GROUP-MINDED Pt. 1
Months from my matrimonial vows were taken, I met a group of young men, and we shared one dream…
To get my work published.
The anniversary of that union’s disbanding is fast approaching, and while we all remain friends and hold no grudges, it’s about time I did something that’s needed doing fir years.
Take the blame.
DMS was Danse Macabre Studios. And, Danse Macabre Studios was once Gothic Studios, and its mission was invigorating the horror genre in comics. Even now, horror comics are a dying breed. The most successful in recent memory was Chaos! And they didn’t do horror stories. They took superheroes, dressed them up as ghosts and goblins and put them in a world where they were the heroes because the opposition was so much worse (seem familiar). The one exception was Evil Ernie, but he was symbolic of counter culture sticking it to the man. Today, Steve Niles is blazing a trail all by his lonesome, but if he goes anymore mainstream he may dry up.
Gothic Studios was going to push the envelop in a lot of ways. A lot of what’s done today we thought of years ago. We were innovators. But we lacked the prime ingredient, money. Gothic Studios changed to DMS when another company took the name. With the name change came a new mission statement. This time, we abandoned horror so much, but stood for breaking barriers in subject matter and content. Fueled by the British invasion, we got deep and weird with our books, heavy in science fiction and the supernatural. We got deep into researching our topics. Gone were the bursts of inspiration and we became practical. We also became highly selective.
We started excluding other creators and judged their work as unsubstantial. Perhaps our lack of humility spelled our demise. The first member left and it was down from there. Soon, another parted and a group of four dwindled to two. Not even a year later, two went to one, and that’s when I closed the door.
In the last year or so, I’ve done my very least to get them back, and now, perhaps I understand why my efforts have failed. I was the leader, head of the table, and I failed them. I failed to lead. I failed to be strong. And, I’m still failing.
To get my work published.
The anniversary of that union’s disbanding is fast approaching, and while we all remain friends and hold no grudges, it’s about time I did something that’s needed doing fir years.
Take the blame.
DMS was Danse Macabre Studios. And, Danse Macabre Studios was once Gothic Studios, and its mission was invigorating the horror genre in comics. Even now, horror comics are a dying breed. The most successful in recent memory was Chaos! And they didn’t do horror stories. They took superheroes, dressed them up as ghosts and goblins and put them in a world where they were the heroes because the opposition was so much worse (seem familiar). The one exception was Evil Ernie, but he was symbolic of counter culture sticking it to the man. Today, Steve Niles is blazing a trail all by his lonesome, but if he goes anymore mainstream he may dry up.
Gothic Studios was going to push the envelop in a lot of ways. A lot of what’s done today we thought of years ago. We were innovators. But we lacked the prime ingredient, money. Gothic Studios changed to DMS when another company took the name. With the name change came a new mission statement. This time, we abandoned horror so much, but stood for breaking barriers in subject matter and content. Fueled by the British invasion, we got deep and weird with our books, heavy in science fiction and the supernatural. We got deep into researching our topics. Gone were the bursts of inspiration and we became practical. We also became highly selective.
We started excluding other creators and judged their work as unsubstantial. Perhaps our lack of humility spelled our demise. The first member left and it was down from there. Soon, another parted and a group of four dwindled to two. Not even a year later, two went to one, and that’s when I closed the door.
In the last year or so, I’ve done my very least to get them back, and now, perhaps I understand why my efforts have failed. I was the leader, head of the table, and I failed them. I failed to lead. I failed to be strong. And, I’m still failing.
posted by QABBAL at 1:59 AM
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