WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.600 Picture this. You've got this legendary local 00:00:03.600 --> 00:00:06.259 punk rock band in your town. Right. The ones 00:00:06.259 --> 00:00:08.439 playing in basements and dive bars. Exactly. 00:00:08.679 --> 00:00:11.259 And they completely refuse to sign with a major 00:00:11.259 --> 00:00:12.939 record label. Like, they won't even put their 00:00:12.939 --> 00:00:15.500 CDs in the local independent record shop. Wow. 00:00:15.500 --> 00:00:18.320 So really sticking to their guns. Yeah. Instead, 00:00:18.379 --> 00:00:21.679 they choose to sell their mixtapes purely out 00:00:21.679 --> 00:00:23.879 of the trunk of their car at these underground 00:00:23.879 --> 00:00:26.920 shows. And, you know, you'd think they'd just 00:00:26.920 --> 00:00:29.359 fade into total obscurity, right? Oh, sure. That's 00:00:29.359 --> 00:00:31.480 actually how that story ends. But then out of 00:00:31.480 --> 00:00:34.399 nowhere, they end up actually winning the industry's 00:00:34.399 --> 00:00:37.340 highest, most prestigious awards for those exact 00:00:37.340 --> 00:00:39.359 mixtapes. I mean, it sounds like a complete myth, 00:00:39.500 --> 00:00:42.259 like the kind of urban legend that creative scenes 00:00:42.259 --> 00:00:44.899 just build up around themselves to feel, I don't 00:00:44.899 --> 00:00:46.840 know, rebellious. Right, but that isn't just 00:00:46.840 --> 00:00:49.219 some music industry myth, because in the early 00:00:49.219 --> 00:00:52.619 2000s, a lone comic book publisher out in Portland, 00:00:52.619 --> 00:00:55.219 Oregon actually pulled off that exact trajectory. 00:00:55.359 --> 00:00:58.380 Which is just... wild to think about. It really 00:00:58.380 --> 00:01:01.799 is. So welcome to today's deep dive. Today we 00:01:01.799 --> 00:01:05.219 are going deep into the 14 year lifespan of spark 00:01:05.219 --> 00:01:08.400 plug comic books or as it's more commonly known 00:01:08.400 --> 00:01:10.840 spark plug comics. Yeah, spark plug comics. We 00:01:10.840 --> 00:01:13.769 are tracing how this Fierce, independent operation 00:01:13.769 --> 00:01:17.409 managed to survive from 2002 all the way to 2016. 00:01:18.010 --> 00:01:20.370 Because for you listening, decoding the why and 00:01:20.370 --> 00:01:23.209 the how of this company is basically a masterclass 00:01:23.209 --> 00:01:26.109 in how alternative, community -driven business 00:01:26.109 --> 00:01:28.829 models operate completely outside the mainstream. 00:01:29.180 --> 00:01:31.480 And it's also, well, it's a deeply human story 00:01:31.480 --> 00:01:34.060 too. It's about what happens to a highly specific 00:01:34.060 --> 00:01:37.120 founder -driven vision when sudden tragedy strikes. 00:01:37.299 --> 00:01:39.439 Yeah, that part is so important. It is, because 00:01:39.439 --> 00:01:41.659 to really understand the gravity of what Sparkplug 00:01:41.659 --> 00:01:43.439 accomplished, we have to look at the landscape 00:01:43.439 --> 00:01:46.219 of Portland, Oregon in 2002. The company was 00:01:46.219 --> 00:01:48.040 founded by a cartoonist named Dylan Williams. 00:01:48.159 --> 00:01:50.739 Okay. And from the very first day, the business 00:01:50.739 --> 00:01:53.680 model he chose completely dictated the entire 00:01:53.680 --> 00:01:55.799 creative ethos of the publisher. Right, because 00:01:55.799 --> 00:01:58.719 from its inception, Sparkplug entirely eschewed 00:01:58.719 --> 00:02:01.060 traditional comic book distributors. Like, they 00:02:01.060 --> 00:02:03.500 completely bypassed the standard retail shops. 00:02:03.959 --> 00:02:05.540 Yeah, they didn't even try to play that game. 00:02:05.560 --> 00:02:08.860 No. If you walked into a typical comic shop looking 00:02:08.860 --> 00:02:11.580 for the latest superhero issue, you wouldn't 00:02:11.580 --> 00:02:14.439 just accidentally stumble upon a Sparkplug book 00:02:14.439 --> 00:02:17.629 on the main rack. They focused entirely on direct 00:02:17.629 --> 00:02:21.009 sales. Entirely. But I actually want to push 00:02:21.009 --> 00:02:23.169 back on this right away because we really have 00:02:23.169 --> 00:02:26.090 to talk about the logistics here. If you intentionally 00:02:26.090 --> 00:02:28.669 avoid the exact places where people actually 00:02:28.669 --> 00:02:31.090 go to buy comics, I mean the retail shops and 00:02:31.090 --> 00:02:33.629 the major distributors, aren't you just guaranteeing 00:02:33.629 --> 00:02:36.069 that you stay totally obscure? Well, it absolutely 00:02:36.069 --> 00:02:38.270 seems like opening a restaurant and stubbornly 00:02:38.270 --> 00:02:41.030 refusing to put a sign on the door. Right. Exactly. 00:02:41.129 --> 00:02:42.849 But you have to look at the mechanics of the 00:02:42.849 --> 00:02:45.430 comic book industry at that time. In the early 00:02:45.430 --> 00:02:48.830 2000s, the mainstream distribution system was 00:02:48.830 --> 00:02:51.569 essentially a monopoly. It was controlled by 00:02:51.569 --> 00:02:55.530 a single massed entity called Diamond Comic Distributors. 00:02:56.090 --> 00:02:58.629 Okay, Diamond. Yeah. And to get your book into 00:02:58.629 --> 00:03:01.770 a normal comic shop, you had to hit certain minimum 00:03:01.770 --> 00:03:05.699 order thresholds with them. Meaning? If you weren't 00:03:05.699 --> 00:03:08.240 guaranteeing massive sales right out of the gate, 00:03:08.680 --> 00:03:10.280 the distributor wouldn't even bother putting 00:03:10.280 --> 00:03:12.879 you in their catalog. Exactly. Retailers run 00:03:12.879 --> 00:03:15.240 on super tight margins. They want safe bets. 00:03:15.840 --> 00:03:19.159 You know, Batman, X -Men, familiar tropes. If 00:03:19.159 --> 00:03:22.199 you are printing weird experimental avant -garde 00:03:22.199 --> 00:03:24.860 indie comics, the traditional distributor just 00:03:24.860 --> 00:03:27.379 won't touch you. Wow. So for Dylan Williams, 00:03:27.800 --> 00:03:29.879 bypassing the mainstream wasn't just some punk 00:03:29.879 --> 00:03:32.919 rock posture. It was an actual structural necessity 00:03:32.919 --> 00:03:35.419 to publish the kind of art he believed in. But 00:03:35.419 --> 00:03:37.599 wait, this was 2002. You couldn't just throw 00:03:37.599 --> 00:03:40.979 up a slick Shopify store and like run targeted 00:03:40.979 --> 00:03:43.599 Instagram ads. How did they actually physically 00:03:43.599 --> 00:03:45.599 move product without a distributor putting it 00:03:45.599 --> 00:03:47.699 on trucks? It was incredibly grueling manual 00:03:47.699 --> 00:03:50.139 labor. Direct sales in this era meant maintaining 00:03:50.139 --> 00:03:52.659 a massive physical presence at underground festivals, 00:03:52.879 --> 00:03:54.819 zine fests and independent comic conventions. 00:03:54.860 --> 00:03:58.599 Oh, man, the travel alone. Yeah. It meant lugging 00:03:58.599 --> 00:04:00.819 heavy, long boxes of books across the country, 00:04:01.180 --> 00:04:03.699 setting up folding tables, and literally hand 00:04:03.699 --> 00:04:05.819 -selling these comics to people passing by. Just 00:04:05.819 --> 00:04:08.740 one by one. One by one. It also meant relying 00:04:08.740 --> 00:04:11.960 on mail -order catalogs. Fans would literally 00:04:11.960 --> 00:04:14.979 mail a personal check or hidden cash in an envelope 00:04:14.979 --> 00:04:18.540 to a P .O. box. And Dylan would pack the comic 00:04:18.540 --> 00:04:21.240 in a mailer and take it to the post office himself. 00:04:21.319 --> 00:04:23.779 That sounds absolutely exhausting. But I guess, 00:04:23.899 --> 00:04:26.839 well... It completely changes the dynamic between 00:04:26.839 --> 00:04:28.839 the creator and the reader, doesn't it? It entirely 00:04:28.839 --> 00:04:31.800 rewires it. By eliminating the corporate middleman, 00:04:32.060 --> 00:04:34.279 Sparkplug was doing something incredibly valuable. 00:04:34.620 --> 00:04:37.199 They were building a dedicated grassroots network. 00:04:37.319 --> 00:04:39.519 Right. They didn't need a million casual readers. 00:04:39.939 --> 00:04:42.339 They were cultivating a few thousand diehard 00:04:42.339 --> 00:04:45.199 fans who actually value those face -to -face 00:04:45.199 --> 00:04:47.160 interactions at a festival table. Yeah, it's 00:04:47.160 --> 00:04:50.060 so personal. Exactly. When you buy a comic directly 00:04:50.060 --> 00:04:51.920 from the person who published it, and they hand 00:04:51.920 --> 00:04:53.740 it to you and shake your hand, you're investing 00:04:53.740 --> 00:04:55.920 in it. relationship. You're not just consuming 00:04:55.920 --> 00:04:58.019 a product. Okay, I definitely see the value in 00:04:58.019 --> 00:05:01.639 that loyalty, but surely if you have this direct 00:05:01.639 --> 00:05:04.439 sales out -of -the -trunk model with zero gatekeepers, 00:05:04.879 --> 00:05:07.339 doesn't that just invite a flood of completely 00:05:07.339 --> 00:05:10.439 uncurated amateur hour art? You would think so. 00:05:10.660 --> 00:05:13.060 Right, like if anyone can publish anything, how 00:05:13.060 --> 00:05:15.660 do you maintain quality? Well, that is the assumption 00:05:15.660 --> 00:05:18.439 most of the mainstream industry made, but Sparkplug 00:05:18.439 --> 00:05:21.379 immediately proved the critics wrong in the most 00:05:21.379 --> 00:05:25.990 undeniable way possible. Yeah. In 2003, which 00:05:25.990 --> 00:05:28.149 is almost immediately after the company was founded, 00:05:28.949 --> 00:05:31.769 a spark -clug published comic called FLEEP. by 00:05:31.769 --> 00:05:34.810 the artist Jason Shiga, actually won an Eisner 00:05:34.810 --> 00:05:36.610 Award. Okay, hold on. For anyone who doesn't 00:05:36.610 --> 00:05:40.230 know, the Eisner Awards are basically the Academy 00:05:40.230 --> 00:05:42.490 Awards of the comic book industry. It is the 00:05:42.490 --> 00:05:44.850 absolute highest level of critical validation. 00:05:45.069 --> 00:05:47.730 It really is. How does an award panel even find 00:05:47.730 --> 00:05:49.730 a comic that's essentially being sold out of 00:05:49.730 --> 00:05:52.370 a backpack in Portland? Don't you have to go 00:05:52.370 --> 00:05:55.189 through massive official PR channels to get nominated 00:05:55.189 --> 00:05:57.110 for an Eisner? That is the brilliant part of 00:05:57.110 --> 00:05:59.399 how independent communities operate. You do have 00:05:59.399 --> 00:06:01.339 to submit the work to the judges, of course, 00:06:01.959 --> 00:06:04.120 but the judges are industry professionals who 00:06:04.120 --> 00:06:07.379 pay attention to buzz. I see. Because Sparkluck 00:06:07.379 --> 00:06:09.959 had built such a vocal, passionate grassroots 00:06:09.959 --> 00:06:12.860 community, the noise around Fleet just bubbled 00:06:12.860 --> 00:06:14.439 up from the underground. So they couldn't ignore 00:06:14.439 --> 00:06:17.379 it. Right. The fans and the independent critics 00:06:17.379 --> 00:06:19.720 essentially forced the mainstream establishment 00:06:19.720 --> 00:06:22.040 to look at this book. Yeah. And when they finally 00:06:22.040 --> 00:06:24.819 read it, they couldn't deny the quality. It is 00:06:24.819 --> 00:06:27.790 literally like a scrappy. an indie movie shot 00:06:27.790 --> 00:06:30.250 on a camcorder taking home an Oscar in its very 00:06:30.250 --> 00:06:32.750 first year. And this wasn't just a fluke, right? 00:06:32.769 --> 00:06:35.610 Not at all. Because Sheega's later 2007 work, 00:06:35.810 --> 00:06:38.050 Book Hunter, which Sparkplug also published, 00:06:38.410 --> 00:06:40.810 was nominated for industry awards too. Yeah, 00:06:40.930 --> 00:06:43.589 it wasn't a fluke. But the most revealing detail 00:06:43.589 --> 00:06:46.790 about that 2003 win is the specific category 00:06:46.790 --> 00:06:50.569 that Fleep won in. Oh. It won the Eisner for 00:06:50.569 --> 00:06:53.870 talent deserving of wider recognition. Oh, wow. 00:06:54.220 --> 00:06:56.579 That is incredible. The sheer irony of that. 00:06:56.759 --> 00:06:59.600 Yeah, perfect, isn't it? It completely validated 00:06:59.600 --> 00:07:02.019 Dylan Williams' entire mission. Think about the 00:07:02.019 --> 00:07:03.819 mechanics of what just happened there. Yeah. 00:07:03.839 --> 00:07:06.360 Sparkplug existed precisely to champion the weird, 00:07:06.740 --> 00:07:09.319 the brilliant, the offbeat talent that mainstream 00:07:09.319 --> 00:07:11.680 corporate distributors were systematically ignoring 00:07:11.680 --> 00:07:13.939 because it wasn't financially safe. Right. They 00:07:13.939 --> 00:07:15.980 built an entire parallel distribution network 00:07:15.980 --> 00:07:18.779 just to get this unrecognized talent into people's 00:07:18.779 --> 00:07:22.819 hands. And the result was the mainstream establishment 00:07:23.100 --> 00:07:26.480 handing them an award, literally titled, Talent 00:07:26.480 --> 00:07:28.839 Deserving of Wider Recognition. The mainstream 00:07:28.839 --> 00:07:31.139 basically admitted, you're right, we missed this, 00:07:31.360 --> 00:07:34.079 and you found it. Exactly. Earning that Eisner 00:07:34.079 --> 00:07:36.480 right out of the gate clearly gave Sparkplug 00:07:36.480 --> 00:07:39.420 the momentum they needed to expand. They went 00:07:39.420 --> 00:07:42.680 on to publish this wildly diverse, sprawling 00:07:42.680 --> 00:07:45.240 catalog of creators. Oh, absolutely sprawling. 00:07:45.339 --> 00:07:48.019 You see names like Austin English, Yumi Sakugawa, 00:07:48.259 --> 00:07:51.459 Katie Skelly, Rene French. The list of alternative 00:07:51.459 --> 00:07:54.379 heavy hitters just goes on and on. And they experimented 00:07:54.379 --> 00:07:56.879 wildly with formats, too. They weren't just printing 00:07:56.879 --> 00:08:00.000 standard 22 -page monthly floppies. Right. They 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:02.959 published ongoing titles, sure, but also thick 00:08:02.959 --> 00:08:06.019 graphic novels, one -shots, which are self -contained 00:08:06.019 --> 00:08:08.779 single stories, and mini -comics. Actually, let's 00:08:08.779 --> 00:08:10.459 define a mini -comic for a second because that's 00:08:10.459 --> 00:08:12.819 a very specific medium. We aren't talking about 00:08:12.819 --> 00:08:15.079 a glossy magazine you'd find at a news... Far 00:08:15.079 --> 00:08:18.519 from it. Mini comics are often handmade, photocopied, 00:08:18.740 --> 00:08:21.160 sold and stapled right down the middle by the 00:08:21.160 --> 00:08:23.500 artists themselves. They have this incredibly 00:08:23.500 --> 00:08:26.800 tactile, almost punk -zine quality to them, like 00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:29.680 you can practically smell the toner ink. Exactly. 00:08:30.019 --> 00:08:32.539 The physical object itself rebels against corporate 00:08:32.539 --> 00:08:35.340 polish. Mainstream comics at the time were highly 00:08:35.340 --> 00:08:38.360 polished, digitally colored superhero stories. 00:08:38.460 --> 00:08:42.669 Yeah. Very slick. But the artists Sparkplug championed 00:08:42.669 --> 00:08:44.470 were doing something entirely different. Right. 00:08:44.470 --> 00:08:46.750 Yumi Sakagawa, for instance, was creating these 00:08:46.750 --> 00:08:50.690 surreal, meditative, almost sketchy dreamscapes. 00:08:50.769 --> 00:08:52.850 And the titles of these books are just a playground 00:08:52.850 --> 00:08:54.950 for the incredibly niche. Oh, the titles are 00:08:54.950 --> 00:08:57.950 amazing. You had ongoing series like Elijah Brubaker's 00:08:57.950 --> 00:09:01.009 Wrike and Robert Sergel's Eshu. You had graphic 00:09:01.009 --> 00:09:03.350 novels like Gay Genius, which was edited by Annie 00:09:03.350 --> 00:09:05.090 Murphy. You'd make a great book. And there was 00:09:05.090 --> 00:09:07.990 this Victorian horror adaptation anthology called 00:09:07.990 --> 00:09:11.049 Orca. edited by Williams and Ben Catmull, but 00:09:11.049 --> 00:09:12.850 I have to bring up some of the more eccentric 00:09:12.850 --> 00:09:15.389 titles here. Let's hear them. You have a book 00:09:15.389 --> 00:09:17.750 by Aust in English called The Disgusting Room, 00:09:18.370 --> 00:09:21.909 and then you have Renée French's book, wait for 00:09:21.909 --> 00:09:26.149 it, Edison Steelhead's Lost Portfolio, Exploratory 00:09:26.149 --> 00:09:29.350 Studies of Girls and Rabbits. That is quite the 00:09:29.350 --> 00:09:31.309 title to try and fit on a cover. It really is. 00:09:31.769 --> 00:09:34.289 But, you know, looking at a title like exploratory 00:09:34.289 --> 00:09:36.470 studies of girls and rabbits makes me want to 00:09:36.470 --> 00:09:38.769 challenge the premise of alternative art a bit. 00:09:38.909 --> 00:09:41.490 OK, go for it. When you hear titles like that, 00:09:41.929 --> 00:09:44.350 is alternative comics sometimes just an excuse 00:09:44.350 --> 00:09:47.049 for artists to be as incredibly niche and bizarre 00:09:47.049 --> 00:09:49.610 as possible? Like, are they just being weird 00:09:49.610 --> 00:09:51.470 for the sake of being weird, knowing they don't 00:09:51.470 --> 00:09:53.909 have to appeal to a mass market? It's a common 00:09:53.909 --> 00:09:57.080 criticism, for sure. But if we look at the mechanics 00:09:57.080 --> 00:09:59.940 of commercial art, we see why this niche approach 00:09:59.940 --> 00:10:02.460 is actually vital. How so? Well when you are 00:10:02.460 --> 00:10:04.379 beholden to a massive commercial distributor, 00:10:04.820 --> 00:10:07.350 you have to hit a certain sales quota. To hit 00:10:07.350 --> 00:10:10.070 that quota, you naturally sand off the weird, 00:10:10.070 --> 00:10:13.009 specific edges of your story, so it appeals to 00:10:13.009 --> 00:10:16.070 the broadest possible demographic. You rely on 00:10:16.070 --> 00:10:18.289 standard superhero arcs, predictable mysteries, 00:10:18.649 --> 00:10:20.549 conventional romance. Right, you make a product 00:10:20.549 --> 00:10:23.289 that is perfectly acceptable to a million people, 00:10:23.769 --> 00:10:26.610 but maybe not deeply loved by any of them. Precisely. 00:10:27.029 --> 00:10:29.190 But when you remove that commercial pressure, 00:10:29.389 --> 00:10:31.769 When you know your distribution model only requires 00:10:31.769 --> 00:10:33.769 you to reach a few thousand dedicated readers, 00:10:34.289 --> 00:10:37.710 you are suddenly free to explore highly specific, 00:10:38.129 --> 00:10:40.710 highly personal human experiences and aesthetics. 00:10:40.950 --> 00:10:43.110 That makes total sense. Maybe an artist wants 00:10:43.110 --> 00:10:46.309 to explore the creeping, mundane anxiety of modern 00:10:46.309 --> 00:10:49.070 life through a surreal black and white story 00:10:49.070 --> 00:10:52.309 about a disgusting room. It might be alienating 00:10:52.309 --> 00:10:55.629 to a casual reader. But for this specific person 00:10:55.629 --> 00:10:58.070 who relates to it, that comic becomes the most 00:10:58.070 --> 00:11:00.690 profound thing they've ever read. So by sacrificing 00:11:00.690 --> 00:11:03.409 scale, you actually achieved depth. Sparkplug 00:11:03.409 --> 00:11:05.389 was providing the infrastructure for artists 00:11:05.389 --> 00:11:07.769 to prioritize depth. That's exactly what it was. 00:11:08.129 --> 00:11:09.909 And what's crucial to understand is that this 00:11:09.909 --> 00:11:11.710 infrastructure wasn't being built in a vacuum. 00:11:11.850 --> 00:11:15.090 Right. It was supported by a very specific geographic 00:11:15.090 --> 00:11:18.190 and cultural ecosystem in Portland. Yes, the 00:11:18.190 --> 00:11:20.409 collaborative spirit of the Portland small press 00:11:20.409 --> 00:11:23.269 scene. This is one of the most fascinating operational 00:11:23.269 --> 00:11:25.730 choices Sparkplug ever made. It really was unique. 00:11:25.919 --> 00:11:29.639 From 2008 to 2015, they co -published annual 00:11:29.639 --> 00:11:33.100 mini comic anthologies specifically to commemorate 00:11:33.100 --> 00:11:35.740 Free Comic Book Day. And they didn't do it alone. 00:11:35.879 --> 00:11:38.480 They partnered with Tim Goodyear's company, Teenage 00:11:38.480 --> 00:11:40.500 Dinosaur. Yeah. And over the years, they also 00:11:40.500 --> 00:11:44.120 brought in other local Portland small press publishers. 00:11:44.159 --> 00:11:47.080 Right. People like Tugboat Press, Revival House 00:11:47.080 --> 00:11:50.220 Press, Floating World Comics, Snake Bomb Comics. 00:11:50.299 --> 00:11:53.019 It was a deeply interconnected local network 00:11:53.019 --> 00:11:55.240 of publishers who were, technically speaking, 00:11:55.829 --> 00:11:58.629 competing for the exact same alternative readership. 00:11:58.730 --> 00:12:00.929 Which seems counterintuitive at first. Completely. 00:12:01.429 --> 00:12:03.289 And before we get into the business logic of 00:12:03.289 --> 00:12:05.429 that, we have to talk about the titles of these 00:12:05.429 --> 00:12:07.929 free comic book anthologies, because there is 00:12:07.929 --> 00:12:10.409 this hilarious, pun -heavy progression to them 00:12:10.409 --> 00:12:12.570 year after year. The progression is the best 00:12:12.570 --> 00:12:15.250 part. Listen to this run. In 2008, it was Nerd 00:12:15.250 --> 00:12:18.889 Burglar. In 2009, it was Bird Hurdler. 2010 was 00:12:18.889 --> 00:12:21.909 Dope Flounder. Then in 2011, Dan Quayle. Which 00:12:21.909 --> 00:12:24.110 then naturally evolved the very next year. Right. 00:12:24.429 --> 00:12:26.889 2012 becomes Brad Tripp. So good. And then it 00:12:26.889 --> 00:12:29.289 just keeps going. 2013 is Masterpiece Theatre, 00:12:29.789 --> 00:12:33.129 2014 is Barrio Mothers, and 2015 is Free Stooges. 00:12:33.470 --> 00:12:35.649 It's just brilliant. Turning Dan Quayle into 00:12:35.649 --> 00:12:38.929 Brad Tripp is top -tier wordplay. But funny titles 00:12:38.929 --> 00:12:40.850 aside, I really want to dig into the economics 00:12:40.850 --> 00:12:43.029 of this. Sure. Sharing top billing with three 00:12:43.029 --> 00:12:45.289 or four other competing publishers on a single 00:12:45.289 --> 00:12:48.629 promotional comic is the exact opposite of the 00:12:48.629 --> 00:12:52.059 cutthroat corporate mindset. Why share the spotlight? 00:12:52.980 --> 00:12:55.480 On a day designed to get new readers into stores, 00:12:55.879 --> 00:12:58.360 wouldn't you want to keep whatever small audience 00:12:58.360 --> 00:13:00.899 you attract entirely to yourself? In a traditional 00:13:00.899 --> 00:13:04.100 corporate model, absolutely. You guard your market 00:13:04.100 --> 00:13:06.679 share fiercely. But you have to look at the harsh 00:13:06.679 --> 00:13:09.100 mechanical reality of printing physical books. 00:13:09.820 --> 00:13:11.899 Okay. Printing comics is incredibly expensive 00:13:11.899 --> 00:13:14.120 because of the fixed setup costs at the commercial 00:13:14.120 --> 00:13:17.580 printer. If a small indie like Tugboat Press 00:13:17.580 --> 00:13:20.360 tries to print 500 copies of a promotional comic 00:13:20.360 --> 00:13:23.240 on their own, the cost per unit is astronomically 00:13:23.240 --> 00:13:25.799 high. Ah, I see where this is going. Yeah, it 00:13:25.799 --> 00:13:27.220 might cost them three or four dollars a book, 00:13:27.500 --> 00:13:30.100 which is just ruinous to give away for free. 00:13:30.559 --> 00:13:32.759 Right, economies of scale. Exactly, they hacked 00:13:32.759 --> 00:13:36.139 the economies of scale. If four indie publishers 00:13:36.139 --> 00:13:38.500 pool their money to print five or ten thousand 00:13:38.500 --> 00:13:41.940 copies of a combined massive anthology, the cost 00:13:41.940 --> 00:13:43.940 per unit plummets to a fraction of a dollar. 00:13:43.980 --> 00:13:47.279 Oh, wow. By working together, these tiny companies 00:13:47.279 --> 00:13:49.940 access the kind of volume pricing that usually 00:13:49.940 --> 00:13:52.500 only a giant like Marvel or DC could afford. 00:13:52.669 --> 00:13:55.490 That makes total sense. It wasn't just utopian 00:13:55.490 --> 00:13:58.070 artistic collaboration. It was a highly pragmatic 00:13:58.070 --> 00:14:01.129 survival tactic. It was both, really. And it 00:14:01.129 --> 00:14:03.590 functioned as a symbiotic ecosystem. How so? 00:14:03.889 --> 00:14:05.809 Well, if a reader picked up Brad Tripp because 00:14:05.809 --> 00:14:08.090 they were already a fan of a floating world comics 00:14:08.090 --> 00:14:10.429 artist, they suddenly discovered a spark plug 00:14:10.429 --> 00:14:13.549 artist in the very same book. Cross -pollination 00:14:13.549 --> 00:14:15.570 was basically baked right into the business model. 00:14:15.950 --> 00:14:17.590 They realized they were fundamentally stronger 00:14:17.590 --> 00:14:20.190 together. Man, that's smart. But the true test 00:14:20.190 --> 00:14:22.330 of this community didn't come from a market crash 00:14:22.330 --> 00:14:24.470 or a distribution failure, did it? It came from 00:14:24.470 --> 00:14:27.269 an absolute tragedy. Yeah, it did. Just as this 00:14:27.269 --> 00:14:29.549 collaborative model was really hitting its stride 00:14:29.549 --> 00:14:32.769 in the late 2000s and early 2010s, the founder 00:14:32.769 --> 00:14:35.730 of Sparkplug, Dylan Williams, died of leukemia 00:14:35.730 --> 00:14:40.110 in September 2011. It was a devastating seismic 00:14:40.110 --> 00:14:43.000 loss. for the alternative comic scene across 00:14:43.000 --> 00:14:45.159 the entire country. I can only imagine. He wasn't 00:14:45.159 --> 00:14:47.139 just a guy who paid the printing bills. You know, 00:14:47.360 --> 00:14:49.960 he was the driving engine, the curator and really 00:14:49.960 --> 00:14:52.480 the heart of this entire ethos we've been discussing. 00:14:52.759 --> 00:14:55.620 And normally when the founder of a fiercely independent 00:14:55.620 --> 00:14:59.000 personality driven operation dies, the company 00:14:59.000 --> 00:15:02.340 just quietly folds like the central pillar is 00:15:02.340 --> 00:15:04.620 gone. Yeah, that's the standard narrative. But 00:15:04.620 --> 00:15:07.320 the community didn't let spark blood die. They 00:15:07.320 --> 00:15:10.789 rallied immediately. Three final Dylan Williams 00:15:10.789 --> 00:15:12.990 projects were funded posthumously through the 00:15:12.990 --> 00:15:15.450 crowdfunding site Indiegogo. Which is incredible. 00:15:15.629 --> 00:15:17.429 And then the company was actually taken over 00:15:17.429 --> 00:15:20.409 and run by a trio, Virginia Payne, Tom Neely, 00:15:20.789 --> 00:15:23.830 and Dylan Williams's widow, Emily Nelson. And 00:15:23.830 --> 00:15:26.570 by 2013, Virginia Payne actually took over as 00:15:26.570 --> 00:15:28.970 the sole publisher to keep it going. It is a 00:15:28.970 --> 00:15:30.950 remarkable testament to what had been built over 00:15:30.950 --> 00:15:32.789 the previous decade. It makes me think about 00:15:32.789 --> 00:15:35.389 how businesses are structured. In a traditional 00:15:35.389 --> 00:15:38.169 corporate model, a company is essentially a centralized 00:15:38.169 --> 00:15:40.690 server. If the main server, like the founder 00:15:40.690 --> 00:15:43.690 or the CEO, goes offline, the whole website crashes. 00:15:44.250 --> 00:15:47.409 Right. But Sparkplug hadn't... built a centralized 00:15:47.409 --> 00:15:50.450 server. They had built a decentralized network. 00:15:50.629 --> 00:15:52.909 That's a great way to put it. Because the fans, 00:15:53.110 --> 00:15:55.470 the artists, and the publishers were all directly 00:15:55.470 --> 00:15:58.110 connected to each other through years of those 00:15:58.110 --> 00:16:00.210 face -to -face convention sales and mail orders. 00:16:00.909 --> 00:16:03.909 So when the central hub went down, the nodes 00:16:03.909 --> 00:16:06.549 just routed the energy around it. They kept the 00:16:06.549 --> 00:16:09.110 system online themselves. That is the perfect 00:16:09.110 --> 00:16:11.450 way to look at it. If we look at why they were 00:16:11.450 --> 00:16:14.330 able to pull off those Indiegogo campaigns and 00:16:14.330 --> 00:16:17.919 sustain the transition, to Virginia Payne. brings 00:16:17.919 --> 00:16:20.100 us right back to the beginning of our discussion 00:16:20.100 --> 00:16:22.779 today. Yeah. Sparkflug's non -traditional out 00:16:22.779 --> 00:16:25.940 of the trunk business model is exactly what created 00:16:25.940 --> 00:16:27.860 the safety net for this crisis. Because they 00:16:27.860 --> 00:16:29.860 actually knew their customers, like really knew 00:16:29.860 --> 00:16:32.919 them. Exactly. They hadn't spent a decade relying 00:16:32.919 --> 00:16:35.759 on faceless corporate distributors to push their 00:16:35.759 --> 00:16:38.860 books to anonymous big box stores. They had spent 00:16:38.860 --> 00:16:41.440 a decade looking their readers in the eye at 00:16:41.440 --> 00:16:43.860 convention tables. They had an actual tangible 00:16:43.860 --> 00:16:46.519 community of human beings who felt personally 00:16:46.519 --> 00:16:49.750 invested in the survival of this art. So when 00:16:49.750 --> 00:16:52.330 tragedy struck, those readers didn't just see 00:16:52.330 --> 00:16:55.320 a brand going under. They saw a friend's legacy 00:16:55.320 --> 00:16:57.519 in jeopardy. And they immediately opened their 00:16:57.519 --> 00:16:59.980 wallets to ensure the final cargo got delivered. 00:17:00.159 --> 00:17:02.600 Yes, they absolutely did. That is incredibly 00:17:02.600 --> 00:17:05.680 profound. They invested in people and the people 00:17:05.680 --> 00:17:08.019 literally invested back when it mattered most. 00:17:08.579 --> 00:17:12.119 But as we know, independent publishing is a grueling 00:17:12.119 --> 00:17:15.079 endeavor, even in the best of times, even with 00:17:15.079 --> 00:17:17.680 the most supportive community in the world. Oh, 00:17:17.680 --> 00:17:20.039 without a doubt. Carrying that weight eventually 00:17:20.039 --> 00:17:22.960 takes its toll, which leads to the company's 00:17:22.960 --> 00:17:25.920 eventual sunsetting. Sparkplug officially shut 00:17:25.920 --> 00:17:29.319 down its operations in June of 2016. However, 00:17:29.519 --> 00:17:31.339 their story didn't just end with a locked door 00:17:31.339 --> 00:17:34.680 in a dumped inventory. The company's entire backlist 00:17:34.680 --> 00:17:37.380 was deliberately moved over to Alternative Comics, 00:17:37.819 --> 00:17:40.460 and that ensured that all those weird, beautiful, 00:17:40.720 --> 00:17:42.859 Eisner -winning books would remain in print and 00:17:42.859 --> 00:17:45.319 available to readers. Which raises a really important 00:17:45.319 --> 00:17:47.359 analytical question for us to consider. Okay, 00:17:47.460 --> 00:17:49.410 what's that? When an independent company like 00:17:49.410 --> 00:17:52.329 this shuts down after 14 years of grueling work, 00:17:52.710 --> 00:17:55.549 how do we contextualize that? Right. Do we view 00:17:55.549 --> 00:17:59.029 a closure as a failure? Or is a decade and a 00:17:59.029 --> 00:18:02.890 half simply the natural, healthy, maximized lifespan 00:18:02.890 --> 00:18:05.809 of a passion project? It is absolutely the latter. 00:18:05.950 --> 00:18:08.829 And I think it is vital to reframe that 2016 00:18:08.829 --> 00:18:11.930 closure. It was not a failure in any sense of 00:18:11.930 --> 00:18:14.349 the word. Not at all. It was a highly successful 00:18:14.349 --> 00:18:16.789 14 -year intervention in the comics industry. 00:18:16.910 --> 00:18:19.329 Think about what they accomplished. They set 00:18:19.329 --> 00:18:22.150 out to do something highly specific. They wanted 00:18:22.150 --> 00:18:25.269 to champion the underdogs, bypass a monopolistic 00:18:25.269 --> 00:18:27.650 mainstream distributor, and build a sustainable 00:18:27.650 --> 00:18:29.809 community of artists and readers. And they did 00:18:29.809 --> 00:18:32.230 exactly that. They did. They proved the model 00:18:32.230 --> 00:18:34.769 could work. And by deliberately passing their 00:18:34.769 --> 00:18:37.289 backlist to alternative comics, they ensured 00:18:37.289 --> 00:18:39.190 the physical legacy of that work was preserved. 00:18:39.329 --> 00:18:41.430 Yeah, that transition was key. In the world of 00:18:41.430 --> 00:18:43.849 independent art, indefinite corporate immortality 00:18:44.009 --> 00:18:47.289 isn't the metric for success. Impact is the metric. 00:18:47.630 --> 00:18:49.869 They ran their leg of the race brilliantly, they 00:18:49.869 --> 00:18:51.549 elevated artists who otherwise would have been 00:18:51.549 --> 00:18:53.210 ignored, and then they successfully passed the 00:18:53.210 --> 00:18:55.769 baton. Impact over immortality. I love that. 00:18:56.410 --> 00:18:58.109 So let's look at the totality of the journey 00:18:58.109 --> 00:19:01.289 we just explored today. Sparkplug Comics started 00:19:01.289 --> 00:19:05.049 as this rebellious direct sales anti -establishment 00:19:05.049 --> 00:19:08.500 startup in 2002. Yeah. They reached these incredible 00:19:08.500 --> 00:19:11.640 critical highs, forcing the mainstream to recognize 00:19:11.640 --> 00:19:13.859 them by winning an Eisner right out of a gate 00:19:13.859 --> 00:19:17.259 in 2003 with FLEEP. They hacked the economics 00:19:17.259 --> 00:19:20.599 of printing to co -publish those hilarious, deeply 00:19:20.599 --> 00:19:23.059 collaborative Portland anthologies for free comic 00:19:23.059 --> 00:19:26.019 book day. Bird hurdler. Yes, bird hurdler. And 00:19:26.019 --> 00:19:28.279 when the ultimate tragedy hit with the devastating 00:19:28.279 --> 00:19:31.299 loss of Dylan Williams in 2011, the decentralized 00:19:31.299 --> 00:19:33.400 network they built naturally routed the energy 00:19:33.400 --> 00:19:36.200 to carry them forward, cementing a lasting indie 00:19:36.200 --> 00:19:39.720 -like all the way to 2016. It really is a masterclass 00:19:39.720 --> 00:19:41.720 blueprint for how to build something meaningful 00:19:41.720 --> 00:19:43.700 outside the conventional rules of commerce. It 00:19:43.700 --> 00:19:45.839 really is. Which leads us with something I want 00:19:45.839 --> 00:19:48.500 you, the listener, to really mull over today. 00:19:48.920 --> 00:19:51.259 Think about your own media diet right now. We 00:19:51.259 --> 00:19:53.240 live in a world that is increasingly dominated 00:19:53.240 --> 00:19:56.099 by massive algorithms, automated feeds, and mega 00:19:56.099 --> 00:19:59.079 distributors that constantly, frictionlessly 00:19:59.079 --> 00:20:01.640 serve you exactly what they think you should 00:20:01.640 --> 00:20:03.720 be reading, watching, and listening to. Right. 00:20:03.819 --> 00:20:07.640 It is all designed to be a safe and broad as 00:20:07.640 --> 00:20:09.900 possible. It's basically the modern version of 00:20:09.900 --> 00:20:11.599 the diamond distribution monopoly we talked about 00:20:11.599 --> 00:20:14.740 earlier. Exactly. So the question is what local 00:20:14.740 --> 00:20:18.599 spark plugs in your own life I mean, the small, 00:20:18.819 --> 00:20:20.660 direct -to -you creators, the people running 00:20:20.660 --> 00:20:23.180 the zine -fests, the independent podcasters, 00:20:23.220 --> 00:20:26.779 the local bands, might be quietly producing the 00:20:26.779 --> 00:20:28.880 next award -winning masterpiece right under your 00:20:28.880 --> 00:20:31.140 nose, completely hidden from the algorithm. Yes. 00:20:31.240 --> 00:20:34.440 Who is out there right now in your city selling 00:20:34.440 --> 00:20:36.440 the equivalent of that legendary mixtape out 00:20:36.440 --> 00:20:38.500 of the trunk of their car? Go find them. Go buy 00:20:38.500 --> 00:20:40.940 their work directly. Thank you so much for joining 00:20:40.940 --> 00:20:43.440 us on this deep dive. Stay insanely curious, 00:20:43.539 --> 00:20:44.640 and we'll see you next time.