Recently I started a petition to the UK government to get comic books more public funding, saying:
"The UK has a long tradition of making good comic books. Yet since the 1980s sales of comics have declined drastically. The many talented British creators need more funding support in order to continue creating interesting comic books - we do it for opera so why not for this part of British culture?"
"Comic books in Britain stretches back into the 19thC, taking in many aspects of our culture. British comic book artists and writers have contributed important aspects, characters and stories to the art form. It's a key artistic area we have led the way in. Yet nowadays most talented creators scrape by on a pittance and the medium is in danger of dying off. If we can support opera with grants and funding then this arguably even more significant aspect of British culture should be supported too."
I’ve had various people say they dont like the way its worded or the whole idea of it. What this partly shows is how keen some people are on saying negative things about positive efforts. Although all the points may have some validity - the main thing is: despite any small doubts you may have about it, get behind the effort - as if its successful he advantages to comics and to MANY comic book creators will be very large.
But here’s my effort to explain it more. There is one simple thing to consider here first: those petitions have a strict word count to each section, and there simply isn’t space to give a nuanced account of all the factors involved. I already used the max words allowed. It had to be a general broad strokes thing. So that already explains why I couldn’t go into more detail on the govt website.
As to specific complaints folk have told me about:
Funding - some have said that wouldn’t an increase of money to comics take it away from other areas? Its not a question of taking funding away from anywhere. In theoretical terms it may be and that may do some damage to other areas if the amount we are talking about is billions. But the amount is only millions, and probably not even 10s of millions. No one seems to know to what extent comic are funded now (i know I’ve asked various funding bodies and they either won’t tell or genuinely dont know because of various administrative reasons). But the arts council funding for literature in general was around £2 million pounds in 2014. Thats ALL literature. Let’s say that 20% of that went on comics, which seems a reasonable guess - and then double that in order to take into account all the other UK based funding agencies that sometimes help comic book creators. We get to a figure that is unlikely to be more than £500,000 a year for public support of comic books.
If that was increased to, say, 20 times more, it would still only be £10 million. It’s not that much, the country can afford it. To use another comparison thats the same cost of buying two Challenger military tanks (which, by the way the army has more than 200 of). For the cost of just 2 tanks we could fund 20 times the amount of comic book creators we currently do. And that means you! It would make a huge difference for not that much money.
Why the opera comparison? - I’ve used it as a way to give some simple, clear message to the effort, since it needs to reach a lot of people, and many who will not know much about comics. The basic point is: if art form X can be supported, then why not art form Y? Its not meant as any attack on opera. By comparison with the £500,000 estimate above, in 2014 the Royal Opera House alone got £24 million in public money. Thats just ONE place. So, the comparison with opera stands to show us, in crude terms, how comics are neglected by funding bodies in the UK. Then it was also mentioned that opera costs a lot more to produce than comic books do. Sure it does but that’s not the poi t I’m making. Its a question of % of the cost is supported by public money. With opera it is, according to a bit of checking I’ve done, around 50% of the production cost comes from public money, and the rest from sales. With comics i guess its not even 10% comes from public money. So the %, by comparison, is far too little for comics and should be increased.
Someone said they they would prefer the funding to go only or mainly to educational comics. Well, is the same criteria applied to opera? Are only educational opera funded? Or educational films? Clearly not. So,why apply that to comics? Is it based on the idea that comics artistic value is low?
Why focus on Britain and the UK? - First reason is that this is to the UK government and therefore only applies to people living in the UK, and by their own rules only British citizens or UK residents can sign. Secondly, its not meant to be in any way exclusive by wording it in terms of the place of comics in British culture - the benefits to greater funding of comics would be good for any comic book creator in the UK - of any ethnicity, gender, age, class etc.
Why state it negatively that comics are not doing well and many creators are struggling financially? - Because its true. What is the point dressing it up and hiding it? That is the key thing that means the art form needs public support. Comics dont sell enough within the present economic system to give many ( perhaps even most) creators a decent living. So, one other option, if we are to allow this good and interesting art form to continue is to support it with more public money - just as we do with opera. Most opera houses would collapse without the 50% of public funding they get. If British comic book publishers like Myriad, Knockabout, Self Made Hero etc got 50% of their costs paid from public funds then the amount of books they could produce (and therefore creators given a chance) would increase massively. It would see the British comic book world transformed and the lives of 100's or perhaps 1000's of comic book writers and artists hugely improved.
If we have the money to support opera or to buy tanks etc - then why not support comics?
So, please sign it and tell others about it folks. Thanks! It will allow many more good comic books to be made and allow comic book creators to have a decent standard of life. That's worth supporting
At 10,000 signatures, government will respond to this petition.
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/257090
"The UK has a long tradition of making good comic books. Yet since the 1980s sales of comics have declined drastically. The many talented British creators need more funding support in order to continue creating interesting comic books - we do it for opera so why not for this part of British culture?"
"Comic books in Britain stretches back into the 19thC, taking in many aspects of our culture. British comic book artists and writers have contributed important aspects, characters and stories to the art form. It's a key artistic area we have led the way in. Yet nowadays most talented creators scrape by on a pittance and the medium is in danger of dying off. If we can support opera with grants and funding then this arguably even more significant aspect of British culture should be supported too."
I’ve had various people say they dont like the way its worded or the whole idea of it. What this partly shows is how keen some people are on saying negative things about positive efforts. Although all the points may have some validity - the main thing is: despite any small doubts you may have about it, get behind the effort - as if its successful he advantages to comics and to MANY comic book creators will be very large.
But here’s my effort to explain it more. There is one simple thing to consider here first: those petitions have a strict word count to each section, and there simply isn’t space to give a nuanced account of all the factors involved. I already used the max words allowed. It had to be a general broad strokes thing. So that already explains why I couldn’t go into more detail on the govt website.
As to specific complaints folk have told me about:
Funding - some have said that wouldn’t an increase of money to comics take it away from other areas? Its not a question of taking funding away from anywhere. In theoretical terms it may be and that may do some damage to other areas if the amount we are talking about is billions. But the amount is only millions, and probably not even 10s of millions. No one seems to know to what extent comic are funded now (i know I’ve asked various funding bodies and they either won’t tell or genuinely dont know because of various administrative reasons). But the arts council funding for literature in general was around £2 million pounds in 2014. Thats ALL literature. Let’s say that 20% of that went on comics, which seems a reasonable guess - and then double that in order to take into account all the other UK based funding agencies that sometimes help comic book creators. We get to a figure that is unlikely to be more than £500,000 a year for public support of comic books.
If that was increased to, say, 20 times more, it would still only be £10 million. It’s not that much, the country can afford it. To use another comparison thats the same cost of buying two Challenger military tanks (which, by the way the army has more than 200 of). For the cost of just 2 tanks we could fund 20 times the amount of comic book creators we currently do. And that means you! It would make a huge difference for not that much money.
Why the opera comparison? - I’ve used it as a way to give some simple, clear message to the effort, since it needs to reach a lot of people, and many who will not know much about comics. The basic point is: if art form X can be supported, then why not art form Y? Its not meant as any attack on opera. By comparison with the £500,000 estimate above, in 2014 the Royal Opera House alone got £24 million in public money. Thats just ONE place. So, the comparison with opera stands to show us, in crude terms, how comics are neglected by funding bodies in the UK. Then it was also mentioned that opera costs a lot more to produce than comic books do. Sure it does but that’s not the poi t I’m making. Its a question of % of the cost is supported by public money. With opera it is, according to a bit of checking I’ve done, around 50% of the production cost comes from public money, and the rest from sales. With comics i guess its not even 10% comes from public money. So the %, by comparison, is far too little for comics and should be increased.
Someone said they they would prefer the funding to go only or mainly to educational comics. Well, is the same criteria applied to opera? Are only educational opera funded? Or educational films? Clearly not. So,why apply that to comics? Is it based on the idea that comics artistic value is low?
Why focus on Britain and the UK? - First reason is that this is to the UK government and therefore only applies to people living in the UK, and by their own rules only British citizens or UK residents can sign. Secondly, its not meant to be in any way exclusive by wording it in terms of the place of comics in British culture - the benefits to greater funding of comics would be good for any comic book creator in the UK - of any ethnicity, gender, age, class etc.
Why state it negatively that comics are not doing well and many creators are struggling financially? - Because its true. What is the point dressing it up and hiding it? That is the key thing that means the art form needs public support. Comics dont sell enough within the present economic system to give many ( perhaps even most) creators a decent living. So, one other option, if we are to allow this good and interesting art form to continue is to support it with more public money - just as we do with opera. Most opera houses would collapse without the 50% of public funding they get. If British comic book publishers like Myriad, Knockabout, Self Made Hero etc got 50% of their costs paid from public funds then the amount of books they could produce (and therefore creators given a chance) would increase massively. It would see the British comic book world transformed and the lives of 100's or perhaps 1000's of comic book writers and artists hugely improved.
If we have the money to support opera or to buy tanks etc - then why not support comics?
So, please sign it and tell others about it folks. Thanks! It will allow many more good comic books to be made and allow comic book creators to have a decent standard of life. That's worth supporting
At 10,000 signatures, government will respond to this petition.
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/257090