 :: Wednesday, June 04, 2003 :: Blah, Blah and Another Blah Okay, so I meant to have an interview this time round, unfortunately it’s been held up slightly, so you’ll have to wait for the next time. Fortunately I have a few things running around my head that are worth mentioning, or at least I think they are. SUPER FLUNK Last week Fantagraphics announced that they are in financial trouble. This is an off shoot to something that happened last year. For those not in the know one of the major distributors of comics to the book store market went bankrupt, and in doing so left a lot of publishers in the lurch, such as Top Shelf Productions, Oni Press, Drawn & Quarterly, and of course Fantagraphics. The numbers I’ve heard are between 50-80 grand owed to each publisher (but I haven’t actually confirmed this so don’t take it for rote.) At the time Top Shelf head Chris Staros (one of the all time coolest and nicest guys in comics) sent out a notice saying that if they didn’t make up the money in a very short time they would have to put a hold on all their projects until the money came back to them. Top Shelf’s book are not top sellers, they are quirky and fun, and they are also known for being long, and they don’t sell well in the current climate. Within 24 hours of the e-mail being sent out Top Shelf had made the money necessary to continue and then some. Now shortly after the plea was made by Staros there came a back lash along with extensive mocking from the Fantagraphics camp who had set up another deal with another major distributor that came down to “if you can’t run the company without making pleas like this you don’t deserve to be running the company.” Last week Fantagraphics publisher Gary Groth, made a plea to the comics community to buy their books, because they were now in the same situation as Top Shelf was a year ago, but it wasn’t simply because of a bad situation it was also because they had made a bad business decision with over printing their books. So my question is does Fantagraphics deserve by their own rules to continue? Yes they have one of the most acclaimed selection of books available, they have been a mainstay in the indy comics publishing field for over 27 years, they have a collection that puts the vast majority of other publishers to shame, but should they continue? Their books would easily fit into the libraries of Oni, Drawn & Quarterly,NBM and Top Shelf, companies that are younger, more visionary, more willing to break ground and still have an eye on the past and history that is central to Fantagraphics, and on top of it, they don’t treat the comics community like a fungus that is a necessary vile thing that they’d rather get rid of. Brian Michael Bendis said in an interview recently that Fantagraphics was still thinking it was 1984, maybe it’s time they passed the torch over to younger, stronger publishers who know how to treat their fans. Making sure these books keep coming out is a noble thing, but don’t go biting the hand that feeds you, you may find out that the vultures are circling waiting to strip your corpse bare. I can’t see Los Bros Hernandez going very long without a new home for Love & Rockets. (Of course if they do go down I’d spend a year laughing my ass off if Marvel went and bought them out.) SUPER SERIAL I’ve been re-reading the Harry Potter books and each time I’ve read them I’ve come to the same conclusion, J.K. Rowling really knows how to tell a serialized story. And it’s actually a fairly simple formula when putting together a long reaching serialized story that can be seen in other stories such as Preacher and Transmetropolitan. 1) Set up your world, and set up a set of rules and a formula. 2) Expand on the rules, play within the rules you have, but make things familiar to the audience. But have a sense of repletion to make the audience comfortable. 3) Half way through the serial change the rules, change the situation so neither the audience or the characters know which way is up. 4) Raise the stakes to life and death. Four basic and simple rules, and the reason I’m so hyped to read the next Harry Potter book, at the end of The Goblet of Fire Rowling changed the rules so radically that there is no telling what will happen, because the rules have changed, all we do know is that Harry is heading for the fight of his life and that he will end up loosing someone close to him, because the stakes need to be raised for Harry to deal with what is coming. SUPER NEXT As I said earlier there was supposed to be an interview this time ‘round, it is still in the middle of being finished. The Interview is with The heads of Oni Press Jamie S. Rich and Joe Nozemack. In it Jamie says something interesting: “I just want to see more stories people are passionate about.” When I read that response I stopped to consider what I’ve been working on; am I truly passionate about it? I’m passionate about comics, I know that, it’s bloody obvious to anyone who talks to me. But Am I passionate about the work I’m doing? I tend to come at things from an intellectual point of view these days, it’s become a part and function of problem solving an intellectual exercise, a way to make my brain work over time. But I’ve also been slow about getting the work done. So am I passionate about the subjects? I realized that yes I am. I’m currently writing around and about two things that mean a great deal to me: Shakespeare and The Guitar/Music. Now one of the popular forms in indy comics is the Autobiography, slice of your own life stuff, and for comic creators that can generally be fairly boring stuff. (I will here admit that there is a copy of the script for my Semi-Autobiographical Graphic Novel on my hard drive, but I’m not letting that out unless I’m either dead or I’m paid a shit load of money for it.) The key to making these really cool is to transpose your story to somewhere else, put it in another situation, or take your story and confine it to a set of rules. I no longer want to do an autobiography because I’ve realized that I’m already writing it, but I’m also hiding it in works of fiction. Say that it is your story, but also not your story. Make a metaphor out of your life, you’re a knight in slightly rusted armor and she’s a damsel in a dress. Tell your story from the point of view of what you’ve always wanted to be, not from what you are. And love what you're talking about. That’s my writing lesson for the day. *** Okay, hopefully next time we'll get to that interview, otherwise I'll get onto the topic of The Old Bastard Manifesto. 10:20 PM + Jay D'Ici + permalink |