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ComicDiversity101
Diversity in Comics: What it Is and How to Find it By
Chad Derdowski
February 09, 2011
Chad's latest thoughts on the Comicscape Landscape
© Robert Trate
Every week, Comicscape does its best to be both informative and entertaining, but every so often, we feel the need to stand on our soapbox and do a little preachin’. Today is one of those days, but as always, it’s for your own good. It’s for our own good too, as todays rant is all about expanding our minds and expanding the medium we all love so much.
The argument in favor of creators doing their own thing and readers seeing more than just tights and flights in funnybooks isn’t a new one, but recently, the train of progress has been gathering a bit more steam. One example would be Robert Kirkman’s manifesto from 2008 and another would be Steve Niles blog post from a couple weeks back. There’s also the Front for Diversity in Comics and that controversial video that Goon creator Eric Powell posted. If you didn’t see it… well, it’s been taken down so now you can’t. Sorry about that, but you can find a pretty detailed description, along with a dissection of its pros and cons by following this link – it’s a completely worthwhile article in its own right and we’ve never told you that you can’t see other websites; but don’t forget who’s taking you home and save the last dance for Comicscape, okay? At any rate, we’re overdue to weigh in on the subject and it’s a subject well worth weighing in on. The long and short of it is this: superhero comics are awesome and Marvel and DC are awesome, but man cannot live on bread alone. If this medium and the comic book industry as a whole is going to survive and thrive in the 21st century, we’ve not only got to get the word out that there’s more than just superfolks in these books, we’ve got to support creators who want to march to the beat of their own drum. As Mr. Powell points out (and we’re totally paraphrasing here ‘cause we haven’t watched the video since he made it private on Youtube), imagine a world in which the only music that gets played on the radio is disco and Jack White has to play Abba covers in order to support his family so he can still make crazy rock n’ roll and sing duets with Loretta Lynn. With superhero books dominating 70% of the marketplace, that’s a pretty apt description. But as we said, this argument isn’t a new one; it’s probably been going on as long as comic books have been in print.
And this isn’t an anti-superhero rant either. Anyone who has been reading Comicscape for even one short month knows full well how much we love superhero comics, whether they come from Marvel, DC or a mimeograph in somebody’s basement. But the plain fact is, a medium dominated by one genre is… well, it’s lame. Variety, as they say, is the spice of life. And we at Comicscape like our lives spicy! We could lay blame for a more-or-less single-genre market at the feet of Marvel and DC, but that’s pointless. They’re only doing what they do to make money and we can’t really fault them for producing what sells. We could go over the many reasons why one genre dominates the medium, from fan acceptance to distribution problems, but that would be an entire column unto itself. So rather than just complain about the way things are, we’d rather take a positive approach and figure out how to make things better. We all know the problem – what’s the solution?
Our Resolution to Avoid Mediocrity
Well, the plain and simple solution is to buy more creator-owned comics and to seek out more diversity in the books you read. Yeah, that can be kind of tough when comics are $3-4 each and you’re probably hurtin’ for cash as it is. You have a hard enough time coming up with money to buy the new issues of Batman, Batman Inc, Batman & Robin, Avengers, New Avengers and Avengers Academy, let alone splurging an extra four bucks on some black and white indie book you’ve never heard of! Trust us, we’re in the same boat. But that brings us to our New Year’s Resolution… the one we meant to write an article about but never got around to. Well, no time like the present, eh?
When the clock struck midnight and 2010 came to a close, we took a look through our longboxes and made a solemn resolution - we’re gonna do our best to avoid mediocrity and embrace new ideas. Answer this question honestly: how many books do you read regularly that you really don’t enjoy all that much, but keep reading just because? You know, those books that you just can’t seem to drop because you’ve been with it since the first issue, or because you have a certain fondness for the character, but … it’s just really not all that good anymore? God knows we’ve got a few on our pull list (Brightest Day and Dark Tower, we’re looking in your direction). We’re dropping them in favor of trying something new. We’re freeing up an extra $2.99 and dedicating that money to something we’ve never tried before. We’re ashamed to admit it, but we’ve never picked up an issue of Scalped,The 6th Gun or even Mice Templar (and you know we love anthropomorphic animals with medieval weaponry). We’ve read our share of Will Eisner, but to be honest, we’ve barely scratched the surface of his work and that man was a straight-up genius. And you know what? We didn’t read a single issue of Sandman until 2010! Rather than waste our time with books that we’re reading just because or participating in crossovers that we really don’t care about but are buying so we can discuss it with our buddies, we’re using our hard earned cash to try out something new.
Follow Your Heart
Are you a superhero fan who enjoys films like True Grit, Fistfull of Dollars or 3:10 to Yuma? If so, we certainly hope you’re reading Jonah Hex or the Lone Ranger. If you like horror films, then why don’t you pick up the latest issue of Locke & Key, Hellblazer or House of Mystery? Or hell, if you only like superheroes, why not try books like Invincible, Halcyon or Dynamo 5?
The point here isn’t to poo-poo DC and Marvel. This isn’t some kind of mercy mission to help poor, starving creators sell more books or a revolution aimed at toppling a couple of corporate juggernauts either. We just want to see a little more of everything in a lot of hands - not only on the shelves at your local comic shop or bookstore, but also in front of the peepers of readers, both new and old. The point is to try something we haven’t tried before. We understand what a comfort zone is and how hard it is to leave it. We also know how freakin’ expensive comics are and how daunting the prospect of trying something new can be. But that actually brings us to the next step of our solution…
Seek the Truth and Spread the Word!
So you want to expand your horizons but don’t know how? First of all, ask the people behind the counter at the comic shop. Any retailer worth their salt should be able to make a recomendation or two to one of their valued customers. Ask the other customers who frquent the shop – everyone has a book that they want to share with others. And if both of those options fail… we’d advise you to find a new comic shop. Or better yet, we’ll offer a handy resource.
Creator-Owned Comics (click the link to check it out)is a blog created by Chris Smits (you might recognize the name from the work he’s contributed to Mania in the past) to spotlight creator-owned comics (hence the name). The idea is simple: every Monday, Chris posts a list of books featuring characters that aren’t owned by a big corporation interested in selling pajamas and bedsheets so you know what’s hitting the shops that Wednesday. In addition, he’s set up an open dialogue between his blog and creators – if you’re a force behind a comic book and you’d like to see it spotlighted, let him know and he’ll do what he can, but it’s a two-way street. The idea is to create a community through social networking websites like Twitter or Facebook. If everyone who enjoys creator-owned comics and participates in the blog shares the link every Monday, word spreads and we all benefit. It’s just like going into your comic shop and letting people know about a great book you just read. Why creator owned comics? It’s simple: Superman and Spider-Man don’t really need any help in spreading the word about their books. Those guys are doing just fine on their own and going back to our resolution to avoid mediocrity: if you miss an issue of Captain America or Teen Titans, they’re still going to be there next month. If you miss an issue of insert-creator-owned-title-here … it might be gone forever. Plain and simple.
The truth is, if we’re going to lay blame anywhere, we’re going to put it squarely on our own shoulders. It’s up to you and I to make this thing work. We’re not going to insult you by calling you Marvel Zombies or DC diehards (not that we haven’t done it in the past); we’re just trying to remind you that comics are a medium, not a genre. Just as a trip to the movie theater can yield horror, romance, science-fiction and comedy, a trip to the comic shop can do the same. Don’t forget that, and remember that by trying something new at your local comic shop, you’re not only helping out a small-time comic creator or a big corporate giant; you’re helping out the entire business of comic books. And we all love comic books, right?
Do you know who else you’re helping? YOU. Ultimately, the person who wins here is the reader. No, not everything on the shelf is good, but there’s a lot more out there than what you and I are accustomed to reading and we owe it to ourselves to try something new and spread the word!
In addition to penning Comicscape every week and cleaning up the Mania bathrooms, Chad Derdowski can also be found discussing and dissecting superheroes and pop culture on the Zod Complex and Geek Fights podcasts. It’s like NPR, only interesting.Find them at ZodComplex.com and Geekfights.net!
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You know...in a way Chad I appreciate the ''message'' your trying to do here to buy other things then your regular superhero stuff. That message itself is clear and important...yet what disapoints me the most is that for many comic fans who don't know what's coming out or who's doing what other then the big 2, many of us rely on places like Mania or Wizard or other websites of news to inofrm us of different comic news and genre.
I've been pushing Mania to talk about Radical for months now and still, nothing about them...no reviews, no mentions, no nothing. The company is putting out so many different genre of comics other then superhero it's crazy. And Image is doing the same thing more and more. And many indie publishers out-there do the same thing but in the end, if I don't know when or what is coming out, it's hard to try different things.
Now, I DO try and buy books other then my regular stuff every wednesday because I like trying different things (even the comic book store owner ask me for recommendations) but the lack of information about what is coming out, was it good or not, is it worth it, etc... is astounding.
Having a medium like Mania that tells people ''you should try this and expend your mind'' yet the reviews we see are mostly DC books or Superhero books (John Byrne's Next Men counts as superhero), I see this as a bit of a 2 face conundrum because all I see here is superhero stuff.
Wizard has tried to implement an indie section in their now defunct magazine and maybe Mania should do something similar...a section for creator-own comics and ''outside of the norm'' type reviews.
Great artile with good message...now let's try to see everyone be part of this, not just the readers.