Interview: Sidewise Author Dwight L. MacPherson Part One: Why Do Webcomics?
By Papa Llama - October 29, 2009
Earlier in the summer, the 8-page webcomic “pilot” Sidewise by writer Dwight L. MacPherson and artist Igor Noronha won the monthly competition for a year-long contract to continue the series through DC Comic’s online division, Zuda Comics. Now, after Zuda’s normal three-month post-competition hiatus, Sidewise has returned for another 12 months and 52 more pages.
We love time travel. We hate seeing worn-out time travel tropes when so many clever variations have yet to be fully explored. So we really liked what we saw happening in those opening pages of Sidewise. With Sidewise returning this month, we discussed the story, webcomics, and more with its creator, Dwight L. MacPherson.
Llama: You’ve done work for IDW, Image, and others. Why do a webcomic?
MacPherson: Sidewise isn’t my first webcomic. I’ve actually had three other webcomics. I had a comic called Whacked, one called Jim Reaper, and The Surreal Adventures of Edgar Allen Poo. They appeared on Drunk Duck. In fact, they’re still up there. I’m only updating the Edgar Allen Poo one right now. But I’ve realized that it’s a great way to grow an audience before a book hits, because there are so many books now that are out there that are either failing before the first issue even gets printed or they’re being canceled – the reason being because there’s no audience there. And now with Diamond’s new benchmarks that they set, if you don’t get enough pre-orders your book just never gets made.
Llama: Right, Diamond raised the minimum number for the orders.
MacPherson: So I think the best way to get around that problem is to make the content available online so people can read it, people can find out what they’re getting, you can build an audience, and so you can then go ahead and release the trade paperback which is what Zuda’s doing. They already released Bayou and they’ve released High Moon, and they’ve done phenomenal. So the idea that if you give away free content, nobody’s gonna buy the book is just a farce. I mean, it’s not true. Comic fans want to have comics in their hands. They are willing to go read a webcomic, but when the print version becomes available, they will buy it because they want it for their libraries.
Llama: That reflects some of the concern people have had on the fate of comic books. I remember just six years ago talking to comics professionals who said they’d sit around having discussions about the state of the industry, their worry that everything was going to go to the web, but this actually reflects that they can work fairly well together.
MacPherson: They can, and that’s something that I’ve been saying for quite a while. I know that in the very beginning people were kind of dismissing what I had to say, but it’s coming to a point now where comic creators are going to have to look for alternate distribution routes because Diamond is not guaranteed. You see that Diamond even is having some problems. So they’re talking about maybe DC using their option and buy Diamond. Now if that happens, what’s the fate of the small publisher? Are they going to be relegated to do web-only content? You notice that several publishers have actually gone to web-only. Slave Labor Graphics, for instance, they offer single issues available online. You can purchase them online. I think it’s 99 cents. But then depending on sales, they’ll release a trade. There are other distribution options that are out there. There’s P.O.D. There are print-on-demand publishers…
Llama: There are several of those. There’s Ka-Blam. There’s ComiXpress.
MacPherson: ComiXpress – I’ve used that. I know Scott Christian Sava’s Dreamland Chronicles did extremely well by self-publishing his books. But like I said, he made the content available online first, he built up a huge following, then he printed his own books and made good money doing that, and then IDW said, “Hey, listen, let us publish your books.” So you can do it on your own. It’s just a lot of work that’s involved.
to be continued…
Part 2: Why Do Zuda?
Part 3: Why Do Steampunk?
Read Sidewise every week at http://zudacomics.com/sidewise.
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Great interview, and looking forward to the rest. I found the part about building your audience online first very interesting, and I definitely think that idea has merit. Zuda’s doing a great job of promoting that idea, along with promoting new authors.
Now I wanna hear more about Sidewise!
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