Posted in: Comics, Recent Updates | Tagged: 2012, comic con, disney, san diego, sdcc, slave labor graphics, tron

The Slave Labor Panel – The Disney Comics That Weren't

Published Thu, 19 Jul 2012 18:00:25 -0500

Joshua Stone reported from San Diego Comic Con for Bleeding Cool.

The Slave Labor Graphics (SLG) panel was interesting experience for me, as I know very little about the company, even though I have been reading and collecting comic books for the last 27 years. The panel included President and Founder Dan Vado and creator of SLG title Model A, Jef Bambas. The panel focused heavily on SLGs shift to digital. SLG shifted to digital first distribution last September, and makes their books available for download on SLGcomic.com, iTunes, and Comixology. All their books are released DRM free, and this is all part of Vado's belief not to go exclusive in any format as decisions like that are what got the comic book industry into the state it is in now. Vado discussed how SLG makes all first issues of their series free for download on the SLG site.

During the panel, I asked if SLG has left Diamond as a distributor. Vado said no, but that digital distribution is a plan B. He said who knows if Diamond is always going to be around, or if SLG titles were always going to meet Diamond's qualifications for distribution. Vado said since SLG releases their titles as graphic novels, the digital model allows word of mouth to spread and interest to grow. Hard copies are released 9-12 months after the first digital issue is released.

Additionally, Vado discussed SLG plans to release a Snow White title, starting with the first issue being available digitally probably in August. The idea for the comic was conceived while thinking of potential story ideas under the license agreement SLG had with Disney, but when that ended Vado decided to do the story anyway, just not as Disney's Snow White.

In talking further about SLG's deal with Disney, Vado discussed how Disney envisioned aging up some of their properties, and that they were having SLG work on stories that would appeal to YA audience. Vado said SLG wanted to do Disney comics that were cool, "Why do Alice in Wonderland, just do Wonderland." All the properties that SLG worked on were ones that Disney had given up on at the time, Tron, Haunted Mansion, Alice in Wonderland, and Gargoyles. However, since Disney bought Marvel, SLG has no relationship with anyone at Disney.

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