Don't Throw it Away

[doronjosama]

Will Allison speaks the fucking truth about comic books and the concept of "throwaway ideas". willworks doesn't post often, but when he does, it's always good. Go and read it now!

I gotta say, it's the truth though- your brilliant masterpiece? Might never sell for shit. But that thing you scrawled as filler? Might be the thing everyone loves to pieces. Rumiko Takahashi's Maison Ikkoku is a genius piece of work, but people only really care about Ranma and Inu Yasha. Evan Dorkin's Hectic Planet is some of his best work ever, but people only really beg for more Milk & Cheese.

Here's the thing- you don't get to pick what you'll be popular for or remembered for. The audience does that. And you never really have any control over who your audience will be.

Anyway, time for me to get to work.

Comments

[uhusted.livejournal.com]

But I love Maison Ikkoku. I love it the best. :)

Yeah yeah, I know you're right. Had to say it though.

[doronjosama.livejournal.com]

See, I love Maison Ikkoku and Hectic Planet the best of all, but we are the minority. Other people go "Man, Inu Yasha is THE SHIT! That stuff is TIGHT!" and get Milk & Cheese tattoos.

I just love when Will posts about comics though, because he writes such great things.

[darkkof.livejournal.com]

I'm with the orange, I like Maison Ikkoku the best of Rumiko Takahashi's works... Ranma is funny but it's not one of her best, I have to say and I got tired of Inu Yasha by book... 14? 15? I forgot already...

But that's not really the point of this post... the point is though, I totally understand what you mean... as much as I love Maison Ikkoku and give praise and put in the spotlight to people, they'll still think of Ranma or Inu Yasha whenever Rumiko Takahashi is mentioned. It's quite sad, but the problem is with how things were marketed and the timing of it all.

Me, myself, I can never really know... I've done a lot of comics, made a lot of creations, but the readers never talk to me about it so I never really know which one they like the best... in fact, these days, i don't even know which one I give more attention and love to anymore...

[pmbq.livejournal.com]

Me too, me too...Maison Ikkoku was a big reason why I fell in love with my current husband, because he also loved it! This made a big impression on an 18-year-old-Rumiko-Takahashi-loving-aspiring comic artist...

P.S.

[pmbq.livejournal.com]

Uh, he is my only husband and the only one I hope I have in my lifetime ^_^;;; Just had to clarify :D

[prickvixen.livejournal.com]

I would imagine, based on what flies on LJ, that the more generic an idea is, the more popular it will be. The more specific and complicated, the less likely it is to have significance to anybody but the artist. And thus we have the public's patronage of the arts. What can you do for ME

And I think Evan's best work is when he's in complete doomsaying existentialist mode. It isn't the work of his that I enjoy the most-- in fact, it kind of creeps me out --but I think it's his best.

[hecatemahadevi.livejournal.com]

...I think of Urusei Yatsura when someone mentions Takahashi-sama to me.

[zorichan.livejournal.com]

Same here! That was one of the first mangas I had read by her. I'd only ever seen like one volume of the Maison Ikkoku anime though.