Comics By Request—People, Projects In Need Of Funding

* this Kickstarter sponsored by a public radio show would probably freak me out a little bit if Jim Ottaviani weren't involved. A problem with organizations including but not limited to publishers funding work this way is that comics has a long history of publishers exploiting talent by taking more in the way of reward than their contribution maybe deserves. A traditional duty of publishers is to bring the needed capital to the project; if they don't, that should at the very least be an occasion to question what it is the creators are getting by working with a publisher or organization in the first place. That can make investigating the details of a contract to reflect the relative contributions; it can also mean questioning the entire relationship as establishing bad precedent for your fellow artists, even if it "works" for you. In this case, this is a pretty small organization of the kind that tends to work close to the bone or even at a loss -- we don't know this, maybe they're loaded, but it's a pretty safe assumption. They're also fairly used to fundraising, which makes it doubtful this is a stab at getting work they'd do otherwise in a way that's simply easier for them. Most importantly, the involvement of someone with Jim Ottaviani's years packaging books means we're almost certain not to see an accidentally exploitative contract involved. Anyway, it looks like a cool book; I think they'll make it, and you might want to take part. Artist Natalie Nourigat has a lot of potential, I think; I'm sure she's already right there for a lot of people.

* here are a few other Kickstarter campaigns that were recommended to me by folks this week. One is Watchguard + Teen Force 5; another is a Little Women graphic novel project; yet another is an all-ages book with a clever-sounding name. The first two are a good distance from their goal, but neither hopelessly so. The third is well on its way.

* the Cartoon Art Museum is looking to raise money for a Sketchtravel exhibit.

* I assume that this rush of comics-related sales from (I believe, I didn't write it on the bookmark) Elin Winkler is because of something going on where she could use the money. Or not. Either way, lots of comics.

* there's been some welcome movement for The Projects. I hope there's more.

* finally, Tom Racine of Tall Tale Radio is pursuing some specific equipment needs.
 
posted 3:15 am PST | Permalink
 

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