First, how many millions of Americans had to go to work today? McDonald's was open. So was Target. Walmart. Best Buy. Office Depot. Just about every retailer in the country, really. The people who are, you know, laboring have a holiday honoring their labor, but they still have to labor through it.
The second big group of Americans who have to work today consists of those working in a freelance capacity. People who are their own boss, and take jobs on an ad hoc basis. They have deadlines to meet with their projects and, while there likely aren't any deadlines today, they still are expected to get their work done by a certain day/time, regardless of what's going on between now and then. If they work super-hard and their projects are going well, that's great; they might be able to relax a bit. But often, they have to work right through holidays and weekends because their clients still want their work by that deadline and if they don't deliver, there's likely someone else who will.
Comic creators largely fall into this second camp. Whether you're working for Marvel or DC, or you're doing a small, independent book, you've still got deadlines that don't care what holidays come up. Let me ask you about any webcomics or newspaper strips you might regularly read? How many of them ran as usual today? Granted, a lot of them would've created today's strip a little while ago, but if they took today off, there'd be a hole in their update schedule in a week or three.
The comic news sites -- The Beat, Comics Reporter, CBR, Comics Alliance, etc. -- they all posted new content today. Again, some of it could have been set up in advance, but certainly not all of it.
No rest for the weary and all that.
So I would like to take a moment to say a special thank you to all the comic creators and freelancers who've spent much of the day working in spite of the federal holiday. Your stories entertain and inform me (else I wouldn't continue reading them!) and I appreciate that you work harder than I do with my regular 8-to-5, holidays off job. Even if I don't read what you create today for another week or three or five, I am thinking about the work you're putting in today, and I appreciate that.
Thank you.
0 comments:
Post a Comment