Pet Peeves and Other Observations, by Danny Donovan – Mad Science | @MDWorld
I am a pretty easy going guy, things rarely irk me. However there is one thing I hate more than anything else in the world.
Being late.
I am one of those people that arrives at movie 30 minutes early, If I am going to a place that’s unfamiliar to me, I leave 2 hours early to give myself leeway to get lost, and still make sure I arrive at my meeting early.
I hate being late more than Michael Davis hates the GOP.
I hate being late more than Mitt Romney hates poor people.
I hate being late more than Fox News hates being honest.
You get the picture. Now when I am late due to my own problems, (which currently there are many with an upcoming move, my family in poor health, over committing to projects to pay for all this, etc) it’s frustrating.
But there is nothing more maddening if someone makes me late because THEY just don’t give a shit. I’m not taking about the usual thing, your significant other saying “I’ll be ready in five minutes” and proceeding to take another 45 before you leave the house.
I am talking about when you are working with someone, and they try to dominate all of your time, despite knowing you have other commitments. And if you are trying to maintain a polite working relationship you can’t just say “Back the fuck off man, I have other customers.”
(Which I had to do recently, because the amount of time the person was taking from me was far and away less than I was making on this project, and it caused me to lose out on a far more lucrative project, both professionally and financially.)
I understand getting so into the weeds with your own project you lose track of little things like ‘other people’ but it really comes down to respect. And that’s one of the reasons I hate being late, because I feel it’s a sign of disrespect.
So I offer this to the fine folks of MDW, Mea Culpa. My life has been a rather unpleasant place recently, my mother’s MRSA has worsened, and my wife’s medical problems have gotten a little out of control. Add that to a coming move (I have to be out of this fire trap by May 1st!) and well, the fact I am not curled up in a corner sucking my thumb and weeping uncontrollably is a testament to my resilience.
That said, lets move onto this weeks screed. Originally I wanted to do another follow up to the current issue of race, that seemed to get started with our first column but with the Treyvon case heating up, that is owed a much longer column than time presently allows.
However, this week there was a bit of comic book news that struck me as important. The dismissal of Chris Roberson from DC Comics.
In the past I have been accused cronyism in a way when these things come up, but hear me out on this for a moment. It wasn’t the fact that Chris Robertson was fired, but the reason he was fired. Chris came out and called the people who sign his paychecks criminals essentially over something that really is just a matter of poor decisions.
It really came down to the “Watchmen 2” malarkey. You have a very split audience over this, on one hand you have the legion of Alan Moore fans that think he was ‘screwed’ for these books coming out despite the fact he doesn’t want them to, and those people who think it might be worth reading. Fact is Alan Moore signed a bad contract, we all have in the past.
Is it DC’s fault? Maybe, they did after all draft the contract. But it is up to a creator to scan through any deal, hell, take it to a lawyer and make sure the language is mutually beneficial. If anything it’s a great cautionary tale for young creators out there looking to get into the business.
I may be in the minority but I will always argue that V For Vendetta was the superior Moore work, both are great books, but for some reason V just resonates with me more. One thing about Watchmen that was sort of lost in the annals of history, is that originally Moore wanted to use DC’s characters, but DC wasn’t keen on that idea, so Moore used allegories to DC’s characters.
Rorschach was The Question, Dr. Manhattan was Captain Atom, etc. Most hardcore fans know this, but a lot of people on this Watchmen 2 divide probably don’t or would rather ignore the fact because it makes a better argument for the “Moore got screwed!” set.
Fact was, he did a work for hire project, he was paid, he received credit and payment for the movie, (although he asked his name to be taken off most if not all of the film adaptations) He received a royalty from the new deal, and even if he refused it, that would be on him. Refusal of money does not preclude someone who has ownership of a property to produce a product.
And what of Dave Gibbons. Co-creator of Watchmen. Dave’s character designs are what gave the characters their uniqueness. Should he be denied a payday because of another person’s poor feelings? People tend to credit Watchmen as when “comics grew up.”
This is a misnomer.
Comics have been subversive, and adult for as long as the medium existed. What they mean is when “Mainstream comics grew up.
Roberson wants to make it a big David v Goliath issue but the end of the day, most creators understand that the only way your work is going to receive any kind of recognition is by doing work with one of the bigger guns. You could ask, would Alan Moore be as big of a creator without his work at DC? If he was still writing for Dez Skinn’s weekly newsagent publications?
Jeff Lemire is a great example of this. His work on Animal Man has lead audiences to seek out his indie work, and give him the boost he deserves.
Comics, are a business plain and simply.
Now because we don’t make as much as other portions of the entertainment industry, such as films, music, and television, its easy to write it off as a fairy wonderland where people just do whatever they want and get paid for it.
That is not the case.
(especially the part about getting paid. Most creators are lucky to work for a ham sandwich.)
What Chris Roberson did was foolish and unprofessional. He probably burned a bridge with a company that could help make his career. If he’s lucky he will learn from this and move forward. But few people will want to partner with someone who will trash them in the press whenever they get a wild hair up their ass.
It’s good to stand your ground, to stand up for what you believe in, but it’s important to also know all the facts, and consider all the moving parts before shooting your mouth off.
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April 25th, 2012 at 4:49 pm
Not being on the creative side of comics (I’m strictly a reader), I have to say that Roberson HAS burned a serious bridge (and he cannot go to Marvel, unless he wants to be tagged a hypocrite). The simple fact is that a creator who wants to make the (hypothetical) big bucks NEEDS the Big Two since 75-85% of ALL comics sold in the US come from one of those two companies. As a writer, his comics opportunities are far more limited than Jeff Lemire’s since you mentioned him. Lemire is an artist as well as a writer but, in terms of sales success, it’s his “mainstream” stuff for DC that’s selling better (Animal Man #7 sold a little over 33000 copies; Frankenstein Agent of SHADE #7 sold 17000; Sweet Tooth #31–Lemire’s own work–sold 7500).
Or look at Marvel’s top dog, Bendis. The man’s been routinely selling in excess of 50000 copies of his various Avengers titles (Avengers Assemble #1 sold just over 100000 copies; OTOH, the non-Bendis Avengers are down in the 18000-20000 range) and his Ultimate Spider-Man’s selling in the 45000 range but his own Powers series sells under the 13000 mark.
Perhaps Roberson’s non-comics writing gives him a sufficient income so that his comics work was just a “sideline” but, for a guy whose current Vertigo iZombie #23 sold just over 8200 copies and his Boom Studios Elric the Balance Lost #9 sold just over 4000 copies, I sort of doubt he’s making any real money from comics. I know he says he’s got projects lined up, but he’s not exactly one of those guys whose non-mainstream work is pulling in the customers (maybe, if he hadn’t shot off his mouth, his planned arc on Fairest would’ve put him in the 12000-15000 range; Fairest #1 sold more than 31000 while Fables #115 sold just over 17000).
I’ve enjoyed what I’ve read by Roberson, but I haven’t gone out of my way to follow his writing; iZombie’s concept just didn’t appeal to me but I enjoyed his Cinderella stories and his run on Elric but Cindy is part of the Fables family and I got on Elric because I liked the Elric adaptations from Pacific and First–a bit odd because Moorcock’s actual stories didn’t really click with me–and I thought I’d give the Boom series a chance and it’s been pretty enjoyable. And his other work for DC and Vertigo fell in the midst of series that I was already reading (his Superman run picking up on JMS’s storyline and his sort-of one-offs in Superman/Batman and House of Mystery) so it’s not like I went out of my way to buy something due to being a Roberson fan.
Yes, I can laud Roberson for taking the stand he did (even if I think his stance is wrong) but I can’t say that I’ll be following him to whatever project he takes on. I *may* pick up his future work, but he’ll need to do something that really catches my attention. According to his Wiki entry, he contributed to one of the Star Trek Myriad Universes anthologies but, again, I didn’t buy the book based on his name–I bought it because it was a Star Trek book. But the rest of his “real book” fiction–never encountered any of it and I don’t really see anything that I feel compelled to check out. (And I think the Before Watchmen naysayers and attack brigade are really overreacting. If they were REALLY as opposed to the idea, and claiming that DC’s “stealing” from Moore, then they’d be just as opposed to what Moore’s been doing for the last several years, especially with the League of Gentlemen. I’m still waiting to see how the “DC screwed over Moore” brigade can justify the way that Moore is basically stealing OTHER people’s property–just because it’s in public domain doesn’t make what Moore’s been doing any less justified. And, IMS, Moore didn’t hide the fact that his work on Supreme was basically the way he’d write Superman. And Lost Girls? More theft–and turning classic children’s characters into the stars of a porn book. Aside from Supreme–which I never read beyond a few sample pages–I’ll admit, I’ve enjoyed Moore’s take/theft on these various characters and I think I would’ve deprived myself of hours of entertainment if I’d taken some high moral ground about writers and/or artists appropriating someone else’s work and put their own spin on it. Personally, I think Moore should feel honored that people DO want more stories about the characters he and Gibbons developed. Hell, the fact that people have wanted more adventures of the Starship Enterprise that kept writers busy for a couple of decades when they only had an animated TV show–that was no more in continuity than the paperback books–and a handful of big-screen adventures to keep them entertained. All of those writers “created” new characters for their stories, yet I’m not aware of many writers who were so appalled at the treatment that Harlan Ellison was subjected to at Roddenberry’s hands that they refused to submit any stories for consideration. And at least one of the writers who continued writing new tales of the Star Trek-verse was a good friend of Ellison’s–but I digress….)
April 25th, 2012 at 8:26 pm
I’ve gotten into more than enough trouble running my mouth. For what it’s worth here’s what I have learned.
If someone else is writing you a check and you fuck with them prepare to be fired.
Period.
I’ve NEVER talked shit about anyone WHILE I was working with them.
Never.
Ever.
Ever.
NOW-I’ve talked a lot of shit about people who have fucked me over and I’m done that with the CLEAR knowledge that I may NEVER work with those people again.
That’s because at the time I was talking that shit I had what Howard Stern calls FUCK YOU MONEY.
Do I regret burning some bridges-sometimes. That said-regardless of what my money situation was I’d never talk shit about a company while I was there. I’d quit before I’d do that.
I have no dog in the fight between Chris Roberson and DC-I respect his work but if he talked shit about DC I’m sure he had to be prepared for the fall out.
April 25th, 2012 at 9:39 pm
I liked his recent Elric series quite a bit. And I like most of Moore’s stuff enormously; I really love those short time travel stories he did for 2000 AD and V For Vendetta is on my short list of great, provocative and thought-inducing comics.
But I’m also quite familiar with DC’s contracts at the time of Watchmen, having been senior editor back then. Even if the contract he and Dave received was five times better than the one Frank Miller got for Dark Knight, it couldn’t have had the provisions he claims it had.
I SUSPECT he’s thinking of personal assurances that might have been made to him. Oral contracts, as the saying goes, aren’t worth the paper they’re written on. If those people violated their word to him, he has every right to be completely pissed — at them.
But despite our reactionary and inhumane Supreme Court, corporations are not people. The whole corporate being is, by definition and nature, anti-human. They exist only for self-perpetuation, period. Their operators are there only temporarily, and thus their goals are to grab as much money as possible and to put themselves in a position for even more money in their inevitable next position with another corporation. Corporations are Ultron. They are Daleks.
The people who ran DC Comics at the time of Watchmen are no longer there, and their assurances to Alan are not binding to their successors. That’s how corporations work. If you don’t like it, don’t work for them.
And Alan Moore, to his credit, doesn’t. And he hasn’t for quite some time.