You know with all this talk about DC and ZUDA, webcomics finally seem to be piercing into the comic book market’s consciousness with a sharp blade. I, as well as others, foresaw this day long ago when the “comic book giants” , (dinosaurs?) would walk among us. Since I sort of came from more of the comic book side of things it’s been fun watching the evolution of webcomics getting some respect and brought up to be taken more seriously by the industry.

For an indy creator at comic shows in say, 2001 or 2002, being at a comic book show and telling people your comic was available online, you usually got a skeptical eye, and the majority opinion from comic book readers and publishers was that you could either not afford to self publish a comic book through Diamond, or you probably weren’t good enough to be picked up by a “real” publisher. For the most part, the opinion is STILL that way among many comic book readers. I always thought it was a no-brainer to publish online and build an audience with little expense and overhead. It was a small press guy’s dream, suddenly you were getting your book out to more people, with less stapling and running around to local shops and conventions…. although sometimes i miss stapling.

While there are a lot of online pundits chiming in on the DC Zuda thing, or criticizing Platinum– the overall message seems to be, “be careful what you sign, read the contract, don’t sign your rights away!” — That too seems like a no-brainer to me. But it’s good to see WEBCOMICS covered on Newsarama. Expect more and more of this, where “success” stories are covered as comic book news.

I use to call “webcomics” — “the new small press” — because to me, it felt like the same sort of energy online as small zine shows I’d attend with my little mini comic called YIRMUMAH. A bunch of pretty much unknown creators in the room, putting out homemade product, hand stapled right on their living room floors. Inside that room, if you attend a few shows, there are some “favorites” who you end up getting to know. Maybe show after show, they are the cream of the crop, the life of the party. Everyone who shows up at the small show wants to see what popular minicomic guy is putting out and saying, because he’s talented.—– BUT… outside of that room, no one could give a shit. That was webcomics.

Watching it from the webcomic side, it’s become the new “independent/alternative comics press” to me now. Guys that rose up doing it on their own and the audience stayed with them. Guys who ignored everything else and just did their own thing and found a great niche market. Just like independent comic books, people point out the success of someone rising up from indy comics like Brian Bendis who self published his own books and ran through smaller publishers like Caliber comics before his talent was noticed and quoted over and over again. Was it always his ambition to be the head writer at Marvel? Did he sellout by writing new stories for them, or did he just enjoy a real career in comics after years of hard work and paying his own dues.

I don’t suggest that a Scott Kurtz, or Jerry Holkens would evolve or inspire or have it their ultimate goal to be writing Spider-Man… but just like indy comics got noticed and the big companies hand picked the talents like Bendis— so now are the BIG companies like DC quoting “Scott Kurtz” success more times than you can shake a stick at. These guys are ultimately right– they don’t NEED a DC Comics, but i bet if they asked, they could be having some side fun writing a Batman story or something… wouldn’t that be weird? Webcomics becoming the new talent pool place where companies like DC and Marvel find their future stars? — Maybe that’s what ZUDA is all about– Well, if you read their press release.

And what the heck is my path anyway??? Jesus Christ on a stick, already! I think I just ultimately love all forms of comics. I’ve jumped back and forth since 1994 doing daily gag comic strip formats, doing humor comics, trying sci-fi type stories, back to mini-comics and hand stapling (because I missed it), then just like I was in love with comic strips and comic books, I fell in love with webcomics, and I’ve done a few of those too– just out here messing with webcomics and just enjoying my independence and I wasn’t doing too bad financially with it on my own. I even enjoyed sharing and encouraging other creators to make money with their webcomics and pass up the whole comic industry and just deliver instantly to fans, I still think that might be the “future of comics” — but in my webcomic circles i found “Comic Book Challenge” and dusted off an older idea— and now I’m full on doing innovative super hero comics AND doing super hero webcomics at that. (Something that hasn’t been done very well on in mass at least) —- what is my path now? Where will I be in another 7 years (besides age 38)… What exactly am I? How do I answer that???

I’ll just say I’m a cartoonist who loves all forms of comics. Comic Strips, Comic Books, Webcomics…. it’s all FINALLY coming together. That’s exciting to me, because for so long, it’s all seemed so segregated when all along I was thinking “comics are comics!”

Maybe it’s wrong of me to encourage others to make a go for it. Maybe I’m leading them down a depressing and dangerous path of disillusionment. Shoot, maybe you have to get through some rough times to really have the will to do it. It’s a lot of hard work, and not just anyone can do it. You have to be obsessed I think, not just talented. I don’t think I’m ever going to stop encouraging other creators. It’s true, not everything that has worked for me will work for others– but they should at least try.

I know of 50 people who will be trying very soon, and i can’t wait to meet them all soon.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 11th, 2007 at 8:29 am and is filed under YirNews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.