Check out Terence's channel here: / @comickkrakk and I hope you enjoy this freewheeling chat! If you'd like to vote on FtLoC videos and check out B-roll, BTS posts and more, check out my Patreon / fortheloveofcomics and RUclips memberships by clicking the JOIN button above!
This was a pleasant surprise. I really like to talk about definitions. I’ve never stopped to think about what indie means and realizing that was as much fun as hearing your thoughts. I’ve used ”indie” outside DC, Marvel, Image and Dark Horse but without too much consideration why.
I don't think my definition for independent vs. corporate runs that far, and I don't think popularity is really that important. I think it's more about creator's vision. TMNT was stil indy even after the movie and cartoon, at least until Kevin Eastman finally sold it. Spawn only exists because Todd McFarlane wants it, even when he isn't working on it. When J. Scott Campbell created Danger Girl, it was an obvious knock-off, but it was still his knock-off. I've seen Dark Horse credited as an indy publisher (usually by people who think "indy" means "not Marvel and DC", but then they can't say it what makes Marvel and DC not indy), but what made them famous was Alien and Predator, corporate franchises. Here in Europe, nobody ever told Hergé or René Goscinny how they should write Tintin and Astérix. Even the very market-aware and mercenary Jean Van Hamme had a personal vision for Thorgal, XIII and Largo Winch, but when Dupuis ressurrected Blake & Mortimer decades after E.P. Jacobs died, and Van Hamme agreed to write it, it was now corporate.
Yes, the definitions and usage do vary so tremendously that I think there's worth in establishing foundational parameters. I agree with you that 'independent' isn't about popularity (that's why I'd put 'popular' on the 'mainstream - niche' axis instead) but I also cannot deny that many people use 'independent' as a shorthand to contrast against high sales/ popularity. And 'independent vision', being a creative reaction, can exist within independent and corporate worlds alike, although one will obviously be more accommodating of it than the other. You highlight some interesting differences between the North American and European histories, and perhaps business cultures! Wouldn't you, however, say that all Uncle Scrooge comics from Disney are corporate, never independent, however creative and groundbreaking or experimental any one of them could be? I believe I would.
Listen if you're going to teach newbies how to make comics on a single weekend get away, you're going to oversaturated the market with childlike progress. 1/1000 of those books are going to be great. the rest will be not so.
I think those kind of workshops focus on demystifying or making things less intimidating, and certainly should be looked at as the start of a long journey rather than the end result of one
Check out Terence's channel here: / @comickkrakk and I hope you enjoy this freewheeling chat!
If you'd like to vote on FtLoC videos and check out B-roll, BTS posts and more, check out
my Patreon / fortheloveofcomics
and RUclips memberships by clicking the JOIN button above!
Another great interview with another legend in our comics community.
Glad you enjoyed it, and I agree with you on 'legend' 😊
This was a pleasant surprise. I really like to talk about definitions. I’ve never stopped to think about what indie means and realizing that was as much fun as hearing your thoughts. I’ve used ”indie” outside DC, Marvel, Image and Dark Horse but without too much consideration why.
@@analogcomics it's fertile ground for sure, and I feel there's a lot more detail there to explore! Glad you enjoyed it!
Good discussion.
@@chauntentori thank you!
I don't think my definition for independent vs. corporate runs that far, and I don't think popularity is really that important. I think it's more about creator's vision. TMNT was stil indy even after the movie and cartoon, at least until Kevin Eastman finally sold it. Spawn only exists because Todd McFarlane wants it, even when he isn't working on it. When J. Scott Campbell created Danger Girl, it was an obvious knock-off, but it was still his knock-off. I've seen Dark Horse credited as an indy publisher (usually by people who think "indy" means "not Marvel and DC", but then they can't say it what makes Marvel and DC not indy), but what made them famous was Alien and Predator, corporate franchises. Here in Europe, nobody ever told Hergé or René Goscinny how they should write Tintin and Astérix. Even the very market-aware and mercenary Jean Van Hamme had a personal vision for Thorgal, XIII and Largo Winch, but when Dupuis ressurrected Blake & Mortimer decades after E.P. Jacobs died, and Van Hamme agreed to write it, it was now corporate.
Yes, the definitions and usage do vary so tremendously that I think there's worth in establishing foundational parameters.
I agree with you that 'independent' isn't about popularity (that's why I'd put 'popular' on the 'mainstream - niche' axis instead) but I also cannot deny that many people use 'independent' as a shorthand to contrast against high sales/ popularity.
And 'independent vision', being a creative reaction, can exist within independent and corporate worlds alike, although one will obviously be more accommodating of it than the other.
You highlight some interesting differences between the North American and European histories, and perhaps business cultures!
Wouldn't you, however, say that all Uncle Scrooge comics from Disney are corporate, never independent, however creative and groundbreaking or experimental any one of them could be? I believe I would.
Listen if you're going to teach newbies how to make comics on a single weekend get away, you're going to oversaturated the market with childlike progress. 1/1000 of those books are going to be great. the rest will be not so.
I think those kind of workshops focus on demystifying or making things less intimidating, and certainly should be looked at as the start of a long journey rather than the end result of one
An intense conversation ... and granular
@@comicsfan1973 I do hope you liked it!
@@ftloc Of course 👍🏻