If you make a habit of reading my comic review column, you may have noticed that I pan a lot of what I review . . . I’m a picky person, and much of what’s out on the shelves these days doesn’t appeal to me. Hence many a comic gets a negative review, then gets stashed away in a long box to be forgotten until I go looking for something that I want to read. Or until the comics creator e-mails me. I’ve written some positive reviews in my lifetime, too, but none of them have generated any e-mail from the creators. Instead, I get messages from people I pan. And these messages are . . . friendly! Upbeat! It’s almost scary. If someone said bad things about my work (assuming I ever published anything, ha!), I’d have a hard time being diplomatic with them. While it is a critic’s job to criticize, and everyone is entitled to their own opinion, this is MY brainchild we’re talking about here! So, I ask myself . . . Why are these creators nice to me? As I was replying to the e-mail from Anwar Madrigal, whose Lizard King preview I expressed such a negative opinion of last month, it dawned on me. Any publicity is good publicity! While I may have had many bad things to say about the comic in question, many people might have read my review. Some of them might have said "Pheh, what does this reviewer know? This comic sounds great to me!", and thus I inadvertently send customers to someone whom I didn’t mean to support. Good or bad, my reviews are free advertising. Advertising that the comics industry needs. Movie studios have plenty of money to advertise their movies. Turn on the TV and there’s a commercial for the latest James Bond movie. Open the paper, there’s an ad for Disney’s most recent animated adventure. Walk into a store and there’s a myriad of products tying into this season’s blockbuster movies. It’s much the same for the television industry. The recording industry has it made (no matter what they say about mp3s sending them to the poorhouse). Radio stations play single songs, tantalizing you with a band’s sound so you drive down to Sam Goody to buy the CD. When you walk into the store, you’re inundated with aisle end displays of even more bands you could try. The book publishing industry doesn’t have it quite as well, but how many malls have you been into that didn’t have at least one bookstore? Bookstores with those wonderful aisle end displays! Plus you have the New York Times Bestseller list, advertisements in some magazines, and the wonders of movies based on best-sellers (*quot;After I saw the movie I just had to read the book!"). What does the comic’s industry have? Small displays of comics in many book, convenience, and department stores . . . Of course, those only have a few issues of some popular series’ published by the big names. Good luck finding anything by Oni Press at WalMart. Likewise, while the growing number of movies and television shows based on comics is a great sign, these are almost all based on Marvel or DC comics. The only way they might help small press people is by luring new customers into the comic shop. Thus, the comics industry- especially small press and indie publishers- are left largely relying on word of mouth for their advertisement. While we might get a few friends to read a comic by telling them about it, that’s a small drop in the bucket. Writing about a comic in an on-line ‘zine like Collector Times suddenly gets the word out to a MUCH larger number of people, people we might never have reached before. And that’s what I love about being a critic. In addition to being able to voice my opinion (which I’d do anyway, whether or not I had an "official" forum for it), I’m doing a little good deed by giving a perhaps struggling artist (or creative team) a bit of free publicity, even if I’m ripping their comic to shreds. It’s a great feeling when it’s someone I like, but perhaps it’s better, in the long view of things, when I help someone I DON’T like. So, to all the comics creators out there about whom I’ve had bad things to say . . . I still don’t like your work, but best of luck! We should all be able to do what we love.

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