Everyone is talking about Tokyopop.

The popular publisher of Japanese Manga comics has been under the microscope lately after they released the details of their creator contracts for their new Manga Pilot program. The contract is so completely one-sided in favor of Tokyopop that it’s caused a ridiculous stir in the comic industry blogosphere. Scott Pilgrim creator Bryan Lee O’Malley made an impassioned statement against Tokyopop and went into detail about the contract on his Live Journal as did Lea Hernandez, Heidi MacDonald and others. You can read the actual contract here.

Here’s the thing: Tokyopop is not the enemy.

For years, publishers have been offering creators contracts that are completely in the favor of the publisher. This Tokyopop contract is nothing new in the publishing industry. I’m sure you can walk into any popular comic book convention, walk up to any professional over the age of 35 and hear a story about a horrible contract situation. Creators have always received the short end of the stick when it comes to the work they do for larger companies. If Stan Lee has to sue Marvel Comics to get Spider-Man movie profits, what hope does the independent unknown creator have to get a fair shake?

The very sad an inevitable truth is that despite all the attention that this Manga pilot contract is getting, despite all the analysis and warnings, someone is going to sign that contract willingly. That’s going to happen. Despite everything. Someone is going to knowingly and willingly sign away all their rights and just pray to God that everything goes their way, despite every indication that it won’t.

And to me, THAT’S what the blogosphere should be addressing.

Every aspiring cartoonist/writer/artist has experienced that almost crazed feeling of desperation when it seems like the entire world is passing them by. It’s a maddening rock in your stomach that constantly just eats at you. You pour so much of yourself into your work and you so desperately hope and dream that all the toiling is going to one day pay off. Sometimes you can channel it into pushing yourself, but a lot of time it’s nothing but counterproductive. There’s a reason that so many of us seem damaged in some way. So long as aspiring young creators find themselves in those moments of desperation, publishers will take advantage of them. Period. That is never going to change. No amount of blogging, ranting or light shining is going to stop publishers from offering shitty contracts to first-time creators. Going after Tokyopop is a pointless endeavor; a futile gnashing of teeth.

What we as a community need to do instead is to champion alternative, safe, and rational paths to creative fulfillment and success that young creators can consider and find contentment with. We need to spotlight fair and competent publishers and vendors who offer creators fair shakes. We need to start sharing our own paths to success so that we can learn from each other, and we need to be honest about our mistakes so that we can learn from those as well.

The enemy, my friends, is not Tokyopop, nor any other publisher out there offering one-sided contracts. The enemy is clearly our own ignorance and desperation. The true enemy, is the pervading belief that some disembodied benevolent entity is going to notice us, swoop us up and make us stars. So long as pie-eyed young creators sit around waiting for some king-maker to come knocking on their door, publishers like Tokyopop have an opportunity to falsely present themselves as such.

Now I would like to take a page out of my father’s book and reference an episode of Star Trek to drive home my point.

Picard: Mister Worf, villains who twirl their mustaches are easy to spot. Those who clothe themselves in good deeds are well-camouflaged…Vigilance, Mr. Worf. That is the price we have to continually pay.