Comics Are For Everybody: Talking with Stephanie Cooke About Creator Resource

"Comics Are for Everybody"

Disclaimer: Rosie Knight of WWAC helped Stephanie Cooke and some other folks put together Creator Resource.

Anyone can make a comic, and anyone can enjoy a comic. Whether it comes in the form of a webcomic, cartoon, graphic novel, comic book series, or even an interactive digital comics, the right story with the right aesthetic can draw in a new reader at any time. As the new comics creator resource website, aptly named Creator Resource, says, “Comics Are For Everybody.” This shiny new informative platform is less than a month old in concept and execution, and ready to help comics creators everywhere. Women Write About Comics sat down with founder and comics creator Stephanie Cooke to find out more about the vision for Creator Resource, and what it can bring to comics.

What inspired the idea for Creator Resource?

I saw a tweet from Nick Hanover talking about how the industry needed a new fairpagerates.com. The site had been such a great tool for discussing what creators were currently being paid, and it was a shame that it fell apart.

The whole thing got me thinking that it wouldn’t be a lot of work to put together a new version of Fair Page Rates. But after thinking about how to do it, I realized that there was a need for something more. There isn’t a unified place to go to find information on contracts, copyrights, and other resources. It felt like an opportunity to not only relaunch our version of Fair Page Rates but to incorporate all these other things. I wanted to make a place that would help usher in new generations of creators who come in with a better understanding of the industry and help the industry to grow, evolve, and prosper.

Did this take a long time to come to fruition?

I have exactly zero chill when it comes to a new project. I think the gears in my brain started turning on this project at the very beginning of June 2018 and it took hardly anytime at all to know that it was something that I wanted to do.

I tweeted about whether this would be something that people would want out in the world and it got lots of positive response. I knew that it was important to make happen.

We still have a lot of resources to get up, but over time, we hope that the site will act as a community where other voices can share their expertise and guide other creators.

How did you put together the team that worked on Creator Resource?

I put out a call for people who might be interested in helping out with a project like this because it was a little intimidating at first to have this huge idea in my head and to try to carry it out on my own. I have a lot of projects on the go and I wanted to have other people who could help carry out the vision for the site. Plus having a team helps help people accountable.

Beth Barnett was the first to reach out to say that she wanted to help make this happen and she had a ton of ideas. Then Rosie Knight and Eric Kim reached out to say they wanted to help out too. All three of these people are amazing and well-respected members of the comics community, and it made me really excited to have them on board.

We hunkered down and started brainstorming all the things we wanted to do. We made a bunch of lists of blogs, resources, and other stuff that we felt would be essential to the site. We divided things up amongst ourselves and began working on the content to produce for the site.

We still have a lot of resources to get up, but over time, we hope that the site will act as a community where other voices can share their expertise and guide other creators.

The banner for the new website, Creator Resource

Please share your top three goals for Creator Resource

In no particular order:

I think my biggest goal with the site is to have a transparent place for people to hear from creators and other pros about what the industry is really like. Almost like hands-on training in the industry.

I want Creator Resource to start a conversation in the comic book community: what creators are getting paid, how they’re treated, how we can all do better. I want this to help show people that we have a lot of work to do to treat creators properly and compensate them for what they do.

Webcomics are a huge part of how comic books are evolving now. We no longer need publishers to make comics that people will read and respond to. With the resources we provide, I hope new creators can learn about their rights, contracts, how to brand themselves (and their work), social media, and creative stuff like coloring, lettering, hiring an editor, and more. The more resources we put out there, the easier it will get for people to try their hand in this industry, and bring in much needed fresh blood. (We’re also working on a column called Ask A Professional so that specific questions can get answered and addressed.)

I want creators to have one place they can go to find out everything they could possibly want to know about comics and the people who make them.

Where do you hope Creator Resource will be a year from now?

I hope that Creator Resource is a thriving community of inclusive voices that are offering up education, insight, and resources for everyone who wants them.

It would be nice for the site to help start discussions about how comic books can grow more positively as an industry, but I want creators to have one place they can go to find out everything they could possibly want to know about comics and the people who make them.

I hope that a site like Creator Resource helps young creators make informed choices when it comes to their intellectual and creative properties and to have resources to make their work the best it can possibly be.

How are you hoping to influence the comics industry with Creator Resource?

I think I’ve sort of answered this a few times along the way to this point, but I want this to help make comic books a better and more positive place, as hokey as that sounds. I hope that a site like Creator Resource helps young creators make informed choices when it comes to their intellectual and creative properties and to have resources to make their work the best it can possibly be.

Comics can be full of predatory people, and when we look out for each other and educate our peers, it can go a long way to making comics a much better place.


Thanks to Stephanie Cooke for chatting with us about this new platform, and be sure to check it out for yourself.

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Corissa Haury

Corissa Haury

I am an avid fiction, fantasy and science fiction nerd who loves visual media. I love to read books in any form, be it comics, graphic novels, zines, anthologies, or traditional print. Let's talk about fun comic stuff together!

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