JOSH FIALKOV: "TRABAJAR PARA DC LITERALMENTE CASI ACABA CONMIGO..."

Estoy seguro que cada vez que menciono por qué abandoné el mundo de los cómics hace ya 9 meses no falta gente que piense: "¡Bastante sabrá este, si nunca llegó a trabajar para Marvel ni DC! ¡Todo lo que dice lo dice por despecho!"

Pues vale chicos, no vamos a discutir: ¡No os creáis nada de lo que yo digo, si no queréis!

Ahora, Josh Fialkov, que si ha trabajado en ambas editoriales, tiene un diagnóstico sobre la industria que -¡fíjate, que casualidad!- no les va a sonar a nada nuevo a los lectores de este blog.

Lo difundo, no por que me de TODA-LA-RAZÓN, que lo hace, sino por si sirve para que alguien se de cuenta de cómo funcionan las cosas ahí y haga algo por cambiarlas, como el mismo hace con este VALIENTE manifiesto, que yo siento como mio y suscribo hasta la última coma.

Así están las cosas. DE TI DEPENDE CAMBIARLAS.

The perpetual shitty behavior in comics has run more talented people out of it than most non-pros will ever understand.

The level of  unprofessionally, vindictiveness, and outright meanness I saw in my years working at the big two broke my heart.

There's amazing people in this industry. Sadly, they're frequently under the boot of people who are awful.

I made a life decision to focus my energy on working with, for, and on people and projects I love.

I really, really hope that all of the stories coming out help to stamp out at least some of the nastiness in my favorite medium.

While my stories aren't anywhere near as awful as some that have come out the past few weeks they were enough to almost turn me off the medium altogether.

If it wasn't for the wonderful people at Onipress supporting, encouraging, and genuinely being amazing, I may not still be in comics.

We control something extremely powerful in our medium: Characters that are global cultural landmarks, standing for good and right.

And yet, frequently, the people steering those ships don't know what those things mean. In fiction and in life. That is heartbreaking.

I stood up for something I knew was wrong and was pushed out the door for it. Effectively destroying my value in the marketplace.

Working at DC quite literally nearly killed me. I was physically crippled from the stress and abuse.

And yet, I love those characters and what they stand for. I would still, foolishly, jump at the chance to write them again.

Because I know they matter. I know that Superman means something important. I know that Wonder Woman means something important.

And those lessons that you can teach the world about tolerance and understanding and peace and love are damn near impossible anywhere else.

The physical and emotional damage I suffered from my time there took nearly two years to really get over.

I think people don't realize that the wages of the average comic creator are barely enough to sustain a family of three.

They don't realize that virtually everybody working in comics is doing it for one simple reason. The love and the passion.

Honest-to-God-Truth, working as a Staff Writer on a tv show pays roughly the equivalent of writing 6-8 comic scripts a month.

And yet, as much as I'm bananas happy working in TV and creator owned the past two years it still breaks my heart to not get to tell stories with characters who mean so much to me, my family, and, most of all, my daughter.

None of this is a woe is me thing. It's a woe for the industry. For it missing the desires of the audience literally begging for content.

Working on the New 52 was an amazing experience. Honestly. But — I also watched some of the smartest, most talented young creators on Earth Get beaten, abused, and kicked in the groin so hard that many of them chose to leave the industry rather than suffer that again.

The number of women, especially, who saw their attempts to speak up for themselves and their audience getting shown the door.

I have never once regretting standing up for myself, for my audience, or for my characters. It lead me to a tough couple of years, but It also taught me something I think everyone should learn.

Doing the right thing is never easy, never assured to lead to success, and never really understood and lauded. But, it's still RIGHT.

To everyone who's standing up for themselves, their friends, and their industry, thank you. Thank you for fighting for the ideals that the very characters these scumbags shepherd would fight for just as hard.

And shame on those who stand in their way.