Comics – Page 2 – The Designer Monologues

July 26, 2012July 25, 2012

Hey Kids, Comics!

Been giving more thought to the idea of a digital comics line. The recent debut of Chris Roberson’s Monkeybrain Comics, joining the ranks of Mark Waid and John Rogers’ Thrillbent, shows that the digital field is growing. Despite my post earlier this week where I lamented the hectic pace that results from my desire to “DO ALL THE THINGS!”, this really is one of those things that I keep coming back to, so I’m fairly sure that I’m going to give it a shot at some point, and most likely sooner rather than later.

What follows are a list of Guiding Principles that I would keep in mind for any digital comics project:

All Ages: Not dumbed down, not “kids stuff”, but say a Bronze-age level of writing, able to be read by, say, a 43-year old comics fan (ahem) or a reasonably bookish 12 year old.

Full Use of the Format: As Mark Waid as pointed out, “the world is widescreen.” Use the space given by the digital format, and the tools available that are distinct to that format, rather than just porting print to screen. For an example of the sort of thing I’m talking about, check the Artist’s Annotations version of Cthulhu Calls over on the Thrillbent site.

More Positive Handling of Gender and Race: Role-model-worthy characters from all races — actually reflecting real demographics. Women who are built like athletes (Like this, or this for example), not porn stars.

Each Issue Is NOT 1/6th of a Story: I’m tired of the collection-focused pacing of modern comics. Every issue is somebody’s first, and they deserve a story. You can have arcs, sure, but somebody should be able to jump in at any point (remember the old “as seen in last issue — Smilin’ Stan” editorial comments that would tell you what you need to know?).

Cheap Entertainment: The fact that this is digital means that there’s already a barrier for entry — a fairly expensive device (phone, tablet, or computer). There’s no reason to compound that with high prices. Plus, I want to see a return to comics as impulse purchases. When I was first buying comics, they went from 30 cents to 75 cents an issue. Now they’re 3 or 4 dollars. If they stuck with inflation, they’d be somewhere around $1 to $1.50, which seems to be a good target to me.

So what about you? What would you want to see — your Guiding Principles?

April 5, 2012

Digital Comics

I was planning on writing up an entry on digital comics — the theories, the tech, where things are headed, that kind of thing.

Turns out, though, that I really didn’t need to, as my friend John Rogers has written a brilliant blog entry over at his site, where he talks about his role in Mark Waid’s new digital comics initiative, and in the process covers pretty much everything I was planning to — including the same embeds I was going to include.

So, y’know… great minds, and all of that.

Head on over to John’s post, and absorb the serious Kung Fu Wisdom that he’s breaking down for you.

That? Right there? Adamant will be dipping our toes into that particular pool over the next 12 months or so. Initially as part of our FAR WEST project, but most likely expanding outward from there.

February 13, 2012February 13, 2012

The Last Nail

A week ago over on Google Plus I posted about the reasons why I wasn’t going to be seeing the Avengers film, despite my comics-geek nature, because of the absolute crap way that Marvel treated the man who co-created most of those characters, Jack Kirby. Add to that the bullshit news about DC doing Watchmen Prequels (their original contract with Alan Moore specified that he’d regain rights after Watchmen went out of print, which they then never allowed to happen, keeping it in print via graphic novels, a format which didn’t exist at the time the contract was signed. It’s pretty much no secret that “creator’s rights” in corporate media is a joke.

Now comes the last nail in the coffin — Gary Friedrich, the guy who created GHOST RIDER, is being made an example of by Marvel.

Friedrich brought suit against Marvel for a share of the money made by the first GHOST RIDER film — he didn’t see a penny from it. Everybody pretty much knew that this age of “Corporations are People” and “Money is Free Speech”, he had no chance in Hell, so it wasn’t surprising that he lost his case. Back when Gary worked for Marvel, they included a rights waver on your paycheck. That’s right: If you wanted to get paid, you had to endorse the check, which meant signing right below legal language that gave up the rights to anything you produced. Ethically bankrupt? Sure. Evil? Yes, I’ll even go there. But perfectly legal. So, naturally, Gary lost his case — he would see no money from the GHOST RIDER films, despite creating the character.

Marvel didn’t stop there, though. They countersued, and, outrageously, WON. Gary is now barred from making any money in association with the term or character “Ghost Rider” — which means he cannot do convention appearances as “the creator of Ghost Rider”, nor can he make any money from convention sketches, etc. In addition, the lawsuit hit him with a judgement that he owes Marvel $17,000 for past “merchandise sales.”

They cut the legs out from under a senior citizens SOLE source of income. If he can’t promote himself and make a living based on the character he created, what the hell is he supposed to do?

I don’t have words to express my fury. It is, as Bleeding Cool termed it, “the day that Marvel put a bullet in the head of Artists’ Alley.” Because make no mistake — this lawsuit will scare the shit out of convention organizers, who will (correctly) feel that they’re at risk of litigation by facilitating “unauthorized merchandise sales.” I expect to see policies barring original art sales at especially the big-prestige conventions soon.

So, I’m done. Marvel and DC will no longer get a cent of my money. No comics, no graphic novels, no books, no movies. Because it’s the only thing that the corporations understand — “money is speech”, after all.

If you’re interested in doing what you can to help Gary Friedrich, please visit Steve Niles’ fundraising page. Steve, the creator of 30 DAYS OF NIGHT, is taking Paypal donations for Gary, who is broke and in danger of losing his home by the end of the month because of the judgement against him. Please donate.

As for comics? I will try to continue my comics geekery via creator-owned works where possible — there’s a lot of good stuff out there, like Atomic Robo for example. Feel free to add your recommendations in the comments below.

Marvel and DC, though? Never again. The only way we’re going to stop corporate exploitation of creators is to stop enabling it. It may not be much, but I can’t contribute to it any more.