#13: Your Reputation
I batted around the title to this article a few times before settling on the one above. Another title that could have worked is "Honor the Golden Rule." However, the first title I came up with was, "Don't Be A Dick, You Never Know Who's Watching."
Hey, there. Tyler James here with another installment of Creating Comics! The Art + Craft. I was originally planning to continue the discussion of story structure which I started last week, but I've decided to cover a subject a little more topical instead. Don't worry, we'll return to our regularly scheduled topic next week. But first...
Last week, there was a bit of an internet kerfuffle that caught fire in the comics world. All the details can be found here, but in summary, at the recent Wizard World Chic- excuse me, the Chicago Comic Con, an attendee who calls himself "Yellow Hat Guy" decided to insult artist Rob Liefeld in what he thought was a clever way, captured it on video and in photos, and then wrote all about it on his website. It's what happened next that is the interesting part, and I think there is a valuable lesson here for all people who post content on the internet, and one aspiring comics creators should especially take note of, as well.
First, a few caveats. I'm not going to weigh in on the merits of Rob Liefeld's art, or the particular comics that Yellow Hat Guy (YHG for short) was criticizing. Rob doesn't need me or anyone coming to his defense. The guy has a wonderful life, and earns a great living off what he obviously loves to do. I don't think he's losing any sleep over the fact that a guy in a yellow hat didn't like (but probably was one of the half million or so people who BOUGHT) a comic he made more than a decade ago. Second, I'm not going to spend time eviscerating YHG here. Hell, he's already had enough of that on his own website. Plus, crapping on a complete stranger is one of the things this article is going to suggest you NOT to do. (It would be kind of hypocritical for me to rip him a new one, no?)
What I do want to look at is the reaction YHG's post engendered in the comics community. Reading the comments posted after his article, you'll notice the first few reactions were very positive. This might not quite be understood by people outside the comics world, but for several years in certain comic geek circles, trashing Rob Liefeld has been a chic thing to do. Any time the guy is mentioned in an article on Newsarama, the largest comics news and information site, the haters come out to play. (I probably need to write another article covering why trashing anybody's work is a waste of your mental effort, but I had to point this out because otherwise, the fact that anyone would praise YHG for his actions just doesn't make sense.) But, in the first few comments, likely made by friends and regular readers of the site, it was nothing but praise. "Epic...," "Thank you, Sir...," "You are my hero..." and so on. And I'm betting that this was the reaction YHG counted on.
But, here's the danger of this whole internet thing...If it's out there, it's OUT THERE. Less than 24 hours later, I became aware of this whole story by following a link that was tweeted by Jim Lee. Yeah. THAT Jim Lee. To be exact, Jim retweeted a comment from artist Jamie McKelvie: "RT @McKelvie: Take note, internet: this is NOT how you deal with artists whose work you don't like," followed by the link. Intrigued, I checked it out. And by the time I got there, it was clear that the comments had gone from initially praising YHG for "giving it to Liefeld" to absolutely condemning his actions as immature at best and complete and utter fanboy douchebaggery at worst. And it wasn't just Joe Internet crapping on YHG. Practically a who's who of comic book talent stopped by to tell him just how uncool his actions were. In the article, YHG mentioned being a big fan of George Perez and posted a picture he took with him at the con. Even George Perez stopped by to condemn the guy's actions and asked to have his picture removed from the article and the site.
Now, I don't know YHG. I don't know what kind of guy he is in real life, whether he gives to charity and is nice puppies, or any of that. What I do know is that in less than 24 hours, he has basically created a new identity for himself as "The Guy Who Was a Dick to Rob Liefeld." Maybe in some small circles that makes him a hero, but honestly, I wouldn't want to be hero to a rabid group of Liefeld haters. That's not the pack I'd like to be lead dog of. Unfortunately for YHG, the price of winning the adoration of Liefeld haters everywhere was earning the ire of pretty much the entire comics industry. Crapping on someone who's work he detests resulted in anger and rebuke from many creators he respects. And that's the word of warning here. In the internet age, with the aid of Twitter and other viral tools, you can absolutely destroy your reputation in less than a day.
Why is this important to aspiring comics creators? Well, first of all, you're going to need the internet to get you where you want to go in comics. Be it finding artists, building a name for yourself through posting your work, running webcomics, commenting on comic news, or even writing columns like this one at sites like Comic Related, you're going to use the internet. A lot. I suggest you use it wisely, because, as an aspiring creator, you don't have a whole lot going for you at the start of your journey. You may or may not have talent, which by itself and without a hard work ethic, won't amount to much. You don't have a large body of work to your credit yet or an established fan base. You probably don't have many connections in the industry, and you're competing in an overly crowded marketplace. In short, you've got a big hill to climb. One of the only things you do have is your name and your reputation. Take damn good care of it.
Most of us probably won't make the mistake of being as rude as YHG was and then bragging about it on the internet. But, just for good measure, here are a few "Golden Rule/Don't be a Dick" rules for you anyway:
1.) Watch the Three C's. In the classic Dale Carnegie book "How to Win Friends and Influence People," Carnegie's first rule is not to criticize, condemn or complain. Ever. He fills that chapter with examples of great men in history, guys like Abraham Lincoln, who actually lived this rule. The thought being that criticism and condemning only make others resentful and defensive, and in no way encourage others to change their actions or come to your way of thinking. And complaining about a problem does nothing to fix it. So, before you make a comment or write a blog post in which you'll engage in one of the three C's, really ask yourself, is this worth it? Or might there be a better way to get your point across?
2.) Anonymous no more. Use your name. Your real name. All the time, in person and in real life. (Okay, you can be Scooby69 on Adultfriendfinder, but that's it.) Don't be "Yellow Hat Guy" or "MegatronBOMB" or "BigDaddySugarLove" or whatever username you're going by. It's easy to hide behind the anonymity of a screen name. Don't take the easy road. Your words matter. Be a man (or woman) who stands by his or her words and claims them. I think you'll find that when your user name is your first and last name you'll be a little more careful with what you're writing. And that just leads to better comments in general. The added bonus is name recognition. If you're trying to build a name in the comics field, make sure it's your name you're building, and not BigDaddySugarLove's.
3.) Take a minute before sending in those comments or writing those posts. If you're writing anything that could be remotely construed as negatively impacting another human being, give yourself a minute or so before hitting that post button. Hey, we're all human. Sometimes we read something that gets us fired up. We want to react! But remember, a lot of times you can't get those comments back once they're sent. The added benefit of pausing before submitting is that you may actually proofread what you've wrote. In this text message/email/twitter/culture it's all fast, informal communication. But, if you're trying to break into comics (especially as a writer) you're going to be judged on everything that you write. Might as well get in the habbit of always putting your best foot forward, and that means catching those typos or polishing that language as best as possible.
4.) Watch the hyperbole. Some of the things comics fans say in comments threads really makes me shake my head. "Dude, I stopped reading comics for years because of Rob Liefeld's Captain America." You did? Really? Would you say that about any other medium? "Armageddon was awful. I stopped watching movies because of Michael Bay!" How about, "Twilight is garbarge. I'm giving up reading all together, it's so bad!" No, you wouldn't. So stop making comic fans sound like the whiniest fans on the planet.
5.) Remember, destroying is easy, creating is hard. It's easy to be mean and find fault. I don't care how clever your dig or how snarky your comment, if, at the end of the day you're only about the negative, then you've done absolutely nothing to bring good into the world. So, next time you want to take a pop shot at a popular artist whose success you can't fathom, how about something else instead? Find a relatively unknown, struggling artist whose work you do like, and write something nice about him. Artists live for that. It's part of why we create. And ultimately, it's the words of praise and encouragement that will help bring more of what you want into the world, than the whining and the snark. Be better than that.
That's my rant. Back to more craft in 7 days.
NEXT: Structurally Sound- The Middle
Tyler James is a comics creator residing in Newburyport, Massachusetts. He writes and draws Over, a romantic comedy online graphic novel updating every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. He also writes Tears of the Dragon, an epic fantasy webcomic that updates on Tuesdays. His work has been featured at Zuda Comics, and includes Interrogation Control Element, a political action thriller, and Super Seed, the story of the world's first super powered fertility clinic. When not making comics, Tyler works as a game designer and content producer for a software company.
Contact Tyler directly at tylerjamescomics@gmail.com, keep up with him at his blog, or follow him on Twitter.
Previous Columns
1: Big Goals
2: Resolutions
3: The Great Idea
4: Research Part I
5: Research Part II
6: The Killer Pitch Part I - The High Concept
7: The Killer Pitch Part II - The Synopsis
8: Pay Your Artists
9: Zuda Comics- A Tale of Five Submissions
10: Creating Great Characters Part I (Or Why Wolverine is Everywhere)
11: Creating Great Characters Part II (Or Why Wolverine is Everywhere)
12: Structurally Sound- The Beginning
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