Described as an Anti-Trump comics collection, RESIST! was aptly released alongside the monumental Women's marches across the United States in January 2017. When news of US president Donald Trump’s victory broke, the owner of quarterly tabloid comics anthology Smoke Signal, Gabe Fowler decided to use her platform to speak truth to power. Calling for submissions, Fowler established RESIST!, a collection of works from over 100 artists of varying ages, genders, races, and socioeconomic backgrounds. In direct response to Trump’s offensive remarks about women, most of the works featured in RESIST were created by women.
They’re now calling for submissions for the second edition scheduled for release in July. It is edited by Françoise Mouly, art editor of The New Yorker, and writer Nadja Spiegelman. According to Vice, around 58,000 copies have been printed and are being distributed across the United States. This number is likely to have risen since the publishing of the article.
What makes this collection of works doubly unique is that it does not only feature the works of well-known artists. “...there are also people who can't draw to save their lives, doctors and dentists and auto mechanics that have not until now used comics or drawing. For an art director, this is so exciting because it is such a real visualisation of the energy that drawing can channel when you let it happen,” Mouly was quoted as saying.
Emblazoned across the front of the first issue are the words, “A woman’s place is in the revolution!”, cementing the issue's rally call in the face of rising fascism. Some of the submissions for the second issue are also featured on the publication's website and tumblr page.
Here's a selection of some of our favourites:
