Wednesday, November 28, 2007
PUBLISHING FOLLIES
"Using comics in such a way highlights why so many start-up comic companies (Tekno, Malibu's Ultraverse, CrossGen, etc.) have folded by imitating this model. They are not publishing comics as a means to connect writer to audience (and thus creating quality reading material), but with the primary hope that they can create marketable properties to sell off to other lucrative licensing deals such as toys, movies, etc. This is most evident in that these companies work to create characters, as opposed to develop or seek out stories. Most likely, because they do not command the same level of product familiarity, they struggle both to secure a solid base of readership and interest as well as demanding high advertising rates. In a market that often banks on nostalgia and familiarity, establishing new properties with hopes that they will consistently flourish without the pull of creators working on them is an extremely hard sell."
A short excerpt from a great article by Neil Cohn , detailing the mistakes comic publishers have made... and continue to make and what next-gen comic creators should keep in mind to keep comics flourishing.
A short excerpt from a great article by Neil Cohn , detailing the mistakes comic publishers have made... and continue to make and what next-gen comic creators should keep in mind to keep comics flourishing.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
NEW COMICS FOR 11/29/07
Here are a few books hitting the stands on Thursday that caught my eye.
I' ve been really looking forward to this book, it feels like a creepy horror story that is more subtle than most horror comics these days. Here is a preview.
I love James Stokoe's work and this book is a must. This is guaranteed to be innovative stuff. Here's a preview.
Another anthology book of indie hotness! Also this book will contain a new Hector Plasm story which is reason enough for me to pick it up. Here's a free Hector Plasm story to whet your appetite.
This trade collects a lot of the oddball stuff that was not released in straight Hellboy comics, but in side projects like the "Dark Horse: Book of.." series and the Wizard special. I already have most of it, but Hellboy trades are great reads regardless.
Jack Kirby guys with big fists and big guns knocking around Space Aliens. Woooo, I'm getting light-headed just thinking about it.
I love Buckaroo Banzai... I am a nerd.
I' ve been really looking forward to this book, it feels like a creepy horror story that is more subtle than most horror comics these days. Here is a preview.
I love James Stokoe's work and this book is a must. This is guaranteed to be innovative stuff. Here's a preview.
Another anthology book of indie hotness! Also this book will contain a new Hector Plasm story which is reason enough for me to pick it up. Here's a free Hector Plasm story to whet your appetite.
This trade collects a lot of the oddball stuff that was not released in straight Hellboy comics, but in side projects like the "Dark Horse: Book of.." series and the Wizard special. I already have most of it, but Hellboy trades are great reads regardless.
Jack Kirby guys with big fists and big guns knocking around Space Aliens. Woooo, I'm getting light-headed just thinking about it.
I love Buckaroo Banzai... I am a nerd.Monday, November 26, 2007
COMICS: STORY VS. ART
I ran across a few really interesting posts about the relationship between story and art in comics recently.
David Apatoff takes a look at award winning comics with art that fails to be as expressive as Mad magazine's Mort Drucker.
Jeff Parker writes an excellent piece on writing scripts towards an artists talents.
Both of which made me think of this great old post by Jesse Hamm. If you overlook the snarky attitude, there is A LOT of great info here on how NOT to write comics for artists. I've worked on many, many scripts (including my own) that contained more than one of the script errors he spotlights here.
David Apatoff takes a look at award winning comics with art that fails to be as expressive as Mad magazine's Mort Drucker.
Jeff Parker writes an excellent piece on writing scripts towards an artists talents.
Both of which made me think of this great old post by Jesse Hamm. If you overlook the snarky attitude, there is A LOT of great info here on how NOT to write comics for artists. I've worked on many, many scripts (including my own) that contained more than one of the script errors he spotlights here.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
KNUCKLEJELLY AND FILTHY HABIT!
My big halloween themed comic Knucklejelly is going great. I was considering releasing it as a mini series, but the story is so large and the first issue is composed of mainly boring world building stuff (no matter how hard I tried to fix that), which makes me wonder if there's enough of a hook to get anyone to buy the second issue. So I'll be pitching it as a original graphic novel now.
This decision has me excited, because it will help the story as a whole, and bummed out that it will probably be another year before it ever hits the shelves (if I can find anyone to publish it.)
In any case, I'm doing some smaller projects while I'm working on Knucklejelly to keep my work on the shelves in 2008.
The first thing I've done is a short story starring my monster hunter Simon Squareskull, I've been kicking around doing a webcomic starring him, but I've saved his first published appearance to be in an upcoming Viper comics anthology. It's odd, experimental, but awesome stuff.
I also just started working on a really fun one-shot comic written by Dave Justus with half of the book drawn by me and the other half drawn by the awesome Thomas P. Reidy. We were planning on keeping a lid on the title and the story until Thomas spilled the beans on his blog. Ha! So now I have free reign. The book will be called Filthy Habit and it is a love song to exploitative movies from the 60's - 70's. It stars evil werewolf bikers and nuns. I already have three of my sixteen pages penciled and I just started this weekend. It's really fun! Here a few character designs from my sketchbook.
Things are good.
This decision has me excited, because it will help the story as a whole, and bummed out that it will probably be another year before it ever hits the shelves (if I can find anyone to publish it.)
In any case, I'm doing some smaller projects while I'm working on Knucklejelly to keep my work on the shelves in 2008.
The first thing I've done is a short story starring my monster hunter Simon Squareskull, I've been kicking around doing a webcomic starring him, but I've saved his first published appearance to be in an upcoming Viper comics anthology. It's odd, experimental, but awesome stuff.
I also just started working on a really fun one-shot comic written by Dave Justus with half of the book drawn by me and the other half drawn by the awesome Thomas P. Reidy. We were planning on keeping a lid on the title and the story until Thomas spilled the beans on his blog. Ha! So now I have free reign. The book will be called Filthy Habit and it is a love song to exploitative movies from the 60's - 70's. It stars evil werewolf bikers and nuns. I already have three of my sixteen pages penciled and I just started this weekend. It's really fun! Here a few character designs from my sketchbook.
Things are good.NEW COMICS FOR 11/21/07
Here are some cool comics that hit shelves on Wednesday.
Ever since the beginning of the series, the Goon has been referencing "what happen in Chinatown" without ever explaining what actually happened. All we know is it was so bad no one likes to talk about it. Wonder no more as this original graphic novel explains it all. Here's a preview of the book.
The scream is a new book from Mike Richardson, Peter David and Bart Sears. I'm buying this one on talent alone. Here's a preview of the book.
Ever since the beginning of the series, the Goon has been referencing "what happen in Chinatown" without ever explaining what actually happened. All we know is it was so bad no one likes to talk about it. Wonder no more as this original graphic novel explains it all. Here's a preview of the book.
The scream is a new book from Mike Richardson, Peter David and Bart Sears. I'm buying this one on talent alone. Here's a preview of the book.
Monday, November 19, 2007
WIZARD WORLD TX
Wizard World TX was this past weekend. I didn't have a table or anything, I went at the end of Saturday to see friends, drag my very pregnant wife all over the con floor, get drunk at the after party, have some laughs and make a fool of myself.
Mission Accomplished.
Mission Accomplished.
Friday, November 16, 2007
SNEAK PEAK!
I've been working on a one-shot comic book with some very talented friends recently.
I've finished a lot of the preliminary stuff and am ramping up to start the actual pages... hopefully tonight. I'm going to remain kind of tight-lipped about the project until we are closer to actually getting it published, but I will say that it's an homage to those trashy movies from the 60's and 70's I love so much.
Here is a sneak peak (...or only peak) at an unfinished painting that I abandoned. It will never see the light of day because it ended up being lame, but it's the most completed thing I've done for the Project.
More to come...
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
NEW COMICS FOR 11/14/07
These are a few of the comics coming out tomorrow that caught my eye.
I've never been a big fan of the Punisher, but I am a big fan of this creative team on this book. This issue starts a new storyline.
New Avengers is the summer blockbuster of comics. It's just fun, expensive looking stuff
If you are not reading Scott Pilgrim, well... you are just not cool.
Woooo. Dark Crystal Prequel. How can you say no?
Check out one page of the 4 page Travis Charest story in this book and you will know exactly why I'm picking this up.
I've never been a big fan of the Punisher, but I am a big fan of this creative team on this book. This issue starts a new storyline.
New Avengers is the summer blockbuster of comics. It's just fun, expensive looking stuff
If you are not reading Scott Pilgrim, well... you are just not cool.
Woooo. Dark Crystal Prequel. How can you say no?
Check out one page of the 4 page Travis Charest story in this book and you will know exactly why I'm picking this up.
Monday, November 12, 2007
THE PROBLEM WITH COMICS
A few weeks ago I listed a few comics hitting the stands that I was excited about.
Number one on my list was Crawl Space #1: XXXombies as it seemed right up my alley.
New comics came out that Wednesday and I went to the store on Friday.
Guess what... they were sold out. I asked them to call around to other stores in the chain and no copies could be found. I kinda knew this would happen as the stores closest to me tend not to order high numbers of mature or adult themed books. I sighed loudly and figured I'd find it at some point.
Then, in a weak try at consoling me, the clerk dropped the following statement.
"That's why I always tell people to be here first thing on Wednesday morning."
When he first said this, I felt a pain as if he was right, I had fallen down on my geekly duties and the fact that I missed buying the book I wanted was all my fault. The early bird gets the worm and all that. But later, it started to really bother me as I tried to think of any other retail operation that blames the customer for not ordering enough of the desired goods. How long has this mentality been running rampant through comics. Is it because they are collectible? When I was a kid, hunting down comics was a fun hobby, now that I'm old I just want to buy the damn things with the least amount of fuss possible.
This is one of the many reasons that I've stopped buying single issues and am beginning to focus my money on trades. Because I'm a cranky old man that just wants to read his comics... not collect them.
Number one on my list was Crawl Space #1: XXXombies as it seemed right up my alley.
New comics came out that Wednesday and I went to the store on Friday.
Guess what... they were sold out. I asked them to call around to other stores in the chain and no copies could be found. I kinda knew this would happen as the stores closest to me tend not to order high numbers of mature or adult themed books. I sighed loudly and figured I'd find it at some point.
Then, in a weak try at consoling me, the clerk dropped the following statement.
"That's why I always tell people to be here first thing on Wednesday morning."
When he first said this, I felt a pain as if he was right, I had fallen down on my geekly duties and the fact that I missed buying the book I wanted was all my fault. The early bird gets the worm and all that. But later, it started to really bother me as I tried to think of any other retail operation that blames the customer for not ordering enough of the desired goods. How long has this mentality been running rampant through comics. Is it because they are collectible? When I was a kid, hunting down comics was a fun hobby, now that I'm old I just want to buy the damn things with the least amount of fuss possible.
This is one of the many reasons that I've stopped buying single issues and am beginning to focus my money on trades. Because I'm a cranky old man that just wants to read his comics... not collect them.
Monday, November 05, 2007
KARMA INCORPORATED!
Karma Incorporated was released recently and can now be purchased on Amazon.
Written by David Hopkins, drawn by Tom Kurzanski and colored by Haunted Fire's own Marlena Hall.
Check it out!
Friday, November 02, 2007
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!
Today is Marlena and I's four year anniversary.
I never thought I'd find someone as amazing as her.
We have so much in common, it makes living life together so unbelievably easy.
I completely lucked out the day she walked in my funny book store, eight long years ago.
Here's to my honey! <3
I never thought I'd find someone as amazing as her.
We have so much in common, it makes living life together so unbelievably easy.
I completely lucked out the day she walked in my funny book store, eight long years ago.
Here's to my honey! <3
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