What Is Indie These Days????
Ol' Dan seems like he's up to something!
Time for me to mount my high horse and ride off to find an opinion on some sort of comics and pop culture subject…I call this little tidbit of perspective:
THE OBSERVATION OF THE WEEK!
This Week…
10-17-13
WHAT JUST IS INDIE THESE DAYS?!
I am by what a lot of peoples standards and definitions, considered an INDIE COMIC BOOK CREATOR? But what does that mean anymore? The early forbearers of Independent Comics were known as UNDERGROUND AND ALTERNATIVE COMICS. Guys like Harry Crumb, Harvey Pekar, and Art Spiegelman, made what were considered by many crudely drawn, adult themed, slice of life or subversion for the pure fun of it sequential kind of fanfare. These guys would be among the forefathers of the Indie Comics boom that happened about 10-20 years after these guys first made their mark. Creator folk like Eastman and Laird, Dave Sim, Daniel Clowes, The Hernandez Brothers, The Pini’s and a host of other artists and writers, bucked the two party system, that was Marvel and DC, and found ways to tell stories, on their own terms and make a modest (In the case of Laird and Eastman more than modest) amount of cash for plying their wares. Soon companies like Dark Horse, Fantagraphics, Kitchen Sink Press, Tundra, Malibu, Comico, and a variety of others made their names in part or whole through the publishing of these INDIE CREATOR persons, and eventually some of these companies and persons would become big and noticeable enough to dent what was once near 50/50 split of North American profits that Marvel and DC once enjoyed.
So in this day and age WHAT REALLY QUALIFIES AS SMALL PRESS AND INDIE ANYMORE? Some think its merely any comic not put out by Marvel/DC, maybe Archie, Harvey, Disney and the kinds that you could find on a spinner rack circa 1986. But can you consider folks like Image who publish a TV and media juggernaut like Walking Dead? How about Dark Horse, who at one time were home to Paul Chadwick, and Matt Wagner? But now hold the comic license to Star Wars, Alien, Predator, and Indiana Jones as well as Mike Mignola’s Hellboy? Dynamite? Boom Studios? Valliant? While they don’t hold anywhere near a market share as Marvel or DC, many of these guys still make a hefty profit, have a high profile in the community and even outside of it.
So is it a matter of money that makes a comic creator, work or publishing house indie? Another term for this is SMALL PRESS. But is it a simple matter of indie being how many copies you put out, or what the bank statement looks like at the end of the fiscal quarter?
Some would venture that in this day and age it’s a matter of something called THE INDEPENDENT SPIRIT. This is a term used in most forms of media, like movies, music as well as comics. It, at least in my opinion refers to those that own, and have a certain level of freedom, autonomy and leeway to shape the stories, characters, and comics that they have said ownership owner. But again, there are quite a few creators that have creative control over their projects, yet either as a creator or the properties they have control over, have managed to achieve a certain level of media profile.
There is another school of thought still, which thinks it’s the subject matter that determines whether a comic is INDY. That if it doesn’t either tell some sort of somber yet darkly humorous slice of life tale, or on the cusp of sequential Fellini avant-garde groundbreaking snub at the contemporary and suburban, then it loses its indie comic street cred? But doesn’t that attitude in and of itself, pigeon hole the overall potential and creative possibility of the independent spirit that many of this mindset claim to champion?
So with so many ideas of that small press, indie, alternative, and underground comics are supposed to be? JUST WHAT IS INDIE?!
I myself see indie when I look out at the folks over in artist alley and small press tables at a Comicon or fan show. I know that it sounds cheesy and overly sentimental, but it’s the same as going to a small club or theatre to see an indie band, or to an art house to see an indie film. I also see this INDIE SPIRIT on the internet with the bourgeoning web comic’s movement. People who want to make their own comics, tell their story the way THEY want to, and hopefully with luck and hard work get noticed and make some sort of career out of it. They will struggle of course. Many will eventually learn that they do not either have the talent or the willpower to maintain the level of sacrifice and commitment to this dream of theirs. Who can blame them. It’s a rough industry to try and make any kind of living out of. It’s a huge amount of work for little reward.
But there are those who can survive and make something out of it. Some people will do it through direct sales of their paper comic. Some will go the route of digital comic sales. Others will supplement their strip or webcomic with merch, commissions and website advertisement. Still others will find other related ventures such as becoming educators and speakers to get the word out on their comic project. And that to me is what INDIE COMICS are: Doing YOUR comic book and graphic novel project on YOUR TERMS. It doesn’t matter if you are cranking out a few dozen copies at a time on a Xerox printer along with some cheaply made stickers and one color T-shirts to barely eke out a living. Or you beat the odds and have a property that makes a ton of money, cracks the top 20 lists, gets adapted into a Television show or major motion picture and has a boatload of merch to boot. The point is the principle is the same. Independent Comics is a state of mind and how you plan to ply that mindset into what you do. The experts, aficionados, educators, and other enlightened folk can debate about its size, dimensions, limits, characteristics, and attributes. People can slap labels; bestow monikers, and place things into a convenient little box and trust they have the definitive idea of what it is. But in reality, everyone will have a different opinion on the subject. My own opinion is that Indie is a badge of honor that tells people, I love what I do, I do my time in the trenches, and I am determined to make this little dream project of mine work…What’s yours?
Dan Nokes
Creative Director
21st Century Sandshark Studios
THE OBSERVATION OF THE WEEK!
This Week…
10-17-13
WHAT JUST IS INDIE THESE DAYS?!
I am by what a lot of peoples standards and definitions, considered an INDIE COMIC BOOK CREATOR? But what does that mean anymore? The early forbearers of Independent Comics were known as UNDERGROUND AND ALTERNATIVE COMICS. Guys like Harry Crumb, Harvey Pekar, and Art Spiegelman, made what were considered by many crudely drawn, adult themed, slice of life or subversion for the pure fun of it sequential kind of fanfare. These guys would be among the forefathers of the Indie Comics boom that happened about 10-20 years after these guys first made their mark. Creator folk like Eastman and Laird, Dave Sim, Daniel Clowes, The Hernandez Brothers, The Pini’s and a host of other artists and writers, bucked the two party system, that was Marvel and DC, and found ways to tell stories, on their own terms and make a modest (In the case of Laird and Eastman more than modest) amount of cash for plying their wares. Soon companies like Dark Horse, Fantagraphics, Kitchen Sink Press, Tundra, Malibu, Comico, and a variety of others made their names in part or whole through the publishing of these INDIE CREATOR persons, and eventually some of these companies and persons would become big and noticeable enough to dent what was once near 50/50 split of North American profits that Marvel and DC once enjoyed.
So in this day and age WHAT REALLY QUALIFIES AS SMALL PRESS AND INDIE ANYMORE? Some think its merely any comic not put out by Marvel/DC, maybe Archie, Harvey, Disney and the kinds that you could find on a spinner rack circa 1986. But can you consider folks like Image who publish a TV and media juggernaut like Walking Dead? How about Dark Horse, who at one time were home to Paul Chadwick, and Matt Wagner? But now hold the comic license to Star Wars, Alien, Predator, and Indiana Jones as well as Mike Mignola’s Hellboy? Dynamite? Boom Studios? Valliant? While they don’t hold anywhere near a market share as Marvel or DC, many of these guys still make a hefty profit, have a high profile in the community and even outside of it.
So is it a matter of money that makes a comic creator, work or publishing house indie? Another term for this is SMALL PRESS. But is it a simple matter of indie being how many copies you put out, or what the bank statement looks like at the end of the fiscal quarter?
Some would venture that in this day and age it’s a matter of something called THE INDEPENDENT SPIRIT. This is a term used in most forms of media, like movies, music as well as comics. It, at least in my opinion refers to those that own, and have a certain level of freedom, autonomy and leeway to shape the stories, characters, and comics that they have said ownership owner. But again, there are quite a few creators that have creative control over their projects, yet either as a creator or the properties they have control over, have managed to achieve a certain level of media profile.
There is another school of thought still, which thinks it’s the subject matter that determines whether a comic is INDY. That if it doesn’t either tell some sort of somber yet darkly humorous slice of life tale, or on the cusp of sequential Fellini avant-garde groundbreaking snub at the contemporary and suburban, then it loses its indie comic street cred? But doesn’t that attitude in and of itself, pigeon hole the overall potential and creative possibility of the independent spirit that many of this mindset claim to champion?
So with so many ideas of that small press, indie, alternative, and underground comics are supposed to be? JUST WHAT IS INDIE?!
I myself see indie when I look out at the folks over in artist alley and small press tables at a Comicon or fan show. I know that it sounds cheesy and overly sentimental, but it’s the same as going to a small club or theatre to see an indie band, or to an art house to see an indie film. I also see this INDIE SPIRIT on the internet with the bourgeoning web comic’s movement. People who want to make their own comics, tell their story the way THEY want to, and hopefully with luck and hard work get noticed and make some sort of career out of it. They will struggle of course. Many will eventually learn that they do not either have the talent or the willpower to maintain the level of sacrifice and commitment to this dream of theirs. Who can blame them. It’s a rough industry to try and make any kind of living out of. It’s a huge amount of work for little reward.
But there are those who can survive and make something out of it. Some people will do it through direct sales of their paper comic. Some will go the route of digital comic sales. Others will supplement their strip or webcomic with merch, commissions and website advertisement. Still others will find other related ventures such as becoming educators and speakers to get the word out on their comic project. And that to me is what INDIE COMICS are: Doing YOUR comic book and graphic novel project on YOUR TERMS. It doesn’t matter if you are cranking out a few dozen copies at a time on a Xerox printer along with some cheaply made stickers and one color T-shirts to barely eke out a living. Or you beat the odds and have a property that makes a ton of money, cracks the top 20 lists, gets adapted into a Television show or major motion picture and has a boatload of merch to boot. The point is the principle is the same. Independent Comics is a state of mind and how you plan to ply that mindset into what you do. The experts, aficionados, educators, and other enlightened folk can debate about its size, dimensions, limits, characteristics, and attributes. People can slap labels; bestow monikers, and place things into a convenient little box and trust they have the definitive idea of what it is. But in reality, everyone will have a different opinion on the subject. My own opinion is that Indie is a badge of honor that tells people, I love what I do, I do my time in the trenches, and I am determined to make this little dream project of mine work…What’s yours?
Dan Nokes
Creative Director
21st Century Sandshark Studios