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Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics, entertainment, kickstarter, the pros
To My Fellow Indie Creators: Why Are You Still Making Superhero Comics?
"Proactive Insurance: The Pros" by Steve Stormoen. Jelena Djordjevic, E.T. Dollman, Greg Benninger. Kickstarter Close Date: March 4th. Publication Date: April 2015
Proactive Insurance: The Pros is a spy comic for the age of Big Data. Four talented weirdos become spies for an insurance company, saving lives for fun and profit. A story about guns, veterans, gender, drones, privatization, and the future—except a little bit goofy.
Steve Stormoen writes,
It seems like you can't spit at the internet without hitting a rant by some cocksure young comics writer looking to make a name for themselves by declaring the Big Two and the superhero genre dead, or dying, or boring.
Which is, in a word, megadumb. The big two may not care much about making comic books a mass medium with the same reach as TV or video games, but the superhero genre in other media is stronger than it's ever been. And the comics being made these days are amazing! It seems like every month, Marvel alone is announcing a new title with a pull-worthy hook and a breathtaking creative team, like Squirrel Girl or Secret Wars, which makes me stare at my wallet, forlorn, and ask myself hard questions like "how many meals do I really need to eat in a week?"
But comics is a business with a herd mentality, and if a story becomes an unexpected success one month, there will be 10 copycats the next. It can be cute, and for a genre like zombies, even post-The Walking Dead, there might still be some original ground left to till. Hell, one of my favorite short stories I ever wrote in my college creative writing program was about a zombie falling in love.
But today, when I see one of my fellow indie comics creators making a superhero story, I ask, whyyyyyy?
Indies, we can do better than that. Or, to put it more precisely, we can't.
Yes, that's right. We cannot make better superhero comics than Marvel and DC. It can't be done. I don't care if you're the reincarnation of Alan Moore crossed with Albert Einstein crossed with Babe Ruth, and your artist farts out perfect copies of Jim Lee in her sleep. You will not make a better superhero story than the average Marvel or DC book.
I know it can't be done because we, as indie creators, gave it our best shot 20 years ago, and we failed.
When Image first started, it seems like it should have dislodged the Big Two for good. Marvel was at a creative nadir and spiraling into bankruptcy, and DC couldn't stop killing Superman, or maybe bringing him back, and generally confusing the hell out of everyone. Meanwhile, Image had, in their founders, the closest thing comics has ever had to true celebrity creators. They had merchandising deals in place before they ever put out a single issue. Spawn toys were on the shelf of every K-Mart in the country. The world, it seemed, was theirs.
And where are the WildC.A.T.S. today? Whither Stormwatch?
Those original Image heroes failed for the same reason all indie superheroes are doomed. It's because superheroes aren't just superheroes. They're myths, as Grant Morrison likes to say. Cultural folktales ingrained so deep in our collective psyches that you have as good a chance of replacing Batman as your local Pop Warner football league has of replacing the NFL. Marvel and DC characters have had decades to seep into our culture, to mean something to us. It's an advantage you and I will never, ever be able to replicate.
So stop trying. Make comics about something else. And if you love superheroes, like I do, ask yourself: what do you love about superheroes? Is it spandex costumes and bright colors? Is it the idea of being special, of having a power nobody else does? Is it the idea of a secret identity? Or meting out vigilante justice? Navigating your own morality in complicated world, trying to be the best person you can be?
I love a lot of things about superhero comics, but that last bit, about morality, is my favorite. And when I wrote my first comic, that's what I latched onto. I wrote Proactive Insurance: The Pros about spies working for an insurance company, balancing a morally dubious job with the opportunity to save innocent lives.
The Pros has nothing to do with superheroes. But it has superhero DNA baked right into it. I think it's funny, it's smart, it's got great action, and yes, it's completely original. The comic is on Kickstarter right now, and I'd be honored if you'd like to back us, and read the comic.
And, I'm also happy to announce a special Bleeding Cool goal. You know those Drunk History videos on YouTube? If we get 25 new backers by the end of this weekend, I will get really drunk on camera—more drunk than I've ever been in my life—and I will clumsily talk about Marvel Comics trivia. Got a trivia question for me? Leave a comment when you back the Kickstarter.
http://twitter.com/stevestormoen
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