* Tom Spurgeon talks to cartoonist Dean Haspiel about how the cartoonist sees his place in the comics industry right now. It's a grim assessment, but one that jibes with my current view, which is that what I thought of as "comics," the industry, the culture, and sadly, the artform -- is mainly a thing of the past. The idea that because we have already have a Mike Allred, there's not enough room for Dean Haspiel to make a living too -- that should turn your stomach as much as it does mine. Haspiel's work has never quite been my cup of tea, but that's my own personal taste, and I can't deny that he has the skill, experience and dedication that should make him a stalwart of a healthy comics industry/artform.
* There's something really wrong that the guy finds himself in the place that he does, and it takes courage -- or perhaps just outraged exhaustion -- for him to go public with his situation in this interview as he does. Comics: No place for Steve Rude or Dean Haspiel, but we'll fell forests for Geoff Johns and poke Alan Moore in the eye with a sharp stick every chance we get. No wonder I think of comics in the past tense these days.
* If you look at my pull list in the sidebar, you'll find I'm reading two ongoing comics at the moment -- Star Trek, and Fatale. IDW's Star Trek, that one I read more because it's Star Trek than because it's comics. I read Fatale because it's the one regularly published comic book that actually feels like comics to me at the moment. That's pretty thin ice upon which my 40-year connection to comics is currently skating, and I know many people who are similarly alienated. I'd say something has to change, but I suspect we've already reached a tipping point. Marvel and DC keep rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic while the beating heart of comics beats ever slower and more erratically.
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