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If you make a habit of reading my comic review column, you may have
noticed that I pan a lot of what I review . . . I’m a picky person, and much
of what’s out on the shelves these days doesn’t appeal to me. Hence
many a comic gets a negative review, then gets stashed away in a long
box to be forgotten until I go looking for something that I want to read.
Or until the comics creator e-mails me.
I’ve written some positive reviews in my lifetime, too, but none of them
have generated any e-mail from the creators. Instead, I get messages
from people I pan. And these messages are . . . friendly! Upbeat! It’s
almost scary. If someone said bad things about my work (assuming I
ever published anything, ha!), I’d have a hard time being diplomatic with
them. While it is a critic’s job to criticize, and everyone is entitled to
their own opinion, this is MY brainchild we’re talking about here!
So, I ask myself . . . Why are these creators nice to me?
As I was replying to the e-mail from Anwar Madrigal, whose Lizard King
preview I expressed such a negative opinion of last month, it dawned on
me. Any publicity is good publicity! While I may have had many bad
things to say about the comic in question, many people might have read
my review. Some of them might have said "Pheh, what does this reviewer
know? This comic sounds great to me!", and thus I inadvertently send
customers to someone whom I didn’t mean to support. Good or bad, my
reviews are free advertising. Advertising that the comics industry needs.
Movie studios have plenty of money to advertise their movies. Turn on
the TV and there’s a commercial for the latest James Bond movie. Open
the paper, there’s an ad for Disney’s most recent animated adventure.
Walk into a store and there’s a myriad of products tying into this
season’s blockbuster movies. It’s much the same for the television
industry. The recording industry has it made (no matter what they say
about mp3s sending them to the poorhouse). Radio stations play single
songs, tantalizing you with a band’s sound so you drive down to Sam
Goody to buy the CD. When you walk into the store, you’re inundated
with aisle end displays of even more bands you could try. The book
publishing industry doesn’t have it quite as well, but how many malls
have you been into that didn’t have at least one bookstore? Bookstores
with those wonderful aisle end displays! Plus you have the New York
Times Bestseller list, advertisements in some magazines, and the
wonders of movies based on best-sellers (*quot;After I saw the movie I just
had to read the book!").
What does the comic’s industry have? Small displays of comics in many
book, convenience, and department stores . . . Of course, those only have
a few issues of some popular series’ published by the big names. Good
luck finding anything by Oni Press at WalMart. Likewise, while the
growing number of movies and television shows based on comics is a
great sign, these are almost all based on Marvel or DC comics. The only
way they might help small press people is by luring new customers into
the comic shop.
Thus, the comics industry- especially small press and indie publishers-
are left largely relying on word of mouth for their advertisement. While
we might get a few friends to read a comic by telling them about it, that’s
a small drop in the bucket. Writing about a comic in an on-line ‘zine like
Collector Times suddenly gets the word out to a MUCH larger number of
people, people we might never have reached before.
And that’s what I love about being a critic. In addition to being able to
voice my opinion (which I’d do anyway, whether or not I had an
"official" forum for it), I’m doing a little good deed by giving a perhaps
struggling artist (or creative team) a bit of free publicity, even if I’m
ripping their comic to shreds. It’s a great feeling when it’s someone I
like, but perhaps it’s better, in the long view of things, when I help someone I
DON’T like.
So, to all the comics creators out there about whom I’ve had bad things
to say . . . I still don’t like your work, but best of luck! We should all be
able to do what we love.
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