The bridge is over.
by Frank Santoro
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Preface: I wrote this in my notebook after discovering last week that the conclusion to the major re-launch of the 1980s series Nexus had hit the stands. Steve Rude, one of the biggest “indie” comics creators of the last 25 years, made a comeback — to the sound of crickets. No one cared. To me, that meant the Direct Market was really finally and absolutely dead. Everyone said it was dead last summer when Love and Rockets abandoned its pamphlet comic book format and went to an annual trade paperback format. Like Love and Rockets, the fate of Nexus was bound up in the history of the Direct Market. But unlike Love and Rockets, Nexus was suited for the “alternative mainstream” fan. It was a particular kind of adult superhero book that appealed to a seemingly more sophisticated audience than the regular superhero comics. The DM supported titles like Nexus and allowed them to thrive. Not any more. Maybe everyone’s just had their fill of Nexus but the news of this indie’s end got me thinking about the bigger picture. The end of Nexus represents, to me, a window of time that has closed. The new regime is upon us at last, and I wrote this to simply mark the time. Also, the below is really an exploration, for me, into ideas that my friend and mentor Bill Boichel of Copacetic Comics has expressed to me for years—in his store, over the phone, in emails, in class lectures. The “bridge” and “tree” metaphors are pure Boichel. Thanks Bill, for letting borrow your melody line and riff on it here.
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The bridge is over. From 1975 to 2005, the Direct Market was the bridge from the old world “Comics-as-ephemera”, returnable periodicals model to the new world “Comics-as-Literature” bookstore model. The bridge changed comics, saved it from sure death on the newsstand and put comics in a place of permanence. Everyone in Comics has noted the consolidation of the DM and the rise of the chain bookstores & the internet as venues for new work. Now, this year, more than ever, I seem to be repeatedly noting to myself the real split between the mainstream and the alternative sides of comics.
During the heyday of the Direct Market in the late ’80s and early ’90s mainstream and alternative comics were together in one marketplace because there was no other option essentially, no bookstore support, no internet. What that meant was the two traditions were folded together. Gilbert Hernandez and Steve Ditko were on the same rack literally and figuratively. The old mainstream guys influenced the young alt guys, there was a clear traceable legacy. One could see Bernie Krigstein’s influence on Dan Clowes, Jack Kirby’s influence on Chester Brown, Ditko’s influence on Hernandez. It was a singular perspective essentially. One big sandbox. One tradition.
The market can now support multiple perspectives. It is not a monolithic community. There is no official definition of Comics now. It’s too big. Finally “comics” doesn’t just mean American mainstream super-hero action adventure stories. (Well, comics never meant just that genre, but y’know what I’m saying: Marvel and DC have lorded over the form for almost 50 years.) In 2009 you can walk into a comics store like Copacetic Comics in Pittsburgh and see no superhero comics on display at all. There are enough “alternative” or “literary” comics/graphic novels out in the world to fill a whole (small) store. And there are “alternative” publishers who don’t use (or are shut out from) the Direct Market and who use book trade distributors to get the work out to stores.
So we got what you might call a bifurcated market. The two traditions, once folded together in the same market, have split. There are two sandboxes now. What that means is that if you grew up reading comics from, say, 1999 to now you didn’t necessarily have to read superhero comics to get your comics fix or even go to a store that sold both. This is a good thing. It’s a new audience, and a broader one than maybe any of us old school dinosaurs could have anticipated. I’ve spent far too much time ranting about “the kids not knowing their comics history.” Well, I’m over it. I don’t really feel the need to explain who Marshall Rogers is anymore, or convince anyone that late ’70s Kirby is actually really good. Figure it out for yourself.
This new audience, I think, is alienated by superhero comics and associates the genre with corporate America. They don’t like it. And who can blame them? They wonder why folks like me keep extolling the abilities of some guy who drew Spider-Man. They could care less. I had a student tell me, “Yah, it’s beautiful art but it’s Spider-Man.” This too, this palpable attitude, is a good thing. After all, aren’t Batman and Spider-Man just corporate logos these days?
Comics history is like one big tree where McCay and Herriman are the roots, Kirby and Caniff are the trunk, Crumb and Spiegelman are big branches, and the rest of us schlubs are up there somewhere. It’s all connected. Each generation has its precursors. I would assert, however, that for the first time in comics history it’s possible to graft new identities upon the tree without being schooled in the singular tradition, without growing out of the singular tradition. One can choose precursors from other traditions, not just from comics.
I see Persepolis as an example of this grafting. It is at once outside the tradition of comics and within the boundaries of the form. I feel that it was only possible to come into existence because of the split that happened some time in the last 10 years. I’m sure that’s no big revelation for most of you, but it’s something to consider as we move forward into the next decade. It’s now possible to bypass a very particular, esoteric education in “mainstream” comics, and go right to its “alternative” and also to the avant-garde. It opens the door for “vertical invaders,” for artists from different traditions to make work and to find an audience. The marketplace will support a book like Persepolis, I think, precisely because it is divorced from the old world model. Satrapi’s free from the “Tree of Influence” that’s existed in comics; she’s free to draw in a straight-forward generic style that is appealing to a vast audience. (Think of it this way: As “straight-forward” or “realistic” Clowes’ style in Ghost World is to a schooled comics reader, it looks baroque and affected to a non-comics reader.)
One could say comics like L’nR and Optic Nerve may have been the first to appeal to this emerging audience. But I feel that those books didn’t/don’t cross over so much as Acme Novelty Library or Persepolis because the styles of the Hernandez Brothers and also of Tomine are essentially derived from the mainstream comics and illustration tradition. I feel that it was Ware’s choice to reach beyond the mainstream tradition back to the newspaper strip golden age that has allowed him to have such a diverse audience. It seems this new emerging audience still connects particular styles back to mainstream comics. I’m curious to see how Mazzucchelli’s new book does now that he has “unlearned” all his mainstream tricks. ( I also think Seth’s eventual collection of Clyde Fans will “cross over” to an audience beyond comics. He has a style that has little to do with mainstream comics. Interestingly enough, Seth said recently: “I am converting Palookaville into a hardcover format this year. I love the old comic format but Chris Oliveros convinced me that the work would do better if we moved on to this new direction. It’s kind of sad, passing of an era and all that.”)
So, here we are: Summer 2009. Whatever system we have now, it’s working. Pamphlets still get published even if they only serve as advertisements for the collection, GN’s sell better and better, downloads are happening, comics are on Kindle: whatever works. However, in the process it feels like a real division has been formed between the “mainstream” and the “alternative” factions. A division that was always there underneath, forming. But now it’s ruptured and split the marketplace.
Which brings me to Comic-Con. San Diego Comic-Con will always be some sort of Oscars for our community. But whose community is it anymore? Increasingly it’s the motion picture industry’s community. It’s not about “the work” anymore. It’s definitely not about the creators or even the comic book dealers. It may be cool for most mainstream creators or fans but what’s in it for us in the “alternative” community? Not much. So I gotta wonder why “we” still go. I can certainly understand why Fantagraphics and D&Q go (it’s the biggest show of the year, duh) and that Comic-Con is still profitable for them. But for me and my comrades over here on the fringe of the fringe we feel like we’re getting priced out of our own neighborhood. The split seems this year to be more pronounced than ever and it looks like those in the “mainstream” have no choice really but to hold on for dear life as they become co-opted even further into corporate America. They really have no choice. They sold themselves out years ago.
But the alternative comics community does have a choice. So give me TCAF, SPX, MoCCA, SPACE, Stumptown, and the “alternative” circuit and tell Comic-Con and the Direct Market, “Thanks for the memories.” The bridge is over.
Labels: Adrian Tomine, Chester Brown, Chris Ware, comics conventions, David Mazzucchelli, Gilbert Hernandez, Jack Kirby, Jaime Hernandez, Marjane Satrapi, Seth, Steve Rude
Another potential market is gallery shops. There's a lot here in Europe. Competing with overpriced DVDs, prints and art books (with an identifiably 'tasteful' audience in tow) may help the market for 'art' comix. I dunno – I'd prefer otherwise, but I think pamphlet comix could continue at that kind of venue.
Anonymous: I think to some degree you're shadow boxing here.
1) PictureBox books are widely distributed at Barnes and Noble stores across the USA, among other chains and "mainstream" bookstores.
2) No one is blanding-out the culture except the consumers. It is always tempting to imagine there are guardians at the aesthetic gates, but it just ain't so. Nearly anything anyone could want is widely available via a plethora of web sites, including Last Gasp, where you can buy copies of Cocaine Comix, for example, for like $4. That's pretty cheap. Certainly heaper than cocaine. Furthermore, there are tons of affordable mini-comics, oodles of free web comics, etc etc. But asking for things to be how they "used to be" is pointless.
3) Books and comics cost A LOT to produce. There is no cheap way to do quantities above 100. And artists have a right to any kind of aesthetic choice they desire. Ron Rege's recent book retailed for $24.95. I'm sure Ron coulda made it much smaller and done it black and white, thus killing the effectiveness of half the comics. Then it would look shitty and still would need to retail for $19.95. Would that have been better? $24.95 for that book is a steal. If Sammy has a concept for the next Kramer's that means using a certain format which will cost extra to produce, that's his prerogative. It's not elitist or anything else. I can't afford to buy tons of shit: I'd like to buy tons of awesome books that cost $150 or $200. But I understand that they cost a lot to produce and so that's that. I'd also
like a really nice Roger Brown print, but I don't take it personally that I can't afford it. I understand that various people involved need to earn a living, and that markets need to be maintained. People make choices. You don't have to like them, but no one is out to make you feel bad. That's life.
4) I assure, you "gallery shops" are not the slightest bit interested in selling pamphlets, and nor should they be: No one wants to buy them and they will net that shop about $2.00. What a sale. It doesn't make sense for a shop (i.e. anyplace other than a comics store) to try to introduce comics. And places like record stores have a hard enough time selling records right now. They're not buying into the "cool stuff emporium" idea. The fact is, for the most part only someone who grew up with the format finds it desirable as an object to buy and keep. It's difficult to turn people onto it. And don't worry, it's not just comics: magazines are dying too. It's a generational shift that, try as we might, we're not going to be able to stop.
You want affordable entertainment? So do I. But books are a low margin, low income, labor-intensive business. And when I say business, I mean it. It's certainly not fun and games and high falutin' aesthetics. It's a hard business. There is simply no way to make comics work the way you want them to anymore. If I were you, I'd settle into that reality — you'll save yourself a lot of web time.
I'm saying that the DM is still the best place to sell little bits of art in serialized form. It's so good at it the big companies have spent twenty years trying to force smaller companies from this market and they can still sell millions this way even though their package — $3.99 for a comic designed to be read quickly as 1/5 of a $14 trade paperback featuring mostly severely exhausted characters — sucks balls.
I have my doubts the system will ever go back to working the way it did when they sold 9,000 copies of Dog Boy or whatever, but I still think it could be made to work if the right people entered the market, and it's possible they could although not likely. For instance, people crack on retailers, but there's been more variety in direct comics retail models than there has been in alternative comics publishing models. In my opinion, anyway. So there's still a whole bunch of stuff out there that could be tried.
The problem with finding an anti-Scott Rosenberg, of course, is that an anti-Rosenberg would bring money into the field rather than take money out or expect to break even and would have to do so smartly (as opposed to Mr. Eastman's welfare program). Good luck with finding that guy or gal.
(Note: This comment is revised from an earlier comment I deleted due to incoherence.)
Santoro wrote:
"I disagree. The Direct Market is Diamond Distribution. And Diamond, we all know, is shutting out small publishers with their minimums. So, how are alt and indie publishers supposed to use this short-form delivery system?"
Santoro also wrote:
"Now, I read it as he's arguing that even tho the DM sucks it's still a potential home for short-form work. Like he's saying stores could follow a different model? I dunno."
It might be too late for alt pamphlets to make a come-back in the DM, but I don't think it's out of the question. This is a complicated issue and all the involved parties, Cartoonists, Publishers, Distributors and Retailers shoulder the burden (I cut Readers from the list of involved parties because I don't believe they are in any way culpable), that is if you see the diminished presence of the alt pamphlet in the DM as burdensome (as I do).
Here's some basic things I'd like to propose:
Cartoonists: Produce a good read on a monthly or bi-monthly schedule of a 24 to 32 page b&w comic with color cover that can retail for under $3.00.
Publishers: Stay on Cartoonists to meet the deadline. The deadline is everything. Without having a consistent presence on the racks the Distributors, Retailers and most importantly the Readers will forget to order and buy the alt pamphlet. Service all markets to the best of your ability. It's a lot of work to service the Mass Market as well as the DM and everything else in between and beyond, but you have to make sure the trains are running on time to the best of your ability.
Distributors: KNOW WHAT YOU'RE SELLING! If you don't know what you're selling then be sure to have the Publisher educate you as to what you're selling so you can best represent both of your clients, the Publishers and Retailers (this goes for all markets).
Retailers: KNOW WHAT YOU'RE SELLING! If you don't know what you're selling then be sure to have the Distributor or Publisher or Cartoonist educate you as to what you're selling so you can best represent your client, the Reader.
The above is a very, very simple and broad idea of what I think has to happen for alt comics to succeed in the DM. It doesn't even begin to elucidate the complications and problems involved every-single-step-of-the-way.
I can appreciate all this discussion about how to utilize the DM, but, from what I'm noticing not many of us are taking into consideration how fewer comic shops there are these days. Also the ones that cater to the alt crowd don't necessarily use Diamond to get their books. I know Copacetic, for example, orders directly from Fantagraphics, D&Q, Picturebox et al. It's easier.
The idea that cartoonists are fucking up because they're not producing a 24 page comic every month is insane. How long do you think it takes to draw these things when you can't afford to survive on comics as your only income? Kupperman is a slow artist, granted, but he sells well in pamphlets (I think) and he can't manage it. Maybe if you're Gilbert Hernandez you can manage but who is?
Weirdo and Zero Zero were great and I know a lot of cartoonists would kill to have those back, but remember when Fantagraphics launched two great (quarterly) anthology titles, Blood Orange and (the seriously amazing) Bete Noire and no one bought them? There's may be reasons out there for MOME to switch to the bookstore format and I'd bet good money pretension isn't one of the top five.
And to back up Mr. Nadel I bought New Engineering at a Barnes and Noble in Jersey, stocked right next to Naruto, where it belonged. And it cost me $5 less, or thereabouts, than I spent on alcohol tonight.
Also, great post and this magazine is really "on" this week…
I went to a panel at MoCCA 09 on how the Great Depression II was affecting the independent comics industry, and someone on the panel pointed out that there are only 300 DM comics shops in America (possibly including Canada) that stock indy/alt/art/whatever titles.
Frank, I've written a ton about the lack of geographical coverage that exists in the post-'90s DM world. It's a definite problem for sure. I'm 2.5 hours from any comics shop, 3.5 from a decent one and 11 hours from a good one.
I'm not sure if this:
"The idea that cartoonists are fucking up because they're not producing a 24 page comic every month is insane. How long do you think it takes to draw these things when you can't afford to survive on comics as your only income?"
was directed at me or not?
But I'd like to make it clear that I was writing a proposal for an alt comic to succeed in the direct market. That's all and nothing more. Personally, I consider a good alt comic produced 4 times a year to be a miracle (go look at a catalog from Fantagraphics or D&Q from the 90's to find plenty of examples).
I do find it both interesting and startling that someone like Dave Sim fits both my proposal and the first part of the above quote from Anonymous.
Santoro wrote:
"I can appreciate all this discussion about how to utilize the DM, but, from what I'm noticing not many of us are taking into consideration how fewer comic shops there are these days. Also the ones that cater to the alt crowd don't necessarily use Diamond to get their books. I know Copacetic, for example, orders directly from Fantagraphics, D&Q, Picturebox et al. It's easier."
There are a fair amount of comic shops that buy alt comics and graphic novels from distributors other than Diamond. When Fantagraphics decided to no longer sell directly to stores (both in the Mass Market and the DM) I talked with a lot of comic shops that had then decided and continue to buy Fantagraphics from distributors like Last Gasp, W.W. Norton, Ingram and Baker and Taylor. Nothing prevents a comic shop from ordering items from a distributor other than Diamond/the DM. It is very important to note that Diamond offers a better discount than most distributors because they sell items on a non-returnable basis, thus forcing their clients, the Publishers but mainly the Retailers, to try and know what their customers want to buy. Whereas a buyer for a big book store can order 5 or 10 copies of something and if it doesn't move they can just return it to the distributor for credit. Which is easier?
As an aspiring comics creator, I cannot afford to offer any kind of discount to retailers who want to stock my book in their store. Combined with the fact that retailers are generally conservative on unknown indie comics, the DM was a non-option before I even began self-publishing – and that was before Diamond made their policy changes.
When faced with a problem of this magnitude, I figure that I have two choices: 1) I can whine about the problem and hope that someone solves it for me or 2) I can take matters into my own hands and figure out a way to resolve the problem in my favor.
As far as I’m concerned, my primary demographic is not comic book readers; this is like targeting DVD watchers or mp3 listeners. My target demographic is people who want to read interesting stories or look at interesting art. I don’t have to convince these people that all comic books aren’t superhero nonsense – I just have to convince them that MINE aren’t.
It sounds strange, but any creator who approaches self-publishing and is not prepared to spend at least half of his time thinking about the business end of things (distribution and marketing, for a start) is flat out going to fail. There was a time when this was not the case, but it’s something that every aspiring band for the past fifty years has had to deal with and it’s probably time that aspiring comic book creators started thinking about their craft in these terms.
Curious as to where you think Tony Shenton (who's existence as a rep I was admittedly ignorant to until his name was dropped around MoCCA a ton this year) fits into this discussion? I'm not really sure if he's illustrating or refuting your point, but he's certainly succeeded in some capacity as being the "Direct Market" for smaller indie publishers. If your premise here is true, that this dichotomy of mainstream vs. alternative is such a large chasm and that perhaps alt comics creators should stop worrying about the direct market, does that make him obsolete or does it strengthen his position in the market?
I'm sorry, I don't have the time to read all the comments, so I might sound like the guy who comes late to the party and says something that's been discussed to death already, but…
Copecetic Comics is the absolute best comic store in the world. It's probably the best specialty store in the world. This can't be stated enough.
Tom,
when I wrote:
"I can appreciate all this discussion about how to utilize the DM, but, from what I'm noticing not many of us are taking into consideration how fewer comic shops there are these days. "
I meant on this thread. I think you've been covering this topic extremely well on your site for years.
Proposals are great but we've seen more retailers load up on books they can make more profit on (The Big 2 which they get from Diamond at larger discounts due to "exclusive" deals) while taking "chances" on fewer indy comics with lower profit margins. It drives me nuts because I see bargain bins full of those more profitable titles and empty shelves where the 1 or 2 shelf copies of indy titles were but got sold. Go figure.
Warren Ellis' "Slimline" format (the idea being 16 pages of color comics with 4 more of "backmatter" for only $1.99 and which resulted in Ellis and Templesmith's "Fell" as well as "Casanova" by Fraction and Ba) at Image was a great example of a new model which was pretty soundly defeated by the market despite everyone saying how much they'd love a cheap comic. Though obviously there are always other factors at work (like creators being able to make more money working on other titles and for different publishers).
I think though that one thing that helped "break the bridge" is when major indy cartoonists started producing one book a year instead of 3 or 4. It helped break the cycle of fans going to the DM shops, the other indy titles that might have been purchased when someone showed up and the new Hate or Eightball hadn't come out yet suffered, and the stores eventually switched their ordering patterns or forgot those titles altogether. I also think a quiet storyline has been the glut of new DC and Marvel product in order to push other companies off the racks.
"I think though that one thing that helped 'break the bridge' is when major indy cartoonists started producing one book a year instead of 3 or 4."
Even that has a bad-actors element to it, though. In the early and mid-1990s the avalanche of shit launched through the DM by the mainstream companies followed by strategies that closed stores and harmed remaining retailers by making distribution super-crappy for a couple of year had a direct effect on killing the second generation of alt-comics cartoonists with showcase books. It's not unreasonable to think that if the market wasn't run in full spousal abuse mode by the bigger companies, you would have develop a generation of comics makers that would have been producing three or four times a year when Clowes stepped back to one. And then maybe even another generation after that.
Pamphlet/Periodical comics will migrate to the Internet. Costs are cheaper, advertising is more directed and measurable, and community is more robust.
Why do I visit Forbidden Planet each Wednesday when I work for Barnes & Noble? Because B&N doesn't sell Wednesday Comics or Fables. Perhaps I'll buy a sideline, but mostly it's the comics.
So what happens when comicbook stores become specialty bookstores? Will they follow the path of science fiction book stores? How do they compete with a chain or a website?
Or do they become hobby shops, catering to a specific clientèle like a model train store or fabric shop?
Perhaps the Direct Market was a bridge that linked the mass-market with the literary. But then, how many comicbook stores carried Raw Magazine? I was already a fanboy when the book was published, but I bought Maus at a bookstore, not at my local comics shop.
Literary comics didn't save the comics industry. In the early 1990s, there were smatterings of Acme and Sin City and Love and Rockets, but not on a mass scale. Marvel didn't print many collections. DC offered a few titles, but mostly only what could appeal to a literary or licensed audience.
What saved comics was Pokemon. That's when bookstores discovered that comics could sell, and that's when publishers discovered that they could sell comics as well as they sold every other type of book. Before manga hit our shores, publishers had taken the slogan "Comics aren't just for kids" and changed it to "Comics aren't for kids". Manga changed that.
Once graphic novels began to sell in bookstores, American comics publishers began to enter the returnable market. (In 1997: DC, Marvel, WaRP, Dark Horse, Cartoon Books, First[sic], Viz were the only GN publishers selling to the book trade.) Once GNs hit the book trade, libraries could easily acquire titles which appeal to reluctant readers. Once those young readers got hooked on manga and other comics, publishers began to market to those kids.
Bookstores are a mass medium animal, just like newsstands. I used to tell my critical co-workers "If it's crap and it sells, it isn't crap." We can try to offer the best, but that's an easy way to go broke. How many comicbook stores survive by not selling DC and Marvel superhero titles?
The Direct Market encouraged diversity by shifting the risk from the creator/publisher to the retailer. Unfortunately, retailers are unlikely to risk money on a title which will only sell 1,000 copies nationwide. Instead, creators will move to the web, create communities, sell directly to the fans, and eventually land a book deal. (Like "Wimpy Kid") That will become the new "direct" market.
Diamond? Comics shops? How will they evolve? Diamond is distributing publishers to bookstores. Comics shops? Try to offer expert service and choice, diversify stock, and an enjoyable experience. (Tate's Comics is close to perfect. That's why they won the Eisner Spirit of Retailing award.)
Exciting times. Life is good.
Why this rupture has to be a bad thing? original stuff is exactly what we need after decades of the same. Why does everyone has to be so afraid of new things? If old stuff is SO good, why can't new stuff be as good in the future when they become the old? Sometimes people tend to forget that time passes and things evolve.
I see the problem of San Diego, but as I said, things CHANGE, you can't hope them to be the same forever. If SD is not a good place for comics anymore, then new ones will start to pop up and that's a good thing for those losing space for SD, it's their time to shine. You see, things change and gets rearranged, get used to it!
Agreed. I think is a good thing, this rupture. My tone might sound severe or something, but ultimately I'm thrilled to be divorced from the old model. It's just tough to navigate sometimes. Unchartered waters and all that. Where's the lighthouse?
Hmm…quite frankly, an odd post Frank. First, I've been collecting comics for over 20 years, and personally, I don't care about Nexus. And I collect all types of comic books. I've heard good (and average) things about it, but it never appealed to me.
Second, that you added in Persepolis without mentioning that it was a foreign comic book, was weird. Hey, if you want to rant, it's your blog, but at least this required some perspective, no?
And just as I love some of my indies, some of the 'mainstream' stuff is just as good. Yeah, they may be corporate shills, but there's a reason why there's an underlying appeal for the X-Men and some other comics. And some of those reasons are more valid than stuff I've seen from webcomics and other indie comics.
If anything, I agree that the use of other book distributors for comic books and trades, etc., is and will be a good thing to get the stronghold grip of Diamond off of comics.
Looking for a good price? How about Free? There should be a Paper Rodeo in every major city. There is enough of a subcultural economy in every city to support free publications, not only in terms of ad revenue but also in terms of distribution. All it takes is a little organization from the local cartoonists.
You've got to take it to the streets!
Austin had a pretty good free comics paper for a while called Proper Gander (actually it was printed in a smaller college town nearby) for a while but it folded a couple years ago. It was pretty awesome but I bet that a lot of the same economic factors that are killing newspapers would keep a local free comics paper from breaking even.
I keep seeing "mainstream comics press" posts referring to this essay that read something to the effect of:
"Yah, but Nexus was already dead, what does that have to do with the Direct Market?"
I say clearly in my Preface that "Maybe everyone's just had their fill of Nexus but the news of this indie's end got me thinking about the bigger picture."
Y'know, I don't generally read stuff about comics these days (or very many comics either, to be honest), but a friend sent me this piece so I felt I should. It's nice, of course.
A couple of brief comments (which may have already been made – reading the whole discussion was beyond my limited comics-related reading tolerance):
1. Satrapi's drawing does draw on some different comics traditions, but particularly those of Europe. Eg. she's heavily influenced by David B., who in turn has other European influences. But yeah, maybe children's illustration (etc) is of more significance.
2. I think your forest sketch is nice, but really we're looking at a forest of interwoven trees, whose roots and branches connect and inform each other. I mean, Herriman and McKay (for example) created other chains of influence through non-comics scenes (fine arts, illustration, children's fiction, film, etc) – and some younger cartoonists are drawing on their work thanks to those other chains.
3. Tom: (see, I did glance at a few comments): Maybe the internet is now the best venue for distributing short-form comics works (aside from anthologies like Kramer's Ergot, literary journals, magazines and of course short story collections)?
4. But as to your main point, I would like to raise a beer in remembrance of the Direct Market and the particular historical era it represents. And then I would like to breathe a sigh of relief and move on. I think for many of us, the DM comic shop was never the only or even the most significant venue for our engagement with comics – and I for one won't miss it very much at all. It's like remembering when the only place to eat in town was a greasy smoke-filled hamburger joint; sure, you can get nostalgiac about the days you spent there, but thank god those days have gone!