Do Not Siege Walled Cities - 282
"The people have spoken, the bastards."
BIG WEEK
Hope this finds you all well. Before we go any further, read my interview at CRUNCHYROLL. Appreciate my interviewer asking thoughtful questions. Even if I am mostly a poser regarding anime.
Played a festival in Pensacola. Lovely little city. I found myself walking slower than I typically do. Panhandle mindset.
I know a great many people are stressed about the election results, but for what it’s worth stress doesn’t get you much. If you’re anxious about what could be, the only solution available is to actively steer the future into something that suits you better. And I don’t mean that as a “be the change” platitude. I am saying this with the cold honesty of a Japanese businessman or D1 football coach. Get it done.
Alright. Let’s get started. Throughout this newsletter I’ll bring every weird political digression to a point about comic books. I promise.
Photo of me venturing into politics talk.
WHEN DOES THE STORY START?
I type this as I listen to a supercut of pundits on election night. Lots of ‘fog of war’ excuse-making as their models fall apart in real time. And these are the people you rely on for data a year out, a month out, and the day of. Are they frauds? I don’t remember my old testament well, but the Pharaoh’s magicians seem like a parallel here. Trustworthy if left unchallenged.
You don’t come here for politics, which is good because I claim no expertise in that arena. But I am a pretty good writer. So let’s talk about this election from a storyteller’s perspective.
If you were writing an election story, do you start the comic/movie/novel on election night? That could be exciting, following characters as their expectations dissolve or their hopes come to pass.
Or do you start at the Hinchcliffe joke and the media’s attendant “this comedian lost it for Trump” discourse? Watching a comedian wrestle with (what he’s told are) real consequences would be engaging.
What about following the Trump shooter for that fateful afternoon? Could be riveting. And what an ending, right? Maybe a little too Dead Zone, though?
Or do we go back further? The Biden decision(?) to not seek reelection is something many people would love a window to. Was it a room full of Grima Wormtongues or were these patriots deposing a leader who had lost the public trust? Maybe a mix of both and they don’t trust each other? Real Rome shit. Dramatic!
Or go even further. What did the longtime dem strategists, the alpha-cynics of politics, say to each other when Biden announced he’d be taking on the least-popular of his primary adversaries as his running mate? To be a fly on the wall during those conversations would at least make a great stage play.
“Say that again.”
“Kamala.”
“The one that dropped out before Iowa?”
“Yeah. The one who linked Joe to segregation on national television.”
“Huh. Ok. How old will Joe be in 2028?”
“86.”
“Uh huh. And when is he announcing?”
“Two hours.”
If you wanted to do something more overarching, you could start all the way back with the Dems pushing Bernie out (I’d go 2016, but 2020 had a more dramatic moment to start the story). Sanders’ movement dies, taking the ‘good’ populist off the table in a political moment where the electorate thirsts for populist ideas. ‘Bad’ populist seizes the opportunity.
I start with character, so really any of these work for me. But if we’re ending with election night, my instincts are to keep it simple. The results are dramatic enough, so no need to oversell or bloat the thing. I’m a fan of moment-to-moment storytelling, so I’d start on election night and follow a crooked consultant. Someone unqualified who took a job in the Harris campaign, messed it up, and had to pull media strings to cover up their malpractice. If Harris wins, no harm no foul. If Trump wins, there will be recriminations and the consultant risks being exposed. Set it in a super tight indoor location where the walls seem to be closing in. Like a campaign headquarters.
Man, imagine if these are the stories comic creators choose to tell after this election. These are just bullshit ones I’m thinking about on a drive from Pensacola to Houston. Better writers than me could fine-tune a million more. But, instead, I bet we get the same limp-dick, tired-as-all-hell, Trump-as-MODOK non-examinations. “Sad!”
THIS IS DEMOCRACY MANIFEST
“If the mountain won’t come to Harris, Harris must go to the mountain.”
In all the self-examination (or lack thereof) following the election, a narrative is emerging. At least among the centrists. Which is “Harris didn’t meet voters where they are.” Which is a polite way of saying, “she didn’t tailor her message to win the people we look down on.”
I find this absolutely true and also troubling.
While democrats fixate on how to not lose even one more latino vote, the question is never asked, “what if our values and the values of the people we’re trying to reach just don’t overlap?”
Because we live in this duopoly where you are team red or team blue, we think of it like a football game between rival schools. Win at all costs. But winning in politics involves selling the same product to wildly different types of people, with varied goals and lifestyles. The solution? Tailor the advertising. And if some of those people really have no use for what you’re selling? Lie. And if they still won’t bite? Then it’s time for the party to change. To… keep winning.
See how the core values become guideposts and then become memories? No matter, just win. The major parties look nothing like the ones I knew when I reached voting age. Axe handle and head both changed several times over. Simply teams now and teams exist to win.
To relate this to comic books, what if the books we’re selling just don’t hit the people we want it to? Is the goal to somehow trick them into buying a product they have no use for? And when that doesn’t work, are we supposed to change our art to something that ‘wins?’
I see so many comic book creators bang their heads against walls, destined to never connect with the market. And then there’s those who will change anything and everything about themselves to… win. Neither model seems very appealing to me. But as time marches on, you’re assuredly left with only those options. Because even if you’re winning now your sensibility will fall outta favor. I suppose it’s like being in a band, where ‘winning’ means securing enough fans that when you do stumble into irrelevancy you don’t hit the concrete.
Well, that was a discouraging train of thought to ride, wasn’t it? Let’s forget that happened.
HOW TO TALK ABOUT IT WITHOUT TALKING ABOUT IT
Annually, it seems, I ask the following question: is comic books a professional space? A field with real live adults in it trying to make money for their real life families?
The question is always prompted by so-called comic book pros acting like unemployable weirdos. This time, it’s [name redacted]’s reaction on social media to the election. But it could be anything, on any day.
Is this a business? Or is it some type of gateless hobby, where hysterics have the same access as normal working people?
Just answer the question. Editors, I know you read this. Answer the question.
I’m fine with whatever you arrive at. I just need to know. Because you’re sending mixed messages. [name redacted] sells books and has a history of success. So it’s ok that he’s terminally unprofessional? [name redacted] repeats the approved shibboleths. So it’s acceptable that he’s toxic as a Superfund site? [name redacted] has years of networking behind him. So it’s fine that he’s combative with readers?
I just need to know. Is the system fair (sales)? Or is it rigged (favoritism, both ingroup and personal)?
“Let the market decide” has a beauty to it. We don’t have to call it merit, because nobody believes the ‘best’ of anything is the best-selling. But there’s an undeniable honesty, because there’s an inescapable metric.
In comic books, we all represent our own brands AND contribute to the overall impression of our publisher/employer. It’s a free market and each entity gets to decide what they choose to signal and what they choose to tolerate. So, I guess my question is with [name redacted] and other creators who telegraph a real disgust at the majority of the electorate, what are the publishers putting out into the world?
There’s been an disconcerting pivot to “corporations are people.” We hold these legal constructs to the same standard we hold friends. “What did Bed Bath & Beyond say about Palestine? What do you mean ‘nothing?!’” And they walk right into it. For all I know, Bed Bath & Beyond really might have a statement on Palestine.
The prevailing wisdom for decades was “they’ll say whatever they have to in the moment.” But now with institutional capture by generations raised on social media, it’s possible these corporations ‘mean’ what they say. The problem is, taking stances is not the function of a for-profit business with a fiduciary responsibility to shareholders.
It is your responsibility. As an individual member of the polity. All we’re doing when we make Shell Gas issue a statement on Darfur is project our values onto cold, dead things. And while I believe we need complete protection for our off-worksite speech, I sadly don’t think the editors share that value. Instead, I think they’re playing favorites. Which is not good.
One side is allowed to act like assholes. The loud-and-proud Dem voter (or the I’ll-hold-my-nose-and-pull-the-lever progressive voter) gets the latitude to lash out. Bad behavior is tolerated if it claims our preferred strain of self-righteousness. But take it from me -a guy who wouldn’t vote for Trump at gunpoint- anything unfair is ultimately built to break. Once you give the impression things are rigged, you can never shake that off. It festers. The much-discussed Bernie-to-Trump pipeline isn’t difficult to understand. A populist appeals to people who think the system is broken. The fact Bernie’s campaign was murdered by his own party demonstrated the point. And those with whom a populist message resonated went to the next populist. The feeling of unfairness festered (or evolved, if you’re sympathetic to the MAGA movement). Partisan editorial that refuses to acknowledge it’s partisan has the same potential to alienate and, for lack of a better term, radicalize.
If [name redacted] was a self-publisher, I would not only not care about his behavior, I would support it. But over the last ten years I’ve watched the fun camaraderie in comics devolve into opposing snipers’ nests. And that is in no small part because the management class at the Big Two are playing (political) favorites. But what’s good for the goose is good for the gander… or expect people to notice.
MEDIA CONSUMPTION
Lovelace is the worst delivery mechanism for a “you thought it was one thing, but really…” perspective shift ever. We find out the truth when Linda writes her memoir. But the truth wasn’t just hinted at throughout the movie, we saw it. There was nothing ambiguous about it. We just see how bad it is later? I don’t understand the point.
This is movie that squanders all the talent involved. The leads are good, with Seyfried being as vulnerable as possible, but the material just isn’t exceptional. And the supporting cast is entirely wasted. Worth a watch for the history lesson, but after Boogie Nights it’s difficult to cover the topic in any way that feels important.
Underwater is a trope factory. “Our deep-sea mining operation accidently struck Cthulhu! Guess we’ll have to done suits with limited oxygen walk across the ocean floor!”
But I like genre films, so cliche it up. Whatever. The execution is what matters. And this is well done. It didn’t waste my time, and I respect that. From jump we’re getting action and characters making decisions. Fine. I’m in. And it’s the first movie with Kristen Stewart where I’ve seen what other people see in her. The camera really loves her. End was a bit too easy for me, but also something I could see myself writing. So, forgiven.
On the other side of tropes, we’ve got this pile of shit.
Del Toro has made a lotta gold, so I guess we forget this goofy brick from his past. I know he blames Miramx for how bad this sucks, but I don’t see any way that ‘cockroach men battle Geppetto the shoeshine guy and a bug scientist’ lands outside of manga. The film did have the balls to kill children, so I guess that’s worth noting.
OK THAT’S IT
Go leverage the power of the state you live in to battle the federal government. That’s what they’re there for. And if you support Trump, still be annoying to him. That’s your job. It’s all our jobs. Presidents are not kings. We are not here to accommodate them. Governing should be a struggle, with the governed never fully ceding power to public employees. Do for self.