How big is your comic?

Before you get too serious about plotting out your comic, you need to decide which audience you are shooting for. Your audience will determine a lot about your comic.

Consider that, when it comes to law enforcement, there are several different types of agencies: bureaus, sheriffs, highway patrol, police departments, and security guards. Each one has its limitations and jurisdictions; those define the law enforcement agency, and what it does.

A bureau is the most geographically unlimited agency. At the international level, national, and state levels, they can pursue lawbreakers within their jurisdictions, and can call on a lot of resources that the other agencies just can’t touch. However, it faces two major limitations: First, their investigations must be within their bailiwick (so that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, for example, can only deal with crimes that deal with alcohol, tobacco, and firearms; if the crime involves drugs, they can only notify that agency). Second, they need to worry about things that will affect a lot of people, not just a very local area; if the investigation shows that the crime is localized, they will usually turn it over to the local authorities.

Highway patrols are the second most ranging, but they are limited to traffic crimes; they do have some investigative patrolman, but they are limited to crimes involving vehicles and roads. They have a lot of power in those areas (especially given their isolation), but have limited jurisdiction.

Sheriffs have a lot of power locally, but must bow to the other agencies first. This isn’t to say that they are weak; just very focused on a specific locality. Although there is some competition with bureaus (as some investigations may be under different jurisdictions, due to the laws being broken and scope of the crime), the sheriff usually takes care of crimes that affect the county.

The police department takes care of the rest of the crimes. As such, they tend to deal the most with jurisdiction issues (being the low man on the totem pole, after all), and tend to deal with the most heinous crimes.

Oh, and let’s not forget security personnel; although limited to citizen arrest powers, they do help in some investigations, as well as catching some crooks. They have very limited powers, and extremely limited areas. And they automatically fold when it comes to jurisdiction issues, as they have none.

So, where does you comic fit into this? Most comics are like security guards; they are generally limited to jokes specific to a specific game or genre, and are most funny to your friends and family, but, well, just aren’t ready for general release. These are more in-jokes and other weirdness than anything else. Just post them, and let it go.

Good gaming comics and “artsy” strips (those trying to do something experimental or just more interested in the art) are like police departments in that they tend to be well-known is specific circles, and get a lot of word of mouth, but don’t really get fans. They may get the occasional reader, but have problems sustaining those numbers over a period of time. Some graduate to sheriff status, and actually get some fame, and tend to make a lot of “READ THIS!” lists, but are usually limited to a specific forum or group. Think Jhonen Vasquez strips; although interesting, they have a limited range of fans. A lot of comics at Drunk Duck and Comic Genesis fit these criteria. Most of the income associated with these strips (ad it’s not much!) comes from the donation button.

Highway patrol is where a lot of genre-strips and slice-of-life comics end up. Although they tend to have a specific focus, they tend to cover a lot of ground (this is where Sex Percussions fits in; it focuses on a specific group of people, but tends to make fun a lot genre conventions). Generally, fantasy comics make up the bulk, but there are a lot college strips and other fun stuff in this category. These strips are fun to read, and tend to attract a certain notoriety; tend to think Keenspot or Spider Forest type of comic strips. At this stage, you can add merchandise, and some of it may actually sell!

The majors are the bureaus. These are the strips that just don’t bother with the Top Ten lists (such as Buzzcomix); they have enough readers as is, and even show up in news stories about webcomics. They sell merchandise, get a lot of donations, and tend to have fans that follow the artists around. At worst, they have some notoriety (such as MegaTokyo) or stir up some controversy on their own (such as Penny Arcade or PvP).

At any rate, figure out where you belong, and plan your marketing accordingly…

Jhonen Vasquez Fans Suck

A lot of art is well-loved because it appears ground-breaking, rebellious, and counter-culture. And that pretty much sums up its artistic value; past that, there’s not really all that much to it.

On the other hand, anything that’s popular is despised in artistic circles. Critics see it as selling out, tripe, and basically vanilla. In essence, if something is popular it has to have absolutely no artistic value.

If you want to see my point, track down your local liberal or art paper or magazine, and read the reviews, and chart the star ratings (or whatever they use) against how much it took to make the film. The trend is that the more money it took to make the movie, the fewer whatevers it gets; conversely, the less money it took to make it, the more whatevers it gets. Foreign and independent movies tend to get the most whatevers, but potential blockbusters rarely get more a number of them. An Adam Sandler movie will never get four stars, regardless of how much fun the movie is.

Jhonen Vasquez is a great artist not because of his edgy artistic style (whatever that means), but because he has fun doing what we all want to do: He takes those things that we deal with everyday and want to see die in the most painful way possible. That’s what makes his art Johnny the Homicidal Maniac comics so much fun to read. He despises his fans, and it’s not hard to see why. They see that he is making fun of popular culture and the corporate mentality, and that there is a lot of blood, but they just don’t get the actual joke. By concentrating on the “gothiness” they just don’t get the point.

Consider Warhol’s Campbell soup can. He wasn’t trying to make an ironic point, in that an artist can make art out of anything, but rather that there is a lot more art out there than we are aware of. Consider the can in and of itself: It’s an attractive can, and when you see it you have a definite feeling of comfort, mainly because the product is associated with fond memories (in my case, grilled cheese sandwiches and Campbell’s tomato soup). This isn’t to endorse Campbell’s, but rather point out that there is some artistic merit to the product (this is an art AND marketing blog, after all).

The thing to consider here is that a true artist doesn’t care about whether or not your art sells. The point is whether or not you get you point across. A Campbell’s soup can definitely gets its point across: We have a product that we think is good for you. On the other hand, a lot of independent films don’t; they’re too busy celebrating that they are making a movie and tend to forget things like characters and plot. Oops, but look at us!

Sorry, but I’d rather have my art represent something than just do it. Tomato soup is actually filling. Not all art films have much more than pretty pictures; nothing to fulfill you there. Art doesn’t have to be dark, boring or cheap; it can be light, exciting and expensive. Artists rebel against authority when they are young; why do they do nothing but listen to them when they get older. Why do critics hold so much sway when it comes to defining art?

Can you be a fan of both Toby Keith and the Dixie Chicks?

[I am disrupting your normal blog for personal opinion. All I’m going to say is that it’s my blog and I’ll whine if I want to.]

I like country music. You can dance to it, and that there is usually an actual story makes the writer in me really happy. Also, I like that the chorus can change meaning each time in some songs.

However, a lot was made of the extreme positions of Toby Keith and the Dixie Chicks. Basically, one of the Dixie Chicks said that she was embarrassed that President Bush was from Texas, the same state she was from. The Dixie Chicks came under a lot of fire because, well, it was just after 9/11 and that was a bad time to say anything bad about America. Conversely, Keith came out with a song that was, well, extremely patriotic and was best known for suggesting the placement of a certain piece of footwear. Keith’s popularity soared (he had a number of great songs, but a lot of people shared his feelings at the time).

The catch is that I agreed with both. Keith’s song is a great patriotic song; it’s a great bar song, and you occasionally need a song that kicks butt. It was a song that was a product of its time, and a song that expressed the feelings of the people at the time; isn’t an artist supposed to go with their emotions at the time, no matter where it leads them (except for illegal or immoral areas)? At the same time, isn’t part of being American the ability to say anything you want to (provided it doesn’t kill anyone), especially something bad about the president? After all, no one should be above criticism. Period.

[Yeah, yeah; I was for the war; I was getting a bit tired of Saddam doing the “No, I don’t have WMD’s! Wait, I do! Just kidding, I don’t! Wait, I do!“ thing…If you, as a leader, feel the need to tick off people just to buoy your approval rating among your clique while your actions cause those under your leadership to die, then someone needs to come in and kick your butt. I have changed sides, but that’s more because of my dislike for how it’s being handled than for anything else. I’m weird that way…]

Now, it’s a few years later and the Dixie Chicks have released a new album. Because it has a song on it that describes how they feel (“Not Ready to Make Nice”), so of course the whole is coming back. Now, I appreciate how they feel (they have no reason to apologize and shouldn’t feel obligated to do so), but I’m disliking the tone I’m seeing in some of the reviews; too many critics are keeping in mind the original problem, but are putting a current spin on it (basically, that they were correct to take the stance they did).

The issue is that it’s fine to discuss why a particular event is important to a song; I do see that as important, especially when the event is extremely relevant to the song in question. But…to put your own personal spin on it is just ridiculous. When I read a review, I don’t want to know what the critic’s politics are; I want to know if the item being reviewed is worth buying. If you spend most of your review telling me how brave they were or why they shouldn’t have cancelled tours or why you think their reasons are suspect, then you aren’t really reviewing

If you want to insert your personal opinions, fine; just put the review in the opinion section but not in the review section. Don’t waste my time wile you slam or praise something that is only peripherally pertinent to the actual review; discuss the meaning behind things, sure, but not your personal opinions of whether or not you think the item’s artistic merit should be based on your interpretation of actions that didn’t happen in or on the item. You may think it was a worthy stance, but that it was cowardice to cancel concerts, but I don’t care.

I just want to know if I should put down $20 on a piece of plastic or if I should buy more art supplies, not get some diatribe about the on how correct it was say something bad about the president or wrong it is to express your patriotism. But that’s just me…

“Those dogs are going to have to kill me to get me to stop!”

9:42. That’s the time it took a woman to cross a yard on “Who Wants To Be A Superhero?”.

Yeah, I’m a geek. And yes, I’m really starting to get into the “Who Wants To Be A Superhero?” show. Yeah, I know: Cheesy effects, obvious drama, some interesting plot twists, and I definitely like what they did to Iron Revenger (a super-villain was definitely an interesting twist). But Monkey Woman is definitely the star.

There was a task where the would-be heroes had to cross a yard. Only one woman made it, and it took her nine minutes and forty-two seconds. What could make a yard so difficult to cross? Two guard dogs.

The guys didn’t have much of a problem; one even let them attack his arms and he just carried them to the door, hanging on his sleeves. But the women either gave up quickly or let their fears get to them. Only one didn’t, and refused to surrender until she touched the door. And it took her over nine and a half minutes to cross what must have been twenty feet.

In a lot of ways, that’s what you need to do as a writer. No matter what, you need to keep pushing forward no matter what. It may seem impossible, but you can finish what you are working on. It’s just a matter of time. You need to persevere throughout, and realize that there will be end; it just seems like a long ways off.

Once all of the organizing is finished, the research is done, and you make the last save of your fifth rewrite, you story will be ready for abandonment (paraphrasing Wilde, no script is ever finished, just abandoned). But you will be finished. It’s just a matter of time!

So, take heart from Monkey Woman’s example: Just keep plugging away until you get it finished. There is an end to your task, and you will reach it, but don’t give up.

The yard will be crossed, no matter how many guard dogs are in it.