So while this was all going on, the future of comic book crowdfunding was debated on an obscure livestream with 130 views at the time of this writing. Neither are involved with Comicsgate.
COMIC BOOK NEWS WITH DAN SHAHIN - ROSS RICHIE - BOOM! STUDIOS - 12/03/20
The two players for those unfamiliar.
- Ross Richie, publisher of Boom Studios and recordholder for highest grossing comic book crowdfund at $1,477,202, BRZRKR. Boom's unrivaled success (barring Rekt Planet) has set off all kinds of online outrage throughout the impoverished comic book industry, professionals on twitter outraged that they're paying "talent" $20-$60 a page at times while BRZRKR is raking in millions. Kickstarter campaign runners were angered that a publisher would turn to crowdfunding which is the "rightful domain" of independent creators. Richie has been making inroads with these communities, distributing wealth in appeasement to these squeaky wheels, which in turn outraged people like Richard C Meyer who reacted to the idea of acknowledging a community not unlike how a vampire reacts to the sight of a cross.
- Dan Shahin, host of "Comic Book News with Dan Shahin", shop owner and sufferer from crippling autism. In many ways a perfect representative of the retailer facet of the comic book industry. Dan and his relatively small channel have been host to a who's who of legends and pivotal figures within the industry like founder of Diamond Distribution Steve Geppi, top authorities on comic sales metrics like Brian Hibbs and Comichron along with former DC EiC Dan Didio, all in his unmoderated chat. He also lends a rare insight into the culture among comic book shop owners themselves, often overshadowed by the celebrity of creators and the properties of major publishers. He also deeply loathes Comicsgate, sliding in jabs wherever he can, once putting his panel of industry publishers to a crashing halt so he could shout down a bitter Richard C. Meyer yelling from the chat that he's just as much a publisher as anyone on the channel. Shahin's feud with Frog culminating in an interview where Shahin interrogated Frog on the question of whether he was a vicious, amoral grifter/cult leader, to which Frog defended himself mostly by dressing like a clown and dancing a jolly jig over the bones of his enemies to the cheering of his fans.
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The interview starts off genially enough, Ross Richie possessing the practiced charisma of a hollywood networker and business leader along with a deep knowledge of comics that many interviewers and fans would be disarmed by. It manages to stave off Dan Shahin for about three minutes before he barrels headfirst into acknowledging the elephant in the room - should Boom Studios and their massive success in marketing their product through Kickstarter be taken as the writing on the wall for comic book shop owners like Shahin? Have Boom Studios "forgotten their roots" with the retailing partners who have stuck with them through thick and thin since their creation? Shahin's unsolicited defense of the direct market, that it is a "proving ground" for IPs before they hit mass market, does not hold out as there is seemingly no correlation with properties like Millarworld or Mags Vissagio's
Vagrant Queen being entered into the mass market and their success in the direct market, could be summarized generously as "extremely shit".
Richie, sensing he has his work cut out for him, immediately starts establishing a repoire with his interviewer, noting the issue of
Creepy in Dan Shahin's background and how he loved the obscure comics DC were making in the 70s where they'd mix sports stories with horror or science fiction. Shahin sighs and lauds the recent surge of diversity of genre coming in from Boom and Image. Richie concurs with Shahin's assessment, noting a widening of genres that has taken place over the past 10-15 years among all publishers. Shahin continues down this line of questioning, asking if this trend will continue in the face of
capeshit "one genre, we know what that genre is" and asks if Richie feels the same.
It's now at 7 minutes in that Richie feels he can deliver his actual answer, which is that while he is a personally a huge fan of superhero comics with an extensive collection, he falls back onto a conversation he had with
Paul Levitz, publisher of DC comics for nearly thirty years, ten years ago on the subject of
Raina Telgameier, the highest selling comic creator in the United States for over a decade. Levitz's line of thinking, according to Ross Richie, was that Reina Telgameier's
Drama sold one million copies versus that the total number of direct market customers, which in 2010 amounted to 500,000. Aggregating those two numbers together ten years ago, Levitz and DC market research concluded that
two-thirds of customers purchasing comics had to have been junior high school girls. And while Richie may be fond of the direct market along with Marvel and DC, this trend is no longer just Scholastic; the children's graphic novels boom is not just one of the biggest growth markets in comics publishing but publishing
period. Publishing houses like Simon and Schuster have noted this and hopping on board without even bothering with the small pond that is dealing comics through local comic book shops using the direct market.
Richie doesn't outright say it, but the obvious conclusion when presented with such data that DC continuing to cater to its narrow niche of genre, demographic and distribution was unjustifiable from a corporate perspective. It's also a direct affirmation of the trends of "soy", "YA comics" and infantilization of the comic genre that Comicsgate was founded in reaction to, and insight into the decision making process that led to a decision being made
ten years ago. It's at this point that CG creator of
Johnny Phantasm, Patrick Thomas Parnell wanders into the chat to shitpost for a bit before being banned by jannies like common Comicsgate trash.
This blunt answer given on how traditional comic publishers are fighting an uphill battle with Scholastic and now Simon and Schuster for the majority of the comic buying audience while DC and Marvel try and fail to change with the times like a dying dinosaur (Comicsgate fighting them doggedly every step of the way), Richie makes relative small talk for the next half hour going over his professional biography, hot projects being made by Boom Studios and balancing profits vs practices exploitative against the retailer like incentivized variant covers. All his answers are coached towards the perspective and priority of the retailer, which pleases Shahin.
It's at the 51 minute market where Shahin uses this to segue into Boom's crowdfunding, describing the direct market as "the original crowdfunding" with the ability to pre-order. Richie clarifies that Boom Studios is not using Kickstarter to crowdfund - either way the series is funded - and proceeds to coach Boom's crowdfunding business model in terms of how it's geared towards appeasements, gestures and the benefit of the direct market retailer like Dan Shahin. As Richie presents it, Kickstarter is the optimal, one-click platform to bring new customers and Keanu fans into buying their first comic, but that Kickstarter backers are taking a backseat to the trusted partners in the direct retailers. He then transitions seamlessly into describing the three ways that BRZRKR can be distributed through the direct market system before being shipped to kickstarter backers. First is individual issue soliciting to retailers. Second is the collected four-issue arcs sent to comic shops. Third it goes through the book trade through Simon and Schuster just like everything else. And only then it arrives to the kickstarter backers. Kind of like Mitch Breitweiser, except up front about it. Shahin is elated to hear it, saying that what retailers are asking for "is just a chance to sell it, give us a chance to sell this as trusted partners and you'll see. Besides, guys into comic book crowdfunding don't seem too concerned with deadlines anyway".
Richie continues his ingratiation to Shahin's priorities by mentioning how backers for BRZRKR will be paying $50 for all three issues (with 3 separate shipping costs added) while being sold at comic shops for $45, a form of price control in favor of the retailer while bringing in new customers who have never read a comic book before. Shahin is again delighted. Richie continues to sweeten the pot for retailers by saying that all these new backers registered on the BRZRKR kickstarter mailing list will be blasted an e-mail notification each time a BRZRKR periodical hits the shelves in LCSs.
Appeased by this, Shahin spends the rest of the interview discusses with Ross Richie and myself from the chat mostly gushing over The Punisher Armory, a brilliant 90s miniseries made by another member of the chat.
So what is to made from all this? I'd say that Boom Studios and Ross Richie are offering a powerful competing vision for the future of crowdfunding versus Comicsgate and Richie's gladhanding ways of handily and efficiently appeasing gatekeepers in Kickstarter and grognards like Dan Shahin is an advantage CG simply does not enjoy. Richie's
first foray into crowdfunding turned into the biggest comic book crowdfund to date; who knows what his second attempt will amount to, or how many people are going to be following his example, in his wake versus Frog's.
