Seven or so years out of the comics biz has brought some changes in the culture around it. One change is the emergence of the term "auteur." I first saw it on a comics rack at Hi Dee Ho in Santa Monica, when I was buying up some indie comics to get a feel for the "state of the art."

Steve Buccellato informed me that it's the current term for a writer/artist who handles the bulk of the creative work on their book themselves. At first I thought it was strange that these books should earn their own "genre," like Mystery or True Crime. I then realized that it's a nod toward the unique results of a book that is the "baby" of a creator vs. the assembly line product that most companies produce.

Interestingly enough, this is a case where reality has caught up to the public perception of what it is to be a comic book professional. If you ask the typical "civilian," they think that all the words and pictures on a comic book page are the product of one individual. When you being to eductate them about the process, with all the myriad steps and individual artisans, they oftne express amazement- "you mean puttingthe letters in the balloons is a whole job?" A good example of this is attitude is the infamous "Doesn't an inker just trace?" scene from Chasing Amy.

In the case of thes "auteur" books, in many cases the entire product is produced by one person, or perhaps they've recruited help for the less glamorous disciplines of lettering, coloring, or publication design.

Argh! I've tun out of time to write this entry... I'll finish up after the Comicon.