See Scott Kurtz' blog post [link] about Ringo if you haven't yet. And if you have no idea who Ringo was, browse his gallery: *Wieringo.

As nice as Mike was and as many friends as he had, he still lived with the regret of being unable to tell his own stories--even I could see it in his sketches. There were worlds he still wanted to explore. But to "pay the bills," he was stuck working on other people's stuff. Granted, there is probably some element of choice there: He could have maybe pushed harder, or talked to someone different, reached out to people who would have been more supportive and willing to pay him for his stories.

So if we take anything away from his passing--besides all the great memories of a great man, which I will always regret not having the chance to have--maybe it's that there should be more room in the industry to do what we want. Even if it's just from time, to time, the big companies certainly make enough money from their flagship titles to give their artists a chance to stretch and do something they really want to do without the fear of being unable to pay the bills some months or meet some draconian deadline on a big series that they should feel priviledged to work on because it's one of the company's biggest or whatever.

Joe Q, as far as I can tell, has already taken some steps in what I see as being the right direction by getting artists' input on what series they'd most like to work on. I don't know about anybody else, but it seems like a start, right?

Fans love the guys making the comics [well, depending who it is...]. It couldn't possibly be a bad thing to let the fans get closer to their favourite creators by letting them touch something of their own. There could even be a monthly anthology book where the big guys let their artists take a break from their regular stuff to do a little story all their own, with support staff to do whatever they can't on their own--colouring, lettering, whatever--so it doesn't look like crap [give it a real fighting chance to mean something, in other words] and let whatever goes into that anthology stay the property of the guy who came up with it. I know that's a taboo, but Jesus, Image isn't just a flash in the pan. And then, depending on fan response, some of these small stories could be given miniseries or even something longer.

Then there wouldn't be that regret. At least they'd give it a chance and wouldn't have to worry about getting paid by a small-time publisher who doesn't have the marketing budget to really get the books in people's hands.

And if there isn't someone with an idea he can do right away, then just don't publish the anthology that month. Since it's just a little piece of a story, it doesn't have to take long to make, then they can get back to their regular series, or whatever. They should be given the support of pro writers to get input on pacing or other details if they're uncomfortable writing it on their own; you know, not left out in the rain to sink or swim completely on their own.

There are so many great stories that could be told.

Leinil Yu's Silent Dragon kicked ass so hard.

There should be pride in the artists too, but not just by showcasing what they can do for the company's main titles.