“You really have to stop,” Sam said in a way that wasn’t quite begging, but was certainly imploring.
“This one last article,” I said, “then, I’ll never talk about it ever again.”
“I just don’t want everyone thinking that all you talk about is one thing. I don’t want everyone to think that you’re JUST the guy who writes about Marxism and comics,” she reasoned.
“I know. That’s why I’m writing this one last one. Something I can point to every time someone ropes me into an argument about the ‘art vs. commerce’ debate. After that, I’ll never write another one again.”
Well, I lied.
For some reason tonight, I was reminded of the Chain World Kickstarter Project from back in September. This was a project where a 200 page book would have a cool cover, one page of story and then 199 blank pages for artists to pass around and create a jam-session comic. I received an e-mail from someone (who shall remain nameless only because I was nameless to him at a crucial moment) regarding this project with the description being that the purpose was to “discover if comics are still an art or only now an industry. Help us prove they’re the latter.”
Of course, the author meant “the former” meaning that he was arguing that comics were Art rather than an industry, but me being who I am, I immediately jumped on the typo and wrote out a lengthy response that was eventually included on the Kickstarter page. I have reproduced it here for you:
I’m curious about something. You wrote, “Go to http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/adavidlewis/chain-world-a-freeform-comic-book-experiment to find out details about CWFCE, but, basically, the goal of the experiment is to discover if comics are still an art or only now an industry.” Help us prove they’re the latter.”
So, you’re trying to prove that they ARE now only an industry? If so, I completely support you. Comics are completely a commercial medium – they exist in order to keep existing. But more importantly, if comics really were Art or if they ever were Art, then they would be given away for free. By simply having your kickstarter campaign, you’ve already achieved your goal of proving that they are indeed an industry because you’ve proven that in order for people to produce a comic book, they must first have money. You write:
“that goal begins with hiring both a canny cover illustrator and experienced bookmaker”
If comics really were Art, then you wouldn’t need to “hire” anyone. The people involved would put their money towards it and take the financial hit themselves for their “Art.” Furthermore, when you write :
“putting the four other industry professionals “on retainer” for whenever the book reaches them comes with its own price. It’s an atypical set-up for them, to accept a fee for an assignment that they must complete whenever it reaches them.”
This is further proof that this is an industry because it shows that the artists working on this project aren’t going to do it for free.
Anyway, thanks so much for your project because it perfectly shows what I said on Kevin Thurman’s article on Sequart awhile back (which I’m sure you’ve read, but here is the link anyway http://www.sequart.org/magazine/4670/loud-sounds-and-bright-lights-comic-books-and-the-addict/) that comics are a purely commercial medium and that they sell in order to continue selling and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Your project perfectly exemplifies this idea and I thank you for starting it.
The author didn’t quite get that I was being facetious (or, perhaps, he was retaliating with his own form of hyper-facetiousness and passive aggression that would ultimately try to trump my own), so he called my comments ”a strong misreading.”
But, I wasn’t misreading.
I was proving a point and it seems that my point is further solidified by the creation of the website for the book itself.
Before picking apart why I’m annoyed with the Kickstarter, allow me a brief digression about the name of the book itself – “The Tome.” I’ve always hated the word “Tome” because it doesn’t belong in the real world. It’s a word that no one should ever use much like “casement” instead of window. It’s a renfair word and while there isn’t anything wrong with renfair per se, renfair in the real world doesn’t work.
Enough with the naming, however. The project itself is worthy enough for my scorn.
First, the goal was $2,150 and it made $2,317. The rewards were either acknowledgments on the website (woot! U MEEN I GETZ MUH NAM ON DUH WEBSIT?!) or work from different artists that were going to contribute to the Tome. While the art itself is kind of cool, the fact that contributors will never see anything from the project itself is a bit disconcerting. So, essentially, people are giving SOMEONE THEIR MONEY IN EXCHANGE FOR NOTHING!
In essence, this is WORSE than if comics were JUST an industry. At least with a comic book, I am paying for a product. With the Chain World Freeform Comic Experiment, people aren’t getting a product – they are getting the satisfaction of paying for an idea. One can only imagine what the $300 donor was thinking as he clicked the “pledge” button.
“Surely, THIS won’t be a waste of money. After all, I get a printed acknowledgment in a book that I’ll never see, on a website that no one will go to that features ‘access to the special, invitation-only section’ and art from J.K. Woodward.”
Yes, there are incentives and yes, there is a website where they promise to post pictures of the progress (note: the first picture was up in early February and nothing has come of it since), but by receiving incentives, a person is essentially paying for goods of some kind. Therefore, the donors aren’t really contributing to the strictest form of ‘art for the sake of art’ because the presumption is that they will receive something for their efforts.
Furthermore, the Kickstarter boasts, “These pros have all quoted heavily discounted rates in order to be part of the Experiment. They are not getting rich on the endeavor by any means, nor is the Experiment Coordinator being paid at all.” Again, the artists working on the project are doing so because they are going to be paid. It doesn’t matter if they aren’t getting rich off of it, the point is that they are getting compensated for their work which means that they are part of industry and not part of art for its own sake.
Sure, this project was nearly six months ago and I shouldn’t be as cranky as I am with it considering that it won’t effect me in any way, shape, or form, but it’s pretentious crap like this that just really infuriates me.
Then again, I’ve been reading a lot of Transmetropolitan lately and I think it’s starting to infect my mood.
I hate kickstarter. Whether it’s theatre, art, nerd costuming groups…i even saw a rocky horror-esque stage group for Ghostbusters essentially begging for money.
Begging for money on selfish endeavors.
This world is sick.
Donny – I have mixed feelings about Kickstarter. I think a project that gives back to the contributors in some way and has no pretentions about what it is, can be good.
For instance, Sequart has a Kickstarter for a new documentary about Image Comics that gives people a credit in the film, a copy of the movie, copies of our books, and other rewards. This means that people are receiving the product they are helping to finance which is a fair exchange. And while we certainly view the project as important, it isn’t as if we hold pretentious feelings towards it being anything more than it is. It won’t be a earth-shattering experiment in story-telling, but it will be a very good documentary that covers a very important time in the history of comic books.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sequart/comics-in-focus-the-image-revolution?ref=card
Sure, some people may see this as a useless project on par with the Tome, but at least the rewards are tangible rather than a vanity project. In this way, I think Kickstarter can be great because it can allow people to be part of a process and get rewards for contributing to that process, but you’re completely and totally right that there are so many projects out there with no tangible rewards that are meant as simply vanity projects and that is a problem. I suppose people can spend their money however they like, but it’s sad that we don’t spend it on useful things, but rather, on vanity projects.
I don’t know that vanity project Kickstarters are indicative of the world being “sick”; I’d suggest that once a Kickstarter is used to fund violence or hatred on another human being (which, I’m sure we’re not too far away from) then we can definitively make that diagnosis.