After watching Robert Kirkman’s video at CBR and reading his rationale following the video, I can only come to one conclusion. Kirkman is either high on crack or so full of himself that he is unable to see the forest from the trees.

Kirkman’s opens his nine minute ramble first by stating that he will save the comic industry, but first he kindly insults creators who actually enjoy writing for DC and Marvel.

What a brilliant idea! Insult the people you are trying to save. His comparison of comic creators to say a novelist is completely ludicrous because his opinion does not take into account that there are some well-established creators that have their hands in various forms of media and creator owned stuff that is not comic related and just enjoy writing the characters found in the MU or DCU.

Kirkman continues with his rant by stating an obvious fact, unknown creators strive to prove their mettle to the big two and eventually graduate to writing for them, well duh, that’s kind of a no-brainer. During this brief moment it sure does seem like Kirkman is implying that once creators make it big at DC or Marvel their careers stagnate without benefit of creator owned comic-material.

Kirkman then immediately goes on to back-handedly praise Marvel for the fun he had, but comes across as completely thankless for the boost Marvel gave his career. Does Kirkman honestly believe that he would be as popular as he is today if it not for Marvel.

Look at every founder of Image, they all have worked at times for the big two because at the end of the day that is where the name recognition comes from. Does Kirkman honestly believe that his name would carry any clout if it were not for his tenure at Marvel?

Kirkman goes on to state what a big fan he is of the big two and how much he reads from them, but …, and there is a but, Kirkman goes the route of generalizing fans into specific categories of which he seems to think we fall into. Sure there are some creators I follow around from title to title, but if I read something by one of my favorite creators that I do not enjoy I don’t keep buying the title just because the creator is on it, as Kirkman believes. The worst part though is the fact that he generalizes comic readers and doesn’t understand regardless of the creator some fans follow certain characters no matter who is writing or drawing the title.

I quite enjoyed how Kirkman implies that if big creators left DC and Marvel it would be good for the industry. I wonder where he would want them to go (although I have a pretty good guess at the answer to that one).

Kirkman tries to give merit to his argument time and again but it comes across as completely self-fulfilling. He seems to think that only adults follow creators and that kids just don’t care who is writing their favorite character. In my own personal experience, by the time I turned thirteen and had been reading comics for about a year there were creators I enjoyed more than others. I followed these creators because I knew there art or writing would entertain me, but apparently kids today are unable or unwilling to make that leap for what they find appealing, you know because they are kids – which most of us readers were at one time or another.

Kirkman goes on to establish that DC and Marvel should be appealing to kids and Image and Dark Horse should be the venue of adults. Pay no mind to the fact that most comic readers follow characters they enjoy and are invested in on a monthly basis. I read my fair share of creator owned stuff, but my heart belongs to the Marvel Universe and barring the cessation of publication I will always feel that way. No creator owned comic has ever captured my attention or imagination the way that the MU and to a lesser extent the DCU has, not for a lack of trying but rather for the time I have invested in these characters.

As the ramble continues Kirkman seemingly talks down to the industry by implying that big name creators, under his plan, would not need to sign lucrative exclusive contracts because his plan would make things easier for the big two and implies that the writers and artists would be happier under his plan. Why? Please explain how this can be. Because he says it is so? Yeah, that makes perfect sense. I have to believe the time and effort that big name creators have put in at their respective companies is one of the reasons those individuals get lucrative contracts.

It says a lot about a creator who just got his dream job at Image and thinks if there were more of him he would sell more titles. No that is not true no matter how many titles Kirkman writes he will still have the same 20K – 30K fans that follow his work. Kirkman is an anomaly in the world of creator owned comic books and comes across as a bit full of him self.

As we get to the end of his overblown plan, Kirkman freely admits that some of the things he said through the course of the video were probably wrong. Earth to Mr. Kirkman, if you think your opinion is wrong then why express it and then try to temper it. Let’s call this video piece what it really is, a recruitment video for Image.

Kirkman’s proposal for a conference on the matter smacks of juvenile stupidity. Does he really believe that Marvel or DC would want to sit down with him or any other individual who are aggressively trying to steal their talent? What would there be to gain from this conference, a free cruise for Kirkman? It’s not like Marvel or DC would just dump their talent on the say so of a writer who has been in the industry less than 10 years.

Kirkman implies that with this conference the comic-industry can be saved and together the companies can take huge steps to improve the industry. Of course he gives not one clue as to what those steps are other than having the big two send their big name writers to Dark Horse, Image or any other independent publisher to write for the adult fans.

Kirkman makes a lot of claims but backs them up with absolutely no ideas or solutions. Of course at the end of the video he makes sure to remind viewers how much he loves comic books, their creators and the fans, but it comes across as insincere and pandering. .

Immediately following the video Kirkman tries to clarify his long ramble:

Step One:

Top creators who want to do creator-owned work band together and give it a shot. I’d certainly love for that to be at Image, but whatever, wherever — if you want to do it, step up and do it. The more people who do it, the easier it’ll be to do. Creators are very important to the current fan base, if it’s done right you could bring a large portion of your audience with you provided you take the plunge and only do creator-owned work. If you give people the option of Spider-Man or your creator-owned book… they’ll choose Spider-Man, that’s something time-tested versus something new. New has to be the only option.

I can’t imagine that Kirkman is doing this for no other reason than to recruit more big names to Image. That’s all fine and good, but don’t insult my intelligence by trying to hide behind the façade of “saving the comic industry.” Kirkman’s own words throughout the video and his own quotes prove that not to be the case.

Step Two:

If that results in a mass exodus of creators leaving Marvel and DC, don’t panic guys, I love their books as much as everyone else — nobody wants to hurt them in the process. Look at it like an opportunity, that’s the time for Marvel and DC to step up the plate and make their comics viable for a whole new generation. Less continuity, more accessible stories — not made for kids, but appropriate for kids. Books that would appeal to everyone still reading comics, but would also appeal to the average 13 year old too. There are a wealth of talented creators who haven’t yet reached a level where they can sell books on their own — they can do awesome work for the companies and be happy doing it.

If I read a little between the lines, it seems to me the above step is a complete insult to actual comic fans. Our favorite Marvel and DC characters should be written and drawn by unproven talent, because they have a wealth of talent. What it really sounds like is that Kirkman would like all the proven talent to go to Image while Marvel and DC prepare the next-generation of superstar creators for Image to cherry-pick when they have proven themselves by earning an exclusive contract.

What that could lead to:
A comic industry where there are more original comics, so there’s more new ideas, more creator-owned books by totally awesome guys that are selling a ton of books. Those books are mature and complex and appeal to our aging audience that I count myself among who are keeping this business alive. And we also have a revitalized Marvel and DC who are selling comics to a much wider audience than ever before. And that audience, as they age, may get turned on to some awesome creator-owned work eventually. So everyone is happy.
I’m not saying it would be as simple as all that, I’m just saying this “could” work and that there are enough smart people working in comics today that it could probably happen. The problem as I see it, is that Marvel and DC are currently very successful with the audience they have now, “us” and we’re all happy with the comics they’re producing… because they’re all mostly awesome. But as we age, we die, so we’re not going to be around forever and so if comics continue to age with us, they will die along with us and that’s not something I think any of us want.
The first thing I would like to say in regards to Kirkman’s conclusions is that there are no new ideas, just old ideas needing to be reinvigorated or manipulated for a different effect. Even Kirkman’s own titles Invincible, Walking Dead and The Astonishing Wolfman are all recycled ideas given new life through the use of a clever twist to an established premise.

Secondly, Kirkman’s own words belie his credibility. How can he complain about the lack of new readers in his video and then makes a statement to the effect that Marvel and DC are both reaching a wider audience? Which is it Mr. Kirkman? Either the big two are reaching new readers or they are not, it would be nice if you took a consistent stance since this is your rant.

Why is it a problem that Marvel and DC are currently very successful with their audience? What does this mean in the context of what you are trying to say? Yes, I am addressing Mr. Kirkman directly on this one as his own written statements basically invalidate any of the ramblings he made through the course of his video.

The audacities of Kirkman’s verbal statements are tantamount to cutting off your nose to spite your face, especially when you go out of your way to clarify your verbal statement with written statements that are completely contradictory in nature. It makes no sense unless your real purpose was to burn a bridge so that the temptation of ever going back to the big two can never occur. If that was the point of this whole exercise, well kudos to Mr. Kirkman, mission accomplished. But if he really believes that the majority of readers should be pigeonholed into their reading habits, well that’s just a stupidity borne of a great ego.

Throughout the video Kirkman comes off a lot like George W. Bush; a lot of talk but no substance. The only concrete idea that Kirkman expresses throughout the video and to a lesser extent his follow-up reply, is the simple fact that big name creators should only be working on creator-owned books, for the betterment of the industry. What Kirkman fails to address throughout his agonizingly emotionless statement is the fact that there are creators and fans alike who love the characters of the Marvel and DC Universe. Mark Millar is the perfect example.

Mark Millar is a successful creator who works on independent projects and Marvel Universe projects and if you have ever been to his website you know that even when he is writing his creator owned stuff he can’t help but jot down reams of ideas to take both the Marvel Universe and the DC Universe in new directions. Does that sound like a creator that regrets his decision to not go exclusively creator-owned? Much like Geoff Johns over in the DCU there are creators that hold an affinity for their beloved comic book characters and they are proud of that fact. Does anyone really believe that Geoff Johns or Mark Millar would be as successful as they are without their names constantly in the public eye?

It took a lot of balls for Kirkman to make such an address but it seems completely unnecessary and at no time does Kirkman take into consideration the likes/dislikes of the various comic fans and creators alike, but rather he generalizes the situation to make it seem like he has a real solution to the problem. His comments come across as juvenile and provide no substance to the actual purpose of his address, saving the comic industry. It’s unfortunate that Kirkman didn’t think a little more before his allowed his address to be posted as he loses a lot of his credibility by creating a controversy and then leaving it to others to solve, in a meeting on a cruise ship apparently.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 13th, 2008 at 11:12 pm and is filed under Comics, Richard Renteria. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will be moderated but will appear as soon as humanly possible.