Search Results for: make money online

Make Comics #46 – Is My Idea Good Enough?

Posted on 03/11/13 at 2:16 PM in audio, specialedition by Josh Flanagan No Comments

You’ve got a killer idea! Or do you? How can you know if it’s worth the time, effort, money, and likely discomfort of turning thought into comics? While there is no definite answer, Josh Flanagan and Andy Schmidt bat the concept around for a while, and come up with some guidelines and starting points you can use when deciding whether or not to go for it.

Running Time: 00:12:44

Take note! The Make Comics Podcast has moved to its own feed, which you can subscribe to in iTunes, or here manually.

Andy Schmidt is the founder of the online comic book school Comics Experience, as well as a former editor at Marvel Comics and IDW Publishing. Josh Flanagan has been working on iFanboy.com, talking, reviewing, and thinking about comics for over a decade, as well as writing and creating some of his own.

If you’re interested in going further, you can check out Comics Experience, where there are plenty of classes available in all the disciplines of comic book creation from writing to drawing to coloring to lettering.

Got a question for the podcast? Send it to info@comicsexperience.com and put “MAKE COMICS PODCAST” in the subject line!

Music:
I Don’t Know Anything
Mad Season

Filed Under: audio, specialedition

PREVIEW: Jim McCann & Janet K. Lee Make Dreams Come True with LOST VEGAS #1

Posted on 02/07/13 at 1:00 PM in Articles, Interviews, Previews by Paul Montgomery

Lost Vegas #1 variant cover by Dan McDaid

If only Hervé Villechaize could be here now. The interstellar pleasure vessel Lost Vegas brings fantasy to fruition for the wealthiest moguls in the galaxy. Of course, the Titanic promised great things in her day too.

We spoke to the Return of the Dapper Men team of Jim McCann and Janet K. Lee on their next out-of-this-world voyage. Because what happens on the Lost Vegas shouldn’t necessarily stay on the Lost Vegas.

iFanboy: There’s a Fantasy Island element to the promise of Lost Vegas. Can this ship really deliver her passengers their most lavish fantasies? Are there any limits to what the ship can provide?

Jim McCann: I never thought of it that way, but now… JANET! We need a dashing older man and a smaller person (either can be humanoid or alien) to welcome them. K? Totally my idea, I didn’t steal it from iFanboy at all!

Where were we? Ah, yes, what can you find aboard Lost Vegas? Anything and everything you want. In Las Vegas, NV, high rollers (also called whales) are treated to anything they want. Some have been given new cars, Super Bowl tickets, special chefs flown in; any and every amenity to suit any and EVERY appetite, just to ensure they return to a particular casino. This is a no limit casino, where every room holds a new experience, a cruiser filled of miles of pleasure and excess with games that feels something natural to the casino gamer. You can have a live dealer experience compared to just a bot, it makes the casino games more fun. That’s nothing new or uncommon within the casino culture, just look at the loyalty prizes offered at online casinos in Florida. The same is true for Lost Vegas, aboard which you’ll find only the .001% of the galaxy- the wealthy, the famous, those who run inter-planet conglomerates, to those who even own suns!

iF: Just how expensive is this service? If this was available today, could even our richest moguls afford it?

JM: It’s invitation only. It’s coordinates change frequently. It is the most exclusive place in the galaxy. Lindsay Lohan would have to steal Fort Knox and she would still be turned away. They have standards to maintain. I imagine only the insanely wealthy people that stay hidden from the spotlight on Earth would be able to get in. And maybe George Clooney.

iF: Who makes all this happen? I started picturing Ricardo Montalban hanging up his white suit and heading to outer space, but then I realized…he’s been in outer space before. That’s Khan! Is there anyone as deliciously evil as all that involved with this cosmic casino?

JM: Ohhhh, just like Las Vegas and other casinos wouldn’t have risen to the hights they are now without getting a little (or a LOT) dirty, mixing with the mob, etc, LOST VEGAS holds its own secrets, laying just behind the glamour and sheen. It’s fair to say that something like this doesn’t stay afloat on the casino floor’s winnings alone…

iF: So we know what the haves are up to. How about the have-nots? What does this glitzy future have in store for the 99%, for lack of a better term?

JM: The poor, unfortunate souls, to borrow a fitting phrase, dwell in the bowels of Lost Vegas, working in every capacity to keep her running. They are comprised of gamblers who have gone all in too far, usually in other planets and owe so much they’ve attracted the wrong kind of attention. As you quickly see, one of these, or main character, Roland, is one of these whose luck has run up and owes money to every major player in the galaxy. He is captured, his debt covered by mysteriously shadowed figures, and taken aboard the Lost Vegas, where he is forced into indentured servitude, a slave who must work as a server on the casino floor for tips to pay off his debt. Running the math in his head, however, he realizes this is impossible to ever do, given the percentage the house takes vs what paltry amount he’s left with. So he does what any good gambler would do—thinks three hands ahead and bets on his future, plotting a way out on his terms…and a dash of luck.

iF: Jim, you’re no stranger to gambling and the realization of dreams. Did your recent appearance on The Price is Right reshape the trajectory of Lost Vegas or your own life’s journey?

JM: Ha! It certainly reminded me of what it’s like to win, get your adrenaline rushing, get lost in the moment, and then see it taken away when someone else pulls an improbable feat and rolls the only number higher than you. It’s a ride, something you THINK you have control over, but then fate or fury comes in and changes everything. That certainly happens in LOST VEGAS!

iFanboy: Janet, what informs your depiction of space travel in this book? Do you see it as otherworldly or simply a lavish resort that just so happens to be floating out there amongst the stars?

Janet K. Lee: There are probably two main things that most influenced how I imagined LOST VEGAS: my dad and my first trip to Las Vegas. My dad is a physicist who has, from time to time, worked for NASA. Yep, that’s right: he’s a rocket scientist. So in our house, discussions of science fiction, space travel, and alien worlds were a regular part of dinner time. I can’t say that my dad’s love of math took, but the visions he gave me of worlds to which we *might* someday travel did.

In bizarre contrast, my very scientific father was also the head of a very conservative family. We didn’t do things like go to casinos or gamble, so I went to Las Vegas for the first time last fall. I always imagined it to be a sort of grown-up Disneyland, where people played poker and blackjack surrounded by the most fantastic sets imaginable. I expected to walk into an earth-bound LOST VEGAS. I was disappointed. Now, from a strictly financial standpoint, I understand that slot machines and poker tables are covered in fake wood because the companies who make those machines know their market and don’t need to change a thing. But it wasn’t MY fantasy setting. It wasn’t the place I had built up in my mind– though in fairness, probably no place could be–however, it was still fascinating in it’s own way. When I came back and started drawing LOST VEGAS, I wanted to make it the sort of otherworldly destination I had imagined traveling to all my life. That’s what I tried to do.

Sweet dreams are made of this.

iFanboy: And this is a ship that realizes dreams. How does that play out visually?

JKL: I don’t know about you, but I can dream quite a lot. I can dream the completely fantastic and bizarre. One of the challenges for science fiction is that one needs to take all that unfettered imagination and ground it in something familiar to the reader, otherwise the reader can easily become lost in trying to decipher the world, missing the story. I tried to take into consideration some real-world aspects of casino design– like circular rooms and meandering, yet organized, layouts–that are familiar to the reader, to take some of my favorite parts of the casinos I visited, and merge that with the LOST VEGAS of my imagination. What might visitors from a thousand different worlds travel to see and experience? It’s a challenge.

iFanboy: Speaking of different worlds. Who or what is Ink?

JKL: Ha ha! You mean, beyond one of my absolute favorite characters? Ink is an alien, a sort of sentient, ambulatory, viscous fluid that can communicate telepathically. A good sort of friend to have for a casino heist, yes?

JM: Ink is one of my favorite characters. I’ve never written anything like him before and as I write I find his personality grow even more. As for his look, Ink was literally inspired by ink — Skottie Young’s ink brush he was using for sketches at a convention, actually. I was watching him and when it came time to start thinking of characters, that memory jumped to the front of my mind.

iFanboy: There’s also a very large bodyguard with antlers, yes?

JKL: There is! He’s the bodyguard to our female foil in LOST VEGAS. As everyone probably knows already, Jim never chooses a name for anyone in a book that doesn’t have significance. In this case, the name of the beautiful, enigmatic woman who employs a giant bodyguard also influenced his look. I went through a number of designs, but this one was distinctive. And, as my stepdaughter (who goes to school in Maine) will tell you, large, antlered animals can be both frightening and fierce.

iFanboy: Say you’re on this ship. What do you ask for? What do you hope for?

JKL: Oh, man. I would be such a difficult customer! I would wish for LOST VEGAS to surprise me with something beautiful and fantastic: something that I could not possibly imagine for myself. And a card game I’m actually good at. And maybe delicious, non-caloric chocolate desserts.

JM: If I were on Lost Vegas, I’d see some of the exotic, otherworldly shows; take a space walk for sure; and, since I’ve always wanted to swim with dolphins, I’d take a dive with the sea creatures Janet’s designed. Oh, and play blackjack with Roland. Not just at the same table, because then he’d just be taking the table’s money, but WITH him. Just to see what it’s like…assuming we don’t get caught!

Get in on the action with Lost Vegas #1 (of 4) from Image Comics, on sale March 6th. Better yet, call up your shop and pre-order TODAY!

Filed Under: Articles, Interviews, Previews Tagged With: Image Comics, Janet K. Lee, Jim McCann, Lost Vegas

Make Comics #42 – Make a Living

Posted on 01/18/13 at 12:27 PM in audio, specialedition by Josh Flanagan 2 Comments

Don’t quit your day job. Is that good advice for an aspiring comics creator? Can you make a living doing this crazy thing? The answer is yes, no, and maybe. Josh Flanagan and Andy Schmidt talk about the economics of a career in comics, and what that means to people who are looking to make their way in the industry.

Running Time: 00:16:39

Take note! The Make Comics Podcast has moved to its own feed, which you can subscribe to in iTunes, or here manually.

Got a question for the podcast? Send it to info@comicsexperience.com and put “MAKE COMICS PODCAST” in the subject line!

Music:
Money
John Lee Hooker

Filed Under: audio, specialedition

What’s Wrong With You? Apple, SAGA #12, and Yet Another Witch Hunt [UPDATE]

Posted on 04/10/13 at 3:17 PM in Articles, Columns by Josh Flanagan

Let us go over the facts of the thing.

Saga #12, from Image Comics, Brian K. Vaughan, and Fiona Staples features a small yet graphic image of two men having sex with one another. This is one of them. And look, I censored it.

Yesterday, Brian K. Vaughan, writer of the book, issued this statement. Including this business:

As has hopefully been clear from the first page of our first issue, Saga is a series for the proverbial “mature reader.” Unfortunately, because of two postage stamp-sized images of gay sex, Apple is banning tomorrow’s Saga #12 from being sold through any iOS apps.

Vaughan, though we love his work very dearly, was quite wrong. In multiple ways.

He presumed that the issue was unable to be purchased from all iOS apps (Comixology, Image Comics) where it was not available today (more on that in a moment). The book was available, however, through the iBookstore, all along. We’ve seen this happen before with the recent Sex #1, Black Kiss II, and even XXX Zombies. No cry was shouted for those books, and it certainly wasn’t because of gay sex per se, but just what Apple considers pornographic content, which is fairly normal industry standard in the big name eBook game.

I should note here that Tim Cook, CEO of Apple has been called the Most Powerful Gay Man in America. Make of that what you will.

So right away, the comics internet community, fans and pros, who really love to find a reason to start a virtual bonfire, starts going off about how Apple hates gay people and their sex, and blah blah blah blah.

Turns out none of it even happened.

Today, Comixology released this statement:

To our customers –

In the last 24 hours there has been a lot of chatter about Apple banning Saga #12 from our Comics App on the Apple App Store due to depictions of gay sex. This is simply not true, and we’d like to clarify.

As a partner of Apple, we have an obligation to respect its policies for apps and the books offered in apps. Based on our understanding of those policies, we believed that Saga #12 could not be made available in our app, and so we did not release it today.

We did not interpret the content in question as involving any particular sexual orientation, and frankly that would have been a completely irrelevant consideration under any circumstance.

Given this, it should be clear that Apple did not reject Saga #12.

After hearing from Apple this morning, we can say that our interpretation of its policies was mistaken. You’ll be glad to know that Saga #12 will be available on our App Store app soon.

We apologize to Saga creator Brian K. Vaughn [sic] and Image Comics for any confusion this may have caused.

All the best,

David Steinberger
CEO and co-founder
comiXology

Oy!

So, to summarize, Apple didn’t ban anything. Apple has a set of standards which Comixology presumed to apply, and they didn’t submit it in the first place. The problem, which wasn’t really much of a problem to begin with, seems to have been one more of communications and mismanagement than anything else.

You know what I’m tired of hearing about? Censorship. When the United Kingdom banned A Clockwork Orange for 30 years, that was censorship (or maybe it wasn’t. We all make mistakes.). When Wal-Mart doesn’t sell Hustler, that’s different. If you couldn’t get Saga #12 by clicking over 2 more pecks on your iPad, or by going to an actual comic shop, there would have been an argument, but that just wasn’t the case. Instead, the hew and cry went out, and no one looked into a damn thing. That was before Comixology waved the “my bad” flag.

It seems like every week, there’s some “this is the evil thing in comics”. Yes, there is sexism, and homophobia, and there is a preponderance of dumbasses, and they are the people running comics. But if we need to throw a virtual protest march every time someone makes a societal misstep, we’re gonna be wasting a lot of keystrokes.

If you don’t like how a company is doing business, don’t do business with that company. If you’re going to label them the Great Satan, check your facts. I’m mostly down with political correctness, but at a certain point in the echo chamber, we’re pointing out massive digressions of conduct left and right. I’ve met an enormous cross section of people who make their living from comics, and these are not the lunkheads you need to be worrying about. Write letters to your congressmen instead of online petitions about what’s happening to a fictional character.

It’s exhausting. We’ve got more gatekeepers than we do gates.

I know one thing. Saga #12 is going to sell a lot of books now.

UPDATE!

Here’s Brian K. Vaughan’s statement on the situation as of now:

I wanted to apologize to everyone for this entire SAGA #12 kerfuffle. Yesterday, I was mistakenly led to believe that this issue was solely with Apple, but it’s now clear that it was only ever Comixology too conservatively interpreting Apple’s rules. I’m truly sorry. I never thought either company was being homophobic, only weirdly inconsistent about what kind of adult material was permissible. I’m grateful that the situation was cleared up so quickly, and I’m delighted I can go back to reading smutty comics on my Retina Display iPad.

There you have it folks. I still think Vaughan jumped up the charges a little faster than would be advisable, but he was under a misapprehension, and took it to the streets before sorting it out internally. Then you get what we had here today. Which is the way he wants it.

I wasn’t referring to Vaughan as much as quoting Cool Hand Luke at the end there.

Filed Under: Articles, Columns Tagged With: Brian K. Vaughan, Image Comics, Outrage, Saga, What's Wrong With You

At A Loss For Work

Posted on 03/18/13 at 12:00 PM in Articles, Columns by Jim Mroczkowski

I probably shouldn’t say so where people can see me, but I’m not sure what the right answer is in the case of Jerry Ordway.

In case you missed it, about two weeks ago Ordway did some rumination on his blog about being a man his age trying to work steadily in the comic book industry. Actually, he wasn’t just talking about being “a man his age”; he was talking about being an integral protein in DC’s DNA for many fans’ entire lives so far, now reduced to being a reliable fill-in artist who struggles to earn a better page rate than he was making twenty years ago. When he was coming up in the biz, “name” artists stayed busy well into their seventies, and Ordway was publicly wishing for the same opportunity. He also had a few thoughts about the pittance in royalties he makes for reprints of some of the defining stories of the DC Universe. He’s not whining or suing or demanding people take to the streets; his position seems to be, “I’m not saying anybody owes me anything, but… come on.”

Now, I have learned much, much too slowly that when presented with an ethical issue like this, the Internet demands a strong, fanatical opinion that cannot be swayed by hurricane-force winds. If one is the type of person who writes things about such issues, those things must either be some variation of “what DC is doing is a shameful travesty; we must launch a Kickstarter to design and fire a ballistic missile at their headquarters” or some variation of “he read the contracts before he signed them; he needs to die of starvation before he and his lawyer decide to take my Superman away.” Do any less, I have learned painfully, and you’ll see yourself labeled a moral coward or a Nazi collaborator, usually by both sides at the same time.

Makes all this a lot of fun.

So it’s with a heavy heart that I confess that I’m of at least two minds about Ordway’s situation. He is a legend, and if you accept the premise that artists hone their craft and improve with time then he’s got more legendary work in him. It’s insane to leave that asset on a shelf somewhere in favor of the clowns who draw some of the comics I’m reading. If you’re someone who follows writers first and artists second, you can probably think of at least three pencilers in your current stack that you would replace with a guy like Jerry Ordway faster than you can say “tragically obvious photo reference.”

But what are those clowns’ page rates? And what if there are more considerations when hiring than “is really good and eager to work”?

The comic book industry favors the New, but that’s not necessarily unique to it. I imagine more than a few of us know someone in his fifties who has tried to look for work in the last few years and found himself out of vogue when faced with other applicants fresh out of college, willing to work for back pats and Panera sandwiches. When you think about it like any other part of this rickety duct-taped economy, of course he can’t get the work he wants at the page rate he demands; there are twenty decently-skilled kids who’ll do the same work and be glad to do it for a handful of candy circus peanuts faster than you can say, “Hell yes, I’ll draw a Toyman solo series; drawing a Toyman solo series has been my lifelong dream, Mr. Editor, sir.”

There are plenty of ways to earn a living online; without having to leave the house. Checking out Lifestyle Design International reviews, you’ll find that it offers a multitude of jobs for different skill sets. You’ll definitely see something that’s right up your alley. Even comic design.

There is also the fact that DC has been (at least ostensibly) trying to take their line in a Bold New Direction for the last year or so. Maybe the people who decide such things associate Ordway’s art with days gone by and fear the reader will, too. Maybe the decision makers think his style is “of its time” and just revere him too much to tell him so. As a true comics biz outsider, I am speculating my brains out, but if that were true it would look a lot like a bewildering scarcity of work if it were happening to you. That’s the problem with being one of the guys who helps define an era: the era passes.

And if that is what the decision makers think, are they wrong? If their sole goal is to make money, and they don’t think they can do it with Jerry Ordway, what does anyone owe anyone in that situation? I can think of a couple of books that were given to legendary writers or artists just for the sake of them having a comic come out, and those series existed mostly for podcasters to howl about.

The roadside is littered with talented people who have created beautiful things for us only to be rewarded this way by the calling they devoted their youth to. How do they make things right? Jerry Ordway doesn’t (just) want DC to take responsibility and give him a bigger cut of the books he birthed into the world for them; he wants to work and earn his money, just like healthy, skilled guys his age from any number of vocations currently flat-out in unemployment lines. What’s the solution? I hope I don’t invite too much trouble by admitting that I don’t really know.

Jim Mroczkowski has not been put in charge of anything important in a very long time for good reason.

Filed Under: Articles, Columns Tagged With: Complications, controversy, Creator Rights, Creators, DC Comics, Jerry Ordway

BATMAN #18

Posted on 03/13/13 at 9:22 PM in by 2 Comments

Ok I just read this. Literally, I finished it 5 minutes ago. I’m tempted from now to just let Harper Row issues sit in my pull-file at my LCS because I feel I wasted money buying this issue. Maybe I need a break from Batman, I don’t know but I didn’t like what I got for my money.

This the first half of this issue is about Harper Row, who I just don’t care for. She doesn’t seem to do anything in her stories I always feel like shes a side character taking time away from the main plot. Ok she saved Batman’s life after Court of Owls (so did a few prostitutes in “Batman & Son”, where’s their story?), she’s good with inventing, and she really cares about her younger brother. For some reason this doesn’t enthrale me whenever she shows up.

In the first part, Harper is training to help Batman noticing he has gone over the edge abit. No explanation why, we’re just told he lost someone (tho DC announced online who, Robin is never mentioned exactly). There is a cool fight, Harper saves Batman again, and he tears her a new one for the trouble. However she is still determined to help him despite his abuses. So she shows up at Wayne Enterprises and rigs up a light show to inspire Batman to overcome his grief. End. Somehow she still hasn’t learned he’s Bruce Wayne yet, and the light show spells out a word starting in R (see where this is going? It doesn’t spell Robin) that gets him over losing his friend.

Besides the fight scene, I was bored this entire issue. I stuck with Snyder all the way thru DotF including the finale, so that should say something. I’ve yet to see what exactly everyone has fallen in love over Harper Row for. I don’t care if Snyder makes her Robin, Oracle, whatever, but give me a reason to care about her. This issue actually made me compare her to Stephanie Brown; the 4th Robin/ Spoiler. Both are determined to become Batman’s sidekick, both have crappy criminal fathers, both have genuine talents, and both get berated by Batman but still commit to working for him. Now Dick,Jason, and Tim got similar treatments at one point or another but it seems like the female counterparts get rougher treatment. I actually liked Stephanie up until the end of “War Games”, I found reasons to care about her but I haven’t with Harper. Snyder might want to avoid making them any more similar unless Harper becomes the new Spoiler or something.

The art is great, but Andy Kubert only does half the artwork. Alex Maleev does the other, and I think it’s the best he’s done since “Daredevil”. Move him onto “Batman/Superman” DC, he’s too good for back-ups. The story gets a 2 because it’s labeled as “Average” and that’s how I’d sum up this issue; not bad but but not great either. The next 2 issues have got to give me something in terms of a story to wash the taste of this one away, I planned on a break from “Batman” during “Zero Year” but I’ll start next month if the next issue is like this one.

Kickstart It! Ryan Browne on God Hates Astronauts: The Completely Complete Edition

Posted on 02/27/13 at 10:00 AM in Articles, Interviews by Paul Montgomery

Truthfully, Ryan Browne’s God Hates Astronauts: The Completely Complete Edition doesn’t need your help. It’s already met its goal of $15,000 and, at the time of this writing, is creeping towards tripling that number. But then, God Hates Astronauts is a known commodity as a web serial. This collection is the soon-to-be-tangible manifestation of half a decade’s work for a very peculiar man named Ryan Browne, with additional art by the likes of Chris Burnham, Ryan Steggman, Tradd Moore, Tim Seeley, Riley Rossmo, Tom Fowler, Jenny Frison, Nick Pitarra and oodles and oodles and oodles more. So, why pledge now? Because you want this book.

We spoke to Ryan about the project against our better judgment:

iFanboy: Ryan. What the hell is this?

Ryan Browne: That? I take that twice a day for my “condition.” Oh wait, you mean God Hates Astronauts? Sorry. GHA is a webcomic that I’ve been doing for the past six years. It’s a “humor” “comic” that follows the story of a group of incompetent, small-minded, super powered narcissists called “The Power Persons Five” who are hired by NASA to stop all farmers from launching themselves into space in homemade rocket ships. Unfortunately, for NASA, this goal is scarcely even addressed and the book focuses more on extramarital affairs, bank robing owls, big gross swollen heads, ghost cow heads, olde tyme boxers, tigers eating cheeseburgers in the Crab Nebula, buffalo judges and tons of aggressive swearing. Not as much a superhero book as it is a parody of basically everything and a celebration of weird that is jam-packed with references to Robo-Cop and Die Hard.

God’s hatred of astronauts, made tangible

RB: The title came from a drawing that I did of an angel kicking the crap out of an astronaut. She was wearing a shirt that read, “God Hates Astronauts.” The title really doesn’t mean anything, I think of it more like a band name. If you like the slightly offensive and nonsensical nature of the title, you will like the book. I think the art and sense of humor have become more focused since the start of the book but the idea of what GHA is has not. GHA was made as a reaction to the seriousness of mainstream comics. I wanted to make a book that was nothing but fun, and a book that would make me laugh while drawing it. Really GHA was just made to make me laugh, the fact that it makes other people laugh is incredibly exciting.

iF: What led you to publish the series as a web serial? What were some of your goals in terms of critical attention, financial success, or artistic growth?

RB: Originally GHA was a self-published book that I gave out to publishers and other artists at shows. After the frustration of losing money on print and the inability to get people to read my book, I launched it as a webcomic. The goal of the webcomic was to get readers. I have never made a dime on the webcomic but I have built a fan base, and that fan base has been awesome enough to buy GHA merchandise and single issues. It has also lead to making friendships with other creators and their support has helped the book grow and lead to the amazing collaborations in the God Hates Astronauts hardcover.

iF: Did it lure in a lot of eyeballs right away? How did you go about finding an audience?

RB: Because of the weirdness of the book a really diehard cult fan base started to grow. It is through that word of mouth that the book found it’s legs. One of the early fans was Chris Burnham, and he used his reach to get the book out there on Twitter. His help was truly essential to the book finding his audience.

iF: Brass tacks. Why do we want this book vs. the online version? It does look bookier. More physical in quality…

RB: Well the online comic is 80 pages. The book is 180 pages. It has all the content from the web, re-lettered and color tweaked, two 24 hour GHA comics I made, a butt-ton of pin-ups from artists like Chris Burnham, Mike Norton, Ryan Stegman, Tom Fowler, Rebekah Isaacs, Andy MacDonald, Ethan Nicolle and others, PLUS it features 18 new 2-page origin stories of the characters from GHA. These origin stories are written by me and drawn by other, better, artists such as Tim Seeley, Riley Rossmo, Tradd Moore, Nick Pitarra, C.P. Wilson III, Hilary Barta, Tom Scioli, Zander Cannon, Jenny Frison and a handful of other amazing artists.

iF: You’ve had success with Kickstarter before. What kind of lessons did you take home?

RB: Have your product finished and ready to go. It was really important to me to have the product finished so that I would have a quick turn around to my backers and so that I could advertise the correct final product. There were a ton of changes to the book during it’s production and if I had launched the Kickstarter a couple of months ago, the book wouldn’t have been what they backers would have received. The backers are the ones that make the book possible so I owe it to them to deliver as soon as possible. People aren’t funding me producing the book, they are funding me printing a finished book and I think the audience responds to that.

iF: What’s next for you?

RB: Currently I am the fill-in artist on “The Manhattan Projects” drawing a couple of issues while Nick Pitarra gets caught up. After that I will be taking over for Riley Rossmo as the full-time artist on “Bedlam” for Image comics. I’m super excited for everyone to see my work on both books and am looking forward to a really fun and productive year of drawing. Self-publishing is great, but it’s super time consuming and I don’t get to sit down and draw nearly as much as I would like. We will see more GHA in the future for sure, but it will be on a hiatus while I work on these other projects.

Kickstart it. Just do it.

Filed Under: Articles, Interviews Tagged With: Astronauts, Chris Burnham, Chris Mitten, God, God Hates Astronauts, Hatred, Jenny Frison, Kickstarter, Rebekah Isaacs, Ryan Browne, Ryan Stegman, Tim Seeley Tom Fowler, Tradd Moore

Maybe DC is Trying to Get Rid of You

Posted on 02/04/13 at 12:00 PM in Articles, Columns by Jim Mroczkowski

Most of the time, I secretly suspect that none of us have any idea what’s actually going on.

It seems like we would have our finger on the pulse of Comic Books, doesn’t it? We’re reading sites like this one, for one thing. Some of us are even reading the press releases that are sent to sites like this one, even if we have no idea how we got on some of those mailing lists and would cheerfully fake our own deaths to get that one guy to leave our inbox alone. We scan the comment threads to get some sense of the zeitgeist. We follow dozens of comic book readers, sites, and creators on Twitter. We spend our commutes listening to comic book podcasts. We talk to people at our local shops.

Somehow, in the face of all of this, publishers rarely go a month without doing something that makes us all go, and I quote, “Schwuhhh?”

The most universally reviled artist in the industry will get promoted to a flagship book, which will then proceed to sell like gangbusters. A series that even the writer’s mother does not buy somehow seems to escape cancellation for years at a time, as if it is a part of some kind of underground market/money laundering operation. Editors will spend years doing a flamenco on the grave of that one Batgirl even though everyone liked her, dancing with abandon as if Batgirl used to give them swirlies in junior high. The fan-favorite writer is always, always getting fired, after being constantly rewritten by The Man.

They must know what they’re doing, though, right? They work there. Every day. And these aren’t guys flying by the seats of their pants in the bullpen; a couple of these publishers are divisions of multinational corporations. There must be a method to even the most bewildering madness.

Just about everyone in the game has taken their turn being bewildering (remember that summer when it seemed like Marvel was going through a terrible breakup? Ladies were getting molested by tentacles on the covers, and suddenly there was a female version of every villain?) but DC Comics is the company that’s made me think about these things the most often, especially lately. Popular creators get fired and rehired from their books. People are replaced by fresh new faces who themselves are replaced before their first issues ever come out. Interesting New 52 books continue to die in the crib. All the while, the murmuring about Editorial (which I imagine as that shadowy cabal on the screens in Marvel’s The Avengers) not letting writers write has continued to grow into a steady din that’s hard to ignore.

Whenever one of these stories surface– and the wait is never too long these days– I think the same thing: “They have got to realize how bad all this looks, right?”

I can only surmise that they know exactly how bad all this looks; they just don’t think anyone’s looking. Not anyone they care about, anyway.

Still not sure what was going on here.

Trying to put myself in DC’s collective shoes, it seems to me that the type of fan who follows the creators and the business moves and the behind-the-scenes shenanigans is kind of a headache to keep around. That fan thinks he’s The Voice of the People and that DC works for him, when truth is only 15% of Americans who are online use Twitter; one in five adults in this country still aren’t online at all. At all. Why should we kiss that guy’s butt, they must think, when we could be going after the guy who doesn’t even know who wrote the book he just bought?

If you’re DC, maybe you’d rather have customers who like Batman and Batgirl, not Scott Snyder and Gail Simone. If your customer starts thinking of Batgirl as Gail Simone’s character, Gail Simone has you by the balls just a little bit, and that will not do. Batgirl, on the other hand, is your property. Ideally, you want a Batgirl who’ll do whatever you say, and a reader that’ll read whatever Batgirl does regardless of who’s pulling the strings. Even the illusion in a fan’s imagination of creator ownership means nothing but Maalox for you.

You miss the way comics were when you were nine? Maybe they miss the way readers were when they were nine. I bought that Transformers comic because it had Dinobots on the cover, not because I had Bob Budiansky fever. I bet it’d be pretty sweet to get back there.

DC has become the go-to destination for the most odious kind of crossover, the one where you buy one of your monthly books only to discover that it is Part II of a story that began in a book you don’t read. This kind of hooey doesn’t make me go back and pick up Animal Man or Superboy regardless of who’s writing them; it makes me drop Swamp Thing and Supergirl in spite of who’s writing them. If I were that guy who follows Swamp Thing wherever he happens to be, though, this kind of crossover would be money in the bank. “They won’t be getting my three dollars anymore,” I sniff as I drop another series. “Their funeral.” But what if they’re up in the office thinking, “Ugh, thank God he’s gone”? Maybe guys like me are just holding them back. They know what they’re doing.

Right?

Jim Mroczkowski would like to remind anyone tempted to settle his hash in the comments that he began by saying he probably had no idea what he was talking about.

Filed Under: Articles, Columns Tagged With: Batgirl, Batman, Characters, continuity, DC Comics, DC New 52, Editorial Meddling, Gail Simone, New Reader Friendly Comics, Scott Snyder

Marvel’s Great Digital Divide

Posted on 01/18/13 at 12:00 PM in Articles, Columns by Gabe Roth

Somewhere back in October of last year, I was sitting in my local coffee shop, sipping a cup of delightful black gold and utilizing their complimentary Wi-Fi service when I found myself face-to-face with an undeniably tempting web ad for Marvel’s “Digital Comics Unlimited” service. “Unlimited Streaming Access to 10,000+ Comics!,” the ad shouted in my general direction. My resistance to such things was weakened for some reason, so the discounted price for a month of service caught my attention. I want to read 10,000 comics, I told myself. Damn right I do. Thus it was only a matter of time before I decided to pull the trigger and give Marvel more of my money, $7.99 to be exact. I knew deep down that this was probably a mistake and that it’d be up to me to cancel the service somewhere down the line, but for whatever reason, I opted in. Simply put, I was going to give the service an honest shot and see how it compared to my current method of consuming digital comics, which is namely buying them a la carte, downloading them to my IPad and reading them whenever the hell I feel like it.

The idea behind the “unlimited” service is pretty simple: you pay a monthly fee of around ten dollars (less if you opt for an annual plan) and you get access to a back catalog of thousands of Marvel’s wonderful comics. Thousands I tell ya! Sounds great, right? For someone who buys as many digital comics as I do, this seemed like a great plan. I imagined I might save money in the long run. Not the case. As I did my first exploration of MDCU, I realized that the selection of comics contained therein didn’t match up with what’s offered on the Marvel app itself. There’s some overlap, but simply put, the MDCU service seems to be more about older comics and classic Marvel runs, as it doesn’t offer current comics until many months after they’re publication. If thought you’d be able to catch up on say recent issues of Wolverine and the X-Men, you’re out of luck. Currently, the service is promoting issue #2 of that comic as “freshly digitized.” Ever get that not-so-fresh feeling?

Lack of truly current issues aside, there’s another major aspect of the MDCU that makes it somewhat tough to get behind, namely the fact that it’s only accessible via a web browser. That’s right, if you’re hoping to enjoy your access to a massive Marvel catalog on your portable digital device, you’re also out of luck. This is not a service for people who want to read their digital comics un-tethered and on the go. You see you’re not actually downloading or buying any of these comics outright; you’re just paying for access to them, streaming access that goes away the minute you stop paying that monthly fee. Clearly Marvel understands that the real money is in recurring subscriptions of their service. Rumor has it that DC has plans for a similar service in the near future. Can’t really fault these companies for the business model, I suppose, but one of the great things about digital comics is the ability to bring them with you and have them on hand to read out there in the world. The fact that you essentially need a laptop or desktop to enjoy them seems to defeat the purpose as far as I’m concerned. Why they don’t have some sort of tablet version of the service is pretty darn puzzling.

I do give the service some credit. It does open the door to a lot of classic comics and there’s something to be said for that. The back issues are nicely digitized and it’s certainly fun to go deep into the Marvel archives and see some of the oldies looking as good as they ever have. Unfortunately, the whole thing exists very separately from the mobile Marvel app and its associated apps. For example, if I’m reading a copy of Silver Surfer #4 via the “Unlimited” service, there’s really no way to take it to the next level and buy that comic in its digital form. Sure, there’s some crossover between the two services, but it’s pretty inconsistent. Seems to me that the service would be a better deal if both the streaming access and the ability to buy and download titles were intertwined. Why not give me the option to actually own a comic that I’ve just enjoyed streaming in my web browser? I’m probably a bit old-fashioned, but there’s something to be said for actual ownership of one’s digital comics, as well as the mobility and sense of permanence that comes with it.

There’s no doubt in my mind that Marvel has crunched the numbers and figured this all out so that one really has to keep subscribing in order to maintain one’s online collection. Unfortunately, the end result is something that’s ironically quite limited and lacking in flexibility when it comes to how these digital comics are consumed. I’m not sure how successful the MDCU service really is, but my sense is that it’s more novelty than anything else. Seems to me that that most people want to take their digital books on the go. I know I do. I just want them and I want them at my convenience, whether or not I’m on or off the grid. In the end, the digital comics experience still has to replicate the act of reading a book. And if you’re stuck at your computer or laptop, it just doesn’t feel the same. Anyone else have experience with the Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited service? Did like it? Hate it? Love it or loathe it? As I knew I would deep down in my gut when I succumbed to Marvel’s ad that day in that coffee shop, I ultimately cancelled the service, which they of course made rather difficult. Hopefully, future iterations will result in a product that is more about the user experience and less about hooking the customer in for the long haul.

Gabe Roth is a TV writer trapped in the suburbs of Los Angeles. He’s @gaberoth on Twitter.

Filed Under: Articles, Columns Tagged With: back issues, DC Comics, Digital Comics, Marvel Comics, Silver Surfer, technology, The Web, Wolverine and the X-Men

Series Left Hanging

Posted on 01/16/13 at 12:00 PM in Articles, Columns by Ryan Haupt

Last week I posted about my comic’s resolutions for 2013. One of my goals is to finish some of the series that I at one point started buying but for whatever reason never finished. After posting that I further realized that I had yet to figure out which series I was even talking about. I had a few titles lingering on the periphery of my consciousness as I wrote that goal, but without making the books I meant explicit how could I ever expect to even know what to finish? And what better place to expose my failures than the public forum that is iFanboy? So what follows are a few series that never saw their end on my shelf and in the comments you can shame me into prioritizing whatever series you deem the most critical to get through. Sound good? Let’s go!

Strangers in Paradise

Last volume owned: 5 or 6? (of 19)

This one comes first just because just last night I read the first book of Rachel Rising. And no, I still haven’t read Echo, I don’t know what’s wrong with me either. I started reading Strangers in Paradise directly because of the iFanboy Pick of the Week Podcast. Some of those early episodes really lavish the praise on this book, and I remember how raw the discussion of this book was after the release of its final issue. So needless to say I walked right up to Terry Moore’s table the next time I was at a convention and bought a few of the books. For some reason, I wanted them in trade paperback not pocketbook form. The shrunken art just didn’t appeal to me. Unfortunately, this made it very difficult to ever complete my run because most comic shops had switched to only stocking the pocketbooks. It is now clear to me that I need to just set aside some of my paycheck to get a volume online every month or so, getting them read will rely on the fulfillment of another resolution entirely.

Ex Machina

Last volume owned: Vol. 6 – Power Down (of 10)

Last year marked the glorious return of Brian K. Vaughan to comics, and there was much rejoicing throughout the land. However, amongst the celebrations I held a deep dark secret is that I never finished Ex Machina. I chalk this one up to one of the risks of living with another comic fan. Sure you get access to all these great books, but then you fall into this rhythm. Certain series become the book you’re expected to keep up with, and other books fall under the roommate’s jurisdiction. There’s no real logic to it, it’s just sort of how the system evolves. And Ex Machina ended up in Jesse’s camp. Once we weren’t living together I had a hard time buying more trades because even though I owned up through 6 I’d read 7 and some of 8 so was I supposed to buy 8 and skip 7? The completionist nerd in me wouldn’t stand for that. But how could I spend money on something I’d already read? It because the equivalent of asking a computer intelligence “why?” and I eventually just shorted out entirely and reread Y: The Last Man.

Flight

Last volume owned: Vol. 4 (of 8)

I’ve written about how much I like anthologies and Flight was the first one that really grabbed my attention by the horns. The cool thing about serialized anthologies is you get a handful of stories that carry over from one volume to the next, so even though you get tons of new content in each volume there is an argument to be made that this is a series unfinished. And in researching this column I learned that they’re ending the books with volume 8, so now I have a goal and I intend to hit it.

DMZ

Last volume owned: Vol. 7, I think (of 12)

I loved the concept of DMZ, but at a certain point I lost interest in the narrative and the art never really grabbed me enough to maintain momentum through story lulls. Then I started reading Northlanders and fell in love. I know it doesn’t make sense that reading a different Brian Wood series screwed up my progress finishing a very disparate book, but that’s just how I feel, ok? But after the whole Mayan thing I’ve been in the mood for some post-apocalyptic stories so this might be ripe for finishing as soon as I figure out which volumes I actually own.

So those are the books I need to finish with a get on with my life. This leaves me with two questions left for you, what series should I focus on finishing first? And what series did you fail to finish and does it also haunt you to this day as mine do for me?

Ryan Haupt should learn to let go. Hear him on the podcast he keeps insisting isn’t finished yet, Science… sort of.