[Comics] Reinventing Comics III

The book then goes on to deal with the revolutions of Creators Rights and industry innovation or, as McCloud puts it, Reinventing the Business of Comics.

In 1986, a group of comics creators drafted a bill of the rights they felt creators should no longer sign away to publishers. These included the right to full ownership of their creations, control over creative execution of what they own, the right to employ legal counsel and prompt payment of a fair share of profits from their work. This frustration came out of longstanding disagreements with many publishers; one creator (Dave Sim, Cerebus) went so far as to say, "the only way to have a fair deal with a publisher was to be the publisher."

But a publisher only has control over a creator if the creator wants to be a part of that system. At its simplest, you could be a publisher if you drew something on a piece of paper and sold it to a friend for 25 cents.

However, if you wished to sell the same drawing/comic to more than just that friend, then at some stage of the expansion you would have to enter into an arrangement with a copy shop. You would also have to begin devoting energy to packing boxes, posting things and filling out invoices. Dealing with a publisher simplifies these issues but requires the trade-offs of (1) an increasingly complex system, (2) modification of the original drawing to meet printing specifications, (3) money siphoned off at every step in the system before it reaches the creator, and (4) possible creative changes required by the publisher.

Every step between the creator and the reader introduces an element of compromise, and in publishing there are many steps between the two. Editors, agents, couriers, accountants ... soon the system starts to try and please retailers and distributors - ignoring the fundamental purpose of making contact between the creator and the reader.

This second-guessing and focus on profit leads to the ignoring of most of the alternatives in mainstream comics publishing. Most of the population (those not interested in super heroes) have abandoned comics and seek enjoyment from other mediums.*

You see, McCloud postulates a Reader's Bill of Rights: the right to know what can be bought and why to buy it, to buy what they want and the right to a fair price. He finishes by saying that if the conventional comics industry can't provide these, then maybe it will be supplanted by the revolution of Digital Delivery.

* As far as I can tell, McCloud doesn't tackle why this problem is worse in comics than in mediums like TV & Film