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Christina "Steenz" Stewart
BornChristina Stewart
1990
Detroit, MI
NationalityAmerican
Area(s)Cartoonist, Editor, Illustrator, Educator
Pseudonym(s)Steenz
Notable works
Heart of the City
Archival Quality
AwardsDwayne McDuffie Award, 2019 (with Ivy Noelle Weir)
https://www.oheysteenz.com/

Christina "Steenz" Stewart is an American cartoonist and editor known for illustrating Archival Quality and currently authoring and illustrating the daily comic strip Heart of the City. They were born September 29, 1990, in Detroit, Michigan,[1] and currently reside in St. Louis, Missouri. Upon taking over Heart of the City from Mark Tatulli in May 2020, they became the second nationally syndicated black nonbinary cartoonist, preceded in this distinction by Bianca Xunise only a month prior.

Early life

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Growing up in St. Louis, Steenz was a fan of comics and cartoons that later influenced their work, including Calvin and Hobbes, Cathy, Curtis, Recess, Hey Arnold!, and Doug.[1][2] They attended Maryville University and studied studio art with a focus on illustration. They left as a junior and worked as a librarian and a comic book shop manager at the Eisner-winning Star Clipper Comics in St. Louis until its closing in 2015.[2][3] While managing the comic book shop they decided to make comics, but didn't pursue them as a career until being exposed to Brittany Williams' work on a Samurai Jack comic: "The second I saw [Williams'] name on [the comic] … I was like, 'Wait a second; she's a black woman, she's making comics — I can do that too,' and finally it kind of clicked for me too."[4]

Career

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Following Star Clipper's closing in 2015, Steenz went on to work as an editor at Lion Forge Comics, where they worked on the first 12 issues of the comics and tabletop gaming magazine Rolled and Told until 2019.[5][6]

Steenz contributed the short comic "The Update" along with letterer Melanie Ujimori to editor Taneka Stotts' Eisner- and Ignatz-winning Elements: Fire, and has also appeared in the anthologies Mine! and Dead Beats.

Their first major publication was Archival Quality, which they co-created with writer Ivy Noelle Weir. It was published by Oni Press in 2018.[7]

Steenz took over writing and illustrating Heart of the City for Mark Tatulli. Their first strip syndicated via Andrews McMeel appeared on May 24, 2020.[1]

On May 12, 2020, it was announced that Steenz would be illustrating and co-creating a graphic novel about the history of tabletop RPGs alongside writer Samuel Sattin; the book is estimated for a 2023 release date.[8]

In July 2022, Steenz alleged on social media that Oni Press was not paying creators their royalties.[9][10] The Beat reported that "Steenz is the artist on the award winning OGN Archival Quality, published by Oni back in 2018. Several Oni creators responded to her tweets with their own complaints".[10] Oni Press did not respond to Bleeding Cool's request for comment.[9]

Selected works

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Archival Quality (2018) – Cel Walden starts a new job as an archivist at the Logan Museum. As she struggles with depression and anxiety, she dreams about a ghostly woman. As she learns more about the ghost who haunts her dreams, she learns more about herself and the other employees of the Logan Museum.[11]

Heart of the City (2020–present) – The comic is about Heart Lamarr, a middle-school student who lives in Philadelphia. Stories focus on Heart's relations with her friends and family, as well as her school life and experiences with popular culture. Steenz took over the strip after original creator Mark Tatulli stepped down.[4]

Recognition and awards

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Elements: Fire, A Comic Anthology by Creators of Color won the 2018 Eisner Award for Best Anthology and the 2017 Ignatz Award for Best Anthology.[12][13] The anthology contains work by Steenz.

In February 2019, Steenz and Ivy Noelle Weir were named winners of the 5th Annual Dwayne McDuffie Award for Diversity in Comics for Archival Quality.[14] The book was also selected as a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard publication in 2018.[15]

Bibliography

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  • Mine: A Planned Parenthood Benefit Anthology, ComicMix, 2017[16]
  • Archival Quality (with Ivy Noelle Weir), Oni Press, 2018[17]
  • Rolled & Told issues #1-#12 (Editor), 2018, 2019[18]
  • Dead Beats, A Wave Blue World Anthology, 2019[19]
  • Heart of the City, Andrews McMeel Syndication, 2020[20]

Self-published

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  • Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Muscle Maker Fan Comic, Gumroad, 2019[21]
  • Receiving Transmissions, Gumroad, 2019[22]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Harden, Brandon T. (2020-05-01). "Steenz is the new artist for the comic strip 'Heart of the City,' set in Philly". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2020-05-17.
  2. ^ a b Cavna, Michael (April 20, 2020). "Newspaper comics hardly ever feature black women as artists. But two new voices have arrived". Washington Post. Retrieved May 16, 2020.
  3. ^ Friswold, Paul. "Why Star Clipper's Owners Shuttered Their Beloved St. Louis Comic Book Shop". Riverfront Times. Retrieved 2020-05-17.
  4. ^ a b Hamdan, Lara (May 2020). "Local Cartoonist Steenz Takes On Beloved 'Heart Of The City' Daily Comic Strip". www.kbia.org. Retrieved 2020-05-17.
  5. ^ "About". Steenz. Retrieved 2020-05-17.
  6. ^ Steenz (2019-05-08). "RIP Rolled & Told: The Steenz Era". @oheysteenz. Retrieved 2020-05-17.
  7. ^ "Archival Quality". Oni Press. Retrieved 2020-05-17.
  8. ^ Steenz (2020-05-12). "Check it out! @SamuelSattin and I are going to be doing an adult non fiction GN on the history of tabletop roleplaying games! With Steenz and Sam as your guides, we'll trace the origin of TTRPGs from ancient China all the way to modern versions played today! See you in 2023!pic.twitter.com/HXtEb0s1TS". @oheysteenz. Retrieved 2020-05-17.
  9. ^ a b Johnston, Rich (2022-07-01). "Oni Press Challenged Over Nonpayment Allegations". Bleeding Cool News And Rumors. Retrieved 2022-07-14.
  10. ^ a b MacDonald, Heidi (2022-07-01). "What is going on with: Oni Press, Comixology, Substack???". The Beat. Retrieved 2022-07-14.
  11. ^ Kaplan, Avery (2019-10-03). "Syndicated Comics". The Beat. Retrieved 2020-05-17.
  12. ^ "2010-Present". Comic-Con International: San Diego. 2012-12-02. Retrieved 2020-05-17.
  13. ^ "SPX Announces 2017 Ignatz Award Nominees | SPX: The Small Press Expo". Retrieved 2020-05-17.
  14. ^ Boucher, Geoff (2019-02-16). "'Archival Quality': Ghostly Graphic Novel Wins 5th Annual McDuffie Award". Deadline. Retrieved 2020-05-17.
  15. ^ "How JLG Works". www.juniorlibraryguild.com. Retrieved 2020-05-17.
  16. ^ "Mine!". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved 2020-05-17.
  17. ^ "Archival Quality". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved 2020-05-17.
  18. ^ "Rolled and Told". www.rolledandtold.com. Retrieved 2020-05-17.
  19. ^ "Dead Beats". A Wave Blue World. 2019-06-04. Retrieved 2020-05-17.
  20. ^ "Today on Heart of the City - Comics by Steenz - GoComics". www.gocomics.com. Retrieved 2020-05-17.
  21. ^ "Steenz!". Gumroad. Retrieved 2020-05-17.
  22. ^ "Steenz!". Gumroad. Retrieved 2020-05-17.
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