Supporting Creators and the Meaning of Satire

This is how Dictionary.com defines the term satire:

Satire

[sat-ahyuhr] –noun

1. the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice, folly, etc.

2. a literary composition, in verse or prose, in which human folly and vice are held up to scorn, derision, or ridicule.

3. a literary genre comprising such compositions.

I bring this up because of the recent flap over The Goon creator, Eric Powell's recent video advocating increased genre diversity and originality in comics. The video made heavy use of satire and bitingly crude humor to make its point. Anyone familiar with Powell's work on The Goon should not have been shocked by the content of the video. Yet, here we are.

Seriously?

Often times, when satire does its job well it is because it digs uncomfortably close to the truth. The message Powell was attempting to get across is undeniably true; the comic book industry is dominated by Marvel and DC superhero stories to the point where it can be tough for creators to make a living unless they are working on one of those superhero books. Where many probably felt offended by the video was in the depiction of how creators humble themselves by working on superhero books for Marvel/DC. The way Powell got the point across was by showing a struggling indie creator getting "anally raped" by a superhero — which would be shocking if this weren't coming from the guy who did an issue of The Goon titled Satan's Sodomy Baby.

Anal raping aside, a lot of comic book fans and creators felt personally attacked by Powell's video. My question to them is this: Why did you take a video created by a guy who makes his living off of poop jokes — a video that was obviously intended to be satirical/funny — so seriously? I know when I saw it, I laughed and thought, "Wow, Powell has a point there." I could have gotten bent out of shape because, yeah, I buy quite a lot of mainstream superhero books. I could have felt shamed by Powell's public ridicule of something I enjoy, but then again, I know what satire is. I also happen to completely agree with the message he was using satirical humor to get across; A healthy, diverse comic industry should include superhero books, but not be made up exclusively of them.

Powell's brand of humor rubbed enough people the wrong way that he subsequently removed the video from Youtube and Facebook. He also posted a clarification, basically spelling out that the video was meant to be a funny/satirical jab at the dominance of mainstream superhero comics with a call-to-action for creators to band together in order to strengthen and diversify the industry.

While I find it sad that so many missed the point and took offense with what Powell had to say in his video, I think the controversy may actually help more people become aware of the underlying message. The comic book medium can, and moreover, should, be about more than just superheroes that were created 50 years ago. Like movies and television, comic books are a medium rooted in the visual. Unlike movies and television, comics have not fostered an environment in which multiple genres can thrive. That surely needs to change, both for the creators who want to see their own original ideas put to print, and the readers who want to read them.

Turning to the Positive

Steve Niles, writer of 30 Days of Night and Criminal Macabre among other works, has been posting on his blog about this topic a lot lately. While his message is basically the same as Eric Powell's, his delivery is much less brash. Niles believes the best way to provoke change in the comic industry is for people to band together in a grassroots-style effort. He summed up his feelings thusly:

If you like something, tell your friends. If you love it, tell the world. But if you hate something, just throw it away, don’t buy it again and move on.

Niles' message is punctuated by his desire to keep the conversation positive, something that Powell didn't necessarily do a very good job with. Of course, while Niles wrote a very positive, pro-creator, "Kumbaya" piece, it was Powell's controversial video that really jump-started the conversation in the mainstream comic media. Go figure.

Read Creator-Owned Books and Tell Your Friends

All of this recent noise about creator-owned comics and genre diversity boils down to this; if you read and enjoy independent, creator-owned comics, tell people about them. Tell your friends who read comics. Tell your friends who don't read comics. Tweet about them. Post about them on your Facebook wall. Get the word out however you are able.

I know a lot of people who honestly believe that comic books are all about superheroes, and because they aren't interested in reading about superheroes they won't step foot into a comic shop. What they do not seem to understand is that there are lots of comics out there that cover all kinds of genres. From sci-fi, to pulp-noir, to old west, to romance — there really is something out there for everyone if you know where to look. The problem is in actually knowing where to look and picking up an off-beat book before it disappears into a nose-diving sales chart. If we do nothing else, let's point them in the right direction.