From the Conductor: Storytelling in the hyper age...

On the onset, your friendly neighborhood Conductor, as well as all of Neverland Transit Authority, stands behind, beside, and with the rights of everyone to explore their own personal identities, and we voice our continued belief that no one should infringe on those rights to do so if they are carried out respectfully of those doing the expressing as much as those be expressed upon.

This is just the need of one creator to talk some about his struggles trying to be a decent human being and a strong storyteller in the age of hyper sensitivity and personal identification.

Identity, gender, gender issues, and the rights of various individuals are forefront and paramount in today's world. That's not to say it never was; just that is, now, more than ever before. With the slow shifting of American culture to a place where some 60% of Americans now support "gay marriage"*, it's fair to say that these topics are now a political and social set of hot buttons... to say the least.

And most of that, these days, are on the social injustices and inequalities that women and the LGBT community still have to deal with; sometimes with lethal consequences. And I, in no way, want to discount that, at all. But, I'd like to take a minute, or two, to express my frustration over the situation. Partly how upsetting it is to see these things still a problem for The United States of America in the 21at century, but also as someone who is both culturally and genetically a binary person.

As a person of this upbringing, it can be sometimes very hard for me to interact with someone whose phyiscal signature is one way, though how they act and conduct themself may be totally opposite. (Again, I'm stuck using the only vocabulary I know, here. My apologies.) Often this has led me to say some pretty dumb things, and behave rather clumsily in social settings. (And if you've ever seen me at a social function, then you know how odd it can be to see me get tripped up.) 

However, I don't ever want to shy away from percentages of potential readers; not for the sake of future possible sales, but for the idea of new stories to tell, new people to reach, and new ideas to be shared. That being said, it can be kind of daunting, these days, to be a straight white guy trying to be creative in a graphical narrative.

For all its repugnantness, Gamer Gate and its backlash do, sometimes, illustrate the fear that some of us have about opening ourselves up to new characters and story potentials. The threats and concerns of women in the video game industry are real, and credible, to say the least. At the same time, it can be hard to script any sense of realism if, when doing so, you get block back like:

The Witcher 3 does to Ciri what Arkham City did to Catwoman. Thugs yell “bitch” and “whore” and sexually harass both women as you play them.

— Feminist Frequency (@femfreq) May 31, 2015

Now, Anita Sarkeesian may have a point when she argues "Also the 'it's realistic for enemies to sexually harass female characters' excuse is nonsense in fantasy games filled with ghouls & wraiths." But when Catwoman goes diving into a city block that is occupied by hoodlums and thugs, are we not supposed to expect that these machismo muscled headed dick minded criminals aren't going to throw those kinds of insults? 

As a point of reference, The Arkham series is part of this new gritty, adult realism with Batman, and the games are marked and advertised as such.** So that may mean that a crime fighter game and a dragon hunter game might not be standing on equal footing.

But then, I'm a straight white man; there's no way I could know what is going on in the mind of anyone not me when I confront the same images that anyone of another color, gender, or identity than mine does. And that's part of the trap that a large block of my creative field kind of falls into when we try to be the good guy and make the right kind of stories. 

Such is the same with the whole transgender issue now coming to the forefront in American society with the revelations of former gold medal track and field star Bruce Jenner.

Bruce 1976

Caitlyn 2015

Jenner, despite a large family and a successful career that attached itself to his masculine prowess and ability, has quietly struggled with something that I could never really understand; he's always felt like he was a she.

This is a nebulous area of confusion and discomfort for binary folk; men particularly. And it gets us on many different levels. But I'm not here to try and explain that, defend that, or even try and make sense out of it. Coming to terms with these things are our responsibility***, and not the goal of this rambling.

I will say this about Jenner, though...

Looking good, baby!

What I'm after is, maybe, just some understanding, and hopefully to find a way to explore and express the world around me through my choice of medium without hurting, maiming, or insulting.**** It's a tricky path we tread, these days, to be mindful of so many steps. Yes, I battle against my programming to accept, if not understand, all the new things that surround me that I'm so different from. And sometimes that can be a real hard obstacle to tackle.

But as I try to awkwardly explore these new alien worlds - to add to my own, please try to be patient with me. I'm not always going to get it right, but I am going to keep trying. I want to add your voices to the collective of those already in the worlds I create; so that we can all share in new ideas and expressions of our hearts and minds, together. It's just kind of scary, right now, because there's no manual for it, and none of us are really comfortable asking questions about it; or even what to ask.

And worse, no one wants to get his head lobbed off just trying to sneak a peek through the door...
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*Personally, I hate the term. I mean, aren't we really talking about marriage equality, here?

**For the record, the new direction for Batman, like most of DC Comics... and some of the comic book world, in general - is shit. What is up with 21st century storytelling, these days?!

***I hate to say it, but it's a white man's world. Is that right? No. And it's not everyone else's job to justify and fight for a place in it. It's our job to move over and give you all the space you deserve. I'm doing what I can, but...

****One of the hardest things is to be a storyteller in a day and age where you feel threatened over cross fire and backlash  on any subject. And we've seen how public image, in the internet age, can be ruined literally in a day; sometimes for good. It's enough to scare some off forever. it almost did me.