Posted in: Comics, Recent Updates | Tagged: Comics, entertainment, kwanza johnon, ron perazza, zuda

Days Of Zuda Past – Bayou As Swamp Hulk

Published Sat, 19 Jul 2014 14:00:17 -0500

Chris Sims wrote an article on Comics Alliance looking at a pitched series that never happened by cartoonist Ramon Perez, called Big Barda & Mr Miracle that would have run on DC's digital platform, Zuda.

Imagine being the guy who said no to that? Sims picked up on Perez's tweets that read

I and a handful of others webcomics creators were approached to develop some ideas for new webcomic content for Zuda based on existing DC comics properties…We were given free reign as to who to choose from… so I naturally chose my favourite dynamic duo of Mister Miracle and Big Barda! If we had been given the green light I would have been weaving tales on a weekly basis starring perhaps my all time favourite Kirby creations! The stories would have been short arcs outside of continuity.

Zuda, the free digital comics line commissioned work and invited creators to compete for work creating original comics, horizontally screen sized, that were then collected in trade paperbacks and hardcovers. As DC Comics was reorganised, Zuda slowly faded away, before disappearing entirely, with comics never published or left unfinished

One Zuda's principle editors at DC was Kwanza Johnson. Who decided to lay out for us where it all went wrong.

"Given free reign" was a scary aspect of it as New 52 was vaporware then + only one group can play with the good toys. It was frustrating, as it was clear Zuda was being taken behind the shed, yet we were tasked to "do something with it." The vision I had for these projects were non-canon self-contained webcomics, that were All-Star DC in the wake of New 52. The idea got sidelined and I got to focus my digital expertise on editing Scooby-Doo. By the time the concept was safe enough to get Dirk Dastardlied into Batman: Arkham, I wasn't suited to touch it. I'd apologize for airing, but the Death of Zuda & stifling of digital was the lowest points in my comics career. It's a hard pill to swallow, spending your entire editorial career in digital get sidelined that way. But webcomics didn't fit in the DC paradigm like American Vampire. Yeah, Zuda had more readers but it wasn't monitized. I do feel validated in seeing digital crush it, even if I couldn't be part of it-but hey, I got to edit DC Retro! If I'd had my way you'd be reading comics from @theramonperez, @karlkerschl, @cameronMstewart & @AndyBelanger. Is what it is. DC was very top-down unless you sneak in a hit. Even then, success that can't be attributed upward is oppressed.

I'm not the first or last person to have a DC project go up in smoke. So take this all with a grain of salt. Though… You do hear more often about DC projects going up in flames than Marvel. Coincidence?

FJ DeSanto stated "look up a project called #insurgent" We still remember that, FJ….

Kwanza replied "For real. No slam against working artists, but a good chunk of New 52 was half-baked, and got more love."

FJ DeSanto resigned "at a certain point, had to let it go. it didn't have a chance after a certain point despite some champions" to Kwanza's "That's the biz, right? It just stings when you see influential champions get behind dogs."

And as to why the talent he mentioned didn't get green lights from those in charge, he says "It's a mix of luck, sales, & acclaim. We may know they're baller talent, but it takes time to register in the upper echelons."

Ian Struckoff unearthed a little deserved bitterness saying "I think you guys did though. A lot of what's working now is on the heels of what you guys did."

Kwanza replied "Yeah, but what's that worth? We got the door and other people sit on SDCC panels like they pioneered digital so…"

But there were positives too. "It's what's great about digital. It was like a start up; you can experiment, fail fast, learn, & spend less money."

Other ex-Zuda man and digital comics pioneer Ron Perazza wrote "I just want them to finish BAYOU. You know, Eisner nominated, ALA recognized, multiple Glyphs. It's earned it."

Kwanza agreed saying "Bayou didn't fit the paradigm of Superman: Earth One sales, and a publisher who called it, Swamp Hulk? If it'd won the Eisner, it would have gotten finshed. Goddamed @cameronMstewart and his goddamed good Sin Titulo."

He gave us a few more bon mots to consider…

Don't tug on Superman's cape. You can't beat Batman.

One more time! I wanted the creators to write characters that meant something to them, and wasn't just for a page rate. It was a fun attempt. At one point, a less known creator's pitch was picked over a well known creator's idea.

Again, I was assigned Scooby Doo, and said, "I hate Scooby-Doo, but could get behind this if I can have him meet Batman."

So many great ideas. I'd wanted to call the digital line, DCsquared. Guess I shouldn't have left that on my computer…

I also pitched choose-your-own-adventure digital comics (idea admittedly nicked that from @Perazza) in a rare brainstorm. Had @Perazza made the LA move, I think we just might have snuck some amazing content out. But hey, we all got to read New 52 Hawk & Dove—so what do I know?

I think pitches like @theramonperez's work because when the creator has a story they want to tell, you get better content. A creator wanting to tell a story in a universe vs. paid to fill-in a story, yield better results IMHO. And you can see that difference between Marvel and DC. Marvel's grown past the ad nauseam serials and status quo. Peter Parker, owns his own business. Cyclops is the new Magneto. What's Clark Kent doing? Still a reporter at the Planet.

I'm glad even a bastardized digital exists. My mantra was "I don't need credit so long as I can do cool stuff." And that is why Zuda rocked. We had real-word constraints, but @Perazza trusted me, the team, the creators, and the fans.

We had a goal that we were all aware of! Your open door policy empowered me to be an open and trusting editor.

I wanted DC Digital to work like a lab/startup. I think creators could stomach lower rates for creative freedom. The benefit of DC webcomics could have been content that garnered very healthy impressions/clickthru for advertisers. From Zuda, we'd already solved digital (screen) to print (portrait)–I specced out digital art boards. See Smallville, etc. But really, I wanted these series online for free. The traffic would have been insane and bring in non-hardcore readers.

We all love Batman, but $3.99 is more expensive than some online movie rentals, phone apps, a beer at happy hour… Print prices can't really be fixed though. Publishing calendars, creative, production, and logistics have costs. Now, that digital comics are proven in the paradigm, at least there is that avenue–even if publishers had no choice.