D.J. Coffman - Sequential Artist, Thinker

Something that has gone off the radar a bit and not talked about much since has been Michael Chabon’s keynote speech at the Eisner awards in 2004. Read here.

It was basically aimed at the fact that comics have grown up too much. We’ve lost something, we’ve lost comics for kids. I think it’s interesting now, I remember how i read it and how it affected me on some level. I think subconsciously, without even knowing it, I’ve kept his notes in mind while I’ve been working on the Hero By Night comics here. Anyways– I suggest that creators should read that speech.

“We can’t afford to take this handcrafted, one-kid-at-a-time approach anymore. We have to sweep them up and carry them off on the vast flying carpets of story and pictures on which we ourselves, in entire generations, were borne aloft, on carpets woven by Swan and Hamilton, Kirby and Lee. They did it for us; we have to pass it on, pay it forward. It’s our duty, it’s our opportunity, and I really do believe it will be our pleasure. “