Over at Panel and Pixel, creators talk about why it’s comics for them, and one answer keeps popping up:
“Complete autonomy. i realize that’s a simplified answer, but it’s the truth. comics can literally be a one person show from start to finish. very very very few other mediums have that option, and the ability to make a living that way (not accounting for level of difficulty). it’s one of the last bastions of entertainment where a person’s ideas and visions can be presented as they want without being watered down or subject to a company line.”
“Like the Outer Limits I control the horizontal and the vertical, I can’t find that in other media. I’ve had the pleasure of adapting / developing one of my titles for TV Animation. The option money is nice. For 2 years I saw the difference in ‘working by committee’ versus working as a sole creator. Granted I had a positive experience, even with the studio changes made to the property. But it opened my eyes to the true meaning of ‘creator-owned’. For so long, it was all I knew that I simply took it for granted.”
“When I produce my comics (the best way for me to put it) I have complete control over everything, if something screws up, it’s on me. I make my own demands on myself. When I do special effects make-up or do storyboards everything gets tailored to the person I’m working for. When I create a costume, it is by request and has to work for the person who’s asking for it. My comics are my own, made by me for me.”
“Autonomy nails it in one — for the cartoonist reasonably satisfied with his or her abilities as writer and artist can essentially pour their head onto the page.”
