Sta.sh
Theme
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.......... The design MUST HAVE ONLY 2 COLORS; BLACK AND WHITE
this journal 
Yesterday a creator called Jerry Ordway wrote a journal spotlighting his plight. He'd been working in comics for 30 years when the work started drying up. He's an incredibly talented artist who is just over 50 years old yet the publishers he worked for now want something new. As Jerry had thought he'd carry right on working until he retired this came as quite the shock.
Here is his piece;
[link]
I've copied the piece below;
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Life over fifty
"First off, I want you all to understand that I welcome , nourish and encourage new blood in the comic book world. I think it's healthy for any industry, to be welcoming to new talent. When I started in comics, in 1980, many of my artistic heroes were in the same age group I myself am in now. I was thrilled to be in the same club as Jack Kirby, Gil Kane, Gene Colan, Joe Kubert, Curt Swan, John and Sal Buscema, John Romita, Don Heck, Gray Morrow and many many others. They were all valued for their skills, and their experience, and most if not all all worked steadily into their 70's, or until they passed away.
"In my own experience, I have worked most of my years for DC Comics, and that was by choice. The people who worked there were good people, and I still call many of them friend. Like any young artist, I had offers to work elsewhere, and occassionally dipped my toe into other company's ponds, but always came back to DC. At DC, I have had many successes, and opportunities. I was thrilled to help establish the All Star Squadron and Infinity Inc with Roy Thomas. I was thrilled to be part of the original "Crisis" as well as "Zero Hour" and "Infinite Crisis," all major DC character event comics. I was thrilled to help DC share in the success of the 1989 blockbuster "Batman" movie by drawing one of the best selling comic book movie adaptations ever.
"I poured my heart and soul into reviving the character of Superman, working alongside John Byrne and Marv Wolfman at first, later graduating to writing Superman's adventures alongside people who became my best friends. I left the Superman universe at a time when our successes paved the way for a TV series, "Lois and Clark" as well as an unsuccessful attempt to bring the Death of Superman to the big screen with Tim Burton and Nic Cage. Superman as a property was revived, and led to a ton of Death of Superman merchandise, a higher profile in the public eye, and renewed interest among kids. A cartoon series did make it on the air, and was terrific. Smallville the tv series owes a lot to what happened when I was involved in the comics.
"I moved on to pouring my soul into reviving Captain Marvel, and it was a wonderful experience that lasted through an original graphic novel, and 48 regular issues of the monthly comic plus an annual. After that, I seemed to suffer from the cancellation of Shazam, and a firing from the Superman books I had been invited back to, before I even started. Bad feelings ensued, and I stopped working for DC.
"I went to work at Marvel for a few years, and enjoyed my work on the Avengers, Captain America, Thor, as well as drawing the company wide crossover "Maximum Security: and the spin off USAgent mini-series. When my opportunities dried up at Marvel, I went to work on a smattering of Wildstorm books, on comics such as Tom Strong, Top Ten, Planetary and a mini-series with Hollywood writers Danny Bilson and Paul Demeo, "Red Menace."
"I returned to DC as well, drawing Wonder Woman with Walt Simonson writing, and then fell into the situation of being a "fill-in" artist, jumping from title to title, sometimes drawing a whole issue or two, sometimes drawing only a partial issue, when the regular artists were either in deadline trouble, or unavailable. I was offered, and accepted an exclusive DC contract in hopes that this would somehow help me to land a regular assignment, and steady work. After 9 years of being the guy who was thrown at late deadline material, I was still not any closer to getting regular work, nor was I being treated by the company as a valued employee. In my last year on exclusive contract, I was starved of work. Kind of hard to believe, but there it was.The contract had no clause to require DC to give me a minimum amount of work, as this problem never happened in the past, and could have happen, or so I thought at the time. I drew the last two issues of JSA so that the regular artist could jump onto one of the new "52" comic launches. After that, I spent the summer trying to use whatever connections I had to get work-- any work. I was finally given a short Batman themed story to draw, a story that was never published. Dan Didio kindly invited me to join him on a new Challengers story, and Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Grey asked for me on their Freedom Fighters re-launch. That manifest itself as the now concluding Human Bomb four issue series, done after my contract expired, but promised while the contract was still in effect.
"I am thrilled to be well remembered, and respected in the comic book community, and to have fans willing to pay me to draw commissions, but I got into comics in order to tell stories, not to draw custom art. I still feel vital, and still want to be at that table. Do I think DC comics owes me anything? Yes and no. I understand that no company owes anything that isn't contractually stipulated, but in my heart, I think I deserve better than being marginalized over the last 10 years. I'm not retired, I'm not financially independent. I'm a working guy with a family, working for a flat page rate that hasn't changed substantially since 1995. I may have opportunities at smaller companies, companies that pay less per page than I made in 1988, with no royalties or ownership of any kind. I'm not at all looking down at that, but it is hard to reconcile, as I can't work faster, and refuse to hack my work out to match the rate. I have pride in what I do, and always have. As to my part in the history of dc for the past 33 years, I was a highly visible and successful part of it, not a minor footnote.
"Getting back to the beginning of this essay, and to the artists I loved as a kid, all I ask is for some of the same consideration my generation of creators and editors gave to the older guard in the 1980's. My work is still sharp, my mind is still full of stories to tell, and I'm still willing to work all hours of my day to meet my deadlines. Why am I out of work from the publishers? Why are my friends, people who turned in great work, worthy of hardcover and trade paperback reprints, not able to get work?
"As a comic reader and customer, the publishers use our older work in collected editions, for what they call first copy royalties, no reprint fees. They publish the All Star Squadron trade, for example and you buy it for whatever the cost. My royalty is maybe a couple hundred dollars, if I'm lucky, for 11 issues worth of work. On a recent Absolute Infinite Crisis hardcover, I had 30-odd pages reprinted in there, a book that retailed for over a hundred dollars-- a book that DC never even gave me a copy of, and the royalty amounted to a few dollars, I couldn't buy a pizza on that windfall. I want to work, I don't want to be a nostalgia act, remembered only for what I did 20, 30 years ago.
"Older fans need to voice their opinions, and ask the various companies why (fill in the blank) person isn't drawing or writing comics for them anymore. If you like the Superman books enough to spend a hundred dollars on a volume, I don't understand why your buying power can't wake the companies up to the fact that they have a willing and able talent pool idling.
"Oh and put in a good word or two for me as well, why don't you
"- Jerry Ordway
Jerry is an incredibly well liked creator whose work is incredible, so should he take the route of doing a Kickstarter he should do very well. [link] But what Jerry is going through isn't something new. Artists have always had this happen to them. Even the most talented and dedicated of artists face the day that editors want a new face. Unfortunately that period of turn over is getting faster. Comics are becoming like Hollywood these days, you may get the chance to draw a comic for a big company but if it doesn't sell and it may well not be because of the art, you may have a tough time getting a second chance. Dedication, loyalty and adhering to tight deadlines aren't rewarded. It is what is expected of you.
Don't paint your career into a corner. Learn how to promote yourself. If you're an artist learn how to write and create your own material.
For those you see in the industry, getting in to the industry is the easy part. Staying there and making a living is the hard part. Marvel and DC while paying the best rates, those rates haven't gone up with inflation or in line with the cost of the comics. If you work at one of the smaller companies and you're penciling 20 pages a month you could be looking at a pay check of less than $2000 dollars. 20 pages of pencils is a LOT of work. That means living in a city like New York or Los Angeles is impossible and if you have to raise a family on that? Forget it. It is a long hard road but creating your own ideas and strips have a better chance of paying off in the long run.
The sales of comic books through traditional outlets are still dropping. Sure there are the exceptions to the rule like The Walking Dead that amounts to two thirds of the sales of Image Comics, but the industry is producing more titles than ever for diminishing returns and something has got to give soon. Comic companies are burning through creators who are just working for backend deals that aren't realized.
Now more than ever you need to think not only do you REALLY want to do this but you need to start thinking about doing it all yourself or reaching out to others here on DeviantART to work with to build something of your own. Give it away for free on a website and then charge for a paper collection using Kickstarter. Still draw Marvel and DC characters to bring people to your page here but show them YOUR ideas and concepts. Then sell them a copy of it.
Yours,
- Dave
Jerry could have kept working forever whenever he wanted in whatever style he wanted if he stuck with creator-owned projects.
Choosing to work for a client means he had a prerogative to make his work desirable as the company's needs changed over time. There's a childlike arrogance in his post and it implies the current people working may not be as deserving as he is. Stuart Immonen is every bit as skilled and talented and has been in comics as long as Ordway and is at the top of his game on one of the top books in the industry -- I'd argue that's largely due to letting his style change and grow to suit the times and needs of his clients.
Ordway is right, his work is as sharp as it was 20-25 years ago, but it looks exactly like it did 20-25 years ago. I'm not a big fan of WFH comics, but I've done them and I know what it takes to continue getting work as a commercial artist for a variety of clients, so I think a number of the comics 'old-timers' have been spoiled by a long run in comics where they only had to please themselves and their shrinking super hero fan base.
The contemporary career model should be Mignola, Larsen, Kirkman, Sim and the like.
He made the choice and it was the material he loved, which is why there hasn't been much creator-owned material from him because I think he just loves those characters.
I think his style would still appeal to a mass market audience but the comics industry seems to demand a constant turn over of styles and talent. It is strange to see so many creators now taking Alex Toth's and Dave Mazzucchelli's early style and making them modern again.
The comics industry thrives on the talents of young people with no foresight.
Yeah, style is always so cyclical. The nice thing about the Toth trend is how you don't have all those pouches and cross-hatching lines to hide bad drawing. The young guys aping his simple style have to draw well and tell the story.
~R
While Mr Ordway's position does indeed suck, my empathy account for people in the industry has run dry.
As I kid I wanted to be in comics, maybe I could have but, as a teenager, my free time was spent working not drawing. As an adult I went into a job that I guarantee was paid less than a comic artist, I guarantee the stress was higher and there was no recognition for a job well done. I would often wake up and consider killing myself as an excuse to get out of work that day.
So now Mr Ordway has trouble finding work in comics. That is sad to hear. He might have to get a job outside of comics like the rest of us. But Mr Ordway will still be better off because he worked in comics for 30 years. If I was him I would be jumping up and down with joy every day because, for 30 years, I worked in comics!
And if he wants to swap, all I got from my old job is nightmares, he can have those and I'll have the discount pizza money.
As for the rest, I completely agree with you. Everything is changing and people need to be on the edge to cash in. The Penny-Arcade model was brilliant, they gave their work away for free and are now rolling in money and independence. But the Penny-Arcade route won't work for anyone else now, everything has already changed.