This is sort of an open letter to comic creators. Many are falling into a trap. A trap called ‘I can say anything I want on social media.’ No you cannot. This isn’t a freedom of speech thing, it’s a business thing. While there are many comic creators that are offering up their thoughts on a daily basis, there are many more that are steering clear and giving fans what they came for and that’s product.
The age of social media is well upon us. Once upon a time, people relied on a newspaper or the local newscast to get their information regarding world issues, local news, sports and weather. This obviously is a thing of the past as most people have all of what they need right at their fingertips. Yesteryear, fans of a particular genre would have to pick up a magazine or catch that special interview on MTV or 20/20 to hear what their favorite singer, athlete, celebrity, etc. thought about certain topics. We’d get the inside scoop on what made them tick. Their beliefs and thought process. It was then, some fans made the determination that they simply agreed or disagree with their favorite icon. Their thought process and their beliefs made for a more rounded individual. Our hero is human after all. It either brought them closer or further away. Something occurred during the read or the taped interview, be it good or bad, but something occurred. We had to ‘wait’ for that moment, wait for that magazine release, that interview on television. We waited and waited. Sometimes never really getting to learn more about our hero……until now.
Fast forward to 2017 and boy has the world changed. Never has anything become so easily accessible and so quickly available. The age of the debate is over. It’s near impossible to debate anyone on a particular subject to prove your facts without getting fact checked immediately by someone’s mobile device. Debates have become a disagreement on who has the facts and who doesn’t and who believes them more. Beliefs of subject matter make a person privy to scrutiny. Ridicule usually follows one’s belief on certain topics today. Nowhere else is this more prevalent than in the political climate.
The political arena has caused more rift than any other topic within the comic book industry and creators really need to be careful with this. Forgetting about the celebrity, athletes and whoever else here, because you are on a comic book blog for a reason, comic creators have the thought process that it’s ‘okay’ to voice their opinion about the political climate and other sensitive issues on social media. Yes, you may want to get on your soapbox and scream, “what about freedom of speech?!” No one said anyone should be quiet, but common sense here has to prevail more so.
When a comic creator voices their displeasure about the current state of affairs on the United States of America or any other country for that matter, it sets them up to a host of bad things to follow. Comic creators should realize they themselves are a business and should simply keep things to themselves. Save your opinion for Thanksgiving dinner, a birthday party, a family bbq or whichever family/friend function you may have. Your opinion(s) on your social media account has no place in the business world. Zero. Why does that opinion matter so much in the grand scheme of things you may ask? Here’s why….
One, whether or not you support the current president or not, a comic creator that writes, draws, inks, colors or edits for Marvel (DISNEY) or DC (Warner Bros) voicing their opinion on the president WILL eventually rub the big two the wrong way. Here’s the thing, look at it this way. There is a reason you do not see Jim Lee, Geoff Johns, Scott Snyder, Brian Michael Bendis or Greg Pak’s page filled with an inordinate amount of opinion about the political landscape. They know who is feeding them, putting food on their table. The bigger names at the big two will not risk their careers, just because they need to express themselves about the North Korea situation. It’s not going to happen. So why is it that an inker on a third tier book would feel so compelled to comment about the Iran deal? It’s almost career suicide. Word gets out that a middle of the pack creator, not even a third tier creator, has a strong opinion about the Mexican border and all of a sudden they may lose a certain part of their core audience. As a conglomerate to the likes of Disney or Warner Bros., would they think twice about hiring a loose lip social media artist or writer? Possibly not, so why put yourself out there like that? You may lose a gig because you couldn’t control yourself on your Twitter or Facebook account? That sounds crazy right? So why do it? Shush!
Now a creator voices their opinion on their Facebook page. We all know them, right? Some may actually weigh in and literally fight with others about the subject matter within the post. Some fans may ignore it and keep their opinion from this creator in their head, knowing they don’t care either way, but it’s there. Then there is the fan that didn’t know their favorite creator felt this way about things. They think differently, guess what happens then? It’s not worth it. What about the fan that AGREES with the touchy topic and weighs in? Yea, that ‘friend’ or ‘family member’ sees you weighing in and didn’t realize YOU felt the way you do about things. Guess what happens? It’s not worth it.
A creator may post their opinion about a topic that touches on race or ethnicity. Why even go here? Seriously? Because of social media, fans are now based throughout the world. It’s not so localized anymore. A post will midgrade across planet earth and the possibility of losing a fan base on the other side of the globe is a real possibility. Why must we even talk about race or ethnicity in a way they will rub people in the wrong way? It’s 2017, let’s all live in the same boat here, quit the hatred.
It makes no sense for a comic book creator to give his or her opinion on anything on social media unless it’s industry related. It may sound a bit harsh, but the truth is, this is a business, remember that. Do you see the head of Apple voicing his opinion on Twitter? How about the owner of Play Station? How about the owner of GE? InvestComics LLC wouldn’t do that. The answer is no. They have a product to sell and would not risk alienating their customer core.
Fans should be entertained and not inundated with the ideas that run through the heads of comic creators every day. Creative ideas, selling art, industry issues, comics, things like this should exist. They should be here to entertain and sell a product. Anytime a tweet goes out that does not pertain to comics or the industry, puts that creator at risk for something larger they may not ever be able to recover from.
It happens every single day on Facebook. An opinion about healthcare, about foreign affairs, the deficit, etc. As fans we should let these creators know that they might be hurting their brand and should keep things under wraps if they want to make new fans in the future, sell that print or sell that new storyline. However, you will get pushback. “FREEDOM OF SPEECH”. That’s all well and good, we all aspire for this in this country, we all have it and just because we have this does not mean we have to use it anytime a thought pops into our head. No one is bettering mankind with a post completely irrelevant to a new comic cover art or storyline you wrote. It’s actually hurting your brand and image, get on top of this before it’s too late.
-Jay Katz
Jay Katz, a comic book collector since 1983, is the owner/creator of InvestComics LLC since 2005. InvestComics LLC was originally a magazine before the website launched in 2005.
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well said~