Tony, that’s a good question. I don’t know what I would expect. I think it’s
great to ask people for feedback and ideas because at the end of the day the
person wanting to support has to offer something worth the support. It’s
probably easier in our comic our community art community for an artist than it
is for the writer. (Lots of artists, I know, produce sketchbooks that they sell
at conventions. Are those a significant source of income?)
I have only supported one Patreon and it is Jesse Kornbluth’s “Head Butler.”
(www.headbutler.com) Not comic related, but Jesse writes a daily review on his
website and via email newsletter—he reviews books, movies, music, and even
occasionally products. Basically: “things you might not know about that you
would probably like.”
I find HB really superb and recommend it. And he and I have also become friends
over the years – – we both live up in Harlem. But for me this was less about
supporting something new or “getting something” than it was about helping to
keep something I really like going. I figured that was worth the cost of a
latté or two every month.
I think the biggest problem here is awareness. For example, I had absolutely no
idea there was a proposal to do a new Sabre graphic novel and I would have been
first in line to support that. I suppose some of this is just me because I know
a lot of the communication happens on Facebook, but I am very much not a
Facebook guy.1
Mark Nevins
Footnote 1: With apologies to global warming, I am absolutely convinced that
social media and especially Facebook are going to be the biggest problem we
have to deal with as a society over the next decade. And I’ve been saying that
for at least the last decade. So far I’ve been right but the worst is yet to
come. Given the nature of what Facebook is, I do not believe it is possible any
longer to be an ethical user of Facebook, because mass participation is what
enables FB to be what it is. Facebook is a very bad thing for many reasons. I
used to think its board and management team were simply naïve about its
effects, but now I believe they are fully aware of them but don’t want to kill
the golden goose. 20 years from now the opioid crisis and big tobacco are
going to look like minor problems compared to what Facebook has wrought. Sorry,
I’ll get off this soapbox now. But boy, I would have loved to read that new
Sabre graphic novel.)
Sent from my iPhone
On Jan 14, 2021, at 06:49, Tony Isabella <tonyisabella@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
With no comic book gigs coming my way, with convention appearances unlikely
for several months, with even my summer garage sales questionable, I need to
come up with some other sources of income.
Patron is something I'm considering. The money would be used to finance my
many planned books on cheesy monsters and comic books and perhaps some comics
and graphic novels. Not, on the latter, that I expect I'll raise enough to
pay all the people (artists, letterers, colorists, etc.) on such projects. It
still hurts to think Don McGregor's Kickstarter for a new Sable graphic novel
didn't succeed.
If any of you were to become Tony Isabella patrons, what would you expect for
perks?
Thanks for any responses.
Tony
