Friday, December 22, 2017

Here comes the Sandman

I have seen a lot of anger over the canceling of some comic books as of late. I can understand the disappointment of hearing about people's favorite comics being canceled. Lord knows I have experienced that multiple times in the past with some of my favorite titles.


The thing about Comic books is that it is a business in the end and  that sort of stuff. happens. No matter how great the idea or how beautiful the art it is always a gamble of success or failure.

My comic Mosaic was canceled after 8 issues earlier this year. We  worked our asses off trying to make him the coolest character we could. But unfortunately our sales fell after issue one. I wasn't mad at the public or editorial, I'm glad we got the chance to show our stuff with the first totally new Marvel character in years.
Mosaic was not a new character wrapped in another character's clothing he wasn't a rif  or re name of another character who came before. He thrived and fell by his own name. That definitely counts for something.

I see my time on Mosaic as like being on the stage at the Apollo. We danced and sang our hearts out but the sandman still came and pulled us off. The thing is not many could say that they did what we did, stand on that stage and did their thing. Just being there means that at least someone will remember what we did and that for me makes me happy. I don’t mind failing i see it as a learning experience and the next time we step out there we will bring something even better.

I say to some of the creators out there annoyed that their books got let go it's ok. the thing about working in this industry is you get the chance to do the same thing over an over you learn from your past failings and you can make it even better the next time.

For fans of these canceled books I say continue to support them after the single issues are gone. It is not unheard of for a comic series to get resurrected after a book is cancelled. Remember sales are what drive industry. If you want something to stick around actually buy it.

If you find that the big comic studios are not representing your interests there are plenty of other great studios doing incredible diverse sets of comics. Some of which I had the pleasure of doing some work for.

Don’t wait for the Big guys to figure out what you want to read show them.They are always watching to see with the other guys are doing and when they see it is a success they will in turn try to do the same thing.

Remember,  big publishers are not big on risk and if they see something works well they will not hesitate to do the same. So go out there and buy some comic books discover something new you might like what you see and if you don’t why not make your own and fill that void? That's how some of the most famous characters in comics started out.

Hope you have a Great Holiday