Saturday, July 28, 2007

This person thinks they're clever...

...by commenting on a year and a half-old post:
At the risk of sounding somewhat curt, if you don't like the state of comic writing then, become a comic writer and begin to change it.

Yes, it's annoying that comic writing isn't more mature, but the only way to change it is if people with more mature sensibilities get in there and get to work.
Normally I ignore this stuff, but I had to give an answer to that one:
Baleful darling, its not that you sound curt -- its that you sound idiotic.

Your comment runs on a few assumptions: a) That I'm not trying just that, b) that my current lifestyle supports such a venture, c) that I'm talented/skilled enough at comic book writing to do so, d) that these problems are not editorially driven, and e) that it is just that easy to break into the comics industry and be handed the reigns of the most popular superheroes in comicdom.

To answer your assumptions: (a) I am but (b) it really doesn't and (c) I might be but (d) probably not enough so to override the editor and (e) it sure as hell isn't.

That's not even getting into the absurd idea that a paying customer should answer shoddy work not by complaining but by trying to do it better themselves. Try that principle on your car, see how far you go.
I'm getting really sick of people trotting out that answer like I haven't heard it fifty billion times already. Even if it wasn't so common, its certainly not insightful enough to be worth making on a 1 year and 7 month-old conversation.

10 comments:

  1. It really is absurd, isn't it?

    It's sort of like saying that if I wish the Red Sox were playing better, then I should go play second base.

    There are some areas where this argument almost works. If I think the current state of painting is wretched, there's nothing in particular stopping me from making paintings that I think are better. Even so, I still have to convince a curator or gallery owner that my paintings are better than what they're currently showing.

    In the case of mainstream superhero comics, someone else is holding all the keys, and the argument is holds no water at all.

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  2. Of course the argument holds no water, it's just one of those cliches that are trotted out with dull (very dull) regularity, in order to preserve the current status quo. Along with such gems as "if you don't like it don't read it" and "girls are wrecking our stuff!"

    Although actually, the Red Sox are doing pretty well at the moment.

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  3. Comments like that indicate that the commenter has NO EARTHLY IDEA how the whole "breaking into x industry" thing works.

    Does this person expect one to be able to go up to an editor and say, "Hey, your current writers suck and I can do better, here read my samples," and then have the editor reply with, "Oh yes, I agree! Here, I shall fire all the writers I have working now, despite possible contracts in place, and shall replace them with you, a person who I do not know and have not seen tested within the industry! Your first project is Insert-Major-Title-Here!"

    It's bad enough for those of us hoping to do original content... I can't imagine how a feminist could break into the frat party that is capes comics.

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  4. If you are so dissatisfied with the quality of your detractors, perhaps you try your hand at being one of your detractors. Or are you just one of those people who likes to complain but can't offer practical solutions?

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  5. Anon #2 -- Can you read my post or any of the comments that preceded yours, or did you need someone to help you compose that comment?

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  6. See, you're attacking me, rather than attacking yourself. Already you're not doing it right!

    Also: I'm not one of those people who feels obligated to follow posts with smileys, because that's god damn retarded, so sometimes I have to rely on subtlety to carry the day. I too was poking fun at the idiocy of the "well let's see you do better" argument.

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  7. If you get bad food poisoning at your favourite restaurant, complaining to the management about it is petty and silly!

    You need to become a chef and cook there!

    DUH!

    And if you're the victim of police abuse, you shouldn't complain! You should join the police force!

    And if you dun like the way men treat you, you should... get a sex change. XDDDD

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  8. Anon#2 -- Ahh, sorry for the hair-trigger there. You know how it can be with Anonymous commenters.

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  9. Yeah. Part of me thought like that for a while - simply because I'd LIKE to write my own fiction professionally rather than write reviews of other people's work.

    Of course a very good and wise friend of mine, who self-publishes his own comics, said that there's no shame in being a good critical writer.

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  10. I find myself following the example of the woman who used to write in to Mike W. Barr's Outsiders with pronouncements of what she was going to do when she took the book over.

    Sure, it's delusional, but I briefly feel important in my own schizophrenic fantasy.

    :(

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