Celebrity

For decades, comic book creators lamented the fact that we were unknown, unsung, and unrewarded. That corporations, and actors, and directors got more benefit from our work than we did.

That the public didn’t have any interest in us.

And now they do.

Geek culture has become celebrity culture.

God help us.

So famous.

Now we have all the drawbacks of celebrity - stalkers, avaricious attention-seekers, out of control gossip, envious backstabbery, and relentless publicity - but the vast majority of comic creators have none of the perks and none of the protections.

That person who is lying about you all over the internet, pretending to have been a friend of yours, making up godawfulwhatall?

Too bad.

You barely even know who that person is, where to find them, and if you drum up a lawyer, does the rando even have any money if you decide to sue?

It’s all the dystopia, but at the end, there’s no red pill or blue pill, there’s no dive into reality or comforting fantasy, there’s just an endless spiral of social cred vampires and you’re there to bleed.

Oh, how they do love to suck it up.

You have no reality to them at all. You’re a story, a player in their drama.

You have absolutely no way to counter except to address, and to address is to give them that juicy attention meal they crave.

They like to promote the idea that you’re in the biz to get the big money (as if there’s ever any big money for most comic creators, seriously, are you deluded).

But the real currency on the net is attention, and they are fat with it.

Which is hilarious, because their narrative is always that they are free of greed because they have no money unlike THAT PERSON OVER THERE.

But their greed is endless, they just don’t use greenbacks for currency.

Arguing with them, showing evidence, whatever it is you try to do, they benefit because the outcome is attention for them, and any effort you make drains you.

There is no truth.

There are only fandoms and feifdoms.

Teams.

There is no protection for any creator who is not at the pinnacle of income and status, no sheltering agent or company, nothing.

You’re on your own.

And the abuse is relentless.

And what is worse, it is very likely that some of these deluded people actually believe their bullshit.

“But…she answered my tweet message! We were totally friends!”

This small moment is conflated into a relationship that did not exist, and that is spun into a narrative, and the person weaves opinions and speculations about what you are, what you think, what you were doing twenty years ago, and they get believed because if there is one thing the attention economy loves is a conspiracy theory.

Everything that equals success for you is due to conspiracy and everything that equals distress or challenge or rejection for them is due to conspiracy.

It’s like the social justice spiral of QAnon.

FWIW, I didn’t get into comics for fame or money, and no one of my generation did because there was no fame or money.

We got into comics to make comics.

But what has grown up around us is something we never counted on, something from which most of us see no benefit, and something which feeds on us as relentlessly as any exploitative corporation.

Of course, exploitative corporations - social media giants - are feeding on it all right now.

Everyone has to deal with B.S. in their lives - liars and con men, and jealous rivals, and the resentful rejected. Passive aggressive woobies who come on like delicate flowers before they Venus Flytrap your life.

But the average person doesn’t become a tabloid target with the 24/7- always-open brutality of social media.

I wish all who want to get into comics the best of luck.

But be careful what you wish for.

I appreciate my 2500 followers. And I realize most of you can’t subscribe, but if you want to buy me a coffee and hit my tip jar, here it is.