A couple of comments to this post have taken me to task, blaming me for triggering the publisher's 9-page retort with my November 18, 1987 letter, suggesting I could have benefited from software to restrain my worst impulses, that I lived on a different planet than my publisher (I can only agree), and so on.
I stand by what I wrote in 1987 and further what I write above; I have already offered my side of the story more thoroughly in the Afterword to the forthcoming THE COMPLETE MEGATON MAN UNIVERSE VOLUME I: THE 1980s, which, barring World War III (which is only apt), should reach our shores by September of this year.
Although I refer to it as "the nine-page letter," my publisher's response contains about eight pages of text, minus the logo letterhead. Of this, six-and-a-half pages will seem reasonably cogent and even offer useful insights into the state of the industry in 1987, but this is misleading. The arguments made and the facts brought to bear are either completely irrelevant or arguably beside the point. The other one-and-a-half pages include exaggerations, willful distortions, and outright lies which I address further in the Afterword, and will happily annotate further if necessary.
For the time being, suffice it to say that the publisher had previously agreed to publish MEGATON MAN #11 as a black and white comic in February 1987; over the course of the year, they unilaterally decided it needed to be color mini-series with a new #1 on the cover. It is telling that not even estimates of numbers are provided--only the hunch that that a new #1 would sell better.
I thought a new #1 would insult the intelligence of my fans--it was a ploy worthy of a shabby outfit like Solson, not an arthouse publisher such as Kitchen Sink Press--and said so at the time. More importantly, I stated that maintaining the numbering was important to me and my sense of continuing an organic narrative. That in itself should have been sufficient. (I cite several instances of comics series interrupted one way or another that maintained numbering before and since, including several at Kitchen Sink Press, in the Afterword.)
Nonetheless, we did things their way. History, I believe, has proven me right; the gimmick did not work in the long run or even the short run. I would even go so far as to argue that a MEGATON MAN #11 through #14 would have stood a better chance of picking up where MEGATON MAN #10 left off--although I'm sure as I make this assertion it will surely only bring on another request for smelling salts from the publisher. I'm also convinced that the occasion of a MEGATON MAN #11 through #14 would have been the perfect time for reprints of MEGATON MAN #1 and #2--not all in the same month, mind you.
It's more than a bit ironic that while the publisher adamantly refused to reprint those immediately-sold-out issues, they still suggested that I just keep redrawing them over and over again in different guises--a narrative stasis that completely contradicted the character-driven direction I was planning and that my editor, Dave Schreiner endorsed.
I will simply note here that after THE RETURN OF MEGATON MAN #1-#3, which I had plotted and began thumbnailing before my publishers withering diatribe of November 25, 1987, I only managed another two-and-one-third more MEGATON MAN comic book issues (the black-and-white one-shots MEGATON MAN MEETS THE UNCATEGORIZABLE X+THEMS #1, YARN MAN #1, and PTERANOMAN#10) before my imagination completely shut down. I simply could not thread the needle--the cognitive dissonance between my editor and publisher was too great.
And, by the way, I don't think Dave Schreiner was every privy to the nine-page letter.
Again, I address this in greater detail in the Afterword.
As for triggering, I am convinced this had more to do with the hardships of 1987, a painful divorce, the pre-holiday blues, and the embarrassment of seeing a "cornerstone author" have to resort to freelance just to keep a roof over his head, rather than any of the sensible suggestions I made at the time. Sometimes marketing considerations conflict with narrative interests--comic books, like other forms of narrative, are not cans of beans.
One can take whatever side one wishes; I'm not going to reply any further on this thread or to anyone who feels they have a more omniscient view of the matter. I simply note for the historical record that the verbal abuse and name-calling heaped upon me at the time was utterly traumatic, completely undeserved, and had long-term consequences.
One of the reasons I look forward to the publication of the COMPLETE collection is that I will no longer have to count the number of Kitchen Sink Press MEGATON MAN comics on my fingers; they will finally be brought together, reconciling a narrative fracture that was never of my making.
As Jeff Lynne sang, "The record isn't all it might have been."
But more importantly, as Mort Sahl used to say: Onward.
A couple of comments to this post have taken me to task, blaming me for triggering the publisher's 9-page retort with my November 18, 1987 letter, suggesting I could have benefited from software to restrain my worst impulses, that I lived on a different planet than my publisher (I can only agree), and so on.
I stand by what I wrote in 1987 and further what I write above; I have already offered my side of the story more thoroughly in the Afterword to the forthcoming THE COMPLETE MEGATON MAN UNIVERSE VOLUME I: THE 1980s, which, barring World War III (which is only apt), should reach our shores by September of this year.
Although I refer to it as "the nine-page letter," my publisher's response contains about eight pages of text, minus the logo letterhead. Of this, six-and-a-half pages will seem reasonably cogent and even offer useful insights into the state of the industry in 1987, but this is misleading. The arguments made and the facts brought to bear are either completely irrelevant or arguably beside the point. The other one-and-a-half pages include exaggerations, willful distortions, and outright lies which I address further in the Afterword, and will happily annotate further if necessary.
For the time being, suffice it to say that the publisher had previously agreed to publish MEGATON MAN #11 as a black and white comic in February 1987; over the course of the year, they unilaterally decided it needed to be color mini-series with a new #1 on the cover. It is telling that not even estimates of numbers are provided--only the hunch that that a new #1 would sell better.
I thought a new #1 would insult the intelligence of my fans--it was a ploy worthy of a shabby outfit like Solson, not an arthouse publisher such as Kitchen Sink Press--and said so at the time. More importantly, I stated that maintaining the numbering was important to me and my sense of continuing an organic narrative. That in itself should have been sufficient. (I cite several instances of comics series interrupted one way or another that maintained numbering before and since, including several at Kitchen Sink Press, in the Afterword.)
Nonetheless, we did things their way. History, I believe, has proven me right; the gimmick did not work in the long run or even the short run. I would even go so far as to argue that a MEGATON MAN #11 through #14 would have stood a better chance of picking up where MEGATON MAN #10 left off--although I'm sure as I make this assertion it will surely only bring on another request for smelling salts from the publisher. I'm also convinced that the occasion of a MEGATON MAN #11 through #14 would have been the perfect time for reprints of MEGATON MAN #1 and #2--not all in the same month, mind you.
It's more than a bit ironic that while the publisher adamantly refused to reprint those immediately-sold-out issues, they still suggested that I just keep redrawing them over and over again in different guises--a narrative stasis that completely contradicted the character-driven direction I was planning and that my editor, Dave Schreiner endorsed.
I will simply note here that after THE RETURN OF MEGATON MAN #1-#3, which I had plotted and began thumbnailing before my publishers withering diatribe of November 25, 1987, I only managed another two-and-one-third more MEGATON MAN comic book issues (the black-and-white one-shots MEGATON MAN MEETS THE UNCATEGORIZABLE X+THEMS #1, YARN MAN #1, and PTERANOMAN#10) before my imagination completely shut down. I simply could not thread the needle--the cognitive dissonance between my editor and publisher was too great.
And, by the way, I don't think Dave Schreiner was every privy to the nine-page letter.
Again, I address this in greater detail in the Afterword.
As for triggering, I am convinced this had more to do with the hardships of 1987, a painful divorce, the pre-holiday blues, and the embarrassment of seeing a "cornerstone author" have to resort to freelance just to keep a roof over his head, rather than any of the sensible suggestions I made at the time. Sometimes marketing considerations conflict with narrative interests--comic books, like other forms of narrative, are not cans of beans.
One can take whatever side one wishes; I'm not going to reply any further on this thread or to anyone who feels they have a more omniscient view of the matter. I simply note for the historical record that the verbal abuse and name-calling heaped upon me at the time was utterly traumatic, completely undeserved, and had long-term consequences.
One of the reasons I look forward to the publication of the COMPLETE collection is that I will no longer have to count the number of Kitchen Sink Press MEGATON MAN comics on my fingers; they will finally be brought together, reconciling a narrative fracture that was never of my making.
As Jeff Lynne sang, "The record isn't all it might have been."
But more importantly, as Mort Sahl used to say: Onward.