"Much as I love the medium, I despise the industry," he says. "I've always despised it to a certain degree but after this last few years and all this nonsense with the films, I believe it to be a completely poisonous place that isn't really going anywhere. I did once feel I was part of a movement that wanted to change comics into something valuable to culture, but I don't really feel that kinship in the way I used to."- Alan Moore.
Labels: alan moore
posted by Eddie Campbell at
14:48
13 Comments:
A shame really. With things as they are right now, with Diamond imposing limits and sales slumping everywhere, there's never been a better time for a few idealists to kick the industry over and start it again.
Going nowhere fast.
I'm in the middle of listening to a panel discussion with Chris Ware and Marjane Satrapi, moderated by Francoise Mouly in NYC. It seems that its 1986 again and nothing has changed. The idealists are there, but it seems that they are the same idealists, same discussions.
Marjane has some good insights on making the Persepolis film that feed very well into a Watchmen discussion.
I agree.
It's a lost cause.
There was some headway made...
BTW, try to checkout 'Whitechapel' a modern day 'Jack The Ripper' cop show made for ITV1. (the Frederick Abberline analogue in the show is friends with a ripperoligist (aka somebody who can see the past), whereas in From Hell Abbrline is friends with somebody who can see the future) Or are you over that by now?
well and truly.
I would encourage you to continue making good comics Eddie. You and Alan and the others might not have saved comics or even the perception of comics, but the works of Art that you have made are still very worthwhile.
Eddie....
Been a while since we've meet i know, but you, and a few others you may know, *ehem* were always the good guys in this movie. The work is worthwhile.period. full stop.
The "media" is in the bins, while the "medium" has always been a thing of wonder. in the arts, it's always been that way. when i think of the great WAD of garbage passed off as art past and present i just shake my head and leave the room. But, it won't stop me from being an idealist...that mind set was never meant to be a mass movement, just an individual state of mind. I have ideas, and I make them into things. i do my best as I have to look myself in the face when i shave and not cut my own throat. But geez it's cold out there.
my best, a constant reader,
Zulli.
There's plenty to be pleased about in the world of comics, and a fair sampling of the proof can be found here:
http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/crs_best_comics_for_2008_lists/
The comics industry, like all of publishing, is due for a massive upheaval now and in the near future. Whatever one thinks of the situation or the players now, in three to five years, they are unlikely to be still recognizable.
I can understand that it must be distressing to see 'the industry' not providing the ideal conditions for creators to flourish. But, from a moderate newcomer to the 'deeper ends' of the medium, who's always had a cursory interest in comics, I'm fairly blown away by the range and quality of what's out there.
Especially in recent years (though that could just be a bias of my exposure), it seems like more and more comics have stopped trying to prove that they're 'mature' or 'serious', and relaxed into exploration of what's possible, and 'be themselves'. If that makes sense...
Comics have always had a sordid, tragic history. From egregious exploitation of talent to being a victim of McCarthyism. The industry has never been noble, the craft has always been a pursuit in "low art." Why is this time in comics' history any different?
Addendum: I wouldn't have it any other way.
i wonder what Raymond Briggs thinks of "the comics industry."
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