So, Ivan Brandon put his thoughts up about the value of your 'name' in the industry being more valuable than quantifying the time vs. pay ratio scale. I've already written a similar response to this which for whatever reason my facebook app on my phone decided not to publish but instead deleted it.

Here's Ivan Brandon's post: [link]

But I'll try and regain the same ideas I wrote the first time. Ivan Brandon is a writer. I'm not saying writing is any less important a component to the creative process of creating comics, but it definitely takes less time and physical effort. If it took 3-4 weeks to write a comic script, and 3 weeks to pencil/ink a 22 page book, then the usual week it takes to color and letter most books, we'd never see anything come out. So I felt that this was more directed at artists.

It sounds noble to say that for 5 cents you should be doing the level of work that you would do on something you are paid $1 million for, but this is reality. Creators have bills to pay. If I was subsidized in some way, I would make comics for free, because I love them. But I'm not. I'm cashiering to save up money so I can make comics that are of the quality that I believe should be on the stands.

If the cost of producing comics increases, and the pay for artists and writers is decreasing, doesn't that mean that the corporate entities are making more money in this equation?

I have friends who are making comics to do what they love AND support their families. Two of my friends have wives that are pregnant. Is it right to say to them, "Hi, you're making a comic, which is great, but I can't pay you as much as you'd make on this job. BUT, you should do the same level, nay, BETTER work on it, and free re-draws, for less money!" No, that's terrible business practice!

For decades, the comic industry more than nearly any other creative industry has devalued the work produced for companies to the point where wages are laughable. I've posted my thoughts on the pipe dream known as 'spec work' aka 'work for hire' aka 'pay after print.'

As this post comes from someone who has scoured the world looking for new talented artists willing to work for an indie wage, I'm less inclined to believe the genuine 'You're helping the industry by undervaluing your work' message that Ivan Brandon is sending. Rather, this falls into the Chappelle Show's segment "When Keeping it Real Goes Wrong."

The economics are: an artist must make X amount of money to support themselves, family, unforeseen medical expenses (the comics lifestyle is terribly unhealthy), and hopefully to save up for something like a house someday, which is terribly unrealistic now. Writer or company want to pay you Y amount of money for your work. If Y is not equal to or greater than X, then you encounter Z amount of debt. Your options to avoid this are: 1. Take on extra comic work, and allow your work on both books to suffer. 2. Take the 'high' road and make the best work possible on this book while incurring debt. 3. Turn the job down because you can't do your best work to keep your 'name' as valuable in the public eye. 4. Work a non-comics dayjob and afford yourself money to take time off and make comics at this high level of quality, but you will need to self-publish.

I'm currently taking option 4. I will make comics, and I agree it's great to make them at a high level of quality. But if you expect a guy who is using comics as his only means of income to work for less, that sounds more like what corporations do to workers by bullying them into doing more for less money than an admirable sentiment.

There's also the 'Igor Kordey' idea to take into consideration. Igor Kordey is a talented artist. He showed this on Cable, but he is universally vilified for his work on New X-Men. When Quitely dropped the ball on his deadlines, Kordey was given an impossible set of deadlines to keep the story moving. The art was by nearly all standards a shock to viewers. They kept buying it just because they loved the story. Is it Kordey's fault for trying to take on too much? There would be 100 other guys willing to do the same…and they would do about the same, probably worse. Outside of someone like Mark Bagley or John Romita Jr back in the day, few people could pencil and/or ink a big team book in 2 weeks and keep any sort of pace. But the viewing public does not account for this. It's hard to keep up with the demands of a 12-issue a year schedule without something interfering. The public will not appreciate this, the only thing that they care about is if their comic comes out on time and appeases them.

Trying to give everything to them is like trying to fill a giant chasm with an eye dropper as you walk a mile each way to a water source. You can never fill this void in your lifetime nor should you stress yourself out over it. Do what feels right to you, and enjoy yourself. Otherwise, work in a different industry. You are being paid for something you are good at, that you've honed your skills for. Just because a person is good at taxes doesn't mean that they shouldn't be paid to do your taxes for you, right?

So I genuinely worry people will take his post to heart like I did when I was young. I did 3 years of work for free under the guise of it being 'work experience' and 'paying your dues to make something great in the industry.' It's hogwash. Art is art, if you love it, you make it no matter what. If you make comics to be seen by people, you can post them online. If you want to make money, you PUBLISH THEM. Published comics are not charity, and charity is not what is creating so much bank for Marvel via the Avengers. These corporations are bloated with executives, overabundant editorial staffs, and production teams. They have better, more stable salaries than the people producing the creative elements of comics. So when that is the case, you need to take care of yourself. Your name is great, you should want to gain admiration from your fellow professionals, but you also want food on your table.

Your work is important, you bleed for it, don't let yourself drink the Koolaid. The math is simple, if it's work you're doing, you should be paid a fair wage. If you are not being paid a fair wage, and expected to do more work, then it is not a fair business transaction.

That's the truth bomb on this topic.