Confessions Of A Company Shill!
June 20th, 2007Things are going really great on the homefront, busy summer stuff, kids off school, etc etc. Fun though, I can’t complain. Also I get draw up some neat things that will be life sized standups of the HBN characters. I gotta get some of those for the house to freak people out, or Iron Talon holding a “No Soliciting” sign…. it must be done!
DRAMA after the jump…
So, I’ve stayed away from DRAMA online for a long time. 6 months or so now and counting, but i got caught up in some yesterday. An old creator from Platinum, Mike Strang, decided to go onto Comixpedia of all places, which is one of my nerd stomping grounds, and freak out warning creators to never sign a “work for hire” contract with Platinum. I immediately thought… “Say wha!??” — He ended his comment with “my dream is dead”
That really bugged me to hear that, so I think my first response was meant as encouragment for him to buck up and continue on. Dreams shouldn’t die! But as it turns out, this fellow did what I’ve warned other people not to do, and what Platinum’s higher ups have even told creators personally in front of me… He signed his “baby” over. His ONE project that was about him and his friends and his life, etc, etc. It would be the equivalent of me signing over YIRMUMAH, which I know better than to do. Then I got into the usual smackdown slapfight on the internet after the guy clearly was responding in out of control meltdown style. Something I think I can see coming because I’ve been there, am I right!?? 
I regret that it turned into a war of words between Mike and I, but frankly it was becoming entertaining to me to read his responses. Even STILL I think I might have tried a dose of encouragement… but it was to no avail. Can you blame the guy? Well, yeah, you can, but i digress.
As predicted in my head, the usual suspect chain links to anything negative about Platinum, Joey Manley made his usual “don’t sign work for hire, it’s like putting your head in a meat grinder” type comment, then he probably e-mailed his buddy Dirk Deppey, who of course will jump on anything bad about Platinum— And usually if iJOurnalista covers it, Heidi McDonald covers it on her blog, THE BEAT. and of course all along the way I’m called a company shill because I show up to defend Platinum, Heidi even took m to task for it today. I get accused that they tell me to do it, they pay me to do it, but nothing can be further from the truth. Can I really stop talking about it though, I mean, I work for them and it’s a big part of what I do now. And I’ve been vocal about EVERYTHING else in my past on my site and my usual stomping ground sites, so I don’t care that people throw out or disregard what I say, I’ll voice MY opinion, for better or worse, I’ll just continue to be honest.
Here’s what I do know now, that I maybe didn’t take into account…
First, I’ve told Platinum from the high-ups to the low-downs, they need a media person like a corporate blogger or something to keep updates publically, even briefly about projects in development, or showcasing some of the talent of the past watiing in the wings. But the real problem with that is… they’re all too busy! Jesus Pete, Hollywood is a madhouse of activity– but I keep pushing for this because I think an actual inside voice would help them out a great deal.
There’s a big dichotomy at Platinum right now, and clearly has been a new direction where product is actually getting made and put out ever since last year’s Comic Book Challenge. I was lucky enough to be a part of that. Also, Drunk Duck was BIG for Platinum, even I didn’t think it would be that big of a deal, but if you look at the big picture there, those two items really changed Platinum, at least in my opinion.
But where did that leave all the people who were in “development”, waiting in the wings with projected publishing dates, etc? I don’t know what happened honestly. My guess is that the EIC left and the team of people who were involved in a lot of those projects. Jim McLaughlin, who is widely respected in the comic industry came on board there for a brief time this year, and I think he told me once that a lot of the projects he felt weren’t “ready for prime time” yet. Jim is an honest guy and knows his stuff regarding the comic market. Maybe he did all of those projects a favor by holding off on them.
And YES. It must be incredibly frustrating to be waiting YEARS to see something happen. Dave Roman’s book ALien Circus looks KILLER! And i do know other creators who have waited forever too that I’ve spoken with. Some I’ve known for years and years. (Art and Franco to name a couple) — And I was surprised to have one of the writers actually tell me this yesterday, but I mentioned that Scott and Dan bend over backward to help creators there, but the writer said to me:
“From the POV of some creators, Scott and Dan do seem to bend over
backwards to make things right for DJ Coffman–a guy who had no
previous history with the company, who had a book published by them
within months of it being pitched (as opposed to the years many of us
have been waiting), a superhero book, no less (Platinum did not accept
superhero pitches from anyone outside of the Comic Book Challenge), who
was paid professional page rates for his writing and art while the vast
majority of other creators, artists and writers both, created 60+ pages
of material for a flat advance, who was editorially apparently
left more or less entirely to his own devices.”
So there it hit me. Someone finally told me what a lot of these guys probably are hating, and that comment did make me feel like crap. But what can I do? I got lucky I guess, Platinum didn’t see “Hero By Night” coming, but people loved it all over. I don’t say that in a cocky way, because frankly, it surprised me too. Several interviews the company owner would say “Comics aren’t just Super Heroes” and that made me nervous before I pitched, at one point I thought “Man, I’m moronic bringing a super hero concept to this thing”
I never felt like saying “sorry” for my successes, but I do now. I do because I HAVE BEEN THERE where those people “in development” are. I have had backend deals with companies, and i’ve had some small publishers completely screw me over. Once I had a company PROMISE to publish my book, we ha great buzz, then the thing was solicited in the catalog and the book was never printed!!! The company just decided to call it quits because they didn’t have the printing money. UGH!!!!!!!!! I imagine i was just as pissed, or even MORE pissed than these guys who feel slighted. But I wasn’t even ever paid for that stuff. It stinks to have those man hours gone for nothing.
Maybe I’m just a positive “company shill” but honestly, I think Platinum would love to put out ALL of it’s thousands of properties, but that’s just not realistic. What is realistic is, they seem to have their finger on the pulse of the future of comics, which is exciting to me.
I can’t do anything else but just speak my mind honestly about ANYTHING I’m feeling, create my own work– but If I can, I’m going to do my best to work with Platinum in the future to maybe fix some of these things for the future. Really, everyone is doing everyone a disservice here, I mean, that guy who’s upset STILL has a contract with them wherein they might still do something with his name on it where he makes money, but he’s gone off and said all these bad things, calling them names?? That’s totally not how to work. That’s his deal though. I mean, if it were my company, shoot, I’d just sell him his rights back and call it a day if the project wasn’t going anywhere. Part of Platinum’s appeal though is they have this extensive library of different genres and stuff, and many projects “ready to go!”– Sometimes I wish I was EIC so I could just be an official shill like Joe Quesada or Dan Didio are for DC and Marvel. — give it a few years. If they let me take over though, Platinum Studios Comics would be an unstoppable awesome force in the world of comics.
IN summary, it’s been said before, I’ll say it again and again until my face is blue:
- Work for Hire contracts aren’t bad, as long as you read and negotiate your own contract.
- Don’t sign your “baby” away to ANY company , unless they are willing to pay you oodles and oodles of money where you could retire if you wanted. (not likely to happen unless you’re a genius)
- Be professional!!! — Mike Strang is a good example of someone who wasn’t really ready to be involved in business, but it also shows Platinum was willing to work with and pay a complete beginner because they liked his concept and wanted to develop it for him and keep him in the loop. Look at Dave Roman, he was upset his Alien Circus didn’t see the light of day yet, but it will, but he didn’t go around calling them names. It’s business, and that’s bad form.
- I have to stop shilling for Platinum. Heidi’s right, shit, even Platinum has told me I don’t have to jump to their defense, but I just hate seeing them railroaded like that with no response. I have their back because they’ve had mine. That’s just how I roll. Anyone remember when I defended Comixpress tooth and nail? Yeah, good ol’ me.
- if you’ve actually read through all this, you should probably be working and not paying attention to drama that doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a big IRON TALON “no soliciting” sign to make!
PS, go read Hero By Night.
June 20th, 2007 at 7:25 pm
But how can we not be proud of this company that hired us and is helping us accomplish what we’ve always wanted to do?
June 20th, 2007 at 8:50 pm
Yeah, i boils down to pretty much , “screw the haters.”
June 20th, 2007 at 9:03 pm
I’ll repeat here what I said in Heidi’s blog.
On “shilling”… There’s nothing wrong with defending someone you feel has been unjustly characterized, and setting the record straight. It’s actually commendable, especially when you risk your own reputation by being accused of being put up to it, but you do it anyway because you know it’s right.