The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Comic Book Editor – "There Is Just SO MUCH TO DO And It Never Stops"

Been meaning to write a long thread on what comic book editors do that is misunderstood. I found myself getting angry in the writing. It felt like I was defending a group of people who who are already grossly under-appreciated while taking constant abuse.

— Bonstrosity Attacks! (@karma_thief) January 28, 2020

They don't need to be defended, they need to be praised for surviving. Instead, let me tell a few stories not so much about what's misunderstood, but *can't* be understood unless you are in their shoes.

— Bonstrosity Attacks! (@karma_thief) January 28, 2020

First: when I started at Marvel, an editor suggested I block out time on my calendar for lunch, if only to remind myself I needed to eat. Because things would get so intense people would just forget to eat.

— Bonstrosity Attacks! (@karma_thief) January 28, 2020

I joked, "Should I block off time to remind myself to go to the bathroom, too?" We both laughed. Six months later I did exactly that during one especially busy week: literally blocked off a half-hour and named the meeting "go to the bathroom"

— Bonstrosity Attacks! (@karma_thief) January 28, 2020

This is what no one ever explains to you: there is just SO MUCH TO DO and it never stops. You feel like you have to keep going or else it'll only get worse and you'll never recover. Minimum, 60 hours a week of continuous action items and communication.

— Bonstrosity Attacks! (@karma_thief) January 28, 2020

Time is your constant enemy. There's never enough of it and what little there seems to be keeps running out faster than you make up for it.

— Bonstrosity Attacks! (@karma_thief) January 28, 2020

Actual editing and project management was a lot of the job, but most of the real work was just willing a comic to completion through counseling. Every comic was its own family, and lacking blood ties what held it together was the editor. The editor was a comic book's glue.

— Bonstrosity Attacks! (@karma_thief) January 28, 2020

Second story: Steve Wacker used to urge his assistant editors to take improv classes. Thing about improv is you always say "yes" and don't freak out. You keep things going no matter what was thrown at you. And that's comics.

— Bonstrosity Attacks! (@karma_thief) January 28, 2020

Things always happened — kids got sick, pets died, divorces, car accidents, creator feuds, food poisoning, the FedEx truck broke down and lost the pages. Something was always on fire. You put one out another got lit. But you had to keep saying "yes" and moving forward.

— Bonstrosity Attacks! (@karma_thief) January 28, 2020

Now add up 1) keeping the family sane and moving together at the same deadlines; and 2) the curveballs life throws at you. Multiply all that by a dozen to two dozen series at a time. You're the glue for several dozen creators. It's a recipe for insanity.

— Bonstrosity Attacks! (@karma_thief) January 28, 2020

I've seen some creators suggest more forward planning and more lead time would de-stress these situations so editors could work with those creators better. Trust me: they try. Every schedule I saw sent to an editor gave artists at least 5-6 weeks lead-time per issue.

— Bonstrosity Attacks! (@karma_thief) January 28, 2020

The lead time just disappears. Always. That's the one thing you can always count on. Time disappears, and at different rates, across dozens of books at once.

— Bonstrosity Attacks! (@karma_thief) January 28, 2020

Third story: It was late on a Friday and I popped into Nick Lowe's office. He'd gotten his books to the printer already so had an extra hour before he had to go home.

— Bonstrosity Attacks! (@karma_thief) January 28, 2020

He was signing thank you post cards and including them with freelancer checks. Just a little something to bring a touch of humanity into the otherwise grinding process.

— Bonstrosity Attacks! (@karma_thief) January 28, 2020

Comics marries the worst of magazine publishing schedules with the worst of book publishing's creative expectations. You're supposed to churn out timeless art, dozens of instances of it, every month. Only way to keep going is to hold onto those slivers of humanity.

— Bonstrosity Attacks! (@karma_thief) January 28, 2020

Many many creators have talked about editors ghosting them. It happens. I made a point to carve out an hour a week to get through the backlog of correspondence.

— Bonstrosity Attacks! (@karma_thief) January 28, 2020

If I had a family I'd never get through it. Would've been impossible. That's the first casualty: lost time means lost politeness. Then you just start getting used to it. You treat more and more talent that way.

— Bonstrosity Attacks! (@karma_thief) January 28, 2020

There's a thousand people you haven't gotten back to, what's a dozen more? From long experience, 99% of them won't solve the biggest problem you have today: you keep losing time. So do you lose more time to people you're 99% confident will cost you more time?

— Bonstrosity Attacks! (@karma_thief) January 28, 2020

I say a lot at @comicexperience that every talent should sell themselves to editors as someone who can solve a problem. More specifically, if you can buy back that lost time, you become the person the editor gets back to.

— Bonstrosity Attacks! (@karma_thief) January 28, 2020

Last story: When he wanted to convince a talent to take on a new gig, Wacker used to call talent with, "Hey, It's your future calling." That's what you should always look for from a comic book editor — someone fighting for the future, for the art and for you.

— Bonstrosity Attacks! (@karma_thief) January 28, 2020