Waiting for Superman.

I thought I'd put down some thoughts here in response to the video Eric Powell posted up on Youtube a week ago. Seems the web and comics was a titter and rush with this for a few days. I think Powell had some valid points and the video was funny, but I also think there was also a bit of a miss fire as well in some respects.

I think despite the crappy distribution, crappy retail evironment and the taste of the average fan left reading comic books the buck, or the penpoint stops with the cartoonist. I have often heard the saying "there has never been a great time to be an artist", and I think you can say that for cartooning too. There were bad times in comics in the 50's and comics almost imploded in the late 70's.

The real issue I see is the fact that most cartoonist are lousy managers and businessmen. So many wait for something to change, for distribution to get better, or somebody to come up with millions of dollars and a desire to make comics cool again. Basically for Superman to come in and save comics. Superman is only going to save himself, or Time Warners anyway. And Superman doesn't care about you unless you are drawing him. His freelance slave.

Superman's dominance  doesn't mean that Hellboy or American Splendor won't sell, they sell what they sell because the average comic fans in the direct market prefers Super Dudes. retailers get a better cut from Marvel and DC too, but I don't think that matters as much as the fact that the direct market is a stagnate and dwindling market.

I think there are a few fairly clear paths in the current situation for the cartoonist now.

A) work for a major publisher if you can, or want, they pay decent rates and if you can find steady work ( much more difficult today) you can make a good living. However--there is no loyalty for service and royalties are a thing of the past for most guys I know. Lasting on a book for 12 issues is almost unheard of now, so you'll likely have to dance around and hope you stay stylistically viable and your editor doesn't get sacked. There are way more asses than seats today.

B) Do your own thing.

Now with things like the Diamond minimum and the anemic direct market the chances you'll make a middle class living or even get your work out there is almost zero now. I am friends with few people like Thom Zahler and John Gallagher to name just a few who do this but don't really make a living--they still break even at best. They still support their books more than the books support them. But they are committed to doing their work. I did the same years ago with my Action Planet comics which lead down new paths for me.

2) Try newspaper strips-which are also in decline, but world wide still very popular. They still launch about a dozen strips a year last time I read up on it. Not a great chance, but if you do well, get in at least 200 papers you can make a living. I make decent money doing Judge Parker, if I also wrote it I'd do even better.

3) The Interwebs.

This is like being a farmer. You have to do a lot of work, long hours and then see if that crop will yield. The onus is all on you to promote and stay out there waving the flag 24-7. There are many web strips, but how many beside Kurtz (PVP) and the Penny Arcade guys make a living--a real living I don't know.

I'll clarify here, my idea of a living monthly wage is a minimum of $3,000. Your milage may vary.

You might have to toss many things out there till one clicks.

My old high school buddy Lloyd Dangle self distributes his strip Trouble Town. There are other cartoonist who do this. I think any new crop must be web based as the thrust of all media really is going in this direction. I love print, but I have to give over to the new wave too and hope that print will survive as a reprint form or archive.

4) Find a book publisher and sell then your own graphic novels. I have several friends from Jamar Nicholas to Bret Blevins and Nick Bertozzi who have done this. The fact is the advance is really the only money you will see for a long time, so it better be good. The fact is that the book publishers are in general better at getting and maintaining their stock of books out there. If you can get the libraries to order your book you can do very well, there are over 100,000 libraries in the US. But Borders and brick and mortar stores are in decline...

I have done all of the above, even provided a monthly comic strip, The Creepertins to one of the local Monthly free newspaper/coupon mags..but they dropped the strip for ads.

There are no guarantees now, you have to strike a hundred anvils raise many crops and hope that one will strike it big and be a hit in the market. In the old days guys like Kirby struck a lot of ideas and most didn't stick, but a few became huge. the question also is how flexible are you as a creator, how good is your skill-set? Are you weak and limited and do you have more than one idea? Some people just have one idea, one way of working and that hurts them more than the shittiness of the direct market. Don't just point the finger at the market with a stern wag, but use it to hold that mirror up and look at yourself in a critical way.

You have to take the risk like a farmer, and some crops just get eaten by weevil's or drought, and sometimes everybody brings the same crop so you can't make much $$ that way. My feeling is waiting for Superman will end up being a very long wait.

The Creepertins

Here is the back to School strip for the Creepertins this month, which is a play off one of the strips from last year. There was a bit of a break when the magazine bumped us 2 months in a row but it seems we are back on the schedule now. It's been quite the mix of jobs in the last few weeks, I finished the Secret Saturdays Kids book for Random House, this strip, teaching my cartooning class at PAFA, painting and now I'm back on the Martian book and finishing up DRAW!--the summer is burning down fast, in three weeks School starts again!

Creepertins -June

After a two month hiatus, the Creepertins is back in the Delaware County Magazine. I missed drawing these little creeps on the break, but I think well be back on schedule now.

March Creepertins

The March Creepertins strip.

Februray Creepertins

January Creepertins

Holiday Creepertins

It seems impossible in some ways but the Happy Holidays are upon us already. Tom Turkey sits frozen ready to meet the oven and his delicious fate.

That means it's almost one full year since I started doing the Creepertins in Delaware County Magazine, seems the time flew by and I will so glad to see 2008 go bye-bye. This has been the worst year of my life as an adult, there was lots of really bad stuff this year, so while there was also some very good things like being in School, and professionally to, but personally I can't wait to see the calender for 2008 fall into the waste basket. Too bad some people can't also fall in along with it.

Thanks Fer Nothing Creepertins

No sooner do we toss old jack Pumpkin head into the trash than i have to churn out the Thanks-Fer-Nothin' Creepertins strip. And in 2 week I'll have to do the Christmas strip no doubt. As much as i enjoy the holidays with my friends and family I have to say I dislike the pushing and haste of the tin tasting commercialization that seems to ramp up a bit each year.

So this year I am ramping down in this trickled-down economy. Time to retrench and retool the whole shebang amigos. I have already done a lot in this area because I'm back in school, but I think 2009 will be an even bigger belt tightening year even in Obama wins--which I clearly hope he does.
I guess with all of this on my mind, and thinking about how things seemed different in the last depression, or were romanticised and how different that image is in what appears to be the new depression.

What popped into my mind was the image of Hobos vs Homeless. Hobos, the ever present comedic foils of old movies, comics and TY shows. Hobos were fun, or funny in a way that I think Homeless people are not. There was even the Hobo-clown...though they were just too scary for most.

Hobos were like happy, half-baked or drunk goof balls. Harmless pranksters, like a goofy uncle or rapscallion. Hobos were white it seemed for the most part, fuck, Bing Crosby played a hobo. How many WB cartoons had hobos in them? It seemed they traveled under boxcars, ate pies and chickens they'd steal,lived in hobo-camps with other hobos. Hobos shared. They often had very mock upper-crust manners. Top hats, derbies, pinkie-out eating habits. They hardly seemed to have anything bad about them except they were dirty. They'd take their hat off when talking to a lady and were just one hair-brained scheme away from being back on their feet. Hobos, a word that is pretty much gone from out current vocabulary--it has been replaced by the Homeless. And the Homeless have little humorous attached to them. In fact the only funny Homeless person that pops to mind is Dave Chapelles homeless guy.

Homelessness isn't romantic like being a Hobo was. It seems that maybe the Hobo set some terms of his down-and-out lifestyle. The Hobo didn't seem as much of a looser or a reject. The Hobo seemed cunning, scheming, resourceful, living by his wits. Homeless is also tainted with a more of a racist stigma as for the most part all the Hobos I saw as a kid were middle aged white guys--and they are never bad people.

So maybe the Hobo needs to make a comeback, and this months strip is just such a bold stride in that direction. Kids need hobo friends like in days of yore. The bum at the end of the street that will convince you to bring him a pie or buy him a bottle of hooch. The Hobo who will regale you with the stories of his world travels beneath the clickety-clack boxcars of the Santa Fe, and the Northern Pacific.

We are soon to be reliving those Hobo times my friends, catch the rails.

October Creepertins

This month's Creepertins strip. I'll have a post on Baltimore Con in the next day or so.

Creepertins for September

Here is the September installment of the Creepertins.

The Creppertins--for August

Here is the newest Creepertins strip for the Delaware Valley Magazine, this time the kids are in full summer mode. The next time the strip appears school will be back in session and the leaves starting to turn...seems summers gone by pretty fast already.

July Creepertins Done

Ok, like I promised, here is the finished strip for July. I liked this one because I got to add some creepy blacks to it and I like drawing the goofy side-kick Doyle has. I also changed Doyle's name from Driscol in the first story I did because it's too long and takes up room in the balloons. I'm constantly trying to pare down the writing on the strip and shorter names are better for that reason.

Creepertins Pencils

Well it's that time of the month again, time to do my Creepertins strip for the Delaware Valley Magazine. It's always a bit of a challenge to come up with something that will stand alone, 30 days apart, and yet reveal something more about the characters. I think this one does that. Sometimes I just for for a quick joke, like last month's strip.

Next I'll ink this up, color it,and it's on it's way....

Creepertins for June

The newest Creepertins strip.

APRIL CREEPERTINS

The April installment of the Creepertins.

March Creepertins

Here is the March installment of the Creepertins

The Busy Weeks

I snapped the pic above of my painting in the school wide student show at PAFA that includes everybody from 1st to 4th year and the MFA program. The show has a lot of strong compitition so I am glad my piece was chosen. Afterwards I headed down to the Philly Sketch Club for dinner and socializing and I plan on becoming a member. It was a busy day....

Things have been busy, about as busy as they can be for me I think. Between teaching at two schools (DCAD,Uarts) and being in school at PAFA more that half time on top of my freelance work and DRAW! I don't have any days off. I'm not complaining really, I'm busy but I think I've got things balanced well and they actually help each other.

On top of all the shool and teaching I've been hired as a character designer on the new Batman cartoon. New you say? Yep. Batman Brave and the Bold is the new show, and it's a more kid friendly version, sort of Batman meets the Superfriends in a way. It's more Dick Sprang than any of the shows so far and I think that's really cool, to take it in another direction besides always trying to make Bruce Wayne younger. So my weeks are filled balancing between school and drawing for the show on top of the other little jobs that pop up like X-9 and the Creepertins. School is over half way done now anyway. And the regular pay is good too! This is one of the reasons that I haven't posted anything as I am working a lot but can't post any art from the show for obvious reasons.



These pics are from the DCAD Draw-a-thon, I got a piece of nice paper from my buddy James and tried some pastels I brought along.

CReepertins Strip and Demo

I just finished the newest monthly Creepertins strip and I made a little step-by-step demo and edited it together in iMovie. Some stuff is a little fuzzy, I'm still trying to work out tech issues with my Powershot A80 and the lighting, but I think you should get the basic Idea. I'll try shooting on for my next X-9 pages to give people an idea about doing different types of styles too.

Creepertins No. 2

The next installment of The Creepertins, which will be published in Delaware County Magazine in a few weeks.

Creepertins #1

Here is the full first strit of The Creepertins now available in the newest issue of Delaware County Magazine. I'm working on the second strip now, which will be out in roughly a month. I did everything old school here, including lettering on the board.