Quick Update

My press badge for SDCC came in the mail today!

The comic Sally Cantirino and I did has been submitted to Comixolgy! I’ve ordered a small printing to take with me to San Diego. I’m not gonna push it on anyone but I’d like to have copies in case anyone asks about my work.

We also worked on a pitch together for an anthology that I’m feeling really good about! Whether good or bad, there will be more news on that possibly near the end of July.

That fan-comic I wrote is halfway to being complete!

And I’d have called you a liar if you had told me this previously, but I’m going to be taking a more active role in Comics Bulletin starting really soon.

All this heading towards a new job and a new semester in the Fall. S’gonna be very busy but I think it’ll be worth it.

DC REBIRTH: Judge A Cover Not, Lest Ye Be Judged

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I wrote about DC Comics’ covers for their Rebirth specials and how they struggle with communicating the stated intent of the relaunch. The actual writing of the piece wasn’t especially labored but I put a lot of forethought into it as well as time collecting all the artwork with proper credits.

Give it a read over at Loser City, if you would.

On Getting Collaborators Paid and Promoting My Work

This is all a bit raw and rambling so bear with it if you would.

 

I wrote a comic in 2014 and someone drew it for me in 2015. That someone was Conan Sinclair, an Australian artist and just a generally cool dude, and I paid him for his work. But I didn’t pay him as much as I feel he deserves. He took the work because he read what I sent him and responded to it. I didn’t know until this year that he got something more out of it than I expected (and that made me quite happy). Turning 21 this year made me freak out the way I freaked out when I turned 20 last year, so I resolved to start putting more effort into my comics career that I had been sheepishly keeping up. I looked at what I had completed: a short comic completed with a great artist that I had complicated feelings towards. Part of those complicated feelings was that I had paid Conan the only page rate I could afford but not the one he deserved. I wanted to get that comic published so I could put “Comics Writer” in my Twitter bio without feeling like a liar and I wanted to get Conan paid.

I found a place online that could publish it, an outlet that wasn’t aimed at the comics internet and stood to grant more exposure to myself and Conan, and I sent them a pitch. I sent them a PDF with the comic and a short paragraph describing a prospective personal essay in which I described the process of creating the comic from my perspective while exploring my complicated relationship with the material. They said they wanted to publish it. I spent a few days working on the essay to accompany the comic. I knew they were buying the essay more than the comic so I knew I had to make that purchase worth it for them and I felt I owed it to myself to express some things I hadn’t really been open to discussing. Shea Hennum, a writer I greatly look up to and someone who I think of as a friend, really helped me in editing that essay from something raw and ineffectual in its communication into something much better. I was proud of how it turned out.

The publication of the comic and my essay was a bit of a nightmare, though. Continue reading →

My first comic was published today!

My comic Veins with Conan Sinclair was published 4/4/16 over at The Establishment along with a personal essay I wrote about my experiences with mental illness surrounding its creation. This comic meant a lot to Conan and I so I’m quite glad we found it a home at The Establishment after sitting in a drawer for a year.

You can read it here: LINK

And I’ve also assembled a thorough writing process post: LINK

veinscropped

WonderCon 2016

Did the press thing again this year at WonderCon. The most press work I did was attend the DC Rebirth press conference and interview several of their creators afterward. It was a good time. Very infectious to talk to some of these creators about their upcoming work.

DC Rebirth

(Screenshot courtesy of the DC Entertainment live stream.)

I also picked up what felt like a ton of self-published comics from the creators in Artists Alley that I’m excited to pick through and read. I’ll probably write something up about all of them either here, over at Loser City, or at Comics Bulletin.

I handed out my business card to several people, mostly when letting them know I was interested in writing something up about their books or interviewing them. That was nerve wracking. Having a business card when I’m not a business man or “a business, man” might take some getting used to. There’s still time for people to snatch up one of these cards so they can get one from this one time only run of 50.

There’s No Crying in Baseball

I didn’t play baseball in school or little league. I don’t know if my friend and comics critic Chase Magnett did either but I suspect not. We do a column over at Comics Bulletin called “Leading Questions.” I say “we” but all I really do is ask Chase an often ridiculous or manipulative question about comics for him to answer.

This week, I asked him what comics make him cry and he wrote a fantastic essay on the impact of a series of Calvin & Hobbes strips had on him in response. A few people have admitted to crying when reading what he had to say.

You can read it here.

Calvin