Oh, you took the words right off my fingertips. When I quit pro writing 20 years ago, I had a lot of cohorts pushing me to return because they felt my writing was somehow important, but I stuck to my guns. Now, I’m watching one dear friend hit the New York Times list with every book, another coming back to a dedicated fan base after years away, and a third finally getting recognition as a major influence on genre after 40 years of slogging. I’m also looking around at people sneering in 1997 about how they were now NYT bestsellers because of movie and TV tie-ins whose tie-ins went out of print decades ago and who never got the crossover readers they thought they were due. (Hell, I’m looking at one particularly narcissistic character who keeps setting up GoFundMes ostensibly to resurrect his old zine because any interest in original projects died with basic cable.) Me, I’m back to writing, but only because things HAVE changed so much since the turn of the century, and because I have ideas that get out of my head either by putting them down or via judicious use of a keyhole saw. If I never see anything approximating the fame I had in 2000, and that was purely relative, so be it, because contrary to what a lot of day job coworkers and apartment managers seemed to think, fame alone can’t pay the bills. I regularly quote a Rolling Stone interview with Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers: “The worst thing in the world is to be famous with no money.”)
That last quote is gold. I continually get harangued for all the power I must have due to my proximity to famous people, the parties I must have attended, and all the inside info I must know. Except I've lived in a small town most of my life, haven't been a regular on the convention circuit in decades, really don't know diddly about the personal lives of almost everyone I work with, have never met many of the people I work with, and if I get hit up for money by another person who thinks I must be rich who then runs to the Comic Activist Hegemony to whine about how stingy I must be for not funding their 14th gofundme, I'm gonna scream. I try to live my life as modestly as possible, have never been a big partier, work like a dog, and pay my bills like clockwork while saving for emergencies, which is why I didn't need a gofundme for cancer. I don't know how to get it through to people that this is a job and you'd better treat it like one.
And it mostly comes from middle class or upper middle class origin people who cannot figure out why the heck working is so hard and why the world didn't open up and sprinkle stardust on them when they decided to make art. It's Perpetual Princess syndrome hiding behind a veneer of concern for World Peace. They always poke at people from lower classes who had the gall to step out of line, what with not being born to the purple and yet getting somewhere in life. Easier to hit and fewer consequences.
Sometimes it's luck or what you do with a lucky break. Sometimes it's shameless self promotion. (See the Cartoonist Kafabee YouTube channel). Most of the time it's hard work. Meeting deadlines all the time and hava marketable style.
This time for you it was who you know (networking) and the combination of hard work, plus a style that fit the material. You knew Neil and have been producing work for many( I'm not going to figure out how many)years.
Colleen, I hadn't yet started reading American comics in 1996, but as a big Spider-Man fan, I can say I LOVE Amethyst! I discovered it through one of the more recent series and straight away went back and picked up everything I could. I think it's brilliant!
I think this is why the Big Two path isn't my path. The only benefit of it would be to transfer attention to my indie stuff. I agree that doesn't happen. Even as a consumer, I don't do that very often.
So it's make the indie things and accept the likelihood that this is mostly for you and nobody will read it, or, give up on that for mainstream work that isn't yours.
Maturity, at least for me, has meant not only accepting the former, but finding the reward of purpose within.
Love your post!! A comic artist friend told me a Buddhist saying "the thing about success (and fame) is that it is fleeting", he'd rather be happy than famous.
I think you did a better Spidey than Larsen, I think he was picked due to his art resembling McFarland's style superficially,
Thanks Colleen. Didn't realise I needed to hear this until I read it. If you know what I mean.
Oh, you took the words right off my fingertips. When I quit pro writing 20 years ago, I had a lot of cohorts pushing me to return because they felt my writing was somehow important, but I stuck to my guns. Now, I’m watching one dear friend hit the New York Times list with every book, another coming back to a dedicated fan base after years away, and a third finally getting recognition as a major influence on genre after 40 years of slogging. I’m also looking around at people sneering in 1997 about how they were now NYT bestsellers because of movie and TV tie-ins whose tie-ins went out of print decades ago and who never got the crossover readers they thought they were due. (Hell, I’m looking at one particularly narcissistic character who keeps setting up GoFundMes ostensibly to resurrect his old zine because any interest in original projects died with basic cable.) Me, I’m back to writing, but only because things HAVE changed so much since the turn of the century, and because I have ideas that get out of my head either by putting them down or via judicious use of a keyhole saw. If I never see anything approximating the fame I had in 2000, and that was purely relative, so be it, because contrary to what a lot of day job coworkers and apartment managers seemed to think, fame alone can’t pay the bills. I regularly quote a Rolling Stone interview with Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers: “The worst thing in the world is to be famous with no money.”)
That last quote is gold. I continually get harangued for all the power I must have due to my proximity to famous people, the parties I must have attended, and all the inside info I must know. Except I've lived in a small town most of my life, haven't been a regular on the convention circuit in decades, really don't know diddly about the personal lives of almost everyone I work with, have never met many of the people I work with, and if I get hit up for money by another person who thinks I must be rich who then runs to the Comic Activist Hegemony to whine about how stingy I must be for not funding their 14th gofundme, I'm gonna scream. I try to live my life as modestly as possible, have never been a big partier, work like a dog, and pay my bills like clockwork while saving for emergencies, which is why I didn't need a gofundme for cancer. I don't know how to get it through to people that this is a job and you'd better treat it like one.
After a while, you just have to give up on getting it through to them. As the saying goes, it wastes your time and annoys the pig.
And it mostly comes from middle class or upper middle class origin people who cannot figure out why the heck working is so hard and why the world didn't open up and sprinkle stardust on them when they decided to make art. It's Perpetual Princess syndrome hiding behind a veneer of concern for World Peace. They always poke at people from lower classes who had the gall to step out of line, what with not being born to the purple and yet getting somewhere in life. Easier to hit and fewer consequences.
I very much liked Amethyst, actually.
Same here! Not my usual type of book but I liked it!
Sometimes it's luck or what you do with a lucky break. Sometimes it's shameless self promotion. (See the Cartoonist Kafabee YouTube channel). Most of the time it's hard work. Meeting deadlines all the time and hava marketable style.
This time for you it was who you know (networking) and the combination of hard work, plus a style that fit the material. You knew Neil and have been producing work for many( I'm not going to figure out how many)years.
An overnight success story years in the making.
Great post! Lot to absorb here so thanks for sharing :)
This is a really good substack. I’m glad I found it.
Thank you, very glad to read that this evening!
Colleen, I hadn't yet started reading American comics in 1996, but as a big Spider-Man fan, I can say I LOVE Amethyst! I discovered it through one of the more recent series and straight away went back and picked up everything I could. I think it's brilliant!
I was happy to see the Bowie lyric in the subhead because when I saw the title, that started playing in my head lol.
I think this is why the Big Two path isn't my path. The only benefit of it would be to transfer attention to my indie stuff. I agree that doesn't happen. Even as a consumer, I don't do that very often.
So it's make the indie things and accept the likelihood that this is mostly for you and nobody will read it, or, give up on that for mainstream work that isn't yours.
Maturity, at least for me, has meant not only accepting the former, but finding the reward of purpose within.
https://youtu.be/uN1BS-L1vx8?feature=shared
Love your post!! A comic artist friend told me a Buddhist saying "the thing about success (and fame) is that it is fleeting", he'd rather be happy than famous.
I think you did a better Spidey than Larsen, I think he was picked due to his art resembling McFarland's style superficially,
I really liked "Leah".
A very wise essay on fame. Thank you.
Never transitive, always transitory. Thank you, Colleen.