September 10, 2001

TAMPA BOUND

The rumors, and finally the press releases are true.

As of March 1st I join the CrossGen Team down in Florida.

Why am I doing it?

Well, let me lay to rest any idea that it's a dissatisfaction with the folks I work with at DC Comics (or those great guys at Bongo!). I was offered the opportunity of a lifetime when Denny O'Neil invited me to write for them. The opportunity to work with classic comic book icons and some of the greatest talents in the business exceeded my wildest dreams as a rookie freelancer. And I'm grateful for the kind of artistic freedom with their household name stable that they afforded me.

I am parting company with DC on the best of terms. The transition from my run to the new writers will be smooth and co-operative. And, since I work well ahead of schedule, you'll be seeing me on those books well into next year.

I'll miss the peoples I worked with and the characters whose careers I've guided. The happy memories would take a book to catalogue.

So, why am I leaving?

Well, as much affection as I have for Batman and Robin and all those wonderful creations I loved in my childhood, it's the medium of comics I love the most.

I see that medium becoming a mere adjunct of the movie and toy industries. I see an almost planned irrelevance in the future of comics. And the greatest reaction I see from people at the Big Two is to merely shrug at this fate with a "what can we do?"

But more and more I grow uneasy and even angry with the Big Two and their unwillingness to promote comics outside of the direct sales system. The Powers That Be at both Marvel and DC seem to be content with patting themselves on the back as the market shrinks away to nothing. We chase the same dollar from the same shriveling fan base with variation son the same product. The emphasis on superheroes is maddening.

One more superhero is not going to save the business let alone the art.

Once upon a time the comics industry did all kinds of comics for all ages. The average person read comic books. Maybe not every month. Maybe not as a fan. But there was an enormous casual readership that supported hundreds of titles on newstands and spinner racks everywhere. In most cases one issue of one title back then sold more copies in one month than an entire line of comics does today.

Horror, western, war, humor, mystery, historical, romance and adventure comics sold in huge numbers. DC was carried through the dry '70s not by Superman and Batman but by Sgt Rock and Jonah Hex.

But, as the direct market rose and became a goldmine that could save the companies from flagging sales, the newstand and all those casual readers were abandoned. Direct sales was driven by dedicated fans. Fans ran the stores. Fans supplied the clientele. The energy created by this attracted the speculators and the writing was on the wall.

Now we're at the tail end of the direct sales era whether anyone wants to admit that or not. But if you ask a bigwig at the Big Two what they're doing about this they'll tell you about the movie that's in the works featuring one of their characters. Trust me, movie ticket sales (even hit movies) do not translate into comic sales. Other excuses flow when you ask the tough questions about where the new comics audience will be found. "We don't know how to do that." "We don't have the people for that." "We'll wait and see what our competition does."

So, I'm staring into the abyss and no one's staring back.

I'm worried that the medium I love, those stories told in those silly little panels, is going to go the way of puppet shows and vaudeville. And even if it survives it'll only be an endless parade of "heroes with attitude" or vapid, nihilistic tales of violence told by "too cool" creators.

Then I get an invite from the clown down in Florida who's been stealing all my artists. And I go down and visit.

Man, I hate Florida. But it's a chance to see my pals and, boy, their books are awful pretty. What if this guy's on to something? I get a huge box of comics from them and read almost all of them in a few days. Something I haven't been able to do with any other comp boxes I've gotten in recent memory. The books are entry-level. They're written to attract the casual reader. The production is tops and the storytelling is sophisticated. They endeavor to engage the eye on each page. And the art…I thought I knew these guys. But since moving to Tampa they're doing the best work of their lives. I mean it. They've captured a sense of wonder I haven't felt since lying on the living room floor as a kid staring holes in the Prince Valiant Sunday funnies.

There's a synergy in the place that's enthusiastic.

It didn't take much more than that to win me over. Mark Alessi is a no-nonsense guy and didn't flinch at the tough questions. He had a ready, and impassioned, answer for anything I threw at him. So many times he said things that I've heard myself say that I lost count. And not just gripes and complaints, friends. The guy is full of plans and positive, pro-active ways to recapture the magic and sales and exposure that comics once had. He has an over-riding enthusiasm for this medium that mirrors my own.

Maybe he's not the savior of comics we've been waiting for. But at least he's investing his heart and time and a boatload of cash to try and change things.

Oh, and the sky is the limit on the genres I'll be able to explore.

That's the clincher.

I begin work there in March. My first CrossGen books won't appear for months following that. But, since I tend to work far ahead there won't be a Chuck Dixon dry spell on the comics racks. I've written well into next year for DC and a few stories for Bongo and there's still a Wildstorm/DC crossover I promised to do. I'm going up to DC this week for a kind of transition meeting to plot out the easiest way to affect the handing over of my books.

I will play a part in choosing the talents who take on my books. I urge you to continue to support them.

Here on the site nothing will change. We'll talk about whatever you folks want to bring up. This won't become a mouthpiece to promote CrossGen. They have a terrific site of their own for that. And I'm free to comment on anything and everything that comes up.

And if I'm absent for a few days here and there it's 'cause I got several tons of accumulated stuff to pack.

Chuck