I had one of those moments last week that I thought I had gotten past, one of those moments when I reflexively root for comic book companies like they’re sports teams. It’s not entirely my weakness; you almost can’t help yourself. Sports and comics both grab you by the imagination when you’re still a kid. They both tend to somehow encourage home-team loyalty while simultaneously trading talent between teams fairly indiscriminately. Both hinge on a devoted fanbase and sense of community despite being run by corporate monoliths that don’t care about you really at all. Colorful outfits are very important.
During my most recent surprise episode of boosterism, I wasn’t so much cheering for a publisher as I was booing Mark Millar. Well, even that’s an exaggeration, but he did get my eyes to rolling without trying too hard.
Millar was a guest last week at the Glasgow Comic Con, having announced just a few weeks earlier that he had left Marvel to devote himself to creator-owned work full time. He was on a writers’ panel at the con, and given the timing it was only natural that he would field questions about the DC reboot and the state of the major publishers. Millar has always been known for speaking his mind, and as it turns out, he did not switch to creator-owned comics because he thinks DC and Marvel are ushering in a new Renaissance.
You can see for yourself what he had to say rather than watching me oversimplify it, but I imagine it will sound familiar to you if you have followed a creator into Indytown before. There’s a lot of talk about event fatigue, market saturation, and working on other people’s property delivered with the zeal of a convert. He appears to have gone Full Kirkman.
The thing is, I don’t disagree with anything he says there. And why shouldn’t writers be excited to pursue their own unfettered visions? It’s good that they’re excited. They’ve just made a major career decision that is going to change their lives and/or the primetime line-up of at least one basic cable channel. If you’re going to spend that kind of time and effort, it should excite you. They’re certainly not in it for the bling.
So what was getting to me?
“By all means, go indie,” I said to no one in particular as I read the transcript. “I like indie. You don't have to turn into that sophomore who just read Ayn Rand when you do it.” There seems to be a period when writers are flush with passion for the new direction they’re taking and in spite of themselves they sort of turn into that college friend of yours who just went vegan. He looks great, he feels great, more power to him, but so help me God if he corners me at another party to spend another half hour talking about the bovine growth hormone and the factory farms I am going to honest-to-God fake a heart attack.
Mind you, Mark Millar did not spring from behind a bush to lecture me about this. Someone asked him the question. But something about his criticism of Marvel and DC, mild though it was, irrationally made me defensive on their behalf. It’s not just rah-rah boosterism; I think a part of it is that the more Mark Millar points out how dopey all this stuff is, the more I feel like a dope for having enjoyed it all this time. (A little narcissism judo can turn anything personal if you just apply yourself.)
Yesterday morning, I was reminded of all this and mentally apologized to Millar while reading a very different piece in the New York Times about Jack Kirby. As you probably have heard, his heirs have taken Marvel to court for his fair share of ownership of the classic characters he co-created (or just plain created, depending on who you talked to and which year you talked to them in). If you’re not familiar with the case or find your ADHD acting up when a paragraph contains too many legal terms, the Times article is an excellent way to familiarize yourself with what’s at stake.
This side of the creator-owned vs. work-for-hire conversation is another one that brings out the boosters. People get it in their heads that the Siegel family is trying to take their Superman comics away, and out come the brass knuckles online. You’ll see the families attacked as “greedy” a lot; meanwhile, Paramount makes another half billion dollars on a movie concept Jack Kirby dreamed up for $12.50 and a baloney sandwich.
I know comics companies were just trying to churn out pulp fiction in time to make a deadline in the sixties. I know they didn’t realize they were trafficking in billion dollar ideas. But it’s not like knowing that would have made Kirby’s deal any better. I don’t think you could go Full Kirkman in 1962, either.
Kirby and Siegel and a hundred other guys took it on the chin to teach the lesson that today’s savvy creators are benefiting from. I saw poor Howard the Duck in a comic not too long ago spouting one-liners and karate kicking a guy in the face. When Steve Gerber created Howard, he was a weary philosopher and student of the world. Time and again, his comic made the point that in real life, violence begets violence and has serious consequences. It was a thoughtful, personal book, against all odds. As I saw Howard belting guys in the chops in a Fear Itself tie-in, I thought about Steve Gerber’s failed lawsuit to win him from Marvel and how different things might have been. I can’t say I would trade any of the “big” books I’m reading now, but I wish Mark Millar all the luck in the world.
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The phrase “narcissisism judo” is now a part of my permanent lexicon.
(I want to say it’s also the title of the debut album from my jazz quartet, the Cynical Apologists, but that’s a joke from another thread.)
I miss the days of having a “house style” of the artwork at Marvel, where you could open any book and know it was a Marvel book. For me, it was cleaner and made it much easier to focus on the story. Maybe it was the stronger executive control, but it seemed like most books came out on time and the cross overs, timelines, and continuity was smoother overall. I prefer that system over a “I’m a writer/artist and I created this character so I’m important and I should get paid into eternity” kind of mentality.
Isn’t Stan Lee still getting $1 million a year from Marvel? I don’t see why Jack Kirby’s estate shouldn’t get something for his contributions to Marvel’s success. There’s plenty of money to go around. Why not distribute it fairly?
I’m not a huge Millar fan, but good luck to him.
Nice article Jim.
I agree, a million is plenty for the Kirbys. Disney can foot that bill, no problem.
I’m not one of your fancy, big-city lawyers, but I imagine they’re thinking that if they’re “fair” to the Kirby family they will shortly be hearing from Steve Ditko, Don Heck, Bill Mantlo, and on and on. I don’t know if anyone has ever actually slipped on a slope, but everyone is terrified of them.
See this why I believe working at the big two should not be the ultimate goal of a comic creator, why give all your good ideas to someone else so they can make millions off of it?
“Paramount makes another half billion dollars on a movie concept Jack Kirby dreamed up for $12.50 and a baloney sandwich.” What a great sentence!
@WonderManFan I have to disagree with you, having a “house style” brings down the quality of the books in general, you have to have these artist/creators using their style, or there would be no originality.
@Jimski It won’t be Steve Ditko. He won’t take anything to do with Spider-Man. Won’t talk about it. Nothing.
@WonderManFan Wow. I just could not have a more differing opinion. Wow.
I went Catholic school and had to deal with uniforms for years and years. I’m done with uniformity. Super heroes are folklore, so diverse interpretation is wholly welcome.
@PaulMontgomery — totally agree. Its like telling campfire stories about great legendary heroes. Comics in my view are the 20th century reinvention of old warrior tales and mythology. Interpretation is key.
Go back to the days where talented artists were forced to copycat a brand name like Kirby and get no published credit in the book. yeah no way. If comics have one thing going for it right now, is that that art has never been more diverse.
I can kinda see where WonderManFan is coming from. Especially on the level that books came out on time more so then being delayed often in today’s market.
But if we had a house style then we wouldn’t have amazing talents like Steve Epting, Esad Ribic, Paco Medina, John Romita Jr, Stuart Immonen, and a hell of a lot more who’s talent don’t look anything like each other.
While I do fear going further off topic from Jimski’s post, it really should be noted that style has jack nor squat to do with getting to deadlines on time. Skottie Young never put out a late book in his life, and I am so happy we have an industry where guys who would never get to work with a house style can be seen.
must have been really awesome to be reading comics back in the golden age as well as the big Marvel wave in the 60s. All those fresh characters jumping onto the scene. It doesn’t seem like we have that right now. We have lots of creator owned stuff, and more talent than ever…but it doesn’t seem like its the same as back then. I know that the economics of the industry dictate that creators who want to make a real living from comics will prob need to work on big 2 stuff, but it is weird that we live in this world where our most popular and relevant characters were born generations ago.
Would love to see more creator owned superhero stuff get traction in today’s market and become tomorrow’s legends. We have the talent, just not the market. =(
@wallythegreenmonster That notion is a little romantic. As I understood it, someone would make up a character, and it would be a hit, and instantly all the other publishers would try to emulate it. There was just as much following the crowd and the bucks, and Jack Kirby (along with Joe Simon) was certainly guilty as well.
@josh –oh yeah i know…i mean obviously we weren’t around back then, and from what i’ve read Batman originally was just another masked detective in the same vein as the Shadow and so on. I’m sure there was a lot of luck and hustle involved with those heroes surviving.
Have you ever read “Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters and the Birth of the Comic Book” ? Really fascinating insight into how that early era of comics really worked.
I’m sure there was a ton of forgettable junk in the early 60s, but having Spiderman, Fantastic Four, Avengers, Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, X-men and Daredevil all come out fresh and new only a few years apart seems like a pretty exciting era to me.
Talented writers and artists do deserve to get paid well for they’re work and that goes for all other talent in the industry too, colorists, inkers..letterers etc….I do believe they should be allowed creative freedom and control with they’re stories, especially when creator owned. I don’t think that many of them have the “I’m a writer/artist and I created this character so I’m important and should get paid into eternity””kind of mentality”…..I’m sure some do and while creative control is unfettered and optimal for some writer/artists, I do believe they get hired to do they’re thing, or make a mark…give it they’re touch or spin or however you wanna stamp it, and sometimes they work for hire with the creative control being overseen by the higher ups which is fine to when its their company but see why a lot of em wanna do work the indie creator owned route. What artist/writer doesn’t want creative freedom? I like the ones that manage to juggle both and we’ve got plenty of em doing it.Until recently Mark Millar was one of em and he wants to go solo, best of luck but in the end I’ve heard enough slamming Marvel and DC when they’ve given us so many years of great stories, still do and comics most likely wouldn’t be what they are or even exist anymore without them. Classics, I don’t want politics with my comics, they’re escapism, a release but i’ll admit i’m curiously guilty and like to know whats going on behind the scenes and say my piece too. I say support the stories you like, no matter the publisher, try new things and enjoy em, there are plenty of good comics out there, if you can’t find em, its your loss. Lately I’ve been reading/collecting older trades and new ones, and a few ongoing single issues from Marvel,DC/Vertigo,IDW and Dark Horse cause thats what I like. I hear Boom and Radical are putting out some good indie stuff.