I just mention that it is not Sunday in case anyone wants to accuse me of a rant which, as all CBOers know, is traditionally a Sunday thing.
I have been working on two new prose books (one almost finished), plus sorting out a couple technical papers that will become books. The comics side of things is always busy. I am also in talks regarding a possible series feature for a newspaper based on Some Things Strange & Sinister and -possibly- a TV spin-off (but I’ve learnt never to trust TV or newspaper people!).
At the same time I’ve been ill. But that need not concern any of you.
What has happened is that sleepless nights mean I get several things at any one time going through my brain. So I’m mentioning some of them (you DO NOT want to know about the others!):
I had it confirmed that I would be chairing a panel at the Bristol International Comics Expo, in May, on the current state of British comics. Several people in the business confirmed previously that they would be on the panel. Despite an email not one has confirmed that they will now be appearing. No one wants me to talk for an hour on “Comics As Hooper Sees It”! So I’ll need to cancel that.
I have now spoken to management/editors at most publishers producing “comics” with the exception of D.C. Thomson who it seems are a little scared of me or just plain rude. It’s why I’m no longer referring to any of their titles/annuals.
What really drained any faith I had in these people is that senior management had no idea about the UK comic industry. One firmly believed (“I think if you check your sources you will find I am right”) UK comics did not appear until 2000 AD saw print. One actually said: “I don’t need to know about comics because I edit”?????????????????
But without exception everyone had the same to say: “Comics are not as important to us as you seem to think. We could drop them anytime. Not enough revenue coming in we’ll move on.”
Then we come to interviews. CBO hasn’t had many of late but that is because, despite agreeing to interview questionaires none of those involved has bothered. “Oh, I’ll get that to you by Monday”/”Haven’t I sent it back to you?” and so on. These are all people who wanted to promote new books.
Publishers ask “Do you want to interview ——-? We’ll sort that out” -nothing. Without exception.
Review copies? “We’ll send some out” -nothing.
Even comic shops who wanted to promote themselves on CBO -all it took was a photo of the shop front!- nothing. “Oh, we’ll get around to that.”
Quite literally, from the very top to the bottom of the UK ‘comics industry’ there is apathy and an attitude of “I cannot really be bothered -I don’t care.”
When the **** did it get this bad???
US publishers are far better, though only by a bit.
But look at Europe. Regular review books/news. I just received nine (9) French language books, a couple quite bulky, to review. If I don’t become fluent in French in 2012 I never will!
The French/Belgians treat comics (BD) seriously and produce top quality production and style books -AND THEY PROMOTE THEM.
Certainly, and I find this odd, there has been an increase of CBO hits from Europe since I started reviewing these books.
Publishers/creators in the UK and some in the US don’t want to publicise their books via CBO and have a sit-back-and-see-what-happens outlook fair enough. Your business is struggling? I wonder why?
So if I am publishing less on UK comics you know why.
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