Diseased #Comicsgate - The Culture Wars Hit The Funny Books!

[FROG]

For the next pic put a quarter next to it to reference size.

Yeah, I'll do that when it's in my hands.

 

[Brother Maynard]

Yeah, I'll do that when it's in my hands.

They don't have quarters in China?

 

[WhimsicalTrolli]

Correct. At the time JBP was doing a favor by giving a job to an unemployed artist who was Rightfully dismissed because of telling a fan to kill himself and a history of being a late and gay jackass to work with.

Maybe.

 

[Brother Maynard]

The book sold 3 million copies why the fuck are you arguing that Frog should be giving what amounts to charity for Jordan Peterson?
Peterson could easily afford whatever price it would require to make pull Frog away making Frog comics and still make ungodly profit; he chooses not to.

True. It would be a waste of money to try and pay him what his paypigs pay him.

 

[Newman's Own]

You know, even a kindergarten kid whose seen the movies could kinda tell Peter Parker's real passion was photography, despite being into science.

If you read Spider-Man from the beginning you'd see that Peter was all about the science and chemistry played a huge role. Parker's web fluid was not created by 3M.

Peter has never taken photography seriously and was often criticised for his poor photography skills. Peters passion for photography has generally been as a way to make some money off the Spidey gig whenever Aunt May needed heart surgery of the mortgage bill was over due.

I'm sure the people who've been supporting Poulter are going to get a rude awakening once the news breaks to them, if they've even bothered to look that the person leading their charge is only in it to nope out later.

Poulter has been fairly transparent about being a film maker and telling everyone his White Lily book is a passion project intended for film that he adapted to comics format as he had little hope for getting such an expensive film produced. His fans know this already. I don't think most care so long as Preston keeps fighting the Frog.

If I was going to work with Frog, I would want a % of all campaigns that uses my coloring or work in addition to being paid up front.

You wouldn't be working for Frog any longer. Anyone who is work for higher and DEMANDS a cut of the back end is likely to find out how replaceable they are.

Valuable or not I'd think EVS would drop Ritter as fast as Meyer dropped Malin for cheaper pastures.

LOLsuit incoming.
Apparently SJW's aren't happy about their whisper network getting "Melissa morgued" so they are assmad and threatening to sue.
Let's see how this plays out.

I don't think BF is in any real danger here. If they were HuffPo and Slate would be litigated into oblivion by now.

After all the industry was always at it's best when people who treated it like just another business and weren't dazzled by lore or cultural artsy-fartsy impact were in control.

Comics went to shit when fans took over and became "pros".

Why would he do another deal with JBP when he could draw 12 variant covers for his next comic and make 120k?

Because he might have an opportunity to do the work and keep the art to resell this time and a million+ selling book likely to be part of the cultural zeitgeist for the next few decades would make the art more valuable than what Frog claims to be getting from paypigs for covers.

Like or hate JBP his book is a historical artifact now and that art is likely priceless since Peterson is a collector and likely won't sell the originals from the first book.

Also there's the opportunity to ask for that 1% or maybe less of the second book. Though if Ethan had gotten that he probably would have done the work on time instead of bitching on stream as Vikki describes.

JBP can't afford him anymore. His next book isn't guaranteed to sell as well and why waste time on a maybe when frog comics are a sure thing?

JBP can afford to buy and sell Ethan 10 times over following his speaking tour, book sales and crowd funded support the last few years. Peterson is a cultural phenomenon and his next book being a best seller is pretty much guaranteed. 12 illustrations for his book could be extremely lucrative (6 figures) for the artist provided that artist knows how to market and Ethan knows how to market.

The book sold 3 million copies why the fuck are you arguing that Frog should be giving what amounts to charity for Jordan Peterson?
Peterson could easily afford whatever price it would require to make pull Frog away making Frog comics and still make ungodly profit; he chooses not to.

And why would he? Frog's subsequent behavior has not been what I would think Peterson might find endearing with the harassment campaigns, purity testing cancel culture and drunken incest rape ballads being the high points..

It would be charitable for JBP to continue to associate with Ethan's brand considering Ethan's change in public behavior over the last couple years since doing the first book.

It would be good for Ethan's brand but at least risky for Peterson's at this point. Who needs that kind of charity when there are literally thousands of other options available and ready to get to work immediately.

LOLsuit incoming.
Apparently SJW's aren't happy about their whisper network getting "Melissa morgued" so they are assmad and threatening to sue.
Let's see how this plays out.

http://archive.md/pVYLJ

View attachment 1442611View attachment 1442612View attachment 1442614

" The Civil War gets a much-needed dose of feminism"

Because the Civil War was about man-spreading and the feminine hygiene "taxes".

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/revenge-thriller-kill-whitey-donovan-brings-a-new-flavor-civil-war-1239748

 

[Analog Devolved]

If you read Spider-Man from the beginning you'd see that Peter was all about the science and chemistry played a huge role. Parker's web fluid was not created by 3M.

Peter has never taken photography seriously and was often criticised for his poor photography skills. Peters passion for photography has generally been as a way to make some money off the Spidey gig whenever Aunt May needed heart surgery of the mortgage bill was over due.


Poulter has been fairly transparent about being a film maker and telling everyone his White Lily book is a passion project intended for film that he adapted to comics format as he had little hope for getting such an expensive film produced. His fans know this already. I don't think most care so long as Preston keeps fighting the Frog.


You wouldn't be working for Frog any longer. Anyone who is work for higher and DEMANDS a cut of the back end is likely to find out how replaceable they are.

Valuable or not I'd think EVS would drop Ritter as fast as Meyer dropped Malin for cheaper pastures.


I don't think BF is in any real danger here. If they were HuffPo and Slate would be litigated into oblivion by now.


Comics went to shit when fans took over and became "pros".


Because he might have an opportunity to do the work and keep the art to resell this time and a million+ selling book likely to be part of the cultural zeitgeist for the next few decades would make the art more valuable than what Frog claims to be getting from paypigs for covers.

Like or hate JBP his book is a historical artifact now and that art is likely priceless since Peterson is a collector and likely won't sell the originals from the first book.

Also there's the opportunity to ask for that 1% or maybe less of the second book. Though if Ethan had gotten that he probably would have done the work on time instead of bitching on stream as Vikki describes.


JBP can afford to buy and sell Ethan 10 times over following his speaking tour, book sales and crowd funded support the last few years. Peterson is a cultural phenomenon and his next book being a best seller is pretty much guaranteed. 12 illustrations for his book could be extremely lucrative (6 figures) for the artist provided that artist knows how to market and Ethan knows how to market.


And why would he? Frog's subsequent behavior has not been what I would think Peterson might find endearing with the harassment campaigns, purity testing cancel culture and drunken incest rape ballads being the high points..

It would be charitable for JBP to continue to associate with Ethan's brand considering Ethan's change in public behavior over the last couple years since doing the first book.

It would be good for Ethan's brand but at least risky for Peterson's at this point. Who needs that kind of charity when there are literally thousands of other options available and ready to get to work immediately.



" The Civil War gets a much-needed dose of feminism"

Because the Civil War was about man-spreading and the feminine hygiene "taxes".

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/revenge-thriller-kill-whitey-donovan-brings-a-new-flavor-civil-war-1239748

Here's a little known fact about art. No matter how much money you throw at an artist if they don't want to draw something they won't.
JBP may be extremely wealthy but offering more money to Ethan won't change his current market value of roughly 1k for interior pages and 10k+ for covers. That's way more than most artists are getting by a long shot.

Without showing a bunch of autistic links to fine art galleries there are artists with 40+ years of experience that are the leaders in their field who still struggle to get 10k for their work. Many of their paintings languish on the walls of the gallery for months or years before a wealthy collector buys them. Ethan waits days and sells his art for premier gallery prices without having to pay for space on a wall in Honolulu or Los Angeles.

I can't speak for EVS but holding onto artwork for years is a losing game if you can sell it today. He gets most of his cash from the reprint of his artwork in the form of a comic book, the OA is a nice bonus but not his big money maker. JBP can literally hire anyone, Ethan is currently busy and why stop to do JBP a favor?
I could offer Ethan 10k to draw a MLP fan art and he's not going to accept. Same reason the guys who sell through fine art galleries sell their work for 10-25k but charge a million to do a commission piece.
For JBP to outright own the copyright to Ethans work makes no sense in an environment where Ethan owning the copyright to his own work is so lucrative. He does CG cover work for free knowing the copyright on something like "trixie cain" is intrinsically less valuable and he can stipulate in the contract its solely for cover art purposes and not posters etc.
I've tried to hire artists at their going rate and they have said "no". Offering more money doesn't usually change their minds.

Peterson luring Ethan away from frog comics with money is like trying to lure a first nation's artist away from Orca carvings to do frog comics.
There are hundreds of artists that Peterson can acquire without waiting that will be different than EVS, but just as good for the purposes of chapter illustrations in a self-help book.

Preston fighting Ethan is gay and retarded. It's not funny and while doing expose's on things like ribbitcoin is fair game, and criticizing the weird page rippling from his first book is also fair game, CG is a niche market and makes up a small percentage of comics. The harassment campaigns spawned a shit ton of backlash that got Ethan and most of his crew doxed. Its counter productive to BECOME like Ethan and launch your own counter-harassment campaign. Ultimately that's what drives the drama that fuels Ethans channel and the internet blood sports that get so many of these shitty books funded.
Notice how many of these retards in CG are so desperate for content they take to reading and responding to posts on kiwi farms. That's how you know they are losing support. This website is obscure at best, and anonymous opinions are boring if no one here gets involved in the shit.

Comicsgate quit being a "thing" when rules were established to be CG. It's why early supporters were so against boycott lists. Ethan taking over, making it about him, bringing in people like Mike Miller and elevating fans like Edwin and Cecil over everyone else was good for views but horrible for the movement. The culture war in comics has been lost. CG destroyed itself and its now basically the EVS fan club.
Purity testing fans didn't work out, so he got rid of WC. Arguing with critics didn't bring in views so he started blocking. There is no culture war in comics just a battle over customer dollars.

 

[Private Pyle]

Not sure if this belongs here so feel free to rate it dumb, but people are still going on with the Warren Ellis thing. They even made a group detailing his...I guess you could say abuse.

So Many of Us: Recognizing Abuses of Power

We are a collective of people from across the world who were targeted by Warren Ellis, a comics and television writer from the UK.

www.somanyofus.com

 

[Mister Dongs]

Testimonials from Targets of Warren Ellis

Our stories about Warren Ellis demonstrate a pattern of behavior that includes serial emotional manipulation, grooming, coercion, and calculated gaslighting.

www.somanyofus.com

I'm a vocalist, and have made 7 albums with my husband under the moniker Eyedoublecross. Warren then began promoting my work on his website, and added tracks of mine to his Spektremodule podcast.

I never asked for this promotion, and he often lauded me for "not asking for anything", because that "made me real".

In fact, I once shipped him some energy drink concentrate to his home in Southend. He gave me his home address.

When I would send videos, talking to him, he would send back audio clips of deep growls. And telling me that he imagines my voice could send him deeper into his brain than he'd ever been. I made him "weak and powerless".

So, of course, I began doing the research on hypnosis, and spent hours writing scripts just for him. Recording them, or simply Skyping with him, and watching him masturbate while I chanted to him. It became our form of sex. I scrounged for ways to entice him, by buying latex, choking myself, and doing the costumes that I knew he would love.

....

During the summer of 2013, a photographer in New York City, J, told me that she would like to shoot me, and offered to fly to my home in Kentucky. I was VERY nervous in the best ways, assuming that my 37 year old body would look hideous under her lens.

The night I picked J up at the airport, we went to a show at a local bar, and over drinks, she asked about some mutual online friends, and I asked her if she had ever read Warren Ellis' work. She opened up to me and I didn't even realize that tears were sliding over my face until she hugged me. She told me about a carbon copy experience to mine, down to the obsession with full lips, gloves, corsets, etc.

I'm sober now, but that night I proceeded to get so drunk she and my husband had to carry me into my house. I was shell shocked. Nothing felt real. At 7 the next morning, I let him have it. I told him that he had hurt me and I couldn't continue to talk to him.

That self imposed exile lasted a while. Almost 18 months, or until I was alone, scared and needed a familiar ear, again due to marital trouble. I emailed him one night, attaching a photo to get his attention, and even though it was 2am, I was immediately welcomed back into the fold.

Warren found me on Tumblr when I was a burgeoning grad student working on my Master's thesis in comics studies. I believe I was around 24.

He manipulated me into thinking I needed his expertise to make my thesis worth a damn, and that I had to pay for that through nude photos, videos, phone calls, and Skype calls. This went on for roughly 2-3 months before he cut me off.

Holy fuck this site is a goldmine ahahahahaha

Edit;

 

[Zigzag]

Thats just what he sells the interior pages to customers for. My guess is to commission a cover from him would cost around 1k also. Somewhere in this thread he claims he did the CG cover artwork for people for free and he also didn't charge Jordan Peterson for the pages he drew for that book.

I don't think EVS really does commissions anymore. The last time he did was early 2018 I think he charged $400 for a single character.

Not unreasonable pricing. He doesnt appear to be out to screw anyone with oppressive pricing but he doesn't do much concept art for commercial work either.

I don't know how much he sold the original covers for you'd have to ask him. My guess is it was a private deal so we may never know for sure.
Ro posed naked with the EVS cover of Vestige #1 and like I said I'm pretty sure he did that at no charge.
Nasser might be able to tell us if he was charged for the EVS trading card that was done for his book and if he got the original art for it.

He’s lying on the Jordan Peterson pages because he was asked when that book went through the roof if he charged a good price. He said no only I forget the number but it wasn’t free . He then said if he had know how well it did he would’ve charged more this part might’ve been a joke but the first part was not.

 

[Newman's Own]

Here's a little known fact about art. No matter how much money you throw at an artist if they don't want to draw something they won't.
JBP may be extremely wealthy but offering more money to Ethan won't change his current market value of roughly 1k for interior pages and 10k+ for covers. That's way more than most artists are getting by a long shot.

Without showing a bunch of autistic links to fine art galleries there are artists with 40+ years of experience that are the leaders in their field who still struggle to get 10k for their work. Many of their paintings languish on the walls of the gallery for months or years before a wealthy collector buys them. Ethan waits days and sells his art for premier gallery prices without having to pay for space on a wall in Honolulu or Los Angeles.

I can't speak for EVS but holding onto artwork for years is a losing game if you can sell it today. He gets most of his cash from the reprint of his artwork in the form of a comic book, the OA is a nice bonus but not his big money maker. JBP can literally hire anyone, Ethan is currently busy and why stop to do JBP a favor?
I could offer Ethan 10k to draw a MLP fan art and he's not going to accept. Same reason the guys who sell through fine art galleries sell their work for 10-25k but charge a million to do a commission piece.
For JBP to outright own the copyright to Ethans work makes no sense in an environment where Ethan owning the copyright to his own work is so lucrative. He does CG cover work for free knowing the copyright on something like "trixie cain" is intrinsically less valuable and he can stipulate in the contract its solely for cover art purposes and not posters etc.
I've tried to hire artists at their going rate and they have said "no". Offering more money doesn't usually change their minds.

Peterson luring Ethan away from frog comics with money is like trying to lure a first nation's artist away from Orca carvings to do frog comics.
There are hundreds of artists that Peterson can acquire without waiting that will be different than EVS, but just as good for the purposes of chapter illustrations in a self-help book.

Preston fighting Ethan is gay and retarded. It's not funny and while doing expose's on things like ribbitcoin is fair game, and criticizing the weird page rippling from his first book is also fair game, CG is a niche market and makes up a small percentage of comics. The harassment campaigns spawned a shit ton of backlash that got Ethan and most of his crew doxed. Its counter productive to BECOME like Ethan and launch your own counter-harassment campaign. Ultimately that's what drives the drama that fuels Ethans channel and the internet blood sports that get so many of these shitty books funded.
Notice how many of these retards in CG are so desperate for content they take to reading and responding to posts on kiwi farms. That's how you know they are losing support. This website is obscure at best, and anonymous opinions are boring if no one here gets involved in the shit.

Comicsgate quit being a "thing" when rules were established to be CG. It's why early supporters were so against boycott lists. Ethan taking over, making it about him, bringing in people like Mike Miller and elevating fans like Edwin and Cecil over everyone else was good for views but horrible for the movement. The culture war in comics has been lost. CG destroyed itself and its now basically the EVS fan club.
Purity testing fans didn't work out, so he got rid of WC. Arguing with critics didn't bring in views so he started blocking. There is no culture war in comics just a battle over customer dollars.

Ethan says he gets 10 or 15 grand for a cover. Maybe that's true and maybe it's not.

It's a good idea to take Ethan's boasting with a grain of salt.

Ten K for a day to day and a half's work is better money than Ethan makes from any of his revenue streams by a wide margin. If he could consistently get that he'd be doing covers for every CG loser to boost their sales (and his prestige) and pull down an easy tenner every time. He doesn't because even if he does get that money he's getting it from a very small group of fans, possibly only one, and he can't expect them to shell out like that to often.

Working for Peterson would be about bragging rights and not 'money first' but he'd be likely to score high 4 figures to low 5's selling the art immediately given the fact that Peterson's audience is in the millions and is bound to have several whales in the group not to mention Ethan's own whales vying for it.

When I said sitting on it would likely increase the value I meant to buy a house value because the art would likely buy him a luxury car selling it immediately. I wouldn't expect him to sit on the art though.

 

[Zigzag]

Ethan says he gets 10 or 15 grand for a cover. Maybe that's true and maybe it's not.

It's a good idea to take Ethan's boasting with a grain of salt.

Ten K for a day to day and a half's work is better money than Ethan makes from any of his revenue streams by a wide margin. If he could consistently get that he'd be doing covers for every CG loser to boost their sales (and his prestige) and pull down an easy tenner every time. He doesn't because even if he does get that money he's getting it from a very small group of fans, possibly only one, and he can't expect them to shell out like that to often.

Working for Peterson would be about bragging rights and not 'money first' but he'd be likely to score high 4 figures to low 5's selling the art immediately given the fact that Peterson's audience is in the millions and is bound to have several whales in the group not to mention Ethan's own whales vying for it.

When I said sitting on it would likely increase the value I meant to buy a house value because the art would likely buy him a luxury car selling it immediately. I wouldn't expect him to sit on the art though.

Also Peterson book could bring more customers to frog. Peterson audience is bigger then ethan or they where. I’ve kinda of stopped watching him. But I know his Patreon was a lot before him and Dave Rubin started their own service. I since lost interest. So it’s not just the money it’s the eyes you get from Peterson.

 

[Adamska]

It's a ratio of "money vs. ease" and Ethan's proved he prefers the easy way, even if by all means you make less money.

Why do you think he'd rather do cover variants rather than make more issues? Because he knows that about 100 smoothbrains will fling money at all the covers. Why make say 4-6 issues a year when he can just do 1 every two years, but just change the covers six times to trick the mongoloid "collectors"? Fuck building a real brand; that hard.

He's shortsighted as well as narcissistic.

 

[A nameless trool]

Testimonials from Targets of Warren Ellis

Our stories about Warren Ellis demonstrate a pattern of behavior that includes serial emotional manipulation, grooming, coercion, and calculated gaslighting.

www.somanyofus.com

Holy fuck this site is a goldmine ahahahahaha

Edit;

View attachment 1445926

After reading some testimonials, seems like Warren Ellis had a thing for crazy chicks

 

[FROG]

It's a ratio of "money vs. ease" and Ethan's proved he prefers the easy way, even if by all means you make less money.

Why do you think he'd rather do cover variants rather than make more issues? Because he knows that about 100 smoothbrains will fling money at all the covers. Why make say 4-6 issues a year when he can just do 1 every two years, but just change the covers six times to trick the mongoloid "collectors"? Fuck building a real brand; that hard.

He's shortsighted as well as narcissistic.

I guess that's how it appears to people who despise me and obsess over me.

Crowdfunding comics is different. It's different because I'm entirely responsible for the production of all of the materials that I promise, and then I'm entirely responsible for shipping tens of thousands of packages, and then dealing with returns, damages, etc.

I'm also responsible for constantly promoting my campaigns (as well as other creators, which I do voluntarily) on YouTube and social media. When I'm not promoting CYBERFROG every day, CYBERFROG doesn't sell very well.

4-6 issues per year? What length? 22 pagers like Marvel and DC? Why wouldn't I just do one campaign with lots of pages of reading material and then only do fulfillment once? Because that's what this campaign is. 48 pages of REKT PLANET + 20 pages of SALAMANDROID DEATHS STING + 5 pages of THE ORIGIN OF SKORPEONE plus the VILLAINS GALLERY. And that's not counting the reprint material I'm sending out. That's all the new stuff.

Variant covers just make good sense. They're prized, they have a high resale value, and people want them. I don't do them instead of doing new books, I do them to add profit to the new books I'm producing.

My theory is that one or two large projects per year is a better plan than a monthly series, at least for an indie creator.

1. Shipping costs are more manageable.
2. Enthusiasm is retained from issue to issue, rather than the 60% drop off between issues #1 and #2.
3. More time to produce the work and to plan it's production.

This is how I'll continue until this stops working.

 

[jspit]

Testimonials from Targets of Warren Ellis

Our stories about Warren Ellis demonstrate a pattern of behavior that includes serial emotional manipulation, grooming, coercion, and calculated gaslighting.

www.somanyofus.com

Holy fuck this site is a goldmine ahahahahaha

Edit;

View attachment 1445926

After reading some testimonials, seems like Warren Ellis had a thing for crazy chicks

It is, and they don't even hide it. From "Meredith". 'after a lifetime of untreated CPTSD with recursive layers of PTSD, and following nearly two solid years of abuse and exploitation by my boyfriend at the time.'

Or "RH". 'I was perfect for Warren’s scene. I was raised by a Narcissist, I am on the shallow end of the autism spectrum, and I was objectified, sexualized, and sexually abused in childhood'

You'd almost think you'd have to be crazy to be twenty years old and attracted to a fugly middle aged neck beard who looks like he smells of hemp and cheese.

 

[Mister Dongs]

It is, and they don't even hide it. From "Meredith". 'after a lifetime of untreated CPTSD with recursive layers of PTSD, and following nearly two solid years of abuse and exploitation by my boyfriend at the time.'

It's her real name though.

Eventually, everything started falling apart all at once: Coilhouse Magazine & Blog, The Parlour Trick partnership I’d been working in for years, the hugely dysfunctional long-term relationship I’d stumbled into shortly after my nervous breakdown.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meredith_Yayanos

Meredith Anne Yayanos is a California-based violinist, vocalist and thereminist. Her work has been featured on tracks with artists including The Dresden Dolls, The Vanity Set, Revue Noir, David Garland and The Walkmen.

Yayanos was a contributing artist to the comic book project 9-11: Emergency Relief, created to benefit the American Red Cross in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks. She is also the inspiration for a comic book character named Melanctha, appearing in the 21st issue of Planetary by Warren Ellis and John Cassaday.

She is also a photographer with a portfolio on flickr featuring fellow artists, New York scenery, and personal photos. She is a founding member of the alternative magazine Coilhouse.

 

[SaidNoOneEver]

It's her real name though.


View attachment 1446548

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meredith_Yayanos

Maybe he got as far as the hairy armpits and noped the fuck out.

 

[Nihil Jung]

Maybe he got as far as the hairy armpits and noped the fuck out.

But look at dem tits, faggot.

 

[WhimsicalTrolli]

But look at dem tits, faggot.

Might be a trap.

 

[Mister Dongs]

So with this headline making the rounds and the comics establishment backpatting over these pre-COVID statistics for some reason, Dan Shahin decided to take the initiative and invite the two main people who compiled these statistics on his show, Brian Hibbs of Comix Experience and John Joseph Miller of Comichron.

Comic Book News with Dan Shahin - "State of the Industry - Crunching the 2019 numbers with John Jackson Miller & Brian Hibbs"

The first third of the stream serves to introduce the two panelists, where they get their data from and why they do what they do. Hibbs' primary source is something called Bookscan, a private data tracking service for major publishers that keeps track of around 85% of all book sales nationwide. Publishers normally pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for this data but Hibbs enjoys access to a semi-sanctioned leaker of the data that gives him and him exclusively a very generalized overview of comic book sales figures look like within national book chains, Amazon and generally everywhere outside of the Direct Market for distribution to the comic retailer community. Sometimes whoever supplies the information "massages it" in an attempt to have Hibbs give out desired predictions and conclusions.

For everywhere inside the direct market is John Joseph Miller of Comichron, a retailer that started hoarding comic retailer data in old print catalogues in the early 90s, who in 2013 partnered with distributor-level septuagenarian Milton Griepp of ICv2 for a full comprehensive look of what's going on in the direct market. Miller has mostly retired from retailing to pursue being a full time pulp novelist when he's not maintaining Comichron.

Brian Hibbs is saying that his and Miller's efforts are intended to establish an epistemological bedrock with which to base actual knowledge about the state of the comic book industry on as opposed to panicked conjecture. Dan Shahin just goes ahead and says it: "those Comicsgaters".

Hibbs gives credit to the overwhelming majority of growth in the market to kids' comics retailed by Scholastic outside the direct market. To emphasize this point, the multiple Eisner-winning cartoonist Raina Telgameier held 7 out of the top 10 selling graphic novels sold in the book market in 2016 amounting to 1.4 million copies sold for $14.4 million dollars. If you were wondering why Frog was interested in making a kids' Cyberfrog comic, wonder no longer.

Shahin asks why a comic shop retailer should bother registering a Scholastic account in addition to a Diamond one and Hibbs' answer is simple: money. Breaking down Diamond vs Scholastic - Diamond is max 45% off cover price, minus 3% "reorder penalty", minus an estimated 6-10% in shipping fees, totalling in around 32%, whereas with Scholastic distribution a retailer can order 10 titles 50% off with no shipping fee. Hibbs warns that in the real world, Scholastic is growing dangerously close to achieving a monopoly and that "in the real world outside the direct market, 'DC and Marvel' control 'jack and shit'."

Bookstore sales now outnumber LCSs in terms of revenue from selling comics after rising 50% in revenue over four years. Nearly all of this can be attributed to Scholastic's growth. LCSs have been steadily lowering since 2015, slightly rising after a data correction to account for LCS retailers ordering from non-Diamond retailers.

"Other Channels"/ Miller explains that the $25 million does not include things like merchandise, perks, original art sales, shipping costs or anything outside of comic books or graphic novels in its total, noting a boost of 5 million, qualifying his results by stating that crowdfunders are definitely making more money than is being reported in the Comichron total and gives the qualifier crowdfunding is likely generating more revenue than what is apparent on the graph.

This statistic was interesting when taking into account some things brought up during the show:

• Marvel made 215 million and DC made 150 million in 2019
• Hibbs and Miller stated that 70% of DC and Marvel's sales were in periodicals (floppies)
• Of the 765 million in graphic novels sold, Scholastic held a share of 40% - more than DC and Marvel combined