To: The Comic Book Industry (writers, artists, letterers, colorists, inkers, editors, assistant editors, publishers, EIC’s, retailers, distributors, readers, bloggers, lovers, fans)
Re: Your Perceptions of Me
To All That Are Concerned (and most that aren’t),
I would like to take this opportunity to tell you who I am. Or rather, I’d like to start with who I am not.
I am not a geek that lucked into the opportunities I have been given. I am not a dork in a store behind a counter with a grand plan to “save” the X-Men or some other valuable franchise. I am a writer, a writer who crafts stories. However, something troubling has been happening for the better part of my career. Most of you look at me and see my occupation, not my career. You can’t imagine me outside of my job.
You’re being prejudiced. And for an industry that prides itself on it’s ability to see past race, creed, sexuality, sex, and colors, that’s quite a charge. There are those who think that because I work in retail that I am unable to contribute positively to this industry. That because I sell comics for a living, I can’t give.
You’re wrong. You’re dead wrong.
I have fought for every opportunity that has been given to me, and there are those that have fought with me and given me those opportunities out of a belief that one person can do amazing things. That if given a chance, one person can spark a creative fire in others. That is the writer’s job, to strike a match and light a fire under an artist, a job I have performed many times over. But because I work in a comic store, there are those that think my opinion matters less, my imagination is shallow and my voice isn’t valid.
My professional writing career begin eight years ago on a whim, like many others have. A five page story that an editor saw as entertaining and worth printing. Since then, I’ve struggled. I’ve done a short story here, an anthology there, but when it came time to do something long form, doors closed. Publishers have gone out of business, titles have been canceled, stories have been pulled from publication. Most recently, my graphic novel, FCHS, was canceled as a result of low pre-orders. In and of itself, a book being canceled in today’s market isn’t shocking. What is shocking is that in an industry that cries out for something new, something that isn’t superheroes or the status quo, this book shouldn’t have failed. Quite the opposite, as we had a number of free previews for the book that, by all counts, have found their way into a multitude of hands. Something is wrong with the industry, and not everyone can see it. But that is a post for another time…
What I’m getting at is this: It’s not for a lack of trying. I am a writer. This is who I am. Doors open and doors close and doors remain ajar, but I always thought that these things would happen as a result of something I did or said. Instead, the situation I find myself in is one where these things are happening as a result of something I have no control over.
So, you, the comic industry, are leaving me no choice.
World domination.
Seriously, though, it may come to something like that, but not quite in the megalomaniac sense. I’m standing on the precipice of a world of my own making, as slightly psychotic as that sounds. What I’m proposing is this: creating a world of my own, worlds of my own, and inviting you, the comic industry, to come along and inhabit that world.
You wont let me into yours, but you are always welcome in mine.
(Heh…I almost wrote, “…you are always welcome in mind.”)
I look forward to seeing you there, even if you are dragged kicking and screaming into it.
Don’t make me drag you kicking and screaming.