START: I AM JOE'S ENLIGHTENED BRAIN
BY DAVE POTTER

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There is one thing that I truly believe about the year 2001: That it will be remembered as the final, irrecoverable turning point for the comic industry.

Understand something: I am not predicting WHAT is going to happen. This thing will either die a very ignoble death in the next few years, or rally and become a vibrant, growing industry again as it was for much of the 20th century. I do not know which of those scenarios will come to pass. If I could predict the future that well, I'd be making a fortune in Vegas and wouldn't even take the time necessary to tell everyone here they can go fuck off and leave me alone.

But I don't need psychic powers to understand that this is the year to turn the industry around, just like I don't need psychic powers to know that 2001 will also bring an economic downturn and lots of jokes about President-elect Bush's intelligence (at least Clinton had his dick to think with, right?). For the comic industry, this year is now or never. When they write the history of this medium in ten years, 2001 will be either be the turning point...or the point of no return.

And I have to ask: What are you going to do about it?

Besides read SAVANT, I mean?

Because what does it really accomplish to JUST read SAVANT? The truth is, not a damned thing. You reading SAVANT doesn't move the industry even a half step further away from the edge of the trash bin.

Now, it's good that you read SAVANT. It means you are concerned about the future of the industry and that you are an intelligent and discerning reader. I like that so many people are out there copying SAVANT, giving friends the web address, printing and distributing the .pdf version of this site.

You are spreading SAVANT like a virus. But now we need the patient to develop symptoms of the infection.

So for the new year and the new millennium, do something. Then do it again. Then do more.

Because this is the year we all need to take our efforts one step further. Don't get me wrong. A lot of you already do a lot. But I have to ask you to do a little bit more. Bring two new readers in this year instead of one. Give away trades to three people instead of two. Give SAVANT to your store if you're just reading it on the net. Stop going to your retailer if he's a cross-eyed, mouth breathing inbred that treats his customers like the new prisoner in the penitentiary after lights out.

And if you're just reading SAVANT and that's your contribution to making the industry better, well...get off your ass. Seriously. This generation doesn't have a war or depression to definer itself against. There are no great global causes or concerns-there aren't even that many good local ones anymore. All the good themes have been used up and turned into theme parks. Consider this your printed invitation to the dance. You obviously care, or you wouldn't still be reading comics. And your certainly wouldn't be reading SAVANT. SO GET OFF YOUR ASS AND GET IN THE GAME. There aren't going to be many chances to become part of something that is larger than yourself, and in this case there ain't a lot of time left before the clock strikes midnight. Ten years from now, do you want to ask yourself if there was something you could have done to help save the industry in 2001? Or would you rather people in your life thank you for exposing them to the comics medium and commenting how they can't understand how it was so recently teetering on the edge of extinction? I think it's an obvious choice. Is it that hard to mention a great trade paperback that you just read when talking with your friends, instead of a book or movie or DVD?

Is it that hard to print out the ESSENTIAL column in SAVANT and give it to a friend as a pointer to something they might enjoy? Is it really going to screw up your daily schedule if, at the campus library, you ask why they don't carry Understanding Comics or Maus or Watchmen or any of the countless library quality comics that are out there?

Repeat after me: Do something. Then do it again. Then do more.

I'll be doing more this year. I can't just write and edit for SAVANT. I can't just sell SAVANT to people I talk to and hope that makes all the difference. I realize that it won't. And my new year's resolution is to do more. My challenge to the readership of SAVANT-our private little army-is join me in doing more.

If you're reading SAVANT, you know what to do. We talk about it here every week. But that's all we can do through SAVANT is talk about it. We are the vehicle; we are the virus. You are Joe's raised voice; you need to do the legwork.

Or nothing will happen. And I'm fucking tired of nothing happening.

Aren't you?