Do Not Siege Walled Cities - 234
Everybody Has Something to Say Now
HOW DOES ONE HAVE AN ORGANIZED DESK
I feel like I’m a bumbling-but-somehow-efficient newspaper reporter in a movie from the 1970s. My desk is a mess and this must be its natural state because every time I clean it, the mess returns within a day.
Hope you’re doing well. I’m grateful for your eyeballs and hope I’m a good use of your time. Let’s get right into it.
ANTIOCH TRADE IS COMING
Ask your local comic shop!
PETER DAVID IS HURTING
Writer Peter David is in a health crisis and his wife could use some help with the financials of that. David is responsible for some of the best X-books, ever, in my estimation. If he had some impact on your childhood as he did mine, or you’re just the giving type, maybe throw him some assistance.
THIS WEEK WAS FULL OF PEOPLE SAYING THINGS
Going down the list, we’ve got the guy from Coliseum Of Comics, a chain of comic shops in Florida, offering the following prescription for the comics industry:
Many people agreed, but some of his fellow retailers picked the statement apart for what they saw as editorial bias. They took exception to the mention of gender and race swaps. I dunno what there is to argue about. If the dude is a 20-year retail vet and this is what he notices or what his customers are telling him, I don’t think there’s a reason to second guess him on it. You can still think race and gender swapping characters is good, you just have to contend with the reality at this specific chain of stores where it seems to have a negative impact on sales (or at least expressed sentiment).
The major issue in his view is, predictably, the costs to retailers. I don’t think we could find a retailer that isn’t in favor of lowering their costs on orders. But would it fix the market? Well, it would ALLOW for more adventurous ordering. But allow and prompt are different things.
I don’t subscribe to this fella’s plan. Not because it’s dumb, but because it’s too late. His idea is go back to meat and potatoes comic book storytelling and a more retailer-friendly pricing. Sounds ok. But the cover price is never going down. And meat and potatoes is not enough to win back readers who left comics with a bad taste in their mouths. I think, in that regard, he’s actually asking for too little here.
MORE THINGS WERE SAID
If you’re a certain age, the Mile High Comics advertisement is burned into your retinas. I’ve been there only once and thought it was a good time, though option paralysis is possible as it’s a warehouse full of comics. I was not aware of the change, but apparently Mile High has all but done away with new comics in their store and instead shifted heavier into collectables. From a recent newsletter:
“I have been continuing to hear cries of distress from some of my fellow comics retailers, especially those who linked their futures heavily to the sale of new periodical comics. Simply put, new comics are not selling in sufficient quantities these days to allow many comics shops to cover their overhead, so even the most experienced and canny of my retailing friends are starting to feel the economic sting.”
The newsletter was measured, with no ‘sky is falling’ tone to it. Which makes it scarier.
Here’s the deal: I’m a creator-owned guy. I’ll take a check from whoever, but I’ll pass on even a good check if it takes me away from creator-owned work. Creator-owned is where comics are interesting. But, as I’ve said a few dozen times here, I need the Big Two as my marketing arm.
I need retailers to allow me to erect my billboards. And I need the Big Two to send people down the highway to see them. If retailers go to pull-list only and are not taking chances with a few copies of books like mine, then my job of breaking through just became that much more difficult.
There’s no effective way to market yourself in comics. Which is why you see people do shock value or antagonistic shit. The attention economy is taken to a starvation and/or siege mentality in comics. Those of us unwilling to do that are left with the following business strategy:
Put out good books over a long period and hope something catches.
You don’t need an MBA to know that hope is not a reliable sales tactic and something here is broken.
I was speaking with a creator with much higher-profile credits than mine. His words: “if it goes pull list only my indie shit is probably dead”
That’s certainly how it feels out here. If enthusiasm for the broader market is down, the smaller creators will be hit first and hardest. And then it will spiral. I spoke about it in a rambling diatribe here:
SAVING THE BEST FOR LAST
The other guys shoulda waited to give their takes, because Mark Millar has a tendency to take up the oxygen in a room.
Millar gave his suggestion on how to fix comics (really the Big Two, but as I said these things are linked) and started by sharing his page rate back in the day. And, sadly, that seemed to capture people’s attention more than his point. He went on to recommend a restructuring of the royalty system in which creators would get a 50/50 split with the publisher after sales of 60k. This would be a radical departure from their current deal of 2% after 50k.
Millar’s point is that coaxing the best talent back to Big Two books will require actual incentives. And he’s right about that.
So now there’s two questions:
Would this be enough incentive?
Would the Big Two actually make these changes?
On the first matter, I think ‘prolly.’ There would for sure be some name brand guys who wanna sit at that roulette table. Spike the first issue, get healthy numbers on issue two, stay just above 60k for the third-maybe-fourth, and put a downpayment on a house. Easy peasy.
Of course the problem is exactly what you just read. For how many issue can numbers stay over 60k in 2024? And what happens to the creators when the drop below 60k with no hope of ever going back above it? Are those books effectively cancelled or shuffled off to creators that can’t hope for sales over 60k and can just play cleanup on dead books?
On the second point, no. Or at least not until it’s far too late. I’m sure there’s people in those offices who may see the wisdom in what Millar proposes, or at least recognize the need for a change. But there’s more people in those offices who think Millar is an out of touch Brexit-voter they don’t need to validate.
The necessary aside that many professionals quietly latched onto and are stewing over:
Millar did not intend to take shots at anyone with this, I am sure. But the very premise of his suggestion hinges on the idea that the talent just is not there, currently. Though offended parties should consider that Millar is clear when he says “best” be means “salable.”
Anyway, I gibber on about it here:
AND THAT BRINGS US TO THE YOUTUBE THING
As seen above, I started a Youtube. This was done out of panic, primarily. I am really concerned that while there are many outlets to talk about comics, you’d have to do all of them several times in a row to reach the amount of people you’d need to make a book a hit. And as stated, if too many shops drift into pull-list only, I lose the trip-over-it potential for my titles.
There was some stigma about having a youtube, but I believe that’s over. Or, if not, I’ll have to live with it. I don’t give a shit. I’m doing good work and if it underperforms due to lack of awareness, that’s unacceptable to me.
The goal is to talk about comics and, as soon as I figure out how, promote my own work. Simple.
Do me a kindness and hit the subscribe button. I’ll get a decent camera soon.
GOODNIGHT, PATRICK
I’m tuckered out. Have a good week and stay productive. I’ll try to do the same. This week I intend to work hard and get ahead on some projects. Let’s do it. Do for self.
Your a needed voice in the comics world, Patrick! Keep it up 🤘🏼