ARTICLE 3: Score one for Idiocy (aka the History of Comics and how Wall Street Honchos ruined everything.)

No, seriously, Wall Street actually did have a hand in ruining comics - now mind, this is far before they had a hand in ruining the rest of the economy. Think of it as their practice run. I know it’s conveniently simple to blame the evil rich guys, but in this case, it’s also hilariously true. Somebody could make a Saturday morning cartoon out of this thing. (Hmm…) There’s greed, back-room dealing, corruption, scheming, and colossal failure. It’s like Washington DC, only funnier, because it’s all done over the control of super-powered men in tights and it‘s not spending my tax dollars.

Things begin with the formation of the Direct Market…

Now, don’t stop reading just because that last sentence sounded totally boring. I promise, this comic-book business history stuff is really quite fascinating if you consider the ramifications of… I’m not helping my case, am I?
Alright, listen. There’s something super sexy at the end of this article. Ultra sexy. Crazy sexy. You can’t even imagine how insanely sexy it’ll be. But wait! - no scrolling ahead allowed! Just slog through my ramblings, and it’ll pay off later!

Saying the Direct Market was coalescing in the 1970’s is really just a fancy way of saying comic book shops were coming into existence. Comics were fading out from the news-stand scene and coming into their own. It was a very exciting time. At least, planning on being conceived in about a decade, I thought so.
The insanely puritanical Comics Code was being slowly shrugged off, and with the retail outlets created for comics, the market was growing rapidly. Super-hero comics, reflecting the values of the times, were a popular genre. There were a dozen or so distributors, many smaller publishers getting into the game, and the scope of the medium started to open up.
Rick Veitch writes, “As the 1980’s began, many people were certain that comics had entered a new golden age, at long last poised to rise out of the ashes of censorship and juvenilia…”
The potential was there, but the big guys - Marvel and DC - got a new set of priorities. Instead of striving to create the best stories and books they could, they started striving to dominate as much of the market share as possible. Money became the priority, and they figured the best way to get it was to ensure that there was no competition. “Both (Marvel and DC), now owned by large corporations, swamped the new direct sales market with bloated lines of superhero books and used every means at their disposal to bankrupt the upstart competition…” (Rick Veitch)

Remember that last article, about HPCP? There it is, starting it’s diabolical work in the comics industry. But it’s effects were unnaturally frozen in place after a disastrous power play by Marvel went awry…
The expanding color and fun of the comic industry attracted the attention of Wall Street - but not for the books. They smelled MEGABUCKS. ‘There’s big cash monies in this here comic - stuff!’
Marvel was bought by a financial tycoon, Ronald Perleman - called by some the ‘junk - bond king‘. The top management levels of Marvel were filled with executives from Fox Television, Kenner Toys, TBS, the NBA, for crying out loud - people that had absolutely no clue or passion about comics. But, boy, did they like money.
Jealous of DC’s cozy whore/pimp relationship with Time Warner Communications, the new (publicly traded) Marvel decided it had to become a “comprehensive, global, youth-marketing company.” (McAllister 2001) If that doesn’t sound like a winning plan, I guess it at least sounded good to the stockholders. My plan would’ve been “make really good books and sell them,” but that’s just me.
The big players in the comic world started trying furiously to out-do one another. I guess they felt compelled to match the behavior of the muscle-bound stereotypes they were recycling. For a time the industry utterly forgot about this little thing called the readers. Evidently, these guys adopted their business strategies by emulating the petty, obstinate power plays of monarchies in the Dark Ages. Now if they had also adopted the same dress code, that would be something to see!
Marvel started buying up everything in sight - smaller publishers, sports cards companies, sticker companies, children’s magazine publishers, and then, they made their Big Move. (Gangbusters music begins now.)

In a sleazy ploy, Marvel -well aware of it’s position in the market- decided to take a swipe at seizing control of the comic book world‘s supply lines. The plan was to buy a distributing company, and then use it to distribute all Marvel titles exclusively - refusing to let other distributors sell a single lonely edition. The Wall-Street fat cats planned to stomp out the competing distributors in this manner, since the idea was they would all go out of business if they couldn’t gain access to Marvel merchandise. Then, when Marvel owned the sole remaining distribution network, their nemesis DC would be at their complete mercy! MUAH -Ha - HAH! And all of Comic-dom would be at THEIR COMMAND!
No, I’m not making this up - they really went the whole evil-master-plan route. I think phase two was a volcano island base somewhere, and a Washington lobbying organization…
“Near monopolistic control by one omnipotent company… Has occurred because of the 1990’s attempted industrial coup by Marvel.” (McAllister 2001)

It wiped out the competition, all right… All of it.
There were 10 significant distributors working in comics before the Marvelicious revolution. Within a year of the play, there was only one left. The distributors, working within very narrow profit margins, were unable to survive without the volume of Marvel books feeding their bottom line. They were bought out, bankrupted, or just plain forced out of the industry. Farewell, diversity.

Want to know what’s funny about Marvel‘s little takeover, though? …This is great. It’s hilarious. It’s poetic justice in action… Marvel isn’t the company that wound up in control of the monopoly. Listen to this. (And imagine what it would be like if it were a Three Stooges episode.)

DC Comics and Diamond Distribution, reacting swiftly to Marvel’s vertical integration scheme, decided to up the ante. They held an emergency closed-doors meeting - (TO THE BAT CAVE!) - and came up with their own scheme.

DC announced publicly that it would also be working exclusively with one distributor - Diamond. This hard-ball reaction guaranteed the annihilation of every other distributor in the business, as they were all denied access to both Marvel and DC comics.


But the DC scheme wasn’t just a hard-ball reaction… there was a little more planning involved than that. (Juicy, ain’t it?) As the announcement of further consolidation hit, Diamond sent emissaries to the other major publishing houses, Image and Dark Horse - offering them exclusive deals, as well… The message was simple; “You’re either with us… or you’re not.” The prospect of being locked out on the dying - fields with the doomed distributors wasn’t too appealing, so of course they fell in line. Home of the Brave, after all.

So, the field was down to two: Marvel with their acquired distributor Heroes World, and Diamond with all the other big publishers.
Marvel’s little takeover plan turned out to be a total disaster. Heroes World couldn’t handle the gargantuan task of distributing the endless rank and file of Marvel’s cloned superhero crap. Retailers couldn’t get their orders filled. Shelves sat void of She-Hulk. Phone lines literally overheated at Heroes World headquarters, putting them out of contact with enraged storeowners. The situation deteriorated into a genuine debacle, one of the worst (or best?) business implosions of the twentieth century. Heroes World collapsed in screaming, agonizing failure, shattering Marvel’s hand-rubbing dreams of power.

...Left with nobody else to distribute their work, Marvel had only one choice. Seduced by the Dark Side of the Force, they joined the Diamond monopoly, transforming it into an all - powerful Comic Empire. (Cue Imperial March score.)

With literally no competition, Diamond was free to name it’s own terms. But not wishing to alienate it’s biggest and best customers, it forged exclusive ’brokerage’ agreements with the Big 4...
“These special status agreements… allow the four largest publishers to control their own discount structure (Diamond dictates a higher rate to all other suppliers) and assures them the most and best space in Diamond’s monthly product catalog. The end result is that, not only is it harder for retailers to order comics that aren’t published by the Big 4, but there is less incentive for stores to carry anything but Marvel, DC, Image, and Dark Horse, since those companies get a preferred price advantage built into their discount structure. If you’ve noticed your comic book store is carrying less and less of the good stuff and more and more of the same-old same-old, this is why… Small and self publishers, who have traditionally provided a creative cornucopia of diverse products, are being squeezed out of business - while the Big 4, in monopolistic cahoots with the last distributor, continue to flood the market with lousy superhero books that don’t sell.” (Rick Veitch)

Tell ‘em, Rick!

Of course, operating an exclusive kick-back laden market-hogging monopoly is theoretically illegal in the United States - which is why Diamond was put under investigation by the Justice Department in 1997 to determine if “Illegal trade restraints exist in comic book distribution.”
“…this arrangement gives the big two leverage over the marketplace that other publishers simply cannot match; the cash available to retailers is finite, which means that if either Marvel or DC decide to publish more titles on a given month, correspondingly less capital will be available to retailers when ordering other titles, allowing the big two to literally flood their competitors off the shelves.” (Dirk Deppey)

Luckily, the government never screws anything up. They quickly realized that there were really lots of distributors out there, so there must not be any monopoly… Of course, they listed book distributors - books, as in Charles Dickens and Jane Austin. Evidently, when investigating the comic-book market monopoly, they forgot that it was actually about comic books.. (WTF!?!?!) That, or maybe a now-giant corporation greased the wheels a bit. Who’s to say? I honestly can’t decide if beaurocratic ineptitude or corruption is to blame. I guess it’s a toss-up. Pick your favorite. I like grape!


History lesson over; Now, fire up that Dolorian and flash to the present-

Diamond is now the undisputed industry titan. It is common knowledge that any publisher wishing to see the inside of a comic store had best start begging the tyrant for a bestowment of opportunity.
“Steve (Steve Geppi, president of Diamond) is now in a position to completely control the ebb and flow of the comics market. If he liked a particular comic book, he could promote the hell out of it. If he didn’t like a particular comic book, he could bury it. If a particular publisher offended him (Sure hope he doesn’t read my article!) or proved too troublesome to carry, he could effectively put the publisher out of business.” (Peter David, 1996 - Parenthesis included by David Lillie 2008)

But are things really that bad? So what if the whole industry is controlled by one company? So what if tons of smaller publishers were put out of business forever? So what if the Federal Reserve is unconstitutionally owned by private interests? Who cares? It’s not like Diamond is evil or anything. You’d think having absolutely no competition would be a bad thing, but, come on. They just want to make money and sell some books, right? Where’s the harm? After all, Diamond has promised to value the interests of small publishers and diversity. Whew! Good thing Diamond is all about promoting diversity! Right? They promised! Right?

You know how politicians always promise to serve their offices with dignity and integrity? Yeah, well, it was one of those kinds of promises, something to paste on a press release and forget about. Don’t believe me?

An honest glance through an average (customer-free) comic shop tells the tale; the Big 4 are still in charge - and, surprise, the store is filled with their shopper-repellent (Superhero comics). Comic sales continue to track their terminal slump, as repetitive material fails to ignite the interest and imagination of consumers. The industry creators are resorting to pathetic gimmicks, struggling to scrape together publicity -
“EXTRA, EXTRA, READ ALL ABOUT IT! Spider-man’s radioactive sperm kills Mary Jane!”
“Hulk was green - but now - but now he’s RED!”
“What if, like, all of the superheroes were also - it’s the popular thing now, right?- were also ZOMBIES!”
“Um, some of the heroes aren’t really heroes - they’re ALIENS IN DISGUISE! Wow - better buy a copy now, right?”

Please.

Now, don’t worry if you’re just reading this article for that super-ultra sexy thing I promised- it wasn’t that Spiderman bit. It’s still coming up, relax.

Besides the obvious zero-competition closed-doors monopoly situation, what are the major reasons we aren’t seeing any fresh new talented creations in the industry? (Key phrase ‘in the industry’…) Well, there are three big reasons, which I’ll only go into briefly; (You can tell I’m lying about the ‘briefly’ part, can’t you?)

REASON ONE: The Big 4 have hijacked not only the entire market share of the comic book industry, they have hijacked the very definition of what comics are. Since they focus on superhero stuff, and it used to be big in the past, (HPCP - guaranteed hit!!) and they aren’t creative enough to think up new ideas, they define the entire world of comics on their terms.
“As DC, Marvel, and the similarly marketed Image establish the marketplace definition of comics (Featuring overly - endowed male or female superheroes itching for a fight), even new publishers, seeking to fit in with marketplace predictability, accept this definition… Publishers who attempt to publish non-superhero comics may find distributors and retailers not supporting their efforts…” (McAllister 2001)
“Anything that doesn't have tights on it has to be literally hand-sold by its creators…” (J. Hues)


REASON TWO: Diamond is a big business, and - let’s be realistic - they’re set up to work with big businesses. Little publishers with original ideas are shouldered out financially.
For this, I don’t even need any references -I’ve got firsthand knowledge. First, a bit of background info on what a distributor is supposed to be.
Basically, in the normal world of bookselling, you can go with a distributor, or a wholesaler to get your books in stores. What’s the difference, you ask? (Because I know you’re interested.) Wholesalers buy your books from you for about half price, so you get to keep 50%-45% off the retail value - which is decent. However, since they give you a good cut, the wholesalers aren’t going to run around and put a lot of effort into selling your books. They’ll sell ’em if people ask for ’em, but that’s about it.
Distributors (Again, in the normal world) take a bigger piece of your action - usually 60%. So you only make 40% off the retail value. But a distributor justifies this cost by actively promoting your book - they have full time sales reps in the field, they promote your line at trade shows, they make calls to stores, and basically, they use that extra chunk of money you give them to bust their ass on marketing to drive sales.

Back to “comic world”, where Diamond is the King, with none to challenge rule:
Diamond takes a HUGE chunk of the pie, leaving publishers (At least, outside the Big 4) with a paltry 35% of the retail value. 35%. So if you go to all the trouble and work of publishing a great book worth ten dollars, you keep a lousy $3.50, before taxes. Keep in mind, this is after the publisher pays their authors, pays their overhead, pays for the ISBN codes, pays for printing cost, and pays to have the books shipped to Diamond. (That’s right - Diamond Distribution doesn’t even cover shipping.)
Now, for a reality check to those who haven’t tried printing their own work before - you lose. Simple as that. With only 35% of the value, the only way you can make back your money is to print thousands (minimum) of copies of your book, and to miraculously sell every copy through Diamond - if you can only afford a few hundred books, you’ll lose money no matter what. Good luck staying in business.
And that’s IF Diamond sells EVERY one of your copies, mind. Fat chance of that - remember those sales services I mentioned up there that normal distributors do? Diamond charges you extra for them - out the nose, to be exact. Here are a few small examples:

Invoice Message service - $150
ReOrder Confirmation Message - $100
Mailings - $20 an hour, plus 20% postage.
Point of Purchase Display - $100
Sales Rep visits- $35 per hour per rep
Phone calls to accounts - $250 a week

So, they charge you if they make phone calls about your book, they charge you if they’re at a convention where you want your book visible on the table, they charge you to remind retailers your book exists, and this is even BEFORE they charge placement rates in their ‘Previews’ catalogue.
Friendly to small publishers, my ass. Patting independence cliché Jeff Smith on the head nonstop doesn’t mean you viably promote independent comics.
Diamond does have the ‘Indie Edge’ blog on their site… The issue I read touted Mike Allred. His featured work included superhero comic Madman and the Atomics (being reprinted by Image), X-tatix (Another super hero book with a ‘Marvel Comics’ logo emblazoned across the top) as well as a random advertisement for ‘Fable’, which isn’t exactly independent - it’s owned by Vertigo, which is owned by DC, which is owned by Time Warner Communications, which now owns a 78% share of God. All in all, their Indie section was a token piece of lip-service plastered with Big 4 ads.
So, Diamond is definitely playing its part in keeping fresh ideas out of the industry.
But here comes the biggest reason for the current, undying stagnation in the Direct Market…

REASON 3: Licensing.
You’d think with terrible sales and receding readership, the Big 4 comic book companies would be driven by the almighty dollar to find something that sells. That if not for creativity, at least for the sake of cash they would try to pick their industry up out of the gutter. Well, they couldn’t care less about slipping comic book sales, because they don’t need the money. They have bigger fish to fry.
Comic book companies don’t stay in business by selling comic books. That would make too much sense. (And result in a moderate concern for quality and reader satisfaction.) The Big 4 stay in business by licensing their ‘products’ (characters) out to other corporations. Movie contracts, TV deals, Toy contracts, clothing lines - big time licensing pads the income of Marvel and DC so well that they couldn’t care less about how their actual books are doing. Have you ever seen any Batman toys in a toy store before? Maybe a couple?
“The revenue from comics was quickly becoming, to use the words of one industry analyst, ‘chump change.’… By the late 1990’s, Marvel management clearly viewed the organization as a licensing, not a comic book, company.” (McAllister 2001)

Take a minute to let the implications of this sink in… The only corporations with a major presence in the field of creating and selling comic books don’t really care if anyone buys their books. There is ZERO incentive for quality. Do you really think these established corporate icons are going to put effort into books that they have no need to sell?
Now, I’m sure the individual creators working in the industry try their best - like Peter David, who was pushed off the Hulk series by pressure from Marvel to write a more marketable, stupid version of Hulk. He was replaced by John Byrne, who was willing to render the stereotypical, same-old same-old shallow version, because “That’s the direction Marvel wants to go.” (Byrne 1998)

Hulk isn’t in comics to make good comics - he’s just there to sell movie deals and plastic Hulk-shaped sippy-cups in Walmart. (Although those Hulk-Smash fists are great - I wholeheartedly support anything that removes the use of opposable thumbs from shrieking children.)
To quote McAllister, “The emphasis on licensing, rather than on comic books, may influence the creation of comic books in a way that may be good for licensing activity but not good for the comic book industry. As the comics industry becomes one link in the chain of media conglomerates, it may set less priority on the creation of good books… Changes in comic book characters reveal the lower status that the comic book medium has in comparison with other windows of revenue.”



You wanted to know what happened to comics - and now you do. Some high-rolling fat cats crashed the industry and set up a monopoly in the mid 90’s, and now we’re stuck with Diamond. It’s rigged so, even though they’re the only interests with the leverage to sell books, they have absolutely no financial need to do anything besides squash competing ideas. New, original, creative work from upstart publishers is deliberately squelched financially before it gets exposure. With the lion’s share of the market reserved via back-room dealing for the big boys, and the fact that the big boys are too high and mighty to worry about little things like good books, we’re stuck in a system that manufactures mediocrity and zaps competition.

Now, after wading through all my high falutin’ self-righteous indignation up there, it’d be easy to get the idea I’m some anti-business, anti-licensing, anti-media idealist who only believes in always being victimized. Not the case! (Yet!) I’m looking forward to the day when I will expand Vivid Publishing, and make some beneficial licensing deals of my own. It would be fun to have some Dreamkeepers merchandise in stores, and maybe a well-done, supervised cartoon out there. Licensing and money are potentially great tools. As long as the quality and integrity of the original characters and story are always the priority, additional success is a good thing. Licensing activity is only bad when it takes precedence over telling a good story - when the characters don‘t act real, but instead act marketable. (Admit it - if Mickey Mouse ever stubbed a toe and dropped an F-bomb, you’d be impressed.)

Another impression you might have garnished is that I’m depressed about the current sad state of comics. Oh no, they don’t play fair! Oh no, comics are receding!

Quite the opposite. I’m good. I’m ecstatic. I couldn’t be happier about the state of things. I’ve got a jack-o-lantern sized grin carving through my face right now.

In the short time I’ve been working in comics, I’ve seen two things - talented young artists without a place in the current system, and surprised, delighted readers enjoying the new material I’m presenting them... Readers that weren’t interested in the existing run-of-the-mill Big 4 selection. Readers that are, so to speak, available.
“Comic shops are reaching just shy of 3% of their potential audience with their current tactics. That's a lot of untapped potential…” (J. Hues)

The established monopoly has complete control, alright… Control over a tiny, dying corner of comics - their corner. And they’re welcome to it.

As for the rest of comics? A dormant giant sleeps, ready to be awakened at any moment. Readers are ready for something new. Readers are ready for something original. They are ready for some fresh, relevant comics - and that’s exactly what today’s young creators have to offer. The comic book market today, the real market awaiting discovery, is unclaimed and desperate for new talent to emerge.

In my next article, I’ll be talking about the imminent comic revolution happening right now. Who cares if the old industry is broken? It’s about to be history. And we’re going to be the future.






…







…What are you still doing here? The article’s over.





…Oh, that’s right. You want the super-ultra sexy thing. You didn’t scroll ahead, did you? If you did, GO BACK! Read your vegetables!

Are we set?

Alright, well, here it is:

You're welcome.

ARTICLE 2: HPCP - The Infection.

In my last article, ‘Comics; the Banished Medium’, I promised I’d have the answer to why comics declined in our society, and that it would be a compelling account of greed and corruption. Well, I lied - the whole greed story is in my NEXT article.

SIDETRACKED!!

I thought it would be good to address a tangential idea, first… The idea that perhaps comics just inherently suck, and that’s why nobody buys them anymore. Here we go - hang on to your hats!

(I’m getting that strange, tingly bad-idea feeling right now… I had it at that anime convention, where I hosted a panel, and told everyone that anime looks repetitive and uniform… And now I’m about to go - on the internet - and discuss why comics suck so much. Maybe I'm honing some subconscious desire to see myself tarred and feathered - wonder what Freud would think about that? )

Some would say that comics, as a medium in general, are obsolete. Hopelessly outdated and outmoded by flashier forms of entertainment. After all, nowadays we have big budget Hollywood extravaganzas, immersive and intense gaming experiences, books with better letters, Paris Hiltons to watch on TV, and ‘American Idle‘. It could be said that comics are dying through natural selection, Darwinian failure - that comics, as a medium, are intrinsically inferior.

I could not disagree more. Nothing is inferior to ‘Battlefield Earth’. It has been scientifically proven that Travolta cavorting as a smug Klingon-knockoff is the baseline of entertainment, or in technical terms, “ the absolute zero of ETV (entertainment value), wherein interest and believability engage in a cessation of movement at the molecular scale.”

The medium of comics is far from inferior! It possesses all the potential strengths of any work of literature, combined with the avid visual appeal of dynamic illustrations and pictorial storytelling. The possibility for great work is literally boundless in a concept as simple and flexible as visual literature. Additionally, all the financially stunning graphics and THX ear-popping sound films offer still can’t compete with the simple charm of holding a book while turning a page in captivation and suspense.
Why, for a totally unbiased random example, just look at the critically acclaimed Dreamkeepers saga, with which I may be circumstantially affiliated! And there you have it - proof that comics can be amazing. We should all applaud, appreciate, and give our business to Vivid Publishing, the bold venture behind Dreamkeepers which may, tangentially, possibly be somewhat completely owned by me.
But hell, don’t take my opinion for fact. (Historically a disastrous idea.) Let’s look at some living proof - manga. Manga hit the US like an avalanche in terms of graphic novel sales and popularity. If better films and glitzier games were really the sole reason for the decline of comics, then how could the gargantuan frenzy of popularity over manga - simple, black and white, ass-backwards manga - possibly be explained? Aside from mind control chips, which the Japanese would never, ever make?
You could claim that manga is only popular because anime is shown on TV; but if you recall, Spiderman, the Justice League, Superman, Batman, and a host of others have all had - and recently, too! - popular television series, yet those shows had little impact on dismal comic sales. (Keep in mind, these shows probably have nothing to do with the fact that DC is in reality an appendage of corporate monolith Time Warner communications.) No, the surge of manga success, admittedly, speaks for itself... And stands as irrefutable proof that the medium of comic art is not some universally inferior, outmoded lark.

So, the decline of American comics cannot be excused by the medium. That only leaves one possibility, ladies and gents… It’s the content. Now, entrenched comic industry geeks like to blame the taste of the public for declining sales, as though people have some obligation to go out and support crappy products. But if your story is something that people can easily drift away from, the problem is not with the readers… Sorry, guys, but the current cultural obscurity of comics is well earned.

So, why is the current content in comics so tepid? Why don’t today’s creators just make good comics? I mean, the Japanese can do it with manga, and we nuked the hell out of them in WWII, so shouldn‘t we be able to beat them again? (With comics - not with nukes... Unless doing so is absolutely necessary to reduce creative competition.)

Well, there’s the whole evil greed story for later, but this article would be a good time to get into another culprit in the gruesome death of comics - HPCP.

Yes, HPCP, the same vile influence eroding the quality and integrity of entertainment everywhere. Not even a condom can protect against HPCP. Not even two condoms. What is this terrifying disease, you ask?
Hollywood Piggyback Clone Phenomena.
Yes, I made the name up. No, it is not a joke. This is serious. In a nutshell, HPCP is what happens when big, soulless business infects the creative stage of entertainment. It’s easier to explain by highlighting an example. (Stick with me through this, I promise I‘ll wander back on the subject of comics)

Disney.

HPCP happened to Disney’s traditional animation program - and resulted in it’s destruction and disbandment. After a series of successful, quality films was topped by the record-smashing ‘Lion King,’ executives and money grubbers took serious notice. The Disney bean-counters suddenly realized how lucrative this whole creativity stuff really was. I mean, Simba just brought in more cheese than their investment portfolios and overseas tax shelters combined!
“Cartoon movies = Megabucks” was the equation that the suits now saw before their eyes. Not content to risk megabucks on the crazy ideas of ’creators,’ businessmen decided to come to the rescue, and manipulate the creative process in order to guarantee a return on their investment. Yeah, I know, it sounds so foolproof.
We all know what happened next. (Well, I do. Was I there? No. Hush.) Using focus groups, demographic studies, and calculators, all-knowing business types picked, edited, and altered the content of subsequent Disney movies, steamrolling over any pesky new ideas from the ‘help‘ (aka artists and creators). The well-oiled suits set up a winning equation from their studies of past hits:

(Main Character w/ love interest) + (Reworked Fairytale / Folktale) + (Goofy animal sidekicks) + (sappy musical numbers) = Megabucks.

The result, of course, was a tired procession of successively watered down plots. Carefully engineered to be inoffensive and universally appealing, the stories started to lose their spine & integrity. All the right ‘ingredients’ were there - but the lack of soul guaranteed failure. The public is actually pretty perceptive at times. Rather than watching characters with real heart and emotion living out their stories on screen, audiences were watching hollow puppets cavort awkwardly through the motions, possessed by hopeful, greedy accountants.
Not only did the clone-movies suck, but they didn‘t make any megabucks. Surprise! Poor shareholders.
Meanwhile, every other major studio out there was trying to grab a piece of the action. Fox, Warner Brothers, Universal, and Uncle Joe’s Film Shack all started churning out 2-D animated movies, trying to piggyback off the successful blueprints of past hits. Anyone who remembers that time period in the mid 90’s will recall these ‘follow-the-formula” animated features that flooded the market, killing the charm of the medium in an explosion of crap. Ka-PLOOIE!
The Disney business-boys handled the declining situation with brilliant insight - by sticking even more rigidly with their heavy handed soul-extracting formula, and avoiding fresh, creative, unproven ideas. The movies got worse, and profits kept slipping. Eventually, in dismal failure, Disney closed down it’s 2-D studio, and cut off production of traditionally animated films; terminating the legacy on which the company had been founded. Meanwhile, Chinese news reported that a furiously spinning coffin erupting from the earth’s crust near Peking was found to contain the body of Walt himself.
The corporate imbeciles responsible for polluting the creative process kept their jobs, but figured they should blame somebody, so they fired all the artists. The workplace was suddenly flooded with broadsided, jobless animators… But that’s a whole other story. Check it out sometime when you’re in a bad mood, it’ll cheer you right up.

The point of the Disney example was to show Hollywood Piggyback Clone Phenomena in glorious action, demonstrating it’s power to annihilate the creativity and value of an entire industry. Luckily they’re not delving into anime, or it could be next on the Endangered List of originality... Key sword? What’s a key sword?

So, here’s the basic HPCP process: Pencils at the ready - there WILL be a quiz!

Once something fresh, creative, and successful happens, the corporate clods smell megabucks and take note. They want to cash in, so they make stuff that mimics past successes, thinking this will give them ’guaranteed’ hits. (Remember all those pathetic novels about teen boys in magic school after Harry Potter hit it big? They were all so good!) Anything original and different is shunned, since it clearly doesn’t fit the success formula. The ‘visionaries’ in charge continue to piggyback off of the older ideas, cranking out hollow clones in pursuit of cash. And, voila! Hollywood Piggyback Clone Phenomena squashes new original ideas out of the industry! Enjoy the dregs.
Ever wonder, after seeing a particularly terrible movie, why these people actually get paid to do what they do? Well, you’ve got it backwards. They do what they do to get paid - period. When cash kicks passion out of the drivers seat, it always shows, no matter how much money they blow on effects.
(PS - Before you tag me as a total moron, let me admit that I am talking in huge, hulking generalities here. There are exceptions that break out of HPCP all the time (Thank God) - and sometimes, if enough talent and critical thinking is applied, imitations can be validly superior to their ancestry. So, just remember, we're talking about a general tendency here, not the whole picture.)

FINALLY back to our original topic! (Cue the applause) …How could this formula - promoting HPCP stuff possibly relate to the vestigial comic industry? How indeedy-doo... At this point, you probably don’t need to be Professor X to piece things together. I’m not the only person noticing this trend, either - industry professionals (and anyone who’s ever seen the inside of a comic shop) have picked up on it. Several have noted;

“..the formula is what took root as soon as it became generally believed there was money in it.”(Steven Grant 2008)
“ Such a marketplace hegemony turns away potential readers, publishers and creators… By limiting creator innovation, the ‘superhero mindset‘ of the Big Two may have squelched reader attention..”(McAllister 2001)
“The current market is not a comic-book market; it’s a superhero market .”
(Jim Valentino 1998)
“The alternative to your standard Marvel superhero comic is... another Marvel superhero comic, only different. X-Force isn't a bad title by any means, but it's absolutely symptomatic of the kind of comic we all too often see posed as the alternative worth pursuing -- a comic book about fame, but with superheroes in it. Or maybe we should look at Joe Casey's Wildcats 3.0, a comic book about corporate politics, but with superheroes in it. How about Stormwatch: Team Achilles, a comic book about covert operations and military combat in the modern world, but with superheroes in it? To the diehard faithful, these books sit in three different genres, but to anyone else, they're watered-down superhero comics.” (Dirk Deppey 2003)

So, yup, it’s going on with comics alright - but it’s unusually bad! HPCP is far more prevalent in comics than in any other industry - it’s so rampant, that the ’Big 4’ (Marvel, DC, Image, Dark Horse) are still imitating stale formulas, even though doing so doesn’t even make money anymore! A diabolical, greed-mongering situation has colluded to sink the entire creative industry into mediocrity… Although, at this point in history, I have to admit I’m using the term ’industry’ very loosely. Play along with me, won’t you?

In my next article, I’ll be talking about why comics are so uniquely and severely crippled by HPCP. There’s something very grotesque that has made a bad tendency far, FAR worse for comics than for any other form of media in history - and no, I’m not talking about Rob Leifeld.

A Note on Articles:

After posting the first of my four articles up recently, something rather odd began to occur. People started posting comments about it - smart comments. Being as internet-savvy as I am, I hadn't actually anticipated this phenomenon. Some of the thoughts posted shed more light on the article's topic, and some went so far as to disagree with my content- Which is excellent!

I should probably make a brief mention here on where I'm coming from in terms of the comic industry...
Growing up, I could never find quite what I was looking for in comic shops. It's not that I had something specific in mind - only that the titles on the shelves didn't catch my imagination. They all seemed to be variations on the same old superhero theme... I'm sure there were exceptions, but as a neophyte browsing the shelves, none were overly evident.
As a result, I never really got into comics much, and knew relatively nothing about the world of fandom for most of my life. I would draw my own comics for personal entertainment as I grew, despite my lack of interest in professional fare...
That artistic inclination, combined with the desire to tell stories, brought me back to comics during college. This time not as a reader, but as a creator - a creator determined to make the kinds of books that I was never able to find.
The reason I relate my back-story is this: although I have done research into the comic industry and it's features, I don't actually have the experience and familiarity that many of you possess. Just because I enjoy making books and did a bit of reading doesn't mean I have a monopoly on the topic of comics and publishing. There are certainly those out there whose expertise exceeds my own. I would ask then, if you would:
Anyone who would like to share their thoughts on my articles, provide additional information, and -especially!- anyone disagreeing, please feel free to post up your comment! Let other readers have the chance to hear what you think - if I'm wrong or uninformed about something, then speak up! Others browsing the article should hear your opinions, and besides that, I can learn more without actually taking the effort to do more research. Score one for laziness.

It seems terribly obvious, but I hadn't actually realized that posting articles could bring other opinions and information to light. Chalk another one up for internet inexperience.
I did consider rewriting the articles before posting them up, upon reading and learning from the various comments included by others. I wrote these articles last spring, on my own, without really anticipating what it would be like to throw them up for public scrutiny. Now that I’ve had a taste of displaying my opinions in front of an informed audience, I almost have an itch to go in and tone some of my rants down... Soften some of my opinions.
I’ve decided not to, though. The articles are more fun to read in their original form - spicier, I guess you could say. I’m hoping this will make them more entertaining to read, cause them to become more widespread, and instigate reader feedback more effectively, if only to correct my more slanted posits.

That said, thank you again to any who are taking the time to browse through my thoughts! Once again, feel free to share your opinion in here, and to invite other readers you know who may find these articles amusing or informative.


-David

ARTICLE: Comics, the Banished Medium

Fact: Comics are a marginalized medium in our society.

Now, before you dash to your coffee-table stack of ‘Savage Dragon’ to prove me wrong, keep in mind you may not be representative of the rest of society. Believe it or not, there are people out there who don’t give a hoot over steroidal, midget-legged, jaw-clenching, head-finned compensations for masculinity.
Just think - how often do you see television ads for upcoming gaming platforms, or movie actors interviewed on talk shows? How many newspapers have regular sections devoted to reviewing new novels and literature? When was the last time you saw a trailer for a new film? Unless you live like Osama Bin Laden (or a devoted ‘Green Lantern’ fan), all this stuff is commonplace.
Now, compare the constant publicity of films, books, and TV shows with the mainstream attention paid to comics. (And remember, Wizard magazine is only considered mainstream by it’s editors and the staff of Marvel.)

Quite the contrast, isn’t there? Comics and graphic novels today are the invisible shunned runt of the entertainment industry. Kind of like Ron Paul in the ‘08 elections. The only time comics are noticed is when smarmy Hollywood executives, paid to think up ideas, need to find some. Sequential art wasn’t always the underdog in culture, however.

Once upon a time, comics were overwhelmingly prevalent in the U.S. In fact, they were so wildly popular, that Congress took it upon themselves to consider laws censoring their content and restricting distribution (If Congress is trying to abolish it, you know it’s something popular like alcohol or the Constitution.) The sensational spread of comics was so feared and resisted by the establishment of the day, that public book burnings were organized across the nation. Long story short, comics were everywhere, the emerging generation was charmed with the stories being told. Icons were born - Batman, Superman, Captain America - icons that were recognizable before debuting in TV or film.

That prevalence is gone, G-O-N-E.

Now, I know what you’re saying… ‘Dave, you must be mistaken - I read in WIZARD that Marvel is SOLD OUT of their latest printing of blah-muscle-breast! They’re selling out of their books, they’re so popular! You must be out of touch Mr. Dave, because readers are clearly going crazy buying up comics if they’re selling out!’
First off, why is your voice so high pitched? Have you ever heard a recording of yourself? And second off, well, I hate to burst your bubble, but Marvel is a big fan of this little thing I like to call… What is it? You know, it piles up, and - oh, that’s it! Bullshit.
In the 1970’s, a monthly edition of a typical Marvel comic would sell many hundreds of thousands of copies, no sweat - millions if it were popular. These days, a comic is considered extraordinarily, exceptionally popular if it sells close to 30,000 copies. 30,000. That means pedophiles outnumber our current mainstream comic audience by, like... Well, I didn't even know there were that many kids in the United States.
Then how does Marvel magically sell out of its oh-so-demanded issues, you might ask? Well, there’s been a lot of selling-out going on, but not the kind you’re thinking of.
Have you ever heard of Diamond Distributing? No? Basically, they have a complete monopoly on the comic distribution industry. (Jealous yet?) They pre-sell retailers on all their comics, and the publishers tailor their print runs to fulfill only what’s been ordered. When you only print off enough books to fill your orders, it’s pretty easy to sell out. And even easier to fabricate false publicity from it, in the desperate hope of creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Well, the tactic doesn’t seem to be working so far. Even though graphic novel sales are slowly rising, the plummeting monthly comic issue sales are dragging the entire industry’s numbers down. The downturn isn’t just some abstract idea on paper - since the mid 1990’s over half of the comic shops in the nation have closed their doors, and all but one distributor has crashed spectacularly into bankruptcy.
“Finally being able to glance at the 'actual sales' of the direct market has turned the low speed train wreck of the previous figures, which only calculated pre-orders, into a high speed one.” - Brandon Thomas
In fact, the mega-comic publishers like Marvel, DC, Image, and Dark Horse are surviving exclusively by licensing out their ‘properties’ (That‘s what they call their ‘characters‘) - hawking off deals like a peddler in a fish market. Merchandising rights, movie rights, Halloween costume rights, undergarment decoration rights, dishware rights - selling off ANYTHING, namely, except for their books. If these companies had to support themselves on their actual book sales, they’d implode faster than the Soviet Union during the 'Popples' era.
This isn’t just generalization - let me hit you with some numbers: In 1991, 86% of Marvel’s revenue was from publishing (i.e., selling books.) Just 5 years later in ‘96, publishing only brought in 15% of it’s revenue. Obviously, something besides making quality books was taking precedence for the industry bigwigs. (McAllister, 2001)
“…Because the fact is, month on month, comics sell less. There is no comics sales graph that goes up -- they may start high, they may get boosts along the way, but they trend downwards. Always.” - Alisdair Watson.

Although the ’Big 4’ (Marvel, DC, Image, Dark Horse) have a stranglehold-death grip on the public perception of comics, nobody actually wants to read their repetitive pulp. Well, except for the 30,000 strong (and dwindling by the day) pack of humans remaining on earth who still possess the mental conditioning necessary to survive the experience.
"The bottom line is that there is something fundamentally wrong with the comics industry as it is being run right now. Numbers have been on the decline, shops are closing up and no one seems to know why.” - J. Hues

So, here’s the Golden Question, the crux of the matter: Why did comics go from the pinnacle of popularity to the cultural dumpster? How did they transform from a cherished house of American heroes into a mildly embarrassing fringe medium? What happened!?

No, before you answer, it wasn’t global warming. Good try though.

My next article will have the answer to that question - as well as a fascinating story of greed, dirty deals, and idiotic corruption.

…And, good try again, but I’m not talking about the IRS. Try to stay on topic with me here.

Holding Pattern

Commissions have officially taken over! Looming in unforeseen quantities, I now officially have my hands full. It’s loads of fun, though - every idea is different, every character unique to it’s owner. It’s really exciting being able to participate in the creativity flowing out from the readers. And financially, this is helping grow the funds that I’ll need to print off Volume 3.

Ah yes, Volume 3... As engaging as commissions are, I do need to see a light at the end of the tunnel here. As such, I had to announce a close date for new commission orders, right at the end of MFF this November. Thereafter my goal will be to complete and fulfill all commissions by Christmas, leaving 2009 clear and free for total focus on Volume 3 production! 8 )

Contributing to my decision for a close-date, deadlines in October slowed my pace on commissions considerably.
I had a presentation at a local high school here in Columbus, which turned out to be a blast! It was held after hours in the school library, and I got to give a speech about my career path, and college, and life lessons which school fails to cover. I managed to make the speech entertaining with stories and some video - segments, and talking with high-schoolers was fun. It’s odd realizing how far out from high school I am, it seems not so long ago that I was walking the halls with a bulging backpack and a briefcase full of drawings…

Preparing for the presentation took some time, especially as the date drew near. Immediately afterwards, I had to get moving on the Halloween Fanart Contest. Entries were coming in, and I wanted to display the results on a new gallery page, in keeping with the revised web design. Putting that together proved to be challenging, and I was actually de-bugging bits of it even after I threw it up for the midnight showtime.
Whew! It was good to get done, but also frustrating that I had such a standstill on commission work - while new ones were still adding themselves to the stack.

It can be vexing sometimes, having productivity delayed - even when it’s only so I can advance on other fronts. I just have so much I want to accomplish, and production capacity is the sole resource available to me. The only hope I have for attaining my goals is the ability to work hard for them.
That’s why sometimes I can be very jealous of nullifying demands on my time… I’m not talking about commissions here- those are fun & they help with printing costs, they contribute. I’m talking about my work work..
I think I’ve mentioned it before, but many people might not be aware that I actually work a full time job for a living. All money from Dreamkeepers - book sales, convention sales, commission purchases - everything goes straight back into printing costs, and company savings. It supports itself, but not me.

I work every night at as a security guard to pay my bills. Living nocturnally was a surprisingly easy transition after my experience with late - night college work sessions. Patrolling the building site for leaks or fires every few hours isn’t exactly the most demanding job in the world, so I have healthy spots of time where I can get some artwork or writing done. But I could accomplish much more, with greater efficiency if I had all of my time available. I only get one life - it gets closer to the end, day by day, and having it less than optimal is an irritance.
Of course, I have plans in place to support myself with Vivid Publishing and Dreamkeepers… But, realistically, the company cannot make enough profit to support me. Not until it has enough cash to print off a huge quantity of books all at once. (I can only afford to print books in small, expensive batches currently.) Without the price advantage of greater quantity, distributors and stores can’t carry my books, and I’m limited solely to what I can sell in person, or from my website. There’s a tiny bit of profit with each book sale, but building up a real company this way is like trying to build a house one toothpick at a time.

It’s not something that I should be dwelling on, but it’s so excruciating; Needing such a relatively small sum to start things rolling, and feeling the need to cherish and deliberate upon the use of every company dollar. Especially as the Congressional powers-that-be lavish billions in reward for gluttonous, responsibility-decrying failure. What I have been working and striving for through the years is, to them, nothing but a pathetic pittance. It’s like dying of thirst for want of a drop, while above the glass ceiling they’re shitting in the pool. (Isn’t that analogy palatable, yet apt? I thought of it myself!)

If anything, such frustration is useful in cementing my resolve to never quit, to work harder and be better, to earn what I want, regardless of obstacles and difficulties. Relentlessness is a highly undervalued trait.



-David

V3 Sneak Peak - Ch. 7 Pencils begun!

Finally, a little bit of finalized artwork to post up in here... Here are some samples of the penciling that is going on! Commissions are still in the works, as well as prep for the annual Halloween Fanart contest, so progress is not exactly blinding in it's speed. But it's still happening!

Below is a pencilled page, as well as a closer - up sample of the content. Perhaps another noteworthy explanation for the current rate of progress is my indulged penchant for detail... I mean, really, that tower didn't need to have an octagonal midsection tapering to a quadrilateral, in perspective. Yet it somehow seemed necessary at the time when I was drawing it in... I particularly like the bad visual pun inherent in the "spinal" columns. The skulls set up above are supposed to be DreamKeeper skulls - but when animalistic skulls have this tendency to always look demonic, no matter what. Thanks a lot, paganism. Ah well.

Still a lot more pages that need to happen - Regretfully, I don't anticipate making any major strides until I clear out commissions this fall / early winter - then it'll be time to close those down, and get serious about the book. However, the influx of capital is great from a business point of view, since the profit margins on the books are so narrow - but I should probably end this update before I careen into dangerously dull territory.

The Inbox Blues

I enjoy drawing, writing, coloring, and making coffee so much, that sometimes it’s very easy to just wait one more day to reply to e-mails….

And then, two weeks later, I’ve got a mountain of correspondence – thoughtful and brief inquiries that I’ve been blowing off for way too long.

Well, it’s time to get crackin’!

Which is why I’m getting distracted on my blog… Hello!

Liz’s e-mail responsibilities entail collecting, logging, and notating all of our order info. Interestingly, her duties always seem to done in a timely manner. Maybe I should clone her. Then again, another reason to…. Never mind, heh.

She probably shouldn’t be handling my workload right now anyways, seeing as she had a Tegu hanging off her finger earlier. Her skin’s pretty much intact, but that creature needs some more handling. Evil, evil, evil – pure evil, wrapped in a tubular form. I should let him run for public office… Ever since we put that Chinese dragon sculpture in his aquarium, he’s had such the ego.

Anyways – this is supposed to be some semblance of an update on stuff.

I’ve been getting Chapter 7 thumbnail layouts done – almost half the chapter is thumbnailed out now. Commissions are gearing up – fun! It’s been such a long time since I had commissions open online, I’m having a blast with all the different ideas. To keep some momentum on book work, I’m alternating. A few commissions done, then switching to a few more page layouts, and back again.

In the midst of this, my little Prelude backlog dried up, and I struck bottom. Had to jump on the next strip, but it’s drawn out and should be done about on time.

Website work has taken a back-burner to this other stuff, but I still want to get the new Vivid page up this week. That way, I can have somewhere to direct retailers and dealers for book sales and information.

In other news, I met with some library people this past week about doing a presentation at the local high school this fall. I’m really excited about that! I don’t know if I’m a fitting paragon for success or anything… Working a night-job while I pursue my aspirations. But, things are going rather well – and I am very happy! Hard to put a price on that. For my presentation, I want to incorporate a lot of video, visuals, and hopefully get my speech content to be entertaining. I don’t want to get up there and bore everyone to death – but hopefully if I’m engaging enough, my nifty little life lessons might sink in. I’m just looking forward to getting up in a public school and telling students they need to think for themselves and question things. Maybe the walls will ignite. Damnit, now my hopes are up.

Well, back to e-mails, and blocking out reminders of my neglected art accounts...

-David

V3 Sneak-Peek; Chapter 7 script & concept sketches.

Well, it’s been quite awhile without updates, but things are finally getting back up to speed! It’s been a full and diverting summer… Getting the Volume 2 print run in, packaged, and shipped out in April / May, prepping for the Anthrocon in June, and then finally getting married in late July – it feels like things have been happening almost non-stop! Even though work has been happening on Volume 3 for some time now, website revisions and redesigns have until recently been dominating the forefront of my attentions… Although as browsers of the site may have noticed, only a few of the pages are dolled up in the new style -the rest are still the original (craptastic) versions. I figured I needed to get some pages up, and move along. Besides the actual designs of the pages themselves, I have a lot of new content in mind that I would like to include - and if I try to create ‘THE PERFECT SITE’ in it’s entirety, it’ll turn into one of those never-ending self consuming projects. It’s going to be more of a process - a page here, a page there. Besides, I’m itching to burn some rubber on Volume 3 - oh, yes! This update is supposedly on that topic.

So far, it’s going great, and I’m getting very excited for the art to get rolling! Liz and I have written out the story for Chapters 7, 8, and 9. We’ve collaborated and finished the Chapter 7 script, with the exception of some mild fine-tuning. I’m hoping to get started on layouts in the next week or so, and get thumbnails put together. The story for this book is shaping up to be a blast - Bast, virtually a background character in Volume 2, finally comes into play. The chemistry of the main characters begins to progress, and the plot elements begin to move forward and broaden… Volume 1 was the introductory book, Volume 2 tied the characters together- but Volume 3 is really going to start moving the plotlines forward, begin unraveling a few things, and establish a broad base for the saga to build from. I’m having that annoying urge where I want to start spewing about all the story features that are exciting me, but then I would be spoiling the story…
I do have some concept art to share, though. In Volume 3 we get a glimpse of some other facets to Anduruna - the criminal street-clans that infest certain areas of the districts. Now, Mace & company aren’t exactly law abiding cherubs - But this group isn’t on the same endearing level of misbehavior. Think more along the lines of organized extortion, prostitution, substance abuse, etc… I'd like to think we'll be the first people to ever create a book that has a sea-horse whore. It's good to forge new ground.

These aren’t finalized sketches, just visual brainstorming…

That’s about it at present. I’ll be working on layouts for Ch.7 next, in between doing commissions and ordering more Volume 1&2 print runs. I’ve had commissions unavailable for so long, I really need to get moving for all the people that’ve been waiting… If you’re reading this currently, and you want a commission, keep an eye out on the website! They’re either already open, or will open in a matter of days.

-David

Awesome internet skills

Okay, websitey things are actually going together... Blog may actually be seen by humans soon. Testing stuff... Can I put picture images in my blogs? Let's see.

Huh! Lookit that. Now, I wonder - can I delete blog entries that are pointless? Liiike this one? ...If you're reading this, then I guess the answer was no! Or, yes, but I have a profound respect for posterity!

Baby steps

Hey, it's the first blog. That's an accomplishment!

At least, that's what we're going to call it for now.... I need all the little victories I can muster.

Currently, Volume 2 is at the printer's, and I'm starting to re-design my dinosaurian websites. I figured on learning PHP to make updating easier. Turns out, my IQ drops like a rock when I leave the comfort of Photoshop and DreamWeaver. Programming is not my forte'. Evidently, neither is 'learning'.

Suffice to say, after days of banging my head against a wall, I decided tonight to make PROGRESS, with a capital 'P'.

So, the blog portion of my website is now ready to go!

I feel so smart.