Senses working overtime

The ugly truth of being a creative is that society loves what artists create and the money it can make them, but refuse to give the people behind the art a living wage to create it.

Unless you are A.) independently wealthy, B.) supported by your spouse, or C.) wildly successful, the truth of the matter is you are probably going to have a day job if you’re trying to put your art into the world, whatever form that might take. And that’s okay!

Most of us in this position have had some version of this experience: you’re at a party or something, meeting new people, friends of friends, whatever. Inevitably someone asks what you do for a living and you say, “I’m an artist” or “I’m a writer” or “I’m an actor” or whatever it is.

Their follow-up is usually something like, “Wow! You do that full-time?” And then you’re at a crossroads.

You can either say, “It’s not your fucking business, stranger!” (unlikely) or, more likely, a “yes” — which is true, given that you are absolutely putting more time into your creative work than your day job. But they’ll press, because it’s such a cool job that they can’t believe you make money doing it.

So then you hit another crossroads: just nod and agree, or offer the caveat of how you generate consistent income and pay bills, leaving you in a stew of resentment of having to reveal your dirty little secret.

But having a day job doesn’t make you any less of a creative.

There’s a difference between a job and a career.

I have a day job. The day job I have now is leagues better than the day jobs I used to have. I work with very skilled people who are passionate about and good at what they do. It’s a job that works for me, provides steady income, and health insurance. But I also don’t want to talk about it in social situations, because it is not my career or my passion and talking about it feels like… well, work.

I would love to not have a day job. What creative wouldn’t? When I was laid off and unemployed for about a year, I was able to create so much more, accomplish so many more things that matter to me, better my friendships, explore new hobbies, spend my time living, creating, and not working. Even then, I took on freelance writing jobs that were dull as dirt but provided extra income. Because sometimes, you just gotta.

But better than any of that, I was able to do my creative work during normal human hours, instead of doing it late into the night or all weekend. Of course, it was not financially sustainable, and I was lucky to find the job I have. It works for my lifestyle and creative schedule, for the most part.

But there is this sense, particularly when you’re starting in comics (or, I imagine, any chosen creative field), that if you still have a day job you are somehow lesser, because it means you have not found success. I can’t speak to other industries, but if your measure of success in comics is “making a living” then you’re in for a rude awakening. I’m not saying it can’t be done, it obviously can, but I think solely pursuing that monetary goal instead of the success of the work itself will lead only to resentment.

I look at it like winning the lottery in some respects. If I won the lottery, or became financially solvent in comics, I like to think I would still keep a day job. Because you never know when those fortunes will change, when work will dry up, or when an unplanned life event will send everything into a tailspin. Maybe that’s ultimately limiting myself, I don’t really know.

But I do know that I love making comics more than doing anything else. The last thing I want is to resent them. I’ve listened to many peers’ complaints about working in this industry, and while I empathize and understand, it’s too important to my mental health to keep those thoughts out of my brain. I’ve been mired in that resentment in the past and it made me a miserable person, a lesser partner, and a less reliable creative.

Further, it’s hard to look at comics legend after comics legend being forced to run GoFundMes to cover health issues or homelessness or legal troubles with no real protections in sight. Comics is an industry of freelancers with a shelf life. The ones who sustain a living are those who invest in themselves through owning their work.

The number of creators who can sustain a living, let alone retirement, from royalties and continuous work-for-hire pales in comparison to the flip side. Those who are forced to find other work after freelancing as an artist for decades, or worse, have to rely on the generosity of colleagues and readers to get them through the hard times. The Hero Initiative is a great organization that helps to mitigate financial trouble for comics creators, but that’s still not enough.

So, for now, as the Collective We works to fix the systemic problems we face as an industry, the solution, for me, is to keep a day job. Because I know myself. Having the stress of making ends meet will weigh me down far more than having to work overtime to make comics. The times I’ve been full-time freelance in my life were some of the worst times I’ve ever had for this very reason.

Crucially, having a day job (and having no children, I should add) allows me to be able to pay the collaborators I work with a fair wage, which I hope builds a reputation for myself as a trustworthy collaborator. I want people to like working with me. In turn, that allows me to build more creator-owned work and, hopefully, a library of comics that I and my co-creators own completely and benefit from forever. That’s what this shit is all about.

So I look at keeping a day job as an investment in my reputation and long-tail career (not to mention paying the mortgage and vet bills). A job has an end date, many elements you can’t control. But a career is a lifetime collection of your achievements, reputation, and relationships that will ultimately bear fruit down the road. There is a cost to this methodology, too, of course. Higher risk of burnout, less time for non-work things, sacrificing some social engagement, all of which is a constant challenge to juggle. But these are decisions that have an impact, and I think planning for your future success is key.

Maybe it won’t always be this way. But keeping this mindset has helped me be more productive, find more value in the work that I do, feel accomplished in the work that gets to publication, and feel good about the creative partnerships I’ve been able to form.

Baby steps to the elevator,

-Joey
[email protected]
PO Box 1093, Bath, ME 04530
Buy my comics

CRITICAL SHIT

FREE COMIC BOOK DAY, MAY 3 — The first Saturday in May is Free Comic Book Day (FCBD), which means it’s time to get yer butts to your local comic book store! Lots of shops go all out with sales and signings, in addition to the free books provided! Important to note that retailers still pay for those free books, so try and pick up a little somethin’ extra if you go. For my Maine friends, I will be set up at MIDCOAST COMICS in Brunswick from 11-2, slinging my own books and handing out free copies of CAPTAIN ULTIMATE!

COMIC CULTURE ON PBS — We were invited to take part in an interview on COMIC CULTURE, a show produced and directed by students at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke which airs on PBS! It’ll be on the PBS website soon, but you can watch it now on YouTube! We also talked with San Fransisco’s COMIX EXPERIENCE, who featured THE PEDESTRIAN as their Graphic Novel of the Month for their esteemed Graphic Novel Club, so Sean Von Gorman and myself were guests on the shop’s interview series, where we talked with retailer extraordinaire Brian Hibbs about THE PEDESTRIAN and comics at large — which should be live on their YouTube page soon! This was a big deal for us and got our book into the hands of hundreds of new readers, so if you are in the Bay Area, please stop in and buy some stuff.

THE PEDESTRIAN VOL. 1 is eligible to be nominated for a RINGO AWARD! The Ringos are a highly-regarded comic book industry award that lets readers and pros alike nominate books for various categories. All you’ve gotta do is visit ringoawards.com, enter your email, and write us in for the relevant categories. It’d mean a lot to us if you took a few minutes to do so! If you haven’t snagged a copy of THE PEDESTRIAN yet, it’s available in my web store, online, and on GlobalComix. 

COOL SHIT

SHINKU COMPLETE by Ron Marz and Lee Moder

SHINKU was an Image series from pal and comics legend Ron Marz and the late, great Lee Moder that first came out in 2011, but was left unfinished. Now Ron and the fine folks at Zoop (where Andrea Schiavone and I crowdfunded SHITKICKERS) are doing a complete edition with two never-before-seen issues that Lee drew before he passed away. It’s about a vampire-killing samurai hunting ancient vampires in modern Tokyo. How can you resist? Get it here!

LIFE ON PAWS by Sina Grace

Another crowdfunded book from a friend and creator I admire, Sina Grace, about his experience coping with the loss of his beloved dog. It’s gonna be a heartbreaker for sure, but Sina’s most personal projects — NOT MY BAG and NOTHING LASTS FOREVER among them — are some of his most affecting, so I can’t wait to read this one. This is the kind of project that publishers might balk at but need to be in the world. The campaign is already funded, but you’ll want to make sure you snag a copy!! Back it here.

BE NOT AFRAID by Jude Ellison S. Doyle and Lisandro Estherren

I have no personal connection to this one, other than I read the preview for this book in Boom! Studios’ excellent horror anthology series, HELLO DARKNESS, and it seriously turned my blood to ice. It fucked me up in the best way, full of horrible, addicting dread. If you’re a horror fan, this one needs to be added to your pull list. Issue #1 will be out in June and can be pre-ordered now!

SAMIDOON by Various

This one is a 64-page anthology comic from a talented group of Palestinian comic creators, among others, telling stories about bravery and perseverance. Proceeds from the book will be donated to the Palestine Red Crescent Society to help the people of Palestine. Comics for a good cause while highlighting Palestinian voices. You can pre-order it here!

OTHER SHIT I’M WORKING ON

PROJECT GOLDEN AXE — Pitches were well-received by the editor and one of the licensors, so just waiting on the green light to move to outlining — but I’m very excited by these ideas and this opportunity. It’s gonna be a wild ride if all goes well!

PROJECT HELMET — Similarly, pitches for this one were well-received and I’m officially contracted and working on the outline. I’m pretty sure this one will be announced before PROJECT GOLDEN AXE and will be out later this year. Still a long way to go, but I can’t help but feel like I manifested this one.

PROJECT PUKE — The pitch for this is complete and in the hands of decision-makers. Josh Jensen provided colors here, which as you can see, are incredible, vibrant, and absolutely gross. Tony and I are really happy with how the proposal turned out, and it’s our hope that Powers That Be will dig it too. Stay tuned!

SHITKICKERS — Issues #1 and 2 are at the printer courtesy of Zoop! Andrea is cranking away at the final issue, and Sean is working on a new variant cover for us! Once the print copies are in the hands of Zoop backers, we’ll put issue #2 on GlobalComix — and then figure out how we’re getting the rest of these issues into print.

MADAM — Ed's cranking away on colors, chapters one and two are donezo! Right now, I’m leaning toward a digital release for each chapter on GlobalComix and then following up with a Kickstarter for the complete graphic novel. This one is 10 years in the making and it’s very, very hard for me to not want to completely rewrite a bunch of stuff (I think Panda feels similarly about some of the art), but that would be unhinged.

THE PEDESTRIAN  — While we had hoped for an easy green light on volume 2 given the strong response to volume 1, the State of Things has not allowed that to happen. So just like we did for the original series, Sean and I are just moving forward and making the fucking thing. We’ve got a meeting coming up to talk about the future of the book, hopefully everything works out. But rest assured, no matter what, there is more on the way.

PROJECT SALT — Like PROJECT PUKE, this one is in the hands of decision-makers. We’ve gotten some great feedback on it so far, even those who couldn’t make it fit in their current slate. Plus, we’ve got two STUNNING covers. One is from Marissa Paternoster, of Screaming Females fame, who is also a fascinating visual artist in addition to a guitar virtuoso and one of the best performers out there. It evokes a serious underground comix/R. Crumb style that is viscerally different from Felipe’s aesthetic yet still thematically appropriate for the story we’re telling. The other is from Valentine M. Smith, who delivered big time on the gig poster feel we asked for and I can’t wait for people to see it all. I’m stoked.

PROJECT LAUPER — Just turned in notes on the lettering on this work-for-hire inventory issue and it looks awesome. There’s one double page spread in this thing that is absolutely goddamn spectacular. I hope everyone gets to read it!

Thanks for hanging out. If you have any suggestions or questions, please feel free to drop me a line at [email protected].