How to “Break In” to the Comics Industry
by Joey Manley
There’s this quote that floats around about “breaking in” to the corporate comics industry. “The comics industry is like a high-security government installation. Nobody gets in the same way twice, because after they find out you got in, they seal up that entrance.” Or something like that. I wish I could remember who it is attributed to. Gail Simone, maybe?
There’s another answer. The only infinitely-replicable way to “break into” the comics industry.
Make great comics. Publish them (online, in minicomic form, whatever). Make them popular.
People want the corporate comics industry to lift them up, to take them from where they are to where they want to be. Unfortunately, the industry wants creators who are already, you know, there. The corporate comics industry doesn’t exist to fulfill the dreams of its freelancers, or even of its readers. It exists to risk money in order to make more money. Just like any business. If you approach these people from a position of strength — established readers, a brand name, a strong aesthetic and personal style — if, in other words, you don’t need them, then, yeah, you’ll get anything and everything you want from them.
This is good news. Because thanks to the web, and to the comics community’s long tradition of print self-publishing (comics is one of the few forms of media where self-publishing isn’t considered a nasty sadness), you have the power within yourself to make all of this stuff happen for you. That’s the most powerful position you will find, as a newcomer, in any creative field.
Which isn’t to say that working in corporate comics is a bad thing. It’s just that they don’t want you until you don’t need them. And, again, that, too, is a very powerful position for you to be in. I want to make sure that this doesn’t come across as negative. I want you to understand that everything is up to you.
October 8th, 2009 at 9:39 am
well said!
October 8th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Very well-written, inspiring, and, most importanty, true. Thanks for posting this, Joey!
October 9th, 2009 at 3:46 am
That’s an Eddie Campbell quote — at least, he said something to that effect in my interview with him in the Journal a few years back.
October 9th, 2009 at 9:54 am
Well written. It’s a keeper. Something to look at every day when drawing our cartoons.
October 11th, 2009 at 11:16 am
True, the promotion part is tricky though, standing out with so much competing content is a real challenge.
October 20th, 2009 at 1:25 am
One of the problems I’ve noticed at conventions that lean towards small press & mini-comics folks is they don’t do promotion. They send out less than five comics for review & send these to major outlets that don’t make sense. Do some research & find some podcasts & blogs to build a press kit. Selling 10 comics & sending 40 to reviewers is better than selling 10 comics & having 40 sit in your house.