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The comic book industry is one where the creators are very rarely seen. I did not know, for the longest time, that Kyle Baker was black. Or that Phil Jimenez was gay. Or that Terry Moore was not, in fact, a woman. In addition, there are a great many people employed in the making of a comic book who are seen even less. Many of these people could fall under the criteria being discussed, and we'd never know about it. Hell, Frank Quitely was being touted as gay on this board, and, believe it or not, I was sure Frank Miller was queer for the longest time. Mention was made of the "hot" creators, but these people are just a drop in the bucket to the thousands of creators who toil away behind the scenes. But it is true that, based upon our limited knowledge, the playing field is fairly uneven out there.
Many of the artists listed by Cameron have worked for the mainstream, and have dropped out to put their attention to projects they feel more comfortable with. Linda Medley (Justice League, Doom Patrol to Castle Waiting), and Jill Thompson (Various Vertigo titles to Scary Godmother) are just a few that I can pop off at the top of my head. This supports the idea that maybe many creators that aren't white hetero males are not attracted to the kinds of stories the Big Two's editorial demand, especially if they have some sort of message they would like to put across. In the recent Bizarro Comics from DC Comics(which featured stories by Jesicca Abel, Kyle Baker and Sarah Dyer, among others, the last two artists mentioned being regularly employed by DC) a story was altered because someone wanted to hint that a character who thought she was Batgirl was a lesbian. I'm not sure of the full story, and the editor's may have had their reasons, but the bottom line is that when you play with the Big Boys, you play by their rules. And this is from the company who published Stuck Rubber Baby.
There are a number of problems with this discussion. The parameters aren't set, the definitions are fuzzy. We're talking about the chances of getting involved in a field where 90% of the product is of one genre dominated by a handful of companies. This is like going to a bookstore and finding all but the back corner filled with Western novels. If you really love Westerns, this is great. If you don't, and for some odd reason you still really want a job in the industry, then you have to start learning how to at least fake loving Westerns. And who would want to do that?
Which brings me to the big question. Plummy, are you talking about the artform or the industry. if you're talking about the industry I'd say that there is hope but don't expect to get rich or famous as long as one genre has a stranglehold on the industry. There are a number of great specialised anthologies out there for women, queers and visible minorities. If that brand of specialisation isn't your bag, most alternative presses still welcome a diversity of voices. And if even that fails, do it yourself. As I found out to my personal dismay years ago, the indy scene is almost exactly the opposite of the mainstream comic scene in that Superhero comics do not fly.
If you're talking about comics as an artform, then have you ever considered comic strips? The funny pages have far more visible diversity than the comic book industry does. Especially in the Alternative Weekly strips. As an example, Dykes to Watch Out For has a circulation of 65 papers. That may not seem like much, but if each paper has an average circulation of 20,000 and only one quarter of those readers looks over the strip, then you're seeing an audience that is the size of that of the New X-Men, the current top of the heap in the comic book world. And that's taking into account the notion that an average of 2 people read each issue of X-Men bought. To be honest, I am being very, very conservative. I have no doubt that For Better or Worse has a larger audience than the entire comic book reading population of North America combined.
So, if you don't mind, Plums, could you clarify a few things?
Is this all rhetorical, or are you actually thinking of entering the field?
Artist? Writer? Both?
Are you set on Long Form Narrative, or could you swing Comic Strips?
Do you have a love of Superheroes? Any Genre?
How much do financial rewards come into play in your decisions?
Comics are like any medium. When there are strong voices creating art, an audience, no matter how meagre, will be found. Comics have one wonderful thing going for them in that they are cheap and easy to make. Anyone can do comics.
[ 16-07-2001: Message edited by: moriarty ] |
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