SDCC ‘07 SPOTLIGHT: DARWYN COOKE

[MattBrady]

Cooke to Leave The Spirit to Focus on Creator-Owned Work

by JK Parkin

Eisner Award-winning creator Darwyn Cooke announced during his spotlight panel in San Diego Thursday that he and J. Bone will leave The Spirit with issue #12.

“We’re gonna fold up our tents after issue 12. We were committed for two years, but J’s not available and that’s like cutting off my arms. As we’ve looked for someone who could halfway measure up to what J. does, there were some editorial shuffles,” Cooke said. “Y’know, I can’t do this halfway.”

Cooke joked, “I don’t really do anything, it’s (Bone) and (colorist) Dave Stewart who do the actual work. Take them out, and it’s very difficult.”

The Spirit will continue, but neither Cooke nor Bone, who moderated the panel, knew who the new creative team would be. Both of them did discuss what they planned to work on next.

Cooke revealed that he has two graphic novels planned over the next two years - one an all ages fairy tale, and the second, more in the vein of his Catwoman work, centering on a man who's life is unraveling as he deals with modern life. Bone will be working on his own graphic novel, called Jett Vector. “You want to take your own shot and see what you can come up with yourself,” Cooke said. “A lot of the focus is on that right now.”

The fairy tale, he said, wouldn’t be about “goblins and fairies,” but about giant robots in the near future. “It’s a big sprawling story that takes place a little in the future with giant robots.”

Cooke doesn’t have a publisher yet for either graphic novel, saying that he would rather work on it first and look for a “dynamic and informed” publisher later. “I hope to start a biding war,” he joked.

But he said not to expect something like New Frontier or The Spirit. “I think a lot of my work is going to concentrate on emotional matters, things that are important to us emotionally, what goes on in the heart, Cooke said. “I’ve been blowing stuff up for seven years, so I’m looking forward to more introspective work.”

continued…

Newsarama's Comic-Con International '07 coverage is brought to you by Witchblade – The Anime Series. Available on DVD September 25th. Click here to view trailer.

Dissatisfied with the Direct Market

Cooke expressed dissatisfaction with the Direct Market, saying there was no room for new ideas. “They don’t want them,” he said. “You can go pitch to DC all day, and they don’t want them.”

He said the Direct Market isn’t capturing new audiences anymore. “I think to be honest the Direct Market comics that we’re all here talking about are on their way to extinction. I don’t see any way around it. It doesn’t matter how much money the Spider-Man movie makes, it doesn’t bring more people into shops.”

When asked about Frank Miller’s Spirit movie, Cooke said he hasn’t seen anything more than the fans have. “I think he’s probably concentrating on aspects of the strip that are going to take the movie in one direction. I think it’s going to be a fantastic crime movie. It seems one-sided to me.”

He said Miller’s movie seems to be concentrating on sex and violence. “I always thought the strip had more to it than that,” he said. “I think at the end of the day, it’s a hopeful strip.” He added that he thought Miller’s movie would be “damn exciting.”

When asked what character he would like to work on, he joked, “You know Reggie from the Archies? That’s a character I can really get into doing.”

He said after New Frontier, he didn’t have a particular DC character he wanted to work on. “I don’t know who’s left. I’ve gotten to sing my song in regards to those characters.” He added that some of DC’s mystical characters might appeal to him, like the Spectre, Deadman, and Phantom Stranger. “With the super jocks, I’ve got nothing left to say.”

When Bone asked him if there were any Marvel characters he wanted to work on, he simply replied, “No.”

[caats19]

he seems a lil bitter and fed up. but he should do what he wants anyway, lame that he has to leave the spirit.

[Tobey Cook]

I think Darwyn is one hell of a talented creator, and while I'm sad to see him leave The Spirit, a book that was very much something he had a lot of passion for, I'm glad to see him going and doing his own thing.

I have to echo his frustration with the direct market. It's very difficult to get new properties off the ground. Fans seem to want the same, tired concepts instead of something new and refreshing.

[350z]

This was a surprising thing to read from one of the best creators in the industry. It surprises me even more that Cooke says that DC doesn't want new ideas when they (DC) have the Vertigo imprint (not that the Vertigo imprint is the end-all and be-all of "new" ideas). I think that all creators of Cooke's iconic status should self-publish their ideas. He has enough cache, so I think he should do it.

[sexyjesus]

Originally Posted by 350z

He has enough cache, so I think he should do it.

Yeah, but does he have enough cash?

[sillythekid]

The second half of this article was really depressing.

[Batman1983]

Wow... I'm still kinda speachless...

EDIT: and if no one has figured it out yet that puts November as the last month hes on it (#12) leaving DC with about 3 months to figure out 'who', 'how' and 'where from here' plus get #13 made.

EDIT 2: actually a little less than 2 months before December previews.

[rodolfo leon]

hell of a lot of interesting information!

a shame the Spirit band broke up half way, but it's just as good that we actually get a year's worth of comics out of this amazing project! let's see if DC gets a new art team to keep the ball rolling! The Spirit has been awesome, and a very solid vision throughout time, maybe a bit of mixing up will give it a new appeal

[vbartilucci]

Originally Posted by MattBrady

“I hope to start a biding war,” he joked.

We're all gonna boast about how long we're willing to wait for his next book?

[waterdragon]

Glad someone in the industry is telling it like it really is. All those comic book movies do jack to actually get people into the shops. Unless we have something major like Captain America being killed on MSNBC no one is going to go into the LCS if they are not already doing so in the first place. The direct market really cannot handle unique ideas anymore, hence is why we get the same garbage from DC and Marvel left and right. Books that suck do not get cancelled, but stellar, really ground breaking books bite the dust.

[ThatNickGuy]

The Absolute New Frontier is one of my favorite books in my collection. Cooke's work has amazed me since I saw his first work in Batman: Ego.

That said, I don't see why he doesn't just distance himself from DC if he's getting to feel this way. He could take his work to other great companies that would be more than welcoming to his ideas and work. IDW, Image, etc. No doubt, ANY of them would love him.

[Godfather]

He said the Direct Market isn’t capturing new audiences anymore. “I think to be honest the Direct Market comics that we’re all here talking about are on their way to extinction. I don’t see any way around it. It doesn’t matter how much money the Spider-Man movie makes, it doesn’t bring more people into shops.”

I agree with the sentiment, but I would say it doesn't bring 'enough' new people into shops.

[montessaurus]

Wow.
I feel like I just got kicked in the nuts. Or that my girlfriend just told me she's been faking the entire time. That's one bitter comic icon.
Bad news all around. First, Darwyn Cooke is leaving the Spirit.
Second, Darwyn Cooke is leaving the Spirit.

[CaptainCanad]

Originally Posted by waterdragon

The direct market really cannot handle unique ideas anymore, hence is why we get the same garbage from DC and Marvel left and right. Books that suck do not get cancelled, but stellar, really ground breaking books bite the dust.

And indie movies are seen by no one, while Michael Bay rakes in the dough; and crappy TV shows live on while Veronica Mars is cancelled; and innovative novels are buried in an avalanche of Dan Brown and co. That's the story of every medium, not just comics.

[Thephanboy]

said to see him go. good luck in what ever he dicides to do next

[renodakota]

Dammit dammit dammit.

The new Spirit series IS Darwyn Cooke, and it's terrific. Hard to imagine a worthy replacement - especially after issue 7, where even a bunch of top-notch creators couldn't manage to show up Cooke.

Really a bummer that he's leaving, but I'll follow him to other projects, and hopefully others will too.

[Cicero]

Originally Posted by CaptainCanad

And indie movies are seen by no one, while Michael Bay rakes in the dough; and crappy TV shows live on while Veronica Mars is cancelled; and innovative novels are buried in an avalanche of Dan Brown and co. That's the story of every medium, not just comics.

The problem is that the comics audience is aging, and with that audience, is slowly dying. It was a foolish decision to ever choose the direct market over the newsstand. Publishers should have changed their strategies and formats in order to compete in the mass-audience market which seemed to be disappearing so many years ago. Archie still sells fine at the grocery store. Why do we never see a comic offering from DC or Marvel there anymore? Even ten and fifteen years ago there was a semblance of a newsstand market. Now it seems as though the publishers are giving up on the future.

(I'd like to add how strange it sounded to hear of a reader in San Diego asking DC's editor in chief whether Green Lantern and Green Arrow would ever go on the road 'again.' It sounded as though he had been waiting since the 1970s. We need more readers who hadn't been born in 1990; there are quite enough who've been reading forever.)

[Tinmansstory]

You know, half of these comments are kinda bullsh*t.

I don't say that to be unneccessarily mean. But if you look at these companies from the perspective of, oh, I don't know, a BUSINESS, completely rehauling their main sources of income doesn't make sense. The argument that movies like Spider-Man 3 and Fantastic Four 2 don't bring in new fans isn't true; I've seen a lot of new people, particularly parents, in the shops asking for material for their kids, which Marvel has also realized and gone ahead to make spider-man and FF/Silver Surfer comics available for those people.

That's not to say I wouldn't be interested in a Darwyne Cooke indie story. Or that the Spirit was bad in any way (I haven't read it myself, but flipping through it on the stands it hasn't personally excited me). It's just.... to call Marvel or DC's output garbage because they weren't willing to take an independent story by Darwyne (for which we have know idea right now if it was actually any GOOD) is just stupid. I think most people, when they stop their kvetching, take a look at the sale's #'s, they realize that comics have been doing better than they've ever been... in term's of the '90s. They may not be at 1970's or 1980's levels, but I think the market itself is much healthier. You've also got a lot more options available for producing your own comic book. There's nothing saying D. Cooke can't stop complaining and just produce his great idea from, say, Image Comics or Boom Studios. Maybe he's upset he can't produce it through Time Warner, but then if that's your only goal in this business, who needs you?

[gwangung]

Originally Posted by Cicero

The problem is that the comics audience is aging, and with that audience, is slowly dying. It was a foolish decision to ever choose the direct market over the newsstand.

Fanboys keep on thinking that the publishers left the newsstands, when it was the other way around (and no amount of historical evidence will convince them otherwise). And fanboy resistance to new ideas, both in content and in form is just as much to blame as company resistance to new ideas.

[Tinmansstory]

You know, I also just got back from the bar. It's entirely possible I'm just drunk now too. Sorry.

[DuncanHines]

He's one of my top 3 working cartoonists right now. It's a shame he's leaving the Spirit. They'd better get someone good to replace him. Like Jordi Bernet or something... or they're losing at least one reader here...

[Daiyongo]

This is one of the saddest creative losses to come down the pike for a title. His Spirit is one of the few books that exists on my current pull-list. Best of luck to Cooke in his future.

I think the "extinction" is not only because of a lack of new ideas but in combination there is also the old ideas being done so poorly with cheap grimschlock tactics that would never appeal to anyone in the general audience coming to the books from the films. An audience that actually includes kids and adults alike. They watch a cartoon or movie and enjoy the character in all their superheroness only to come to the comics and find these distorted deconstructions mixed with clusterf__k continuity trying way too hard to be dark, deep, and edgy. Simply trading in one extreme, the campyness that fans so desperately want the genre to live down for another equally short-sighted one.

I kinda hate to say it, but maybe it might also be time to let the idea of the "superhero universe" go for awhile and allow each of them and their respective casts to be the most fantastic thing in their respective story worlds. Because when you think about it, each superhero entity is practically a superhero universe unto itself.

[Tinmansstory]

Originally Posted by gwangung

Fanboys keep on thinking that the publishers left the newsstands, when it was the other way around (and no amount of historical evidence will convince them otherwise). And fanboy resistance to new ideas, both in content and in form is just as much to blame as company resistance to new ideas.

See, I don't agree with that. Sean Howe, I think, explained it best in the anthology "GIVE MY REGARDS TO THE ATOM SMASHERS," that most mainstream comic fans stay with the material for so long b/c it's like a constant nostalgia. Whether you read Spider-Man in 1975 or Spider-Man in 2007, there's a lot of unneccessary, convoluted back story but the ESSENCE of the character hasn't changed. For me, I started reading comics with the X-men back in... maybe 1992? And in the past 15 years, I didn't always read X-men (i.e. Austen's run) but it still had a fond place in my heart and I always feel I can return to it without too much crap taking place.

What new ideas exactly have fanboys been resistant to? I consider myself a relatively easygoing FB, and I'm usually willing to give new material a try if it interests me or has a good hook. But what the hell are you talking about? Content-wise, are you saying Marvel and DC don't produce more non-superhero intelligent work (which is a somewhat reasonable argument, though DC usually has a somewhat strong output with wildstorm and vertigo). And what 'forms' are you referring to that these companies are resisting? Online? Leopard-skin? Yeahbutwhat?

[nightwing878]

Sorry for the long response but I wanted to enter the discussion:

First of all, this is sad news on lots of fronts. Mr. Cooke's The Spirit has been one of the best books published in a long time. He can tell a story like very few comics creators can today. I entered comics in the 90s, which wasn't the golden age of comics at all. But when I read New Frontier, Ego, or The Spirit, I fell in love with the genre. I never read one Spirit strip before, yet, I understood everything going on in the first issue. I wanted to read Eisner's work after reading it, but I wasn't confused or left blankly.

And even worse, he seems disenchanted with the entire industry. The direct market is a curse in a lot of regards. I haven't studied it, but Mr. Cooke does deserve a greater audience than he can receive in the direct market. Comics do deserve a greater audience.

I just hope he actually does try to do something outside of it or to change the system. If more creators decided not to use that system, we could move past it. But as someone noted, this is not just comics. We hear that the internet connects the world and that more stories, music or art is available to the greater public. But that just is not true. There may be floods more of entertainment, but that does not mean people are seeing anything more than they did before. All that it means is that people try to find it at home.

Everything is about the quick buck. Whether sequels or big events or flash-in-the-pan rock bands, companies want to see profits today. Make a big buck today and not worry about what this will mean for tomorrow. Big events are not just a comic phenomenon. It's everywhere. Yet, it doesn't mean more people are buying anything.

But people should be buying more. There are as many if not more creative voices in the world not using these big events.

Today, we read that comics are more "accepted" like they were some fringe medium. If I see one more article in the newspapers about how comics enter mainstream culture, I want to really just ask reporters where they have been. But that really isn't even the problem, it's that, for some reason, people believe that comics are not acceptable.

We have all read comics that are leaps and bounds better than popular movies or books. They are culturally relevant. They look at the world with a different kind of eye than other authors. Yet, they do not reach a larger market. We have all given comics to people to read. Some will read them and, at least in my case, people will turn me down and say that's just not their thing. I have many friends who stare at me like I have some sort of disfigurement when I say I read comics. Or when I say that comics are not just about capes and tights. Unfortunately, this may not ever change. Superheroes are the doormen to the comic universe. Yet, we as the readers have to introduce others to the wonders of these worlds no matter who the characters are. They all have a story to tell.

Therefore, I hope that we as readers and the real profit margin of the industry must assist Mr. Cooke and others like him who want to open up the comic book universe to the general public. I do not know how, but I am open to suggestions!

[bluedevil2002]

Fanboys keep on thinking that the publishers left the newsstands, when it was the other way around

I think it's more the publishers were sorta forced out, and they never bothered coming up with an alternative to keep their presence around.

Personally, I dropped the Spirit after #6. A decent book, but I still didn't really know the characters that well after 6 issues, and it just didn't seem like there was anything going on to keep me coming back month after month. Self contained stories are fine, but give me some sort of subplot or even a running gag.