Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.info
From: [fuy 1] at [umbc.edu] (Francis A Uy)
Subject: CON: Diamond Seminar Report, Frank Miller's speech
Date: 21 Jun 1994 08:42:02 -0400

Diamond Retailers Seminar, day two, part two

Sunday, June 12

Including: Frank Miller Keynote Speech

There's quite a wait before dinner starts.  We sit around on the balcony.
 12 feet away, Image guys (Rob, Mark, Erik & Jim) are hanging out with
 John Byrne's art dealer.  I think they're trying to trade original pages
 or something.  Meanwhile Todd is addressing a throng, explaining why #21
 really *should* be ahead of #19 & 20, and why when he has people do
 work-for-hire it doesn't diminish Spawn's quality.  etc.

6:00  Dinner

Conrad Stinnet of WaRP has dinner with the net.crew.   We chat a while
 about the godawful nominees for the Gem Awards, 'the comics version of
 the Oscars.'  A few truly heinous examples:  Deathmate Prologue is a
 nominee for Best Comic under $3, Turok #1 for Best Comic over $3, and
 there are the entire categories of 'Best Marketing Campaign' and
 'Innovation of the Year' (i.e. Levvy of the year).  Eyuhh.

8:00  A Sudden Exodus

Dave Sim's Radisson Party is ready to roll.  A ragtag fleet of fans
 & self publishers departs the Convention Center, including Scott McCloud
 & Colleen Doran.  For some reason I think about Battlestar Galactica. 
 The Robster hasn't mentioned any plans for it yet.

We discuss the proliferation of cheesecake for a few minutes.  I wish
 there were more female retailers & professionals in comics.  Then they
 couldn't invite Brinke, Vampirella, the Wizard model, Penthouse Pets,
 Cry For Dawn, etc to the trade show in costume.  The Vamps promo from
 Vertigo looks mediocre.  Instead of Diamond's slogan "More Services for
 Your Success", we decide "More Butt-Shots for Your Success" is an
 accurate reflection of many people's attitudes.

Finally, the Big Event.

8:20  Frank Miller Keynote Speech

Frank begins by asking everyone to stand in toast for Don Thompson, the
 greatest comics fan, and Jack Kirby, the greatest comics artist.  Then,
 like a bolt from the blue, his assault begins.

"An Age has passed with Jack's death.  I will not call it the Marvel Age,
 because I do not believe in rewarding thievery."  Bam!  The crowd reels.

Frank changes his tempo, and tells a story of his youth (which may or
 may not be true).  "Comics are weird, sure."  When he was a boy, a big
 kid named Freddy Markham used to bully him for being small and weird.

As a child, Frank believed he was Superboy.  He wore a Superboy costume
 under his clothes.  Until Freddy beat him up.  Frank grew up that day;
 now he believed he was Spiderman, since Spidey had problems too.  But
 Frank fought back, and earned Freddy's respect.  He learned to survive.

"Our forebears stormed the beaches of Normandy, beat Adolf Hitler, really
 did save the whole world, and along they way they brought us comics.
 But history is often written by the villains.  We must not forget our
 history, and we must honor our dead."

"'misconceptions.'  'the outside world.'  Too many people don't know the
 truth about our history."  Frank rails against that great infamy of
 comicdom, the Comics Code Authority.  "What everyone doesn't remember
 is that Frederic Wertham *LOST*.  Even in the paranoid 1950's, the
 United States Senate *vindicated* comics, and said comics were not to
 blame for juvenile delinquency."

"Why would a vital industry castrate itself?  The industry had a problem.
 A problem named William Gaines.  William Gaines was that rarest of
 creatures, an intelligent publisher."  The other publishers couldn't
 compete with him fairly, so they made the Comics Code to destroy him.
 Frank then recites from the original Code, where it banned all comics
 with the words 'crime', 'shock', 'horror', 'fear', etc in the title.

"Misconceptions:  our industry cringes like a battered child.  'Nobody
 will bother us if we apologize.'  'Warnings on the cover will protect
 us.'  'The storm troopers will let us go if we say we're sorry.'  Let
 me tell you, cover advisories are NOT protection, they are a BEACON
 to our would-be censors.  We need to stand up to Freddy Markham."

"It's all a matter of choices, and whether we'll be left free to make
 them."  Frank talks about his position with the Comic Book Legal Defense
 Fund, and gets a round of applause for Denis Kitchen (CBLDF founder).

"We are in the publishing business.  We sell *books*.  Bookstores don't
 put warnings on the covers of novels.  Book publishers don't read a
 manuscript and ask 'Will this rate an R?'  Cover advisories will move
 us away from the safety of publishing."

Frank then mounts a defense of Neal Adams, calling him a hero and a
 visionary.  He fought for artist's rights.  "In the early days, at least
 one publisher routinely shredded original art as a matter of policy. 
 Often, the completed art pages were given back -- to the *writer*. 
 Neal Adams taught us that company loyalty is an oxymoron."

Next on the chopping block is Jim Shooter, and his attempt to rewrite
 the history of creator's rights.  "I knew Jim Shooter wrote this title
 called Legion of Super Heroes, but I didn't know he was Duo Damsel."
 POW!  A roaring mixture of cheers, laughs & outrage fills the room.

"Marvel Comics thinks that fans are so stupid they can't tell good books
 from bad.  But they can be forgiven this, since their sales aren't
 leaving in droves, like the talent is."  This shot gets all cheers,
 except for a few tables near the front.  Gee, who's sitting there?

But Frank, didn't you used to work for Marvel?  He answers the unspoken
 question.  "I knew the rules coming in the door.  They can fire you
 whenever they want.  It doesn't matter if the title is popular.  Ask
 Chris Claremont, ask Louise Simonson, ask Jo Duffy."  Cheering fills
 the room again.

"I love Sin City.  I write it.  I draw it.  There will be no fill-in
 issues.  I can make that promise, because I *own* Sin City."

"At Marvel, Todd McFarlane and the talented circus [...] were the best
 paid creators in the industry.  But they knew that the best they could
 achieve is the status of well-paid servants.  So they quit.  And even
 better, they all quit *at once*."

So Marvel shook its head and said 'they'll be back.'  "And I'm sure that
 as they lay in bed at night, they asked themselves 'did we just make
 the mistake of our lives?'"  

But Image succeeded, wildly.  And Frank wants to know why people hate
 them so much.  "The number one comic is creator owned, so why isn't
 every artist in the industry celebrating?"  He steps back, pausing for
 the required applause.  And it is there.

"They inspired Legend, Bravura, and more to come."

"It's a scary time, because change is always scary.  But the pieces are
 all in place."  The comics industry can become better than ever.  And
 I believe him.  A huge standing ovation ensues.

Then we left Steve Geppi and the hideous Gem Awards behind, bound for
 Dave Sim's place.

--

More later.  Up next, Patman's rebuttal to Miller's speech, and my tale
 of the Radisson Party.

-F