Jan 13, 1997
[For both] So are you guys completely apathetic about this whole "new Superman"
thing? Or does it burn you up? Seems like that's all comic dorks are talking
about these days. Hey, maybe you guys could write an episode of the TV show
where he turns into this electric being or something, and then everybody
makes fun of him because he looks like even more of an idiot than usual.
-- Sean Medlock, seanmed@aol.com
Sarah: Well, I think "apathetic" describes it pretty well....I look at it and think "that's not Superman!" but whatever. As far as the show goes, last year we wrote an episode where Superman FOUGHT an electrically powered villain(ess -- Livewire) who zapped around instead of flying and had great electric powers and wore a cool blue and white outfit with a lightning-bolt-inspired design on the chest with great punky hair...hey!!! Waitaminnit!!!
Evan: What Sarah said, basically. Lots of people at WB noticed the similarity of the new, de-volved Superman to the show's Livewire character, as did a friend of mine who just simply said, "What did they do, just rip off Livewire?" Whatever. It's obvious DC, like everyone else these days, is once again floundering for new ideas to juice a long-running series for a shrinking market, and so here comes another identitiy crisis/new suit/new origin bit to eat up a year's continuity and get some press. This kind of stunt is always good for filling up issues -- you write towards the origin and the nonsense, woithout having to just write a real Superman story. Since nobody seems to be able to say "let's write some good stories", everytime there's been a lull in comics, from day one, people kill a character, give him/her a new suit, change the reality 180 degress, or add some b.s. that makes no sense. It's nothing new, it's just that now it happens every few months to each character, they keep the spin-off characters, and confuse the continuity even worse and repell new readers. Wasn't Crisis supposed to end this insanity -- now DC still has multi-universes, they're just all in different "realities" -- and are just as confusing, if not more so, than Earth 1, 2, 20, etc. Anyway -- after a while, Superman will be back in his copyrighted trademarked world-famous red and blue jammies, and someone else will have the electric suit so they can keep that thing going as well. And Lois will probably be a clone, and Jimmie will be replaced by a cyborg, and lalala I don't care, it's not my character they're screwing up. Another long-winded answer, man I wish I could just get to the point like Sarah!
Apr 12, 1997
[For both] Hey, guys. I was wondering exactly what your going to be doing
at DragonCon this year; that is, will you be lecturing and talking to fans
or just working with SLG? Since I work for a publishing company I get a pass,
and I'm really looking foward to checking out whatever you guys might be
involved with. -- just another action girl
Sarah: Not too sure yet what our "agenda" is. We will have a table, and we'll be there a majority of the time to sell books, talk to people, whatever. We will also be doing some panel appearances but I don't know what yet. We're definitely scheduled to do a panel on Superman, at which they may premiere one of our episodes. (The plan is to show "Livewire" -- yay!)
Evan: We generally stay at our table space a lot, save for trips to the can and to scout the dealers room for neat crap. That's our typical convention day.
Apr 21, 1997
[For both] Hi. Pleasure meeting y'all at San Diego last summer. Anyway, I
was at this year's APE and noticed the strangest phenomenon. It seems like
there's an indie book collector/speculator market after all. I couldn't believe
the prices being asked for the early issues (actually, any issues) of titles
like Hepcats, Sam and Max, and Milk and Cheese (natch!). I'm not quite sure
how I feel about this. Part of me is glad, since it is a sign that quality
books are being noticed. However, another part of me is annoyed that the
speculators are invading my hobby. After all, every copy of Stray Bullets
marked up to $30 and stuck up on a pegboard is a copy that a potential fan
is not reading. Granted, the same argument could be said for my buying books
and keeping them in my library, except that I loan them out to friends in
an attempt to promote these books. Furthermore, many of these expensive books
are in fact available in more reasonably priced formats such as Sim's
"phonebooks" and the billion reprintings of Bone #1. Nonetheless it does
seem an unusual situation. Something I noticed was how some of these books,
previously self-published, shot up once the creator(s) signed on with a
publisher. Just wondering what your thoughts are as to what effect this might
have for the indie comic industry. As for me, I'm off to stock up on back
issues of Age of Heroes and Rob Haines! -- Dan Nitzani, dnitzani@ucsd.edu
Sarah: Well, while on the one hand we think it's really idiotic to place such value on early printings, at the same time, when you see a book hanging on a peg like that, it's not really a copy that someone's not reading, it's the reason another 5-10,000 copies were probably printed of that book. That said, there is nothing that irks me more than people who will only buy a comic if it is a first printing of a #1. If you're a huge fan of something, and you really want to own that first printing for whatever reason, fine. But if you're not interested enough in the book to try #2 or a later printing of #1, then you can just go sail!
Evan: Okay, this will probably end up
even longer than my usual rambling reply, so bear with me. You might want
to go get a sandwich or something.
I feel very uncomfortable seeing my work marked up and treated as a collectible
and not as something to be read. Speculation, unfortunately goes
unwashed-hand-in-unwashed-hand with comics as reading material -- even after
speculation has devastated the industry several times with the Turtles craze,
the eros books, the trade paperback glut, the special cover enhancement trend,
the bad girl nonsense and the overall superhero feeding frenzy of the early
to mid 90's. Booms always end in busts, and the booms in comics speculation
are always fueled by air and nothing more, faddish and fannish pyramid schemes
most retailers and fans fall for again and again. Only the fans get frustrated
and leave the hobby, and the retailer then has to try to stay alive during
a drought -- hoping for the next artificial boom period which they again
help inflate and deflate, because comics can't pull out of the
hobbyist/collector/speculator mentality, it's stuck in unprofessional short-term
thinking and probably always will be. Only in comics does a store take all
their unsold dated material and then mark it up higher, hoping garbage will
turn to gold. Bookstores don't yank their wares the month after a book comes
out, mark up the price, put them in bags, and pray a few of them become
collectible or desired. For every comic that "legitimately" becomes "valuable",
a few hundred other books become unsellable. Leave them at cover price and
try to sell them all, why waste man-hours boarding and bagging when you should
be working on a better inventory system or an ad campaign. And that "valuable"
new "hot" book doesn't always sell, anyway. All that time wasted trying to
polish turds -- I've seen the storage rooms of dozens of comic shops, and
even the better retailers seem to think they have a possible goldmine sitting
back there in their massive overstock of unsold, gambled on books. They can't
let go of them, of this system, they treat thousands of unwanted comics like
lottery tickets, each of thema potential "strike" waitng to happen.
It's nuts. The "hits" never outweigh the "misses", gambling on your inventory
every month is a crazy way to do business, and it's the way comics does businesss
-not only ordering what they think they can sell, but what they think they
may want to keep in the hopes the book will be worth more someday. Most retailers
seem to learn nothing after a "windfall" and buying craze dies down -- leaving
them still in debt to the distributors, landlords and utilities -- most comics
shops are never doing well with cash flow and profits, even during so-called
golden times. There has to be a better, smarter way of doing things
other than looking for that score -- those few extra copies of a book that
might net you a few ten-spots, maybe even a few hundred if you're lucky,
the profits of which get eaten up by all the stinkers sitting in mouldy
boxes in the back room. Not all retailers act like this, but enough do to
hobble this medium which already has so many strikes against it.
Okay, that rant done with, again, I'm not comfortable with my material being
hawked as an investment. I'm almost flattered in a way, it's weird to see
price guides listing the first M&C at $100 (while others list it at $3
-- anybody selling first printings for $3 tell me! I only kept about three
copies for myself and would actually like a few more -- to sell, of course).
But I still don't think it's healthy for the industry. I know some people
honestly enjoy collecting rarer books, first editions, that's fine, it's
just usually not the case and I am not into that. I'll take a reprint I can
afford anytime, I want the art, I want the story. That's part of why Dan
Vado keeps the books in print, anyone who wants one of my books can find
them for cover price, save early Pirate Corp$! issues which we are planning
to reprint in a trade paperback. I feel very strongly that anyone should
be able to find and read my books.
I will admit speculation can have a positive affect on my career -- it usually
generates heat for a title or a creator, that heat can sometimes light a
fire under a lazy retailer's ass to wonder what's up with that stupid Milk
and Cheese book selling for x number of dollars, and so he finally gives
it a try so he doesn't "miss out" on soemthing -- but I'm not going to stoke
those speculator flames. Some creators get off on having hard to find and
expensive books on the walls of comics shops, I get off on a ratty dog-eared
copy of my work sitting on someone's coffee table, bed or toilet tank. Comics
should be a medium first, not a poor-man's stock market.
May 10, 1997
[For both] Did any one out there see that little pamphlet "modern Cartoonist"
That Dan Clowes Included with Eightball #18? I'm always interested to hear
the opinion of a working cartoonist, and if I ever have any questions it
looks like Dan is the man to answer them.It would also appear as though his
recent Harvey award nominations have elevated him to the status of comics
Daddy, as he hunkers down to give all us wayward tykes "some ideas to consider".
His first suggestion (after letting us know that political cartoonists annoy
him,and that anyone with a loose drawing style is just too darn lazy to draw
like Dan) is to get away from iconic characters, dismissing this particular
style as "a cheap gimmick designed to flatter the shallow reader". Tell that
to Jeff Smith. Anyhow, what do you think? Is he kidding? Have I missed something
being down here in New Zealand? -- Rod Fransham, ransham@globe.co.nz
Evan: I don't know if he's kidding, I didn't get that from the pamphlet. I'm dopey, I just think people develop a particular style they enjoy using that works for their particular needs. A cartoonist friend of mine (who is extremely talented, and not a "mainstream" artist) got very depressed after reading Clowe's tract, he felt it was elitist and a bit of a slap in the face to a lot of hard working people who simply didn't fit Clowes criteria of a worthwhile cartoonist. I just kinda shrugged my shoulders, I was actually surprised it didn't bother me more because I don't fit Clowes' criteria as one of the 50 or so actual talents he believes exist in the comics field. I like more genre-oriented cartooning than a guy like Clowes, so I think there's more than 50 or whatever "talented" cartoonists out there, but he seemed to consider only those doing work of a "higher order" than those who were "skilled craftsmen" or maybe just drawing and writing for fun, if you will. I thought it was little elitist, but that's his view on comics, and he has every right to his opinions, especially in his own book. I thought the tract was interesting and honest, and I enjoyed it for Clowes' views and for his stated commitment to keep doing comics and that he believed in comics, even with all that comics is up against.
Jun 9, 1997
[For both] Okay, I know Wizard has totally f*cked over the small press kids
for this year's Chicago Comicon...my question is: Will You Guys (and Dolls)
Be There? I know it ain't listed in the "tour" schedule, but, ya know...maybe
you changed yer minds or something. At any rate, at least tell us why you
won't be there (if that's the answer)...is it because of Wizard's involvment?
Too busy? That whole flying thing? All right, that's a really long question,
sorry! Keep up the fabulous work, both of ya! -- Joe Stoopid,
stoopidcomix@juno.com
Sarah: As you probably know by now, we didn't go to Chicago -- the reason was simply that we never planned to go; there were three conventions on consecutive weekends this year and we opted for the other two. The flying thing doesn't help, of course. We just can't do that many conventions -- it's very exhausting, throws us way off schedule, and we can only afford so many plane tickets! So each year we do San Diego and we try to pick one or two other cons or signings to do in a different area of the country.
Evan: We also try to go to places or shows we haven't been to before, the Atlanta convention asked us to come so we gave it a try, having never attended before. I'd like to do more shows, we've been asked to Mid-Ohio con and I was asked to emcee the harvey's at last year's Wonder-Con (!), but time is a more inhibiting factor than my problem with flying.