Media

Artists Fear “Comics Apocalypse”

Posted by Andrew Beaujon on Jan. 29, 2009, at 4:48 pm

Some of the biggest names in indie cartooning are sounding alarms over various alt-weeklies shedding their comics (I recently wrote about how we were, sadly, ahead of the curve on that one). Max Cannon of "Red Meat" calls it a "comics apocalypse" and says that if the "humble $10 to $20 that I generally get paid for a...strip is going to bring the whole operation tumbling down, then the alt-weekly industry is already dead on its feet."

Lloyd Dangle, who draws "Troubletown," says he was "shit-canned" from the Seattle Stranger and Metro Silicon Valley. The papers, he says, "said that they might bring Troubletown back when things get better, but for newspapers, I don't know anybody who thinks it's going to get better."

Derf, author of "The City," who we dropped last year, is very kind to the "desperate" editors he's worked with over the years. Still, he doesn't buy the wisdom of such cuts: "I believe Weeklies should be ADDING features and content, especially cartoons, which are both popular and inexpensive. Instead the strategy seems to be "let's give our readers LESS to read!" Yeah. Wonder how that will work out?"

He also has some choice words about our situation:

Creative Loafing, parent of four papers across the South, IS in bankruptcy, thanks to its disastrous acquisition of the Chicago Reader and DC City Paper. Those two papers were the finest in the business... and two of the most cartoon-friendly altweeklies... until the Loaf bought them in what was apparently a ego driven move by the Loaf owner to become a big player in the weekly world. Then the economy crashed, the Loaf was unable to meet its debt and all its papers have been gutted like fish in a desperate attempt to stave off extinction. How desperate? The DC City Paper announced last year that it would no longer pay for comix. The only ones they would continue to run would be ones they got for free, presumably drawn by local high school art students looking for extra credit. I had appeared in the paper since 1991.

There are more artists weighing in: Jen Sorensen. Tom Tomorrow. Ruben Bolling.

Each of these artists makes good points. Indeed, running "Red Meat" wouldn't bankrupt us--we're already bankrupt! It really hurts to see good contributors getting gut-punched like this, and I can't believe there's not more pain to go around.

Tags: Comics, the downward spiral

Comments

TomHandy January 29th, 2009
5:31 pm

#1

I have to agree; the lack of comics does give me one less reason to pick up the City Paper, and even when I do, it gives me less reason to thumb through the back section and see the ads there. I'm glad you all are still at least running DIRTFARM, which I love (but it's depressing that it's all by itself there).

It does seem like a hell of a situation though; I understand the idea that there isn't much choice, but cutting out all these things that make me want to pick up the City Paper (something I've been going out of my way to do for years now) doesn't seem like a recipe for success. I think the removal of comics, the removal of Robert Ullman's great illustrations (glad to see you still throw him a bone from time to time though), and the removal of the great long-form feature stories has really made the City Paper less interesting. I actually don't mind the idea of using blog content, but I wonder how sustainable it is. I found myself getting interested in blogs like the Sexist and Black Plastic Bag thanks to the printed content, but now that I've been converted into a regular reader of those blogs, it makes the actual City Paper seem even more hollow and unnecessary, since I've already read most of that content.

Maybe that's it though, maybe that death of the print alt weekly is inevitable, and all of these things are just steps towards the inevitable end and moving everything to online.
rcmpvern February 20th, 2009
2:45 pm

#2

"Instead the strategy seems to be “let’s give our readers LESS to read!” "

Years ago, I only read the Comics, Sports and the Local section of the daily paper.

I don't read any comic on the Comics page anymore.
I do check the Editorial pages, hoping for a good Tom Toles or something (I am usually disappointed).

The ONLY reason I pick up a Weekly Newspaper is for the cartoons.
Usually, the best political cartoons of the week are in the back of the Weeklies.

Without underground-style comics, a Weekly newspaper has no appeal to me.