Ahh. The Glorious Path Taken By Comic Book Writers and Artists!

Now there have been a lot of delayed  projects -such as Green Skies that should have been out in June 2014!

I have been concentrating -someone may have noticed- on trying to promote and sell my books. Not that anyone is buying.  But for those of you looking on as the very last of the generation of true Independent comic publishers die off, here is a lesson.

In today's "Comic poseur" scene mummy, daddy or some other extra income means the comic hipster will not have to worry about hitting hard times.  Since cartooning and comic strips/comics began the creators -and mainly the artists who, let's face it, have to do the bulk of the work that sells a book, have always been ripped off.  Underpaid.  Not paid or even outright cheated. If you know your comics history -about the industry and its publishers and creators, you will know that divorce, homelessness, alcoholism and even struggling to eat were not rarities.

There are people -comic creators- in the UK comic community (as there are in the US) who feel that there should be no creators rights.  I fought for that for a couple decades and to have these people say to my face that "the bosses know best" and we should just take what they give and shut up is galling to say the least. These people do not really care because they cling on to publishers and editors and brown-nose all day to get the scraps of work remaining.

I've seen over-worked and not paid comic artists pass out because they have not eaten. That problem I could sort out straight away with a meal.  Just what any decent person should do.  When three comic writers told me at a UK Comic Art Convention in the early 1990s that work they had done had been published but that the publisher -months later- still had not paid them I knew that publisher was at the event.  I met up with him and told him that the creators got paid that day or I was going to announce at the event and very publicly, that he had not paid and should be avoided if looking for work. The writers were all paid that day.

I have sorted out a lot of problems for creators over the years and sometimes been financially worse off afterwards. All done quietly. No praise sought or wanted because it was helping fellow creators who were being cheated.   I even got a few work that paid well -at Marvel UK and DC comics for instance not to mention Fleetway/IPC.

There are no pensions for comic creators and no medical insurance covering them. If you think I am joking read this:

http://comicsalliance.com/comic-book-creators-medical-care-charity-insurance-mantlo-sakai-washington-hero-initiativ/

If you are just in pure financial trouble homeless then relying on friends or family is the only option. Believe me, I've heard and seen it all, family tend to be the only option because those 'friends' drop and avoid you like a wet turd falling from the sky.  Once your friends get into the "big time" you are not really that significant -their boss and editor is and they will sing their praises and tittle-tattle to them about anything you might have said in private about them.  If they then fall on hard times it's "Hey, mate -how's it going? Not heard from you in a long time.  Know of any work going?" There are people out there reading that last bit and know exactly what I mean.

I could have gotten in with the beer guzzling, two faced hypocritical band.  Hey, the Undisputed Truth did warn us all about Smiling Faces back in 1971!

It is a story as old as comics and goes even further back in time -artists, either Fine artists, book illustrators and so on have always been abused because "all you do is draw" and if those people who were cheated stood up and complained they found their colleagues and 'friends' speaking out against them or they were just ignored.

That is the industry I entered and why my original intention was only to ever be a publisher because there you can make changes. I have written extensively outside of comics -county magazines, astronomy and a lot of other publications.  Here is an example -a country magazine is a very glossy, high profile (expensive) advertisements aimed at a specific area and cover price is high. The average payment for a two page feature can be as much as £25 and as low as £10 -and if you want a copy of the magazine for your files -you have to buy a copy. No freebies.

The reason payment is low is because publishers and editors know that there are a lot of writers out there desperate for work.  You can't complain because it is a private company and you know what you'll be paid and "it is work after all!"

TV work: I did a lot of this.  Creating concepts and ideas for quiz and game shows, drama and so on. Before deregulation of TV in the UK you had to work with a main network programme provider -I worked with a very well known TV person at Yorkshire TV.  Together we put forward (I have to take his word on his honesty on this) programme ideas.  One was a Carry On film weekend with programmes centre around the movie franchise.  Channel 4 rejected the idea.  A month later it announced a "Carry On Weekend".  I was told (I still have the letter) that "this happens all the time" so the (c) notice is ignored.

The BBC was no better -in fact it was the worst offender.

So, do the TV viewers care?  No.  Why should they -they get their soaps.  Should the magazine readers care? No -they get their magazines.  Should the comic readers care?  No -because they do not care so long as they get their Image, DC, Dark Horse and Marvel.  The, uh, 'clean' companies.

there are no #metoo or #timeforchange for writers and artists.  If comics continued for another 100 years artists and writers will continue to be in the same position. It is a day-to-day living and struggle unless you are lucky enough to have money or support to fall back on.

So is it different for me? No.  All the companies and events that took advantage of CBOs world wide audience do not wish to pay for adverts or support the site they do okay from. I was asked on one of my Yahoo groups how many of those who have their books reviewed and promoted here on CBO -as well as events- reciprocate.  I can tell you that the figure from 1997-2018 is ZERO.

Whether I can draw again and finish projects I have no idea.  I haven't drawn in well over 6 months and if you cannot hold a pencil or pen/brush.....

Being brutal, comic shops did not give a damn for Independent comics and called them "trash".  True, some were willing to stock and sell for free to see "how it goes" (which means the publisher got nothing) but now these same people bleat about their comic stores closing because no one is buying Marvel or DC any more like they used to -if they had hooked people on to Independent comics when they had the chance maybe they would have survived.  Diamond Distributor is a monopoly -do you think they care?

So my books ARE my living and when you sell zero you get zero to live on. This isn't a "sob sob Poor Terry" because I knew the industry I got into.  I knew that, come hard times, no one would be there to help and the desertion of comics 'friends' (even those I helped) happened a good while ago. What I am saying is that before you decide "I want to be a comic writer/artist!" and imagine all the money from that fantasy movie deal look at your options.  Being committed to breaking into comics...out of the hundreds who were so committed that I have known and met since 1977 just how many do you think are regularly working in comics or even still involved -and I am talking hundreds of people? That I know of 3-4 (semi regularly).

So, before you get pissed off at another Black Tower Comics post think about all of this.