For years now, when talking about comics, there has been a certain feeling of boom, with more and more authors and publishers, and when the reading rates come out, the genre stands out as one of the fastest growing sectors. Is it true or is it a mirage? We have taken advantage of the opening day of the 42nd Comic Barcelona to speak with some notable authors of the moment.
For Carla Berrocal (Madrid, 1983), who next week publishes La tierra yerma (Reservoir Books), “more than a boom it would be a bubble, because there is so much newness that it is unsustainable and perhaps even convenient for us.” With such a profusion of titles, he believes that quality has decreased, partly because “before the editor's task was to contribute what he believed in,” and now, partly because shorter runs are made, a lot is published without making a clear commitment. and strong, so that, furthermore, “the reader cannot cope.”
Juan Díaz Canales (Madrid, 1972) knows that he is a rare bird, since not only can he make a living from what he publishes but he is also a screenwriter – his work highlights, above all, the Blacksad series with Juanjo Guarnido, as well as the resumption of Corto Maltés with Rubén Pelejero – but still suspects that “the problem is the idea of the boom, because we put the focus on the comic and not on the endemic evil of Spanish culture, which is little read.” Now, for the reader “it is a golden age, because he has many more options to choose what he wants. I don't see any bubble, and with my trademark optimism I see an improvement, even if it is slow, there is more market and we are better than before, not only because more is published but because there is also more recognition and more readers.
Nadia Hafid (Terrassa, 1990), author of Chacales (2022, Sapristi), now totally immersed in finishing Mala olor, the project that won the Finestres award and that she will publish next year, recognizes that “it is still a precarious sector, it is very It is difficult to make a living from it, but I am lucky that I like the other illustration work I do or the classes, they stimulate me and help me stay connected.” There is also, of course, the option of working directly in other markets with more readers and better advances; Neither she nor Berrocal have done it, but it is a common route.
This is what Jaime Martín (l'Hospitalet, 1966) did, who has just presented A Dark Mantle (Norma) but since 2007 he has worked directly for the Belgian publishing house Dupuis, "which pays me a decent price for my work." “Making comics is a slow and hard activity, that's why I only publish a book every three years. I write the script, draw, color and label myself, and that forces me to manage advances carefully to be able to live until the next project. I lead an austere life, but I carry out the projects I want, at my own pace, without pressure from the publisher. I could do other types of stories, there are more commercial products that publishers usually offer their authors, but I like to do more personal work, with which I feel fully identified."
Where growth has also been noticed is in female authorship, which is now around 20%, but there is a process underway and growing rapidly, because “putting the focus on female authors has encouraged other girls to become interested, before There were no references, but the women were there, it was just that they were not given much attention because it was a masculinized sector, I suppose as much as others, because the world is sexist,” says Hafid. Martín knows that “there are undoubtedly more female authors than when I started drawing comics in the eighties, but they are probably less than what would be needed,” but where he has seen the change is in the classes he teaches at the Joso school: “It's been "For 30 years there was not a single girl in a group of 20 students, and now there are more girls than boys, a fact that has been repeated for a few years, so in the near future we will see an important change in this regard."
If on Tuesday Marjane Satrapi explained that since she had no female references her model was Batman, yesterday Berrocal explained that “my first model of a lesbian relationship was Wolverine from the X-Men, and if women have often had to identify with male models heterosexuals, why couldn't a boy calmly take on a story just because the protagonists were girls? Because labels, just as they are useful for selecting tastes, can end up being a barrier, and Hafid agrees that “they may be unnecessary, but at the same time they serve to vindicate us.”
Another issue that is of concern to some extent in the sector is the emergence of artificial intelligence, especially when generative models have been fed with work subject to copyright. The four authors agree that, as Hafid says, "it is necessary to regularize and pay a fee to authors", a fact that for Berrocal "will come when large companies are the losers, and it is already starting to happen now."
Díaz Canales warns that “it is obviously not a problem only for comics, but rather a problem of widespread scope, and the solution can only be to set limits because technology never goes backwards. Just as the markets have been intervened with antitrust laws, we will have to legislate to prevent abuses of power, but in the end, we will all use AI tools.” For Martín, “it must be legislated so that robots and AIs that eliminate jobs pay a tax that reverts to people who are removed from work activity. If not, we will end up building a completely dehumanized society. In fact, we are already on it.” He is also concerned that “the public, due to the alleged use and abuse of AI, can become brutalized to the point of not appreciating and valuing the human side of artistic creations, creations with motivations, concerns, philias and phobias that make them unique,” he says. “You have to educate people's eyes” so they can distinguish quality, says Hafid. Find the art. Berrocal, in fact, acknowledges: “I'm not too worried either, because the biggest loser will be the most industrialized product.” As Martín concludes, “when the majority of people do not care to know the special point of view that a human offers on any topic, all will be lost.”
Catalan version, here
