Fleen: The Awkward Christmas Dinner Of Our Obligation To Existence » I’m Just Gonna Quote R Stevens On This One¹

The Village Voice, in either an incredibly ballsy “fuck you” to an entire industry, or an incredibly clueless display of irony, answers its own question.

Namely, If Cartoons Are So Big, Why Don’t They Pay?, the title of the four page surface-treatment of the economics of cartooning. Right in the middle of page 2 is the answer:

Also, many of the artists in this issue aren’t getting paid, but have contributed work for the exposure¹. [emphasis added so you can’t possibly miss the important bit]

Dear The Village Voice, you could have done a one-graf blurblet and accomplished the same thing. Here, you can have this one for free:

If cartoons are so big, why don’t they pay? It’s because publishers [including us] would rather put together an entire issue focusing on cartoons, but not pay cartoonists for their work. Works for us, sucks to be them. The end.

Let’s shift gears to happier thoughts, shall we? Raina Telgemeier, genial chronicler of dental trauma, got to share some good news yesterday regarding fellow Comics Bakery members John Green and Dave Roman (the latter being Telgemeier’s husband):

Finally announced!! @yaytime & @johngreenart‘s TEEN BOAT to be published in full color by Houghton Mifflin.

For those of you not in the know, TEEN BOAT is an all-ages, very funny, occasionally touching web/print comic that tells a universal story: that of a typical teen who also happens to be a boat. Also, in a stunning proof of the proposition that there’s nothing that the internet can’t ruin, Googling “teen boat” also leads to a porn site that involves alleged teens gettin’ extra naked on a boat.

Please don’t confuse the two if you’re trying to share Green & Roman’s work with your mom, the local librarian, kids that you know, your grandparents, or pretty much anybody that you’d be willing to shake hands with and not immediately want broad-spectrum antibiotics. For more on the good kind of teen boat, the announcement, some comic excerpts, and a video trailer can be found at The Beat.
The thing about the bad kind of teen boat is that — like so much unimaginative modern naked media — it leaves a bad taste in my mouth (yes, yes, “That’s what she said”, moving on) from its exploitative, power-disparity POV. There’s quality naked media out there, by the likes of Jess Fink [NSFW] or Erika Moen [NSFW-ish], stuff that’s personally revealing, romantic, tender, and/or funny.
Another good provider of quality naked media (although that’s far from the extent of his talents, having done by my estimation far less naked media — nakedia? — than non-naked) is Sylvan Migdal, who’s never been satisfied with doing just one comic at a time. Seeing as how Curvy [NSFW or not, depending on the page in question] is in the depths of storyline, it’s naturally time for Migdal to launch another comic, which will apparently happen on 1 June.

Judging from the teaser, I’d say this one is towards the fully-clothed end of the spectrum, albeit the global catastrophe that’s hinted at might change social mores. Proceed with caution at place of employment, and with full enjoyment elsewhere. If you’re dying to know the naked-people quotient of the new strip, you can ask Migdal this weekend at MoCCA Fest, where he will be tabling.

_______________
¹ People die of exposure.

These days they could also write the story “If writing is so great, why doesn’t it pay?” Very interesting history here on some comedians that banded together in a similar situation:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-walker-huffington-post-strike-20110401,0,1035765.story

This makes me so sad for the poor artists that are contributing to the Village Voice. I imagine them locked in a basement where they shove pictures through a slot in the wall in exchange for pinkish food.

[…] Fleen Share:Share […]

Gary it sounds like you just gotta turn SafeSearch on, buddy

Writers have the same problem as cartoonists. There was an interesting piece on the LA Times website about some stand-up comics in the 1970s who were in the same situation and banded together to fight it. It’s called “Why should writers work for no pay?” and I’d link to it except when I tried, my comment was booted as spam.

[Previous comment found and restored from spam filters. Fleen apologizes for the inconvenience.]

[…] the brouhaha over the comics-themed issue, Tony Ortega, Voice editor, had this to say: I wanted to have a big special comics issue, but I had […]

[…] well as those without wares that I had not yet purchased) spoke of what’s coming up — Migdal’s new comic will feature a Victorian lady dealing with planet-destorying space opera; Malki ! spoke about the […]

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I’m Just Gonna Quote R Stevens On This One¹

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