Category: General

(I lied about not posting about comics issues for a few days, I had to get this off my chest.)

In response to the Zuda Card that was being given away in San Diego, the one that had a little bullet-point that said “ZUDA CREATORS WILL RETAIN THEIR COPYRIGHT!” and their website even has an updated statement that says as much. It also says that the work will be published “…under fairly conventional publishing agreements…” which is what you really need to pay attention to.

First and foremost, DC Comics may be benevolent enough to grant you the copyright to your own work, but they haven’t said anything about the Trademark (basically, the title of the work). Trademark is interesting, it’s why the KRAZY KAT collections that Fantagraphics are doing are called Krazy & Ignatz and why the GASOLINE ALLEY collections that D+Q are doing are called Walt & Skeezix. The copyright on those early works may have fallen into the public domain, but the titles (marks) used in business (trade) haven’t, and are still owned by the syndicates. So does Zuda own the trademark to your series, or do you?

Secondly, “…fairly conventional publishing agreements…” is what keeps WATCHMEN and V FOR VENDETTA in print at DC Comics against their creator’s wishes. You can own the copyright to the work, as Alan Moore and his collaborators do, but those “…fairly conventional publishing agreements…” could say pretty-much anything. Moore’s says that the publishing rights for WATCHMEN only revert to him once the book is out of print for a set period of time. That book will never be out of print, so for all intents and purposes he’ll never have control of that project again. Could you live with that? Your work generating massive ammounts of income for a company that you feel both personally and professionally wronged you (and continue to do so to this day)?

Everyone knows the Alan Moore story, so here’s one that’s more personal. A few years back I was hired to completely re-colour SKREEMER, a six-issue limited series originally published by DC, and written by Peter Milligan with art by Brett Ewans and Steve Dillon. Scott Brown at Cyberosia worked out a deal with Milligan and Ewans and was going to publish the long-forgotten (but ahead-of-its-time) series as a graphic novel. Retro-sci-fi-gangsters in the future, it woulda been fun. I turned in four or five pages of colours that were approved (and looked pretty sharp if I do say so myself). All of the sudden, DC steps in and says “What? No, we’ve been planning to do a trade paperback of this for a while now!” Now, I can’t legally say that they’re liars, but everyone involved with the project at Cyberosia (including the legal authors of the work) were… under a different impression. You see, if they announce their intention to reprint the series, that ‘counts’ and the publishing rights don’t revert to the authors, as specified in their contract, despite the fact that Milligan and Ewans “own the copyright”. Four or five months later DC releases a SKREEMER collection, pretty obviously rushed out the door, and in their next special sale to retailers they also offer a substantial discount on that trade paperback to try and move some copies out the door too. In short, they didn’t particularly care about the project, they heavily discounted the book to retailers less than a year later, they just didn’t want to lose their rights to the IP (intellectual property-ancilliary rights like movies, tv, action figures, etc) (they’re in the movie-business, donthcaknow?).

How’s that for your fairly standard publishing contract?

Here, I’ve got two more things for you. The first is a very good publishing industry blog called EDITORIAL ANONYMOUS. It’s written (anonymously, of course) by an editor in the Children’s Book industry, and is a fantastic source of information on publishing and particularly contracts and rights assertion. Seeing an Editor admit (paraphrasing) “yeah, our standard contracts are pretty terrible, no one should sign them if they don’t feel comfortable, HIRE A LAWYER” will quite likely be an enlightening experience for you. Publishing corporations do not have your best interests at heart, they have THEIR best interests at heart, because they’re corporations and that’s what they’re legally obligated to do. So, if you’re curious about the big bad world of publishing, spend some time on that blog there and find out what it’s really like, particularly before you go and sign a bad contract (or compete for the chance to sign a bad contract).

The second thing I’ve got for you is… Scott Kurtz. I don’t particularly like Scott Kurtz, he goes out of his way to say some stupid, hateful things (and in the most obnoxious way possible). I am… reticent… to even link him at all. But what he’s just said recently on his blog about the Zuda/Platinum/”American Idol” style of “breaking into comics” is incredibly relevant and correct. You, as a comics creator, are not a “contestant” for your own success:

“We are NOT contestants. You don’t need to “win” your success in some foolish contest where a media corporation dangles a contract over your head. You are a creator. You may not have much, but the one thing you do have (maybe the ONLY thing you do have) is the internal spark that allows you to create a character or a universe out of thin air. If the one thing you have is the dignity of being a creator, why would you give that one thing away so eagerly?”
– Scott Kurtz, PvP

It ties into my thoughts on other, similar projects (whether corporation-driven or fan-driven or whatever) and I think it’s worth reading for all the creative folks out there, if for nothing else than a reminder that what you do is important and has value, and you shouldn’t be quite so free to give it up for “fairie gold”.

Now, back to work.

– Christopher

– All of my time is taken up with prep for The Toronto Comic Arts Festival right now (August 18-19). Everytime I actually want to write a post here about what’s going on in the wide world of comics, I shake my head and invest that time back into making sure there’ll be event schedules ready to go tomorrow, and that the signage will be printed, and things like that.

– That said, there’s still lots of TCAF-related stuff I’m looking forward to posting here. Notes from artists, event info, oh, and that panel schedule I was just talking about. I think it’ll be at least a little bit interesting even if you’re not coming to the event? But if you are it’s gonna be awesome.

– Oh, and I did get my cell phone back in the end. I’d left it on the table at the D&Q booth, and Tom Devlin was nice enough to scoop it up for me and send it back to Toronto.

Thanks for your continued patronage,

– Christopher

Hey there, why read this stuff when you could go and read Chip Zdarsky (under the name of his alter-ego) giving out good, practical advice in comic-strip format in one of Canada’s national newspapers?
Just keep clicking “next” for hours.

– Chris

SAN DIEGO!

1. I think I might have lost my cell phone… Either that or it’s with my checked luggage. Or Tom Devlin has it. Or it’s gone forever, I’ll let you know.

2. Today was much more productive than yesterday. Yesterday a combination of exhaustion, a summer cold, and drinking too much on Friday kept me away from the show the whole day. I actually have to say, I don’t feel like I missed much, actually.

3. Steven, I did not pick up those comics for you. I think I ordered them from her anyway, I’ll check when we get home.

4. I’m actually in Las Vegas, using their free Wireless Internet. God Bless Las Vegas and their free wireless internet for distracting me from worrying if I lost my cell phone.

5. The big talk Thursday and Friday was BEST SALES FOR CON EVER! Apparently, like me, a great number of people were scared away from Saturday at the show. The annecdotal discussions amongst most publishers/exhibtors I talked to seemed to indicate that Saturday was a slower sales day than Wednesday (now a full-fledged day of the show) or Thursday or Friday. Reasons for this? Well, like I mentioned, FEAR! The Saturday of the show was SOLD OUT IN AT LEAST TWO DIFFERENT WAYS! That’s craziness. If you’re a fan that wants to spend money, are you gonna go on the day when it’s “the busiest”? Probably not. The other annecdotal evidence presented was that the three biggest panels of the con, the HEROES panel and… the other TV/Media ones, were all held in the same space, back-to-back. That pulls more than 5,000 people off of the show floor for three solid hours, and then those people will probably have to eat a meal. Sorta kills your sales momentum.

6. Still, in my rounds today at the show, more-or-less everyone I talked to said that the show was a sales success, and perhaps most importantly, everyone FELT really good. High spirits abounded in the small-press/indy-island, in the various comics publisher booths, and even in artist alley. Honestly and truly, I heard not even one negative feeling about the show as a whole.

7. In the San Diego Airport, Terminal 2, at La Salsa, an employee was screaming at the top of her lungs in the back room for better than 20 minutes. Screaming and crying about… something. In Spanish. She was a mess, to the point where security was called. It was really, really disconcerting. This is why I like McDonalds. At McDonalds, if an employee starts screaming and crying and freaking out? They just take’m out back and ‘solve’ them with a big long bolt to the skull, they same way they ‘solve’ the cows. It’s very efficient.

8. …which isn’t to say that everything was coming up roses. There are still huge logistical problems with the convention. The Thursday-morning check-in was apparently a free-for-all of thrown elbows and naughty words. I can’t believe those guys haven’t built a foot-traffic bridge over the train tracks. The convention centre is too small for the event. The city feels a little small for the event, now. The pretzels made me thirsty. Etc. But 100,000+ people all in one place and no one dies? V for Victory!

9. Apparently, heh, the scuttlebut is that large-scale exhibitors are being asked very nicely to scale back for 2008. Apparently booth sprawl has gotten out of hand, and in order to accomodate more attractions, exhibitors (and we’re talking the people getting more than 20×20′ spaces here) are being asked to plan for a more compact outing next time. I… can’t see this happening. Have you seen the exhibit hall? It’s all about who’s got the biggest dick (to use metaphor for a moment) and Hasbro won this year with their sprawling multi-media complex. Do you think Hasbro is seriously going to say “Oh, our biggest promotional opportunity of the year? Yeah, sure, let’s just leave Star Wars out next time. That’ll do it.” Not happening. I can’t wait to see if the Comic-Con organisers just decide that exhibitors are getting less space.

10. Chris Pitzer told me that he and Adhouse books were just… done… with San Diego. He said he was 40 and tired of sweating and lugging around boxes. This is a guy who had three outstanding debut books that all sold really well, and looked great. The show is going to be poorer for his absence, but as I’m in the midst of lugging a ton of heavy shit home with me myself, I totally understand where he’s coming from. With Mocca, APE, SPX, oh and TCAF, all much more focussed shows less interested in the established comics fan, I can see a number of legitimate art-comics publishers starting to pull back their appearances in the next couple of years… Of course… any publisher that’s trying to play the Hollywood Properties Game isn’t going anywhere.

11. Carla Speed McNeil brought up an interesting point at the end of the show–What’s going to happen to the Cold Cut sponsored Indy Island next year? This is the first year I can remember where Cold Cut was sponsoring the space and providing some sales assistance, it looked like, but they weren’t actually selling any of their own stock. With their future currently undecided, and with the rumoured… disappearance… of Artist’s Alley next year, the landscape of the show could be considerably different next year.

12. Oh yeah, I heard several people saying that there won’t be an Artist Alley next year. No official corroboration though. Tom? Dirk? Heidi?

13. Speaking of which, I didn’t see Tom or Heidi.

14. I did see a lot of hot guys though.

15. Heh.

16. Now, here is some special guest blogging from Peter Birkemoe, my boss and the owner of The Beguiling, while I go to the washroom. Take it away, Peter:

Now that I have hit the ten show milestone, I too am ready to stop coming to comicon.  How does Chris convince me to come back each year?  He reminds me how happy the artists we represent [for original art sales] are when they get cheques in the months after comicon.  We sold almost no art Thursday or Friday, and it looked as if he would not be able to convince me for 2008.  Saturday, however, Paul Pope laid some trully amazing pieces on us, something for most budgets too, and we were visited by one of our best regular customers (She not only likes the artists we do, and have chosen to represent, but she always picks the pieces that I am thinking about keeping for myself, thus making me money and saving me money at the same time, gotta love her!) 

After this, I was able to be much more enthusiastic about the show, and throw more energy into upselling those people who came to the D&Q booth [our wonderful hosts] and tried to get away with buying only one book.  Jamie, Rebecca and Tom weren’t able to sell down to a bare table this year, but they did a pretty fantastic job. 

Being able to be behind their booth makes all the difference at the show for me.  Even though I’m still on my feet all day, that sense of personal space, however illusory, not to mention a place to put down the stuff we are buying for the shop,  preserves my sanity.  I can’t imagine navigating those aisles all day.

The weather in San Diego is beautiful, but the convention centre, particularly before it opens and is filled with radiant nerd joules, is like a meat-locker.  This does however,  let you keep yoghurt in the booth for the weekend without any risk of spoilage. 

The costumes are always good for a cheap shot at fandom, but I’ve never brought a camera.  This year, the saddest thing I witnessed, was the middle-aged tank girl — somehow even if it wan’t as disturbing any of the age/body inappropriate wonderwoman/harley-quinn costumes, it feels, that if I had any ‘punk’ in me, I would be crushed.

17. Peter asked me what the saddest costume I saw was, and I was gonna say those dudes Cosplaying as their online video game characters (they just seemed so lonely) but actually? I didn’t really see a lot of costumes this year, so I had no complaints. It takes something truly heinous to really shake me now, having done so many shows, and luckily I didn’t see anything that bad this year. LUCKILY. I’m sure middle-aged Tank Girl would have upset me too.

They’re calling our flight now, so I’m gonna have to say goodbye to their lovely, lovely free internet. I’ll blog next time I can form a coherent sentence.

Best,

– Christopher