Mike Grell, Bob Layton, David Michelinie

Hey guys!

I had the extreme pleasure of interviewing these 3 comic book legends - when they were in Toronto at the Comicon convention - for a new web venture called Hardcore Nerdity that will be launching May 1st. I'm not sure when my interviews will be up - I'll keep you all posted - but I did want to share an interesting tidbit that came out of their panel discussion.

Mike Grell made the somewhat wistful observation - which Bob and David both agreed with - that, back in the day, they were being edited by guys who grew up reading stuff other than just comic books. Nowadays, not so much.

I thought this was kind of fascinating - sort of analogous to how the dudes writing for the Simpsons now grew up watching, well, the Simpsons. And so the show, itself, is now their chief frame of reference.

Any thoughts from you guys on whether you've discovered this phenomenon to be the case in your own experiences? Has the artform suffered as a result? Changed? Or is this to its betterment? I am curious.

Oh - and - HI! This is my first post to this board! (Life-long comic fan, btw!)

Cheers,
Lesley

Hmm. Interesting - if a bit disheartening ...

Axler, do you find this across the board or just in the mainstream? Is there a tendency in the independents to buck this trend or is the entire industry just eating its own in your opinion? Any suggestions as to what's really good out there these days?

Anyone else?

Cheers,
Lesley

Really? Do you guys really believe that across the board?

I mean - I will admit that I've been an infrequent comic user of late (ie: the last two years or so) and this is why I posed the question initially but - what about guys like Darwyn Cooke? The New Frontiers stuff was, in many ways, groundbreaking. Maybe not 'Watchmen' groundbreaking but still...

What about Ty Templeton (to give a good ol' Canuck example)?

Or, someone more mainstream say, like - Judd Winick. I will pretty much buy any book I see with his name on it just because his writing is so sharp, he has made me both gasp and laugh out loud with a turn of phrase or plot twist.

Craft. Skill. I still see them with these guys and - while they're not noobs, perhaps - they're not exactly the old guard.

Also - what do you think of novelists getting in on the game? Like Jim Butcher and the Dresden files GNs. Okay - it's really an extension of his own stuff, but... is this a trend?

I think of someone like Jodi Picoult doing a stint writing Wonder Woman and I can't help but think there's life in the medium yet. Or Joss Whedon continuing Buffy in comic book form and calling it 'Season 8'.

There has to still be a kind of validity to the artform doesn't there for this sort of thing to happen? I mean this stuff isn't fanboy cannabalism.

This is the kind of stuff that gives me hope!

Or am I wearing the blinky sunglasses, again?

Seriously - Axler, you're in the biz, man. Who/what is your ray of sunshine?

Cheers,
LL
(who takes her popcorn - plentiful!)

Actually Axler - I agree (with a few noted exceptions) with you about the gereal state of the mainstream industry today. ("Terry and the Pirates" - awesome, btw) Conversely, though, I think this is exactly what is giving me hope.

The situation reminds me of the early 80's when the stagnation and general stupidity of the big companies caused a lot of artists to rebel and gave rise to indie publishers like Pacific Comics and First Comics and, after that, houses like Dark Horse and Image (who are now, of course, huge!). It saw the artists taking control with creator-owned properties and gave rise to projects like Rocketeer and Mage and (one that DC was smart enough to hang on to and publish) Watchmen. There was a push to explore new formats like graphic novels, new techniques, and deeper, more controversial content (I remember the reactions that the X-Men GN "God Loves Man Kills" got among me and my friends at the time - wow!)

But, largely, this was the kind of stuff that needed that air of dissatisfaction with the constraints of the industry in order to gestate, I think. So the point that Toothpaste makes here is a very valid one. Once again, the real creatives in the field are finding ways to cut through the dreck and the white noise. And finding other mediums in which to do it. Or crossing over into them. One of the other things that came out of my chat with Mike Grell, for example, is that he is publishing - for free - on the web. He's revisited his Jon Sable character and you can read the result yourself on www.comicmix.com. I think that's pretty cool...

There were also enough young, hungry, innovative and independent guys at the convention to make me think good things are in the offing.

The mainstream may be a garbage dump but I do believe that there will always be flowers coming up out of the compost. I guess now I just have to go out there and look harder to find them.

Cheers,
Lesley

Hey guys...

Sorry I disappeared from the conversation! Crazy week...

I do agree with what you guys are saying. I really actually do. (And it saddens me a little).

But I do hope that, away from the mainstream (and, your right Axler, the 4-buck cover-price for a mag full of adds and a couple of storyboards) the artists will find avenues for expression. If that means the comics medium disappearing largely into the realm of pixels... and I think that's a strong possibility... then I still think/hope the art-form itself will remain.

We will be the poorer for it if it doesn't.

Cheers,
Lesley
(Hey jst5150 - is Bob the Talking Lizard still hanging out at Grimjack's bar? I loved him... "beeeeer"...)