Broken Frontier

In this third and final post on Creator vs Corporate, I want to add to Ron Marz’s recent comments on the topic and touch on some stones left unturned.

(Here’s Part 1 and Part 2 of Creator vs Corporate in case you missed them.)

To summarize Marz’s column, he basically says that the best comics more often than not are the ‘creator-driven’ ones, i.e. creator-owned or where editorial allows talent as large an amount of free reign as possible. Marz cites the great, late Archie Goodwin, who felt the best way to edit was to interfere as little as possible, but rather hiring the right talent for the job and interfere only when really necessary.

Marz longs for those days of little editorial interference, but feels that’s no longer the case  in the current industry. He cites an example of when he created the new Green Lantern, Kyle Rayner, after Hal Jordan had a few screws loose in the head:

“The creation of the new GL was left largely to me, artist Darryl Banks and our immediate editor. What we did was offered up for approval, certainly, but we simply made it up, without any of it being dictated from above. I seriously doubt that same scenario would unfold in this era of comics.”

He also cites why he loves working at Top Cow these days, because it’s a place where writers can have their way with the company’s characters:

“I'm allowed to tell my story. Sure, there are discussions and input, but I'm trusted to steer the ship. It's a huge boon, and an increasingly rare one.”

Apparently, creators working for Corporate aren’t as free as they think they are.

When the new Batwoman was made a lesbian, was it Greg Rucka who decided to do so, or was it DC as it was looking for a way to bring media attention to the character and have a flagship hero that appeals to a sexual minority (and certainly doesn’t step on the toes of the drooling T&A loving fanboys out there)?

When a roster of new team of (young) superheroes is put together, is it the creator who decides “Hey, I’ve got to have a skinny, a big, a Caucasian, an Asian and an African-American on the roster so my book appeals to as wide a demographic as possible?”

When a creator has a story idea, does he/she get to pick over how many issues the story will be told? Or is it the publisher asking the creator to “definitely not make this a one-and-done story, otherwise we lose all those potential sales of the hardcover and the trade paperback?” Hence, is decompressed storytelling still the norm  because creators love to write so many comics that can be read in five minutes or less, or because the publisher wants that extra collected edition?

If we follow the Ron Marz' logic, Corporate is the Law, and creators have very little say these days.

Then there’s this remark from Jason Aaron, on his participation in Marvel’s latest creative summit:

“I like being a part of these things. I like getting to play with Marvel's biggest toys. I like having a voice in the creative direction of the company. And I like working for a company that wants a diversity of voices in that room and that wants to empower its creators to tell exactly the kinds of stories they want to tell.”

So, who’s right here, and who’s wrong? How can Marz say that there’s a lot of “editorial putting the hammer down on creators”, while Aaron applauds Corporate for giving creators the chance to produce what Marz would refer to as ‘creator-driven’ comics?

Perhaps Marz means that there’s much more creative freedom to be found writing Witchblade than there is writing Wolverine? Both are franchise players and the most popular characters of their respective publishers, but they don’t carry the same weight – Wolverine has a much larger following than Witchblade does, and what happens to him or what he does will cause much more reaction – good or bad – in the wider pop culture field than the ultimate fate of Witchblade. So, it makes sense that Marvel much more closely guards (and charts) Logan’s developments than Top Cow does with Sara Pezzini. Then again, when reading the backmatter of Jason Aaron’s new Wolverine ongoing, you’ll find that it says that it was Aaron who came up with the premise of Wolverine Goes To Hell and that editorial ran with it.

Would the picture be painted a little clearer if we sub ‘Corporate’ for ‘Marvel’ or ‘DC’? From the outside looking in, it would appear that DC gives creators less freedom than Marvel does. The latter frequently teases about what its writers have come up with at the creative summits, while DC rarely gets mentioned on the comics news wires in similar fashion.  But here too comes a “then again”: can you imagine Geoff Johns being granted less freedom writing Green Lantern – before he became Chief Creative Officer, a job which should, if anything, ensure him of the freedom to write his own books the way he wants them to – than, say, Matt Fraction has writing Iron Man?

Most probably, the answer is as simple as ‘once Corporate has tested your mettle, you’re gradually given more freedom to do your own stuff’. That line of thought is probably close to the truth: it’s common sense to put your stars in charge of the team to ensure they won’t bolt once free agency hits, but ultimately, it’s still your team. Bench players need to put in more practice time – read: more coaching or, in comics terms, editorial interference – to crack the starting rotation.

I guess that’s as close to the truth as we’ll come. The only way to find out how free creators truly are in the Corporate world is when (more) creators speak up.

No matter where you stand, as a reader, on Creator vs Corporate, remember that there are always two sides to a coin, and that, while Corporate work pays the bills, deep down, a lot of these guys would prefer to write their own creations:

“I think it just speaks to the mood that all of us are in, too, after a couple of years of working a lot on the work-for-hire side of things—which for all its rewards and all its excitements, isn't the kind of garage rock that got us all playing in the first place.”  (Matt Fraction in an interview with GQ when asked why he, Bendis, Brubaker and Millar are all doing creator-owned work at Icon)