is Love anthology. She is also well known in the comics world for her commentary and particularly for promoting the work of creators of color with the #BlackComicsMonth hashtag. So how did she go from Tweeter to creator? CBR talked with her at NYCC to find out.

  CBR: How did you come up with Bingo Love?

  Tee Franklin: I was watching a commercial and there were these two black women sitting on a brownstone steps, and they started to do a little sprint walking. There was a gentleman walking past in the opposite direction, and these two older black women looked back at him and they were in a little flirty, high school thing, and I was like, “Oh my god, this is so cute! I wonder, how about if that was a woman?” I went into never never land and zoned out and created this whole little back story for these two women who were doing some sprint walking, and it turned into Bingo Love.

  I didn’t expect this to turn into what it did. Queer grannies aren’t in comics — it’s not something you’re seeing on a cover. I knew I was taking a chance when I came up with this idea and when I did the Kickstarter, but I really didn’t think it would explode like this at all.

  Why do you think the Kickstarter did so well?

  I think this is what people want. They are tired of the same comics all the time [that are] just bland. It’s time to season your comics, throw in some LGBTQIA characters or marginalized voices with disabilities. There are so many different seasonings that can turn comics into something that people would like, because we all want to see ourselves represented in one way or another.

  What sort of help did you get from other creators?

  Oh my god! Kelly Sue [DeConnick], Gail Simone, Scott Snyder, Marguerite Bennett, G. Willow Wilson, they all donated tiers where they were going to do Skype sessions, and Al Ewing and Kieron Gillen donated script reviews. I had massive help from a ton of creators.

  How did you get them to participate?

  I think that has to do with a lot of the work I have done with Black Comics Month and the fact that I am so vocal about the lack of marginalized creators in comics. People knew me because I challenge and I speak out, and a lot of these creators agree with me. When they saw what the book was about, to them it was a no-brainer. Literally no one said, “I have to see around my schedule.” It was, “Yes, what do you want me to donate?” There was no hesitation from any of them.

  How did you get to know them?

  Twitter! [Laughs] Just a lot of Twitter, and reaching out to them and just being me and just talking about these things.

  Bingo Love cover by Genevieve FT.

  How did you learn how to make comics?

  I don’t know how. [Laughs] My first comic I wrote was in the Elements anthology that won an Ignatz award at SPX. I didn’t know how to write comics at all. Tanika Stotts gave me a format and she said, “Google ‘How to write a comics script.’” The Nailbiter story was the second one I ever wrote. Gail [Simone] edited the story, and she was like “Why don’t you do this and try this” and it just ended up being a crazy story, like sick and disgusting and twisted.

  I’m pretty sure I still screw up writing comics, but I’m blessed to work with amazing teams that work with me and understand and help me along the way.

  How did you first get involved with comics?

  I have always read comics as a kid. I got married, I had kids, and that was the furthest thing from my mind. When I got my divorce, I was able to get me back, and one of the stories that brought me back into comics was a Justice League issue with Wonder Woman kissing Superman on the cover. Her lasso was wrapped around him, and I was like, “Oh my god, this is so cute and romantic!” I just wanted that story, but I don’t read the cape comics. That’s not my thing.

  When I went into my comic shop, The Joker’s Child, I said, “I don’t really like superheroes. What else do you have?” They asked “What kind of movies and TV shows do you like?” “I like horror.” The guy pulled out Nailbiter and said “I think you would like this.” It was issue #4, and when I saw the cover, I was like, “Oh my god, sign me up!” That’s how I got back into reading comics.

  Then in 2013, I wanted to create a site because I always talk about comics and TV and things not being fair for people of color. I created Vixen Varsity, and that led me into interviewing creators, which turned into me being a comic writer, which I’m still freaking out over. So it’s sort of weird and a full circle for me.

  How did you get Image to pick up Bingo Love?

  I was signing at Escape Pod Comics on Free Comic Book Day with Donny Cates and Spike Trotman. Donny was so interested in Bingo Love, and he wanted to know where else is it going, and I said “I don’t know.” I didn’t really have a plan for it. I was being courted by other publishers but I didn’t know where I wanted the book to go. I wanted to focus on getting the books out to the people on Kickstarter, because if it wasn’t for them, this book wouldn’t exist.

  Donny said, “I’ll show it off to my friend Eric.” I’m like, “OK, whatever.” So I think it was later on that day or the next day, [Image Comics Publisher] Eric Stephenson was on my email saying, “I love Bingo Love and it would be a perfect for Image,” and I was like, “Holy shit! That Eric! Oh my god! Yes!”

  What can Image offer that just doing a Kickstarter can’t do?

  I know I can get it into comic stores myself if I was to do it, but that would take way more time and resources that I don’t have — in addition to having this book translated into several different languages and published all over the world in bookstores and comic shops. That I would not be able to do.

  Will it be available digitally?

  Yes. But everyone who has pledged to Bingo Love on Kickstarter, you are my main focus. That is something that was stipulated with Image and myself, that my Kickstarter people would be taken care of first. If it wasn’t for them I would not be having this talk with Eric.

  Bingo Love is scheduled for release on Feb. 14 from Image Comics.

  Tags:
  bingo love

• Washington Post
  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2017/04/11/bingo-love-writer-tee-franklin-looks-to-tell-a-tale-of-romance-rarely-seen-in-comics/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.e41343baadbf
  Word count: 684

  ‘Bingo Love’ writer Tee Franklin looks to tell a tale of romance rarely seen in comics
  By David Betancourt April 11, 2017 Email the author
  (Courtesy of Tee Franklin. Art by Jenn St-Onge)

  For years, Tee Franklin has been one of the most outspoken voices on social media when it comes to arguing for more diversity in the comic book industry. She created the hashtag #blackcomicsmonth to make comic book fans of color more aware of the diverse comic book characters and superheroes that already exist in the industry, and promoted it to her 30,000 Twitter followers.

  Now, Franklin is writing her own comic books. “Bingo Love,” a graphic novel from Inclusive Press, is about two gay black women and the love between them that spans decades. Franklin recently began a Kickstarter campaign that aims to get the love story published by the end of this year.

  Franklin also recently wrote her first comic book short-story, which appeared in the 27th issue of “Nailbiter” from Image Comics. It led many of Franklin’s professional peers to encourage her to pursue more comic-book opportunities.

  But that’s not what inspired her to create “Bingo Love.” Instead, Franklin credits a television commercial, in which two older black women are enjoying a conversation on the steps of a brownstone, when an older gentleman comes their way. Glances are made. Giggling begins between the two women. The commercial was, oddly, for a heart hospital, but it instantly sparked an idea in Franklin’s head about more personal matters of the heart.

  The resulting “Bingo Love” centers on two 13-year-old girls, Hazel Johnson and Mari McCray, who meet when their grandmothers bring them along to a church bingo night. They become best friends in the 1960s, fall in love and are forbidden to see each other by their families. Over the next few decades, the two friends reconnect and become closer as they get older.

  To make the comic book happen, the New Jersey-based Franklin set a Kickstarter goal of $19,999. “Bingo Love” isn’t the type of comic book she’s used to seeing. But she received praise from social media followers who admired the story she was trying to tell, and just as many who loved the bingo angle because of memories of playing the game with their grandparents. Others weren’t so happy.

  [New York Comic Con 2015: Why one woman was moved to launch #BlackComicsMonth]

  “Having two older black women, especially one [Hazel] who is darker skinned and plus-sized, I was told that I was ruining comics by having this,” Franklin said. “Hazel was called very derogatory names.”

  “It’s not hurtful to me because I expect this,” she added. “In being a queer, black, disabled woman myself, I get it, period. I get this negativity all the time. So it’s something that I’m used to. Calling it out, it’s just putting it out there. If you’re trying to hurt my feelings, good luck, because it’s just not going to happen.”
  (Courtesy of Tee Franklin)

  The Kickstarter went live on March 15. Five days later the project was fully funded.

  “It was so surreal watching those numbers tick towards 19,999,” Franklin said. “We hear how diversity doesn’t sell, but this book is proof that people want to read these stories.”

  Franklin is now focused on production of “Bingo Love” (the 80-page comic book will be illustrated by artist Jenn St-Onge) and gaining more backers (the Kickstarter is now over $44,000) before the Kickstarter drive ends April 17.

  “I just want this book in as many hands as possible,” Franklin said. “Because this is a story that is vital and that isn’t told in comics, period.”
  (Courtesy of Tee Franklin)
  (Courtesy of Tee Franklin)
  (Courtesy of Tee Franklin)
  (Courtesy of Tee Franklin)

  Read more:

  Read This: Gene Luen Yang’s rousing diversity speech at the 2014 National Book Festival gala

• Pride
  https://www.pride.com/geek/2018/1/22/writer-tee-franklin-dishes-her-new-comic-bingo-love
  Word count: 1179

  Writer Tee Franklin Dishes on Her New Comic Bingo Love
  bingolove_teefranklin.jpg

  Tee Franklin is giving the comic industry a run for its money with a brand new comic about queer Black women whose love spans decades.
  TM Obscura
  By TM Obscura
  January 22 2018 2:46 PM EST

  Tee Franklin’s been making waves in comics for quite some time. As a writer and activist, she’s consistently been outspoken about the lack of inclusivity in the comics industry. And she’s isn’t playing around when it comes to making changes.

  Exhausted by the idea of not seeing more racial, sexual, gender, and disability inclusion in comics, Franklin founded Inclusivity Press. Then, in early 2017, Franklin took an even bigger step to mark the changes she’d been fighting so long and hard for: she launched a Kickstarter campaign to help fund her own comic, Bingo Love.

  Bingo Love is what Franklin describes as a Black, queer, romantic graphic novella. The comic tells the love story of Hazel Johnson and Mari McCray, who meet at church bingo and fall madly in love with each other. The story spans 60 years, following Hazel and Mari well into their senior years—a rarity in LGBTQ media and representation.

  We spoke with Franklin to get some insight into her creative thought process and hopes for Bingo Love, which will be released this Valentine’s Day!

  PRIDE: Your comic, Bingo Love, is coming out in February, and it’s a queer love story that spans several decades. What made you want to tell this particular story?

  Tee Franklin: When it comes to LGBTQ representation, besides the fact that it’s lacking period, it’s usually a tragic ending to further someone’s plot. I know I’m not in the minority when it comes to being sick and tired of being killed to further the main character’s story, or being the trusty "sidekick." As a queer, disabled, Black woman, there’s not enough representation as it is for someone like myself, let alone someone’s who’s young. I wanted to tell a story where the LGBTQ youth knows, for certain, that happily ever afters aren’t just for straight people.

  P: It’s rare that you see relationships between older people in queer media. Based on the response to Bingo Love so far, do you think there’s a bigger market for queer stories that feature mature characters?

  TF: I would hope so! Why does stories have to be just about young people or adults? And for that matter, why are the only older people in comics usually white men? Magneto, Professor X, Uncle Ben, Pa Kent, come to mind when I think of seniors in comics...oh, and Aunt Mae.

  I plan to change all of that with Bingo Love. As long as there’s an audience, I will be telling their story. Because guess what? We get old too.

  P: You wrote Bingo Love, but you also have an artist, a colorist, a letterer, and an editor onboard. How did you go about assembling your team?

  TF: I have such a badass team! I actually found artist Jenn St-Onge and colorist Joy San via Twitter. Erica Schultz is the editor and she knew Cardinal Rae. The team is smooth like butter. We work extremely well together and I couldn’t have been able to tell Bingo Love without them.

  P: What kinds of challenges or obstacles did you face while creating Bingo Love? How did you overcome them?

  TF: Goodness. There are some racists and bigots out there. Holy crap! I’ve been called the n-word SEVERAL times along with pervert and other derogatory names just because I created Bingo Love. It even got so bad I received death and you-know-what threats. It was discouraging because all I wanted to do was tell a story. I had no idea that I’d receive this much hate from creating this beautiful and touching love story.

  It hurt. I cried several times, but never once did I want to give up. It’s gotten worse since the image announcement and I just don’t understand it. If it wasn’t for my friends, Erica Schultz and Shawn Pryor, I honestly don’t know how I would’ve gotten through it.

  P: What can you tell me about your creative background and how you got started in comics?

  TF: Well, I don’t have much of a creative background. Once upon a time I was a comics journalist and due to me speaking out against the lack of representation in comics, I gained the respect of several well-known comic creators. In turn, they "peer pressured" me into creating comics and I haven’t looked back.

  P: You’ve spent some time speaking out about the lack of diversity and inclusivity in comics. Have you seen any positive changes in the industry? If not, what can comic lovers and creators do to bring about change?

  TF: I’ve seen very few, but nothing that I’d celebrate. There’s no reason why it should take 75 years for a comics publisher to hire a Black woman writer.

  If comic creators are truly allies and want to bring about change, reach out to marginalized comic creators and give them a backup story in your book. It’s how I got my start thanks to Joshua Williamson. Or better yet, let them do a one-shot. Or how about just hiring us from the start??

  P: What advice would you give to aspiring comic creators who aren’t sure how to get started?

  TF: If you want something done, do it yourself. I did Bingo Love myself because I knew publishers would turn it down. There’s Kickstarter, Webcomics and Tumblr out there. Put your work out there and promote the heck out of it. The only one who’s gonna stop you is you.

  P: Where do you see yourself creatively in five years?

  TF: I’d love to be a TV writer. Scratch that. I see myself writing a few episodes of Bingo Love for TV. Email me Netflix, Hulu, Amazon—let’s talk!

  P: Aside from Bingo Love, do you have any other projects in the works?

  TF: I’m working on a horror project and a YA series right now, in addition to some things I can’t share. Let’s just say 2018-2019 is going to be extremely interesting! Thank you to everyone for their support and I hope to see you at a Bingo Love signing near you!

  To learn more about Tee Franklin and Bingo Love be sure to visit the official website, BingoLoveComic.com. Bingo Love is available for pre-order on Amazon.

• Smash Pages
  http://smashpages.net/2018/03/06/smash-pages-qa-tee-franklin-on-bingo-love/
  Word count: 871

  Smash Pages Q&A: Tee Franklin on ‘Bingo Love’

  Following a successful Kickstarter, Franklin discusses how the graphic novel landed at Image Comics.

  Last month Bingo Love came out from Image Comics. Written by first-time graphic novelist Tee Franklin and illustrated by Jenn St-Onge, it’s a realistic love story that jumps from 1963 to the present before ending in 2038. It tells the story of two women, Hazel and Mari, who meet when they’re young and are reunited decades later. It’s a story with a happy ending, which is not to say that the book is not also a fraught and complicated journey for the characters.

  Franklin is known to many in the comics community for her journalism. She’s written short comics for various anthologies, but after a successful Kickstarter, the book looks to be one of the breakout comics of the year. The book has already gone into a second printing before it was ever published, and Image isn’t run by fools; Franklin announced her next project at Image Expo shortly after Bingo Love hit the shelves.

  I like to ask people, especially when we’re talking about their first big project, how did you come to comics?

  I started out in comics as a journalist – interviewing comic creators, writing reviews, covering events, etc. That in turn led me to noticing a lack of inclusion in comics and me being extremely vocal about this development. After making friends in the industry, they sort of pressured me to write comics and here we are.

  What is Bingo Love?

  Bingo Love is an all-ages LGBTQ romance graphic novel. It’s best described as Academy Award winning Moonlight meets Black Mirror’s San Junipero episode.

  What made you interested in telling this love story between two older women?

  You can create whatever you want in comics, yet there are no comics about Queer Black senior citizens. I wanted to change that, so I did.

  Why did you decided to end up splitting most of the story between the present and the 1960’s?

  The story is split between the past, present and future. I wanted this to be a full circle of how these two young Black children meet, the obstacles they faced, and how they eventually made it to live happily ever after with each other. It’s important to the youth to know that this is possible for them.

  What is it about bingo?

  I like bingo and still play bingo from time to time. Besides, Canasta Love doesn’t have a nice ring to it.

  How did you connect with Jenn St-Onge and how did you two work together?

  Jenn and I were supposed to work on a YA project earlier together, but our schedules didn’t sync up, but when I approached her about Bingo Love, she was free and it was one of the best decisions I ever made. Jenn is a fantastic artist, with so much talent. She’s a rockstar! Every single time Jenn turned a page in, the water works in my eyes turned on. Add that to Joy San’s colors and each page was looking better than the last page they turned in.

  I’m truly blessed to have Joy, Cardinal Rae, Erica Schultz and Jenn on the Bingo Love team.

  Readers will also see that you have two other related comics, Bingo Love: Secrets and Bingo Love: Honeymoon. Do you want to say a little about these digital releases?

  These stories were apart of the Bingo Love Kickstarter. Shawn Pryor (F.O.R.C.E.) and Marguerite Bennett (InSEXts) donated their time to write these stories for the 1,950 backers who helped bring Bingo Love to life, for free. Their stories are being drawn by D.J. Kirkland (Black Mage) and Asia Kendrick-Horton (Steven Universe: Too Cool for School).

  How did you end up at Image Comics?

  Donny Cates introduced me to his “buddy” Eric and it turned out to be Eric Stephenson who wanted Bingo Love at Image. A couple of emails later, it was a done deal. Bingo Love is on its second printing and it’s safe to say that Image was the correct home for Bingo Love.

  The book is out and you’re doing a lot of events. How does it feel to see the book come out like this?

  I just want to thank all the backers who supported the Bingo Love Kickstarter, if it wasn’t for all of you, this would not be happening! The team and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

  Related

  Image to publish Tee Franklin's 'Bingo Love'October 6, 2017In "Graphic Novels"

  Comics Lowdown: 'Bingo Love' creator offers advice on creating diverse comicsMay 24, 2017In "Comics Lowdown"

  Image reveals many, many new titles at Image ExpoFebruary 21, 2018In "Comic Publishers"
  Author Alex DuebenPosted on March 6, 2018Categories InterviewsTags Bingo Love, graphic novels, Image Comics, Tee Franklin