• Top 10 People Changing the Face of Comics – Part 1: Brian K. Vaughan

Over the next few weeks I’m going to profile 10 different people in the comics industry who, in my opinion, are doing the most to change the face of comics. Today’s entry is…

Brian K. Vaughan: Comics’ Celebrity

The comics industry needs more celebrities. And not just celebrities within it’s own bubble, but household name celebrities who bring a much-lacking respect and hipness to the industry.

Brian K. Vaughan isn’t quite a household name (yet) but he’s just about the closest thing we’ve got.

Vaughan is the writer of Vertigo’s ‘Y: The Last Man,’ Wildstorm’s ‘Ex Machina,’ and the creator of Marvel’s ‘Runaways’ among others. He most recently released the critically acclaimed (and award winning) graphic novel, ‘Pride of Baghdad,’ through Vertigo. He is also currently writing a 6-issue arc of Joss Whedon’s ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8′ for Dark Horse.

Vaughan began to break out of comics as well.  Currently he’s in his second season as a staff-writer on the hit TV Show, ‘Lost.’  (Or will be once the strike is over.)

He is also currently adapting two of his projects for the big screen. His scripts for Ex Machina and Y: The Last Man are both in development at New Line Cinema.

His face can be seen just about everywhere – from Entertainment Weekly naming Ex Machina one of the ten best works of fiction, to Wired Magazine naming him one of their Rave award winners recognizing innovators, instigators, and inventors in the world of print (alongside J.K. Rowling,) to an MTV News spot focusing solely on Vaughan.

Vaughan’s work has been featured and/or reviewed in countless mainstream media outlets, including The New York Times, MTV, USA Today, National Public Radio, and female magazine Bust, which photographed him for their “Men We Love” issue.

He has been name-dropped by such geek celebs as Janeane Garofalo, Joe Hill, Rosario Dawson, Jeff Garlin & Patton Oswolt.

Vaughan has done a lot to change the face of comics, including broadening his reach through both female characters and readers. Runaways is a book which features average looking teenagers dealing with average teenage problems, making it a favorite among teen girls. And his Y: The Last Man (drawn by the fabulous female artist, Pia Guerra) tells the story of a man named Yorick, who wakes one day to realize that he is the only man left alive on earth after a devastating plague.

Whereas most comic book writers would go in a typical sexist route with a premise like that, Y is praised as a great piece of pro-feminist fiction that explores in a very mature, honest, & introspective way what the world would look like without men.

Ex Machina tells the story of a superhero who becomes mayor of New York, mixing politics with heroics in a way that’s never been seen before. Like many of his books, it plays like a great television drama… a West Wing with Batman as President.

Brian K. Vaughan is a writer with the imagination, insight, & skill to rival the Stephen King’s or M. Night Shyamalan’s of the world. It’s time for a comic book writer to get the same recognition and respect that those authors & filmmakers do.

If there is anyone who deserves the title of “comics celebrity,” it’s Brian K. Vaughan… and that’s refreshing. Vaughan has raised the bar of comic book writing, and he’s rewarded for it. This should be a wake up call to all of the comics industry. If we want to be respected as an art form, we need to step up and make works of daring entertainment.

He also further supports the theory that all great writers are bald. Which, unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) for me, means I’ll have to wait a few years to be a great writer… but it most certainly is coming.

• The Strike, The Videos

Here are some great, informative, and entertaining videos in support of the WGA strike from the mouths of those directly affected…

The Office Stars & Writers:

The Daily Show Writers:

SNL on What You Can Do to Support:

Do Studios Make Money on Internet:

More on the Studios:

In Summary:

• Strongsville : 7-page preview

Strongsville tells the story of a shy, young teenager named Kevin, who moves to a new town after the death of his father. He begins a friendship with an elderly neighbor who he starts to believe was once a real-life superhero from his comics.

NEW PREVIEW COMING SOON.

• Sir Tony

“Today is the tomorrow I was so worried about yesterday”

- Anthony Hopkins

• Saving the comic book Industry.

Back in the early 90′s, the best-selling comic book was selling in the millions. Today, it runs about 150,000. Why the drop-off? Well the early 90′s were part of the “speculation market,” where companies would print comics with 10 different covers and collector’s would buy 10 of each cover thinking it would be worth something eventually. But it turned out that they weren’t worth much of anything and the bottom dropped out.

Now, comic books today seem to have it together. They are written and drawn a thousand times better than they were then. There are more independent comics infiltrating the market place. There are some amazing books being put out right now.

So, how do we get more people reading these great stories in comic books? I think a lot of the problem lies with the industry itself.

The comic book industry is very unique. The way it works is basically monthly comic books are sold almost exclusively at Direct Market Stores aka Comic Book Stores. Nearly all the monthly comic books are ordered through one distribution company called Diamond.

The Big Two comic book companies, Marvel & DC, keep these book stores alive as they create the vast majority of monthly comic books.

Comic books are also collected every 6 or so issues into Trade Paperbacks (TPB) or created originally in long-form books called Graphic Novels. Some of the terminology switches all around, but this is how I think of it, so this is how I’m referring to it. TPBs & Graphic Novels are also available at most major bookstores such as BN or Borders.

You can compare it to Television. If you wanna watch the Office, you can watch it weekly on NBC or purchase the DVD at the end of the year. NBC is the only place you can watch the Office weekly. The Comic Book Store is the only place you can read comics weekly. But you can still buy the Office DVDs at Wal-Mart. And you can still buy TPBs at Borders.

But, if no one watched the Office weekly, then it would never be released on DVD. In the same way, if no one read the monthly comics, they would never be released in TPB format. So, the Comic Book Stores are, in many ways, the life-blood of the comic market. Without them, the industry would be much more limited, as it’s more difficult for writer’s and artists to take off a year to create a Graphic Novel. With the monthly comics, it creates a source of revenue to keep them going.

Now, the problem is that a lot of times people are turned off to Comic Book Stores. Many of the stereotypes unfortunately turn out to be true. The snooty “comic-book guy” behind the counter. The disorganized floor. The fact that they are hard to find.

So, are there some ways to improve the Comic Book Store to better bring in new customers? Here are my suggestions:

A) Starbucks-ing Comics

As far as I know, there are no franchised comic bookstores. A guy may own one or two, but for the most part, they are individually owned and operated (funny that they all seem to look like though…)

What if someone had some capital and they took the initiative to start a comic book store franchise? As a franchise, they could negotiate a deal with Diamond for more of a discount since they would be ordering more books. Or better yet, Diamond should start their own stores, offering books at a massive discount to get people in the door.

More than just price though, a franchised store could set themselves up as non-’comic book guy’ friendly. Where an average Joe (and especially average Jane) could walk into the store, be greeted by the friendly, knowledgeable, and hip staff who ask them if they need help finding anything. The staff could ask what other media they are into… “What’s your favorite movie?” Based on their answer, they find them the book that best suits them.

Maybe they have a Barne’s & Noble-style open policy, where the books aren’t bagged, but someone can come in and sit and read a comic if they want without the staff hounding them.

Basically we need stores that are all over the country where a normal person wouldn’t be embarrassed to be seen in them.

B) Selling Out to Corporate America

As I mentioned before, BN & Borders both have sections for Graphic Novels & TPBs, but their monthly comic sections is VERY limited. What if these stores created a section for monthly comics that carried everything from the hottest Marvel book, to the most out-there indie.

Many of these stores, from what I understand, order through a variety of distribution companies, so by starting a good monthly comics section, they most certainly would rise up some competition to (near monopoly) Diamond, thereby dropping prices.

Not only that, but these are stores that are already accepted. If someone is walking through looking for the latest Stephen King novel and runs across his Dark Tower series put out by Marvel, then they might pick it up. Whereas, this King fan would never be caught dead inside a comic book store.

C) 50 Years in the Future

Digital comics are coming our way, just not very soon. One day, you’ll be able to get online, order a comic book, be able to download it immediately, copy it to your “digital book” device, and read it right there. This will, of course, change the way people receive and read their comics.

The problem is, right now, no one wants to read a comic on their computer screen. There is nothing that can replace the touch and smell and sight of reading a new printed comic.

But one day, as technology grows, we’ll have devices that will take the place of books and no one will be complaining. Comic books could very well herald this technology in, as I would assume, pictures with words will look better on these things than just words.

I, for one, will hang onto the physical books as long as possible. But, if one day, it would be this easy to receive comic books, it is possible that the industry could grow enormously as we take out any obstacle one might face of buying a comic, whether that be embarrassment or just not being able to find a place.

I do think that something needs to change in order for this industry to grow. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

• More on the strike.

I had lunch with my brother the other day and he was asking me about the strike. His question was one that I’ve heard a great many times as talks of this strike have gone on:

Why do writer’s get residuals anyway?

It’s simple: The movie industry, along with music, literature, and a few others, are unique industries.

I currently work in the graphic design industry. A company wants something designed, I design it. They pay me once and use it to promote their products. Their products sale and they make money and therefore it’s worth it for them to pay me for my work.

In the movie industry, a studio wants to make a movie, I write the script. They pay me and they make their movie. And here is where things change. Once they make the movie, they show it in theaters. They make money. Then they sell it on DVD. They make money. Then they sell the rights to cable. They make money. Then they sell it as downloads on the internet. They make money. Then they repackage the DVD and sell it as a special edition. They make money.

To steal an example from Craig Mazin’s artfulwriter.com blog, think of it as if you had a cake that provided never ending slices, that is, you could sell a slice of cake and it would immediately replenish itself so you could sell the same slice again and again and again… you should make money every time that slice sells.

It’s the same thing with books and music. Every time an artist sells a CD, they get a percentage. Every time an author sells a book, they get a percentage. This also makes it possible for record labels, publishing companies, and movie studios to be able to afford making these forms of entertainment. You never know if something is going to be a smash hit, so you can’t pay everyone a million bucks up front.
But you can promise your creators residuals, so that if the companies make money, the artists do as well.

• A first-time comic reader primer.

I put together this little primer to help out those of you who might have happened upon this blog, have never really read comics, but are interested in seeking them out. This is basically what I went through with my search to get back into comics.

Step 1 – Realize that comics are a medium, not a genre.

Movies, Television, Books, Music, Comic Books – These are all mediums in which to tell stories.

Comedy, Action, Western, Drama, Sci-Fi, Superhero – These are all genre’s of stories which you can tell in a number of mediums. And yes, all of these genre’s can be found in comic books.

People have been telling sequential art stories since cavemen days. It’s just one more form of storytelling. If you like a certain genre of story, you can find a stellar representative of it in comics.

Step 2 – Do your research.

Get online. Read reviews. Find creators you connect with. Seek out comics with ideas or characters that reach out to you.

There are plenty of comic book websites and podcasts which provide reviews to help you figure out which books appeal to you and interviews with comic creators to help you get to know the personalities behind the creations. This will also give you a good idea who the “hotshots” are. Most comic creators have their own websites as well.

Don’t pay much attention to the sales charts. It’s generally all superhero books from Marvel or DC and hardly ever an indicator of quality.

Step 3 – Start with trades or graphic novels, skip the monthlies.

Monthly comic books are the lifeblood of the industry. And once you get a good idea of what’s going on with a series, it’s a great way to read comics. But, trying to pick up a random monthly comic book off the shelf is like trying to watch an episode of “Lost” halfway through the season.

Trade Paperbacks are collected issues of a serialized monthly comic series. Much like buying your favorite show on DVD. Try to find trades that collect starting with 1st issues to get the whole story.

Graphic Novels are written to be read as one large story, more like a movie.

Sometimes these terms are interchangable, but both of these formats will help you get a bigger picture for the story you’re interested in.

Step 4 – Avoid the “Big Two.”

The “Bit Two” being Marvel & DC. Marvel and DC do have some excellent comics out there. And if you get a chance, you should try to pick them up. The reason I say avoid them if you’re just starting out is that both companies have 50 years of history and continuity. And I don’t believe either company has figured out a way to bring new readers to their existing properties. I’ve tried to jump on a few titles and it’s a hellish experience to try and play catch up.

I would recommend looking for something by a smaller company such as Image, Dark Horse, Oni, or Top Shelf. These smaller companies concentrate on more than just superhero comics, so you’re more likely to find something to your liking. They also haven’t been around as long, so it’s easier to jump onto an existing property. Not to mention that these guys put out astounding stories every single week.

If you are only looking to read a “brand” name superhero book like Batman or Spider-man, I would suggest trying to look for a limited series or a timeless story out of continuity.

Step 5 – Avoid comic book stores.

This is the one that’s going to get me into trouble. I absolutely 100% support comic book retailers. I buy the majority of my books from a local comic book store. But, it is more likely that a first time comic reader will be more comfortable browsing the Graphic Novel section at the BN than stepping foot into your local comic shop.

If you do like what you find at the BN, you can usually find a greater selection at your local comic store, and you should hit that up. Also, most of the time, your local comic store is going to be the only place you can find monthly copies of the book that you’re into.

• Why Comics? Pt. 2 – Where it is now

In my first entry about why I got into comics, I talked a lot about how it was a bit of reliving my childhood. But that is not the whole story. I first got into comics as a kid. But if the comic books I read today were the same I read as a kid, I would not be reading (or writing) them. Here’s the truth…

Comics are really f’ing cool.

If you scoffed at that line, then I don’t blame you. A few years ago, I would’ve done the same thing. When the majority of people think of comics, they think of superheroes, spandex, poor storytelling, dorky art… cheesy children’s stories about guys dressed up in tights and capes.

Yet, those same people went out in droves to see Spider-man or X-men or 300 or Sin City or Road to Perdition or Ghost World in the theaters without batting an eye. Why the disconnect? I think it’s just simple ignorance.

The stories in comics today are on the level (or better) than the movies based on them. Not only that, but every genre of storytelling you find in movies or television is in comic books today.

So, why do comics get the short end of the stick? I think a lot of it has to do with the history of the industry, which I’m not going to pretend to understand or comment on. A lot of it has to do with the fact that the comics industry has turned itself into a self-sustaining organism which has cut itself off from the rest of the world. A lot of it has to do with, yes, the majority of comic books are superhero books. You can’t deny the power of characters like Batman, Superman, Spider-man. Those are HUGE brand names that will always be there. But if you look a little closer you will see a world filled with stories written for my 4-year old son, my 23-year old girlfriend, my 57-year old mom, and everyone in between.

The deal is, yes, comics have a stigma. Is it a fair one? No. And one of the reasons I’m getting into comics is to set out to change that. Will I make much of a difference? Probably not…

I would like to comment from time to time, though, on my experiences in changing the face of comics. There are many people out there much more talented than I with this goal already in mind. But, if they’ll have me, I’d like to join them in their quest to let people know that comics are, in fact, really f’ing cool.

• Meet the team.

• The Strike.

I have been wondering how the Writers Guild strike would affect me and my writing partners. We’ve optioned a script to a major studio, but it was not covered under the WGA agreement, so we are not members of the guild. So, I wanted to get my own thoughts down on the matter and figure out what it does for us, personally.

Why the strike?

I’ll keep this brief as you can read about this just about anywhere online right now. But the main issue is over residuals from internet downloads. The writers got screwed in a deal in the mid-eighties over residuals from home video. It was a new technology, no one knew where it was going to go, so the writers agreed to a measly .3% of profits. This has not been raised since the eighties and probably never will be. DVD’s are now the bread and butter of the movie industry and writers make about 4 cents per DVD sold.

We are now dealing with internet downloads… it’s a new technology, no one knows where it’s going to go… but writers aren’t going to make the same mistake twice. Studios are offering .3% of internet downloads. Writers are asking for 2.5%. The writers would obviously settle for something in the middle, but the studios are not budgeting. Hence, the strike.

I’ve been asked a few times why writers need residuals anyways… don’t they make enough money as it is? Well, writing is not a full-time job. You may sell 3 scripts a year, or you may sell none. Residuals are what keeps writers going in that off season. And contrary to popular belief, not all writers are millionaires… most are middle class.

How does it affect us?

We’re not sure what it does to our project currently in development, “Church League.” I would imagine it would put that on hold as it is currently being rewritten by, what we can assume, are WGA members.

In a way, the strike could help us. Over the past 6 months we have been shopping a new script (as well as pimping ourselves as writers) to agents, producers, & managers. The response has been expectantly quiet. Being in Atlanta, we don’t have as many contacts as we’d like in L.A., but thanks to the world wide web, we’re able to make more every day. During this time period, agents and managers will not be busy with their normal clients because they are not working. But, there is a good chance they will be looking for new talent during this time. So, maybe we’ll start to get some phone calls returned.

I don’t know if these agents or managers can take us on during this period. It’d be pointless anyway since they couldn’t get us any work. But it is a great time to network and get to know new people who can help us out in the long run.

What are we doing in the meantime?

We’re continuing to write, write, & write. We’re currently working on a script that is something, even if we finished the script, we could film ourselves outside of WGA jurisdiction.

We have a backlog of ideas that we are dying to write. And, as long as we aren’t getting paid to write any of these ideas by a guild signatory company, we are free to write them.

I will spend a great deal of time writing “Strongsville” and work everyday on marketing that project as well.

And of course… we all have day jobs that we are eagerly trying to escape.

• What is Strongsville?

Strongsville is a story that has been brewing in my head for half a decade now. It all started with an image in my head of an elderly man, mowing his yard, wearing a superhero outfit. This was the genesis for the story of Strongsville.

The story follows Kevin – a young, shy, outcast of a kid as he reluctantly moves with his mom to Strongsville after the death of his father. His impression of Strongsville as a sleepy beach town is shattered, however, after becoming suspicious that his elderly neighbor is actually a superhero from his comic books.

The series is being written by me, drawn by Rebekah Isaacs, colored by Michael Bills, and lettered by Randy Gentile. We are currently pulling together a proposal for the series to shop around to publishers.

It is with great pleasure that I present the cover for Strongsville #1, featuring the very image that kicked off the entire project:

A special thanks to Rebekah, Michael, and Randy for making my dream a reality.

• Why Comics? Pt. 1 – The Beginning

I have fond memories of my mom picking me up from school… stopping by the Circle K… picking up a Cherry Coke and a pack of Reese’s… and then heading over to the comic book store. I would come home with my comics, lay around my room, listening to the then local radio station, Power 99 (playing everything from R.E.M. to Tom Cochran to Red Hot Chili Peppers to En Vogue), and escape into the world of comics.

The first book I remember buying was New Warriors #1 from Marvel. I loved the young relate-able characters, the team dynamic, the sense of humor, and, it being a #1, I felt like I was getting in on the ground floor.

From there I got into X-Men, X-Force, X-Factor, Spider-man… pretty much anything with an “X” (or a spider) on it.

At that point, some of the major creators (and record-breakers) in the comics industry split to form their own company, called Image comics. All of my favorite artists (Rob Liefeld, Jim Lee, Todd McFarlane, Erik Larsen) from my favorite Marvel books, creating an entire world where I could get in on the ground floor? I was in. For the first couple of years, I bought everything Image put out (and almost exclusively). I ate it up and I loved every minute of it.

The stories in all these books took me to a place I’ve never been before, in a way that movies or television never did. With comics you feel fully engulfed in this amazing new world. You feel like you’re a part of it. Not just the stories, but the industry. The fact that you could correspond with the creators in their letters pages or create your own worlds at home with just a pencil and paper or discuss the books with a small handful of fans all added to this. I felt like I was in a secret club.

Then High School happened. I had less and less time to read comics, and more importantly, less and less money to buy them.

Cut to 15 years later (holy cow, I’m old) and having fully experienced adulthood, the one thing I know is that I want to rediscover childhood. I once again fallen head over heels in love with this brand of storytelling. I’ve tried to get caught up on all the good stuff thanks to my local library and various comic-related blogs and podcasts. Some of my very favorite stories right now from any medium are in comics (Runaways, Invincible, Scott Pilgrim, Umbrella Academy, to name just a few).

The great thing about comics today is that it’s a medium that serves a number of audiences. It’s not just superhero books for kids (as I believed when I was one). Many of my favorite comics tell adult stories to an adult audience in a variety of genre’s.

So, while I will always love and be involved in movies, music, and everything else, I can no longer deny my love for comic books. It is with this that I introduce you to the newest addition to my creative arsenal… Strongsville.