Well, let’s see here. I’ve been taking stock of the column, and I’ve come to the realization that we aren’t doing a lot of BRIANSTORMING here! I mean, it’s what this thing is CALLED, for goodness sakes. So, put on your Gallagher ponchos everyone, I’m going to start flinging out some weird stuff just to see it on the internet. And remember, there is no such thing as a bad idea in brainstorming, because if you only have one bad idea, you aren’t doing it right! HA!
BIDDING. Boom. There’s an idea. Any of you in internet land a contractor? See folks, in the construction world ( or military technology world, eep ) contractors bid on projects. The people who can do the best job for the least cash get the gig, or so the theory goes. This principal could apply to professional digital comics. Anyone of the major comic publishing companies could do this. All they need are: some character they aren’t using, and some serious legal work. We’ll use DC as an example (though such a big corporation could be a bad choice), because I see them as being the closest to being able to do something like this (with zudacomics.com). First they’d set up a comic community sight for discussion and networking among amateur talent (something like zeroes2heroes.com). Everyone gets a profile/portfolio page, and starts making nice and getting creative teams together. Then DC would post a job or twelve on the main page like BRIANIAC AND FRIENDS, AQUAMAN YEAR 100, or YOUNG ALL-STARS BACK TO SCHOOL EXTRAVAGANZA. Any property that just couldn’t get a spot on the newsstands, but could still draw an audience.
And then the amateurs just go crazy coming up with pitches and sample pages submitted by internet forms, each team claiming they can do it cheaper than the last. At the end of the day, the poor chumps that have to go through the submissions come up with a couple they like and run them past the higher-ups. A month later, the new creative team on AQUAMAN YEAR 100 is announced and starts cranking out X number of pages Y times a month. They sell the comics over iTunes or their own website for a buck-a-pop for desktops and mobile devices, then collect the successful ones in trade. Boom. Comics become cheap, disposable entertainment again without affecting the print market at all.
Now, I’m not a big-city lawyer, or a media empire big wig. I’m sure there are 17 obvious reasons why the couldn’t work as presented. But hey, it’s an idea, and ideas are currency in the age of information.
OH and don’t forget about the B:DC June Challenge ONLY ONE WEEK LEFT!
Agree, disagree? Questions, comments? Love poems, hate lymerics? Want to congratulate me on a sweet new logo? Email: latino.kyle (at) gmail (dot) com.
-Kyle Latino
June 25th, 2009 at 9:35 am
I don’t get why Image hasn’t already done this. For a company that relies on creator-owned titles - it would make sense to do a zuda like comic contest every few months and pick the cream of the crop and give ‘em a chance at a title… I mean these characters and their comics would have a built in audience, etc.