PROPINION
By Jamie S. Rich.

"I fuckin’ hate comics."

Joe Nozemack and I still giggle over that one. There we were, in the dead center of WizardWorld 2000, and out of nowhere, that phrase just popped out of my mouth.

I don’t recall what particularly inspired it. I am sure the motivation was just the shocking nature of the phrase and the fatigue at doing our second big convention in two weeks. But like most Id-inspired outbursts, there is some truth to that statement.

I do hate comics.

All right, everyone collectively gasp. The editor in chief of Oni Press hates comics. You can’t believe that I do. Well, you know what, I can’t believe that you don’t!

Okay, I’m still winding you up a little bit. Clarification time. I don’t hate comics as a form overall, but I do hate what we have allowed ourselves to become—a pamphlet-style format devoted to superheroes. Make no mistake, that’s what we are. We like to bitch and moan about the outside world and how they perceive us as campy, kiddie junk, but truth be told, that perception and the continued promotion of it is the fault of the comics world, no one else. Because face it, that’s how we see ourselves.

Example: at this year’s Comic Con International in San Diego, one of the main events at the Expo preceding the show was a panel discussion on how to promote comics and change the way people view them. On panel were five very intelligent, wonderful people: Denis Kitchen, Maggie Thompson, Joe Fields (owner of the store Flying Colors), Will Eisner, and Bob Chapman of Graphitti Designs. Outside of Chapman, who nine times out of ten is going to be the crank at the table, everyone was talking about appealing to kids and selling the same four-color fantasies. Chapman attempted to make the point that the common populace aren’t coming to our party because we keep trying to force-feed them the same stale hors d’oeuvres. Though Chapman’s statements were treated as heresy, he was right. The average citizen you see in the super market doesn’t want to read the comic book adaptation of the X-Men film any more than they have wanted to read those books for the last twenty years. People don’t care about superheroes unless they come with fancy special effects. The Kubert Bros.’ ink line means nothing to regular folk. Even the idea that these high-falutin’ media events will draw them into the store where they will discover Murder Me Dead and Sparks is ludicrous. Fans who have that idea don’t even have their hearts in the right place, because they are still accepting that somehow Wolverine is still our best foot to put forward!

You want another example? People send an average of 2-3 submissions a day to Oni. Almost all of them include a cover letter that goes on about how Oni Press is their favorite publisher because Oni likes to take chances and try different things. All well and good, and in some cases, when I see that the person is truly trying to break boundaries with their work, it does my bitter soul good. But in other cases, you lift up the cover letter to find some guy’s "new and unique" personal take on the superhero. Now, in the best case scenario, the cover letter was just kissing our ass and they don’t know the first thing about Oni. Worst case: they truly do love books like Blue Monday and Breakfast After Noon but somehow still think the project we are really looking for is yet another guy in spandex. Even scarier, they may think a reinterpretation of this tired formula is what the industry needs. Yeah, right. And girls don’t read comics because Marvel cancelled Barbie.

Change your perceptions, folks. Next week, when you go into your comics shop, put down the latest issue of Fantastic Four or Young Justice, and pick up something new and different instead. Pick up Palooka-ville or Rare Creature or Dave Cooper’s collection of Crumple instead. Hell, pick up Battle Pope. Pick up anything, just as long as it isn’t a superhero book published by the big boys or any fly-by-night independent that has decided they have the brand-new twist the genre is waiting for. Or, if you need to break yourself off superheroes slowly (which is fine, you don’t have to kick the habit completely), go creator-owned. Forget the latest breast book and the latest big company attempt at exploiting a youth market they don’t understand, and give Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming’s Powers a read. Or jump into Mike Allred’s The Atomics. If you like Ed Brubaker on Batman, try Deadenders or track down some of his older work, like Lowlife or Detour. If you like Judd Winick on Green Lantern, take home a copy of Pedro & Me. Eventually, move your way to Paul Pope’s THB and Jason Lutes’ Berlin. It’s a short ride from personal genre work to personal non-genre work (at least, non-superhero genre). When you find something you like, pass it on to a friend. Know someone at work who’s a big fan of "The West Wing"? Put a copy of Viz’s Eagle in their hands. Your dad like War movies? Give him Last Day In Vietnam for Christmas.

Then, and only then, when you actually honor the diversity of comics with your wallet, when you actually have as many Usagi Yojimbo trade paperbacks on your shelves as you do JLA hardcovers, will you have become part of the public relations solution rather than part of the problem.

So scratch that top line. I love comics. I just hate most of the ones you buy.

Oh, settle down! Sheesh!

Jamie S. Rich
Editor in chief
Oni Press

Jamie S. Rich is the Editor in chief at Oni Press. He's also the author of the fantastic novel CUT MY HAIR, new from Crazyfish Press. Check out the links section for more info on Jamie and Cut My Hair.

Jamie S. Rich Interview - PopImage's interview with Jamie.
Cut My Hair Chapter 1 - PopImage's Preview of Cut My Hair.
Cut My Hair Chapter 4 - Crazyfish's Press' Preview of Cut My Hair.