Research Paper Source 3(Pages-13-23)

In my continual effort to relate SOPA's potential effects on the comic book industry to previous disputes between companies and creators, I will be analyzing Static Shock artist Scott McDaniel's response to collaborator John Rozum's claims that I analyzed last week. Needless to say, McDaniel was not happy with this perceived attack on him and his work and retorted back with an extremely in-depth analysis of the situation. This explanation takes a look at specific parts of Static Shock, providing script material, character designs, and much more. However, while these aspects are enlightening and fascinating to the comic book fan, they do not hold relevance for the audience and thus I will only be examining McDaniel's overview of the situation.

-McDaniel attempts to defend his credibility to the reader, citing his childhood love of comics and his passion for drawing comics.
-McDaniel affirms the Editor's role in the production of comics as having the power to hire/fire creators and accept/reject stories and ideas. The role of an editor can be compared to the role that SOPA would have overseeing the entire industry.
-The overall downtrend of the economy has impacted the comic industry and McDaniel's family life, leading to a gap between assignments he was handed(a gap that may exist with SOPA's passage). DC's New 52 relaunch has also increased competition between creators and the need to stand out.
-Just like Rozum, McDaniel was also pressured by the death of Static's creator, Dwayne McDuffie, to put out the best possible material in order to honor both the character and his creator. Fans of Static also had preexisting expectations for the series, some of which McDaniel could not hope to achieve. Static, along with Batwing, being a minority character with his own ongoing series also put racial pressures onto the book.
-McDaniel's fears about the book's success was confirmed by a poll engineered by Comic Book Resources based on initial opinions of the New 52 books. Having prior experience in Statistics, McDaniel was able to express this poll in the form of a spreadsheet. According to the data, Static Shock was the 46th most expected title out of the 52. Combined with the general trend of comic sales leveling off after issue 1, Static Shock was practically destined for cancellation. These expectations by fans and trends of the industry can sometimes doom a book before editorial intervention.
-These factors provided McDaniel's justification for what Rozum claims are "shocking moments" simply because readers needed to become latched on the book in order for its survival in the rough market.