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Who's Who In the SBCU Update 2003
In his dreams Alan
Donald is a multi-award winning writer of comic books,
animation, theme park shows and rides, children’s books,
novels, television, internet animation and more.
In real life Alan
writes this column, which has been described as more than a
lifestyle than a weekly column. He used to write SBC's All The
Rage.
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The
Internet: Good Or Evil?
By Alan Donald
Print This Item
The Panel
gathers movers and shakers from across the industry together to
answer your questions!
Don’t miss out on your chance
ask the big guns a question or two, send them in now to: [email protected].
Most
of the Panellists should be known to you but if not, don’t panic
I’ve got a few details on them at the end of the column.
This
week’s question is inspired by the reply a top comic book pro gave
when he/she was asked to join the Panel. The question
is:
” The Internet has brought an incredible amount of
interaction between fans, comic book companies, creators and
retailers. How do you feel this has helped or hindered the industry?
And do you feel comic book pros are too participatory on websites,
or do you think such participation helps the industry?”
Craig Lemon: "The
Internet...friend or foe? Both… Message boards tend to be populated
by morons. People who hide behind pseudonyms for the most part, to
shout out their ill-informed abuse just because they can. People who
think they have a right to decide the future of a book because they
can shout the loudest. People who think what they say has any
importance at all. Message boards stink. Websites. Useful.
Informative where Previews is just hype. Interior pages are
there for the checking, there's unprecedented access to information
to help you decide what to spend your hard-earned cash on. Comics
are expensive, you need the information to make a wise choice.
Reviews. Useful. Why, oh why, do people mistake reviews on the
Internet for criticism? If you want informed criticism then buy
The Comics Journal, for goodness sake. Reviews are
opinions... no more, no less. Find a reviewer who talks sense, whose
tastes match yours, and then you’ve found someone who’s
recommendations you can rely on for picking up goodies you may have
missed.
No-one can make an informed decision about what to
buy from Previews - it's all hype. Similarly everything
Marvel and DC put out is designed to hype their
books.
Editorially independent websites give you the
information and opinions you need to sift through to find the gems.
As a resource for retailers - excellent. Maybe less than 50% of
comic readers are online, but 90% of retailers are, and these are
the guys that order the books, that control the sales of the
industry. Influence them via a well-written review or column, and
you influence the market. Creators online - nestbeds of sycophants,
for the most part. Fan websites devoted to characters/books -
generally blinded to the faults of a book by devotion to it, but
interesting historically. Runs the risk of being so tied up with
continuity that their opinion on books is far too skewed. But,
unparalleled for facts.”
Gary Spencer
Millidge: “Like most things, it's a double-edged sword. The
Internet as a reference tool has been a tremendous benefit to small
and independent publishers - setting up websites and distributing
information via e-mail is incredibly cost-efficient. Remember that
the Internet community has already more or less saved companies like
Top Shelf and Fantagraphics from going to the wall. The technical
ability to send and receive data files for the printing of entire
comics and books over the Internet has also been a real boon.
Cartoonists who can't afford to finance a printed work, or can't
find a willing publisher can now display their comics on the web
(although I doubt whether anyone would be able to make a living from
this method of self-publishing alone). The incredibly fast way in
which information is disseminated can cause an overload of hype -
and the combination of e-bay and "slabbed" comics has caused
back-issues to skyrocket.
On the other hand, it's now
possible to find just about anything you've ever wanted on the 'net.
Message boards do appear to be a massive distraction for some comic
creators - there's always a curiosity to know what readers think of
your latest work, and it's hard to resist responding to some online
criticism. You can waste a lot of time responding to e-mail requests
- it's made creators much more accessible compared to yesteryear.
And perhaps that's made us less mysterious. Certainly, computer
technology, and to a lesser extent, the Internet has been invaluable
to an independent/self-publisher. It can be hugely distracting and
frustrating, but I would be reluctant to wish it all away and turn
the clock back 10 years”.
Mark Chapman:
“Quite frankly, the Internet has been one of the best things to
happen to the comics industry. In the pre-internet dark ages, if you
happened to live in a small village out in the sticks, then chances
are you'd be pursuing your interest in comics in a solitary way.
These days, however, the same solitary comics fan can go online and
yak with likeminded people in the US, Australia, Hong Kong,
wherever, and build a sense of community. And yeah, okay, some of
these sites can be elitist, or bitchy, and quite a few ain't exactly
easy on the eye, but the fact that they're there at all is the
important thing, and each one is a demonstration of someone's mad
love for the medium, whether they be fans, publishers, creators, or
whatever.
From a comic publicist's point of view, the net is
absolutely invaluable. This is especially true in the UK, where
comics’ coverage in the traditional media is sparse at best (with a
few hard-working exceptions such as CI, Dreamwatch,
SFX, Metal Hammer and some enlightened writers in the
mainstream media). For me, obtaining news coverage, reviews, and so
on for new 2000 AD material on sites such as SBC, Pulse and
Newsarama is easily as important as getting the same coverage in
print, because I know the information will reach easily as many
potential punters that way. That's not even to mention official
websites and the many dedicated fan sites that most publishers have,
which are a very cheap and effective way of letting readers know
what is going on.
And are comics’ pros too participatory?
Hell no! One of the truly great things about the comics industry is
that the creators and other industry professionals don't hold
themselves above the fans, and are very accessible. If you go to any
comics convention you will see creators mingling with fans in the
bar, and there is really no difference between that and creators
turning up on publishers' message boards or hosting their own
forums. The industry would be a much poorer place without this
participation.”
Axel Alonso: “The net can be
hilarious but bottom line: It is not an accurate reflection of the
comic-reading public. It’s a small slice of the pie: those
individuals who choose to spend their free time on the net
discussing comics. To take your cues from internet chat boards is
career suicide. There are people tapping away into the wee hours of
the morning about how much they hate the Bruce Jones HULK, or
RAWHIDE KID, and it's had no adverse effect on sales or the
decisions I make about those titles. The first thing I tell someone
who's about to debut: If you're going to be upset about people
riffing on your work, don't pay attention to the 'net -- find a few
people you can trust, whose tastes and instincts you respect, and
who'll tell it to you straight, and you'll do just fine.”
Fiona Avery:
“Statistically speaking, a few research sources agree that only
fifty percent of people in the U.S. and less than that in other
countries are online. So no matter what one decides about the
effectiveness of the Internet, it's still only reaching half the
people it could be. I don't read online reviews, although I am often
forwarded excellent, well-written reviews in email and for those I
make exceptions. I find too many reviews online that are written by
people who cannot spell or use proper grammar. I have to wonder how
many people put stock in a review that, for example, uses "their"
for "there" and cannot properly punctuate. Those are just the
fundamentals, but going one step further, when you sit down and
really analyse some of these online reviews, their authors have no
training in how to present subject matter. Still it's hard to get
too angry about it since even the top critics in the country today
no longer get formal training in the art of criticism.
Once
upon a time, critics learned how to produce an article that wouldn't
get personal, would stick to the work in question, but still pointed
out both its strengths and flaws in a beneficial way. Critics have
slowly mutated from Elders in the field (usually spotting new
talent) to mostly blocked artists bitching about doing something
better from the sidelines instead of doing it themselves.
On
the plus side, I cannot say enough for the internet's ability to
draw fans together through search engines, chat rooms, blogs and
web-rings. Fan pages, shrines, and interactive groups all begin and
develop in a good atmosphere as long as there is a strong moderator
allowing full voice among the members and weeding out the usual
anarchists.
My first experiences online were in hunting out
fan groups for my favorite books, TV shows and artists. These group
hubs are invaluable in spreading the word about a product. The
Internet shops have also been invaluable to me. Online shopping for
comics I can't find locally (although in LA that's rare) is possible
now. I can direct fans that can't find my comics in rural areas to
online sites like www.comicsunlimited.com and other resources that
sell comics. That's been very helpful for the product in question
and readers who can't find it. I would be lost without such sites.”
Bill Rosemann: “On one hand,
it's amazing to see so much informative interaction between those
who make, sell and read comic books.
On the other hand, I
miss the days when all I knew about an upcoming issue was what was
printed in the "Next Issue" box.”
Vince
Moore: “This is probably one of those six of one, half dozen of
the other situations. It all depends on how you look at it. Fans
have pretty much had a high level of interaction with creators,
retailers, and companies since the 60s. The Internet has simply
joined the local comics shop and the convention as means by which
the interaction can take place. If anything, the Internet has
superseded the letters pages in terms of direct vocal interaction,
and that's all.
But it can hinder the comic’s biz as well in
what's termed the comics blogosphere, the debate about manga rages
on, without providing real answers, only opinions, for example. No
company or creator can make an announcement without the nay Sayers
and negativists showing up to add in their sour two cents. New books
can get negative reviews, even though they aren't published yet.
Those things aren't good for comics at all. As for creators
participating too much or not, again that depends. The Internet is a
great tool for creators of any stripe to build audience. As long as
no creator feels that his or her way is the only way for comics to
be, I've no beef. Of course that doesn't prevent any fans for taking
a creator's word as gospel. But, hey, what can you do? Fan is short
for fanatic, after all.”
Devin Grayson: “I think a
little bit of communication and contact can be a good thing, and I
can't even imagine life without the Internet anymore (what a
fantastic research tool, among other things!), but I do think our
industry has gone a little overboard with access. I mentioned once
in a similar interview question that there was one pro in particular
who I thought was a remarkably talented writer, but who was
habitually late on scripts, keeping artists and other projects
waiting, while never missing a day on the message boards. The next
morning I had emails from five professionals who all assumed I was
talking about them! I didn't even know half of them were on message
boards, but I'm glad that they were at least aware of the amount of
energy they put into them.
There's no question that the
Internet can be great for creating "buzz," and that a certain amount
of buzz-creating is necessary, but like anything else, in excess
it's just sad. The initial idea, I thought, was for fans of comics
to be able to chat with each other, but more and more you'll see
either a group of people bashing an absent pro, or a group of people
fawning over a present pro -- both of which are useless activities
for everyone involved.
That said there are some phenomenal
fan websites out there, which I think the main publishing companies
could do more to encourage. DC, for example, has no character
database beyond "Secret Files," or hundred-year-old Who's Who -- do
a quick Internet search, though, and you'll find a handful of
fan-maintained websites, a few of which are incredibly well done and
informative. I understand why DC feels it can't hire someone to do
that for them officially (sort of) but I don't understand why they
don't run contests or something to recognize some of the better
websites -- prizes could be a year of comps, for example, which
would help everybody. I'm not talking about reviews, I'm talking
about dedicated chronicling of character facts, appearances, major
arcs and interactions. That's a GREAT use of the Internet, and
something I'd love to see become.”
Alan Grant: “The jury's still
out on this one. The Internet has done much to demystify the comics
business, amongst other things forcing the publishers to be more
receptive to their readers. However, there's a danger of the tail
wagging the dog: not so many years ago, it sometimes seemed like
DC's Batman policy was driven by the demands of 40 or 50 dedicated
fans who hung out in the chat rooms. But the Internet has at the
same time provided opportunities for further mystification, helping
promote freelance as celebrity, and publisher as "reader's friend".
Like everybody else, I tend to forget about reality when I immerse
myself in a favourite comic or book; I sometimes feel that the Net
has allowed unreality to seep out of the comics into the real world.
I don't frequent many websites, so I don't know if pros are too
participatory. I'm sure it helps the industry, in that it helps sell
more comics.”
Alonzo Washington: “The Internet
has helped the comic book industry for sure! Anything that puts out
alternative images of comic books is good. Independent publishers
& creators started putting comic books on the web and the
mainstream followed the trend. As a creator my website helps me all
the time. I move products that way. I get immediate feed back from
fans. I receive countless request to make appearances. In fact I got
on the PANEL because of my site. That's how they contacted me
anyway. Anything that is produced beyond the big two (DC &
Marvel) is a plus for the comic book industry. Furthermore, even the
mainstream companies have benefited from the web. The Internet sells
ideas and images. It is the new TV. Everyone, who is a real player
has a web page or website. Think about all the comic book related
websites (SBC,
Comics2Film, BlackSuperhero etc. They
have become every day stops for some comic book fans. The fact that
they all promote some aspect of the comic book industry is only a
plus. Everyone in the business has prospered from the Internet.”
Dawn Donald: I think
the internet and the world wide web are some of the best things that
have happened to the industry in the last few years. They have
helped to reach a more diverse audience. Smaller publishers have
been able to publicize their wares to a larger audience and little
John from Lower Village in Little Nowhereshire can get hold of any
comics he wants.
When I was a lass so many years ago if I
wanted a comic I used to have to scour the second-hand shops and
markets, and it was very rare that I ever found out the outcome of a
story – now, no-one should have that problem. The message boards are
good fun too, though you have to watch out for some of the
bitchiness and backbiting that can go on. It’s good for the creators
to be able to interact with the fans and gauge their reactions to
their work. There are, of course, downsides to it as there is with
everything, like fans who bad-mouth a creators work just because
they can and do some creators spend too long on the message boards
and not get their work out on time?”
Summary: It looks like The Panel is divided on this
week’s question with some thinking it is the best thing since sliced
bread, and a few are a little more wary about the 'net. But this has
provoked an interesting response and I must admit to being a bit
surprised at some people’s replies. What do you think out there in
cyberland?
This Week’s Panel: Mark Chapman is the man who makes
sure you know all about those excellent Rebellion comic books. Axel
Alonso is one of Marvel’s top editors. Bill Rosemann, publicity guru
at CrossGen. Alonzo Washington is the creator of Omega Man and black
campaigner. Fiona Avery who plays in the Marvel Universe, and with
Wildstorm at DC and is also the creator of No Honor. Gary
Spencer Millidge has been self-publishing his acclaimed
Strangehaven series for eight years. Alan Grant has had his
hands in many pies including Batman and Judge Anderson. Vince
Moore’s work for Platinum Studios can be checked out via the link on
his name above. Craig Lemon is our lovely editor and is trying for a
football team… and Devin Grayson is currently scribing
Nightwing and has just had a prestige format Batman book
called Switch released.
Next Week’s Question: “Can superheroes really help
at times of great need e.g. superheroes in print during WW2, the
Vietnam war and more recently 9/11?”
Have the Panel
gotten it right?
Have your say on the hot topics of the day at
the Panelology
message board.
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