Avie Rants about the Industry part 2: Creators Article by aviewaskewed, 12:28 AM 18th Jan Disclaimer: The following column is entirely the opinions of the author (even at that we aren‘t sure), any similarity to the opinions of any other staff or affiliate of theendlesscrew.com is entirely coincidental and unintentional. Unless specifically noted otherwise, all creator comments have been gleaned from other sources and no creators have actually endorsed any aspect of this column. Note from the legal department: All lawsuits and injunctions to stop him from posting are currently pending, so until any one of those stops him, courage. Just a refresher course for those just tuning in, this is part two in an ongoing look at the comics industry. Last week I discussed the good and bad of being a fan. This week I’ll be discussing the writers and artists. The creative end of comics is probably at the best it’s been in quite some time in the mainstream. Let me say that right off the bat. The writers and artists working on most books these days are top notch, editorial seems to have a looser hand, and creator-owned work is really blossoming thanks to publishers like Image giving talented creators a safe haven to go out and create really great work (Brian Bendis and Mike Oeming’s Powers being one of my personal favorite creator-owned works). I also really found it encouraging that we saw projects like Identity Crisis come out this year, here is a well written project, that forces change in the universe that it’s set in (DC for those of you not quite in the loop of what I’m talking about), now, I’m not sure I agree with the idea of showing such brutal depictions of murder and rape, might not be to my comfort level, but I applaud DC that they took an attitude of “this is something that happens, and we are not going to let the possibility of people being offended by a well-written use of these concepts get in the way of a good story”. Although you can’t mention the good without mentioning some of the bad, like Marvel’s very juvenile attempt to glom some kind of…well, I don’t honestly know what the hell they were going for in that Identity Disc series other then to rip into DC (and judging from the sales, a lot of people agreed with me). But that’s getting off the main topic a bit. This is a very good market right now for creators, and you certainly can’t be pissed off about that either, a lot of these guys, as Brian Bendis once said, have gotten to where they are now, after spending 9 or 10 years starving on the independents, or just below the mainstream radar not making any sort of money. So to see these people, who are as I said earlier talented, and deserving of a break getting one is just something to feel good about. Oh, and hey, bonus for the readers, THEY HAVE TALENT! They’re telling great stories, and they’re pushing the boundaries of what can be done with the medium, and in the mainstream. It really feels to me like every year the horrible bust of the 90’s and that whole “the artist is the most important thing ever” campaign are getting further and further behind us (I apologize to all the artists out there, no one can deny what you do for a book, but if you don’t have a good writer to work from, well, all the pretty pictures in the world can’t save that book). Although there is a dark side to all this, we’re starting to see the beginnings of a glass ceiling happening for writers, I mean, look at DC and Marvel on writers, they have basically Jeph Loeb, Geoff Johns, Judd Winnick, Brad Meltzer, and Greg Rucka handling the big books (with Johns and Winnick handling five or six titles on their own). Am I knocking those guys? Absolutely not! I love Johns’s work, and I really liked Winnick’s time on Green Lantern (although sadly, his Batman just isn’t terribly impressive to me thus far), I’ve also enjoyed basically everything I’ve ever read out of Jeph Loeb but the fact is, just because a guy can do five or six titles, doesn’t mean you should. Marvel is even worse with this since they have Brian Bendis writing basically every major book, and J. Michael Stracynski, Warren Ellis, et al handling only maybe two or three a piece. Once again, I am not saying this is bad because I hate any of these guys, I have a problem with ONE storyline Stracynski has done, and I’m not buying anymore of his Spider-Man work because of it, but that’s a decision that’s mostly based on a content issue, and that he sloppily did one arc, it’s not a knock on everything he’s ever written. The problem I have with keeping the pool of writers small, and loaded one or two guys up with a lot of books is that no matter how good they are, they’re getting overexposed. It gets hard to miss a guy’s work when he’s writing so many of the books you’re getting in your pull list. That’s not a giant problem for me, I’ll admit, because I don’t have but a few books I read monthly, and then I mostly grab trades of newer and classic material, but I think I can say with all honesty that when I hear about some of the projects that come out from this small pool, I cringe. I cringe at a Brian Bendis team book because I know for a FACT that he is not a team book guy, numerous interviews has he said that in. It’s apparent in a lot of the attempts he’s made, but hey, some guys just aren’t great in certain areas. This is why you need to have enough talent to go around so that you don’t wind up having to throw a guy onto something he can’t do, or isn’t suited to do. The artist pool is healthier, if, I’m thinking, less lucrative, a lot of the exclusive contracts I see being given out right now is artists. It’s good that so many guys are getting work, but I have to honestly wonder how good the money is with that, I’m sure the writers make more because there’s fewer of them (especially at Marvel). But artists? It seems like they’re at a revolving door, Marvel is trying something where they can create some new superstar pencilers (probably not smart, since people judge what they like and don’t like, and almost always don’t like things they’re instructed to like), but for the most part, it seems to me like artists are getting a bit defocused lately, and I’m wondering if we aren’t seeing the 90’s problem rearing up again, where instead of a group of artists being big stars and drawing all the attention, while the writers languished and were considered expendable, it’s going to be artists now. Another negative that’s rearing up, although it’s always been there to a degree, but with the net, and the added attention and closeness that creator’s and their fans are having, I’m seeing a lot of juvenile crap popping up. Like I’ve said earlier, and I’ll be saying forever I’m sure, it’s a business dominated by creating work for juveniles, and that probably gets to people after awhile but you know? That’s a cop out, it’s a total and complete cop out, and it’s giving these people a get out of jail free card on misbehaving. Oh, I know, I probably shouldn’t hate it too much, I mean, it’s fodder for the news sites like ourselves, but you know? I’d much rather spend my time reporting on new projects that grab my interest, then who is fighting with who, or who shot their mouth off about what. Marvel has made it a point to antagonize DC to whole new levels of late, I remember reading in Wizard a couple months back where Jeph Loeb seemed to be taking (and I think rightfully so) a lot of exception to the way Marvel was promoting itself, and the way that Marvel writer’s like Brian Bendis was defending them. Speaking of Bendis, he got into an issue at Wizardworld this year blaming DC for nixing a proposed Batman/Daredevil crossover. I mean, seriously, that is NOT something I think you need to talk about in public, especially at a panel where only your viewpoint is going to get heard, it just so happens that Bob Wayne (at least, I’m pretty sure it was Bob, could have been Mike Carlin, my fault that I don’t have the exact person’s name handy, though if you follow our site, or any news outlet, you’re familiar with this) who is an executive editor at DC happened to walk by and tell their side. Which was that they basically won’t do crossovers with Marvel until Marvel’s current editor in chief is gone…again, why did we need to go there? Why do we need to have two guys, representing the two biggest publishers of comics in this country do that. It’s completely unprofessional. The only thing worse then this has got to be the amount of spin and people swearing off working on certain books because of some issue they have with a publisher; Alan Moore publicly swore never to work for DC again, now he has his comics line through Wildstorm which is owned by DC, but in fairness, that deal was consummated BEFORE Wildstorm had been sold to DC. Grant Morrison also swore never to work for DC again shortly after the original Matrix film was released claiming that it had stolen concepts from his series “The Invisibles” and since the distributor of the film was from a studio affiliated with DC’s parent company, Morrison chose to never work for DC again as he felt used, he now recently inked an exclusive contract with…yeah, you guessed it, DC. Warren Ellis, who has become something of a cult figure in comics I think (certainly a big celebrity on the comics intraweb) for his scathing dislike of super heroes, is now working quite a bit at Marvel writing super heroes. I’ll be fair and say that Warren makes good points in that when we look at comics as a medium, as a business, and we look at super hero’s as a genre, it is pretty ridiculous that we allow this industry to be totally dominated by one genre. But the problem with Ellis is that he’s in the past gone so far as to call them, quote: “pervert suits” and to demand they basically be wiped from existence. Then he turns around and begins writing for Marvel, at first because his “friends asked him to” (specifically Brian Bendis and Mark Millar who could not continue to write Ultimate FF, Ellis’s first Marvel work in awhile). I wish to God, that people would stop swearing they’ll never work for one of the big two again, it’s patently ridiculous. Because not to knock anybody, but unless you’re Neil Gaiman, or Alan Moore, or Frank Miller, guys who transcend comics and can work in the mainstream, then frankly, it’s more likely then not you are going to find a day when you have to go back to the big two and do a stint on something, if for no other reason then the payday. So I mean, I don’t see what these grandstands get these guys, it doesn’t look bad ass, or rebellious anymore, because people just know it’ll only last until they need the extra cash, or get a burning desire to do a corporate character. So what’s the summation? The writing and the art have gone up in a lot of places I believe, is it perfect? Of course not. Are comics selling like gangbusters? Again, no, not really, it might seem like it, but they aren’t. I think they can though, I honestly do, I see them going into the bookstores, and I see them finding new readers all the time. Now let’s just hope that the creators can start acting like grown ups, and being better representatives of the industry. Next Week: I’ll take a look at the policies that are in place for the industry leaders, Marvel and DC, and who I think is going to be the stronger publisher, and industry leader because of it. Back to Rants