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2007-03-26 09:20:46

Everybody in this industry has a real love-hate relationship with the Internet. You wouldn't believe how often we all tell one another to stop going online, and to stop worrying about what's being said--all at the same time we're all looking online at what's being said. It's like an addiction.

It can be a wonderful thing to get the kind of instantaneous feedback that the Internet provides. But it can also be crippling. Like those who work in almost any entertainment media, the people who make comic books are simultaneously supremely confident and emotionally needy.

And when the relationship goes wrong, it can destroy careers. We've seen a couple of creators who became so reviled after they melted down publicly on the Internet that it began to affect the sales of their books. In other instances, creators were so traumatized by the harshness of fan reactions to their work that they retreated entirely, and some of them even left the business for awhile.

It's no great secret that the Internet is extremely condusive to letting peoples' bad sides run free. It's almost like a rorshach test. Removed from the immediacy of personal interaction and any consequences for what is said, posters of all stripes, both fan and pro, let their worst selves show through.

Every performer, every writer and artist and craftsman and entertainer wants to be loved. That's part of the drive that makes somebody go into these fields in the first place. So, given that, the Internet can be a very potent drug, and a drug that can become as crippling, as life-altering, as any narcotic. And even when people know better, like a digital car crash it's impossible to look away. Doesn't matter how smart you are, how sharp you are, how secure you are--it gets almost everyone in the end.

So like the public service announcements say: drink responsibly.

More later.

Tom B

Comics
Do you know if there is a comic book or web site that contains information on the crossovers of the marvel super heros apperances, There was a comic book(hulk) that I was reading a couple of weeks ago that was continuation from another comic (captain Marvel). can you help me, Thanks
anno

Posted by Jackomac62 on 2007-03-26 11:16:45

you didn't say no

Posted by notapotatoe on 2007-03-26 12:41:09

I hear you get some of your best ideas from internet postings, Tom. ;-)

Posted by Fetsur on 2007-03-26 13:03:41

Soooooooo true...
You should look up some information on Cultivation Theory and Mean World Syndrome. Those really help me keep a perspective on tv/internet information.

The long and short of it is, the more information is repeated to you (be it fact or not), the more you are likely to accept it as truth. E.G. there is a plane crash, and that is all the news networks report on for weeks on end, the more likely you are to think that airplanes aren't safe, despite them being statistically incredibly safe. Or, to use a comic equivalent, you read a post after post on a forum trashing a book, you'll tend to lend credance to these 25 people despite not hearing what the other 149,975 people who bought the book thought of it. So, try not to let that very vocal .000167% bother you.

Posted by jaredgood1 on 2007-03-26 13:15:41

Hey, Tom

This is my first time posting on the Marvel board (or any board for that matter) but I've read your blog since you started it. I agree with you that most message boards of any sort tend to breed negativity. Must be the nature of the beast or something like that. I suspect that there are a good number of people like myself who just avoid participating but enjoy reading creator's insight into the industry.

Don't let the net get to you. Being a graphic designer major I've come to appreciate to constructive critique. Unfortunately I find that message boards are filled with people who don't know how to do that. They should take an art class or something.

I've read Marvel since I was in the 5th grade and I've been through the good and the bad in the last decade and a half. I'm presently graduating college and I have to say you guys are producing some of the best stuff I've read right now. Could it be better? Sure, but that's what drives you too make already superb material better. Keep up the blog I enjoy reading what you have to say.

Posted by spiderstyk83 on 2007-03-26 15:10:48

You don't really seem like the kind of guy that lets the voice of others bother you too much! Just keep on making comics that people want to buy! I would say that selling out 11 titles in one month has to be some kind of vindication for you and the company.

Posted by bigdaddyhub2 on 2007-03-26 15:20:16

Respectfully I dont agree
Every performer, every writer and artist and craftsman and entertainer wants to be loved. That's part of the drive that makes somebody go into these fields in the first place. Although to me thats all ego talking I believe its the love and passion for the medium that you specialize in, if your a writer thats what you love not the applause, artists with illustration talents was drawing way before they cared what people thought about them. Sure critizism is needed and somtimes can be harsh but its day and night, black and white and its going to always be there. My advise is to those sensitive people are just to turn you back to it and dont read or listen.

Posted by terciera on 2007-03-28 09:25:12

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About this blog:
Ramblings and musings from the mind of Tom Brevoort. "It won’t be clean. It won’t be fun. It mostly won’t be coherent."

About the author:
Tom Brevoort is Executive Editor for Marvel Comics, and oversees such titles as New Avengers, Civil War, and Fantastic Four.


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