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Being "in comics" is an interesting phrase I've been thinking more about lately. What the heck does it mean, exactly? Are you "in comics" if you publish graphic novels but work another job to make ends meet (a la Jane Irwin or me)? Are you "in comics" if you make a living at independent comics but have never worked on a mainstream comic in your life (Dave Sim) or work on mainstream every once in a while but make your reputation and living from indies (Terry Moore) or made your reputation from indies and then made it again doing totally different work on other people's properties (Brian Michael Bendis)? Are you "in comics" if you make a living doing pencils for other people's scripts? If you edit other people's work and never had an original thought in your life? If you publish a cartoon in the local paper? In a national paper? If you have a webcomic that you update twice a year? A webcomic you update every day? If you make brilliant minicomics and never desire to get distribution wider than the local coffee shop where you work? If you live off somebody else's money and make comics but don't make any money at it?
The answer, depending on who you ask, can be all, some, or only one or two of the above.
The biggest divide seems to come not so much between independent and mainstream, but between "doing it for a living" and "doing it on the side". In other words, if you make a living at it and are pretty well-known, you're a comic-book artist/writer/person even if you haven't followed the usual path to success. You're "in the industry", whatever the hell that means, because clearly it means different things to different people -- but since it's all public perception anyway, the more people that agree on it, the more likely that you're "in". I don't think *too* many people would try to deny that Scott Kurtz, Terry Moore or Scott McCloud are "in", though they may hover at the fringes, not having followed the traditional path to success.
The funny thing is that from a reader's point of view, that's probably the absolute *last* question they'd ask. How anal-retentive would you have to be to read every book or comic thinking, "I wonder if this person makes a living at this?" How much of a jerk would you be to actually ask the question, aside from honest curiosity from the point of view of getting into the business, or inquiring whether a webcomics artist wants donations.
Who in the hell cares that Albert Einstein was working in a patent office when he came up with the theory of relativity, or that Emily Dickenson lived off her family's money rather than by selling poems? Who even knows what Lewis Carroll did for a living? It's the creative output that counts, the stuff that makes us remember them, that makes their work worth reading.
If I do a small independent comic that a few people read and like and remember 30 years from now, then I will stand myself right up next to an inker who made a living at it and leaves no contribution other than being a nameless part of the team that worked on TERMITE-MAN from 1992-97, and I will say, "I was in comics then, yes."
Working for the mainstream companies seems to be the ticket to making a living at it, in the popular perception. The funny thing, I think, is that what you're doing when you're working on a mainstream book is largely different from what you're doing when you're working on your own book, but is perceived to be the same thing. It is the difference between writing Star Trek tie-in novels and writing your own novels. You know, if you want to make some sure money in books, writing tie-ins and novelizations is probably a great way to go. But it's not going to build you much of a career. People know that it's not exactly the same thing as writing your own books.
I hope that I haven't implied by the above that I look down my nose at people working on corporate properties. I buy Marvel and DC comics. It's not an invalid art form or even a lesser one. It's just different. Like being a staff writer on a TV show. My goal in life is to create my own stories and I don't see how depicting somebody else's ideas is a stepping stone to that, let alone something to strive towards as the end goal of my career. I write fanfic occasionally, and it would be cool to be paid for doing that, but not exactly the same thing as expressing my own ideas in a work that I own.
Naturally that's another thing the reader couldn't care less about. All they want is a good story. I believe that good stories are a lot less likely to come out of a corporate property, for a whole lot of reasons (editorial meddling, writing by committee, inability to make lasting changes to a character, the difficulty of coming up with something new to do with a character who has been put in every conceivable situation over the last 50 years, writers' desire to withhold their best ideas for work they'd own themselves) -- but it's certainly not impossible. It's just ... a different creative experience. Different set of challenges. I have so damn many ideas to get out of my head that I don't have time to waste on other people's characters (aside from the aforementioned fanfic, but it's more a way of blowing off steam than anything else).
However, if you look around, the best, most creative, most enduring ideas are all coming out of the independent press and webcomics. All else is, for the most part, just recycling old ideas and running straightforward, light-on-the-brainpower action-adventure type of stuff. Not that there isn't a place for that ... it's just not where the best stuff is happening just now. (Although, there is some DAMN gorgeous art in the mainstream, probably more consistently high-quality art than at any point in mainstream comics history, so they must be doing something right.)
The question on everyone's mind at this point is probably, "Layla, just what the hell are you trying to say with this gigantic mess?"
Just this. I neither work for a mainstream company nor make a living at it, but I believe that I can legitimately consider myself a comics creator. I may not in particular be "in" the comics industry, but I don't really care and I don't think anybody has a clear idea of what that means anyway. If I had a yen to work for a mainstream company, and I can't say that won't happen in the future, I would need to want it as much as I want to make my own comics, and I would have to be willing to throw as much energy into it as I'm currently throwing into my own. I can't say that I wouldn't like to give it a try sometime, I just don't bloody have the time right now and conceivably not the skill as well (but I'm getting better, yo). In the meantime, if I need to do something to make money while I work on my own comics, I think I'd probably make a more reliable income working at a coffee shop, and I wouldn't be bleeding off my creative energy that can better be spent on my own work. That doesn't make me less of a comics artist. It just makes me frugal with my energy and choosy with my work.
I believe that the perception that you ain't makin' comics if you ain't workin' for the top dogs is a misconception. Not a conspiracy (and please note, I'm not implying anyone ever said it was, just that *I* don't think it is), just a popular misconception. And the best way I can combat that misconception is by making damn good comics and selling them. Luckily, that's exactly what I want to do anyway.
The answer, depending on who you ask, can be all, some, or only one or two of the above.
The biggest divide seems to come not so much between independent and mainstream, but between "doing it for a living" and "doing it on the side". In other words, if you make a living at it and are pretty well-known, you're a comic-book artist/writer/person even if you haven't followed the usual path to success. You're "in the industry", whatever the hell that means, because clearly it means different things to different people -- but since it's all public perception anyway, the more people that agree on it, the more likely that you're "in". I don't think *too* many people would try to deny that Scott Kurtz, Terry Moore or Scott McCloud are "in", though they may hover at the fringes, not having followed the traditional path to success.
The funny thing is that from a reader's point of view, that's probably the absolute *last* question they'd ask. How anal-retentive would you have to be to read every book or comic thinking, "I wonder if this person makes a living at this?" How much of a jerk would you be to actually ask the question, aside from honest curiosity from the point of view of getting into the business, or inquiring whether a webcomics artist wants donations.
Who in the hell cares that Albert Einstein was working in a patent office when he came up with the theory of relativity, or that Emily Dickenson lived off her family's money rather than by selling poems? Who even knows what Lewis Carroll did for a living? It's the creative output that counts, the stuff that makes us remember them, that makes their work worth reading.
If I do a small independent comic that a few people read and like and remember 30 years from now, then I will stand myself right up next to an inker who made a living at it and leaves no contribution other than being a nameless part of the team that worked on TERMITE-MAN from 1992-97, and I will say, "I was in comics then, yes."
Working for the mainstream companies seems to be the ticket to making a living at it, in the popular perception. The funny thing, I think, is that what you're doing when you're working on a mainstream book is largely different from what you're doing when you're working on your own book, but is perceived to be the same thing. It is the difference between writing Star Trek tie-in novels and writing your own novels. You know, if you want to make some sure money in books, writing tie-ins and novelizations is probably a great way to go. But it's not going to build you much of a career. People know that it's not exactly the same thing as writing your own books.
I hope that I haven't implied by the above that I look down my nose at people working on corporate properties. I buy Marvel and DC comics. It's not an invalid art form or even a lesser one. It's just different. Like being a staff writer on a TV show. My goal in life is to create my own stories and I don't see how depicting somebody else's ideas is a stepping stone to that, let alone something to strive towards as the end goal of my career. I write fanfic occasionally, and it would be cool to be paid for doing that, but not exactly the same thing as expressing my own ideas in a work that I own.
Naturally that's another thing the reader couldn't care less about. All they want is a good story. I believe that good stories are a lot less likely to come out of a corporate property, for a whole lot of reasons (editorial meddling, writing by committee, inability to make lasting changes to a character, the difficulty of coming up with something new to do with a character who has been put in every conceivable situation over the last 50 years, writers' desire to withhold their best ideas for work they'd own themselves) -- but it's certainly not impossible. It's just ... a different creative experience. Different set of challenges. I have so damn many ideas to get out of my head that I don't have time to waste on other people's characters (aside from the aforementioned fanfic, but it's more a way of blowing off steam than anything else).
However, if you look around, the best, most creative, most enduring ideas are all coming out of the independent press and webcomics. All else is, for the most part, just recycling old ideas and running straightforward, light-on-the-brainpower action-adventure type of stuff. Not that there isn't a place for that ... it's just not where the best stuff is happening just now. (Although, there is some DAMN gorgeous art in the mainstream, probably more consistently high-quality art than at any point in mainstream comics history, so they must be doing something right.)
The question on everyone's mind at this point is probably, "Layla, just what the hell are you trying to say with this gigantic mess?"
Just this. I neither work for a mainstream company nor make a living at it, but I believe that I can legitimately consider myself a comics creator. I may not in particular be "in" the comics industry, but I don't really care and I don't think anybody has a clear idea of what that means anyway. If I had a yen to work for a mainstream company, and I can't say that won't happen in the future, I would need to want it as much as I want to make my own comics, and I would have to be willing to throw as much energy into it as I'm currently throwing into my own. I can't say that I wouldn't like to give it a try sometime, I just don't bloody have the time right now and conceivably not the skill as well (but I'm getting better, yo). In the meantime, if I need to do something to make money while I work on my own comics, I think I'd probably make a more reliable income working at a coffee shop, and I wouldn't be bleeding off my creative energy that can better be spent on my own work. That doesn't make me less of a comics artist. It just makes me frugal with my energy and choosy with my work.
I believe that the perception that you ain't makin' comics if you ain't workin' for the top dogs is a misconception. Not a conspiracy (and please note, I'm not implying anyone ever said it was, just that *I* don't think it is), just a popular misconception. And the best way I can combat that misconception is by making damn good comics and selling them. Luckily, that's exactly what I want to do anyway.