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SO YOU SAY
YOU WANT A REVOLUTION? NOTE: This is not a manifesto, just a tap on the shoulder for those who don’t know where to start. You’ve heard all the rhetoric, you’ve seen and read all the manifestos and now you can feel the burn; you’re itching to get in there and stir things up. Right? One problem though, you’re the only budding comic creator you know of. You have to drive an hour and a half to get to the nearest comic shop. And when you get there you get weird looks from the other patrons as you reach for City of Silence, Astronauts In Trouble, Deadenders and not Superman or the X-Men. You feel like you’re the only reader for miles that has any interest in tearing down the monolith that is the Mainstream. Fear not my friend, I offer you some solutions to your woe. The first thing I think you should do is write up a pseudo-want ad and stick it up in the comic shop you frequent. Detail in it that you are looking for some fellow creators, who live in your area, who are looking to help improve the comic industry through good, original stories, not by promoting the shit that currently dominates comic store shelves. Give your telephone number and/or email address and wait for the flock to amass. If that doesn’t work, and chances are that it won’t because the owner/manager/whatever of the store will probably tear it down before you exit the store (I know, it happened to me), then go to the internet and surf for like minded individuals. There are many places you can find them. Here’s a list of some of the better ones: PopImage’s own forum: www.delphi.com/popimage Without a doubt there are others, but you’ll have to do the legwork for those. But the ones i’ve given you are probably the best places to start. Well, they are the best places. Once you’ve reached the holy land(s), one of two things can happen. First you may like the place so much that you decide to stay and not worry about finding a closer knit group of people in your own area because the comic community you’ve wanted is right there at the established forum of your choice. This is a very good thing because, more often than not, you can benefit from the experience of the veterans of the forum. Also, industry professionals and insiders of one ilk or another frequent all of the forums I listed above. So you’re pretty much guaranteed to be getting advice from the best. The other thing that may happen is that you find the people you want but the environment of the forum rubs you wrong. In this case the best thing to do is gather up the people you want to work with and do your thing independent of the forums. This is cool also because you get to foster your own community and deal with the issues that are most important to you and not have to deal with those you don’t wish to. Be careful though, because you don’t want to be stepping on anyone’s toes. Who knows, they may be in a position to help you someday and you don’t want to lose those contacts. Y’know, burned bridges and all that. Whatever works for you. I, however, suggest a combination of the two. Frequent the established communities for a while and get to know the people there. Learn as much as you can from everyone involved, and when you feel the time has come to put what you’ve learned into practice, go and do your own thing (either alone or with a small group of others). But keep the ties to the forum, they are invaluable. I bet you’re thinking that this is a lot of work and all you want to do is write and/or draw comics. Well, you’re right, it is a lot of work, I won’t deny you that. But it couldn’t be more necessary. Before i started the Combustible Muse Assemble at Delphi, I considered myself a good writer. I was a published poet and had collaborated on a film script and a verse-opera (neither were finished, but it honed whatever skills i had) with other writers I knew. But now, 6 months after having started the forum and talked with many established, not to mention better, writers, my skills have improved 10-fold. Yours will also. Others have started the revolution, but if you want to carry it forward you have to know what they know and do the same work that they’ve had to do. So go to these forums, find yourself some co-revolutionaries, learn how to bleed in four colors. To quote a friend: “There is no room for madmen and weak links.” Just sayin’. (Visit me again next month when I discuss poetry and comics.)
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By
Kevin Feeley.
