After doing entirely too much ranting and complaining about books I don’t even read (or, at least, creators’ attitudes towards them), I really do have some fun stuff to talk about: This was an awesome week for comics. But first, I wanted to touch on Mark Millar’s theory on the upcoming demise of the comic book industry.
The general gist is that Hollywood is going to scoop up all the great creators, both writers and artists, and no one will be left to do actual comics as anything more than R&D for movie studios. It’s an interesting theory, but really, incredibly, ridiculously silly.
All of what Millar says is happening now. John Cassaday is directing a film, Adi Granov is doing designs for Iron Man, Steve Skroce and Geof Darrow both work with the Wachowski’s. Writers are selling the rights to their creations, and often getting involved with the productions.
So why, really, would it get worse? As much as there is a migration of talent from comics to Hollywood, there’s a significant flow of talent going the other way. Joss Whedon, Alan Heinberg, Christos Gage, Daniel Knauf, and others have all come from television to comics. Some come to work on childhood heroes, others for the relative freedom; compared to the committee-based production of many films and television shows, even the most high-profile comic books offer a tremendous amount of creative freedom. The same profit margins and mass-audience appeal aren’t required in comics; Firefly wasn’t successful enough on television or film, but Whedon can tell as many stories as he wants in comics.
The other key factor Millar misses is that most comic creators come back from Hollywood. Frank Miller spent time working in Hollywood, but gave up and came back to comics; only Robert Rodriguez’ enthusiasm lured him back to Hollywood. Neil Gaiman certainly doesn’t need comics to pay the rent, yet he writes a new book every year or two. Skroce and Darrow both keep their fingers in the comic stew. Adrian Tomine illustrates The New Yorker, but still finds time for Optic Nerve.
And even if the elite creators all get whisked away to Hollywood, never to return, there will always be new creators coming up. Creators have always left comics for the greener fields Hollywood, advertising, or design, but they’ve also always been replaced.
Millar seems like such a nice guy. It’s a pity he sometimes seems so utterly clueless, or perhaps just desperate to be heard.