This month, we’re going to have an elaborate run of looks at the best of 2014 and what we’re excited about for 2015. To kick that all off, we’ll have a week of some of our favorite creators sharing their thoughts on the year to date as well as what they’re looking forward to in 2015.
Today, we asked “What are you most hoping to see from comics in 2015?” Here are the creators’ thoughts, and look for Multiversity’s own picks for the best in comics in 2014 to start tomorrow.
Jeremy Haun (Wolf Moon)
A lot more creator owned books. Some from me. A lot from others. Comics for everyone.
Diversity of creators. Which will lead to Diversity in and of comics. I’m sure that is an answer a lot of people are giving, but it’s so very true. We need it. To grow as a medium, we need some new perspectives. I’d like to see some doors open and some risks taken to deepen the diversity on a larger scale.
Joshua Hale Fialkov (The Bunker)
Diversification. I think that Image has shown the way to the promise land for a lot of us, and now it’s time for the other independents to step up and build this marketplace into something really unique.
Ryan Browne (God Hates Astronauts)
Creator owned books staying strong in the sales and quality departments. I’d love to keep doing this for awhile.
Justin Jordan (Deep State, The Legend of Luther Strode)
More awesome comics. Comics are, I think, in a good place right now. There’s more great stuff coming out right now than I can actually make time to read. This is a good problem to have. I’d really like to see DC get to the level I feel it should be. I’ve done a ton of work for them, and they put out some good comics, but I feel like Marvel and Image are leaving them in the dust in terms of taking chances and putting out game changing comics. Lately, this has changed with them putting out stuff like Gotham Academy and Batgirl, so more of that would be awesome.
Frank Barbiere (Five Ghosts, Solar)
I’m hoping to see the continued success of creator-owned work and more great voices finding their way into a medium that truly has no limits.
Joe Eisma (Morning Glories)
A lot less scandals, and way more good comics. Seemed in 2014, almost every other week there was some sort of scandal that rocked comics — some sexual harassment, sexism or backstabbing story that came to light. I know things like this aren’t unique to any industry, but we sure seemed to have a lot of them this year. I would hope that creators can get better about thinking about their behavior and the possible consequences, and I hope bloggers/press can get better about reporting and not stoking flames. Let’s focus on what’s important–creating the best comics out there and fostering the most welcoming community.
Robert Wilson IV (Knuckleheads)
I just want to see creators making things they deeply care about and for us all to be kind and considerate to each other. Be thoughtful.
Michael Walsh (Secret Avengers)
In 2015, I’m hoping to see a continuing trend towards diversity in comics in every way, in the stories told, in the characters, in the creators. I’m excited to see Marvel moving towards producing super interesting books with new and unique talent. I feel there were a few times in 2014 where we took a few steps forward but then a step back. I want the medium to keep moving forward and growing. People always talk about the golden age of yesterday but I truly feel it is an amazing time to be comic book creator and reader.
Joe Keatinge (Shutter)
I feel like I say the same thing every year for this, but it’s consistently true — more and more new from more and more interesting creators. I want to see new creators doing work I’ve never seen before. I want veteran creators making their stamp and experimenting in new ways. New, new, new, new, new. New’s the future and I firmly believe that’s never going to change, so keep it all coming. Oh, and I want someone to reprint José Muñoz + Carlos Sampayo’s Sinner now that Corto Maltese.
Continued belowMatthew Rosenberg (12 Reasons to Die)
Obviously the lack of diversity in creators and readers is a huge problem in comics that I would love to see everyone tackle head on next year. We limit what the medium is when we limit the voices in it.
The thing I would really love to see happening is a push towards more politically and socially conscious work. I don’t think it is a coincidence that as comics have lost their way in terms of relevant social commentary they have also lost their readership. I don’t expect Marvel and DC to be leading the charge here, at the end of the day they are part of a larger machine that does not embrace these sorts of things and won’t ever. But the smaller publishers should be fighting to be an alternative to that apolitical voice, not attempting to do the same thing on a micro level. The most important comics of my life- V For Vendetta, Ex Machina, Transmetroplitan, Watchmen, Preacher, Y The Last Man, Judge Dredd… even Sandman, are all important books because they tackle bigger issues, not in spite of it. I don’t think it is coincidence that Marvel’s best selling book of the last 15 years is Civil War, a Bush allegory, or that Green Lantern / Green Arrow is still looked at as a major work in the medium. That 1965 Esquire poll that ranked revolutionary figures among college students and activists included both The Hulk and Spider-Man. What comic characters would make the list now? An industry with nothing to say is going to quickly find they have no one to say it to. When the industry is, on average, putting out less socially relevant work than your average episode of CSI it should come as no surprise that indie comics sell the equivalent of small market, late night, AM radio ratings. We aren’t talking about important things so no one is listening. That needs to change.
Creator owned books continuing to be successful; I feel the better creators are doing with creator owned work, the happier they are, and the more big publishers have to compete in order to attract them.
More consistent runs in mainstream books.
More women writers, artists, colourists, etc. Been really impressed with how many more women have been hired by Marvel in the past few months by the way.
JP Leon winning an Eisner for his The Massive covers.
Chris Ross (Top Shelf’s Director of Digital Publishing)
Creators taking creative chances with digital—for example looking at the force field analysis that Leah Moore is doing with Electricomics and I think/hope that’s going to pay dividends in giving creators some new tools and ways to think about comics. I’d like to see improvements in fat-finger comic reading—one of the consistent questions I get is about parents getting a good comic reader for their little ones. I’m HOPING to see technical standard agencies build a version of ePub 3 that takes comics to mind but I know that won’t happen. REALLY looking forward to seeing how Amazon’s acquisition of comiXology plays out because I suspect it’s going to really improve the experience for readers as well as publishers. I’m sure there will be some waves in terms of a subscription model developing somewhere (whether it’s publishers adopting —more publishers will go DRM-free. I think we’ll see more consolidation, and I don’t necessarily think it’s a bad thing. One of the consistent complaints/hopes I heard at SPX was a lot of folks looking for professional development and figuring out how to make their work pay their bills, so I think we’ll see expansions of programs like comiXology Submit that do OTHER INTERESTING THINGS. I think we’ll see other digital agencies re-thinking distribution a little bit because of how interesting HUMBLE BUNDLE has been in helping folks rethink successful publishing outcomes, whether that’s Pay-what-you-want or subscription models or book clubs or something that isn’t on anyone’s radar yet. I think mainstream comics will diversify a lot more, and I hope it’s with creators, writers, and artists.
I’m also CRAZY EXCITED to see KaijuMax from Zander Cannon.
Continued belowOne thing I HOPE is ableism in comics. I’m really curious about how we can get comics (an inherently visual medium) into folk’s hands that are visually impaired. That Daredevil #1 Mark Waid and Marvel did is one of those proof on concepts that is doing that kind of border analysis of how it could work, but I think something like WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE is a better example of what that would look like — I’d like to see some experiments with that. But at the end of the day I think we’ll need to think about a consistent way to deliver these books to as many folks as we can and in a meaningful and expansive storytelling mechanism.
Natalie Nourigat (Home is Where the Internet Is)
More of my favorite artists able to devote time to their creator-owned projects! Government/institutional/academic grants for creator-owned projects, publishers willing to invest in those projects, and/or fans supporting their favorite artists during production so there isn’t so much of a financial burden while artists work on their own stories. I was really encouraged in 2014 by Patreon and publishing options like MonkeyBrain Comics; I hope they continue to thrive.
Sebastian Girner (Editor of Deadly Class, Drifter, Low, and many others)
Same as every year: a proper English-language collection of Go Nagai & Dynamic Pro manga. There are 40 years of backlog out there! C’mon, Nagai. You can’t stay mad at Danzig forever!
Slightly less wishful, I’m hoping the development of the past couple years continue its trend: creator-owned comics and talent dominating the middle-tier (though if one of us felt like cracking 100K I wouldn’t mind). Publishers, retailers and readers have shown they’re willing to take risks on new stories, characters and concepts, and I hope creators continue to work hard to earn, award and expand on that trust.
I’d also love to see a deeper exploration of digital comics, maybe driven from outside the confines of our industry.
Jay Faerber (Copperhead)
I just want to see more great comics.
Matthew Wilson (The Wicked + The Divine, Thor)
Two things. Continuing support for diversity in comics, both in the creators and in their creations. Secondly, I’d like to see people’s awareness of what colorists and letterers bring to the storytelling in comics. I feel like we’re turning corners in both of these areas, and I’m excited to see where that takes us.
Brenden Fletcher (Gotham Academy, Batgirl)
More risks being taken. More diversity. More fresh ideas.
Less fear. Less slaveish devotion to the past.
Paul Allor (GI Joe, TMNT)
Last year, I said: “I’d love to see way more diversity of genres; more fact-based comics, more slice of life, more romance and westerns and crime and historical fiction. Tied in to that, I’d also love to see more efforts to broaden the comics audience, beyond just bringing back lapsed readers.”
Yeah, that still sounds good.
Tim Gibson (Moth City)
Creator owned stuff seems to be getting the attention it deserves, and is great for the industry long term. So more of that please.
Curt Pires (POP)
I say this every year, but more diversity, bolder ideas, more open doors, more inclusion for younger creators, more comic books with my name on them in your hands and in your hearts, more love, more kissing, more hugging, more fucking, less violence.
Ales Kot (Zero)
Kindness, creativity and working through our fears, be they personal or collective, creating an inclusive community where “breaking in” will no longer be a phrase anyone will need to use in order to feel accepted as a creator. I would say open the gates, but there are none. We’re all in it together.
Ed Brisson (Sheltered)
I’m hoping that the creator owned train keeps rolling as it has been these past couple years. I’d also like to see publishers like Marvel and DC keep pushing their books like they have been. We’re really starting to see a lot of diversity in the types of stories being told and, especially, in the look of those books. I think publishers are finally starting to realize that there’s a larger audience than 18-35 year old white males and there’s been a shift toward reaching readers outside of that. I’m hoping that that is not a fad, that that’s a path the industry will continue to walk.
