PIPELINE COMMENTARY AND REVIEW #87
01 February 1999
by Augie De Blieck Jr.
http://www.nic.com/~augie/pipeline
MARTIN WAGNER: CLUELESS IDIOT
Over on Jonah Weiland's Comic Book Resources page, Beau Yarbrough had
an interview with HEPCATS creator Martin Wagner last week. It seems
like just yesterday when Dan Jurgens opened his mouth and earned him
the first Complete Raving Idiot award here at Pipeline. And it comes
time now again to issue a second. (OK, so no award was so named at the
time, nor was it ever issues. But the idea is here.)
Quoting Martin Wagner now:
"But it is true, I have chosen to end the book. After nine years of
struggling it became clear to me, upon seeing the pitiful orders for
issue #13 (the one everyone was supposedly waiting for), -- "
OK, I'll stop here for the first time. I don't read HEPCATS. Never have.
However, I've read enough of the interviews with Wagner and read enough
from his fans to know that the publishing schedule is something close to
what Dale Keown has going with PITT. The only difference is that PITT is
published slightly more regularly. How long ago was HEPCATS #1 published?
And how many times has there been a period of months between issues?
Thus, every issue is hotly anticipated and every issue becomes something
everyone has been waiting for.
Alas, for poor clueless Martin Wagner, even comic book fans' patience runs
out.
Anyway, back to Wagner:
"that the book was never going to 'take off' or 'break out,' "
OK, me again. Take a look at the books which have broken out in the past.
What do they all have in common? They've been produced and published!
If HEPCATS had followed up on the momentum it once had an maintained a
regular publishing schedule -- whether it be one month, six weeks, or two
months -- it might have had a chance.
"Hepcats on its own was not even providing me with a living."
Not surprising. You can't expect to make a living pushing a product you
never produce. You can find new and fancy ways to reprint it. You can
change publishers or go back to the first issue to start up a regular
printing schedule, but you still have to give the fans something new once
in a while if you expect them to give you any money.
About the only profession this might not pertain to is short story
writers, who can amass such a portfolio over time that they can live off
those royalties. But even for Isaac Asimov that took a couple of decades
of dedication.
"In my opinion the independent arm of comics publishing is no longer
supportable; "
Wagner's opinion is irrelevant. If he were an actual part of the
independent comics publishing scene, maybe I'd let this slide. But since
he has proven himself incapable of producing work, he's in a hell of a
position to pronounce independent comics dead based on his "experiences."
"at best it can only be a hobby for an artist, the occasional
breakout hit like 'Bone' notwithstanding."
Jeff Smith declared the book to be on a bi-monthly schedule from the
outset. He stuck to that schedule, producing issue after issue after
issue. Some good word of mouth finally clicked in after a year or so, and
the book broke out, after which he stuck with his schedule. Yes, there
have been times when the book has been late, but an artist's health should
be taken into consideration. And Smith has offered more than just mere
reprints of his glory day works to tide over fans.
"In fact, I will be surprised if comics publishing at all still exists in
5-10 years,"
Yup. I'm surprised Wagner has published anything in the past 5 or 10
years. Oh, that's right; he practically hasn't.
"Comics themselves face too much competition from other media (film,
video, Playstation, etc) for kids' attention, "
And, if nothing else, Wagner has proven that even comic book fans have a
limit on their patience and attention span. Besides which, HEPCATS is not
a kiddy book. It's a mature audiences title, born as an outgrowth from a
college comic strip.
I wonder if Wagner delayed handing in papers to his professors, only to
later declare the educational system as bankrupt for not being an
attentive audience or something.
"Yes, Professor I'm handing in the same homework assignment three weeks
in a row. But I hope you'll stick around to see the new assignment I
intend to hand in next month! It'll be highly anticipated, won't it?
Whaddya mean I'll fail the course?!? Maybe the system is outdated!"
Back to the real Wagner:
"and nothing is being done by the industry to bring in new readers. "
OK, so I have a tough time disagreeing with him here. That Disney lets
the best selling comic of all time cease publication in the USA is a crime.
"Certainly no incentive is being given artists to choose comics as a
medium for personal expression. "
I'd love to see him debate this with Dave Sim.
So, in conclusion folks, here's your recipe for failure:
Produce a comic book regularly to begin building up a fanbase. Then
disappear off the face of the earth. Come back reprinting those original
issues, which the entirety of your fanbase already has, and start making
new issues long after the fanbase has moved on to other things.
RANDOM THOUGHTS
Yes, I'm sick of the GOT MILK ad campaign, too. But it sure beats the heck
out of having those GAP kids on the back covers of comic books!
Am I the only one who is sick and tired of everything being compared to The
X-Files these days? I don't know which annoys me more -- the fact that
everything these days has to bear a comparison to the TV show for it to get
green-lighted, or that the comparisons are often stretched quite thin.
BTW, J. Torres' interesting new series has a new web site URL:
http://www.monsterfightersinc.com
X-MEN #85 stands up as the single finest issue of any X title in a LONG time.
Its brilliance is that even a first-timer in the mutant universe could pick it
up, understand it, and enjoy it. Joe Kelly and Alan Davis conspire on this
one.
I am still so-so with Alan Moore's LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN. I'll
give it another issue or two, but so far I'd much rather see a new issue
of SUPREME.
If you want that kind of period storytelling, do what I'm doing now -- read
the complete tome of Sherlock Holmes stories.
Picture Jimmy Stewart's classic film HARVEY with Stewart playing a hitman.
That's what THE MARCH HARE is, besides being a reprint from a series that
didn't make it past issue 1 a few years back. This is Keith Giffen at his
most deranged. Funny stuff.
I have a bunch of more reviews coming up at Jonah Weiland's Comic Book
Resources. Catch them at
http://www.comicbookresources.com
Eventually, all of these will be collected under the Pipeline umbrella. I'm
just not sure how or when. Might make good filler material should I ever feel
the need to take a week off.
-Augie
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