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Don't Call It A Comeback by Josh Dahl

In the fall of 1994, Blue Comics made its debut at the Motor City Comic Book Convention. We were a small comic company based in the suburbs of Detroit, with a modest offering of ashcans and art previews. Blue was a small enough company that no one involved in it did just one job. We all wore several hats. There were only two of us who didn't handle the visual end of comics production. My hats read “writer” and “editor”. The other fellow wore hats that read “writer”, “publisher/financier” and “burglar/safe cracker.” Eventually he would add “Work Camp Inmate” to the resume.

That company didn't last too long. Most of the creative staff reformed as a company called “Blink”. Blink took over, and re-imagined, Blue's best comics and gathered an even stronger stable of creators. We did conventions and tried to get our names out there. We made some sales, but not very many. We were doing our best, and making some pretty cool comic books. However, our financial backer going on a state-imposed sabbatical was a little too much of a blow for the company to take. Eventually it just fizzled out.

It was the mid-90s comic book boom and we were making comic books. Not riding that wave, but washed away by it. We were daring, creative, optimistic, and doomed. But, as is usually the case, we had no idea we were doomed until it was all over.

Twelve years later. Spring 2006. Jason Krause, Micah Faulkner and I are unloading Jason's truck and setting up our booth at the Motor City Comic Book Convention. The three of us had all been involved in Blink and Blue, and our new company MONOLITH was making its debut. We had great looking backdrop, some art to show, and a decent spread of 'teaser' ashcans.

We are daring, creative, and optimistic. All of the ingredients seem to be in place. Three friends working together on a shoestring budget to chip out a niche in the comic book biz. All of the ingredients that spelled doom for us twice before (three times if you include the very short lived venture “Super-ball”).

If you are paying attention, and if you care at all about our well being, you should be thinking about how to tell us nicely that we are headed for trouble.

But we're not. Not this time.

So, what has changed? What is different this time around?

Everything else.

Everything is different now.

“Graphic novel” is a phrase that is familiar to most people. Libraries and book stores have sections devoted to them. Super heroes are the biggest box office earners. Video games, cartoons, TV shows, and every other thing have dug heavily into comics as source material.

The internet has turned every day into a comic convention. Creators, companies, readers, resources, the press, weirdos....they are all there. They are looking for you and they are looking for what you have. Now, everyone can talk to everyone, no matter where you are. Even collaborators have gotten closer together. Professional quality coloring, lettering, and printing are now within the grasp of anyone who wants it.

An industry which has always been driven by money seems to have come around to the idea that quality comic books can keep licensed products alive and earning. Exclusivity deals have replaced rabid, cannibalistic, style grabs and “events” have replaced gimmick deluges.

As an art form, comics have gained width, breadth, depth, and relevance. The kids who grew up reading edgy comics in the 80s have earned degrees in Comparative Lit and come back to re-energize the field. Lots of really smart people have done some really smart thinking about comics, and have been well received for it.

But the biggest change has been us. Our perspective. We've all been through twelve years of life. We've seen all of this stuff change, and more. We've watched it, and we've learned from it.

What have we learned? And will it be enough to save us from that doom that is nipping at our heels? We'll see. That is what I am going to be writing about here. Comics, the industry, the art, the technology, and our place in it.

This column will be my observations as a seasoned rookie and a wet-behind-the-ears veteran.

Don't call it a come back.

Visit Josh Dahl at his website www.monolithllc.com