But it’s also transforming even the smallest comic book players.
Oni Press of
which has nine employees and publishes three to five comics or trade
paperbacks each month, is behind a big movie being released Friday by
The special effects-heavy comedy starring
It’s the first film produced by Closed on
Mondays has 12 projects in various stages of development at studios and
recently signed a deal with
The fact that such a small publisher has its own production company shows just how important
has become to the comic business, which has seen sales shrink recently
at the same time that movies based on its material have exploded.
We spoke to Nozemack about what it takes to survive
and compete as an undersized comic book publisher in the current market
and how “
Q. Independent comic book publishers seem to be
almost as common these days as independent film studios once were. How
do you think Oni stands out?
A. Oni is really the sensibility of the people who
work here, which is not as genre-based as a lot of other comic book
publishers. It’s harder to get superhero stuff through here because
there’s already so much of that in the industry.
The majority of what we do is creator owned, because
the top talent are just not willing to sign the deals anymore where
they give over everything to a corporation.
Q. What led you to start your own production company
back in 2003? Why not just have an agency represent you and set up some
deals for your comics?
A. We used to be at a boutique agency, but then we partnered with
vested interest in our stuff instead of just making a connection for
each project.
Q. Why bother getting involved in movies? What
benefit do they have for a company like yours, besides the opportunity
to schmooze at a premiere?
A. When the first couple of films based on
independent comics, like “Ghost World” and “Hellboy,” came out, they
created a big spike in sales, and so I decided we needed to be involved
and help to shepherd our projects through.
Big superhero movies like “X-Men” don’t create a big
sales spike because there’s so much product out there and it’s hard to
tell which issues the films are even based on. With indies there’s a
lot less material, so it’s obvious what they’re based on and the movie
can have a big effect on the sales of the books.
It was the first thing that Closed on Mondays set up back in 2004. (Director)
We had sold “Scott Pilgrim” after only the first
book was done, so the fact that Edgar was committed to another movie
allowed Bryan (
Sometimes we feel like it’s our job to protect the core of the book, but Edgar had Bryan involved during the whole process.
Q. You just released the sixth and final “Scott
Pilgrim” book, which is obviously fortuitous timing. But isn’t it
unusual to set up a movie when you’ve only released a single book?
A. It depends. “Scott Pilgrim” would have been hard
to explain without the first book. But some stuff you can sell based
just on a pitch or a one-page description.
We might show people at a studio pages or sketches
or treatments or outlines — whatever we need to communicate the world
and the story.
Q. Being a comic book publisher now seems to require
being very savvy about the movie business. Did you ever expect that
would become a key part of your job?
A. It certainly wasn’t a goal. I love movies, but I
don’t think I could have gotten into the movie industry if I had just
decided I wanted to develop scripts and get into the industry like I
did with publishing graphic novels and comics. It ended up that I was
in the right place at the right time.
The good news is that all of entertainment is really
changing. People are able to pick things that speak to them much more
individually, which means you have to be focused on a smaller audience.
That’s what we have been doing for decades.
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