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toptwothreefilms.com > Films > Andrew Wildman Interview 1
Andrew Wildman
November 17, 2004
A discussion related to Adventures Into Digital Comics.
1) Can you tell us about your background?
Pretty “normal” really. After school I went to do a Graphic Design degree at DeMontfort University in Leicester England.
2) You’ve been a comic book artist for years. What do you find in comics that you wouldn’t find in another type of visual exercise?
The opportunity to create characters in a fantastic world. Like directing a movie with an unlimited budget.
3) What was the overall mood in the industry when you began your career? What was its commercial state? How has it evolved?
The overall state of the industry when I started in 1985 (more or less) was healthy. Comics had largely been the same for many years but were beginning to change. Titles such as Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns were giving the industry a much needed boost and raising its game. It was a very good time. The '80s and early '90s saw a lot of development in ideas and the marketing of comic books. New technology with computer graphics gave those often overlooked tasks of lettering and coloring a much needed boost and every comic began to look like a prestige publication. The late '90s unfortunately saw the bubble burst and we are still suffering the aftershock of this.
4) Comic book stores were created during the 70’s as a boosting solution for the market. But as years went by, the direct market became the major distribution channel at the expense of the “newsstand” channel. Do you think that the industry is now paying the price for what was considered as the only viable solution back then?
To a degree, yes. I do think, however that without the direct sales market many publications would have been cancelled and many others would never have seen the light of day. Specialty shops in themselves are not a bad thing. They exist to sell all manner of other products. The real challenge is to make them acceptable to the general reading and media aware public so that more people feel comfortable enough to shop in them.
5) 1986 has been a turning point for the industry with works like Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen. It seems that since then, the comic book audience has grown up with the industry and that there is just no new readers. Has the industry at that time completely forgotten its younger target audience?
The popularity of Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns meant that comics had greater media coverage than they had had for many years, maybe ever. This led to speculators coming into the market. Comics were cool. These speculators came and went and sales plummeted. That artificial sales success meant that for a while publishers were prepared to experiment. The result of this was the publication of many titles that without that boom would never have been deemed realistic to publish. I don't know that in 1986 there was a particularly young readership. The savior of comics in terms of grabbing new readers has, for many years, been the publishing of licensed material. For some obscure reason the hardcore comics readership seem to be unable to accept this fact and see licensed books as some kind of pollutant of their much loved medium. I would be very surprised if Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns attracted new and younger readers. It simply confirmed in the faithful that it was OK to read comics. Licensed books (such as Transformers) are what will attract new young readers. If they like the medium they will stay with it.
6) 1993 was the last profitable year for the American industry. The market has been shrinking ever since. What do you think are the causes of the industry’s collapse in the 90’s?
The bursting of the speculator bubble caused a sudden lack of confidence in the industry. Prior to ‘94 comics buyers were purchasing multiple copies of many titles. They were all cool and all collectible. Almost overnight these comics fans cut down their intake to maybe their real favorite two or three titles and bought only one copy of each. Simple math means that the market will collapse overnight. The irony is that we are probably left with exactly the same fan base that we had before.
7) For the past few years, we’ve seen the big companies trying to improve quality: better paper, big names from other industries, etc. Do you think that it had an impact on sales? What could be a key to solve the sales’ problem?
I guess if I knew the answer to that one I would be far wealthier than I am now ;-)
8) In the 90’s, publishers began to create alternate covers, and made a lot of—sometimes unnecessary—relaunches. What do you think of those “gimmicks”?
In essence there is nothing wrong with “gimmick” covers. They add a different dimension to a publication. The trouble begins when publishers ruthlessly take advantage of their buying public and expect them to want to buy them. The public feels that they are being taken advantage of and lose confidence in the integrity of the publisher. Very unhealthy.
9) To make more money and be able to reach different places such as bookstores, the publishers have created the trade paperback. As an example, many people have read Sandman when it was available on paperback, but not before. Do you feel that the comic book format had its days, and could be replaced by the paperback?
I think both forms of publication have their place. To commission and produce a paperback without any previously published material is too great a risk. To have the material previously published as monthly books means that if that title doesn't succeed it can be cancelled sooner.
10) The early 90’s saw the first digital lettering and coloring in American comic books. Do you think that itd a new world of possibilities as far as storytelling is concerned?
Not really. It put a lot of workers in America out of work when they abandoned the old nine sheet coloring process. I guess that’s “progress.” The advent of computer coloring has made things very versatile but there are some very lazy colorists out there now. New tools mean that anyone who can theoretically use Photoshop will think of themselves as a colorist. Often the computer style coloring sits very uncomfortably with black line artwork. The good colorists are the ones who find a way of enhancing the product with the computer tool rather than just thinking that it makes everything “easier.”
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