A while back, Sean and I were sitting over a couple of beers, talking about misspent youth and retirement savings, and somehow we get to the point where he tells me that there’s an ungodly number of comics people living here in Cowtown.

Sean is, of course, Sean McKeever, the insanely talented writer/creator of SLG’s THE WAITING PLACE, whom I have met through the auspices of the fine store we both patronize, Columbus’s The Laughing Ogre. And, as he informs me, he’s not the only one here -- that while Columbus, Ohio is a cowtown to almost anyone who doesn’t live here (and to a few who do,) we suddenly appear to be a hotbed of comics talent. Don’t ask me why, but it’s true.

A few drinks later, we’ve hatched a Plan. It runs thusly:

1) Obtain contact information for group of local comics creators and personalities.
2) Invite said group of creators out on the town for an evening of drinks.
3) Attend said evening, sit back and (hopefully) watch a community form.

The question of why this might be a good idea never enters our minds. It simply Is: these people probably don’t know there’s a dozen other folks just like them in the same city, doing the same kind of work. They don’t have to go to a convention thousands of miles away to meet each other when they can do it right here in the capital city -- and maybe have a few drinks and some laughs, to boot. This can only be a Good Thing.

Who knows where it will go? We’ve got some ideas.

Know anything about the Writer’s Guild of America?

The Writer’s Guild is an organized collection of professional writers from a variety of fields, banded together for moral, educational, and economic support of the individual writer. Their stated goal, as listed on their website, is to accomplish collectively what the individual cannot accomplish alone.

The Guild traces its roots in America back to around 1912, when it was called the Authors League of America -- and when it was primarily, for a period of nearly twenty-five years, a social organization, “a clubhouse where professional information was exchanged and plays put on a stage, but with no serious consideration given to the economic betterment or the protection of rights of screenwriters.”

Which, if you’ve been paying attention, is kind of what we’re talking about here.

Neither of us has been seriously suggesting that this gathering is to be some kind of unionization rally or organizational meeting. This isn’t about starting a labor movement; this is about getting some like-minded folks together for some drinks. Some… socializing.

See, the Writer’s Guild became one of the most powerful forces in the entertainment industry because, with enough people attached, the Guild’s voice became one that was hard to ignore. It’s not that the message was anything so revolutionary that studios and publishers trembled in awe upon hearing it -- it’s the fact that, when it came time to listen to the Guild, it wasn’t just one voice calling for these changes, it was a multitude; it was the writing community speaking as one.

Collective action is a powerful, powerful thing. It’s reshaped entire industries -- hell, entire nations. And here’s the best part:

You can put it to work for you.

There are a lot of things wrong with comics, these days -- for consumers just as much as for creators. Books grounded in nostalgia for long dead action figures are selling extraordinarily large numbers. Good comics get choked out of stores because one of the major publishers all but forces retailers to overorder their wares in the vain hope that limited supply will once again create demand for their books. Readership resistant to change keeps the same five books in the top sales slots, month in and month out, regardless of who’s producing them.

You don’t have to put up with this shit. These are all things you, as a consumer, can do something about. Because even if your town is not the hotbed for comics creators that Columbus is, there is still a community of with an interest in the medium there. All that’s waiting to happen is for someone to formalize it over drinks at a local bar. Someone like you.

If you are reading this, you are probably already a semi-regular visitor of your local comics retailer. Chances are, you have seen other people shopping in the same store.

Talk to them.

I swear, it’s okay. You can do this. Some of them are actual human beings like you.

Find out what they’re reading, why they’re reading it, what they like, what they wish they could see. Are they buying the good stuff? Would they be buying it if they had the chance? Are they, like you, looking for something more than a weekly dose of mediocre spandex?

You won’t know until you ask.

Make these people your allies. They are like you: they want Good Comics. They may have mentioned it to your retailer in passing; they may have kept silent and felt powerless to do anything about it. That doesn’t matter. What matters, now, is that before, they were individuals, single voices asking for Good Comics. And now?

Now, they’re a Group. They’re a collective voice. And to your retailer, they’re a target audience. They’re a guaranteed sell. One person asking about a particular book is easy for a disinterested retailer to ignore, but a whole group of customers? Not if the retailer wants to stay in business, they’re not.

Think about it this way: there are book clubs and discussion groups and gatherings of like-minded people all across the globe, for virtually every existing form of popular entertainment. Some of those groups -- consumers, remember, like yourselves -- have changed the entire course of some works. The support of Oprah’s Book Club can send a mid-level book soaring up the sales charts. And while, again, we’re not talking about such a large scale assault on the comics industry, the effects of a small, dedicated, and focused group of consumers can certainly make a difference for some comics whose print runs barely qualify for listing through Diamond.

That’s how easy this is. Because, just like the Writers’ Guild or our little gaggle of creators, the collective voice is louder than the individual. The shared interests, the united front, the commonality of the group means that its requests will be heard, and likely even answered. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. These are not new things, but goddammit, they are easy to do, and they work.

Solidarity. Strength in numbers.

The Writers’ Guild wasn’t that powerful when it started, but eleven thousand members who agree with its mission later, its concerns must be heard and acknowledged. It started out as a group of fellow professionals that, for years, was nothing but an opportunity for “socializing” and turned into a powerful force within the entertainment industry. Your group may only be three or four people, at first -- but even three or four people can change their local retailer. And when you realize that there might be three or four people at every store who think like you do…

Baby steps.

You can do this, too, you know. Comics professional, comics reader, comics retailer -- they’re out there. They want to meet with each other, they want to drink, they want to laugh, they want to have a good time. Remember: it’s just socializing.

We’re not talking about massive industry-wide changes... yet. But if there were suddenly a bunch of small, focused groups helping to legitimize the medium, influencing their local retailers and advocating for the form in their individual communities? That’d be a powerful and important step for the industry.

So who lives in your neighborhood?

---

ADDENDUM: SPRING CLEANING

Winter finally blows itself out, the weather starts to warm up, and you realize that it’s starting to get a little stuffy in here. Time to open the windows and get some fresh air moving. Clean house.

It’s the same thing here at SAVANT.

You’ve met Harris O’Malley once before, a few weeks ago; he’s back this issue with the second installment of his semiregular breaking-in art journal DOING THE WORK. Our "Meet the Press"-style roundtable interview feature QUICK TAKES is taking a brief hiatus, but will return in the near future. And because of a fairly serious turn of events in the world of comics publishing and distribution in the last forty-eight hours, our EXTRA feature this week comes to us courtesy of Top Shelf Comics, who could use a little help from you in order to stay afloat.

As I write this addendum, Top Shelf has had a tremendous show of support from the online community, but there’s still plenty that you can do. This is what SAVANT is and always has been about: you, the consumer, can make a difference. Vote your dollars, as my wife says. Support the publishers who are doing it right.

You can help fix comics.

Get to work.

Discuss Gus Dahlberg's START in the Savant forum.

ARCHIVES