comic books and movies
Jul. 23rd, 2008 10:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ceruseeI'm much too lazy to actually ever write that post titled, You Know, You Guys Care Way Too Much About Getting Comic Books Turned Into Movies that's been eating at my backbrain for a few months, but Tucker Stone hits a few of the highlights that would be in it--namely, "comic book movies don't sell comics, and never have and possibly never will, but that's not necessarily a bad thing." Maybe I could write a follow-up titled, Are You Sure You Want To Become A Franchise? Or, Okay, So You Are Sure You Want To Become A Franchise, That's Cool, Your Life, But Don't Complain If I Don't Follow.
Getting stuff--particularly finished works--made into movies is really, ultimately, not about artistic validation. Right now, and in the foreseeable future, comics and graphic novels are a tiny, money-poor niche in publishing and in the broader American cultural sphere. It's hard to make a living on them. That's going to remain the case for the foreseeable future. Creators who benefit substantially from the occasional comic/GN-inspired movie will be few and far between (one can always live on the hope of that, I suppose; that's what the American dream is all about--letting gross inequalities of wealth and social resource remain standing on the unshakeable, delusional hope of the disenfranchised that they'll someday win the lottery or invent the perpetual motion machine and be welcomed into the Kingdom); creators who benefit artistically from comic books or graphic novels being made into movies will, I think, be even rarer.*
*Creators who benefit artistically from the creative innovations of film are not so rare.
So all that money and name recognition that gets thrown around with movies? Just remember you're not going to end up getting very much out of it, whether you're a reader or a creator of comics. Comics etc is not a money field. Publishing of any stripe is not a big money field. That is a reality all people who are part of book culture need to accept. I'm not saying, "don't hope and work for financial solvency and god willing, even profitability in book publishing or as a creator," but movies are not the holy grail that will make money issues in publishing go away.
Getting stuff--particularly finished works--made into movies is really, ultimately, not about artistic validation. Right now, and in the foreseeable future, comics and graphic novels are a tiny, money-poor niche in publishing and in the broader American cultural sphere. It's hard to make a living on them. That's going to remain the case for the foreseeable future. Creators who benefit substantially from the occasional comic/GN-inspired movie will be few and far between (one can always live on the hope of that, I suppose; that's what the American dream is all about--letting gross inequalities of wealth and social resource remain standing on the unshakeable, delusional hope of the disenfranchised that they'll someday win the lottery or invent the perpetual motion machine and be welcomed into the Kingdom); creators who benefit artistically from comic books or graphic novels being made into movies will, I think, be even rarer.*
*Creators who benefit artistically from the creative innovations of film are not so rare.
So all that money and name recognition that gets thrown around with movies? Just remember you're not going to end up getting very much out of it, whether you're a reader or a creator of comics. Comics etc is not a money field. Publishing of any stripe is not a big money field. That is a reality all people who are part of book culture need to accept. I'm not saying, "don't hope and work for financial solvency and god willing, even profitability in book publishing or as a creator," but movies are not the holy grail that will make money issues in publishing go away.