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The Truth Shall Set You Free
Kelly Sue DeConnick Admits Critics of the Comic Book Industry Were Right
how it started this is this is alwayswhen people are like would you pleaseget your politics out of my comic booksi’m like what comic books are youreadingand if you don’t like my politicsdon’t buy my book how it’s going i tendto be pretty optimistic but in this onei’m worried i’m straight worried why umbecause uh stores are closingat aphenomenal rateuh independent comic sales are down[Laughter][Music]i said fix it[Music]kelly sue deconnick is comic skate orrather comics gate adjacentsee in an interview she stated the samepoints that the critics of the comicbook industry have stated for years theindustry isn’t doing so well people likethe conic had blasted critics claimingthat they know nothing about the comicbook industry because they don’t work inthe industry so they can’t possibly knowanything about statistics sales orrevenue even when companies like idwpost their financial reports and yet itappears they got it right from the mouthof kelly sue deconnect and yes i know iunderstand i get it i’m not asking youto look at the screen i’m just askingyou to listen i’m going to play thewhole clip i knowbut it’s less than a minute so justclose your eyes pucker your booty holeand remember to breathe because we’regoing in i think i tend to be prettyoptimistic but in this one i’m worriedi’m straight worried why um because uhstores are closingat aphenomenal rateindependent comic sales are downummainstream comic sales are down exceptfor the they’re like the top five threeor five books are up andeverything in the mid list is way downnumbers that used to benumbers that would get you cancelled arenowlike no that’s a hit you know umuh independent books making backthe cost of doing floppies islike names that should be able to do itno sweat aregoing into the red on singles and notcoming out until the trades in the wordsof all the criticsyesyes oh yeah can you feel that buddy huhi love when people accidentally tell thetruth this isn’t even a freudian slipthis was kelly sue at her wits in justlook at her expression having no choicebut to admit the industry’s screw iwonder if it could have been fromcertain people saying things like and ifyou don’t like my politicsdon’t buy my bookit’s a kind of cold vindication becauseher admitting this isn’t going to solvethe problem the comic book industry isstagnant and competes with anime mangafilm tv and video games which are allmore popular when well-known creatorscan’t sell their books you know there’sa problem the problem was worsened bypeople like kelly sue deconic attackinganyone who points this out it’s aperfect example of what happens whensomeone gets entrenched in a perspectiveto the point of denying evidence provingotherwise when people are certain abouttheir position they’re reticent to admitthat they’ve gotten anything wrong it’seasier to attack the people pointing outthe inconvenient truth labeling themwith pejoratives turning people againstthem even threatening their livelihoodthe narrative must be protected untilit’s no longer beneficial to do it whichis what i think happened here i tried totrack down when this interview was donebut i haven’t been able to find thesource if anyone knows when this wasrecorded please let me know in thecomments below it seems recent at leastwithin the last year and if that is thecase then she may be talking about thesituation that began just before thewolf flu and has continued through itorders for single issues wereembarrassing the marketing for the bookswas incomprehensible or non-existenttrade sales were fluctuating but whenlooking at the best sellers many of themwere classic books from the 80s for thesingle issues that managed to get ahundred thousand orders several of themgot tanked by the creative teams i’mlooking at you batman and x-men therewere comic book stores closing orshifting their inventory to focus onsomething other than comics some storesfocused on selling back issues whichwere proven to be more popular withcustomers compared to the current booksthat one i find interesting because ithadn’t happened up to this point andit’s not clear what sparked thatinterest it’s also interesting becauseof the reaction from the comic bookcreators they hated it apparentlycompeting with books created when mostof them were still in diapers was unfairi’m gonna be honest when you’re gettingtrounced by early silver age books yeahthat’s bad funny but also bad this iswhy it’s not a good idea to tell peoplethat if they don’t like your comicsdon’t buy your books it’s not smart todeal in absolute statements if you wantto read my comics you must agree with meisn’t a good argument and has a verypredictable cascade effect it’s not justthat people won’t buy your book itaffects the other members of thecreative team potentially causing peopleto assume they hold the same opinion asyou resulting in people not buyinganything else those people work on itmay also cause your industry colleaguesto back your statement making people tobe less likely to buy their books aswellthe industry functions on people buyingmore than one title when people go tostores the store’s goal is to get peopleto come in for one thing and walk outwith many more if many of you aretalking people out of buying booksbecause they don’t agree with yourpolitics you’re going to lose a lot ofthose impulse buys but just from acreative level you’re costing yourself acustomer and a fan your story shouldtranscend your politics even thoughthey’re informed by them the storyshould come first and if it’s done wellthe politics won’t be a problem for mostpeople if those people like it they willshare it with other people and thosepeople may seek out more stories buymore comics and share what they foundand the cycle will continue but if youspend your time attacking the customersthey’re just not going to buy your booksand like i said before they have plentyof alternatives but hey at least kellysue dekonick finally admitted the truthshe’s comic’s gate or at least comicskated jason ironically if she didactually call herself comic skate she’dsell more booksbut what do i know i’m just some guy
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