I prefer to read and write slice of life comics though. Or the story of the everyman overcoming great odds. Thats a new character every limited series.

I don’t mean completely realistic. Saikano isnt the most realistic strory, But at least I give a crap about the characters. Superman Idont.

Johanna, I don’t think it’s a bad idea. And like I said, there have been excellently crafted stories by WFH-writers in existing universes. Heck, I buy every Don Rosa album on the German market (and we have them in beautiful editions too), Andre Franquin defined Spirou in such a way that many people today think that HE is the one who created the character and not Robert Velter. And a lot times when somebody (I don’t know, but thank you) in editorial tells a writer/artist/team, here you go, have fun with it, you just might wind up with Batman: Year One or Alan Moore’s version of Swamp Thing, which are highly entertaining.

I also see the whole “one’s gotta eat” job angle. What IRKS me is the notion that writing the monthly Spider-Man is the height of your professional dreams. What irks me is that most of today’s comic books from the Big Two have the taste, smell and feel of something coming from an assembly line, with little nuances changing from title to title. What irks me is the sheer existence of a title like ARENA. I’m not talking about “let’s go all indy on each other’s buttocks and have the market flooded with self-pitying memory stories about, ah, my first love lost, oh, the story of my bike… we have blogs for that now LOL). But GOOD commercial product that varies, that cares about characters and brings stories to a logical fruition that allows the reader a bit of satisfaction and, yes, a sense of closure. Not: AND IN THE NEXT MONTH: Watch how Superman saves the planet from an alien invasion (of the superbody snatchers) again while having a domestic with Lois.

Like, eg. what I loved about Jeff Smith’s BONE, he set out, he had a game plan, we went along for the ride and he ended it on a high note.

If Tolkien’s estate had given up LOTR, we’d now be in SAURON RETURNS, from the mountain of madness he comes back, more fierce than ever! Will Frodo be able to forge a new ring to bind them all? Will Sam be able to hold his liquor? What bondage outfit will the elves wear for tommorrow’s fight? And can Aragorn overcome his impotency? NOTHING will EVER be the SAME AGAIN, TRUE BELIEVERS!

Each character, each concept, each story has a limited shelf life before one has to repeat oneself. Or in music terms, before you are on your 19th FINAL, no, really, we MEAN it this time, Farewell tour, isn’t that right, Jagger, my boy?

William Goldman once wrote: Why do we write? Because we think we are so fabulous, so great that we want to dazzle everybody around us with the stories we tell. Now, why do we write sequels? FOR THE MONEY.

And sometimes that muse is inspired by giant transforming corporate-owned robots!

But I don’t think the syndicates are giving people what they want. They are giving editors what they feel they have to have on their funny pages because they fear the occasional irate letter. This trend is beginning to change, as demonstrated by the dropping of Beetle Bailey from several papers in favor of newer talent.

Obviously the newspaper market faces serious challenges from competing media (such as the one we are using now) and the syndicates have been developing webcomics content for some time now. These dynamics are different to some extent from the DC/Marvel dominance of the direct market. But even they are looking for ways to expand into the webcomics area because the direct market does not appear, in its present form, to have a long term future. Or so I can tell from my couch in my pajamas.

I don’t know if that addresses Johanna’s question. Nat is right: Every artist is driven by a personal muse.

Yeah, well, that’s you. Others want different things for themselves.

I don’t see that the world would be better if we only entrusted the extant character work to people who didn’t actually want to do it. Someone who only wants to work with a given set of characters may be limiting their career possibilities and their chances for happiness even… but we can’t always pick our desires. And it works out well for some of those folks — the world would be a slightly lesser place if Don Rosa hadn’t gotten to do lots of Disney Studios/Carl Barks duck character material.

How is that different from Van Halen or Pink Floyd playing stadium shows to fans without their original lineups? Or Doctor Who still running with a different cast, writers, premise, and producers? If people are willing to pay money to feed their nostalgia (and no one’s getting hurt), then why is it a bad idea?

It is too bad that there isn’t more of an interest in self creativity in fans though.

On the funny pages, the persistence of “Blondie” and “Gasoline Alley” indicate that the syndicate system is dysfunctional. From the evidence of perpetual “properties” shouldn’t we reach the same conclusions about the direct market, the Diamond monopoly, and the dominance of the Big Two?

The rise of webcomics owes a great deal to the dysfunctions of the current comics industry. Creators turn to posting their stuff to the Web for any number of reasons, of course, but I think the greater opportunity to pursue original creativity and hone one’s chops at the same time is a big factor.

And yes, regarding your #7, I do think that’s the case, if we’re talking about the core superhero “universes”.

Ah! It took me awhile to understand this…I just realized that Brevoort is implying that the Big Two are the pinnacle of the comics industry…and he is deriding independent/ smaller comics publishers are slumming- mere training grounds. Talk about having a sense of entitlement!

Kiss the right ass in order to manage something that has been decided in editorial conferences. And that’s the reason why I don’t call them creators, but content managers.

Doesn’t mean that the stories are poorly crafted and sometimes one can use the standing of a well-known character to enhance a story, but ultimately, the Big Two are not (nor would it be advantageous for them in the short term, long term is a different matter) in the business to innovate but to sell the maximum amount of quantities to a shrinking market.

If one wants to create, one should try other outlets, like BOOM or, heck, even Tokyopop or Del Rey, First Second or Seven Seas. There a creator can tell his/her own story