new paradigms
Almost one year ago I was out drinking with a comics pro who has had his fair share of disappointments within the comic industry. Disillusioned, he related stories of how he and other artists he knew had been poorly treated by writers, editors and publishers throughout the years. These are not surprising stories. A cursory glance at the history of comics throws up countless cases of creatives facing unfair treatment. But such stories never fail to leave one with a heavy heart.
Indeed, I returned home that evening incredibly disheartened. I have never been naive enough to assume that working in comics would result in making much money. Nor do I feel that comics owe me a living. I enjoy communicating in this medium and will continue to do so, I believe, until I can no longer hold a pen due to RSI. But the unrelenting pessimism had an effect on me. To the benefit of no-one, I shared this feeling on twitter and received a message from a close friend moments later. It read simply:
“New paradigms mate”
It was a call to arms, a comforting missive and a short, sharp slap in the face when I needed it.
I mention this because it provoked me, in part, to write a manifesto with Matthew Sheret which laid the groundwork for what we both wanted to see happen with the UK comics scene – and comics in general. It was nothing groundbreaking. The points being fairly self-evident to those who paid attention. But it gave us an agenda. The anthology I was working on – Solipsistic Pop 1 – and Sheret’s We Are Words + Pictures soon began work addressing that agenda with an energy and enthusiasm which I continue to find astounding.
Cut to a couple of weeks ago. I sent an email to Sheret reading:
“May 1st is Free Comic Book Day. Paper Science 2?”
It was an idiotic idea. A good one. But idiotic. I was getting Solipsistic Pop 2 ready and was thus broken, exhausted, and penniless. There was barely any time to put it together. This just couldn’t happen.
Seconds later, Sheret calls me. After a fair amount of swearing and abuse in which I could just about make out the words “10 days to get it to the printers”, he quickly started to map out exactly how this could happen. Within minutes, there was a plan. Within days there was a print file being sent to Newspaper Club.
“New paradigms mate”
Whenever I visit Canada or America I am always envious of the comic scenes I encounter. The positivity and exuberance that those I meet have for comics is infectious. Inspiring. The can-do approach is not viewed as blind or hubristic naivety. It is simply what you do. While there may be a million reasons why you can’t, won’t or shouldn’t do something – all you really need is that one reason why you should. There are times when I feel the absence of this frontiersman attitude in the UK. Not just with comics. The focus often turns to the million reasons why something shouldn’t be attempted. But Sheret’s attitude reminded me that’s changing. Paper Science 2 – conceived, printed and distributed within less than 16 days – and the very existence of SP, is evidence of it.
Looking through Paper Science 2, SP2 and the email submissions I’ve been receiving for SP3 it’s hard to feel anything but overwhelmingly optimistic about the UK comics scene right now. Artists old and new alike are offering some of the best work I’ve seen in the comics world this year. Note: no qualifiers. No alternative comics. No UK comics. The work is just that good.
This would be happening with or without me – but it’s an honour to have the opportunity to publish some of it and give the work a high quality platform from which it can work comics magic.
Now of course, there are problems that still need solving. The big ones, for me, being the distribution and funding of SP. The release of SP2 sees the culmination of the first year addressing the manifesto and attempting to provide a solid infrastructure for alternative comics in the UK. The second year needs to build on that. I want to look into digital versions of the book being available once printruns are sold out, I want to start addressing some new ideas and thoughts about where the UK comic scene is going, and I want to make a start on an exciting new SP publishing imprint.
My own comics work has had to take a bit of backseat during all this. I can’t, in all honesty, afford to publish my own work and SP. Plus, with most of my time being taken up with the editing, publishing and marketing side of SP – there just isn’t as much free time to sit down and do what I enjoy most – drawing comics.
Thing is – it’s all worth it. I don’t think I’ve ever felt this optimistic about comics. Anything, it seems, is possible.
“New paradigms mate”
A really inspiring post! I really can’t wait to see what comes next in terms of the UK comics scene.
ps. at the bottom of the site it still says all content copyright 2009 rather than 2010. Maybe worth updating that :)
This is a very interesting post. The UK scene desperately needs energy and ideas, and Solipsistic Pop and Paper Science are great collections of impressive work. But one thing about your post depresses me: the assumption that making comics is a labour of love with no financial reward. As a scene we need to cut past the feeling that success is vulgar, that the act of completing something is the reward in itself, that breaking even constitutes a blockbuster. Why are indie comics and webcomics an occupation in America and Canada and a potting shed pastime in England?
There has never been a shortage of talent in the UK, but in the seven years I have made a living from comics, I have asked over and over again why there is such a poverty of ambition.
Whither the drivers, the winners?
I agree totally John. I hope the post doesn’t for a second suggest that having a paucity of ambition in regards to financial success is the plan. Far from it. Solipsistic Pop is two volumes in and is managing to break even for the moment. What comes next is making sure the anthology builds on this and gets to a place where I can publish more, offer page rates to contributors, and essentially make a living from it. But it can’t be rushed. It would be tempting to get ahead of oneself and that would be a mistake. I just wanted to take a moment to acknowledge what has been achieved and where I plan to go from here. Your question about the “potting shed pastime in England” is entirely valid and also one of the reasons SP exists in the first place.
Similarly, I honestly don’t think I suggested success was a bad thing. SP2 has sold 200 copies in its first week which, for an anthology that has only existed since November last year, could be considered quite a success. But as I write in the blog, it’s now about pushing that momentum and finding new and interesting distrubution solutions to capitalise and grow from. Getting the book into as many (paying) hands as possible is, of course, the idea.
I think there are a number of problems with the distribution models in this country – to some extent they come from our residual ideas of what a comic book market should be. The reality is that there will have to be two comic distribution entities for the market to expand. The existing one – in this case Diamond comics – clearly does not exist to service the kind of comics Tom is likely to want to print – they don’t really care about the comics I want to print. The comics shops they service do not, for the most part, want the kind of comics either of us would make. I have the advantage of being able to make sure that I can force my books (Blank Slate) into 16 Forbidden Planet International stores, it helps drag me towards a position where i’m not losing a fortune on every book I publish but sales there are low even by my expectations – and that’s getting good shelf exposure and window space.
The other distributor has to be one who might service comics shops – just as Diamond might from time to time service bookstores – but there focus has to be the book trade. Turnaround are out there doing it – but if you ask them you will find some of their bigger customers are places like OK Comics and that penetration into bookstores is fairly skinny for most books (and Turnaround now have a list that features D&Q, Fanta, Ponet Mon, Knockabout and more of the ‘cream’). However there is one company making it work and that is Self-Made Hero. they have developed a model that shows, far as I can tell, whilst they are comics fans they are also, to trade, smart marketing people. I think everyone of their books has been well done – although as a reader very few of them appeal to me – and they have shown they can push doors open and establish a client base that makes them profitable. Their list is now expanding very quickly and their scope is also widening. I think we could all take time to establish what they are doing right and try and copy them – or hell, try and do a deal with them and hire them to promote our books as well.
The natural instinct is to pull in differing directions on the basis of taste – i don’t like your book, you don’t like mine. What we really need is an association of small publishers all pulling in the same direction. Cross promoting each others books and try to establish a size and depth of list that makes it hard for the general market to ignore you. Putting money into a pot and buying advertising together, sending out promotional materials as a group. Can it happen – who knows – but without it I fear a largely uninterested market is unlikely to sit up and take notice unless we find ways to promote ourselves better than, I for one, do now.
[...] thinking about what the UK comics scene could be doing next, especially in light of TCAF… Whenever I visit Canada or America I am always envious of the comic scenes I encounter. The positivi… – Tom Humberstone I kinda feel a little lost in the UK comic scene and feel more at home in [...]
[...] thinking about what the UK comics scene could be doing next, especially in light of TCAF… Whenever I visit Canada or America I am always envious of the comic scenes I encounter. The positivi… – Tom Humberstone I kinda feel a little lost in the UK comic scene and feel more at home in [...]