Do Not Siege Walled Cities - 221
OTHER SIDE OF THE PLANET
I’m in Auckland New Zealand today. I know this to be true because I just woke up at 11am, which would be cause for a doctor visit in any normal situation. But my body is confused and here we are.
So far all I’ve seen are drunk people and all I’ve heard is there’s a rash of hammer attacks. But I’m confident there’s more to the city and the country. Hopefully I get some time to check at least Auckland out before I go.
NOT EVERYONE HAS THE CORRECT OPINION
While most STRINGER reviews have been great, this one was less enthusiastic. I’m giving it some shine because while I don’t agree (obviously) with the reviewer, I appreciate anyone taking the time to consider the work in a real way.
You can’t know how something tastes until you taste it. Go buy it and read it for yourself!
LISTENING TO THESE PEOPLE IS PUNISHMENT
Comic creator Chuck Dixon said something about the Punisher on his Youtube, those statements inexplicably made it to Fox News, which for even more confused reasons prompted BleedingCool to cover it, and in the final bizarre bit of inessential commentary Tom Brevoort is tweeting about it.
Dixon said Marvel intentionally damaged the character to distance itself from the law enforcement/military/militia/etc use of the Punisher skull logo. He said it’s because Marvel staff hate the character and hate you for liking the character.
Dixon is a difficult figure for some comic readers because he’s persona non grata but his work is very deeply loved by Big Two fans. So dismissing him outright isn’t an option. He’s conservative, but clearly of the ‘your dad’ variety, which is more palatable for most but proves to be a category problem for some.
I don’t know if he was being hyperbolic with his “they hate you” thing. I do podcasts and interviews and if years of having extemporaneous conversation recorded has taught me anything it’s that you’re gonna look extreme at times, however unintentionally. I listened to Dixon’s commentary to grab the full context and it was difficult for me to tell how serious he was being about the more strident points. It certainly arrived at the type of soundbite Fox News would be interested in on a slow news day.
Here’s hoping he’s not dead serious. It’s a pretty grim world where someone hates me for liking the cool version of a character. But let’s take him on face value for a minute and consider the claim.
Does editorial at Marvel HATE you for liking the old Punisher or HATE you for putting the logo on your Dodge Charger or HATE you for… whatever? Well, in the past decade everything has become partisan, which has the unfortunate effect of continuing to make everything partisan. We ‘hate’ each other and so a loop is formed wherein everything one side does antagonizes the other. Rinse and repeat. Frustrating for those of us who don’t identify with either imaginary side, but prolly a great time for those with empty lives and primary color political views. So is it a stretch to believe that someone at Marvel believes they are doing a politically righteous thing by nerfing the Punisher?
Maybe not.
But is it believable that a billion-dollar multinational would allow an asset to mismanage itself into lower sales?
Maybe it is believable, come to think of it. When things become unmanageably large it’s often the case that one hand doesn’t know what the other is doing. While it sounds conspiratorial, it’s not outside the realm of possibility that a rogue element within a large company which is part of a larger company which is owned by the largest company of its type could be a fifth columnist of a sort. Or at least a confused idealist. It has happened.
But now let’s run the counterfactual, which is simply that rule about the danger of ascribing malice to incompetence. Doing something profoundly dumb with a character is par for the course. It’s time-honored tradition. And sometimes, though rarely, it even works!
Is it more likely that someone at Marvel thinks you’re a repellant cave creature for whatever reason or that someone at Marvel is full of bad ideas? Well, I suppose both of those are likely. But does anyone CARE enough to tank a character for what is ultimately partisan political reasons?
I think it’s prolly the case that they hire writers who are scared of the internet and they follow them down that poop hole. Confused editorial, nervous writers, dissatisfied readers… feels like this is a solvable problem.
All I know is that this is stupid. The Punisher books are stupid. They have been for a long time. The idea that the largest entertainment company on the planet should run in fear from bumper stickers is stupid. And the creators they get to shoulder this mess with ‘new takes’ are stupid for doing the work. Which leads me to my next point…
WHY DO BAD WORK WHEN THERE’S DITCHES TO DIG?
A very big name comic writer told a friend coming into the industry, “it’s like Hollywood. One for the studio. One for you. That’s how you do it.” Meaning, you write the crap they want you to write to stay in good standing and then you earn the favors to do the book you actually want to.
Maybe it works that way in Hollywood. Or maybe it worked that way and now it’s all been disrupted. I don’t know. But I do know in comics this leads to careers where you’ve got shelves of work you wouldn’t show anyone. And you can laugh about it with your colleagues who have also done boatloads of garbage work. But it’s not as funny to readers.
Get another job. Instead of priding yourself on being a full-time comic creator who has to eat shit all day, try being a part-time comic creator who makes work he/she is proud of.
This business isn’t 19th Century coal mining. You don’t gotta live off company coupons only usable at the company store. You didn’t get your 18-year-old bride pregnant and now have to work until black lung takes you at which point your family will be evicted from the company-owned home within a week. YOU HAVE OPTIONS.
When someone asks you to write a Punisher that has laser guns, just politely say, “maybe next time. Right now I’ve got this gig at Taco John’s. It isn’t much, BUT THEY NEVER ASK ME TO WRITE THE PUNISHER WITH FUCKING ROBOT LEGS OR A TELEPORTATION TIARA.”
IDW CUTTING SOME BOOKS
IDW editorial may’ve been a bit overconfident in its creator-owned department. A number of projects are being handed back to creators without publication. Many people are seeing it as a sign of IDW’s continued financial instability. And, yes, for sure there’s that. But I think we’re underestimating how scary the market is at the moment.
It may not be entirely that IDW in particular is running low on funds. Rather, everyone is looking at 2024 with some anxiety. Small-publisher comics are very-small-margin businesses. If IDW over-promised, the books would have to over-perform to make sense of those decisions. RIGHT NOW, it’s difficult to see much of anything over-performing in the near term. Which doesn’t mean something won’t. In fact, it’s almost certain there will be A breakout hit at some point. It’s just hard to blame a publisher for not trusting the process at this exact moment.
ENSURING THE PHONE NEVER RINGS
Tom Brevoort, editor of the Avengers office, is taking over the X-office. Presumably that means Jordan White will be leaving the X-office. I am only repeating this here because I just saw it on my feed and I’m in the newsy portion of the newsletter.
I think it’s fair to say both lines have been deficient for some time. There are allegedly people who love the Krakoa era of X-Men. I’ve never met one in real life, but on the internet you can find them if you look. What’s interesting is the same people who say they love the era are very forthcoming about having no trust in White. I don’t quite understand that, unless they believe the ‘good’ work is somehow sneaking by his desk.
Whatever. I don’t entirely put the problems on the backs of these two men. I just checked against what I consider the worst X-Men era of all-time and it predates White’s involvement. Editor Daniel Ketchum was responsible for allowing this:
I’ll find a reason to share these pages at least once a year moving forward. I think it’s important the world never forgets.
Again, I don’t know what type of pressures White and Brevoort have from above. All I know is these books are flagship titles and that means their sales have consequence for the entire market. So for the sake of EVERY book on the shelves, someone has to right the ship(s).
WHY DO I NEVER CHECK THIS TITLE OUT?
Look at this cover. It’s everything I want in comics but somehow I never think to pick this title up. Will change that when I get home.
WHERE IS HOWARD CHAYKIN WHEN WE NEED HIM?
Sean Howe, writer of Marvel: The Untold Story, tweeted this a couple days ago.
I am not current with HEY KIDS! COMICS! But I hope this menacing letter Jerry Siegel sent to DC made it into an issue. Apparently he sent a lot of unhinged letters during this time.
I think Chaykin would have much to say about the Jew-on-Jew crime here. For those interested in human moments, read it again and put it through the lens of someone who maybe thought “we (in whatever respect) were in this together.” There’s so much hurt in the voice of someone who feels doubly betrayed.
When contemporary creators use the classic cadre of ‘ripped-off creators’ to illustrate a point about ownership and signing good deals and all that, it reads contrived to me. Not because they’re wrong (though they occasionally omit things), but because nobody in the modern era who would listen needs any convincing. And those who won’t listen won’t be convinced until they’re robbed and bitter. AND because the pure fact of the matter is that most people are only nominally ‘creative’ and cannot operate outside clearly-defined boundaries. They need the guardrails.
I was talking to a musician who has had much more success at that venture than I have. I asked him what his band has planned. He replied, “probably write the same record forever until our fans are burnt out.” I asked how that was a plan. And he said something unkind but, he believes, true, “my bandmates aren’t creative people. They’re not interested in anything. They are just good at playing the type of music we play.”
That’s a lotta people in all fields.
There’s climbers, who see Spider-Man as a stepping stone. And it’s not my place nor do I have the energy to defend Spider-Man. He can be a stepping stone for all I care. And perhaps some percentage of the climbers connect with the concept of doing a good job for its own sake. I can find this type of person distasteful, but they’re just on some other trip I don’t relate to. Whatever. God bless. Continued success.
The ‘just good at doing x’ individual is the real menace to himself and anyone who wishes to keep an industry healthy. And I don’t think you can do anything for that man. There’s no cautionary tale cautionary enough for them.
ANYONE KNOW HOW THE SUBSTACK COMICS THING WORKS?
Marco and I are into the idea of COMPLETE COMICS, wherein every aspect of a book is FULL. So, I’ve been hiring artists to do backup stories. Everyone tells me this is quite stupid, as it does not increase sales but does increase cost. But I think it’s a bit like playing a great live set as a band. People are more likely to come to the show next time you play that town. Maybe giving people more than they asked for will keep them coming back for comics.
The backups I’ve been commissioning won’t see print for almost a year, so I may share them here. I’m not sure if Substack has a particular widget for adding a page weekly or not, but I’ll try to figure it out. A panel from David Ferracci.
MEDIA CONSUMPTION FOR THE WEEK
I’ve got a giant bag full of manga from my time in Tokyo. I’ve been reading it using the Google Translate app, which is less-than-ideal. So I’m gonna give some respect to a title that I did not need any help following, despite the language barrier.
STRAVAGANZA: THE QUEEN IN THE IRON MASK made me emotional. Not because there’s anything to pull the heartstrings in its simple light-fantasy action-adventure pages. Rather, because it was just so expertly done. I love genre material that HITS. Stuff that works and you can sense it working. Can be smart. Can be stupid. Doesn’t matter. You know when it’s poppin’.
This princess isn’t happy waiting in a castle for suitors. She’s off fighting ogres that look like steroid baboons and ratcheting up the sexual tension with her female staff.
I’d be curious to read the english-language version Udon published, because A. I’d be able to confirm what I think I read is what I actually read, and B. to see how they handled a set of characters that probably play fine in Japan but accidentally stumble into a distinctly American racist trope.
This is a great-looking and fun series. Glad I gave it a shot.
I’M TOO TIRED TO CONTINUE
Goodnight. If I owe you an email, it’s coming tomorrow. Eat a salad. Do for self.