Well May has been the month where I push everything into high gear. I got all of the review requests done including one I almost forgot about called Tuki from Jeff Smith. But it seems my most popular topic of the month is how the direct comic book market buyers has been trained to only follow house Pin-Up art styles; apparently cartooning despite how animated it looks and have evocative of sensations it can be isn’t going to be accepted unless it’s visible in the general market. Which kind of ties into how this new age of mainstream comics are driven more by perceptions and social events instead of taking advantage of new technology and interactive advertising once these publishers experiment with them. Then of course, there’s my attempt to define what indie comics actually are rather than what people think they are. Which led to me finally accepting the new terminology category.
Any here’s a list to narrow them down:
Valiant reviews of: Archer & Armstrong Forever, their new IP Armorclads, and the finale of The Harbinger
Mad Cave Studios: The Last Session… extra comments and a more unique fantasy world in The Tiger’s Tongue
Gutternaut viral topic: Stylized Comics because it triggered something every artist can agree to
Gutternaut’s naming of present era of comics: Silicon
A review of indie comic from Hawaii: Sistah Shark and it’s a great one
A highlight of Doctor Doom’s development from Envy Driven to Pure Magnificent Bastardization
A review request from David Pepose… and Marvel: Savage Avengers
A better definition on Indie Comics thanks to the CPI
Jeff Smith and Cartoon Book’s reemergence of Tuki
Finally, the growing influence of Venezuelan Comics
I also finally managed to make those changes onto the Underrated DC and Marvel lists. Although I should probably think about making those changes to the Underrated List hub page.
Just as well I think I should talk about my Independent Comics list on Twitter full of actual indie comics… as well as some rules I need people including myself to understand.
Must be the indie comics small business model: no partnerships like Oni Press’s library deal, the creator must be the one to give the license for others to use (which is why Image Comics is not included), no appearances in Free Comic Book Day or Comic Fest promotions by Diamond
No troll marketing! By default that also means no ComicsGate projects.
Webcomics normally aren’t allowed because that medium’s support is bigger than what people realize. But in cases like Pixie Trix, they’ve been publishing their own print comics that can’t be found anywhere else.
It does not matter what country you’re from, any indie comic gets in.
No promoting your ideologies or lifestyles! This is what made me push out a lot of indie creators and trying to focus more on their companies. There’s nothing wrong with what you believe, branding means everything including what you do on social media. I had to get a few people including one creator off the list because they put more emphasis on showcasing their plants… nothing wrong with that especially if it’s therapeutic. But this is a list is for the promotion and networking of comic creators and fans! If I see anyone make comments about the Depp-Heard case or talks about gun rights, you’re out! But please, keep engaging your audiences, that seems to be what keeps them around compared to other companies.
As for why I go through this trouble, well it looks like Indie Comics aren’t going to be what they used to be. With Amazon fully buying out Comixology, a few indies actually ceased productions. Also Indy Planet has slowed to a crawl with releases as of this post. My best guess, it has something to do with paper shortages. Meanwhile DriveThruComics is probably the best regular source of new content thanks to regular influx of popular creator-owned content. Finally GlobalComix might be the best source of actual indies, but not everybody’s joining in on the program. All I know is, a few different stores could help these creatives out a bit.
In any case, next month I’ll be doing more Valiant stuff for sure. But I think my soonest post will be Superman: The Exile. Between that and Elektra: Assassin I’ve been doing a lot of reading and questions that I don’t think have been properly answered.
I’m also considering a number of other creators to highlight like Mark Gruenwald, Christopher Priest, Bill Sienkiewitz, etc. I might also be reworking the Frank Miller post with his new company with Dan DiDio.
In the meantime, I really want to get more Comic Locations posts for the sake of more income. I mean who wouldn’t want a chance to visit the address of the Sanctum Santorum? But I need a lot of posts in that category to get accepted by a few travel affiliates.
I also wouldn’t mind doing that fanfic I started on here with all of Ditko’s creations. But I’ve been writing short stories and comic scripts while I wait for the status of my comic pitches going through publishers. If that doesn’t pull through, I’m going to put the pages on here for free, systematically. Look I’ll go over the details when it happens. Anyway, see you all in June.