DC Conspiracy[dots pattern]

7.28.2005

Here's the Thing... #6 - The Only Thing Holding You Back is Yourself

Last time, on Here's the Thing...

NOTE: Before getting into this one I want to once again remind you all that Matt Dembicki is covering self-publishing in his Small Presser column available on this blog. My column is designed for people that want other people to publish them. Self publishing is always a very healthy alternative to the stuff I talk about.

My mom used to tell me that I can do anything I want as long as I set my mind to it. Anything. As a full grown adult I realize that’s not true. If I wanted to be, say, a vampire hunter I’d be shit-out-of-luck despite how hard I set my mind to it because there are no vampires in the world for me to hunt.

Unfortunately, a lot of people that want to create comics simply don’t have the necessary skills to do it. So, despite how this article title sounds, this is not designed to be a pick-me-up article about the talent buried within all of us and how you can bring it out if you just nurture it. Honestly, comic creation should be viewed as a very expensive hobby. If you’re good at it, you’ll turn it into a not losing as much money hobby. If you’re good at it and lucky, you’ll turn it into a break-even hobby. If you’re really bad at it and show no signs of improvement or learning, at least you can have some fun doing it, but you’ll always be really bad at it and it will always be a really expensive hobby. What this article is about is why you, as a creator, should support the crap out of independent comics.

Marvel and DC doesn’t want you. In all industries true innovation comes from small businesses. My first job out of college was for a small government contractor; 300 employees. If any of us had a good idea the company would go for it without hesitation. If the good idea worked a big company would buy the idea from us. My second job was for a big company, a huge company with lots of money to invest in new and exciting ideas. It lasted six months before I got bored and went back to a small company.

And that’s how it works in comics, too; the small companies take the risks. If the risk pays off, Marvel and DC invests in it, whether it’s an individual or an idea. Marvel and DC have investors that they need to make happy every quarter. I used to be one of them, actually, but I sold my Marvel stock last year. They are not going to take huge risks on you or an idea because huge risks that don’t work hurt their bottom-line.

For small companies, we have a lot more to gain and nothing to lose (we’re already in debt). Supporting independent comics ensures that there are more companies in existence that will see something in you and give you your shot.

There’s a popular misconception that supporting indy comics means never talking bad about them and buying everything ever made by every company and individual that scraped together some money to make a book. That’s wrong. That’s actually hurting indy comics. If you support everyone with a book, you’re saturating the market and making it more difficult for books of merit to break out of the crowd and actually start to make money. A lot of guys have just one shot and a great book and sometimes it’s tough to pick them out of all the noise.

Supporting indy comics means buying the small press books you like. And, not just buying the books you like, but recommending them. If someone you know is coming in to comics and knows nothing about them, you are helping yourself (and them) if you give them a book from a growing independent publisher that you admire. Don’t give them a Spider-Man trade. If they liked the indy book you gave them and it brings them to a comic shop, believe me, they’ll be able to thumb through all of the Spider-Man they could possibly want. But they’ll have an indy book on their mind and they’ll ask the shop keeper about said indy book. That indy book is bringing in new customers – it must be good.

If you’re on a message board, talk up indy books. Anyone can give their two cents when it comes to the next big Marvel/DC scandal and let them do it if they choose to. As a creator, it’s your responsibility to promote the books and the companies that people aren’t talking about. Increase awareness, let comic shops know they have a fan base and let readers know that these books are worth buying.

But most importantly, and I can’t stress this enough, promote good books from companies and individuals you think have a chance of making it. If you promote some book because you talked to the creator at a con and he really liked your story idea but the book is complete and utter crap – your opinion just lost all of its value and small press comics as a whole takes a hit, even if it’s a small one (but those small hits add up).

Small press companies whose books sell will begin to publish more books. Publishing more books means needing to find new talent. Needing to find new talent combined with your networking skills means that you can find a company that will be willing to take a chance on you if you play your cards right.

This isn’t a “Support Elk’s Run” pitch. I firmly believe that Elk’s Run will stand the test of time and Hoarse & Buggy will rise up from the noise. If you like it, support it. If you don’t, then don’t. And that’s the way it should work with every independent book. The industry will sort itself out and companies will rise up from it. Hoarse & Buggy will be one of them; I know that enough people will support our books to set us apart. The companies that become successful will start making money; they will start having money to invest in new projects. And before you know it, there will be options for where you can take your pitch. You can be at a bar after a con and pitch an idea to a publisher and the publisher may say, “You know what? That’s really good. Call me when you get back and we’ll talk about it.”

Marvel and DC will never say that to you. You can read their books, you can buy them and you can talk about them all you want. When it comes down to finding some work, we’ll be the ones that give it to you first.

Next week I’m going to continue this line of thought and talk a bit about using people. You can use people in a good way and you can use them in a bad way. Bad publishers will use aspiring creators in a bad way. This article was originally four pages long but half of it was about bad publishers using you in a bad way, you falling for it, and in turn hurting your own chances of getting published. And that’s what we’ll tackle next week.

Jason at 11:15 PM  |  link to this     

11 Comments

This is a great article, but I’m not sure I have faith in the average comic reader to pick out a good indie book, or even be interested in them. The average comic fan wants what Marvel and DC are doing and more of it so they can go on the internet and bitch about it. As creators, we can hype one another’s books as much as we want, but I’m not so sure it’ll help, outside of our own little circles.

The world of comics is in a weird transition period right now. (This ties into your last column, too.) Hollywood is cashing in huge on the action and superhero stuff and literary types are starting to take the media seriously. There are two totally different types of books that cater to these sorts of people, and you can guess which companies the lion’s share of the Hollywood books belong to, and which ones the bookish types are taking a liking to.

The comics scene is being pulled in two different directions, but I think only one will significantly grow, but no thanks to the JLA fans and the creeps in costumes at conventions. No matter how much you want these people to see comics as a medium, the vast majority will still see it as a genre and their part will stagnate. I mean, no matter how much the Spider-Man movies gross, how many average non-comic readers will come out of the theater and go, “you know, I’m going to seek out some dusty store full of anti-social virgins to check out more of this shit?” None. They’ll got to the next big-budget movie next week and forget about Spider-Man until the next sequel.

On the other hand, the indie books that you’re talking about, to have larger success, will have to find it outside of the typical comics market, though mainstream venues like Barnes and Noble and Borders. And it’s happening. Graphic fiction is beginning to be taken out of the pathetic ghetto next to the sci-fi fantasy sections and integrated into the regular fiction sections at these stores. People are hearing about high-profile indie folks like Adrian Tomine and Daniel Clowes from write-ups in Newsweek and are intrigued, and they don’t have to go into an unfamiliar and (let’s face it) creepy comics shop to find this stuff. If this direction is fostered and exploited, then I think we’ll be in business.

How can we foster and exploit this? Well, I’m not exactly sure. Even though we as creators should (and I think – on average – do) support indie books, that’s not going to create much of a sustained market for our stuff. It’s going to take people that haven’t read comics before picking up some books good enough to keep them coming back for more, and they’ll typically be people that are put off by 300-pound Boba Fetts and don’t give a shit about the “controversial” intricacies of the re-launch of Ultimate Spider-Girl 2099. In other words, it’s not going to be anything remotely related to the current crop of comics readers.

Chris Fabulous at 7/29/2005 6:35 AM   

New readers, that's the main avenue, I think. I have plenty of friends interested in comics and I give them indy books when they ask. Some of them ask for more and eventually I direct them to Big Planet Comics which is a hip shop, not one of the damp and darks of old.

Comics are growing up and so are the comic stores. You have the Isotope which, if you ask for a recommendation, will recommend an indy book. There are stores coming out now that have that Isotope "cool" feel because it pays well. So, some retailers are catching on.

Whereas a lot of aspiring creators are indeed supporting the indies, a lot of them are supporting the wrong ones - and that's more my point. And from my own behind the boot experience and from talking to other people, supporting indies for a lot of these guys means buying a copy at a con while looking for work. Support is more than buy; support is to have a voice.

Going on message boards and talking up a book isn’t going to get a Marvel or DC fan to g to their comic store and order said book, at least not very often. But, enough people doing it might get the retailer to invest in it (especially combined with new people coming in) and hopefully suggest it.

Comics are in a weird transition period and it goes beyond Hollywood. They’re becoming swank. Elk’s Run was Entertainment Weekly with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie on the cover. Smart retailers are in a transition period to cater to those people and they’re making money.

Jason at 7/29/2005 7:38 AM   

Another difficulty that comics face is the inherent geekiness that's (unfairly) attached to the physical medium itself--for any number of reasons, many people just think of comics as pamphlets for kids, and wouldn't even think to pick them up--even if they would potentially dig the stories within. I think I've told this story before, but my brother was the kind of FSU jock--frat president, etc--that terrifies comics geeks. And I finally turned him on to comics through Azzarello's work on Cage and Hellblazer. He (my brother) will never touch House of M, but he's digging on Preacher, Sleeper and the like...and he had NO IDEA these kinds of funnybooks even existed.

To continue the dialogue--Jason, throw out some examples--not specific titles (unless you want to), but attributes--of what you'd consider the "wrong" kinds of indy books. Me, I'd say--books that wouldn't exist but for the creator's financing, books that get too cutesy or too far inside the creator's head, books that do nothing but recycle old cliches into a mishmash of crap...what do the rest of you think?

Jay at 7/29/2005 2:00 PM   

FSU = Florida State University, by the way. The college party epicenter.

Jay at 7/29/2005 2:01 PM   

Here’s the deal. A lot of us that want to create have talent. I’ve seen a lot of talented subs for Hoarse & Buggy – so much so that I really wanted to publish a new talent special of some sort. There are a lot of talented cats out there.

I have to assume that if these guys know how to write and illustrate, they can spot bad work when they see it. If you can critically read, you know a bad book, period.

I personally feel the worst publishers are the loud ones that don’t put out. This is sort of the focus of next week, they inflate their value because their product is shotty by making an aspiring creator feel like they’re part of the team. Like when they blow up, which they won’t, they’ll take the guy with them. But they never deliver, ever.

I think books that wouldn’t exist except for the creators financing is a good call but you have to be careful how it’s worded. Larry Young started Ait after pitching Astronauts in Trouble around and no-one bought it. However, looking back at the book now, you kind of just realize that other publishers missed the boat with that one – AIT would have existed without Ait. Holy shit. I just got that.

Books that are a creators baby with no editorial control, absolutely, I can think of a crap-load of books that are like that and get some press and have a decent sized following.

There are tons of books like that; the danger is when they start promising things in exchange for fans. It’s like all the people that invested in Dr. Koop at the beginning of the dot-com boom – no product, no chance to make money but it sure as hell took yours before it crashed and burned.

And the thing is, if people inflate those companies they get noticed. And if they get noticed they get grouped in “What indy comics have to offer.” And people will try them out and say “no thanks.”

Jason at 7/29/2005 2:25 PM   

Wait! Go back to the Dr. Koop analogy, I just realized I didn't finish it.

When the market burst all of the dot-coms bombed, including the ones that were actually primed to make money or in some cases, where making money. The bad companies spoiled the reputation of all the good ones.

Some recovered, like Amazon and EBay but some companies that had money making potential couldn't keep going.

Jason at 7/29/2005 2:30 PM   

Man. I think I want to give out a yearly "Dr. Koop of Comics" Award.

Jason at 7/29/2005 2:47 PM   

"I personally feel the worst publishers are the loud ones that don’t put out."

Ditto for chicks.

Dembicki at 7/29/2005 4:37 PM   

Jason -- another great article. I vote "aye" for a "Dr. Koop of Comics" award. Good stuff.

r nelson at 7/29/2005 6:15 PM   

Man, I just read that chunk of prose I wrote earlier. I have no idea what I was going on about. I realize now that I essentially restated what you were saying to begin with. I need to quit trying to make sense of things publicly after I've spent all night at work. In fact, I need to stop doing anything at 7 AM and just go the fuck to bed. How embarassing.

Chris Fabulous at 7/29/2005 7:34 PM   

r nelson - I'd have to do it through proxy to be diplomatic, I think.

Chris - hate to break it to you, bro, but you rarely make sense.

Jason at 7/30/2005 5:26 PM   

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