Villain Era in Indie Comics Begins Now

The Comics Industry is a dumpster fire at this point and it's time to throw oil on it and everyone

The comics industry (both mainstream and indie) is just a dumpster fire and I’m going to be throwing oil on it and everyone in it. As of today, the villain era of Draw and Talk has begun. What does that mean? Well…let’s talk about it.

But first, our first couple of days of THE CTHULHU MURDERS is complete! We funded in two hours, Almer has been paid in full for his work, and the pages are being worked on.

Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mrsmilecomics/the-cthulhu-murders-her-dark-heart-1-a-nsfw-noir-mystery

What’s the book about? Here’s the synopsis:

A cosmic war has begun which has hindered Cthulhu's ability to oversee the universe. With his family being hunted down and murdered, The Great Old One must possess the detective in charge of the murder of Sonia Greene and follow the clues that will lead him to those who wish to eliminate those he holds dear. If this sounds interesting check the book :)

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THE VILLAIN ERA BEGINS

All I want to do is make comics, tell stories, and have a silly goose time, and yet for some reason the comic creator ecosystem or “community” has just turned me into an absolute villain and I’m embracing it. I literally have had creators call me “you-know-who” in groups and discord channels that I’m a part of not knowing that I’m they’re lurking.

Four things happened this week that have caused me to just spiral into this. I’ll be honest with you, 2023 has been a really rough year for me. I left a job that I loved due to financial problems there, I was laid off from a job for no other reason except “we weren’t prepared for you,” lost a publisher off a comic that I helped create due to bull shit cry baby creators and a slew of other personal shit that I don’t want to go into.

So in light of all of this, these 4 things this week made me finally go “F**K IT.”

#1 - Speaking At a Retirement Home

I was talking with a people from a retirement home about marketing in the digital age and how things were evolving in terms of distribution, audience, marketing, and even the words that we use in the space. It was all just thrown into my place as these elderly people were just yapping at me with their high morality and “back in my day” speeches.

This retirement home by the way an Indie Comics Creator Discord.

It turns out that you can’t be considered a comic creator if you also do Youtube, Tik Tok, Social Media, etc. You HAVE to be in the actual industry of comics and “accepted” by the other creators who will give you the badge of “comic creator” and THEY will let you know that your book is a legitimate comic.

It infuriated me so much and made me go “why the hell am I hanging out with these people still live in the stone age!?”

You see…they never want to help themselves. They have the keys to the kingdom of being an independent creator and instead of turning the key into the door because their weird sense of “I’m better than this,” they would rather beg for publishers and other creators for support and help, rather than doing it themselves.

#2 - It’s Not About the Money, it’s about the Art!

While talking in this retirement home, this statement came up many times and it’s a statement that is said over and over and OVER in the art community.

“It’s not about the money, it’s about the art.”

Needless to say, it drove me insane. Why can’t it be both? Why is it that everyone who spouts this sentence off, is also always making tweets about lack of sales, audience, and money? I went on a huge rant on twitter because of this:

https://twitter.com/tyler_c_world/status/1712850620527591794

So with the anger of that statement, and the fact that there is a panel of creators apparently who will let you know your comic is considered a “legit” comic and YOU a “legit” creator, I am then shown this image from New York Comic-Con

#3 - The New Ghost Machine Imprint

Look at it folks! It’s a bunch of guys who have worked at DC and Marvel, deciding to join up together to make comics!

These guys by are some of the best in the industry and have been for awhile. You have people like Peter J. Tomasi, Jason Fabok, Francis Manapul, and Geoff Johns just to start off with.

The readers of comics were like “oh my gosh this was amazing!” And it is!

You know what the indie creators were saying?

“I wish there were submissions.”

“They’re probably not gonna let any of US in…”

Remember point #1 where I said they have the keys but would rather beg and wait for higher creators and publishers to lend them a hand? That’s all I saw.

And this brings me to the final thing that happened this week…

#4 - The Mother Fookin’ Peaky Blinders

I watched The Peaky Blinders. Literally all I do at night when my family goes to bed is binge this show. I’ve never seen it before, and yet now more than ever, I resonate so much with the character Thomas Shelby.

You know what angers me so much? The amount of people that paint me as a villain. Seriously. JUST THIS WEEK I’ve been called a “grifter” three times. THREE TIMES! Why? Because I was trying to give marketing advice to a creator in a group and others were like “wow he sounds like a grifter.”

Evidently if you talk about content creator and marketing in the indie space you’re considered a “grifter,” aka a con artist.

I’ve had enough of it. I’ve spent the last 7 years in this community work my up it trying to improve while also trying to help others out by showcasing my wins, my losses, and things that I’ve learned. What’s been my reward?

Name calling every week, friends back stabbing me, mob mentality and losing my publisher, and more.

I’m sick of it. I’m fucking sick of it.

I’ll never be considered a comic creator in my “peers” eyes because if I become successful it’s because I made Youtube videos, or I didn’t want to work with Marvel or DC, or that utilized the internet for my business. Every fucking excuse in the book to de-legitimize me.

I’m sitting in my living room on Discord, raging, and then Peaky Blinders gives me this quote:

“I’ve learnt something in the last few days: those bastards are worse than us. Politicians, lords and ladies, they’re all worse than us and they will never admit us to their palaces no matter how legitimate we become because of who we are and where we’re from.”

Want to know a secret about the comics industry that everyone knows but never says out-loud?

“Use who you can, get what you want, stab the person behind you in the back, survive.”

Current day creators in Marvel and DC have piles of bodies behind them of people they have destroyed and backstabbed to get to where they are now.

The amount of times I hear from creators saying “I’m going to be friends with ______ because they have a big following and then hopefully they’ll promote my book and get me gigs.”

That’s the scum that’s in these circles.

There’s no appeasing these people. You play by their rules or they bully you into not playing.

Well guess what…I’m done with with these people and seeking their validation and approval. I’m doing things my way. Like Thomas Shelby says: “they will never admit us to their palaces no matter how legitimate we become because of who we are and where we’re from.”

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PROGRESS ON PROJECTS

• The Cthulhu Murders is LIVE on Kickstarter

• Super Plumber Sisters #1 goes to the printer in 10 days

• My Sexy Witch Academia #1 is in fulfillment this week

• My Sexy Witch Academia #2 is 50% completed

• The Girl with the Mega Fists Vol. 4 is still in progress

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Okay peeps. There’s some of the “inside baseball” for this week.

Expect a lot more content from me on Youtube and stuff.

Tyler :)