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1 Industry, 2 Bad Ideas

For the most part, Geeks tend to enjoy entertainment that spans all of the pop culture landscape. If said item is well produced, then we will, generally, enjoy it. However, there are two universal truths when it comes to the Geek culture. First truth, every Geek, regardless of their obsessive nature will have their Achilles Heel, their Kryptonite. As is the case with your friendly neighborhood Geek, who will never be a master when it comes to music. On the flip-side, we Geeks also have our first love. The form of popular culture that first started us on the path we now walk. For folks like Rick and Clyde it was music, for Scott it was film. For me, comics were the first form of pop culture entertainment that I was exposed to. And, it remains to this day as one of the driving forces behind my love of writing. Comics, however, is an industry seems to constantly be in a state of flux. Rare is the year goes by that some talking head doesn't bemoan the end of traditional comics. Be it from video games, the internet, movies, or cable, comics are always taking a hit from more accessible and often cheaper forms of entertainment. To stay competitive, comic book companies are constantly looking for ways to maintain an edge; looking for innovative ways of earning your money.

Sadly, the two current trends will, in my rarely humble opinion have the opposite effect.

The first current trend concerns the use of trades. Many a comic editorial has complained about the rise of the trade paperback and its effects upon the monthly comic. It is a sad fact that most single-issue books rarely make money, even iconic titles like Batman and Spiderman barely break even. (This is mainly true for the "Big 2", small-time press tend to charge more per issue and we as fans forgive that knowing how tough the industry can be). However, any book that can be perfect bound (like a traditional paperback) and placed on a "real" bookstore self will greatly increase the exposure of a title and therefore increase the profits of a company. The catch is that most comic arcs are meant to wrap-up within 2-3 issues, hardly justifying a collection. Recently, Marvel has been accused, rightly so, of "writing for the trades". Meaning, the editors tell their writers to slow down a book, making them take 6 issues when 2 or 3 would have been sufficient. They will deny this, of course, but when you spend 2 issues reading about The Avengers sit around and talk about handling a crisis rather then actually fighting said crisis, you have some "trade writing" going on. While not as heinous, DC isn't much better. As much as I am enjoying the hell out of Infinite Crisis, I will be the first to admit that the Road to Crisis books could have been told with one annual-sized issue each. I don't there is much that can be done to change this current trend. Short of comic companies going back to cheaper printing material (something I think most fans would be cool with, saving the pretty paper for special events), or "real" bookstores accepting comics as a legitimate literary form and giving them a section in the sore, the trade trend will continue.

Annoying it may be, that isn't the trend that concerns me.

No, the trend that has me concerned lands, sadly, in the lap of the small time press folks. I support the small press companies. Some strong and risky stories come from these small kids. Many of my favorite writers still turn to the small press companies to tell stories they know will never receive the green light from Marvel or DC, (and to some extent, Dark Horse and Image, although they are more open to ideas). We, as fans, drop down our hard-earned money (and often more) on these relatively unknown titles and characters. Even if the first issue doesn't grab us totally, we give them far more leeway then we would a title from the big boys. This is even truer if we see the potential in the characters or world the comic creators are working within. Hell, we'll stick around even we don't like the story, but the team continues to grow with each issue. We, as fans and Geeks, love to say I knew them when. That is simply the nature of fandom. What has me concerned is the shifting from a monthly title to a trade with no reason and often little warning. There are some books out there now that I read, support, promote, and enjoy. From news I've received, the books are selling well (from a small press perspective) and are receiving critical attention. However, for reasons I do not understand, the books are shifting to a trade collection. This would be fine if the current story arcs were completed and the company simply wanted to expose their book to a larger audience by getting into other stores. Such is not the case. Much like when a band releases a greatest hits album, but tosses in a couple of new songs to entice the buyer, these companies are only ending the stories within the trade. This does not make me want to buy their book. In fact, it makes me want to end all my titles with these companies and never take a chance on any of their books. Why should I? This only encourages them to pull a bait and switch on me. Again, it seems as if these publishers forgot what it meant to be a fan. Listen, if we like a title we will buy all the individual issues. Then, we'll tell all our friends to seek out a trade that collects all the issues that we own, but refuse to loan out! If it is a case of the company lacking the money to continue making a monthly book, fine, we can forgive, understand, and support the choice. But, to just bait and switch us fans is wrong. It takes months to attract a fan base, but only one poor decision to lose us forever.

The second bad idea is preventable... I think.

While not an earth-shattering headline, there has been some news from the comic book world that has us fans shaking our heads. Over the past couple of weeks both DC and Marvel, in a rare and disappointing showing of solidarity, have filed joint suits in an attempt to co-own the term "Super-Hero". They feel that before their existence, no one neither used nor cared about the term Super-Hero. While they claim is it to protect their intellectual properties, I sense a more sinister and slimy reason. As I've mentioned a few times in the past, comic buyers have a limited amount of funds to spend per month and with smaller publishers taking a chunk of that money, the big boys have turned to the lawyers. By attempting to own the term Super-Hero as a copyright, both DC and Marvel will force smaller companies to change what they call their...um... Super-Hero books. Not only will this not work, but is it going to make the DC and Marvel look like tools, and let me tell you, the suits that run both companies do not need any help in that department. (Right, Joe and Dan)? In time, this will likely create a near limitless well of story ideas for writers and artists to draw from when they create their Heroes that are Super books.

So, if it isn't that big of a deal, why am I annoyed?

Well, because to small companies that have already committed their painfully small budgets to short print run are going to suffer. Imagine, you've spent all your money (and your creative partner’s money, and your friend’s money, and your dear Aunt Flow’s money) on a short run of your stunning Super-Hero book. Then, after getting your book into stores and receiving some critical acclaim, you receive a cease and desist letter from slimy firm number one representing DC and/or Marvel telling you to change your book. Not much mind you, just take out the word Super-Hero. Not much? Maybe not, but with no more money to re-print the books you are forced to yank your titles from the shelves. Course, you could just take your chances and tell them to go pound it... A bold move that could pay-off or cost you everything you've worked so hard to create. Look, I am all for a company or creator to protect their intellectual property. Shoot, this little site and name is my baby and I will legally beat down anyone who tries to take it... But, that doesn't mean I am going to try and trademark "geek" or "Geek" as mine alone. In time, I might have the legal clout to do so, but that doesn't change that fact that it would be tacky, wrong, and something I flat out won't do. Something that I hope both DC and Marvel learn. That isn't a way to make more money. Just stick to telling good stories with good art and taking care of the fans and we will keep supporting you through the books, shows, toys, and movies.

Try to be Super-Heroes of the business world... Do what Superman would do...