First and foremost, if your reason for making comics is to get rich quick, get prepared for a big disappointment! Making comics is an art and, like most art forms, there is a long line of practitioners aspiring to emulate the success of a limited few. Those that have attained riches from making comics are a rare breed and thanks to unscrupulous publishing practices that have been the norm of the industry for decades many deserving comic artist have been deprived of fame and fortune.

I remember reading a list of the top ten grossing entertainers in the world sometime during the 1980′s. Two on the list were comic artists, PEANUTS creator Charles Schulz and GARLIELD creator, Jim Davis. They were right up there with entertainment titans, Michael Jackson and Bill Cosby! That was when I first realized the full fiscal potential of making comics. Schulz and Davis were both syndicated comic strip artists proving that there was commercial power to mixing words and pictures on the page.

This type of economic success was not available to comic book creators at the time for one key reason, Work for Hire. Most comic strip artists maintained ownership of their characters but in the comic book industry the publishers owned the characters and creators only received a page rate for their services with no ability to share in the success of the work through royalties.

This all began to change in the 80′s as the industry pushed for creator’s rights and independent publishers sprang up, willing to publish creator owned work. The newly devised Direct Market made it possible for these new publishers to explore the potential of sharing profits with creators. It also made it possible for creators to self publish their work.

1st five Comico Covers

Comico's 1st Color Books

This was our motivation when we created Comico. We knew that the best option for profiting from comics was to work for ourselves rather than be just another cog in the works of industry giants. As this same notion began to proliferate throughout the industry, comic artists did begin to realize the wealth that was possible. Two major examples of the earning potential of comics can be attributed TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird and SPAWN creator Todd McFarlane who all made millions from their creations.

So, if you want to get rich making comics there are a few things to know.

Creating a successful comic or character is like winning the lottery. The odds are so great. It gets even more depressing when you see the long list of incredible talent that are the competition but no one can guess what will strike the nerve of the market. Like the lottery, you cannot win if you do not play, so jump in and create!

Do what you love and love what you do! Many will tell you this is the key to success. Bullshit!

But this will make the struggles a hell of a lot more bearable. Creating comics needs to be your passion. Make them because you want to and love doing it. Create characters that you know and love and need to share with the reader. Your ability to bring those characters to life is what will make them desirable to readers. Passion is infectious when it is executed with skill.

NEVER GIVE  UP THE RIGHTS TO YOUR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY!!! Own your characters, never sell them unless the price is so unimaginably mind-boggling that you can’t say, ” no”. If you do sell your characters, don’t look back, it is time to reap what you have sown.

YOU WILL NEVER GET RICH JUST BY MAKING COMICS! This could change if the digital market takes off but there is just not a big enough comic reading market today to make you filthy, stinking rich. You may get pretty comfortable but not uber-loaded. Creators make the big bucks through licensing and merchandising. The comics are the launch pad for your property, where the character comes to life and proves it has legs but from there it is time to go to market and make movies, toys, pop tarts, you name it. That is where the money is.

What’s that? Your a comic artist not a salesperson? Then get a publisher that will do the work for you or get yourself an agent or a marketing agency. Go find Jerry Maguire and start yelling, “SHOW ME THE MONEY!!!” Video game developer, David Perry, does a great job explaining the need to merchandise here in one of his lectures.

It’s an awesome read and though it’s about licensing video games, you can easily see how it relates to comics because his point is that characters drive licensing and merchandising more than anything else.

Now you know that, yes, it is possible to get rich making comics but it requires a lot of love, a lot of work, a lot of luck and a lot of wheeling dealing. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

See you at the bank!

Celebrating Thirty Years of Comics History!

Gerry Giovinco

Pirates! Pirates everywhere!

It was just over a week ago when everyone was banding together to trash SOPA and PIPA. We can agree that, as creators, nobody likes pirates but we hated the idea of losing our rights to innocently pirate, ourselves. The idea of being shut down, fined or arrested for sharing music, images or video that we “borrow” for use  on our blogs and/or favorite social media brought together a nation of internet users that rallied to crush those bills and won an indefinite reprieve.

I guess we are all in agreement that it’s OK to pirate a little bit, so long as nobody is profiting directly from the pilfering. It is, after all, free advertising, right? As a creator, what could be better than seeing your work go viral and having the whole world find out about it besides, you know, being paid for it?

The real pirates, the bad guys, are the ones with those vicious torrent download sites, scanning entire issues of comics, ripping entire DVD’s of major motion pictures, and cataloging music by the truckload for downloads as mp3 files. Those guys are rapists! They literally rip the food right out of the creators’ mouths by preventing them from benefiting from sales that were lost to the downloaders. The downloaders are the pirates’ accomplices, they are pirates too, red handed with stolen goods and the first ones to share an innocent link or post tainted content.

So, SOPA and PIPA have been dead for barely two weeks and everyone is already screaming about how we have to take down the pirates. Comic artists everywhere are starving and nobody wants to pay for comics, especially if they can get them for free. What are we to do?

Kill the pirates! Shut them down!!

Please, just don’t use SOPA or PIPA.

Almost symbolically, good ol’ SEAL Team 6 heroically trashed a real-world, pirate compound in Somalia and rescued two aid workers that had been kidnapped. Nine pirates were killed. Everyone is happy!

This all got me to thinking. Pirates are a motivated lot, as are most bad guys. They don’t steal and plunder just for the fun of it. They do it  for the money. They gather up a ton of treasure and then they bury it on a deserted island. The downloader’s reward is free comics but the mastermind must be making a fortune to be willing to risk federal charges.

The pirates have figured out how to make money with comics while giving them away for free! Those rat bastards! If only we were that smart! Comic creators could be happy again.

Well Golly! Web comics have been using the same business model as the pirates for years now with varying degrees of success. We use it right here at CO2 Comics! Yet it is always a struggle to justify giving comic content away for free because it flies in the face of the old distribution system, the same system that has a stranglehold on the industry’s move to a digital market.  We are so afraid not to make a nice buck off a sale in a micro niche market that we are unwilling to make a small return on each sale in a potentially monolithic market or let graphically rich, free content drive streams of traffic through a sponsored website.

Free content drives every major website on the internet wether it is a search engine, a social network, a news agency or whatever. Who pays to use Google, Facebook, YouTube, Yahoo!,  Wikipedia, or Twitter? They are all among the top ten sites in the world and all worth BILLIONS of dollars! Content that is free to consumers has driven entertainment industries for decades. Newspapers,  radio, and television have all been huge beneficiaries of delivering free content.

Build a big enough comic reading audience in a free and open market and you will see the number of book sales begin to rise to numbers not heard of in decades. There is plenty of evidence that free web content has helped the sales of trades. Retailers will be happy to see a parade of new clientele march through their doors. We won’t have to read blog posts by comic artists crying duress driving down their power of negotiation to corporate publishing scum by playing a vulnerable hand. Free content also neutralizes piracy by taking away their only incentive to attract comic readers to their torrent sites.

Comic art has more value than we are daring enough to place on it. Let the work declare its own value and surprise yourself. Always remember that Disney is built on the back of Mickey Mouse and Time-Warner on the shoulders of Superman. Walt Disney believed in Mickey and let Mickey’ s success establish the worth of his company. Seigel and Schuster, in a fit of desperation,  sold Superman, a comic that nobody else wanted, for a lousy $130 and made someone else rich beyond their dreams.

Which creator would you like to be?

Let’s learn from the pirates. Comics are treasure even when they are free. We are in a position to command the destinies of our creative properties. Do not let senseless fear jeopardize the future of the industry. Take time to analyze and understand the market. Take control.

Celebrating Thirty Years of Comics History!

Gerry Giovinco

Maybe we are all suckers!

Maybe I’m just one of those lousy conspiracy theorists. But one has to wonder what is going on over at DC Comics.

This week the new DC Comics logo was unveiled and, beside it being one of the most god-awful logos I’ve ever seen, I was impressed with the need for the change. DC Comics is covering their butt and making sure the new logo is protected when used on everything under the sun!

DC Shoes logo

All this in light of losing a trademark infringement suit in 2008 against DC Shoes where it was revealed that DC Comics, because of their own lack of diligence, was the actual infringer!

It is obvious that DC had to come up with something that nobody in their right mind would consider using since the list of organizations that use those two letters on their letterhead extends all the way to our nation’s capitol, Washington D.C.!

With all this new sense of assiduousness toward their logo trademark it seems strange that DC Comics is working so hard to undermine the values of their most important trademarks, the characters themselves.

The concept of “Truth, justice and the American way!” that has exemplified the values of super heroes since the inception of Superman in 1938 has been completely thrown under the bus with the launch of the New 52.

We in the comics industry know that the medium has grown up and that comics haven’t been just for kids for some thirty years now but the general public still recognizes the values that established these characters as the trademarks they are, and those values are decidedly kid friendly!

The term Super Heroes and variations of it  is  a trademark shared by both Marvel and DC representing a particular brand of character that represents both companies specifically.

This is why a furor is created when a Fox News affiliate in Washington D.C. points out the sex, violence, blood and gore that is present in DC’s current lineup. This is why people outside of comics get upset when they see Batman schtupping Catwoman on a roof. What they see is an abomination of a trademark that they have come to trust and they react like they did when Coke changed its original classic recipe. As consumers, they feel a trust has been violated.

Relaunched Comics Using Sex and Violence To Sell: MyFoxDC.com

DC Comics, licenses their trademarked characters to a zillion licensees most of which make product targeted to children. DC has the right to approve every item produced, checking for quality and an assurance that the products represent their trademarked property well. Would they approve of bed sheets or a lunch box with Batman and Catwoman doing the nasty?

Let’s reverse the roles. Do the licensees want to see the trademarked characters that they paid top dollar for so they could put them on kids products have sex in comics, movies, or anywhere? Ask Tiger Woods. His indiscretions cost him plenty in lost endorsements to products targeted mostly at adults! Why shouldn’t Batman behave himself?  At least Tiger made his own mistake. Batman’s blunder is made by a team of responsible editors and a huge corporation.

DC is so fast to hunt down and challenge any trash truck with the Superman logo on it or a restaurant with a bat in its logo regardless if that logo resembles theirs or not. They have created every possible bat logo imaginable in an effort to protect their franchised character yet they seemingly let parodies of their most significant trademark characters proliferate on the porn market with no opposition. Look at these YouTube trailers and ask yourself how does DC let this go? ?

BATMAN XXX

SUPERMAN XXX

These take-offs are so specifically exact to the characters and their films, is it possible that they go beyond parody? Even as legitimate parodies, a huge company like Warner Brothers could step up to the plate and buy them out just to protect their trademarks or do they have some kind of stake in the porn market that is not publicized.

So what’s the deal?

My theory is that DC has been systematically altering every character in its universe primarily to separate the copyright ownership of each character from the original creators and their heirs.

DC is attempting to put their characters in every possible situation, like their new logo, making their trademark characters viable in as many markets as possible, even the porn market, so that the idea of Batman having sex cannot be considered parody.

DC has realized that, unlike copyrights, which can revert eventually to originators, trademarks can last indefinitely so long as they are continually used to identify their goods and services.

DC Comics is on a mission that is borderline paranoia and the result will be a long list of bland, diluted characters paraded around as valuable trademarks of a huge conglomerate that has shot itself in the foot.

I can’t imagine that Disney will do the same with Marvel. If anything, expect Marvel/Disney to begin a very focused campaign, establishing a trademark paradigm that will be held as gospel and beware of anyone attempting to parody, lest they suffer the agonizing trials of the air pirates.

Speaking of pirates, I was intending that the blog this week be about the war on SOPA and PIPA but miraculously both have been indefinitely suspended due to public outcry.

WAY TO GO TO EVERYONE WHO SPOKE OUT!!!

Guaranteed that this is not an issue that is over. Get ready for the next proposed legislation the Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade Act (OPEN)

Now please excuse me while I delete all the porn cookies I had to incur while putting this blog together and don’t worry, I know Spidey and his friends are slinging the triple X’s too. Maybe CO2 Comics should get into the parody biz, we might get rich if we were prostituting our comics.

Nah…

Celebrating Thirty Years of Comics History!

Gerry Giovinco

Don’t you just love when we learn things from our children? Usually they are just reminders of lessons learned long ago and forgotten, lost in the redundancy of our daily lives. Sometimes we have to watch our kids suffer through the same trials we did to remember why those lessons were so valuable.

This week my son Michael had the amazing opportunity to run for President of the New Jersey Association of Student Councils. He was challenged by a very worthy opponent and some unfortunate circumstances and did not win the election. His disappointment was heartfelt. As painful as it was to see him victimized by the agony of defeat it was as much a joy to see him concede with class and good sportsmanship. He picked himself up, dusted himself off and moved on to the next challenge, a performance of stage illusions before a packed auditorium at his school two days later.

The pride he felt after that successful performance and his facebook post, “Being a part of amazing shows like Cabaret Night help remind me why I go through all the hard work and effort to do what I love most ” reminded me of what it was like to be young, daring, industrious and resilient.

Thanks, Mike!

Thirty years ago when we were puttering around and laying the foundation for Comico we had all those fine qualities. There were plenty of obstacles, defeats, and disillusionments but every time we were knocked down, we got back up, learned a lesson or two and forged ahead. With all that “hard work and effort” Comico became a contender in the comics industry but eventually the haymaker did come and the defeat was as bitter as it could be.

Sometimes, as Mike proved, it’s better to redirect, let the wounds heal, and regain your confidence. This of course is easier done when you are young and bereft of responsibility.

Bill Cucinotta and I as former partners at Comico and now as partners here at CO2 Comics are proving that it is possible to pave a comeback trail and that even tough we are not the twenty-somethings we were when we founded Comico we still have the drive to do what we, as artists, love most and that is make comics.

Looking past healed wounds and a sea of scar tissue it is nice to see that there is still evidence of the impact that our earlier achievements had on the industry not the least is the creators and readers that have put their faith in us by joining us in our CO2 Comics venture.

This industry is in the middle of a massive evolution and we know that we can expect to be taking it on the chin once again as we go toe to toe with seemingly insurmountable obstacles but hey, it’s only been thirty years since we set out on that mission before and now we have a new weapon, inspiration from our own children.  How can we expect to teach them the lessons that Michael has learned if we don’t lead by example?

Celebrating Thirty Years of Comics History!

Gerry Giovinco

Damn it!

It breaks my heart every time I read about a comic artist finding it difficult to make ends meet, especially when they are extremely talented and were at one time among the elite creators in the field.

Welcome to the Arts!

I guess this means that comics have finally arrived as an art form. There was a time when a job in comics was just a bottom feeder stepping stone to a more lucrative career in advertising or other creative fields. Now artists are begging for a career in comics. Who would have guessed?

It was not long ago when Dick Giordano feared that the talent pool in comics was about to be extinct prompting him to create an apprentice program at DC in the late 1970′s. Around the same time Joe Kubert’s school became a fertile environment, producing numerous great talents. Other teachers like Will Eisner and Burne Hogarth also brandished brilliant torches, shining a bright light on education of the medium.

Comics now have joined the respected ranks of music, dance, literature, painting and sculpture where legions of practitioners strive for success yet only a rare few ever achieve stardom and tremendous financial reward.

Joe Kubert, Will Eisner, Burne Hogarth

Does this mean that if you are not one of the supremely talented or lucky you should just pack up the pencils paper and ink and give up? Hell no!

Artists in general have a strange sense of entitlement. Growing up, most are made well aware of their talents by doting family and friends that hail their giftedness. Stars in their own small circles, many are not prepared to face the challenge of competition in the larger arena of the real world. They expect the commendations and glories that they always knew and become disenchanted when it requires significantly greater effort to achieve success.

Success in any medium requires hard work well beyond talent and this is especially true in comics because of limited opportunity. Other than publishing yourself, there are so few publishers willing to pay reasonable fees for the work. There are also fewer projects by major publishing houses which will become an epidemic as the digital market grows.

The Big Two’s bean counters will surely realize that the seventy years of content that they already posses will be enough to saturate the digital market. Their money would be better spent digitalizing the classic material than spending it on new work that might require royalties and other forms of compensation not to mention costly editorial and production expenses.

So what’s a comic artist to do? What else? Get creative! Pave your own road to success by marketing, networking, publishing, teaching and creating comics, just like every other person that calls themselves a professional artist of the medium of their choice.

Superstars in every creative field are rare but plenty of creative folks support themselves and their families while  doing what they love by digging hard into the trenches and working it. Just ask any wedding singer, music teacher, production artist, variety entertainer. How many musicians are there in a garage band performing locally that have dreams of being a big star? Plenty.

The environment for creating comics and profiting from them has never been more full of opportunity thanks to the Direct Market, digital printing,  the internet, and digital distribution. Any one can make comics and have them distributed around the world in no time. Not everyone will get rich making comics but, like every art field, the cream will rise to the top and others will find levels of success to meet their personal efforts and some will simply give up their dream.

How To Be A Supervillain by Rachael Yu

One thing is for sure, like the lottery, you can’t win if you don’t play. Last week a graphic novel written by a fourteen year old girl, Rachel Yu, was number one on Amazon’s Kindle Fire, outselling any graphic novel by Marvel or DC! The playing field is as even as it is ever going to be regarding distribution and the comic creators have the upper hand when it comes to being able to create and control exciting, fresh, new concepts.

Check Out Occupy Comics

2012 has already been tagged as the year of the artist-entrepreneur. It most definitely is! If you have been following the Occupy movement you may be in anticipation of a revolution. If you are a comic creator you are in the middle of one! Now is the time for comic creators to unite and take control of the digital market and ultimately the Direct Market, simply by producing the best new comics available. Let the big guys bury themselves with reboots of tired old characters.

CO2 Comics is just one collective community of comic artists with an eye on the prize. We have a track record thirty years in the making, of jumping into the ring with the heavyweights and backing them into the ropes with speed and agility. We are lacing up the gloves again as proud supporters of creators right’s and the talents of the little guy. If you want to be in our corner, contact us, show us what you got and get prepared to deliver an uppercut. The big guys are going down!

It may not seem right making comparisons of art and war but this is a matter of survival. Comic creators have an opportunity to set an example. We have a chance to prove that as a community we can make a difference. We can pull ourselves out from under the thumb of corporate giants that have dictated this industry for decades and establish new standards for the creation of comics that will make them better for everyone.

Oh, and if you don’t think this is war you better educate yourself about SOPA and realize that there is a covert attack on our creative rights happening right now. Implementation of SOPA may as well be the implementation of martial law on the internet and we are in danger of losing all the benefits and freedoms of the systems of distribution that we are counting on for a bright future for comics. We must do what we can, now, to stop SOPA.

Carpe Diem!

Celebrating Thirty Years of Comics History!

Gerry Giovinco

I can’t believe that 2011 is finally behind us! The year sure went fast and boy was it rocky but hey, some of us enjoy a wild roller coaster ride. Now we have to look forward to the brave new year of 2012. Thanks to the Mayan calendar and a few other prophetic hijinks many fear that this year is targeted to be The End of the World.

Bring it on Baby!

Regardless what the predictions may be, you can bet 2012 will be the end of the world as we know it, especially in the field of comics. 2011 set the foundation for the Digital Age and I think that this year you will see comics taking a foothold as a dominant player in digital media.

Beware of the little guy!

The nature of digital marketing and distribution as it stands today will make the market an open free-for-all and don’t be surprised to find some of the smallest fish making the biggest waves because of their ability and willingness to navigate freely, unencumbered by bureaucracy, corporate red tape, and allegiance to traditional systems of distribution.

This sounds like a lot of hype from an Indy guy like myself plugging a web based comic site here at CO2 Comics with my partner Bill Cucinotta and a loyal roster of comic contributors that for the last two and a half years have been plugging away diligently.  We are happy to be little guys in times like this because we have been there before and we know the potential of the current environment.

Gerry Giovinco, Bill Cucinotta & Phil LaSorda

2012 marks the thirtieth anniversary of our first attempt at publishing comics as Comico the Comic Company. Bill and I, along with former partners Phil and Dennis LaSorda, were little guys with not much more than a dream when we attempted to tackle the then fledgeling Direct Market with our first black and white  anthology comic book, Primer #1. Within a few years we had surprised the industry  as we grew to be a dominant player, publishing acclaimed color comics, securing daring licensing deals, and working with a long list of some of the most talented artists in the field.

A lot has changed over the last thirty years, in the industry, in the world and in our lives, but one thing is still the same. Bill and I, along with the rest of our CO2 Comics family, have big dreams about creating comics and we know first hand the potential of being the little guy. I am a sucker for nice round numbers and twenty twelve rolls of the tongue in a robust kind of way but a thirty year benchmark is a great excuse to stand up and want to be accounted for.

This year for us will be a celebration of our past accomplishments  and a reminder to ourselves and the world what we are capable of. 2012 may not really be the end of the world after all but don’t be surprised if a new world emerges, especially where CO2 Comics is concerned.

Happy New Year!

Celebrating Thirty Years of Comics History!

Gerry Giovinco

Jerry Robinson & Joe Simon

This month, as the holiday season celebrated by gift giving approaches its crescendo, the comic industry has lost two giants in the field that have played significant roles in giving the world the gift of a comics industry that we have all come to know and love. Without the creative efforts and genius of these two men the Golden Age of comics may have been nothing more than a blip on our cultural radar. They, along with all the Golden Age comic book pioneers, gave a gift that keeps on giving: their talents, energies and inspiration. We could never thank them enough.

Jerry Robinson, 89  and Joe Simon, 98 passed away one week apart, reminding us that the light of their generation of creators is nearly extinguished.

Jerry Robinson was the creator of the Joker, a nemesis that defined the Batman. Robinson also co-created the boy wonder, Robin, but was probably most notable for his valiant championing of creator’s rights. He fought for compensation to Superman creators Siegel and Shuster. He went as far as traveling to Uruguay and the Soviet Union to help free jailed political cartoonists. He was dauntlessly motivated to protect creators.

Joe Simon was an industrious creator  having been a writer, artist, editor and publisher. He teamed with Jack Kirby to co-create Captain America and many other superheroes while also pioneering the comic genres of romance, horror and satire.

I’ve written in the past about the legacy and lessons that comic creators leave behind when they die. This is true of these two legends as well.

Regarding the current tough economic times that most creators face, inspiration can be found in Joe Simon’s words from a 2009 interview with Graphic NYC:

“There were a lot of times when artists were unemployed in this business, and we had to make our own jobs by creating something off the beaten track, a new type of hero or something entirely different like Young Romance. We were the guys that were up to the task.”

Ever resourceful and resilient Simon forged paths in the industry that created jobs and opportunities not just for himself and his partner but generations of comic creators to follow. That is not just an inspiration to the creators of today but a challenge to be equally resourceful and willing to overcome the obstacles of the current market.

Jerry Robinson’s legacy is one of creative diligence. Robinson’s lifelong fight for creators rights demands that we be better educated about the legal matters that protect the ownership of our own creations. More than ever we have the ability to be the stewards of our intellectual property and profit from our works fairly thanks to standard-bearers like Jerry Robinson who waved the flag of righteousness for creators past, present and future.

With the new year upon us and the comics market possibly poised for tumultuous change, move forward with a keen eye to the past so the lessons learned from great masters of the medium like Jerry Robinson, Joe Simon and so many others from that great generation of the Golden Age of Comics are not forgotten but are used as a source of empowerment for a better, more creatively exciting and profitable comics industry of tomorrow.

Making Comics Because I Want To

Gerry Giovinco

What the HELL is going on!!! Two weeks till Christmas and the comics world is apparently in an anxiety crisis of epic proportions. Retailers are staring down a deep, dark abyss of economic failure, struggling with the day and date price issues between print and digital. Artists are literally begging for help suggesting suicide as an option. No one has a dollar to wipe their ass with. The future can only suck more. We’re gonna BLOW!!!

What’s it gonna take to get bitch-slapped back to our senses?!

Fortunately, crisis seems to bring out the best in us. When we hit rock bottom, get ready to bounce. Impact seems imminent!

Remember, bouncing requires redirection…

Ebenezer Scrooge could change his miserable, miserly ways and divert himself from a path of loathed self destruction.  He, of course, had the help of the three Spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Future.

What would they have to show us about the comics industry?

I think the Spirit of Christmas Past would take us back to images of a vibrant industry where comics sold millions of copies each month. It would show how the industry banded together to save itself from elimination by the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency hearings in 1954. Then it would point to the Silver Age, then the rise of the Direct Market and Independent publishers. The specter would point out that early Direct Market retailers were an innovative, entrepreneurial lot that started with little, working out of garages using shoe boxes in place of cash registers. The Spirit of the Past would also point out injustices to creators and the greed of corporate minded publishers.

Spirit of Christmas Present would paint an anxious picture of an industry at a cross road faced with the possibility of unlimited opportunity for creators and audiences. The Independent publishers, the internet, and digital comics are proliferating and offering the widest variety of comics ever. The creative direction of comics is no longer harnessed with blinders, focused on only spandex and capes. The joys of creative freedom however are marred by a financial crisis not seen since the Great Depression, ironically the era when comic books first rose from the muck. Creators struggle to create while making ends meet as corporate comic companies feast like gluttons on the spoils of creators that they had raped in the past. Nervous retailers struggling with revenue lost to digital wonder how long they can keep their doors open. The industry wonders what will become of the twenty page pamphlet format that gave us so much joy for decades. Like Tiny Tim’s crutch it leans, slumping on a shelf in a weakened state.

What will the future hold?

The Spirit of Christmas Yet to Come points toward what, at first glance, appears to be a tombstone but, as it turns, exposes itself to be a shimmering tablet of hope. The spirit shows that anxious fears were warranted. The Industry did change. Those that could not adapt, were set in their ways and frozen by fear, perished, defeated by the medium they loved so much yet held to so tightly  that they crushed their own dreams of its future.

The tablet that the Spirit now holds is a miraculous window of information that not only shows the potential for comics as digital content via apps or the web but as print product as well. Comics reach more readers than ever before in more formats and genres than ever imagined in the last seventy years. Publishers big and small reach audiences of all types with targeted approaches that broaden the love for the medium. Retailers who adapt capitalize as their stores become the beneficiaries of the broadened appeal and awareness of comics. The local comic shop becomes the social gathering spot for a new wave of comics enthusiast who is no longer limited by the narrow scope of the superhero genre. Creators gain new respect and are in greater control over their own destiny and their own creations than ever before.  Through it all the pamphlet lives as just one of a multitude of formats, loved for what it always was intended to be, a casual reading experience full of wonder and excitement accessible to anyone.

So, while we are all holding our breath, waiting to exhale, throw open some shutters and let the light in. Take a deep breath of some crisp, morning air and put your chin up. The future is only as dark or as bright as you are willing to let it be. If you love comics, I’m sure you are a dreamer of the impossible. It is time we in comics stop dreaming to live and start living our dreams of an impossibly bright future.

Hit it, Tiny Tim.

“God bless us, every one!”

Making Comics Because I Want To

Gerry Giovinco

I have said many times that I do not regard a comic complete until it is in the hands of the reader. I say his because I believe that the presentation of the material is itself a critical element that impacts the readers appreciation of the work. Most of my career in comics has been on the side of producing the final package wether it be in print or digital format. Bill Cucinotta and I take as much pride here at CO2 Comics in packaging other creator’s comics for final presentation as we do writing and drawing our own material. This was also true when we were partners publishing comics under the Comico label back in the 1980′s.

Last week I wrote about accessibility, primarily focusing on characters remaining accessible to their audience after decades of continuity that might obscure their fundamental characteristics that make them unique and even iconic. To many, however the concept of accessibility as it relates to comics refers more to the availability of product or more precisely, the delivery of the product.

Ever since the rise of the Direct Market, beginning in the late 1970′s, it seems that  the accessibility of the comic book to the general public, or more accurately the casual comic book reader, has diminished with the relative extinction of traditional mass market outlets that drove the sales in the Golden and Silver Ages of comics.

Overlooked however is the fact that comics do exist outside of both of these markets and are thriving.  Comics may be more accessible to readers now than ever before. Comics are offered in such a tremendous array of packaging and subject matter that surely there is something for everybody and comics as a medium is poised to be recognized for its ability to have universal appeal.

I am going to attempt a breakdown of venues through which comics are currently being enjoyed. some are traditional formats others are new and still others are vehicles of marketing or use of comics as a form of communication. This includes strips, panels, short form and long form presentations. Please, if I miss any don’t hesitate to to send along your suggestions.

Newspapers – strips and panels – newstand distribution, subscription

Magazines -  strips and panels – newstand  and mass market distribution, subscription, internet sales

Comic Books – long format – Direct Market, Bookstores, subscription, internet sales

Graphic Novels – long format – Direct Market, Bookstores, internet sales

Small Press – Boutique format – Direct Market, internet sales, conventions

Web comics- Any format goes including infinite canvas – usually free on internet, some by subscription, some get collected into print packages.

Digital – comics collections on disc or via subscription on web sites.

Cell phone apps- comics downloaded to cell phone

e-reader apps – comics downloaded to e-readers like i-Pad, Kindle Fire, BN Nook

Print on Demand- Comics available as books printed to order from POD producers like LULU.

Zines – usually produced as fan publications, printed at home and mailed or distributed as PDFs via e-mail

Tracts – small religious pamphlets done as comics usually handed out freely by true believers.

Educational -comics used to illustrate a point, often seen in textbooks or educational magazines. The military uses comics to educate.

Institutional- I’ve seen comics used to describe museums and historic landmarks to name a few.

Premium -  This includes everything from free comics in Bazooka Joe Bubble Gum to comics in cereal boxes.

Instructional- Comics are used all the time to show instructions from everything to setting up a computer to flight safety on airplanes.

Promotional-comics used to advertise a product in ad form or catalogue form. I’ve seen promotional comics on comics on place mats in restaurants.

Journalistic- comics journalism has come a long way and can be found as panels or strips in newspapers to magazines and on the web.

I know that there is plenty more out there, I’d love to see samples of comics used in unusual formats, it always fascinates me so please share links or upload pictures to our facebook page.

Comics are everywhere. They are so ingrained in our culture that idioms like word balloons, panels, page layouts, effect splashes, production techniques and genre references are so common place they are easily taken for granted.

It is time for comic creators to lose the sensibility that they are purveyors of a fringe medium whose target audience is a focus group of geek culture and recognize that comics as a medium is one of power through its ability to communicate effectively to the masses in a simple, cost efficient manner. This cultural repositioning of the medium will be necessary for creators to establish their value to a market that will witness an ever increasing demand for this wonderfully versatile medium.

Making Comics Because I Want To

Gerry Giovinco

This past Thanksgiving weekend, while in front of the television, I caught myself getting a little giddy watching Santa arrive in both the Macy’s Parade and the Philadelphia Thanksgiving Day Parade. It’s always a special moment that, somehow, officially ushers in the Christmas season.

Santa Claus was the first hero that I ever idolized. This is probably true of almost any kid brought up in a culture that endorses his mythology. Santa has a lot in common with superheroes, a simple origin story, unique abilities, a specific costume, and an honorable mission. The only difference is that Santa is real…sorta.

Most kids know that their favorite superhero is just a character created for their enjoyment, but it takes a while to convince a kid that Santa might not be real. In fact, most of us adult types put a lot of effort into insuring that our children buy into the reality of the jolly old elf, in part, because it rekindles the joys we remember having in our own childhood and we want to make sure our children have the same, if not better, experience.

Santa gives us  insight to the subject of accessibility which has been a recent topic for discussion about comic books and the characters found within. The overriding position being that most comic characters that are now decades old, some with seventy years of adventures offer no simple jumping-in point for new readers who may be intimidated by the tremendous burden of trivia laden continuity.

Comic characters over the years have bounced around  alternate universes, infinite realities, and been subjected to aberrations instigated by time travel. Some story arcs are just a fresh approach by a new creative team with a different perspective of the character.  Do all these alterations make the characters any less accessible?

Ask Santa!

Santa Claus or some variation of the character has been around for hundreds of years and has been the subject of many a cultural makeover effecting everything  including his name, his costume and his adventures.  Country to country the concept of Santa is similar even though the details may differ, he is a benevolent being who brings toys to all the boys and girls of the world on Christmas. Santa Claus is almost universally accessible.

Here in America the concept of Santa is most clearly defined by Clement C. Moore’s 1823 poem A Visit from St. Nicholas better known today as T’was the Night Before Christmas. Santa is a jolly old elf dressed in a fur trimmed suit that drives a sleigh pulled by eight tiny reindeer and he comes down the chimney to deliver toys while we sleep.

Many stories have added to the lure of Santa, establishing his home at the North Pole, his most famous reindeer, Rudolf, and adventures from battles with Martians to tussles with Mother Nature and her boys Heat Miser and Snow Miser.

Children even learn to accept that Santa has “helpers” that dress like him to find out what kids want for Christmas and those helpers come in all shapes sizes and colors.

The iconic superheroes, like Santa, all share the ability to be simply defined. For most of them their name says it all, combined with a simple colorful costume, there is no doubt what the character is about. The creators of the major comic heroes gave us classic origin stories that define the characters into perpetuity just as Moore did for Santa.

Those origin stories are the root that every other story featuring that hero derives from. Readers will always have accessibility provided the characters uphold the most basic canon established in the origin.

What makes good comics about superheroes work is the creator’s ability to generate a willing suspension of disbelief on the part of the reader. All heroes give us something that we want to believe in like truth, justice and the American way. We want to believe that good will always triumph over evil just as we want to know that, if we are good, Santa will always deliver. Our desire to believe in these qualities allows us to believe that a man can fly and so can those eight, tiny reindeer!

Making Comics Because I Want To

Gerry Giovinco