Sunday, January 12, 2020

SELF-INFLICTED WRITER’S BLOCK

I blame me. I had hoped to hit the internet running in 2020. After posting my “things that made me happy in December” bloggy thing on New Year’s Day, I started work on a two-or-three-day piece on what happened in 2019 and what I planned for 2020. Yes, it was terribly self-centered. So is today’s. You can’t say I didn’t warn you right at the start.

In January of last year, I attended the Black Lightning Season Two wrap party in Atlanta and hung around the studio where the show is filmed for a few days afterwards.

Without fail, everyone working on the series showered me with love and respect. People thanked me for their jobs and for creating an iconic character that means so much to so many people. I was asked to speak at the wrap party and so got the opportunity to tell them how much their work meant to me and their fans.

On the set itself, I was treated like an honored guest by everyone. China Anne McClain came out of a scene in her Lightning costume and, seeing me, ran over to hug me. Marvin (Krondon) Jones III and I had conversations, including having lunch with him and Bill Duke.  I talked comics with Jordan Calloway and some story ideas with Mara Brock Akil. I sat behind Salim Akil as he directed scenes from the second season finale. I had lunch with Christine Adams. I signed a bunch of comic books for the show’s construction crew. I was given a tour of standing sets and sets in progress.

As I wandered through and around the two large buildings comprising the studio, I felt like I was dreaming. All this had started back in 1976 with my determination to create something special. And now, in 2019, incredibly talented people were doing so much more with my creation. I never wanted to leave the studio.

Of course, I did have to leave. I mean, once the shooting wrapped, there would have been no crafts services to feed me.

When I returned to my home in Medina, I found myself struggling to breathe. Mentally, not physically. The disconnect between how much love and respect I got from my extended Black Lightning family in Atlanta and how little love and respect I got from the publishing company who owns Black Lightning and, for that matter, almost every other comics publishing company, was overwhelming. I still struggle to deal with it.

My life in comics is bipolar. 

On the good side of that, I get lots of love and respect from the convention promoters who book me for events. From the fans I meet at those events. From my fellow creators at those events. 
The fans and some creators often think I must be rolling in royalty money. I’m not. I’ve gotten some good checks in the past few years, but I have also watched Warner Brothers and its various branches leave a lot of money - some of it mine - on the table. If I’d been writing just one comic book a month for one of the Big Two, I would’ve made over twice as much as I made last year.

One thing my fellow creators have right is that, as noted above, I am treated wonderfully by the Black Lightning series and those who work on it. After several conversations, I came to realize mine is an unusual case. It shouldn’t be, but it is.

In addition, I get treated well by the news media. The real media. Not the online jerks who traffic in rumor and practice a cowardly “let’s you and him fight” style of faux-journalism. Not the elite comics sites who ignore mainstream creators. Not the sites who will post endless stories about comics-based movies and TV series sans mention of the creators who inspired such entertainments. For the most part, those comics “news” sites will fall on the bleak side of my bipolar life in comics.

Then there’s all the comics publishers who don’t/won’t hire me to write for them. Who apparently don’t realize they can put “From the creator of Black Lightning” on the covers of anything I might write for them. Heck, if they have enough room, they could add Tigra and Misty Knight to that blurb.

This ridiculous disconnect put me in a year-long nightmare. I didn't handle it well. I could've written four books last year, but, every time I started writing any of them, I was paralyzed.

Not with doubt because I know I can write as well and, in my not-so-humble estimation, better than I have in my nearly half-century in the comics industry. It was exhaustion.

Simple exhaustion with a comics industry that has almost never made logical sense to me or, if they’re being honest, anyone else who has or is working in the industry. Exhaustion.

I could go on and on about dumb stuff in the industry. I could go on and on about the frustration I feel when comics news sites only offer click-bait nonsense and ignore actual news stories. But I’m tired of writing about dumb stuff.

Going forward...

There are many things I want to do and write. I’m not writing about them today. Some are in various stages of completion. Others might exist only as a page or two of notes. When they’re ready to go, I will either post them online or shop them around. I am determined to be much more productive in 2020.

If you’re an editor, publisher or artist who wants to work with me, e-mail me. If you have a gig for me, I’ll let you know ASAP if I’m able to accommodate you. I’m not going to take on assignments that I don’t believe I can do well or do for the money you’re offering or complete in a timely fashion. I’ll be honest with you as I hope you will be honest with me.

If you’re a convention or other event promoter who would like me as a guest at your convention or event, e-mail me. I’ll send you what I need to make that happen. If we can come to terms, that’s great. If we can’t, no harm, no foul. I worked on a lot of conventions for my friend Roger Price and I know what they involve.

That’s all for now. Three columns worth of self-involved blathering reduced to just one. You’re welcome.

I’ll be back soon with more stuff.
  
© 2020 Tony Isabella

4 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for this bittersweet inside scoop, Tony, and for your valued contributions to the nerdiverse. With all hope, a year from now you'll be posting about how much you actually managed to accomplish in 2020. That's my wish for you, anyway.

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  2. If you're looking for new column ideas, Tony, you haven't done one on the Universal Yums since the package for Greece.

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    1. There won't be any more Universal Yums columns. One of the ways I'm combating my at one point dangerously high blood sugar levels is giving up snacks. Since I never had nutrition information on the snacks in the UY boxes, I cancelled my subscription to the program. Which also saves me money at a time when my "disposable income" isn't what I would like it to be.

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    2. That's a shame, Tony, but completely understandable. Carry on!

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