Larry Young is the co-founder and head honcho of AiT/PlanetLar, the independent comics publisher that is currently celebrating its five-year anniversary. Known for publishing the comics of such creators as Brian Wood & Tom Beland, as well as the prose writings of Warren Ellis, Young has parlayed a strong Internet presence and innate marketing savvy into a growing spot in the public eye for his company. He got behind the trade paperback/graphic novel format early, putting his creators in a prime position to take advantage of the rise in sales of those formats both within the direct market and in the larger bookstore world.
Never one to shy away from making his opinion known, Young has made statements in Brian Wood’s Delphi Forum and on his own blog that have made him something of a bete noire among comics bloggers of late. So I was both surprised and pleased when, in response to my post on this topic, Larry offered to answer any ten questions I cared to ask him, for publication on this very blog. I happily took up this generous offer, and as you’ll see, the results were both informative and candid. You’ll also see that I probably cheated a little bit on the whole “ten questions” thing.
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Larry Young
Interviewed by Sean T. Collins
17 March 2004
Sean T. Collins: So, how did you “develop such a hard-on for bloggers?” Were there specific comics bloggers who said something you found upsetting or misleading? If so, who were they? Or do you think that, your own blog aside, the publishing mechanism itself is inherently problematic?
Larry Young: Well, I just don’t see myself as “having a hard-on” for bloggers, in the first place. I just think the comics blogs I have seen are pretty self-indulgent affairs, is all. Someone will send me a link with a note pointing out something they think I’ll be interested in, and I have to wade through laments about the cancellation of Angel and political screeds about terrorism and lamb stew recipes and whatnot to find a two-line mention of Demo #3.
I mean, I get enough of that sort of thing from my pals in the real world; I don’t need to read about it online, too. 🙂
Your blog is mostly an AiT/PL news and update source. Could you ever see yourself offering comics commentary and criticism as well?
No, because that’s not what it’s for. It’s just a way for me to update the home page with company-related news without having to learn html. I’m not sure I could get away with it, now, anyway. When I did my 52 issue fanzine, Planet Lar, I did four or five short reviews a week for a year. People liked ’em, for the most part, because I was a guy riding mass transit on his way to work and writing about the comics he’d just read. If I reviewed something now, people wouldn’t look at it like a guy just telling you his likes and dislikes; they’d think The King Of Independent Comics was being “combative” and taking a dump on their hard work.
Conventional wisdom has it that your online persona is combative; some have said unnecessarily or even detrimentally so.
People see what they want to see.
Is this persona deliberate on your part, or do you think this assessment of your Internet presence is inaccurate? If you have adopted this persona consciously, how does it differ from the way you are in real life?
Here’s the thing about that; I don’t have a “persona,” I have a certain amount of skill in writing. Those reading my writing have a certain level of skill in comprehension. It’s possible there might not be a lot of overlap, there. While I may feel I’m writing clearly and without room for interpretation, a reader might not understand whatever point I’m making, or, even, may not agree with it. If I respond, I’m just being “combative”? Not from my point of view.
Neal Stephenson has a great line about this in Cryptonomicon: “Arguing with anonymous strangers on the Internet is a sucker’s game because they almost always turn out to be — or to be indistinguishable from — self-righteous sixteen year olds possessing infinite amounts of free time.”
I haven’t been following the debate as closely as some, but perhaps this is a good time to set the record straight on Wood & Cloonan’s Demo. Are there now or have there ever been plans to release this series as a collected-edition trade paperback upon its conclusion?
Man, this is like a Perry Mason question. No, counsellor, there are not now or have ever been plans to release this series as a collected-edition trade paperback upon its conclusion.
You’ve said in the past that the book will not be collected–how unequivocal is that?
I don’t believe I’ve said we WILL NOT collect it; I may have been exasperated with a loon or two and written that we may as well come out and say that. But that’s a business reality, and business realities change all the time, and successful companies adapt to those changes.
AiT/PL is a company known for its belief in and success with the trade paperback/graphic novel format; why was this particular title selected to be given the “hard sell” on behalf of its individual, pamphlet-sized installments?
I don’t think it’s been given a “hard sell.” People have written they’re waiting for the trade, I tell them if they don’t buy it now, there might not be a trade. That’s just an economic reality imposed on us by the nature of how this project is set up. The poster-stock covers, the cover-weight interiors, the self-contained stories; everything about Demo screams “$2.95 mini graphic novel.” If some observers of the scene think we’re violating what they think our company is known for, good! That’s how businesses grow, but stepping outside of expectations.
How has this mini-brouhaha affected sales, and for that matter critical & audience reception of the work itself?
There’s no effect that I can see. The work is the work. Critical and audience reception of a project doesn’t (or shouldn’t, at least) be impacted by what a few vocal cats without all the info say on a message board.
AiT/PL has now hit the five-year mark, and the company has an increasingly high profile. To what do you attribute your success thus far? How do you plan to maintain or increase your appeal to comics buyers?
Slow and steady wins the race. We keep putting out the good comics, and people will keep buying ’em.
What book/s are you most proud of having published? On the flip side, what book/s do you see as having been a misfire, or something that you and/or the creators could have handled better?
This is like asking a parent which offspring they love more. I love all our books, for different reasons.
From fans to retailers to creators to publishers to critics, ours is an industry that seems intently focus on spreading the word about comics to the outside world. What brand of “comics activism,” for want of a better term, have you found most successful? How do you think the industry in general, or your own company in particular, can improve upon its existing outreach efforts?
Nothing beats hand-selling. In a well-stocked shop, I could sell anyone a book that they would enjoy, just by talking to them for a couple minutes. If somebody told me one of their favorite movies, the last place they went on vacation and what they had for breakfast, I could put a comic in their hand that they liked, just because I’m enthusiastic about the form and I can extrapolate all sorts of stuff about folks from those three questions and their body language. It’s kind of a monkey trick I learned from my orthodontist when I was a kid, actually.
How do you see AiT/PL functioning in relation to the other indie comics companies–what role does it play, what niche does it fill, what reader needs does it service? Are you satisfied with where you stand in the industry?
I’ll tell you what I tell everyone who asks me this question: we’re publishers, just like Marvel and DC and whoever. The $12.95 it takes to buy The Invisibles: Bloody Hell in America from your local comics retailer is the same $12.95 it’ll cost to buy yourself a copy of Last of the Independents.
What one thing does comics need more of? And what one thing does comics need less of?
The one thing comics needs more of: TREES. The one thing comics needs less of: average comics.
Finally, if there are any current or upcoming projects you’d like to plug, please plug away!
Well, I’m personally excited about the upcoming Planet of the Capes, just because it’s been a long gestation period for the project. I’m looking forward to Ursula, our first translated-from-the-Brazillian-Portugese graphic novel, and of course Hench and Bad Mojo. I can’t wait for WonderCon in San Francisco, too. Nothing better than going to a major comic book convention and being able to sleep in your own bed at night, too.
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For more on Larry and his company on their fifth anniversary, check out Newsarama‘s big piece on the subject. Thank you once again to Larry Young for suggesting the interview, and congratulations to him on five years of AiT/PlanetLar!