Here's the second part of our annual creator survey, and this time out we have some exclusive peeks at some new projects for 2016, as well as what might be hit of something cool to happen...but you'll have to read everything figure out what that is.
Thanks to all for taking the time to participate in this survey especially during the busy holiday time. You can find Part 1 here.
Specifically Derf Backderf’s Facebook photos which show the event held on Saturday and the transformation of a dilapidated Cleveland park into a new, vibrant space, all honoring one of Cleveland’s not memorable citizens. The park has a plaque (above) but also six banners drawn by Joseph Remnant and designed by Pekar’s widow, Joyce Brabner, that tell […]
Derf’s cover for the Éditions çà et là 10th anniversary catalog
The other day, Tom Spurgeon linked to a Facebook post by cartoonist T Edward Bak in which he frets about the “money vs art vs oh god what the hell am I doing” feeling that many in the indie world are having, and which we’ve written about many times. In response I was about to go link to a fantastic FB post by Derf Backderf in which he talks about being a cancer survivor and what he’s done since—delivered the great book My Friend Dahmer, continued to cartoon, enjoyed life with his family, travelled the world. It was a wonderful life affirming post that puts a lot of things into perspective.
But….it was gone.
Along with the rest of Derf’s lively, informative FB page. Becuase Facebook decided that “Derf Backderf” isn’t a real name and turfed his entire account. Never mind that Backderf is his real name and Derf is a long-running nickname that’s good enough for the LIbrary of Congress. Not good enough that he’s won awards, appeared on TV and is a real life person that I and many others have had lunch with. Not good enough for Facebook.
Ever pragmatic, Backderf has already started a new page under his Christian name, John Backderf, but yeah, every other post and conversation lost.
If the Sony hack has taught us anything, it’s that maybe saving every thing on the web for all times isn’t a good idea, but we put our whole lives out in the hands of a few digital players….and they can take it all away in a heartbeat. I wrote a few months ago about how my Tumblr account was removed overnight for some infraction that was never explained to me. I managed to get it back but…oh the humanity. And of course, Google decided that I’m a porn site and took away my AdSense revenue.
I’ve said it before but it bears repeating: DON’T TRUST PROFIT SEEKING COMPANIES TO LOOK OUT FOR YOUR BEST INTERESTS. And Don’t put all your digital eggs in one basket! A few years ago a lot of cartooners switched over to FB as their main outlet, and I can see why — instant feedback from your peers, instant community. But it can all be taken away in an instant for reasons that don’t have anything to do with real life, just silly rules made by people who don’t seem to have any interaction with real life. (Just try to contact a Real Human at Google OR Fb.)
WordPress is also a profit seeking enterprise, but at least they give you the tools to do with as you please. Setting up your own site under your own URL takes a few minutes and a few bucks a year and gives you your OWN turf to do with as you please. It’s amazing that we’ve been given all these great tools for free, and we should take advantage of them, but don’t get seduced into think it’s all for OUR benefit.
As for the malaise thing, I quite enjoyed this quote from Mark Hamill on returning to the role of Luke Skywalker:
Given a second chance at playing Skywalker, three decades after that hero’s journey, the now 63-year-old actor says he tried to appreciate the experience more than he did before. Back when he made the original trilogy, he was just launching his career and the pressure was on. This time he said it was different than when he wrapped shooting on Jedi in 1982. “It’s kind of like Scrooge on Christmas morning. ‘Oh my God, this time I’m going to appreciate it in a way I wasn’t able to as a young man,’” Hamill says. “The fact that it is so special to so many people … it’s hard to believe you could take something for granted like that.”
Here's the second part of our annual creator survey, and this time out we have some exclusive peeks at some new projects for 2016, as well as what might be hit of something cool to happen...but you'll have to read everything figure out what that is.
Thanks to all for taking the time to participate in this survey especially during the busy holiday time. You can find Part 1 here.
I miss the presence of Mr. Pekar in the world.
Awesome.