Comic Book Bash Features Fewer Superheroes, More Sporks
By Chelsea Conaboy
The chiseled, Lycra-clad characters of DC Comics staged superhuman stunts on the page.
But in another comic book, Greg Vondruska grappled with a decision: General Tsao's chicken or cheese enchiladas?
At the St. Pete Comic Book Bash and Ska Extravaganza on June 24, commercially produced comics and those produced by self-publishing local comic book artists showed multiple sides of a complex industry. The local artists' work displayed at The Globe café on First Street North resembled their superhero-themed counterparts in few ways other than form.
While some people involved in comics sales and creation say that the comics industry is on the rise, many artists seem to think that the American public still has not recognized comics as a form of art, not a genre of flimsy action-packed stories made for teen-age boys.
Artist Greg Vondruska's comic "How to Gain Sixty Pounds in Six Months" has elements of comedy. But its theme is a serious one-a man's struggle with his weight. It is printed in a compilation book called "Failure" by Carpal Tunnel Press, featuring five comics about the subject for which the collection is named.
It is just one of Vondruska's autobiographical works.
Josh Sullivan, 22, who has been self-publishing comics for almost eight years and works at The Globe, organized the show. Sullivan displayed some of the 122 books he has created to date. Among the characters present in paper form were Vincent the Anarchist Robot, Chauncey the half-emo pigdog and, in some form or another, Sullivan himself.
Across the room from Sullivan's table, Suzy the Telemarketer and the Spork who rules Heck, a lesser level of Hell, acted out their scenes in the work of Cindy Linville, 20, an artist from Largo.
Very few of the characters present know how to fly or wear spandex, except perhaps Linville's character named Frank, a minion who lives under Spork's rule in Heck.
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On his ninth birthday Vondruska was given a book about how to draw Marvel comics; now he has a comic depicting that moment. His collection of books called "Tread" is varied in genre, from non-fiction pieces about his childhood to science-fiction-like fantasies about giant cockroaches and a masked man unmasked.
Vondruska said he likes to write about his interaction with the world. In his work there is a touch of comedy, a flair of drama, the excitement of fantasy and the honesty of his humility.
"As an artist, you don't just randomly create things for the most part," said Dean Plantamura, Vondruska's friend and co-worker at AAA Auto Club South who has seen much of his work. "You are trying to express something that is difficult to put into words…I think that Greg does that very well."
Comic books provide Vondruska with the form in which to best express himself, he said.
Across the independent comic book industry, that form can take many shapes. Comic books may encompass true stories, surrealism or impressionistic works. They may be visual poems, fantasy, political commentary or whatever the artist decides.
As renowned comic artist Scott McCloud explains in his book "Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art:" "The artform-the medium-known as comics is a vessel which can hold any number of ideas and images."
McCloud breaks comics down as "sequential art," juxtaposed images delivered in a recognized sequence. Such a broad definition could encompass many things, from ancient hieroglyphics to modern-day movie storyboards. But Americans have largely come to believe that comics are booklets about good-versus-evil power struggles.
"I think a lot of our society has kind of built the idea that comic books are for kids, and it's never really outgrown that," said Paul Gambrell, manager of Emerald City Comics store in Seminole.
The shelves at Emerald City seem to reflect that.
Superheroes make up about 50 percent of the new comics coming into the store each week, Gambrell said. Emerald City Comics breaks the other half of its stock into topics such as horror and mythology, crime action adventure, and humor and satire.
Sullivan said he does not understand why American readers have not accepted comics in general as a legitimate medium. While other nations have recognized the value of comics, the United States lags behind, he said.
"It's sort of sad that some of the most popular comics here are Japanese comics," Sullivan said.
But, comics may slowly be gaining more legitimacy as the years go on. In 1992, a new spotlight shone on the industry when Art Spiegelman was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for "Maus," a graphic novel or complete story told in comic format. The work depicts the horrors of the Holocaust, casting Germans as cats and Jews as mice.
The movie "American Splendor" played a part in bringing comic books down to a very human level in its portrayal of a comic book fanatic and creator, who tells his own life story in comic book form.
Despite the narrow perception of comics and the predominance of superheroes in comics stores, Gambrell said comics are growing in diversity.
"You could exclude superheroes altogether and still have so much to read you'd never be able to catch up to it," he said.
The growth of independent and alternative comics is not new, but independent publishing companies and self-publishing artists continue to push new topics and new styles into the medium of comics.
Gambrell said self-published comics make up only about 5 percent of the new comics put on the shelves each week. However, the number of comics printed by independent publishing houses is increasing. They now represent about 40 percent of the comics coming in to Emerald City Comics weekly.
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The first comic book that Sullivan produced was about his friend Lou. He was a sophomore in high school in Michigan and another friend's father had a photocopier he could use for free.
He created 100 regular copies and sold them all for $1. Then he splashed red paint on the covers of 25 more copies and called them "bloody editions." He charged $2 each.
They sold out.
Since then, Sullivan has created many more full-sized comic books and mini-comics. In February 2003, he put out "the best of josh sullivan comics!" He said he hopes to publish a "worst of josh sullivan comics" book soon.
Sullivan said the independent comics scene suffers from the same problems that the independent music scene does-a lack of funding. The Web has improved the situation. Yet smaller independent comics cannot promote themselves the way comic corporations can push their products.
But, being an independent artist has its benefits, too.
Vondruska said self-publishing gives the artist a certain "free license." He quoted McCloud, saying that "if you are making comics, you're in comics."
With the help of Tony Shenton, a free-lance sales representative, Vondruska is now selling comics in stores in such major cities as New York and Chicago.
Sullivan has promoted his work by visiting comic book conventions around the country, creating connections with the very artists who have influenced him, such as "Milk and Cheese" creator Evan Dorkin, and mailing copies to publishers, magazines, other artists and celebrities.
He keeps track of all of the books he has ever printed. To date, there are 18,751 Josh Sullivan comics in the world. He said he probably has about 500 copies at home and the rest are making their way around the globe.
"It's cool because you don't know where they go," he said.
One of Sullivan's fliers made its way into the hands of Cindy Linville. It inspired her to start making comics of her own, she said.
Linville is a junior at the University of South Florida and hopes to enter the graphic design program there this year. She works part time as a telemarketer. Moments like the one in which someone responded to a survey question asking what ethnicity the person was with the answer "senior citizen" have provided plenty of fodder for comic strips, she said.
While comics may have been stereotyped in the past as being power stories drawn for men and targeted for teen-age boys, Shenton said, the scene has changed. Linville may have been the only female artist at the show, but she is not alone in the industry.
"Now that there's a thriving alternative comics industry, women are a big part of the industry," he said. He estimated that 24 to 30 percent of comics creators are women.
Linville would eventually like to make a career out of comics, but said, "I'll make them either way, for a hobby and for fun."
She said getting started has been difficult, but she tries not to get discouraged.
In the back of "Tread 4," the first of Vondruska's two-book autobiography on a trip to India, a quote from De La Soul appears. "Always look to the positive and never drop your head or the water will engulf you if you do no dare to tread," it reads.
But, Vondruska will explain that the word he chose for his recurring title has many meanings. It can refer to the tread of a tire or the path that someone stamps down, a place where a person walks. It can be something you leave behind, he said, "evidence that you were there."
Vondruska said he likes the process of producing comics and having something to show for his time.
"I just find it satisfying," he said. "It's difficult work, but everything that is worth doing is difficult."
Let the superheroes fly. Vondruska will keep on treading.
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