Love Comics Reporting
I can't disagree with Andy Khouri's blog about live comics journalism more.
I've done a lot of conventions, sat near the front and types as fast as I could with the three to five fingers I normally use to type(1) to record Kevin Smith using the "n" word or Brian Michael Bendis yelling from the crowd at Joe Quesada or whatever the hell I was covering. I've done this work exclusively for Comic Book Resources, where I've worked in one capacity or another since 2003.
The live panels I've covered haven't been my best writing. I readily admit that. They've been challenging, to follow the thick accents and scattershot staccato statements of Dan Didio or some possibly anonymous Wizard staffer,(2) be it in Long Beach, Rosemont or San Diego.
However, the one thing I know is that this "on the spot" reporting has been famously successful for CBR(3) and supports one thing that Andy's blog fails to recognize: people refreshing over and over are people who are passionate about this content. They're the die hards in Kansas and Anchorage and Biloxi who are far removed from our coastal politics and don't see this jaded, bleeding industry the same was as Andy's Hollywood stylings would, or even my south central Los Angeles views can.(4) Doing this kind of reporting is the closest hundreds and thousands of people can get to attending these conventions, their window into the comics world is a glowing rectangle shining on their face and hooked up to the wall.
The sheer scope of ingratitude for his piece -- getting free room and travel and admission to something people travel across the world for, and getting to give the messages that these people want to hear even when they can't make the trip -- boggles my mind. Sure, this isn't Pulitzer freaking journalism, but it's what the market supports and it's clearly what the market wants. It's not just "live comics reporting," it's love comics reporting, because there is a connection between the people who love these properties and these stories and the person bringing them what they want.
I for one am enormously grateful -- not just to the management of CBR for putting up with my prima donna demands and my surly attitude, but to the people who read the work. I've literally had hundreds and thousands of people who never got to read my work in Vibe or Black Enterprise or Rap Pages, nor on AOL or MTV Online, see my name and hear my virtual voice through the tapping of these keys, through the shared avenue of loving it. I'm also not afraid to say so -- when people send me hate mail, I thank them, because I could not have become the tarnished angel(5) that moves among you all today any other way. Color me very much obliged, and quick to shout down anybody who'd speak against that simple passion, that unrelenting love, that's kept this dead tree industry alive.
As with all things, your mileage may vary. Standard disclaimers freaking apply.
Playing (Music): "Hate On Me" by the cast of Glee.
I've done a lot of conventions, sat near the front and types as fast as I could with the three to five fingers I normally use to type(1) to record Kevin Smith using the "n" word or Brian Michael Bendis yelling from the crowd at Joe Quesada or whatever the hell I was covering. I've done this work exclusively for Comic Book Resources, where I've worked in one capacity or another since 2003.
The live panels I've covered haven't been my best writing. I readily admit that. They've been challenging, to follow the thick accents and scattershot staccato statements of Dan Didio or some possibly anonymous Wizard staffer,(2) be it in Long Beach, Rosemont or San Diego.
However, the one thing I know is that this "on the spot" reporting has been famously successful for CBR(3) and supports one thing that Andy's blog fails to recognize: people refreshing over and over are people who are passionate about this content. They're the die hards in Kansas and Anchorage and Biloxi who are far removed from our coastal politics and don't see this jaded, bleeding industry the same was as Andy's Hollywood stylings would, or even my south central Los Angeles views can.(4) Doing this kind of reporting is the closest hundreds and thousands of people can get to attending these conventions, their window into the comics world is a glowing rectangle shining on their face and hooked up to the wall.
The sheer scope of ingratitude for his piece -- getting free room and travel and admission to something people travel across the world for, and getting to give the messages that these people want to hear even when they can't make the trip -- boggles my mind. Sure, this isn't Pulitzer freaking journalism, but it's what the market supports and it's clearly what the market wants. It's not just "live comics reporting," it's love comics reporting, because there is a connection between the people who love these properties and these stories and the person bringing them what they want.
I for one am enormously grateful -- not just to the management of CBR for putting up with my prima donna demands and my surly attitude, but to the people who read the work. I've literally had hundreds and thousands of people who never got to read my work in Vibe or Black Enterprise or Rap Pages, nor on AOL or MTV Online, see my name and hear my virtual voice through the tapping of these keys, through the shared avenue of loving it. I'm also not afraid to say so -- when people send me hate mail, I thank them, because I could not have become the tarnished angel(5) that moves among you all today any other way. Color me very much obliged, and quick to shout down anybody who'd speak against that simple passion, that unrelenting love, that's kept this dead tree industry alive.
As with all things, your mileage may vary. Standard disclaimers freaking apply.
Playing (Music): "Hate On Me" by the cast of Glee.
FOOTNOTES
(1) = I never learned to type like a normal person. I've hunt and pecked since I started at my high school newspaper, and it led to a weird style of typing where I use two or three fingers on my right hand and my index finger (with some chance assistance from the thumb) on my left. However, when I started playing MUDs in the 1990s, I got pretty fast, and now do between 55-65 words per minute ... with those same few fingers. Looks weird too.
(2) = Is it wrong that I'm surprised to not have seen streams of Wizard staffers grow up and blow up in the comics industry? I'm just saying ...
(3) = I won't reveal specifics I've heard because it's not my company and not my place to disclose. However, knowing that I can get paid three times more per story than I did when I started, and that amount of money being worth considering, and knowing CBR now keeps a freaking yacht for a week in San Diego while comping a staff of reporters, I'd call that a sign of success.
(4) = My little brother, who loves comics and lives in Milwaukee, can't walk by CCH Pounder in Trader Joes like I did last week after I got my comics. We take this stuff for granted, but it's considered quite amazing by a large populace of the world.
(5) = Apologies to Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson and Rock Hudson.
posted by Hannibal Tabu, The Operative at
11:28 AM
1 Comments:
Retort! http://www.chrisarrant.com/?p=932
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