March 15, 2009:

THE BLUEWATER COOLER: Publisher Darren G. Davis rants and raves about the comic industry: ISSUE 10

After an insane week, I thought it would be good to reflect. I am amazed at the amount of publicity we have gotten from the FEMALE FORCE series. This week we have been on CNN (numerous times), FOX NEWS (numerous times), local new, national radio and thousands of websites. This is in addition to interview’s with PEOPLE MAGAZINE and THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE. (Still not Wizard Magazine - the #1 comic book magazine!) For the most part people have been positive but there are some that would of liked to see more, but these are 22 page comic books.

In regards to the Female Force: Sarah Palin issue. Sarah Palin is a lightning rod. It seems people either love her for her independent spirit or loathe her for a variety of reasons. I knew we would be walking a fine line by choosing her, but I think that was also the challenge. I will not dispute that Neal Bailey injected his own personal opinion into the script, but it would be truly impossible not to. If you read the LA Times and the Washington Post ' s coverage of an event, their approaches might tell vastly different stories. We honestly try to be evenhanded, but given our graphic medium we have a limited amount of space to tell a story. There were dozens of stories, anecdotes, allegations, glorifications, and news items that didn't make the issue but, honestly, it was not in an effort to gloss over any important issue. Any oversight, lack of depth or generalization of a subject is based more on space than intentional misrepresentation or political viewpoint. Our intent is to paint a portrait of Sarah Palin and provide some analysis of what makes her influential. Some people will agree with our editorial decisions, some won't. With that said, you will see less salacious editorializing in future issues.

Another thing about Female Force is although the books feature some political figures, they are not political books. At their core they are stories of important woman, regardless of political leanings, who have influenced the modern American landscape. You don't have to be a politician to have influence or to be a strong female role model hence our choices to feature Michelle Obama and Caroline Kennedy. We are simply striving to create some degree of appreciation for our subjects. In some issues we will be more successful than others. We all know that politics creates conflict and conflict makes for good drama, which is why I think the Palin, and Clinton books have fared well.

I am completely humble about everything that has gone on this week. We stopped a couple days ago to reflect that we were on Campbell Brown's show, a show we watch every day. I am really proud of the books and we did not do these alone. We have Vinnie Tartamella who designed the Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton covers (as well as a bunch of new ones coming soon), Neal Bailey, who gave this series a voice, Ryan Howe who did the interior art and took on this insane assignment. When I asked him to do it, I am sure he would of liked to have done a superhero book or one of the Vincent Price books - but he took this on not knowing how this book would also catapult him. We have tons of other people from the colorists to the letterers, who probably thought the same thing "You want me to work on what...Sarah Palin comic??,” We have a lot of cool things coming with this title. Wait to you see the art on the Michelle Obama comic that Joshua LaBello and Michelle Davies (I also hear she makes a mean pot roast). We will be debuting the Princess Diana cover (out in July) and then the next political Female Force subject - it was one we moved up because so many of you asked for us to do it! My brother and best friend Diana have been so supportive, getting the phone calls at all hours asking for help with these interviews. And then my great friend Crystal who gets the phone calls "Oh my god, turn on CNN...." As much as I am trying to be professional, you have to have the people you can geek out with over all of this. Also thanks to Diamond comics and books for all their support - Jenny is the best brand manager anyone could have!

The coolest thing was doing a taping of Portland's "Live @ 7" and having my father and Vera there. You could see the pride in both of their faces. Jason and I were so happy to share this moment with them.
The other insane thing is seeing the Michelle Obama on eBay for $349.00. I choked when I saw this, because it was not even released yet. We just finished the book and we are getting it ready to go to print.
When we thought of this idea, it was tossed around with Jason and I never thought it would turn into this.

Just remember that we have a bunch of other titles that are amazing, "Legend of Isis," Vincent Price Presents," "10th Muse." We do about 5 titles a month right now.

Thank you so much everyone for the support.

Until next time.

Darren