9.02.2005

Here's the Thing #9: The Usuallies

I had to deal with Usuallies way too many times this week. On message boards, at my job, at home – they seem to be coming out of the woodwork recently. Even people who never show Usually traits acted like a Usually this past week.

Sometimes there is nothing wrong with being a little on the Usually side of things. Usually, if I don’t piss off my lady, she won’t turn down my advances later on (and usually, if I’m having a suave sort of day, she’ll make her own advances). In that instance, it’s ok to adopt the culture of the Usuallies. But man, when we’re talking about something like the comic industry where there are tens of thousands of people jockeying to create the couple of hundred books that make money, the mindset of the Usuallies should never creep into your plans.

Here’s what the Usuallies do. They write a script, usually around 22 pages. This script is usually part of a maxi-series (8-12 issues) which can branch out into a regular series. They look for an artist, usually on a message board, and offer percent of profits to work for this great idea they have. After a month they usually go for the first person they can find for less than twenty bucks a page. The book gets illustrated (may or may not be inked) and it’s usually bad because the creator got no outside opinion and treated an artist being paid twenty bucks a page like it’s a privilege to draw HIS story. They usually letter it themselves (badly) or pay someone five bucks a page to letter it (badly). They usually send it into Image, Darkhorse, etc. They usually wait 1-2 months for a response.

And they always get a rejection. But that’s how it’s usually done, right?

You know what it’s like? It’s like when I go to CVS (a drugstore) and there’re four registers but one line. Now, there’s no sign that says “please form one line”, no unwritten secret CVS rule. The one line started because someone couldn’t make up their mind as to which of the four registers would be able to service them first so they just quad-lined. The next person just got behind that person, the third person followed, etc, etc. Because that’s what everyone else is doing – that’s how things are usually done. I’m that asshole you hate that goes to the first register that opens up, completely undermining your single line. And you get pissed at me because I was the first one that had the cojones to actually do it.

That’s what going to happen if you keep doing things the way they’re usually done. You’re going to find yourself on some line with the mindset that the person in front of you deserves to be in front of you for some reason. They’re there for a reason; they “paid their dues”. And then someone is going to come along, find some new way to do it, and they’re going to get there first.

Because no-one’s going to notice you if you do what everyone else is doing. The next couple of weeks I’m going to focus on the Usuallies and how their mindset not only brings themselves down but also takes down aspiring creators around them as well.