I'm tired of my work making money for the big tech companies.
I remember back in the 1990s the promise of the "internet age" and how it was going to open the entire world to all of us. A new golden age that would benefit writers and artist and filmmakers by ending gatekeepers and democratizing distribution. Fast forward to the present and all that is mostly over. If you want your "content" to have a shot at being seen, then you must engage with Meta or Google or Spotify or whatever other massive tech company. The price you pay for using their portals is you have to play by their rules, so if the deal starts out well and fair for the platform and the creator, as it did with YouTube and many others, you can bet that fairly soon those rules will change and you will get a smaller and smaller piece of that pie until they figure out they don't need you at all because soon they'll just use A.I. to generate endless crap for people to be half distracted by. Or, they get you hooked using their "free" tools, but after a time, if you want to still use them you;ll have to subscribe (oh how I hate that business plan). And then there's always companies politics going in a direction you don't want to associate with.
So, I've decided to focus more on a "hand-made internet" and just post my blog writings on my website Weaverwerx.com going forward. I know that I'll be removing myself from a larger eco-system and will not get as many eyeballs on my work, but I'll take quality or quantity.
I'll leave this blog active to serve as an archive, but all future postings will only be at Weaverwerx.com.
The new issue of RELUCTANT SADIST is finally here! Now that I have managed to put out another one, two years in-a-row, I feel this new era of RS is a real thing. The plan still is to release one a year, preferably around the beginning of the year. This year’s issue, #9 is The Big Bigfoot Issue and is partially dedicated to the grand daddy of all cryptozoological beasts BIGFOOT!
There are two stories, “IF YOU GO INTO THE WOODS…” and “What, Me Worry? YES!” that feature the hairy giant, plus two covers; front and back! I drew the back cover first thinking it was going to be the cover, but then had the idea to make a portrait of Bigfoot inspired by the style of Chuck Close, the fine art painter and did that too. I liked them both so much that I had couldn’t choose, so double covers. What do you think? If I were more a business person, I could have done like Marvel/DC do and put out two editions, one for each cover to try and goose the sales, but that just felt wrong.
Besides the two Bigfoot stories, there are three other short, weird entries; “Making Peace with RELUCTANT SADIST”, a brief history of that title choice; “Maybe It’s You?”, or me, or someone else, whoever it is, social media is the problem; and “RESPECTO!”, first published in UGLY MUG #7 by The House of Harley in sunny Britain. Same format, A5 or digest-size as some people say, 20-pages (plus covers, every surface has content on it!) and black and white.
You can order your copy directly through the Weaverwerx webshop – RS #9 or if you live in the USA, and want to save on postage and tariff costs, The Comics Blogger (Thomas Campbell) in sunny North Carolina will soon be adding it to his online store. I will also be dropping off copies at GOSH! Comics in London later this month.
Feel free to share your reaction with me to the new issue in the comments section or an email.
Keep smiling! Don’t let the bastards get you down!
I always carry 5 copies of RS#8 with me just in case I come across a distribution opportunity. You never know when you might stumble on a comics/book/record shop that carries small press comix. When I am traveling I also research places to check out, with the added bonus of leading me to cool places and people and sometimes, a new home for my stuff.VELOCITY COMICSis one such place and is a fabulous (not just saying that because they now carry RS, I thought that a long time ago) comic book store in Richmond, Virginia that has been on my list of places to check out as I had bought small press stuff there before, particularlyBUBBLES Magazine, so I figured I might have a receptive audience. I found that Patrick, the owner, is an enthusiastic supporter of small press/indie/underground comics and was happy to take a minute to look through my comix and quickly agreed to take five copies wholesale.VELOCITY COMICSis my second North American distro point behind Thomas Campbell’sTHE COMICS BLOGGER, which is primarily online, but Thomas also has been tabling at various comix/zines shows too. I am pursuing other venues, like the legendaryQUIMBY’Sin Chicago,which has an open submission policyandATOMIC COMICSin Baltimore, Maryland, so fingers crossed. I’m always on the look-out for more, so if you have a shop or know of one looking for comix/zines, then drop me a line.hello@weaverwerx.com
After some early, awkward attempts at approaching shops to carry RS, I have developed an approach that has helped me save my and the owners’ time. I literally “case the joint”, walk in as a customer, and survey the wares, particularly checking out the small press offerings, if there are any, before I bring up RS. I do some browsing and observe how the staff interacts, are they friendly and helpful? I had one experience in a comic shop in Edinburgh, Scotland were the shop owner was so hilariously rude, not only did I not bring up my comix, but I put things down that I had intended on buying. I would have been embarrassed to have my work in such an unfriendly place. Thankfully, that is the rare exception and the vast majority of shop owners are well-socialized and a pleasure to work with. Sometimes a shop doesn’t carry any small press stuff, or it’s strictly classic superhero stuff, which I have no problem with, but I understand that my little, weird, black & white comix is not a good fit for their place and move on. Besides comic book shops, don’t forget to check indie book or record stores and art centers/co-ops, as they may be more receptive to your work if it’s not mainstream. Back to the process, my browsing always yields a few items to buy; I am also a fan after all, so after completing the purchase and a bit of chit chat, I’ll bring out my comix and inquiry if they would like to take some. A bit of advice, if it’s a busy day in the shop and you have a line behind you of waiting customers while you’re trying to chat-up the owner, be patient, step aside and let them make those sales. Shop owners are in hand-to-hand combat with Amazon/Barnes & Noble every day and need to make hay when the sun is shining. If the shop owner takes on your publication, congratulations! Take an online bow on the socials and do your best to promote that shop and point potential readers/buyers to the real world location where they can actually hold a copy of your work in their hands.
RELUCTANT SADIST #8 has gone out into the world and is finding it's way onto a podcast and mentions on various blogs and websites. Here's the latest roundup!
If you are a creative person making a thing, keep sending out review copies or links to anyone and everyone you can, and don't forget to share, comment and like what other folks are doing. That's the best way we can build some community.
RS has a new distributor! This one is in North Carolina in the good old US of A,The Comics Blogger, a review blog, zine and shop run by Thomas Campbell. Here’s the link,
It’s super handy to have a US distro point as the postage will be much less for US folks, then me shipping it all the way from Latvia. Also, Thomas has been tabling at shows, so I’m hoping he sometimes will include RS in the mix.
This distro is in addition to the ones I have here in Riga, Latvia (Bolderaja Art Bar and Down Street Records and Athens, Greece (Jemma Comics – RS#8). I’m always open to new options, so any and all suggestions appreciated!
It’s no point letting those extra copies gather dust in a box! It’s important to get them out there into the world and I appreciate the people and shops that have support my comix by stocking them.
I don’t recall when and where I learned that some copies of RELUCTANT SADIST had made their way into a university’s library archive, maybe it was back in the 1990s, but I felt surprised and even a bit of pride. Back in the 1980s, when I was first creating my comix, it was part of an “underground” scene and not generally accepted by mainstream or academic culture. I’m not an academic, don’t have a formal four year degree, so I don’t think about how culture is studied on that level. There has been a sea change in how popular and underground culture is now being appreciated and researched in colleges and universities. It’s easy for big movies, books, comics to be added to a collection, but how does some hand-made, self-published comix or zine get noticed and acquired? And why does it matter?
I’ll attempt to answer the second question first. Having your comix or zine, included in a university library will make it easier for it to be potentially studied and referenced as part of a research paper that is reflecting on our culture as a whole. Researchers see how individual comix/books/movies/music fit in and connect to other works of art in other eras and cultures. They try to understand trends and movements of where our society has been and where it might be going. Archiving materials preserves them in their original form as that provides information as well. So, if your comix is part of one of those collections, it means that a tiny part of your creative history will survive you past when you are gone. Maybe it’s a bit of an ego trip, but that appeals to me. I’m also curious to know how the work I did in the 1980s fits into the big picture.
How does a university library or archive notice and acquire materials? I don’t know the formal process and I’m sure it is different from one institution to another, so I’ll stick to relaying my own case. There were two courses of entry that my comix have taken to an academic archive; donated in as part of a private collection and direct donation. Currently, I know of three American Universities that have copies of RS (from the original 1980s run) in their collections; Iowa State University, Michigan State University, and Washington State University (detailed information and links below). I spent some time surfing the web and checking out many other collections, and found this useful list of “Zine Libraries” on the Barnard College website incase you want to get started looking to see if your own work is collected.
The second way my work has been acquired by these academic libraries has been through direct donation. I have reached out to these three universities and offered to donate a copy of RS #8 and two out of the three accepted. The third is in the process of moving their entire collection in a new building and have halted all donations for a couple of years. I’m open to donating to other academic libraries and archives, so if you know of one, or work for one, please contact me.
Now, if any professional archivist or librarian happens to read this post and would like to add to it or correct any information I’m presenting; please do. I’m just accounting for my experience and don’t want to misrepresent anything.
Here are the universities that have Reluctant Sadist in their collections:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Washington State University Libraries, Manuscripts, Archives and Special Collections Lynn R. Hansen Underground Comics Collection
It’s been 35 years since I last put out an issue of RELUCTANT SADIST. The world is a very different place since 1989, I don’t have to tell you. Between the internet and social media alone, it’s a weird new world. I chose to continue with producing a print version of the comix as I was doing before; same size, digest-size, a folded sheet of letter or A4 size paper because I want to hold something, other than a smartphone, in my hands. A physical object, particularly a book creates a space in reality that digital never will. I like the idea that these zines could be around for centuries, traveling around from one person to another or forgotten in a box only to be discovered some decades later. I can’t fall into a story told digitally like I can when it’s printed on a paper. There’s no touch or smell, no familiar smudge or corner torn or folded like a printed copy provides. The physical is just more, well, real, so it was worth the effort and cost to have the comix properly printed.
I had 300 copies printed, which seems like a lot, but I’ve already found good homes for 40 of those, so I don’t think it’ll be long before I’m doing a second print run.
To celebrate the arrival of this new issue of RELUCTANT SADIST, I held an unveiling party, which will be detailed in another post soon. It was a fine and wild moment and there is plenty of photographic and video evidence to share.
You can order copies of RS#8 directly from me through my shop, or if you are in Riga, Latvia you can find it stocked at Bolderaja Art Bar and at Down Street Records. If you happen to find yourself in Athens, Greece, get yourself over to Jemma Comics and Press where you can find RS#8 stocked with the large selection of small press comics or even order through their website. I’m working on getting distribution in the USA and the UK, so stay tuned!
