#amwritng #comics #comicsgate Why I Support #Comicsgate

I support #comicsgate.

There I have said it.

And given Comicsgate’s reputation, and the rewriting of it’s history in the media — for instance in the Washington Post or the Guardian, as well as a whole host of online publications — no doubt you’ll take me for some alt-right transphobic mysognist or whatever.

However there is something that people are completely over-looking in all of this. Namely that all of this press coverage is rather missing the point.

There are various reasons why Ethan Van Scriver and Richard C Meyer have become the focus: they both have large Youtube followings, they both produce regular content, and they have both benefited from the Streisand Effect.

However what the critics fail to perceive, is Mr Van Scriver’s show Comicsgate Live also sells comics, by bringing on creators, allowing the audience to get to know them, and promoting their work.

Now I get it… I’m not a fan of the whole “soy-boy” this and “SJW” that… but what I don’t understand is why instead of endlessly screaming “Nazi”, like some extra from Invasion of the Body Snatchers, why people don’t adopt the the hashtag and use the business model.

But it’s toxic, you might say.

Well maybe, given the endless algo seeding going on, and the biased reporting in the media.

However, at some point people will wake up and understand something very simple — namely the way the algos work.

Yes, yes, I realise we are all special, and independent thinkers, and total unbiased, rational and objective in our view of the world: but computers aren’t.

It is well known that by creating two accounts, on say Youtube, and depending upon your initial searches, after a relatively short space of time you will get wildly varying content appeared in you recommended feed. Therefore I would suggest by recognizing this, if you are comic creator, you would do well to utilize whatever hashtags to break out of the digital ghetto to which you have been assigned.

And rather than join the dog-pile of #comicsgate you might consider using it.

And you might say, “yeah but no but, I’m gay/black/female/trans/etc and I would be wasting my time because the media has told me these people hate me.”

Newsflash… the media lies.

Not all the time. And perhaps not deliberately.

I know when I used to write for magazines, one of the first bits of information I would be given was how much the subject of the article had spent on advertising. The more they spent, the nicer I would be in the article. It’s just the way it works.

There is no need to go all Alex Jones. But it is worth pointing out that Marvel and DC are part of large corporations, and it must be rather irksome when trying to explain the current market to their bosses up the corporate ladder the relative success of #comicsgate products.

Particularly when they spend so much on advertising.

But in a sense we have been here before.

About 15 years ago, on the Radio 4 arts program Front Row (as it was called then) there was discussion about the sudden growth in comics by and for women and the LGBT community.

The problem with their analysis, in hindsight, was that while they argued this would never challenge the Superhero genre, or Manga, it would add to the growth of the market.

And it did. The problem is when you start mixing them together.

Yes, Yes, I know, I know, you have gone off half-cocked, and missed the point I’m making.

Their assumption was that Superhero comics would always sell, no matter what. And that this ready market, and the new market would cross-pollinate but remain distinct. However, and this is a debatable point, the cross pollination has been the usual corporate fudge.

The corporations in an attempt to control the market, and suppress the ‘competition’ have created hamburger-ice cream…

If you want to use the political labels of ‘right’ and ‘left’, the difference then is that #comicsgate was a ‘left’ wing movement, and now it is a ‘right’ wing movement. Oh and the toxicity to pollute the stream of those seeking change had different buzzwords.

Which brings me back to point of promotion.

Crowdfunding comics is not a new thing.

The success of Jawbreakers and Cyberfrog is in large part down to their promotion. Hence why I suggest rather than endlessly hyping them by attacking them, use the hashtag and copy their model. Start Youtube channels, build an audience, tap into that market — particularly if you sense from your recommended feed that you are fenced off from potential customers that support #comicsgate.

Yeah fine, you might get Nerkish roasting you, but so what?

If it gets our name out there, and gets people to see your art, you might just sell some comics.

Which is surely the point.