I have recently heard a few people start slagging on James Sime of Isotope Comics and
The Comics Pimp fame.
I feel moved to speak out about this not because I feel James needs defending (he’s got
a bat-wielding crew of Funwreckers who can take care of that) but because
I feel strongly about the subject. And because I can; bully pulpit and all that.

Certain of the allegations revolve around the supposition that James only caters to books that fit
his “Guns! Scotch! ‘Splode!” exterior. Well, folks, I make a book about a *faerie*. A little tiny
faerie with gossamer wings that flits through the air and looks angsty for a hundred fifty pages. I can’t
think of too many books that contradict James’ image more, and he has gone out of his way to support my book vociferously
from its first appearance. You know why? Because he liked it. He thought it was good.
He certainly didn’t decide to talk it up because he thought he could make a ton of money — none of the
individual issues ever came close to cracking the Top 300 list, nor has the graphic novel appeared
on any Direct Market Radars. And it’s self-published, so it’s not like he was schmoozing for
attention from an editor at a big company. No, he supported me because he saw a book by a
creator that was working hard, and he wanted to give an unknown book a chance because he thought it deserved one.

For that, I am very grateful. I would not, however, be so eager to speak up for James if I hadn’t
met him in person. Whether on his message board, on the phone, at APE or in his store, James
has never been anything but kind and courteous to me. Never a rude word, never a joke about my
anatomy, my gender, the contents of my book or my finances, and has never shown me anything but respect. For that, I am even more
grateful, especially after hearing some of the horror stories from fellow female creators and fellow
small pressers alike.

Now, a lot of people take umbrage at James’ bombastic exterior, from his suits to
his hair to his wild parties. I can’t argue that they’re not, shall we say, industry standard.
Some people have gone so far as to say this is all a marketing ploy. Well, I don’t know how
I can tell you this in a way that will make you believe it, but here it is: James is genuine. Those suits, that hair, those parties —
that’s *James*. He does that stuff out of the goodness of his heart, because he wants to, because it’s
the way he has fun, and he wants to drag as many people along into his fun as he can. From my
experience, I’ve never seen anything to make me believe otherwise.

Of course James is a showman. Of course he’s trying to make money. He’s a businessman
for heaven’s sake. Selling comics is how he pays his rent (and buys those suits, which can’t be cheap).
He’s using his business as a grandstand for his beliefs, as is his right.
He believes that comics deserve a bigger place in mainstream society, and he’s gonna do
whatever he can think of to get them there — from handing comics about bike messengers to
actual bike messengers — to leaving comics on the BART for passengers to read — to leaving “Too Much Coffee Man” in coffeehouses.
He, more than many people I know in the industry, is walking the walk. There’s so much talk — but few people are
so willing to put their words into action.

Comics has far too long been a big bucket of crabs. As soon as some people start to make a positive climb up,
there’s a writhing mass of negativity waiting to drag them back down. And you know what? That’s
dumb. It doesn’t have to be that way. If you don’t like James’ techniques, the
best way you can prove him wrong is to get out there and devise a marketing technique that’s more
effective. At least James is doing something positive — if you don’t like his style, come up
with something you think is better. Write a comic. Draw a comic. If you don’t have the money
for self-publishing, do a mini-comic, or a web-comic. If you think you can promote differently or better, do so.
The best revenge, after all, is success and happiness, not firing electronic arrows into
somebody else’s backside.

This advice goes out to readers as well — you don’t have to be a comics creator or retailer to
be allowed to criticize James — in fact, the majority of volleys I’ve seen have been from
readers, comics buyers, James’ intended audience. Instead of concentrating on pointing out the
flaws in James’ system, why not make a better one? Speak to your local retailers if you have ideas
for promotions. Sitting around and stewing, or worse, spouting bile at someone who’s only trying
to make comics more successful does no one any good, least of all yourself. The more negativity
and anger we generate in this field, the more readers we’ll lose, the more retailers will lose heart.

Move forward. Use your energy, your beliefs, to do something positive in the field that you care
so much about. People must care about it an awful lot to spend so much time flaming each other.
Think about how much better off we’d be if all that time spent flaming was used instead to write reviews, or make underground
newspapers, or create the next Great American Graphic Novel, or a blistering punk rock album.

James is out there putting action to words. He’s doing what he believes in. What’re you doing?