Remembering The Self-Publishing Movement: a series of guest blogs
It’s been pointed out in numerous places that Dave Sim, Terry Moore, and I are all returning to our self-publishing roots with new comic book series - - all within weeks of each other. But what exactly are those self-publishing roots?
It’s been 15 years since I met Larry Marder, who introduced me to Dave Sim. Who in turn introduced me to Colleen Doran. Soon, along with James Owen and Martin Wagner, we created a limited edition print featuring all our characters to sign and give away to comic book store retailers.
We did this at a 1993 Diamond Comics Distributors retail show - - a few months after the industry was stunned by the announcement that six of Marvel’s top artists were forming their own company called Image Comics. The resulting rumors that we might be planning to form our own super group was irresistible. This was the beginning of what would be called The Self-Publishing Movement. The craziness that followed can best be summed up by this quote from Colleen:
“There was a period of nearly three years where we couldn’t go to a convention without being mobbed. We would start at 9 in the morning and we couldn’t get away to eat - - we couldn’t get away to go to the bathroom. We’d get a short break for dinner, then rush back to the hotel bar or up to Dave’s suite and sign autographs and draw sketches for retailers until 3 or 4 in the morning.” - Colleen Doran, self-publisher, A Distant Soil
We spent hours together on the road and in hotels, at restaurants, and at convention booths. We talked about making comics and selling them. We had radical ideas about owning and controlling our own work. I remember very specific conversations about trying to change the retailing model of comic book stores from periodical collectables to that of replaceable stock - -i.e., our trade books.
Self-publishing pretty much started with Cerebus and Elfquest in the late 70s. The success of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles brought about visions of fame and fortune. Some of the indie cartoonists in those heady days, lead by Scott McCloud, got together and drafted a Creators Bill of Rights. By the time The Self-Publishing Movement began, Comics - the community and the industry - was poised for anything. Hundreds, if not thousands of artists picked up their pens and had a go at making their own books. At the height of the movement, self-published titles made up 17% of the comics market.
As I looked around the showroom at this year’s SPX, filled with hundreds of dedicated, enthusiastic indie comics creators working in every genre and every possible medium, I thought it might be fun to look back at those roots.
When I asked Larry Marder to write about it, he responded this way:
“Sure, I'd be glad to toss my 2 cents into this topic.
This is a weird time anyway — you, Terry, and Sim returning to publishing with new projects and me returning to Beanworld, my only comic project.
I personally do believe there is a direct line from today's creators backwards to our hopes and dreams in the 80s and 90s…but what a circuitous path!”
In the weeks that follow, I’ll be posting guest blogs from people who were there, like Colleen Doran, Larry Marder, Paul Pope, Terry Moore, Charles Brownstein, and others. I am currently extending invitations to newer indie cartoonists and professionals working now in the current era of web comics, indie comics, and graphic novels.
As I read the essays coming in, I’m reminded how much fun we had analyzing the industry and the comics community, and making up rules as we went along. But I’m also reminded how difficult it was. Our credo was to own and control your work. Something that isn’t as easy as you might think.
I hope you enjoy this series of guest blogs. The first one will be Colleen Doran on Wednesday, February 6. Please stop by!
[...] Beginning this Wednesday, self publishers and creators active in the self publishing movement will be guest blogging at Jeff Smith’s BONEVILLE website. [...]
Pingback by adistantsoil.com » Blog Archive » Remembering the Self Publishing Movement: Guest Blogs at Boneville — February 4, 2008 @ 8:34 pm
What a great idea Jeff. You always were a uniter. Looking very forward to it.
Comment by MrColinP — February 4, 2008 @ 9:49 pm
LOL… that’s great, Jeff. Loved that print. I have a jpeg of the other one around here, somewhere…
Cindy and I recently had dinner with Svetlana Chmakova, who was expressing a desire to read more about that whole episode in comics - for some of the same reasons you mention here. So your timing is, well, timely!
Best to you and V. -
James
Comment by James A. Owen — February 4, 2008 @ 10:27 pm
I’m looking forward to Dave Sim’s guest blog.
Comment by Brian Payne — February 5, 2008 @ 3:24 am
Wow, pretty cool! I didn’t know that about Image. Their work is really good too, I’ve read some of their Gen 13. Thanks for the post.
Comment by Marcus — February 5, 2008 @ 9:17 am
As someone who wants to own and control my own work, I’ll be bookmarking and checking up on this page, with quite some interest. Thank you for doing this. I also see that working with other people with their own books can be very helpful to all involved.
Comment by Christopher Moonlight — February 5, 2008 @ 10:56 am
Hi Jeff,
It does seem like a lot of the old guard is getting back into the game, doesn’t it? I’ve been gearing up for months to bring TALES FROM THE BOG back in 2008 and it seems like every week there’s another new project announcement from someone like Terry Moore or Dave Sim.
Intersting times!
Comment by Marcus Lusk — February 5, 2008 @ 11:20 am
This is a wonderful post! I’m looking forward to the guest blogs.
Comment by Varuna Darensbourg — February 5, 2008 @ 12:37 pm
I’m looking forward to read more on this topic.
Best regards!
Comment by Loris Z. — February 5, 2008 @ 2:16 pm
Great post Jeff! As a comic reader and cartoonist (who couldn’t get off his duff and selfpublish himself, and now refers to himself in 3rd person), the early ’90’s were an exciting time. I look forward to the weeks ahead.
Thanks!
Comment by Eddie Pittman — February 5, 2008 @ 2:21 pm
Wow this is great and thank you so much for posting this information. It reminds me of that feeling I got back in the ’90’s when I went to the comic shop to pick up the newest copy of Bone. I missed those times when self published books were being talked about in such greatness. This is really exciting and great that all of you are going back to your roots. Keep up the great work and thanks for sharring your work with the world.
I can’t wait to read up on those blogs!
Comment by Jeanette — February 5, 2008 @ 2:52 pm
Any chance of a Martin Wagner entry?
Comment by Luke H. — February 5, 2008 @ 5:21 pm
I’ll second the Martin Wagner request. He’s a frequent poster over at the Yahoo Hepcats group.
Comment by Jeremy Holstein — February 5, 2008 @ 5:45 pm
I’m definitely excited about this! I was veering into indy comics at around the same time that you, James Owen, Martin Wagner, Larry Marder, and others were pushing the boundaries of the comics medium, so I have very fond memories of the times. Not to mention the days of heading out to the Char Bar for the comic book creators drink-ups organized by Sean McKeever. Looking forward to the guest blogs.
Comment by Dara Naraghi — February 5, 2008 @ 9:46 pm
[...] B o n e v i l l e » Remembering The Self-Publishing Movement: a series of guest blogs (tags: comics) [...]
Pingback by The Secret of the Wednesday’s Haul » Blog Archive » links for 2008-02-06 — February 6, 2008 @ 4:27 am
[...] Remembering The Self-Publishing Movement: a series of guest blogs from B o n e v i l l e [...]
Pingback by STWALLSKULL » Interesting Links: February 7th, 2008 — February 7, 2008 @ 1:13 am
can some one please tell me what his last volume means is it last book or a few more
Comment by Max — February 7, 2008 @ 9:43 am
[...] Today is part 2, the conclusion of Colleen Doran’s guest blog on remembering the Self-Publishing Movement. Before I start that though, I want to clear up a little confusion about when self-publishing began. I’ve a read a few comments here and on other blogs reminding us that self-publishing existed before us. Of course it did. In my introduction to this series, I mention both the early self-publishers and the small 80s independent companies; all of whom broke ground in style, content and creators rights. To be honest, I don’t know where the name Self-Publishing Movement came from (maybe we’ll find out from a future guest blogger). But it refers to a distinct period of comics that began in 1993 and went roughly until 1996 or so. Still, having Sim, one of the first, along with Marder, and Veitch, two from the days of the first independents - - as well as members of the Creators Rights Summit in the late 80s, I’d say our pedigree was all right. I think at the time we felt like we were part of an ongoing shift in comics that had its distant roots in the American Underground. One last note on today’s entry: After you read it, I recommend you visit Colleen’s own blog where she has some very interesting additions to make.Here’s an example: “While we happy self publishers may have boldly reprinted our books and force fed them to libraries, among other marketing hijinks, we weren’t the first to do a lot of these things. However, the very fact that some “little nobodies” (heard that one a lot), and “fanzine publishers” (heard that one a lot), and people who were praised for keeping “up the fair work” (thanks), were able to do these things effectively, and, in some cases, more effectively than companies with much larger resources…this made larger publishers take notice. So, when I write how Bob Wayne and Paul Levitz praised us with, “You guys were the first. You showed us the way,” I mean that we proved going to the “real” mainstream trade bookstores and libraries with graphic novels could be done effectively, even by little schmucks like us.” [...]
Pingback by B o n e v i l l e » Remembering the Self-Publishing Movement: Colleen Doran, part 2 — February 7, 2008 @ 10:55 am
I know you’re talking about the early 90s comic movement, but any discourse on self publishing would be incomplete without a mention of one of its early adopters – William Blake.
He was self publishing illustrated novels not too far removes to some of the more modern publications out now… not only that but he designed and manufactured an entirely new (if not that useful) way of mass-printing them.
It’s not perfect, but there’s an article here:
http://www.trivia-library.com/a/publish-your-own-book-history-of-famous-poet-william-blake.htm
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