Random Comics News Story Round-Up

* it took a New York Times article on the decline of the comic strip's print model revenues to get some insight as to what United Media was thinking making all of comics.com free, but I'm glad for it. I'm still not totally convinced that this was the best move right now, but I think seeing it as a move to get the content ready for the next big move isn't a totally ridiculous idea. My problem tends to be that the next step seems to suggest a revenue model that protects the syndicate but maybe doesn't protect the individual cartoonist. "Let's give all your stuff away for free, and if I give your stuff and everyone else's stuff away for free, there's a slight boost across the board for the company bottom line." I mean, yow. I would have liked more on what the print model's actual decline has meant, but maybe that's because I'm super paranoid about an undefined Big Bad Wolf being used to set policy. And does the hit boost described for Comics.com sound really low, or is that just me as well?

* there's a nice photo gallery of Fantagraphics employees here that was sweet in such a way it made me want to dye my remaining hair blond, forge some documents and try to intern there. I have no idea what's accessible in Facebook and what isn't, so this may only apply to about 17 of you, but there it is. That's Eric Reynolds on his way outside the fort to check his beaver traps.

* I missed this article before the holidays about how much entertainment value a comic brings per minute spent in its consumption. I think this kind of analysis might have a place with those people that are trying to make broad entertainment, or where that's the first foot forward. The rest of the people, not so much. While my desire for superhero product is roughly the same whether it's in comic book or movie form and doesn't seem to mind all that much in terms of which hero I get to read about, when it comes to art I'd pay more money for a photocopy of "Here" than the entire run of Jon Sable, Freelance, let alone a complete DVD of the Jon Sable TV show. Besides, I think these measures of time always underestimate how much fun you can have with a comic. I read all of my comics at least three times when I initially get them. If we're talking ones I buy they'll likely be ones I keep so I get to enjoy the whole process of bagging and boarding and storing or whatever its equivalent for the kind of comic we're talking about might be. They also serve as fodder for me to discuss comic books on the Internet or with my friends in the real world that care about those things. I'm not overly weird or fetishy when it comes to comic books, either, I don't think, so I doubt I'm getting more than that 15 minutes of enjoyment out of a comic book simply because I'm nuts.

* there's a nice post by Tim O'Neil here on the love/hate relationship that a lot of comics readers have with comics. I'm not altogether certain some of my own essays are always the best support for exactly what he's writing. I was a fairly involved reader as a kid and I think the only need that was being satisfied was putting one more activity between myself and the all-encompassing, soul-destroying abyss of boredom that was a big part of growing up in 1980s suburbia. I think the afternoons daydreaming about attending the Xavier School had more in common with the evenings in corn fields drinking beer from a plastic tube and funnel than we'd care to admit looking back. That said, I'm probably wrong because I usually am about my own work. And life. I'm additionally grateful Tim found the line about "I think I've read my lifetime's allotment of Green Lantern; I think I'm done with Green Lantern" useful, because that's an idea that's been on my mind a lot recently.

* I hope that everyone reads this story and that no one makes a big PR-related deal out of it.

* not comics: Nina Paley's latest animated work picks up an influential fan.

* here's an update on repairs being done to the childhood home of Jerry Siegel. I've heard from a number of industry people that have close to the same mixed feelings that I do. It's great to see Jerry Siegel honored in any way, but there are a lot of related factors that are more difficult to understand. I don't know if it's out there, but I don't remember hearing or seeing how this repair work will be supported by the homeowners, if at all. By that I mean I don't know if this stuff being done in a way that someone a few years from now can have the home destroyed if it suits them, anyway. I still haven't been able to find what the general costs are perceived to be in terms of what houses are worth in that part of the country -- the prices I see on-line seem really low to me. I also don't suppose I'll ever figure out beyond throwing my hands up in the air and saying something mean why saving this old building seems to have enjoyed much more support in the comics community than the living members of the Siegel family have enjoyed in getting a meaningful settlement on their claims to their family member's creation.

* finally, you might want to go here to read a smart letter from D&Q's Peggy Burns that showed up in the middle of a rambling, confused and occasionally outright stupid discussion of the current state of sexism in the comics industry. As much as watching issues of vibrancy and alarm get boiled down into 3 AM in the dorm hallway pseudo-legal discussions makes my head hurt, and as much as hearing people so confidently fold their personal struggles into such sensitive issues whether it seem to belong there or not makes me wince, I am grateful for each and every time these issues are discussed. I'm doubly grateful when someone like Burns writes something that's smart and considered. Great swaths of the comics industry and certain elements of the comics art form struggle mightily with sexism and a variety of other isms, including those affiliated with race and age. I struggle with them, too. Discussing these issues in forthright fashion can be a first step in making things better and may, if repeated enough times and by enough people and with enough insight and clarity, begin to provide a foundation of accountability. As for the way this particular conversation seems focused, I tend to see the blandness of institutional and freelance hiring practices at big mainstream companies as more of a lost opportunity than a chance to "prove" according to some Internet dude's proclaimed standard of satisfaction that "X Company is bad." I repeat my suggestion that a version of the NFL's Rooney Rule be embraced to help change longstanding habits and bring a greater variety of voices to bear within those processes.
 
posted 6:30 am PST | Permalink
 

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