Have to raise this issue again 'cos Eric Burns
have snarked about the documentary. This deserves mention regarding Cat Garza:
Quote:
Cat Garza is a good artist. He's one of those rare infinite canvas artists I like and respect, because you can see him honestly trying to push his limits, push the limits of the medium, push something as he works. He really is experimental. He really is trying. You might think it's all bullshit or pretentious or whatever, but he doesn't. He believes it.
And he's not been a success story in webcomics. His output has dropped way down, because he's got bills to pay and a family to feed. He believes, with all his heart, but he doesn't get to play fucking video games for a living. He does this because he loves it, and he believes in it, and in the end it hasn't gone where he wanted, and if you have no empathy for that then you're just a stone cold bastard, whether you believe him or not.
Do you have any idea what Cat Garza must have felt to see that trailer? Do you have any idea what that must have meant to him? He was the centerpiece of a trailer for a movie, talking about a subject that means the world to him. For that one, brief moment it must have all seemed worth it to him. It must have seemed like maybe -- just maybe -- he has had a profound influence on this medium that he loves.
And the about the PA gang's attitude towards Mr Garza:
Quote:
It's like Krahulik and Holkins are so desperate to be cool that they're emulating the jocks in high school. It's like they're abusing the people weaker than they are because they know it'll make the cool kids laugh, and prove they're cool. It's like they're abused children, who get big enough so they can abuse children of their own -- their lunch money got taken away and they felt weird and awkward and weak -- Jesus Christ, look at those freaks. They play video games way too much. They're, like, obsessed! Hey, let's go smack them around! Let's go stuff them into lockers! That'll be funny! -- and now they've got hundreds of thousands of people reading them. They've fucking won. They beat the assholes who used to rag on them once and for all, because those assholes are working fucking retail and Krahulik and Holkins get to play video games for a living. And so now they're taking glee in tormenting this guy who's never done a thing to them and who couldn't do a thing to them if he wanted to. They mock how he looks and what he says and they just generally tear him down at the moment when he probably felt the best about himself and his art as he ever had.
That's not funny. That's not a joke. That's not editorializing and it sure as Hell isn't deflating the pretensions of others. It's. Just. Mean.
I kind of guilty of laughing
with PA
at Cat Garza and how he's trying to push & promote the webcomics scene. Reading from Eric Burns' assessment of Cat Garza, he worked as hard as his colleagues like you, Tycho, Gabe, & Scott and still didn't get anything. Anywhere. Money, fame, all that. And yet, Mr Garza persists. He still goes on. He may not be an Energizer bunny, but he keeps going, anyway. Or at least, that's what I think of what Eric is saying.
I understand what Tycho tries to say. He knows the potential that webcomics hold. All that freedom that you can do with your comics with no "The Man" to stop you. You trail your own path, your own success, with your webcomics. What Tycho couldn't stand is what he considers "pretentious"; all those passionate, if not intelligent (intelligeable?) words uttered by those who appeared in that documentary, rested on the spines & shoulders of webcomics themselves. Tycho couldn't stand how those words are & will be uttered, perhaps it's in the way how the interviewees will deliver their words.
But, anyway they put it, they still have a point: Webcomics have potential. Webcomics can help indie cartoonists, artistes, auteurs, & creator gain more exposure. And even if webcomics give these very people some misfortune, the least they can get is some infamy.
I may not look forward to watching this documentary, but I am sure to look forward to where webcomics might lead us.....
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I just read THE HISTORY OF WEBCOMICS for the 
