Al Nickerson

This interview with comic book writer and artist Al Nickerson was conducted by Director Sébastien Dumesnil via email during the making of Adventures Into Digital Comics. This interview is a part of the first set of interviews, which means that Al Nickerson received a part of the shotlist, and was asked to answer the questions as if they were actually shooting the interview together. Al Nickerson was offered the possibility to interact this way with the members of the cast.

By sending the same questions to all interviewees, Dumesnil wanted to get the most necessary element of narrative filmmaking: conflict. Despite the repetitive aspect of the questions, we hope you will be surprised by the large panel of answers and opinions offered by the interviewees.

Can you tell us about your background?

I am the creator of The Arggh!!! Chronicles comic book and digital comic. I am also a comic book inker and animator. I have worked as a comic book inker for Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Lethargic Comics, and those elf people. Currently, I am the inker for Archie Comics’ Sabrina The Teenage Witch comic book.

1993 was the last profitable year for the American industry. The market has been shrinking ever since. What do you think are the causes of the industry's collapse in the 90's?

The speculator boom with its tin-foiled-embossed-polybagged comics containing worthless trading cards inside is a freakin' nightmare that we're still paying for.

Marvel Entertainment and DC Comics have certainly done plenty to frustrate comic book fans while maintaining to keep new readers out of the comic book stores. I'm hopeful in thinking that the "Big Two" have finally realized that screwing with distribution, spider clone storylines, and funeral for friends are all poor ideas to increase comic book sales.

Nowadays, the problems have gotten worse. Now, it's the broken and monopolized distribution system. It's Marvel and DC Comics flooding stores with their "mutant", "spider", and "bat" books in a feeble attempt to save the market... and (more importantly) themselves.

Sad.

For the past few years, we've seen the big companies trying to improve quality: better paper, big names from other industries, etc. Do you think that it had an impact on sales? What could be a key to solve the sales' problem?

Marvel and DC should stop flooding the market with so much garbage. How many mutant books do we need anyway!?! (note: for all the "X" titles that Marvel claimed to be canceling when Joe Quesada took over, those books have been replaced by just as many, if not more, mutant comics!)

Here's what Marvel Entertainment and DC Comics should do to help the glut which is the comic book market: Get rid of all the crappy books! Clean house! Put out better comics while making room for creator-owned comic books.

Also, let's fix the distribution system (sorry Diamond.) Like in the old days, comics should be available outside the comic book stores. Let's see a multitude of comics available everywhere, including supermarkets, pharmacies, magazine stands, bookstores, and anywhere else comics might get attention from non-comic book readers.

Yep, there's lots wrong in print market, maybe that's why I love digital comics so much.

In the 90's, publishers began to create alternate covers, and made a lot of—sometimes unnecessary—relaunches. What do you think of those "gimmicks"?

Gimmicks aren't good for the comic book "industry." It's not like Marvel Comics is saying, "Hey look! We're bringing back The Rawhide Kid!". What Marvel is saying is, "Hey look! Buy this comic 'cuz it has a gay comic book character! We're cool, outrageous, and hip!!!"

It surprises me that the big comic book publishers never seem to get it. The only way to improve this tiny little "industry" called comics is to get the best creators on the best books and let them write and draw the best darn comics that they can. No more gimmicks, no more "death of so and so." Just let creators make simple, fun, and great comics again. And make it easier for new readers to pick up comics at other places besides comic shops.

To make more money and be able to reach different places such as bookstores, the publishers have created the trade paperback. As an example, many people have read Sandman when it was available on paperback, but not before. Do you feel that the comic book format had its days, and could be replaced by the paperback?

No. I love trade paperbacks, but I have hope that the regular monthly comic will not fade into history. Most readers wait for a storyline to be printed in trade paperback format. 'Cuz who wants to spend three bucks on a twenty-four page (or so) comic book!?!

The early 90's saw the first digital lettering and coloring in American comic books. Do you think that it opened a new world of possibilities as far as storytelling is concerned?

Digital technology should be used like any other tool to create comics.

Being a professional comic book inker and animator, I have used a Wacom tablet. However, I prefer using the traditional inking tools of the trade to get my work finished. Nothing beats using the brush and quill to ink with.

After becoming adept with the craft of inking, every artist should have no problems with frayed brushes or snapping pen-points (this only happens in the beginning stages of learning how to ink.) I know of no professional inker (i.e. inkers who ink to put bread on the table) who does not use the traditional brush and pen in their work.

Learning to use a brush and quill does take time to master. I think it's just far too easy for new artists to pick up a Wacom tablet and just adapt to inking(?) without learning how line weight and feathering really works. You can only learn this by understanding (and using) a brush and pen to ink with.

Also, with the brush and quill, I find I can create far more various line weights than I can with a Wacom tablet.

However, rumor has it that Brian Bolland only uses a Wacom tablet for all his art. He doesn't even pencil his work first, and his art still looks great.

However still, nowadays, I do all my word balloons and lettering in Photoshop. The main reason for this is speed and the easiness of making script and spelling changes.

Ultimately, I believe that each artist should explore all the tools available to him/her and then use whatever tools he/she feels most comfortable with.

Between 1993 and 2001, many readers left comic books in the US. Some people in the industry blamed video games and movies, two media now able to offer visual miracles. Do you agree on this point?

I agree to an extent. Getting the attention of young readers is one of comics' biggest fights today. The comic book market has got to continue to attract new readers. Why aren't there new comic book readers picking up comics? You can probably blame video games and television in some small part. However, I'd like to put more of the blame on comic books with extremely confusing continuity and weak storylines.

Also around the same time came the Internet. Did you guess at that time that the Internet could become a distribution system for independent artists?

Not at first, but I, fairly soon, realized how cool it was to make comics and post them on my website.

Diversity seems to be a key problem for the industry. Do you think that current comic books are oriented mainly toward an audience in its 20's?

Yep. And that certainly is a problem. I do love super-heroes, but comics should have a larger, wider audience filled with many genres of comics.

The average price of a comic book in the US is around $3. Do you think, regarding the production and distribution system, that it is too expensive? What are the sales like nowadays in the US?

It's a shame that big comic book publishers have to charge so much for their comics. Marvel Comics has the money and clout to control costs. Who needs fancy-schmancy glossy paper stock anyway?

It's bad enough that comic book sales continue to fall. We don't need to make it harder for us by making comics so expensive. Readers are going to think twice before picking up a book that costs close to three bucks. If publishers were able to increase sales of their comics, they wouldn't need to charge so much for each book. What makes a comic book sell well is getting the best artists and writers to work on a book. Enough with the gimmicks already! Who cares about gay cowboys!?!

On that note, I don't mind paying a little extra for a self-published comic because that's the only way those creators can survive and keep their comic on the shelves. Also, it would be good for the comics industry to create a wider distribution service. Let's get more comics where the non-comic book reading public can notice them.

When you go to comic book conventions, do you feel that people come to buy comics... or toys, busts, and whatever merchandising has to offer? What do you think of that merchandising? Can it help the sales of comics?

I doubt it. More merchandise hasn't increased comic book sales. Nor has big budgeted films increased sales of comics.

In the biggest comic conventions we can find print and digital artists. Some print artists seem to be ferociously anti-digital. Do you feel that there are now two clans of comic book creators?

Maybe. I never thought about that one. Probably because I am both a digital and print creator.

However, I am seeing so much anger and criticism growing towards digital comics these days. Mostly, I'm sick of seeing other (comic book) magazines and other comic book creators piss on digital comics. I just don't understand the great need for these people to worry about who did what, where, and when, how important he or she really is, or if digital comics are relevant or not.

Of course digital comics are relevant.

One would think that if you were in a sinking boat (and the comics industry IS a sinking boat), you wouldn't slap the guy next to you, or start punching more holes in the boat. You'd maybe want to stop the boat from sinking and HELP that guy next to you.

If some wonderful people in the comics community enjoy hating and defaming digital comics, and if they enjoy ripping apart the great achievements of Scott McCloud, so what? Screw 'em. These people are only hurting all of comics by spewing out their anger.

I probably don't have to tell all you this, and you might even think I'm talking out of my butt right now, but I believe it's imperative for the survival of comics, especially digital comics, to have us all stick together.

Many forgotten artists who can't find a job in the industry because they are told they are "outdated" make money thanks to commissions on their personal websites. Others create those digital comics but don't really make money out of them. Do you think that the internet could be the solution to the current state of the comic book industry?

I don't think the Internet is necessarily the solution. Although, it's a great help to those creators that want to show their work, retain control of their comics, and not have to worry about spending a lot of money on printing costs.

Some digital comics use animation; others sound, etc. For you, what is a digital comic? What would be the aesthetic definition?

If a digital comic includes animation, is it still a "COMIC?" There have been great strides in animation on the Web (which is a great thing), but I'm not sure how I feel about digital comics that include moving pictures or moving word balloons. But, then again, why not?

Do you think that digital comics offer much more diversity than the paper market?

It's certainly a great time for digital comics. From a cartoonist's standpoint,
digital comics allow the creator total freedom and control of his strips. He/She doesn't have to worry about an editor making changes to his/her work. Creativity is almost endless!!! And digital comics afford the cartoonist to not have to worry about the complications that come with dealing with printers and distributors. And it can be (almost) entirely free to create!!!

And all this does offer more diversity for readers.

Only big publishers would have the financial asset to afford the legal support needed in the piracy issue. How do you think that the big companies will make their way into the digital world? Do you think that independents will have to wait for those companies to make money in a safe way?

Yes. My greatest hope is for even digital comics to become so influential as to change (for the better) the workings and perception of the print comic book industry.

Do you think that readers are into comics for collecting and need to touch a comic book to enjoy it, or would a computer screen be enough for them? What about you?

Comics are comics are comics. I try not too see a difference between reading a comic on my computer or reading one in print.

There are many issues that could prevent digital comics from growing, such as piracy. Also, and even novelists ran into that wall, it seems to be hard to get paid, even with systems such as PayPal. Subscription, advertisement, micro-payments: what do you think is the best option to be paid on the web for digital creations?

I like the subscription and PayPal systems.

There are different ways to compose a comic book story on the internet. Some artists like to consider the screen as a page, others still use a typical comic book format. We can also use the screen as a panel/link leading to another panel and so on. Finally, other artists use the internet as an unlimited space to compose a story. Do you think that digital comics offer more possibilities as far as composition is concerned?

Yes. Just ask Scott McCloud. How similar do we have to create digital comics to those that are printed? Does page size, format, and panels need to be the same as printed books? Does it really matter? Do we still need "pages" to turn to be a "COMIC?" And do we even have to? How far can we stray? Very exciting questions.

Do you think that scrolling is the main limitation of digital comics?

I don't mind scrolling so much if it's just to move to read the next panel. The downsides that I find with digital comics are that ya can't hold a digital comic in your hands when ya read it. Plus, the quality of online art is still fairly poor and downloading is still somewhat slow, but that will eventually change with new technology.

One can find digital comics on the web, but also short films produced especially for the Internet. Do you watch such films sometimes? What do you think of them?

Yes I do. I'm amazed by the quality of films that I see on the Web. I think, because of the Internet and new technology, filmmakers have an avenue to create and showcase their films where before the Internet, they may very possibly would not be able to do so.