I guess we’re calling this a revolution now
I don’t care what we call it if it works. But don't quote the Beatles song because I think you'll have to pay out to the Jackson estate or Nike.
Some interesting stuff happening. Michael May wrote a column on the subject in his Robot 6 column The Creator-Owned “Revolution” where he gives a great overview of recent events.
What stuck out to me the most was the tone of the comments below. Some were critical but thoughtful. People are just simply talking like civilized humans. I haven’t read below an article in years. If comments were more like this we’d all be better off, I think.
Some pros chimed in including one of my favorite creators, Jimmy Palmiotti and he made a great point.
PRE-ORDERS
This is HUGE.
Readers and fans need to pre-order creator-owned books and not lay the entire burden on retailers. That previews catalogue is loaded with thousands of titles every month and I can’t imagine what it’s like for retailers to decide what new books to try out.
Do what Jimmy does and pre-order the creator-owned books you want and help out retailers with these tough decisions.
And let me clarify something I said about online criticism. Seems many people think I’m asking for a halt to all negative critiques. I’m trying to be positive, but I’m not insane.
OF COURSE we need both good and bad reviews. What I’m talking about is the spit, bile and hate that a lot of books are reviewed with. B. Clay Moore commented on this and described the typical bad online “review” and why they don’t help.
I love criticism and I pay attention to it when it’s constructive...
A reviewer on Pink Raygun reviewed Mystery Society #1 and got personal and nasty (in my eyes unprofessional) but in the review pointed out some mangled use of the English language. She was right and I fixed it for the trade.
Another example was recent as well. A reviewer (or two) pointed out that the character in Edge of Doom #2 made a very abrupt change in his MO at the very end and some found it jarring. In issue #5 of Edge of Doom, when we re-meet all these characters, I addressed (and hopefully fixed) the problem.
We all know what I’m talking about so I won’t ramble, but yeah, come on, a little common sense. Can we stop talking as if the world was black and white? It get's us nowhere.
Coming up I’ll be posting a podcast from the Meltdown Meltcast on this so-called Creator-Owned Revolution and later some websites for printers and more practical tips on DIY comics.
Whatever we’re going to call it, can we just keep it going? I’d love to hear ideas how we can do this.
I gotta to go write now. While I’m thrilled that we’re all talking, I have bills to pay.
-Steve
PS: Well things move fast now that we live in the future. The lovely and talented Sam Humphries just sent me the link for the Meltcast. Please listen and let me know if I’m making any sense at all.
Meltcast: http://www.meltcast.com/post/3090744113/meltcast-65-steve-niles-on-the-crusade-for
Other Creator-Owned Posts
Creator-Owned Update & Bloody Pulp Announcements!
Origins of this Creator-Owned Support Thing and Updates
What’s all this Creator-Owned Talk?
Creator-Owned Comics: Not Whining Yields Results