Art and Culture # 121: A Time to Debate and a Time to Create—Infighting, Drama, and in the Indie Comic Scene
Drama. It just doesn’t exist in a dictionary. People are driven by drama and the worlds they inhabit. People want to be the best. If you’re not the best, then you’re just practicing for something better. What makes Drama interesting is when creators themselves fight and the public can see. Hemingway’s famous response to Faulkner’s comment regarding Hemingway’s “courage” was “Does he really think big emotions come from big words? He thinks I don’t know the ten-dollar words. I know them all right. But there are older and simpler and better words, and those are the ones I use.”[1]
Nothing is worse than seeing friends you love hate each other, but the question is, are the creators today, including Ethan Van Scivers, author of CyberFrog, on Indiegogo, author of New X-Men in 2001, was famously cancelled for his involvement in ComicsGate, which means the “ members oppose what they see as forced political themes and anti-consumer practices in current mainstream superhero comics.” Should be as harmless, but then he went onto create his own universe in CyberFrog, on Indiegogo. To which he receives constant threats and drama, within and outside the Comic book scene, but still pursues his creations.
Eric July, an African American Youtuber, Blaze TV correspondent, metal singer, began his own comic, saw instant success through his own indie comic series, the Rippaverse, following an African American superhero, as it received nearly one million dollars in donations from crowd funding sources, all through foreign and American distributors. Ultimately he faced several problems with Paypal, as they were holding back funds that could help him get the comic made and delivered on time. As he received jealous little threats and taunts, but he still continues to thrive.
What is a constant between both Eric July and Ethan Van Sciver is that they serve the customers that pay for their comics. They want to succeed and customers will always pay the bills.
As harmless as this should be, people can be jealous of other’s success. Another problem within the comic scene is the constant late delivery dates that plague the indie creator scene. Yes, it’s usually one person behind a publication. Sometimes crowd funded comics do not receive the same amount of attention. But jealousy is easy when people want another’s success and aren’t willing to put in the time and effort to be successful or achieve their dreams, at their own pace.
Sometimes being a big name can help start the crowd funding process, and it’s easier to remember that, but being jealous is easy when you don’t have a well thought out goal. Sometimes it’s done in 8 critical moves, and planned out in 4 stages. Not every single goal of an artist’s life can be achieved, but if you don’t look forward and plan out what’s best, and deliver it on time, then you will be part of the class of creators who suffers from “late deliveries” or “culture war” antics.
There’s a time to debate and time to create. If you don’t find the time to create, you will ultimately fall into despair and then become a high schooler and attack others, when you yourself, don’t create what you and others want to see. And the customer will think “I want a comic, not this high school bullshit” and take their money elsewhere. And no creator wants that.
[1] https://lithub.com/25-legendary-literary-feuds-ranked/. Found May 26th, 2024.
-Louis Bruno is the author of more than 21 books, including, The Michael Project, The Michael Project: Book 2: The Lost Children of Eve, Thy Kingdom Come, The Disintegrating Bloodline Part 2: Chaos, The Data Chase, The Disintegrating Bloodline part 3: Solvè, The Disintegrating Bloodline (and the original text re-released in 2019), Apocalypse Soldier, The Data Chase, Selection: The First Book of the Life and Death Saga, and Blinking Eyes: The Second Book of the Life and Death Saga, Hierarchy of Dwindling Sheep, The City of Sand, The God of Curiosity, To the Moon and Back, The Villain Lives and The Villain Lives: The Divided Pinpoint, Come Home, Young One, City of Sand: Book 1: The Holy Terror, and The Voices Are Alive, and The City of Sand: Book 2: Jerusalem Ignited. He has a Bachelor of Arts in English from University of Phoenix. His books can be found on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Lulu. He can be found on Gab, https://gab.com/thereallouistbruno, Minds https://www.minds.com/lbruno8063/. Instagram @lbrruno8063 and @louisbrunoofficialbook. Twitter: https://twitter.com/LouisBr88881650. He has written for the Intellectual Conservative and Ephemere. His newest books, The City of Sand: Book 3: America the Free, is out now.