Glittering Generalities

[Dave Rawson]

I see the subject of autuer vs collaboration has popped up.

I first ran into this early in my career when Will Eisner and I were 
among many others guest instructors in Dublin for a two-week training 
course put together by Bob Foster.

Mr. Eisner was of the strong opinion that only a single creator could 
ever create great (comic book) art. I was too callow and cowed to take 
public issue.

Most of my collaborative work since then certainly bears out the notion 
that (paraphrasing): axiomatically no two people can communicate with 
each other as well as one can with oneself and, therefore, collaboration 
will always result in a diminished endeavor.

However, there are disturbing unstated presumptions in the above.

The problem lies in the nature of collaboration itself and how a 
creative individual approaches the task.

If one has autuerial instincts, and believes that the outcome should 
literally capture their imagination's construct, immense frustration 
usually results, because of the Eisner axiom above.

However, if one goes into the process recognizing the limits and 
_strengths_ of collaboration, the results can become timeless. True art. 
Expressive and whole in a way that is exciting, rewarding and 
galvanizing to the participants.

One of the most important (but usually unrecognized) goals of the 
collaborative writer, in my opinion, is to provide an environment rife 
with potential. To provide rich characters, imaginative situations and 
inventive plots; to find things that will not only resonate with the 
audience, but with those who participate in the act of creation.

In short, the task of an initiating collaborator is to assemble the 
components of potential, the intellectual fecundity, with which those 
who follow may emphasize, develop or polish to their own best inclination.

There are few things more delightful than to be pleasantly surprised by 
the joy reflected back at one's initial efforts by the accretive effort 
attached to it.

To be more concrete. Think of a playwright who depends on actors to 
inhabit his characters. So, too, can a mature artist add their own life 
experience (instincts, quirks, exaggerations) to a character, setting or 
plot created initially by a writer.

Good collaborators resonate. The resulting chord can be much richer than 
any solitary note.

Even autuers rely on paper manufacturers, colorists, printers, 
distributors, store owners and a host of others to get their creation to 
their audience.

At any rate, my direct experience has convincingly taught me that the 
sum _can_ be more than the whole of the parts. In fact, there is 
astonishing power when just a handful of committed individuals work 
together for a common goal. It is literally transforrmative.

I think folks who have never personally experienced this, quite 
reasonably, don't imagine or can't conceive that it exists.

In Will Eisner's case, with his historic wealth of experience on almost 
all sides of the equation, as creator, as autuer, as studio boss of 
work-for-hire creators, to him I bow. I will never know as much as he 
has forgotten.

But I reject the notion that because he has never experienced the same 
satisfaction working with another that he has in his own singular 
creation, that one can generalize and say, therefore, that it is impossible.

I have worked in a much wider variety of industries and with a much more 
varied set of collaborators, and while disappointment is the most common 
result, the luminescence of transcendent creations shine of a collective 
spirit than burns brighter than any mere spark.

Such collaborations illuminate spirit itself because, ultimately, that 
is what is being communicated in the best of any human creation.