This was posted up on Facebook by Tom Neely and I gave it a read this morning.
A bit about how comics are being sold by writers when in the past it's been artist-centric. It's a good bit with some good info put up, great opinions, and decent surmising. From my perspective I have very little to say about how that all happened or why or who is screwing who or what is fair and not fair. I'm not an artist, writer, or in the industry at all. I'm just a fan and a consumer.
I did work at a comic book store for 3 years - Guapo Comics and Coffee. My friends Jeremy and Ali owned it and hired me, store credit salary, to work it on Sundays. At first I did the majority of the Sunday shift which was 11-6. Then 11-5. Then they hired some other people and I was given the 1-5 shift. I was there from 2008 to 2011 when they closed it's doors. It's where I met my wife Gretchen and made a ton of new friends.
Guapo was more of a "hip" comic book store. We carried and sold a lot of indy comics and 'zines. Sure the bulk of the sales were mainstream stuff but we pushed all the little stuff like self-published and hand bound comics and 'zines, local publishers like Sparkplug (who was next door at Bad Apple) and Oni Press.
I had met Jeremy at our day job at the law-firm we work at. I was out of the comics scene for a long time as I got burnt out in the 90s. He brought me back in with The Walking Dead by Kirkman (the writer) from Image Comics. This was 2005. He told me to come by his store and I did and he showed me how cool TWD was.
When I left comics in the late 90s I was only enjoying Sin City by Frank Miller and Poison Elves by Drew Hayes. In hindsight I was more into the great story being told, the actual artwork, both very stylized or unique but not classic "comic art". Black and white for the win!
Lusiphur - Poison Elves by Drew Hayes (RIP)
Sin City by Frank Miller
I LOVED the stories in those books. The art was secondary.
Now, here's my unprofessional and very amateur theory:
The 90s brought us flashy art containing tits and ass and guns and big titted and assed women holding those guns and katanas and totally flipping out. <<< That there was the content of a lot of comics. There is a reason why it was called the "Bad Girl" period.
Then came mass internet availability in many homes and the guys (12-28) left the above behind and went to actual porn on the internet. You could not sell comics on the premise that the kid/young man buying it could get his jollies off on some variation of almost seeing a vagina when one of the above comic characters is flipping out in a flying side kick pose. Just go to the internet and see some actual vaginae. They've got to sell stories now and good ones at that... not just a 3 issue arc about saving some puppies or stopping bank robbers again.
Granted, Poison Elves and Sin City had some risque stuff in it, but I also really liked the stories and had interest in what was actually going on.
Talking to Jeremy and a few other comic nerds in the past 5 years or so we all agreed that we tend to follow writers as opposed to artists. It's what we like. I will pick up anything new by Brian Wood or Brian K. Vaughn. I love Grant Morrison. Robert Kirkman of The Walking Dead? Duhr. I am usually spellbound by what those guys put out. Yeah, they have all done some stinkers too but more than half the stuff they've put out has entertained me to no end.
On a side note most of the female writers I enjoy are indy or self published like Katie Skelly, Julia Wertz, and Virginia Paine. Why they are not mainstream is not in the scope of this particular bit and I don't think I'm smart enough to field that one. Let's just say I have access to their stuff and I have all I can get of it.
To wrap this up, what I read now (monthly floppies at least):
The Walking Dead
Saga
all the Dark Horse Conan stuff
Invincible
Invincible Universe
Pathfinder
My Budget is $30 a month and I'm still paying off what I owe my dealer... Jeremy:)
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