2008182
Sunday October 07th 2012, 7:38 pmSomething happened today, and I found it disturbing. I almost never ever look at sales rankings for comics from Diamond, their top 100. But I ended up doing that today only to discover something profoundly sad. Out of that list for the month of August I found there to be only two titles that are creator owned books, and one of those has a TV show. I was floored that out of a hundred books only two, TWO, were independently owned concepts. This might sound a bit trite, arrogant, snarky, or judgmental, and some of you may slam me for it, but I find this information shocking enough that I’m rather disgusted by it, disheartened by it. And raises questions in my mind about what is expected in this industry. I mean we all say how much we want to support creativity, and push for more interesting comics, I hear it all of the time. But then it seems they’re not being bought in large numbers. This does not sit well with me. My own personal buying habits greatly include creator owned titles. Some of the best comics out there are independent! How can we not give these more support?! How can we claim to want new and innovative concepts if we don’t pay attention to them when they are right in front of us? Why is this?! If we ever truly want our industry to grow and mature, and present sophisticated concepts that attract a smart wide ranging audience, we should be embracing these new concepts on equal terms to anything provided by the major publishers. The future viability of what we love I feel depends on this. We live in a time where some superhero film pushed by the big two will make a gabillion dollars, good to hear there is such high interest, but good for whom exactly. When is it time for the creators to see this kind of support? Don’t get me wrong here, I throw cash at mainstream titles too, but I equally give cash over to creator owned titles as well. I look for good comics regardless. Some are better than others, same as in mainstream. I want to see them get the same levels of attention. Like I said, I’m a bit saddened seeing the top 100 dominated almost purely by Marvel and DC. I can’t complain too much, I mean I work for DC, but as a fan I want to see diversity succeed equally, it deserves to. Not sure what else I can say on the subject, so there ya go…
Diatribe
October 7th 2012
4 Comments so far
Leave a comment
SIR, SIR, SIR!!!!!
DAMN. Well said…and quite frankly, IGNORE all who disagree with this. True comic fans buy both big pub and creator owned. I know that when I visit my comic shop, I match them 1for1. If I’m gonna buy big, I gotta support small, otherwise who would support me when I finally launch my project?
All in all, we comic supporters shouldn’t have this hierarchy of “quality” facade we buy into everyday, literally.
I agree. Creator owned comics are AWESOME.
It also brings me great joy and hope that big pub artists like yourself is speaking out about this too…I think it gives all aspiring creator-owned projects inspiration. And this is only a testament of your love for comics and pure creation. Just another reason why I’m a fan of yours.
Again, well said!
Marc
Comment by Marc Rene 10.07.12 @ 8:23 pmHey Jennifer
Yeah thats a good idea, If I end up with any spare time (Har!) I’ll have to give that a shot.
Hey there Marc
Thanks for the positive response to what I’m saying. I so want to see good original concepts succeed, and we should be doing all we can the create an environment that allows this.
Leave a Comment
** Required but not displayed
It’d be interesting for someone to make a list of “if you like [DC or Marvel titles], you should also check out [creator-owned title]” type recommendations. Or maybe someone has… I think I’ll look 🙂
Comment by Jennifer 10.07.12 @ 7:58 pm