{"id":7046,"date":"2025-10-02T12:14:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T17:14:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spectator.cuchicago.edu\/?p=7046"},"modified":"2025-10-02T12:14:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T17:14:17","slug":"what-pulls-comics-writers-and-artists-to-chicago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spectator.cuchicago.edu\/?p=7046","title":{"rendered":"What Pulls Comics Writers and Artists to Chicago?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chicago\u2019s best-known nickname is The Second City. The moniker was coined by A.J. Liebling, a writer for The New Yorker magazine, who used the nickname to put down Chicago.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, if there is one area in which Chicago is no longer playing second fiddle to The Big Apple, it is in its ability to draw in comic book creators, writers, and artists.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNew York City is not an arts capital anymore, but Chicago is,\u201d said artist Gene Ha. Ha, a Berwyn resident, is a five-time winner of the Eisner Award (most recently for Wonder Woman:Historia) which is the most prestigious award in comic books. \u201cIn Chicago, we don\u2019t have just a single comic book community. We have multiple small communities that don\u2019t know about each other.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ha was born in Chicago, but grew up in South Bend, Indiana. He later lived in Detroit, and then the Twin Cities. In 2003, Ha and his wife returned to the Chicago area.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe moved back to Chicago because my wife did not like the weather in the Twin Cities,\u201d said Ha. \u201cIt may be cold here, but it\u2019s worse in Minnesota. Winter lasts an extra month up there, and the cold waves tend to last longer and be 10 degrees colder.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ha is not the only comic creator to call the Second City home. Other famous names in the world of comics such as Brian Azzarello, Jill Thompson, Eddie Campbell, and Daniel Warren Johnson also reside in Chicago. The four of them have worked on iconic comics such as <\/span>Hellblazer, Sandman, From Hell<\/span><\/i>, and<\/span> Transformers<\/span><\/i>, and have a combined 13 Eisner Awards.<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s several reasons why comics creators have recently started flocking to Chicago.<\/span><\/p>\n

For Ha, part of what makes Chicago a rising destination for people involved in the comics industry is the relatively cheap cost of living.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cUnlike New York City, prices for real estate aren\u2019t outrageous,\u201d said Ha. \u201cFor better or worse, there is always some neighborhood where you can find cheap real estate to live in. It may be because of crime and shootings, but artists and writers will live there. You don\u2019t need to be rich to break into the arts in Chicago.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

According to payscale.com, a website that compares financial data such as salaries and price of living, the <\/span>cost of living<\/span><\/a> in New York City is 100.7% higher than Chicago. The cost of housing is 267.9% higher.<\/span><\/p>\n

For comic writer and two-time Eisner nominated writer Joe Clark, the relative cheapness of living in Chicago also provides an avenue for exploring and experimenting.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Wonder Woman: Historia, which was illustrated by Ha<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIn Chicago, stakes are lower, and rents are cheaper,\u201d said Clark. \u201cYou can create your own voice and pursue creative projects that don\u2019t need an immediate profit right away.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Clark, who is also a musician and teaches jazz at DePaul University and Northwestern University, pointed to <\/span>a 2016 New York Times article<\/span><\/a> that focused on Chicago\u2019s jazz scene. That piece described how it is possible for aspiring jazz musicians to make a living in the Second City when compared to New York.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cThat applies to not only comics, but also to journalists, and creative types in general,\u201d said Clark. \u201cThere\u2019s great musicians in New York City, but great names have to hustle for fifty dollar lunch gigs.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The cheaper rent creates opportunities for creatives to not only experiment in their own fields, but to also branch out into others. Clark had never written a comic book when his friend Kyle Higgins called him and asked if he was interested in co-writing a book on jazz, which later turned into the Eisner-nominated graphic novel <\/span>Deep Cuts.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\"\"
Deep Cuts, co-written by Clark<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIf I was in the NYC jazz scene, it would be hard for me to do anything but that,\u201d said Clark. \u201cHere, there\u2019s a great deal of variety. I\u2019m currently working on a big piece of music for a video game, and making an album of <\/span>Final Fantasy VI<\/span><\/i> music. I also have three records I\u2019m working on, a comic series, I teach at two universities, and I have a child I\u2019m potty training.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ha echoed Clark\u2019s sentiment on the amount of experimentation that Chicago provides.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s room for young people to move here to find work and experiment,\u201d said Ha. \u201cExperimental theatre is dying in New York, but not in Chicago. Storefront theaters are thriving, and that is where innovation and creativity happen.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

According to both men, another part of what makes Chicago work as a hub for creative people is the various communities that exist in the city.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a community that allows people to survive as artists here,\u201d said Ha. \u201cThe members of the communities can be creative, give advice, and commiserate with you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Joe Clark, author of Deep Cuts, Radiant Black, and Ordinary Gods<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Clark compared the sense of community to the 1960s, during what was known as the Marvel Silver Age. During that time, the headquarters of the two largest comic book companies, DC and Marvel, were both located in New York City. Marvel still has its headquarters in the Big Apple, while DC moved its headquarters to Burbank, California, in 2015.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Clark said that feeling of localism, of having to be in one city or else you couldn\u2019t make it in the comics industry, no longer exists.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve worked with collaborators in Italy, Brazil, and Australia,\u201d said Clark. \u201cAll of us are able to find corners where we are able to survive. As a novice, the community is very warm and welcoming.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Clark said that his favorite thing about Chicago was the community, and how despite being the third largest city in the United States, everything still feels easily accessible and local.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the world\u2019s littlest big town, and the world\u2019s biggest little city,\u201d said Clark. \u201cI\u2019m really impressed that it always feels cozy. I\u2019ve met Daniel Warren Johnson a few times. I used to see Brian Azzarello at the breweries, and I\u2019ve seen Jill Thompson at the gas station.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Clark\u2019s sentiment of Chicago as a cozy but welcoming large city is one that others agree with. This past October, Chicago <\/span>won<\/span><\/a> \u201cBest Big City in the U.S.\u201d for the eighth year in a row.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt has everything,\u201d said Ha. \u201cIt has architecture, the arts, culture, and a food scene that\u2019s one of the best in the world. It\u2019s got an amazing publishing industry, an endless supply of fresh water, and livable weather. It\u2019s a big, bustling, beautiful city.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n