adminCienan Muir is the organiser of the first ever Indigenous Comic Con in Australia, taking place in November 2019 in the city of Melbourne. We spoke to Cienan about his love for all things sci-fi, pop culture, comics and cosplay, and how these mediums can tell powerful stories, give voice to new Indigenous perspectives, and also raise questions about the nature and direction of the societies around us.
When did you get into comics?
I would have been around eight, during that time I was into Superman, Batman, Justice League, the typical superheroes. I studied media and communications at uni and a lot of my essays were based around Indigenous representation in Hollywood, specifically looking at the comic book movies coming out of Marvel and DC. From there I started collecting more graphic novels and began reading a bit more into the stories being told and the characters being portrayed – that brought me to this new sci-fi world of attending conventions and getting into cosplay.
“Comics have a way of reflecting what’s going on in the world at that point in time.”
Who are the Indigenous characters in comics and what did you find out about them?
A lot of Indigenous super heroes and Indigenous villains, they’re typically represented in a traditional lens, what I mean by that is they’re typically the mystics, the shamans, there’s a whole lot of mysticism and the unknown around these characters. It’s either that or they’re portrayed as violent people who just kill, basically. I started thinking, well, why are they portrayed like this? I mean, I’m not like that as a young Indigenous person. So from there I started doing a bit more research and digging up Indigenous superheroes from the past and now looking at these new characters, such as Cleverman, moving into the 21st Century.
The majority of Marvel’s Indigenous characters were created back in the ‘60s and ‘70s, whereas now there’s not as many as I would like within these mainstream agencies. But we’re finding a lot of independent creators are now creating Indigenous superheroes, we’re just not seeing these characters up on the big screen or being sold in the bigger comic book stores.
Eden Fesi (Manifold) (pictured above) is one of several Aboriginal characters who form part of the Marvel Comics Universe. Manifold first appeared in Secret Warriors #4 (2009) and lived in Kata Tjuta under the tutelage of another Aboriginal Marvel character ‘Gateway’, who first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #229 (1988). Check out this article by Luke Pearson for a comprehensive outline of Aboriginal Australian comic book characters.
“Finding these characters you can identify with is massively important.”
What do you think are the major misconceptions about comic books?
The common misconception is that comics are just pictures that are telling a story that doesn’t really have any gravitas behind it. That this sort of media is for children only. When I started reading comics I started learning about the world around me. Comics have a way of reflecting what’s going on in the world at that point in time. So for example, Civil War, it was written during a time when human rights were being debated in America, so that was a snapshot of that point in time.
(ED: published between July 2006 and January 2007, Civil War was a crossover story-line event that focused on the divide among the Marvel superhero community instigated by the introduction of a Mutant Registration Act, mirroring the non-fictional debate at the time surrounding George W. Bush’s Patriot Act and the beginnings of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq).
There’s also comics such as Cleverman which offer an alternate view on the future and also offer a warning to society as to what could happen in the future, and I think it’s taught a lot of people about the state of Australian society and what’s going on in the world today. We need more stories like that written by Indigenous people.
I think that it’s important for any young person to know how the world functions. Finding these characters you can identify with is massively important. When I was younger I had self-esteem issues and my confidence level was low, I spent a majority of my time in hospital as a boy and a lot of the time all I had were these books with pictures and words in them. As soon as I started reading them I learnt about different personality traits, how the world works, how society works, I learnt a lot from comics, I still am.
If you could recommend only one comic series or graphic novel to someone, what would it be?
I would have to say Cleverman. I think Cleverman presents, not a new idea to Indigenous people, but a new idea to Australian media, a cautionary tale of what could happen or what is happening in Australian society at the moment, content such as respect, how to treat each other as human beings, and it just so happens the lead character is a strong Indigenous man with these super human powers. I don’t think that’s revolutionary to Indigenous people but it’s something that’s never really been seen in the Australian media.
‘Cleverman’ is the comic book spin-off of the ABC’s critically acclaimed television series of the same name. The comic series is co-scripted by the TV series creator, Ryan Griffen.
“I started using my platform to tell a message of why I cosplay and of being proud of who you are.”
What about cosplay, how did you get into it and what was it like the first time you went to a cosplay event in costume?
I first started in cosplay about seven years ago after attending conventions. I met my partner at university who is into anime and manga and she encouraged me to cosplay. As I mentioned, I had low self-esteem and confidence so I thought I’d never dress up in public. I started off very small, my first cosplay was Arthur from The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, so something very comfortable, robe and moccasins. I was the most comfortable one at the convention. From there I started learning more about cosplay, producing my own costumes, and with that I also started gaining a platform. I actively promote myself as an Indigenous cosplayer and I haven’t really heard of anyone else who cosplays from the community, so if you’re an Indigenous cosplayer please get in touch with me!
So I started using cosplay as a platform in itself to address this foreign concept of shame and the fact that we as Indigenous people have to dismantle it, that it doesn’t belong in our culture in the first place. I started using my platform to tell a message of why I cosplay and of being proud of who you are, and not letting Australian society dictate who you are and how you dress and if you should be ashamed of yourself or not.
What impact did that have on your own life and self-perception?
It’s had a huge impact on my life. I find as I’ve gone around and talked about these sorts of concepts of why I cosplay it’s helped me just as much as it’s helped a lot of young people in our community, and there’s been a lot of elders and older people who are passionate about Star Trek or Star Wars or graphic novels or dystopian theories. Platforms such as Indigenous Comic Con give them a chance to finally link up with other people from the community that have the same passions they do. I think that’s awesome, to be able to say that our Indigenous culture is still here, is constantly evolving, and to now have this platform showing passionate Indigenous people who are actively talking about pop culture, science fiction, alternative realities, I think that’s mind blowing.
What’s the story behind Indigenous Comic Con and what will the Australian event involve?
Indigenous Comic Con was started about three years ago by a Lee Francis in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He identified a need for this sort of platform for Indigenous people, coming from that stigma around what an Indigenous person should look like, so he could dismantle that to say, ‘well, no, our culture is constantly evolving and here’s a few kick ass examples of how’. So I got in contact with him about a week after the first Indigenous Comic Con was announced to say it would be cool if we could do something like that over here and to my surprise he said, ‘yeah, let’s do it’. There’s been a lot of Skype calls and now he’s actually in Melbourne and we’re talking to a few people, looking at potential locations, and I’ve got to say as a fan I’m more than excited. We are shooting for some time in November 2019 in Melbourne. So this particular Indigenous Comic Con will be a platform for Indigenous people, whether they are Indigenous content creators who are Maori, who are from the Pacifica communities, even if they are Native American creators who want to come, it’s a platform to promote Indigenous talent and culture in the 21st century.
“I had low self-esteem and confidence so I thought I’d never dress up in public.”
What’s the response been like since you announced Indigenous Comic Con in Australia?
There’s a massive market for this kind of thing, not just Indigenous comics as a single platform, but there’s a huge market for Indigenous game developers, there’s a huge market for Indigenous comic books writers, board game developers, practically anything you can think of within the pop culture or science fiction realm there’s a need for Indigenous content. So the response has been unheard of really, people are more than keen to jump on board and support the event which is cool. This is the first one in Australia and even though it’s in Melbourne it’s a national platform for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who are doing kick ass stuff in the pop culture/science fiction scene, and it’s an opportunity to come and promote their work.
You’re also heading to the US for this year’s Indigenous Comic Con in Albuquerque. Tell us about that.
That’s very exciting. I’ve been promoted as an international guest cosplayer which is pretty cool. So I’ll be over there as the organiser of the 2019 Indigenous Comic Con in Australia. Cosplay is my passion so I’ll be over there in my cosplay gear which I still have to figure out.
How long does it take you to put a costume together?
The longest I would say has been probably four to five months. I source a lot of my materials. I have a keen eye for details and try and get the costume as accurate as possible, whereas my partner – who is also Indigenous – she’s currently competing in the cosplay competitions which means she has to make a lot of her own costumes, which is pretty cool. Just going by all of the material that’s currently on the floor of our spare bedroom it does take her a while, but it’s both our passion so we wouldn’t have it any other way.
What’s been your favourite cosplay so far?
I recently did my own interpretation of the Indigenous marvel character Bishop and that’s probably the one I am most proud of. So what I am currently attempting to do is research all these Indigenous characters from Marvel and DC and slowly going through the list to make these costumes.
Cienan in his Captain Boomerang cosplay.
Outside of organising comic conventions and creating cosplay costumes, what keeps you busy?
I am the Senior Project Officer at the Koorie Youth Council. We’re an advocacy body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people within Victoria. We’re the only body of our kind in this country. We advocate for the youth voice, for youth to have an active involvement in government decisions in community practices. We generate a lot of our own reports to government. We hold events, one major one being our Koorie Youth Summit which bring in between 180 and 200 young people from across the state.
How can people get involved?
You can search for us on Facebook, type in ‘Koorie Youth Council’. We’re also on Twitter and Instagram.
How can people stay up to date with the Australian Indigenous Comic Con?
If you are interested head over to the Indigenous Comic Con website, twitter and Facebook page. If you’re interested in getting involved with Australian Indigenous Comic Con people can contact me at cienanjai@gmail.com