University of Groningen Comics and co-evolutions Vries, Rudolf Willem de IMPORTANT NOTE: You are advised to consult the publisher's version (publisher's PDF) if you wish to cite from it. Please check the document version below. Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Publication date: 2012 Link to publication in University of Groningen/UMCG research database Citation for published version (APA): Vries, R. W. D. (2012). Comics and co-evolutions: a study of the dynamics in the niche of comics publishers in the Low Countries. Groningen: University of Groningen, SOM research school. Copyright Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Downloaded from the University of Groningen/UMCG research database (Pure): http://www.rug.nl/research/portal. For technical reasons the number of authors shown on this cover page is limited to 10 maximum. Download date: 12-11-2019 COMICS AND CO-EVOLUTIONS A study of the dynamics in the niche of comics publishers in the Low Countries Rudi de Vries Rijksuniversiteit Groningen COMICS AND CO-EVOLUTIONS A study of the dynamics in the niche of comics publishers in the Low Countries Proefschrift ter verkrijging van het doctoraat in de Economie en Bedrijfskunde aan de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen op gezag van de Rector Magnificus, dr. E. Sterken, in het openbaar te verdedigen op donderdag 29 november 2012 om 14.30 uur door Rudolf Willem de Vries geboren op 22 maart 1961 te ‘s-Gravenhage Promotores: Prof. dr. A.R. Sorge Prof. dr. A. van Witteloostuijn Beoordelingscommissie: Prof. dr. W.A. Dolfsma Prof. dr. J. Lampel Prof. dr. N.M. Wijnberg ISBN 978-90-367-5804-8 (boek) ISBN 978-90-367-5805-5 (digitaal) CIP-DATA KONINKLIJKE BIBLIOTHEEK, DEN HAAG Vries, Rudolf Willem de Comics and co-evolutions. A study of the dynamics in the niche of comics publishers in the Low Countries/Rudi de Vries. Thesis Rijksuniversiteit Groningen. - With ref. - With summary in Dutch. ISBN 978-90-367-5804-8 Subject headings: Organization theory/art sociology/comics industry/comics/ co-evolutions/institutional logics/organizational ecology Layout: Henny Wever Published by: University of Groningen Groningen Printed by: Ipskamp Drukker B.V. Enschede Copyright © 2012, Rudi W. de Vries All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter in- vented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or re- trieval system, without prior written permission from the copyright owner. ISBN 978-90-367-5804-8 To Merel, and our children Emil and Lotta In memory of my parents PREFACE Writing the preface of a PhD dissertation is a kind of a ‘sentimental journey’ through time. Somewhere in the early 2000s I got the chance to write a PhD dis- sertation. The choice of the subject was up to me. A fruitful attempt to think out of the box led to my conclusion that what interested me most were the evolutions of the comics industry. I found it awkward that hardly any research had been done in- to this industry. Some people in my environment thought it quite absurd to do academic research about comics’ publishers, but my conviction that choosing this branch would in fact enable me to add something relevant to earlier research stimu- lated me to persevere. Luckily I found two professors at my faculty willing to supervise me and assist me during the PhD process: Arndt Sorge and Arjen van Witteloostuijn. Other former PhD students who had the privilege to be supervised by them will probably agree with me that they are the best supervisors one can imagine. They combine an open mindedness and a dislike of bureaucracy with an enormous knowledge, a practical attitude, and, last but not least, patience. The latter was necessary in my case, because the period from the moment of approval of my final plan to the approval of the whole manuscript covered eight years, due to a limited amount of research time, and the combination with my work as a lecturer. In my moments of doubt, they stimulated me to continue. They always gave me sound and useful advice, did not force me in any direction, and showed a sincere interest in the subject. Arndt and Arjen: thanks very much. I also would like to thank the members of the reading committee: Professors Wilfred Dolfsma, Joseph Lampel, and Nachoem Wijnberg, for taking the effort to read (and approve) the manuscript. I acknowledge the Faculty of Economics and Business for making it possible to realize this project, by permitting me to use re- search time and their facilities for this project. There are many other individuals and institutions to who I am grateful. To start with: I would like to thank my former lecturers Annie van den Oever and Rob Julien for introducing me as a colleague in the academic world, first as a researcher, later also as a lecturer, working for both the Faculty of Economics and Business and the Faculty of Arts. Working for two faculties often leads to practical problems, but also provides a varied working environment. Many (former) colleagues, both at the Faculty of Economics and Business (the GEM department, formerly IB&M, and before that Organization Studies) and the Faculty of Arts (the department of Arts, Culture and Media, formerly Arts and Arts Policy) make it worthwhile for me to work at the Groningen University. I met many other people who are active in the Dutch and Belgian comics’ world as a researcher, artist, publisher, organizer or writer, and who inspired, helped or stimulated me during the PhD process. I especially want to mention Ger Tillekens, Kees Ribbens, Jean-Marc van Tol, Pascal Lefèvre, Gert Meesters, the board and employees of the Dutch Comics Museum (I had the privilege of being a member of that board during seven years), the people at Stripschrift, Het Stripschap, and SDCN. Hans Matla is mentioned in this book a number of times, not so much because he is a comics expert, publisher, and owner of the most complete comics collection in this country, but mainly because he is the author of de Stripkatalogus, a book with more than 800 pages that contains (almost) all Dutch language comic albums and magazines. Hans was so kind as to give me a copy of his ‘opus magnum’, that was very useful for my research. Jos van Waterschoot en Ton Schuringa from Het Stripschap and SDCN provided me with the database that was the most important source for the quantitative part of my research. Thanks for your kind co-operation. I want to thank all the publishers, artists, editors and distributors that I interviewed for my study. Not only were the interviews very relevant for me in order to get inside information, but I also learnt a lot from the personal stories about careers, passions, successes, and sometimes failures. Unfortunately I could not use the in- formation about all publishing companies in this book, but I hope that it can be used for future publications. I am grateful to Ad van den Oord. He introduced me in the wondrous world of Stata and event analyses, at the time that he was working for Antwerp University. Ad helped me a lot with the preparation of the data for the analyses. In later stages I could always count on him if I was struggling with Stata. Also thanks to Antwerp University for allowing me to use their facilities. I acknowledge the organizers of the EGOS-, IBDS-, Praagse Perspectieven- and ACME-conferences for giving me the opportunity to present parts of my research and discuss my ideas with other scholars. Henny Wever, thanks for your fast work on the layout of the book, and Jet ter Heegde, thanks for the encouraging conversations and practical advice. Thanks to my family and family-in-law for their interest and encouragement throughout the years. My father bought me my first comic magazines and albums: the roots of this book. He and my mother always stimulated my sister and me to develop ourselves in the directions that we preferred. They would have been proud if they could have witnessed my earning a doctor’s degree. My friends had to endure my stories about the research during the whole period, and they still have remained my friends. That is fantastic. Hans, Coen, Casper and Jesse, thanks for your friendship and moral support. Jesse, thanks for your introducing me to the Charles University in Prague. ‘Kollééga’ Coen, thanks for checking the English language in the manuscript. For all the remaining errors I am to blame. Merel: your support and patience were the major conditions for finishing this dissertation. I praise myself incredibly lucky with you as my partner. I am very proud of our children Emil and Lotta, and I am glad that from now on we will have more moments together again. Rudi de Vries Groningen, October 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS List of figures and tables ............................................ ix Abbreviations....................................................xiii 1 Introduction.................................................. 1 1.1 Background ............................................... 1 1.2 Organizational research on cultural industries in general and comics industries in particular ................................. 2 1.3 Evolutions of comics and their industries ........................ 3 1.4 Differences between countries with regard to evolutions of comics industries ..........................................