We're Back, A Blog Story?
Hey, long time no see, huh?
I'm back from the longest hiatus this blog's ever gone on. And for today's entry, I'm just going to briefly recap what's been going on because I think it'll touch on a lot.
Last time I updated, I did the second part of a big ask me almost anything and we covered a lot of ground, both fun and the sort of questions that're burning for upcoming creators. That week, I was thinking about what was next and how to follow it up. And then IDW underwent significant layoffs and it threw things off for me and plenty of other folks. I am still at IDW, but a lot of my friends and co-workers suddenly were not.
For what it's worth, I know a lot of them are still seeking employment. This includes, among others, Anna Morrow, Megan Brown, Devon Ashby, Zac Boone, Julia Borden, Keith Davidsen, Alex Hargett, Greg Gustin, Blake Kobashigawa, Jonathan Manning, Shawn Lee, Jack Levesque, Hanna Lafferty, Topher Alford, Nachie Marsham, and seriously, so many folks. I apologize to anyone I missed. If you're looking for experienced sales, marketing, production, foreign licensing, or editorial folks, there're a ton of good ones still on the market (as an aside, my pals Chris Mowry and Caleb Goellner are also fairly freshly available).
That was pretty freshly on my mind for Becca's next event, Fangaea, that weekend. I had mentioned that last post. It went alright. I did not stay for very long because even a little one day show like that was a lot in light of what had just happened.
Within the next week, the Writers Guild of America went on strike. Currently, they are still on strike. You can check out what they're asking for here. Unsurprisingly, a lot of it boils down to fair wages, especially in the newer forms of media that have become commonplace over the past 15 years. There's more, like treating each writer in a writing team as an individual and, hey, not using AI. At the end of their negotiation table, the WGA points out that the benefits and raises they're asking for come out to about $429 million per year across all members of the guild and split between all negotiating companies. That may sound like a LOT of money, right? I checked. As of today, with it available for home release, you can still see the Super Mario Bros. Movie in theaters in San Diego. It's box office is over $1.3 billion. Even when you remove the budget for the film, approximately $100 million, the proceeds of just this movie could fully fund everything the writers are asking for, multiple times. (Also, again as an aside, while the Writers Guild is performing a strike action, they can do that because they're a union and other places are increasingly seeking unionization, like SEGA of America).
So, all of that is happening BEFORE Free Comic Book Day. As you may recall, we went to Geoffrey's Comics in Torrance, CA. Becca and I both exhibited with a bunch of our friends. It was a good time, though it made for an exhausting weekend with me spending a near-sleepless night in the ER before we drove up (I was fine, best guess is some nasty inflammation, but we'll come back to this). And then the next day, we went back up to the greater Los Angeles area for a California Independent Booksellers Alliance event and the launch of Girl Taking Over: A Lois Lane Story by Sarah Kuhn, Arielle Jovellanos, and Olivia Pecini at the Ripped Bodice (trips to LA will also come up again). It made for a very busy weekend. And then...
ER time again, bay-bee! I try not to talk about this stuff publicly too much because I do believe it's our private biz, but Becca's been dealing with an ongoing health thing for over a year now and most days it is under control and better, and last month, it was pretty regularly bad for a bit. There're appointments scheduled, but it's a whole thing because the American healthcare system sucks eggs. To that end, if you are sick in San Diego, if at alllllll possible, I really don't recommend Scripps Mercy Hospital in Hillcrest. An ER so bad, we had to go twice in one day! And, as you can imagine, it also hasn't been great to our finances, nor our time, nor our mental health dealing with all of that on such a regular basis. Just a reminder that I've got a shop here and Becca has one here and a Patreon and we probably have other channels we're on. We're doing okay, and Becca's certainly in a better place with their health now, but the occasional plug probably doesn't hurt. Plus, you can get lots of cool stuff in return!
From dealing with that stress over a couple of weeks, I left Becca at home (and fortunately everything was fine that weekend) and flew off to Atlanta to go do Editor's Day at SCAD Atlanta. It was my first time on campus in a few years and, as every time I've done it, I was supremely impressed with all the amazing work of the students in the program. A big part of the day is doing portfolio reviews and it's so interesting to see the wide array of styles and interests in different parts of sequential storytelling. While I was out there, got to see my best friend in person for the first time in years and confirmed they'll be in the wedding party, so that was nice.
Then we had a couple more casual weeks. Becca's folks came into town as a late Mother's Day/early Becca's birthday celebration. Becca and I went up to LA again to celebrate their birthday with some of our friends (and, as it turns out, it feels like we're increasingly knowing folks in LA over San Diego, which is kinda weird). That was all a nice reprieve from all the comics busyness--mostly because we told our friends
no business talk at the party--but was no less busy than the rest of our recent weeks.
Again, as an aside, right around then, the Screen Actors Guild authorized their own strike, joining the WGA. The Directors Guild, to my understanding, was able to enter reasonable negotiations, though many directors are still of course standing by the strike action and on the picket line. Meanwhile, many entertainment companies, be they movies, video games, or comics, have continued/started layoffs, not in reaction to any of the strikes directly, but certainly inspiring more reasons to be on the line.
Which brings us to a little over a week ago. You may be familiar with the works of cartoonist Ian McGinty. He's done licensed and original comics and animation work. By all accounts, an incredibly kind person. The sort of artist who brings out the best in his peers, going back to his SCAD days. He unexpectedly passed away on the 8th of this month and because he had been prolific and because he worked so much and because he worked in comics, the conversation did turn to how it happened.
The conversation turned to #ComicsBrokeMe on Twitter. It's a hugely important conversation for anyone in this industry to really let sink in. It is stories from creators--often young, often marginalized--talking about the ways in which the comics industry has at least mistreated and at worst physically ailed them. I've read many of them. If you can sort through the less favorable responses of "that's the way it is" or "comics has only made me stronger" or "sometimes it seems bad but then it isn't" or what have you, like I said, these are important reads of stories that're all too common, too similar. And, it isn't about dwelling on the negative--which some of the ultra-positivity I've seen about comics in it's wake seems to have misinterpreted--it's about an industry without unions, unable to go on strike, trying to come to terms with and negotiate in much the same manner that the WGA is.
Also, I went to Sonic Revolution last weekend and that was fun. And my final LA trip for a while (fingers crossed).
That's what I've been up to. That's what the industry has been up to. It has been busy and stressful for me and seemingly for lots of folks all over. All I can say is do take care of yourself to the best of your abilities, if you have the means, take care of others, and keep an eye on all of this because it is a shift waiting to happen.
Next week, if I'm actually back, we'll get back to the regular features. For now, I am going to pick Becca up from work, we're going to see Across the Spider-Verse, and I think they'll be streaming on Twitch tonight, though maybe a little late because of the movie?
P.S. I've been so busy, I haven't like, written anything in weeks. Here's hoping that changes soon.
P.S.S. I also haven't read Void Rivals yet. Best of luck to Skybound with the TF and Joe licenses.
Pic of the Week:
Solidarity! 