Dean, you really nailed it.

Today, thanks to the internet, POD publishing, digital platform apps, and, as you say, crowd funding, the fate of comics is more firmly in the hands of creators than ever before. You stand tall as a role model for the next wave of comic creators that dare to be different and strive to succeed on their own terms.

Continue to blow the horn.

The big guys can dictate the middling Direct Market but they cannot control the the ecclectic comic tastes of the rest of the rest of the world as proven recently by Order of the Stick.

Frankly, I think most deeply creative people would rather work on their own creations, tell their own stories unencumbered by “mainstream” expectations. I sure would. The trick is figuring out how to make it pay well enough that you can focus solely on that.

Dean, thanks as always for your honesty and your energy. Even if I didn’t like your work–and you know I do!–I’d really appreciate your taking the time to talk straight like this.

Want to know what’s wrong about the comics business today in America? It’s a fanboy-run industry. Been so for at least a couple of decades in ever increasing progression, ever since professional editors began to step down or retire… or maybe even before that. So these guys, who used to intern for free take over, and expect everyone else to work for free (or for rates set in stone since 1987) as well, to “buy” their way in so to speak. Because we’re all supposed to “looove” comics, instead of drawing or writing them as a means to pay our bills. But it doesn’t matter because they own the cake and eat it too, and there will always be fans turned artists willing to kneel down and suck it.
Recently, a former editor i worked for not in one, but several projects, was so suprised i refused to draw free samples he actually forwarded my reply to the editor in chief!
In part it’s understandable, a fan-editor would want to work with a fan-writer, and a fan-artist… they understand each other perfectly well! But, loh and behold, if you see this as a regular factory job, and don’t care what this or that character had for lunch in issue # 3497 from 1964.
I’m not saying it’s wrong to be a fan, but running business thinking like one? No wonder regular folks don’t read comics anymore!
That’s the reason i’d rather work for British and European editors these days… good pay without all the micro-management BS! And yes, since they respect the artist and his/her time, they do pay for samples too!

At least you do have a big enough name to get a lot of your own work out there, whether in print or online. I feel for your friend, trying to break in. I think your advice to him was spot-on.

The access models are changing, which–one hopes!–will bring opportunity in new and unexpected ways…

Kidding, dude; spot on essay.

While bands occasionally cover songs, the real artists create their own catalog of original tunes — not sure the Stones woulda been too popular coving Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters for five decades.

Kirby, Moebius, Crumb, and Eisner are the greats because they created original material along with their own unique visual style. When you work on somebody else’s characters all the time, it’s really like being in a cover band.

Create your own original works and do with them what you will. You’ll never need anyone’s permission for anything, and if you’re smart, you’ll own it forever. That doesn’t mean it’s easy — but more gratifying, and potentially more lucrative.

It may be a bit of a rough road, but with your talent, there is no doubt that you’re going to do something amazing. I wish you, and all who are forging their own path, all the success in the world.

Y’know, that and all the stealing of credit and cash from the dead and dying.