Comics Outreach

Let's make something interesting together!

Bring me to your festivals, exhibitions, libraries, schools and zoom calls to talk about comics or my projects. A speaker's fee will apply. Travel and accomodation may need to be compensated depending on location.

Hire me to consult on administration and data/systems management for your comics-related organisations.

Or maybe you have a wilder idea?

reimenayee@gmail.com

Comics Outreach Portfolio

Selected Articles

The Onion Method: A Story Outline Method

The Onion Method: Art Directing a Graphic Novel

I describe my two-phase homemade method of creating graphic novels. The first phase is based on the alternating interactions between two principles, Theme and Character, to create a strong, highly-precise story outline. The second phase is about choosing and developing a visual direction that complements and reinforces the story and its delivery.

How to Break Into Comics and Succeed at Them (Malaysian Edition)

Most comics resources are based in North America and Europe, so I created a guide on breaking into the comics industry, tailored for Malaysians and other nearby Southeast Asians. It's an ongoing centralised resource, and is updated based on the latest developments in online and print comics.

Creating a Graphic Novel Pitch for Agents and Publishers

My simple 6-step guide to structuring a graphic novel pitch.

The Creator's Guide to Comics Devices

Curator, taxonomist and webmaster

A library of visual-narrative devices that are specific to the medium of comics, furnished with definitions and examples by contributors. It is a practical, accessible resource for creators, teachers, editors, scholars, critics, readers, the curious, the open-minded, and anyone with an interest in comics.

To address the lack of standardised formal language between creator, scholar, critic, media and public when it comes to talking about comics on its own terms, I created the Creator's Guide to Comics Devices in 2023. Before its release I dedicated 3 years of research identifying, naming, describing and categorising - creating a taxonomy for 62 comics devices. Some of these devices share counterparts in rhetoric, film, animation, poetry and visual art, but most of them are unique to the medium. Many of these have already been identified by scholars and practitioners in the past, while some are original to the guide.

Some of the devices that I've identified, named and described from scratch are recto-verso parallel, polyptych, call and response, and forepanel/backpanel.

Devices are listed in a simple and approachable manner. They are categorised into two major categories: micro and macro, and further placed into sub-categories. As for their names, I practice a common-sense approach: if there is already a name for an equivalent device in another medium, I use that. If there isn't, then I find a name that is both evocative and descriptive of its function.

Nowadays I curate and maintain the guide, refining the taxonomy. I am currently collecting comics pages that best exemplify each device.

UNNAMED, a Southeast Asian Comics Collective

Co-founder, organiser and outreach lead

UNNAMED is a grassroots collective of creators, publishers, editors, booksellers, festival organisers and other members of the comics ecosystem. UNNAMED is dedicated to resource-sharing, community-building and the elevation of Southeast Asian komiks on the global stage.

In 2013, I co-founded UNNAMED, a Facebook group of comics creators originally focusing on Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. The collective eventually grew to include co-founders and members from the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand, and non-practitioners committed to comics as an industry. For many years, we organised panels and workshops, a weekend-long residency, represented our members at festivals, and collated resources. Currently we are on hiatus while we redefine our direction post-COVID.

I coordinated and organised a few events, and served as outreach lead to increase membership. I also built and maintained the website.

The Cartoonist Coop

Co-founder, admin coordinator and database manager

The Cartoonist Coop is a society of cartoonists dedicated to the sustainability and development of our creative practice. In addition to a curated comics catalogue, the Coop provides mentorship, community resources, marketing support, and an editorial outlet for interviews and writing about comics.

In 2023, I co-founded The Cartoonist Coop with 5 other cartoonists. I created, developed and maintain the catalogue and other admin-related databases, as well as all the surveys and application-to-approval workflow. This effort is still very new, so my role is expanding.