SELF PUBLISHER! MAGAZINE STILL GOI

IN THIS ISSUE a written viewalan cole

dave welcherjose loerikasey quevedoalex thompson

FISHBOWL CHRONICLES

FLEISCHEREXTENDEDSNEAKPEEK!

78I S S U E

FREE PDF VERSIONOctober 2014!

SELF PUBLISHER MAGAZINEIt’s hard to believe it’s already Month Two of the Indyfest transition—this one really flew by. I have spent so much time researching, learning code, and adjusting things to work in the setup that we’re trying to build, I feel like I missed the whole last month of summer! But it’s all good, as we’ve made some big strides in moving closer to a beta stage for Indyfest, so we can start inviting people in to help test things and kick the tires to make sure they stay on and all that. Meanwhile, the magazine is rolling along just about as well as can be expected. I’ve been including Ellen in all magazine conversations for a bit now, as we grow her position with us from Copy Editor to Managing Editor. If I could find some time to transition the flow chart from my desktop to a Google doc, I’ll be able to start giving her the lead role in article development she deserves. And Jay has brought his daughter into an active role in the layouts process, which will free up a little of his time to get him more hands-on in the Indyfest devel-opment... We’re looking forward to seeing her design touches reflected in the pages; we’re betting she can outshine her dad.

We have a solid slew of articles lined up to take us all the way into next year and the trans-formation of name and format coming up. To make it clear: we’re going to be changing from Self Publisher! to Indyfest Magazine. (Yes, after all the pride I took in re-starting this zine with that name... it has become clear that that name limits us. So we’re going to move forward with Indyfest Magazine starting in 2015.) We’re also going to move from a magazine size, to a comic book size format. Now, the size format is mostly for the digital readers. Having nar-rower pages will let people enjoy the zine on their Kindles, iPads, etc., by allowing the text to be larger and having page designs to reflect the modern age. It will also help us in develop-ment of print editions, as there are actually better options for comic printing sizes than for tra-ditional magazine sizes, these days.

Another aspect is an expansion and re-focusing of the direction of the magazine. Our name has made people think of us as mostly an “insider” zine, even though our interviews have been designed to be of interest to fans. We want to delve deeper in bringing fans of indy stuff, to a place designed to help them get to know and connect with those creators. We want to be like a 24/7 convention, where checking out our magazine and website is like what you do right before you ride the elevator down to go meet the creator and have them sign one of their books for you. Indyfest is going to be fun and we’ll strive to include more crossover to the Indy music and movie scenes as well.

So! Let’s send you off into this issue! We’ve got some really great stuff, well, stuffed inside. Alan Cole, B. Alex Thompson, Kasey Quevedo, and some really great extended Sneak Peeks. Toss in some of our regular articles, and some special ones, and you can’t beat this issue... well... at least until the NEXT one!

- Ian Shires

PUBLISHER

Ian Shires

MANAGING EDITOR

Ellen Fleischer

ASSISTANT CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Jade Savage

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Jay Savage

CIRCULATION COORDINATOR

Douglas Owen

COVER ART

Carlos Villas

Published monthly by Dimestore ProductionsP.O Box 214, Madison, OH 44057All Contents (c)2013-2014 by Dimestore Pro-ductions and noted individuals. All rights revert to those individuals. Dimestore reserves the right to keep this issue in print in PDF and POD forms. First Printing, October 2014.

contents4 Where Creativity Meets Commitment (cover story) An interview with Alan Cole, Dave Welcher and Jose Loeri by Louise Cochran-Mason

9 IV Armageddon Sneak Peek!By Arc Writer - Alan Cole with Pencils, Inks, Letters & Colors by Luis Palacios & Edited by Jose Loeri

15 A Written ViewBy Douglas Owen

17 Fishbowl ChroniclesBy Mark Turner

18 Full Speed AheadAn interview with Kasey Quevedo by Ellen Fleischer

23 Fleischer - Extended Sneak Peek!By Ed Gross and Leon Mckenzie

37 Approbation Comics!An interview with Alex Thompson by Steven Pennella

41 Repetition SellsBy Jennifer Vanderbeek

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The earliest incarnation of Graphic Illusions Comics began in 1997 by high school student David Welcher, as a group for aspiring creators to meet—in the school library—and share ideas. It went through various phases, names, and creators until it became an independent comic book publishing company. They currently publish two titles: Intrepid and Shonen Double Feature, and they have others on the way.

Alan Cole, Dave Welcher and Jose Loeri spoke to SP!

SP!: CAN YOU TELL US MORE ABOUT INTREPID?

DW: Most definitely. Intrepid is the flagship title of our Second Wave Universe (also known as the SWU). The SWU being a shared universe that is composed of our manga-style super-hero stories. Intrepid is the focal point for the universe and the book we use to drive our overarching SWU story. It focuses on a ragtag group of individuals, brought together to aid one of the main characters, Joseph Paxton, on a journey to rescue his best friend. In helping Paxton, the team brings an end to the ban against “superheroes” in the SWU.

JL: It’s a pretty wild ride and definitely a slow burn. Like David said, it’s essentially four individuals who are asked to be the standard bearers of a second heroic age, while at the same time, unraveling the mystery of what ended the first heroic age. And since it is American manga, it is character-driven with lots of drama and lots of fun.

SP!: CAN YOU TELL US MORE A B O U T S H O N E N D O U B L E FEATURE?

JL: I love Shonen Double Feature!!! It’s like a Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck double feature superhero book. That sounds weird, but that’s KINDA how I see it.

DW: I could definitely get behind that, but it would have to be old school, crazy-ass Daffy and, I guess, second gen Bugs. But I could see it. I mean, Shonen Double Feature (or SDF) is one, well… two technically, of the books taking place within our shared universe, the SWU. It’s also our way of paying homage to the old school two-in-one comics. Like I said before, super-heroes were banned in the SWU. This is due to a presidential assassination taking place within our universe almost 40 years ago. Now, while superheroes have been banned legally, this doesn’t mean that all super-powered beings have just gone away and followed that law. SDF tells the tales of two such individuals, the Brooklyn Blur and Lightning Rod: The Defender of Crimson, who are breaking the law while fighting crime in order to keep their cities safe.

JL: So Brooklyn Blur and Lightning Rod are two heroes from two cities that couldn’t be more different. Their cities are cur-rently embroiled in a hardcore baseball rivalry (think Yankees and Red Sox), which factors heavily into the book as time goes

An Interview with Jimmy Pearson

By Louise Cochran-Mason

An interview with Alan Cole, Dave Welcher and Jose Loeri

Where Creativity Meets Commitment

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on. The two heroes haven’t met yet, but in time, they will. When they do, it’s going to be AWESOME!!!

DW: That vibe is kinda what makes SDF stand apart from Intrepid. It isn’t necessarily as heavy, since we don’t utilize it to drive our overarching story. It is lighter in tone, but just as rich character- and plot-wise.

JL: We think SDF is going to be a really fun read!

SP!: WHAT TITLES DO YOU HAVE PLANNED FOR THE FUTURE?

DW: Our next two releases will take us outside of the SWU and will be standalone titles. First up is IV: Armageddon. A story inspired by the biblical Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, but definitely original. It will combine elements of several genres (i.e. action, adventure, mystery, and horror), but be told in our manga-style form of storytelling. We also have a oneshot called No One to Save coming up, which provides a unique spin on

zombie apocalypse stories.

SP!: CAN YOU TELL US MORE ABOUT ARMAGEDDON?

DW: Like I said before, IV: Armageddon is a story that exists outside of our Second Wave Universe with its own mythos and continuity. It is an extremely ambitious undertaking for a “side” story, but its influence on us as storytellers and as a company is unmistakable. At its core, IV: Armageddon is a war thriller filled with revenge, subterfuge, betrayal, sex, redemp-tion, and all that good stuff, but as a story, it was our first time fusing Japanese comic book style storytelling with our American story. I mean, it was the first time that we married Japanese manga/anime elements with what we were doing. We shifted gears several times and IV had to go on the back burner, so I am really excited that we are going to be releasing it soon. I know that it may be a little heavy and controversial, as we utilize religious figures as characters in this not-so-reli-gious story, but I think it gives readers something substantial to sink their teeth into.

SP!: WILL YOU BE ATTENDING ANY UPCOMING CONVENTIONS?

AC: We love conventions! It’s where we really get to shine and infect people with our passion for our products. We made the decision not to attend any conventions during the 2014 calen-dar year, but it’s a decision that’s paid off in spades. We were able to put IV: Armageddon and No One to Save into produc-tion and to send Shonen Double Feature #2 into its final stages of production. And with new product in tow, we’re once again looking at a few conventions for 2015, the big ones for us being the Awesome Comic Con in Washington, D.C., the Baltimore Comic Con, and (fingers-crossed) the New York Comic Con.

SP!: HOW DO YOU MARKET YOUR COMICS?

AC: Word-of-mouth is always the best and most effective mar-keting tool. However, we have come to respect and appreci-ate the practicality and sheer scope of social media outlets, mainly Facebook. We like to not only promote our products on Facebook, but also engage and keep people coming back to our page to see what’s new. So at any given time, we’ll cycle through any number of ‘campaigns’ on our page, such as our “Thoughts on Creating…” campaign, which not only helps introduce people to our characters and universe, but also to us, the creators behind the characters. As David mentioned earlier, Intrepid is the focal point, essentially a hub through which the Second Wave Universe is expanded and explored. However, a lot of the characters and plot devices won’t be intro-duced until much later in the Intrepid story, so as a means to

An interview with Alan Cole, Dave Welcher and Jose Loeri

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give people a glimpse of some of the other characters within our universe, we have a “Building Our Universe, One Character at a Time” campaign, which highlights characters from any given moment, any given title (future or present), hopefully letting people know that we aren’t planning to be a ‘fly-by-night’ company. We have years of stories and hundreds of char-acters ready and waiting to be published. At present, we have a story in production that’s going to be told entirely through our Facebook page, which I’m not sure, has ever been done before. As for more practical marketing devices, we do have a website (www.gi-comics.com), where you can find out almost anything you’d like to know about GI Comics and its growing titles. We also have a monthly newsletter to let persons interested in all things GI Comics keep aware of most things (releases, conven-tion appearances, etc.) before they’re even posted on Facebook or our website.

SP!: CAN YOU TELL US MORE ABOUT THE PHASES GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATIONS HAS GONE THROUGH? AND ALL THE NAME CHANGES? 

DW: Wow, you know, going through all our name changes and phases gets really, really complicated, but I don’t mind taking a shot. I will say that sometimes, even we get lost in the history of it all, so please bear with me. It started for us, Alan and myself, way, way back in the day in 1996. I started a comic book company with a few of my friends in high school, called Crucial Crisis Comix. Everyone was so eager to get into the comic book game, and we all had our own idea as to what kind of books we wanted to create. So, to dial down the conflict and amp up the individuality, we decided to model ourselves after Image, of all things. I say that meaning Crucial Crisis would serve as the publish-ing house and everyone would have their own production company, or line, to be more accurate, within which to do their own thing, comic-wise. My production line was called Death 7 Productions. Another one, created by our then-part-ner James Surles, was Vortex Unlimited, which would also become a temporary name for the group. Alan would join us a few months later with his own brand, New Creation Comix. During this phase in our history, the company was excep-tionally disjointed, story-wise. This, coupled with the fact that we were high school kids, produced very little in terms of results or actual production. We had a boat-load of completed scripts, but ver y l itt le ar twork . As we began to mature and truly take the comic book thing seri-ously, we hit our first stumbling block. We found that while we were floundering, another company beat us to the punch and

started publishing with a name similar to our own. We, at the time, saw no alternative to changing our name. Additionally, by this time, we had just entered college and a few of our founding members had gone their separate ways. So, we started using the names of the remaining production lines to brand ourselves. For a second, we were New Creation, and then Vortex Unlimited, and finally, Death 7. It was during this time that we truly began working together creatively and really developed our IV series (which has finally made it to production). Finally, Alan and I were the only two remaining members of the group, and we decided to screw the consequences and return to Crucial Crisis Comix. It was 2001 when a mutual friend, and our current Conventions Specialist Doug Pendleton, introduced us to Jose Loeri and his Second Wave Universe. We just clicked rather quickly and decided to merge our houses. We, having big dreams, decided that we would be more than just comic book publishers and decided to set ourselves up to do so. We would utilize Jose’s Second Wave Studios as the name for our parent company, and Crucial Crisis Comix would be the name of our comic book divi-sion. We went through the painstaking process of merging our super hero universes into one shared universe, the Second Wave Universe or SWU. And we finally started publishing comics. This phase lasted for a bit, but we found that we weren’t com-pletely happy with our product and we took Intrepid, which has been our flagship title since we merged, back to formula. We would do this once again, because the book didn’t feel quite right. This second version of Intrepid was almost identical to our present incarnation, except it was done with a different artist and was in color. It just didn’t feel like it was us. After a lot of discussion, debating, and just plain old arguing, we decided to release the book as a black and white. We truly embraced the idea that we were, in fact, an American manga company. Our books would be black and white and tell American genre stories with a more Japanese manga style. That’s who we are and those are the books we wanted to release. It was during this phase that we met Andrew LoVuolo of Graphic Illusions Studios, a web page designing company that doubles as his publishing house. He was very much a like-minded individual and someone we felt we could work with to further our goal of comic book domination. Our comic book division’s name would once again change in order to reflect our new partnership and we became Graphic Illusions Comics. We have gone full circle somewhat and now utilize Crucial Crisis Comix to denote our production line. Andrew has gone back to primarily focusing on web design, his other love, but promises to return to the fold when

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he’s ready to get back into the comic book game again. All in all, there have been a lot of phases and names, but ulti-mately, all of those changes have helped us find who we were as creators and who we wanted to be as a comic book company.

SP!: WHAT EFFECT HAS ADVANCING TECHNOLOGY HAD ON THE INDUSTRY?

DW: I’m pretty torn on the effect of advancing tech, honestly. On the one hand, advancing technology has made comics more accessible to the masses. You can get comics pretty much anywhere, whenever you want them. You don’t have to scour the Earth trying to find your local comic book shop, as you can find your favorite comic online. For example, GI Comics can easily be found through our wonderful digital publisher Cloud 9 Comix for a quick and easy digital reading experience. However, on the other hand, this widespread accessibility has sounded the death knell for the collectability of the comics themselves which, in my opinion, was one of the cornerstones of the American comic book culture.

SP!: DO YOU THINK THE INTERNET HAS MADE IT EASIER FOR INDEPENDENT PUBLISHERS TO PUBLISH AND DISTRIBUTE THEMSELVES?

JL: Yes. It’s easier to get work seen, that’s for sure. However, you still have to put in your work in terms of creating a call to action. Just because people know you have a product, doesn’t mean they will buy it.

AC: On the surface, yes. Because of the internet, with the right amount of grit and determination, anyone can put together a comic book and sell it online, but one of the things that is kind of a blessing and a curse is branding… and what you would get with established branding. In days long gone, if someone was able to get their creator-owned property in the hands of an established publishing house, forget the money; you’d be able to use their already-established contacts and reviewers. You’d be able to use their contact at Diamond Distributors, having almost immediate access to hundreds, if not thousands, of comic retailers. Many of the old school advantages aren’t available anymore, thanks to the internet and (at least to me) you’re back in the same spot you were in at the beginning. I may not be right in my assessment, but before the Internet, one focused mainly on trying to win over someone in publishing houses, whereas now, you have to win everyone. While every-one is yelling at the top of their lungs about their own books and stories. Not necessarily a bad thing, mind you, but to me, the internet has turned the small press industry into some-thing akin to the Hunger Games.

SP!: DO YOU THINK THE NUMBER OF SELF-PUBLISHED COMICS, PRINT-ON-DEMAND COMICS, DIGITAL COMICS AND WEB COMICS MAKES IT MORE DIFFICULT FOR INDIVIDUAL CREATORS AND INDEPENDENT PUBLISHERS TO PROMOTE AND MARKET THEIR WORK?

JL: Maybe it makes it harder to stand out, but ultimately, a good product rises to the top. You promote as best you can and to the extent that it suits your product. After that, you let the chips fall where they may. It’s a challenge, I’ll say that.

AC: It’s “the waiting game” mixed with “survival of the fittest”.

SP!: APART FROM THE INTERNET, HOW HAS THE COMIC PUBLISHING BUSINESS CHANGED SINCE 1997?

AC: I guess the advent of P.O.Ds has really changed the layout of the small press industry a lot. I can tell you that in our early years, if we would’ve had to use a traditional printer, you wouldn’t be talking to us now. You wouldn’t believe the amount of creators we’ve talked to over the years that are still sitting on hundreds of copies, many of which have defects or typos or pages missing, that they’re still trying to sell. I don’t necessarily blame them; I mean, the money has already been

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spent, but not having to be trapped in a situation like so many others has allowed us to really take an honest look at how many copies we need in general, or maybe for certain events. Having the flexibility of a POD on top of a traditional printer has really allowed us to stay in the game as long as we have.

SP!: APART FROM YOUR OWN ONLINE STORE, WHAT DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS DO YOU USE?

AC: There are a few stores that carry our books scattered across the country, particular stores of interest being Star Clipper in St. Louis and The Lazarus Pit in Highwood, IL. We also have an exclu-sive digital distribution deal with Cloud 9 Comix, a digital dis-tributor of Small Press and Independent books. Cloud 9 Comix is on both Apple and Android devices and will also be available as a web reader directly on one’s computer. Usually, our books are available through Cloud 9 Comix a month or two before the print version, and this is because they receive all issue files for conversion at the same time the printer does. Cloud 9 Comix generally has a seven day or less turnaround for publication, whereas even P.O.Ds have a 28-day turnaround for first print-ings, plus roughly seven days shipping. Within the next year or so, we plan on approaching Diamond to, once again, have our books distributed through them too.

SP!: CAN YOU TELL US MORE ABOUT THE PANDORA’S CAGE KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN YOU RAN LAST YEAR?

DW: Last year’s campaign didn’t, at all, harness any momentum from anything we were doing. It was completely disjointed with the rest of our operation. I say that meaning…

JL: It didn’t work.

DW: No, it didn’t, but I think that a major factor for that was that we didn’t really have a web presence. I mean we had a website, and we had a Facebook page, but they didn’t mean anything. We weren’t utilizing them as effectively as we could or should have been.

SP!: WOULD YOU CONSIDER CROWDFUNDING AGAIN IN THE FUTURE?

JL: Most definitely.

DW: Well said. Last year’s campaign wasn’t just a failed attempt, it was truly a learning opportunity. I know that sounds like the typical obligatory bullshit people say in these situations, and maybe that’s partly what it is, but we genuinely learned from it. We reevaluated our web efforts, our convention support, and

our retail outreach and found ourselves wanting. We are actively attempting to correct our shortcomings. The Graphic Illusions Comics that failed at getting a campaign funded won’t be the same Graphic Illusions Comics that tries again.

AC: I’m personally looking forward to seeing if we can garner any support this go-round. As stated earlier, we’ve put a lot of work into increasing and sustaining a web presence that we hope will get people to come to know, love and support our characters just as much as we do.

SP!: DO YOU ACCEPT SUBMISSIONS FROM CREATORS?

DW: We are not actively accepting submissions from creators. It is our intention to firmly establish ourselves as a comic book company prior to tackling the role of publisher for others. That being said, I would be lying if I said that we don’t review all sub-missions when they come in or that a submission couldn’t con-vince us to reconsider our stance.

AC: Not sure if I should be saying this, but we did once break from our current stance and that’s when we decided to admit Clinton Steward and his character Nightshade under the GI Comics banner. Even though that first meeting between myself, David, and Clinton didn’t go as anyone would reasonably think a first meeting would go, there were certain things that spoke to us. Mainly the passion he has for his character Nightshade and his youthful exuberance and sheer determination to succeed, no matter what. And I can say that Clinton has become a welcome member of the GI family over the few months he’s been with us, and progress on his title book and character Nightshade is moving ahead nicely.

DW: That is, honestly, a very rare exception for us. Like Alan said, it was really something about how passionate Mr. Steward is about his book that made us reconsider and bring him into the fold. A decision that I’m glad we made, but one we probably won’t be duplicating again anytime in the near future.

Weblinks:

www.gi-comics.com

http://www.facebook.com/GIComics

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Do you know what the most important element in a story is? The main character(s). And what is the first thing a reader wants to know about that character? Their name! The character’s name will often pave the path to how the reader will feel about them.

Think about it. The name ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ brings images of a young girl, demure and slight in stature. She denotes inno-cence and immediately, people like her. How would it sound if we replaced her name? Try this slant:

Gretchen the Black walked through the forest toward her grandmother’s house.

Sounds a little ominous to me, but replace the name and you get a different start to the story.

Little Red Riding Hood walked through the forest toward her grandmother’s house.

The same story, different names, very different feelings.

So, how do you pick a name? Do you use the familiar or formal? The choice will set the tone.

Take one of my stories, A Spear in Flight. The main character’s name is Thomasyn. Throughout the two novels I never shorten his name to Tom. Why? Because there is a need to keep his name formal. Even the secondary character, Bethany, is never called Beth. Mind you, the third character, Jonathan, is referred to con-tinually as Jon. Why? Because he is the black sheep in the fold. You’ll have to read the second book to find out why. By the end of the series, a whole lot will be revealed about Thomasyn and Jon.

Okay, you have your storyline and a big burly fighter who slays dragons for a living. What name do you give him? Don’t call him Francis. Why? The name Francis can be used as both masculine and feminine. Pick something manly, like Conan. The hard “C” at the start of the name denotes power. When you pick a name, do a search on your favorite search engine. You will be surprised at what comes up.

An example of this would be the name Paul Bernardo. I will never use this name for a main character. The reason will be apparent when you search the name. I would not want my work associ-ated with such a person. These are the little things you have to look out for. Pay due diligence to how you name your characters.

Don’t use the same letter at the start of the characters names. Yes, we have all seen them. James, Jim, John, Julie. Vary your names or the reader will get lost and mix the characters up. This is the way you individualize the players in your story.

For me, I think of the name Wendy as a short blonde girl with large breasts. Don’t ask why, you’ll get no answer.

It’s difficult to come up with the right name for a character. And to make one that is not easily recognizable is another issue. Think of Angelina as a name for a character. Yes, it is the name of a famous actress, but it could also be the name of a medieval or fantasy character. So how do we keep it from being pictured as a tall, raven-haired woman? By changing it a little, but keeping it recognizable as an English name. Angelina becomes Angelica. Jolene Blalock become Joe-Lyne Blocklock, and so forth.

Another item is to match the name with the personality. Would your mechanic really be named Patricia? Or would Pat be a

A WRIT TEN VIE WWhat’s in a Name?

By Douglas Owen

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better name? (Yes, a female mechanic) Maybe her name is Patricia, but she would be called Pat by everyone in the shop. You don’t want to have the name place a barrier between the reality of the story and the reader.

With our ever-changing world you could come across a person from another culture or land. The names you come up with for them need to be equally creative. Think of the name Shanamagathan, a mouthful for some, but common for others. How could you use this name with a character in fiction?

First, the structure of the name tells you the region they are from. It will also tell you how old the family is, knowing that the first name of the person is Shan (the rule is the male attaches their first name to the front of the last name). His father was Ama Amagathan. So Shan, a friendly banker who oversees several workers is the character. He is almost always happy and willing to help anyone, but has a vicious streak in him. The name reflects the person.

Resources to help you are everywhere. There are even apps available to help you with names. The Google Play story has free name generators, including some fantasy name generators.

Behind the Name (www.behindthename.com) is a great resource for you. It allows you to look up a name and see the meaning behind it. Every month, I critique multiple stories, both short and long. And the biggest problem is authors who hold back on giving the main character’s name. This boggles me. Even the characters in the first scene are unknown until the second or third paragraph. This is a major mistake.

Don’t get me wrong, I love mystery in writing. But the POV char-acter your reader is seeing should always be front and centre. Don’t hold back, hoping for emotional entanglement to happen just because you say “She cries into her pillow.” Tell us who she is. You become engaged when you hear, “Stephanie cries into her pillow.” Now you have a face to the name.

Still having a hard time figuring out the name of your next char-acter? Try www.babynames.com. Stop laughing; any resource you can use is a good resource. Now that you have this resource, there is no reason not to tell us your main character’s name.

Now that you have this resource, there is no reason not to tell us your main character’s name.

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FISHBOWL CHRONICLESThe Con of Con?

A recent exchange with an associate of mine brought to light the question of the convention circuit. Specifically, what role does this phenomenon play in the life of an individual who has not yet published material? The debate arose around the argument that if you don’t have goods to sell, it is a waste of time and money that is better spent on getting your product out there. So, the question became, is the convention circuit a con for aspiring cre-ators? Let’s face it, making it a point to attend any and all conven-tions can become an expensive endeavor that proves a drain on finances better spent on crating ones work, but this narrow state-ment doesn’t take into consideration the bigger picture. The comics industry is built on relationships. In the end, this is the difference between having just a product or having built a career. That is not to say that every and any convention should be attended when-ever it pops up on the radar, rather it is a matter of achieving a healthy balance. Conventions provide an opportunity to research and study fan habits, to reach out and make professional con-nections with others in the industry face to face. It allows for the attendee to have a finger on the pulse of the community outside of the artistic bubble in which they sometimes tend to place them-selves. Con attendance and participation is a vital part of what one should consider an industry education.

How does one maximize the return on convention investment? First, you must be choosey when it comes to deciding which event you will attend. Unless you have a bottomless wallet that provides endless streams of cash, it just doesn’t make sense to attempt to go to all of them. Research who will be attending the conventions you are looking at for speaking engagements, tabling, working the booths and artist alley. Pick out the people that you want to connect with professionally. Set an agenda for your venture and have business cards ready to hand out to those you make contact with. Attend panels relevant to your professional aspirations and ask questions. Maybe the convention you are considering attend-ing is three days and an event of that length is too much for you.

There is no reason why you can’t attend one day instead of three, making sure that you create for yourself the most impactful, infor-mation-filled 24 hours possible. Trim out all the excess and estab-lish for yourself that you are there on business. In the end ,it is about having a game plan and making the best use of your time and money. Remember, as an independent creator, you are respon-sible for more than just your writing or artistic duties. You have to consider marketing, professional connections, venues and getting your name out there. Conventions provide you with an oppor-tunity to do all of these things by putting you in close proximity to individuals who may be very interested in the worlds that you aspire to create.

So, to take some of what some may perceive as a con out of the Cons, let’s recap a few key points:

• Have a budget and pick only the conventions that will help you meet your professional goals, even if is only for one day.

• Have an agenda/game plan. Know who is attending the con-vention professionally and plan on seeking them out with the intent of hearing them speak or making personal contact. (Have those business cards ready!)

• Attend panels and take notes. Plan on asking questions, when possible, to make the most of the experience.

By no means are the thoughts reflected in this column the be all and end all on how to make the most of one’s con experience. By all means, add to it and expand on it, think critically, and figure out how to best tailor what is packed into the various conven-tion experiences to fit your needs. In the end, these gatherings of fans and professional can serve both as fun and as an invaluable tool in building a career. So, get out there and build something unforgettable!

By Mark Turner

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By Mark Turner

Kasey Quevedo has always loved comics. A video game artist and illustrator for nearly fifteen years, he has found time along the way to self-publish two volumes of Crossings—an adventure comic that blends fantastic and real-world elements. Earlier this year, Kasey launched his ongoing webcomic, Velocidad. He was happy to chat with us this month about his experiences with video games, comics, and self-publishing.

SP!: CAN YOU TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOUR BACKGROUND? WHAT DREW YOU TO ART AND ILLUSTRATION?

KQ: I’ve had this conversation quite a bit lately about what drew me to art, and it most definitely stems from Star Wars. I think it was these completely realized worlds that had just enough of the real world in their design to make them feel possible, even if they were so fantastic. My gateway to comics was the old Marvel run of Star Wars, which then opened the door to Conan and, eventually, to the Big Two. I was always drawing on everything. Assignments, the backs of dinner checks (when I waited tables), whatever was blank. I eventually moved out to New Jersey for a year and went to the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Arts. I just did the first year, but it was a lot of work and a lot of fun. I remember having assignments to draw two-page Superman scripts, Jonah Hex, and more. They taught you quantity and quality to try and prepare you for the workload of monthly book.

SP!: WHO OR WHAT WOULD YOU CONSIDER TO BE THE MAJOR INFLUENCES ON YOUR STYLE?

KQ: I definitely am a fan of some of the old school artists from the 80s. John Buscema, Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, Gene Colan. Their char-acters just had so much weight to them. There was a school of artists in the 90s that was a bit similar in getting this mix of realism to the characters and great cinematography: Adam Hughes, Stuart Immonen, Terry Dodson. They just got these great camera angles

on everything. There’s a reason they’re still going strong today.Otherwise I would say movies play a great influence on my work. I really like to play things out in the panel like they would in a scene.

Kasey Quevedo

By Ellen Fleischer

Full Speed Ahead

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SP!: HOW DID YOU GET INTO VIDEO GAME ART?

KQ: I was still hitting conventions and doing art for an independent book (Aztec of the City for El Salto Comics) after I got back from Kubert. Games were getting bigger and there was the advent of a lot of the art-oriented software tools. I went to another school to learn a lot of the multimedia programs, learned Photoshop, and took a course to learn Softimage, a 3D modeling program. It was shortly after this that my girlfriend decided to up and move to Seattle, and I jumped along for the ride. A couple of buddies of mine from the Kubert School had actually relocated out to the Seattle area the year before, and had gotten into the video game business as animators. Eventually, through their connections, they dropped my name to someone who was needing some illustra-tion work. This was in the early days of Microsoft Games Studios. It was for their Flight Sim team, and I was going to be doing old pulp comic-style illustrations for their Combat Flight Sim 2 game. It was a lot of WW2 pilots and airplanes. This eventually led to me doing some concepts for another project, and then storyboards, and then animation, and then... it was 14 years later.

SP!: YOU’VE WORN SEVERAL PRODUCTION HATS (CONCEPTS AND STORYBOARDS, MODELING AND ANIMATION, ART

DIRECTION). WHAT DID YOU LEARN IN EACH OF THESE ROLES? WHAT EXPERIENCES STAND OUT FOR YOU MOST?

KQ: I think the concepts definitely helped my illustration skills in general. Also your co-workers inspire you to improve, so it’s just compounded. Storyboarding was great for storytelling and setting a scene.

I’ve always enjoyed the modelling. Sometimes you’re just making a representation of something that already exists, but there are other times you are just making whatever you can imagine. As an artist, it’s exciting. It also allows you a better sense of spacial awareness, which is something that can be applied back to drawing.

SP!: DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE ROLE OR PROJECT? WHAT MADE IT STAND OUT FOR YOU?

KQ: I really enjoyed the times I was able to work on concepts. There’s something about seeing something you’ve imagined eventually show up in the game. Even from the smallest object to a vehicle, character, or something else.

Otherwise, I think one of the highlights is still working on the LEGO

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Star Wars 2 DS game. I got to build out Tatooine, Jabba’s Barge, and the Death Star. It was for the DS, so the geometry and textures were super simple, but I still had to pinch myself when I was building out the interior of the Death Star.

SP! LET’S TALK ABOUT CROSSINGS. THIS IS A TITLE THAT YOU SELF-PUBLISHED. WHAT’S THE ELEVATOR PITCH ON IT?

It’s been a while since I’ve had to sell this one. Crossings was the story of a boy finding out all the stories that his father told him of a faraway land were actually true. In the meantime, an Ylevian girl from the fantasy world must cross into ours to find him. Together, they must work to find a way to stop the villainous Nihil from bring-ing his minions, the Zarahin, over to raze the world as we know it.

It was a mix of real world and fantasy. I wanted real world reaction to these fantastic creatures that would appear in ours

SP!: WHAT CAN YOU SHARE WITH US ABOUT THE CHARACTERS AND CONCEPTS?

KQ: Alejandro Rodriguez is a boy who has grown apart from most of his friends and is bitter about a father who disappears for large spans of time. I wanted the everykid and a reluctant hero. Everyone

is always resistant when the title ‘savior’ is thrown on them, and he is no different. I wanted a bit of a twist on that as well, that I never quite got to.

His Uncle Walter has always been there for him while his father was away, and supports him when his father is found dead at the start of the story. While he is skeptical to the breadth of stories Alex’s father has told him, he is aware there is something special about Alex and treats him like his own.

Yma is an Ylevian girl from an isolated village in the fantasy world. She is strong and able and has the companionship of a large tiger- like creature, Kihto. She is the village elder’s daughter and is charged with finding the boy and bringing him back in hopes he can help against Nihil’s onslaught.

Nihil is an Ylevian who has taken to the Dark Arts. While he was once a member of the village, he has been cast out for previous transgressions. He has assumed control from the Zarahin with the intent of stealing the village’s secrets and bringing his armies into our world.

SP!: WAS THERE A PARTICULAR INSPIRATION FOR IT?

KQ: My wife was the catalyst for this. I needed something to draw for my portfolio, instead of just characters in poses. She ended up writing out the first issue and it kind of snowballed from there. I also wanted to play around with the expectations of being a savior, and who you expect to fill those shoes. Otherwise, I’ve always been a fan of fantasy and this was a great opportunity to play around with that.

SP!: YOU’VE PUBLISHED TWO ISSUES OF CROSSINGS SINCE ITS INCEPTION IN 2003. DO YOU ANTICIPATE A THIRD ONE ANYTIME SOON?

KQ: I don’t know about soon yet. I actually have half of issue #3 penciled, but I had found that my day job and family took up a lot of that time. It’s something that is always on my mind and some-thing I have considered releasing digitally.

SP!: DID YOU ALWAYS HAVE IN MIND TO SELF-PUBLISH OR WAS THIS SOMETHING YOU DECIDED FURTHER ALONG?

KQ: I think I had always planned to self-publish for Crossings. It was a labor of love and I think, at the time, I looked at it as a very expen-sive portfolio piece.

SP!: HAVING WORKED ON GAME ART AND PRODUCTION, WOULD YOU SAY THAT THE SKILLS YOU HONED IN THAT INDUSTRY HAVE CARRIED OVER TO YOUR COMICS WORK? DOES THE REVERSE HOLD TRUE?

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KQ: I think the biggest influence the game industry has had on my work is in incorporating a cinematic element of storytelling to my work. I think of a lot of sequences in my stories as I would a scene in a movie/ cinematic. Character enters left, moves here, cut camera to incoming (insert character/ object), etc. It just helps me set up my sequences a lot better.

I’ve used some of my modeling skills to block out objects, ships, and characters in relation to one another. I have a good solid 3d model blocked in of the bikes in Velocidad so that I can make sure I am drawing it correctly from all angles.

Also, I think it’s helped me with world-building. I think one of the things you learn in games, and in all the positions I’ve held, is that everything should be able to help with the world-building ,even if it isn’t explicit. Objects in the background or the design of a charac-ter can still help with this, even if they aren’t necessarily pointed out specifically. They should, at least, all support the basic design you’ve set, or the technology level to set a tone. If you take Star Wars, for example, a lot of what we knew of that universe when I was a kid was from the supporting elements. Of course, we knew who all the background characters and vehicles were because of a name on the action toy packaging, but it helped support the universe.

As for the reverse, I think it was my storytelling skills from comics that had my leads suggest I learn animation. I ended up doing some of the cinematics on Crimson Skies.

SP! WHAT’S THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU THINK YOU COULD GIVE SOMEONE THINKING ABOUT SELF-PUBLISHING?

KQ: Research! The landscape has changed so much, just in the last dozen years since I put out Crossings. There are so many more outlets out there to get the word out with the advent of social media. I had to take a crash course in Twitter and Tumblr and so on when I decided to do my webcomic. You also have Kickstarter as an option now.

SP!: MORE RECENTLY, YOU’VE LAUNCHED AN ONGOING WEBCOMIC. WHAT CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT VELOCIDAD?

KQ: Velocidad is an ongoing sci-fi webcomic launched in January this year. Velocidad is ‘Bikers in Spaaaaaaace!” It’s crazy space jockeys straddling glorified rocket engines, pulling off incredible space heists throughout the solar system in a far-flung future.

Velocidad is all the things I would want to do in a sci-fi action adven-ture type game… but in a comic. It actually spun out of a riff on the space combat-type game. I have a soft spot for the old X-wing vs Tie Fighter games, and the space combat genre in general, but all you ever see of the characters is usually this image over in the corner. I really wanted to see something more visceral and get up close

on the vehicle and the pilot. I wanted these guys basically riding a rocket engine, so that you could feel that sense of scale and speed.

That concept in general just kept showing up in my sketchbook and when a bunch of co-workers and I decided to apply for an upcom-ing Con last year, I decided I was just going to go for it.

SP!: WHAT CAN YOU SHARE WITH US ABOUT THE CHARACTERS AND CONCEPTS?

KQ: Capitan is the main protagonist who leads his crew to pull off interstellar heists from the SPE-Corp. The solar system as we know it was once the cradle of humanity, but is now just a dumping ground and a resource for all the Outer Colonies. All trade and government is run by the Sol Prime Enforcement Corp. Capitan and crew have made it their mission to liberate shipments for the black market and those usually cut off from such resources. The Earth itself is a husk of what it once was, having become a planet-sized quarry for resources.

Up to now, they have been a nuisance, but they are about to become Enemy Number One. I’m having a lot of fun playing around with the technology. The story takes place hundreds or more years from now, so technology has changed significantly, but I still want it grounded. I want recognizable bits of tech, so that it isn’t so far advanced that it’s just magic. I also wanted a universe where it’s just the build-up of hundreds of years of technology and resource razing run rampant.

And spaceships. Lots of spaceships, and space bikes.

SP!: DO YOU HAVE ANY OTHER PROJECTS ON THE HORIZON?

KQ: Currently, Velocidad is enough. I have recently finished the first chapter of Velocidad, which is conveniently average comic issue-sized, so I am in the midst of figuring out what the next steps are. I may release digitally, print, or hunt for a publisher.

SP!: IS THERE ANYTHING THAT YOU’D LIKE TO SHARE WITH OUR READERS THAT WE HAVEN’T YET TOUCHED UPON?

KQ: Right now, Velocidad is my passion project and I’m hoping you folks have a chance to check it out, let me know what you think, and what you would like to see!

SP!: FINALLY, HOW CAN FOLKS KEEP UP WITH YOU AND YOUR WORK?

KQ: You can read Velocidad at http://www.velocidad-comic.com . You can follow me on Twitter @VelocidadComic or see more of my personal work on my website, http://www.kcqillustrations.net

SP! THANKS SO MUCH!

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For over ten years, B. Alex Thompson has made his presence known in the liter-ary world as the author of various comics, novels, screenplays, and teleplays. Alex is the owner of Approbation Comics and was a 2014 Glyph Comics Awards nominee for “best writer” and “best cover” for his work on HASS (a Romeo and Juliet meets American History X story about the surprising and hor-rific turn a young black man’s life takes a when he joins a sadistic group of neo-Nazis). Alex’s world is one of horror, zombies, were-wolves, vampires, slashers, co-ed zombie ass-kickers, plus stories of love and romance. Alex also writes for Arcana Studios and Lion Forge Entertainment, and he has written for other publishers in the past.

SP!: CAN YOU COMPARE AND CONTRAST YOUR MINDSET WHEN WRITING YOUR OWN CHARACTERS, VERSUS WRITING FOR ANOTHER PUBLISHER? FOR EXAMPLE, YOU WROTE AN ADAPTATION OF BRAM STOKER’S THE MUMMY FOR ABDO PUBLISHING IN 2008. HOW MUCH OF YOU IS IN THAT SCRIPT AND HOW MUCH MORE WOULD BE THERE IF IT WERE AN ORIGINAL STORY, INSTEAD OF A WORK FOR HIRE?

BAT: Back then there was a HUGE learn-ing curve between my personal stuff and working with someone else’s properties. The Mummy adaptation happened around the same time as I scripted Lethal Instinct, both for Lynx Studios. Lynx Studios is a Brazilian

group and the owner, Romulo, needed help translating the title. I thought I did a good job with translating the first two issues, but it turned out I was pretty terrible. Alias had the first issue re-scripted and I was fired after the second issue. Something happened with the writer who scripted the third and fourth issues, so I was brought back on. By then, I had a better grasp on how to write dialogue over someone else’s story. The fifth one was better, but that sixth and final issue really shone. A huge trial by fire.

The Mummy adaptation was another beast to tame, as I not only had to massage the dialogue to fit the comic book framing, but separate the story into panels, as well. The result was a mixed bag. I tried to buy all the second-hand copies off of Amazon for a while; I was so embarrassed by how it turned out. Most of my career has been learning as I’ve gone along.

From those experiences and time, I have learned to take in the WFH (work for hire) property as if it was one of my own personal projects. To take in everything the client has to have and filter it through my own style.

SP!: IN AN INTERVIEW WITH   HTTP://WWW.COMICBOOKANDMOVIEREVIEWS.COM/, YOU STATED THAT CHAOS CAMPUS: SORORITY GIRLS VS. ZOMBIES WAS YOUR MOST SUCCESSFUL COMIC TO DATE. DOES THAT STILL HOLD TRUE?

BAT: Oooooh yes, this is still true. It seems to be a two-handed combo of the playfully fun concept along with it being the one prop-erty I have the most material for.

SP!: YOU TRIED TO RAISE FUNDS FOR AN INDEPENDENT MOVIE VERSION OF CHAOS CAMPUS: SORORITY GIRLS VS. ZOMBIES BACK IN 2006. COULD YOU TELL US ABOUT THE CAMPAIGN?

BAT: As a child I started writing and drawing with the intention of working in movies and television, so that was an opportunity to dip

Approbation Comics

By Steven Pennella

Alex ThompsonA Talk with

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my toe into the world. There was just too much going on with everyone involved, to the point where focus was lost, time was wasted, and the project withered on the vine. A lot of it was my fault. It was my first feature project and I was trying to do things for the movie, as well as my day job and comics. Trying to do three full-time jobs wasn’t possible for me, so something had to be put aside—the indy movie was that casualty. 

One day I’d like to give indy film making another chance, but I don’t have the time.

I’d be happy to let someone else take the reins if they have all their ducks in a row.

SP! RECENTLY, YOU WERE A 2014 GLYPH COMICS AWARDS NOMINEE FOR BEST WRITER. DO YOU THINK HASS WILL OVERTAKE CHAOS CAMPUS IN SALES AND EXPOSURE? 

BAT: I think Hass could possibly overtake Chaos Campus in exposure, but not in sales. The two are very different animals. Hass is a serious story with a controversial premise concerning a Black man who becomes a neo-Nazi. Race is a very touchy subject and many people in general would rather shy

away from something that makes them feel uncomfortable than tackle it head on. I personally think it’s one of the best stories I have ever written and I am so thankful that others who have given the first issue a shot think the same way. But while Hass could get a lot of media attention, and hopefully more award nominations (along with poten-tial wins), I doubt people as a whole will flock towards the mini-series (but feel free to prove me wrong, America). 

Chaos Campus is far easier for public con-sumption and has hot girls fighting zombies!  People of all types, ages, races, genders, sexual orientations, etc. love those two concepts. When you mix them together, it’s like peanut butter and chocolate (or like a reader pointed out, PB&J—aka Paige, Britt, & Jamie). Like I tell people at shows, “The book is junk food for your brain.”  Many people have responded that many times, that’s all they want... “Shut up and take my money,” lol.

Hass will hopefully show that I can write a strong, meaningful story, while Chaos Campus will probably continue to pay the bills.

SP!: TELL US MORE ABOUT THE GENESIS OF HASS. WHAT MOTIVATED YOU TO DO A STORY ABOUT A BLACK MAN BECOMING A NEO-NAZI?

BAT: Though I love pretty much every genre of fiction, I had to come to terms with the fact that creators are given labels and I was a “horror guy”. I like doing experiments and testing myself as a creator. The previous purposeful experiment was doing shorter comic stories, shown in the anthology titles The Evil Inside (horror shorts) and Amour (romance/dating shorts). Embracing the horror side, I learned that the best horror writers usually write what scares them to make effective stories. Personally, I’m not afraid of monsters and creatures... I do stories about them because I think they’re cool and beautiful from a design perspec-tive (I used to also want to be a biologist and a practical effects designer). So, to challenge

myself, I made a list of everything I was actu-ally afraid of and tried to spin stories around them. The strongest ones created the scenes that eventually evolved into Hass. 

SP!: CAN YOU DESCRIBE YOUR FEELINGS ABOUT COMMERCIAL VERSUS ARTISTIC SUCCESS AS A WRITER?

BAT: Personally, there’s room for both. I also personally love doing and taking in fiction that is commercial or artistic. Usually, things come down to the simple fact of whether you enjoyed the fiction or not. We kinda touched on that with the Hass and Chaos Campus comparison. They’re like two of my children who have completely different strengths. I don’t love either of them any less and just want them both to reach their full potentials in their own areas. 

SP!: YOU DO NOT ACCEPT UNSOLICITED MANUSCRIPTS FROM WRITERS, BOTH FOR PERSONAL AND LEGAL REASONS, YET YOU ARE WILLING TO LOOK AT ARTIST SUBMISSIONS. HAVE YOU EVER RUN INTO A PROBLEM WITH AN ARTIST CLAIMING YOU STOLE THEIR IDEA?

BAT: Nope, not at all. I like looking at things

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from all angles and, even playing devil’s advocate, I can’t even figure a scenario where this could be possible. 

SP!: HAVE YOU CONSIDERED PUTTING A SAMPLE SCRIPT ON YOUR SITE FOR POTENTIAL ARTISTS TO ILLUSTRATE?

BAT: I did have some Vampires Unlimited sample script pages on my Approbation Comics website a while back. I guess, in some of the site revisions, those were lost in the shuffle. I can usually see what I need in the artists’ regular samples. If I need to see more, I tend to just ask them to do a few sample pages with one of my scripts. The Evil Inside and Amour anthologies were great to test artists. I could see what they could do and we both bet a new published credit.

SP!: YOU’VE BEEN VERY ACTIVE ON THE WEST COAST COMIC CONVENTION CIRCUIT RECENTLY. DO YOU HAVE ANY PLANS TO TRY THE EAST COAST IN THE FUTURE?

BAT: I’d love to make a return to the East Coast (and everything in-between), but money is a major issue. Airfare and hotels are not cheap, so I’d have to sell a TON more Chaos Campus TPBs to make that possible,

lol.

SP!: DO YOU GET TO ENJOY ANY OF THE EVENTS AT THE CONVENTIONS, OR IS IT ALL MEETING AND GREETING FANS AND POTENTIAL BUYERS?

BAT: SDCC is usually my only “play” conven-tion, where I get to enjoy panels, talk to my fellow creators without having to rush back to my booth, and do after-convention parties/events. The other shows, it’s mostly meeting/greeting fans, potential buyers, and other creators. But actually, that’s most of the fun of conventions for me anyway. I don’t have the need to hear news first or see a trailer before other people. I don’t do much collecting and what I look for will be around at the next show or on Amazon (I’m such a sucker for deep discounted TPBs/GNs and DVDs/BluRays). Being at my booth and talking to people who already know about my work, or are willing to be intro-duced and converted, is where it’s at for me. Also, walking up and down the small press/artist alley sections to see the other indy works and speak to the creators behind them brings me joy. So I’m completely fine working my butt off at most shows and just kicking it for SDCC.

SP!: YOU’VE DONE SOME ACTING IN INDEPENDENT FILMS. HOW DOES YOUR BACKGROUND AS A PROFESSIONAL WRITER HELP YOU WITH YOUR ACTING?

BAT: Storytelling in all fictional mediums is about characters: who they are as people, where they’ve come from, what they’ve been through, their outlook on life, their goals, dreams, interests, etc. A lot of the background work you do in creating or fur-thering a character in writing is the same thing you do in acting. Expressing all those bits to others in a realistic way without the viewer realizing it, but yet they understand it completely and are sucked into the fictional world. With acting, you just manifest all of that through your body, your voice, expres-sions, movements, gestures, etc. I love it all!

SP!: WHAT ARE SOME OF THE DIFFERENCES,

STYLISTICALLY AND EDITORIALLY, IN WORKING WITH ARTISTS WHEN THEY ARE HIRED BY APPROBATION COMICS, VERSUS YOUR COLLABORATIONS WITH OTHER PUBLISHERS?

BAT: All very similar, actually; comics in general are pretty easygoing and, as long as you do your best work and turn it in in a reasonable time, you’re golden.

Making comics is a lot like dating and main-taining relationships. Some matches are

good for short bursts, some are lifelong romances, and some are make-ups to break-ups cycled, and some crash and burn. It’s just one of the fun things about creating with others!

SP!: HAVE YOU SHARED YOUR CURRENT WORK WITH OTHER MAINSTREAM (E.G. MARVEL, DC, IMAGE) COMIC WRITERS? IF YES, WHAT WAS THEIR REACTION?

BAT: Actually, not yet. I used to have a passing association with a few Big Two editors and creators, but over the years, they have moved on to other places/occupations. I’ve spent so much time the past few years focused on the indy side of things that I haven’t made

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any new connections in those areas. If HASS goes as planned and gains more nomina-tions and possible wins, I’m sure the larger publishers will reach out to me.

Here’s hoping anyway, hehe.

SP!: TELL US ABOUT YOUR FIRST FORAY INTO COMICS. YOU DID A FEW MINI-COMICS IN THE MID-90S. WHAT DID YOU LEARN ABOUT WRITING, DRAWING, AND MARKETING YOURSELF TO AN AUDIENCE? 

BAT: Soooo much experimenting was done back in the 90s. That was my first real intro-duction into comics as objects and as an industry, so I was taking in everything I could, while learning about publishing on the fly, as an outsider looking in.

Back then, I had the stories in my head, but I didn’t know anything about scripting things out, or the proper roles delegated. What I did was probably close to the old Marvel method—I’d write out a page or so of the story in prose, including everything that should be in the issue. Then, I would lay out the pages in pencil, and then spot ink what-ever was interesting at the time. During the spots between the pencils and inks, I would add in the lettering and ink that in with the art. Early on, the dialogue bubbles were very free form, but eventually, I bought a stencil to make them more uniform.

I learned a lot about pacing and page counts as I went along. Early in my process, I would use as many pages as it took to tell the story. It didn’t matter, because I was copying the comics using photocopier machines and stapling the regular, letter-sized, 8.5” x 11” books on the left edge to make these mag-azine-sized monstrosities, haha. Eventually, I wanted a more “book–looking” result, so I figured out how to arrange pages and shrink them down to where there would be four pages on each sheet of paper (two on the front, two on the back). I could fold all of the pages and it would be a book (it took a lot of prep work and arranging to make sure this worked out correctly). Then, all I would have to do was take a stapler and staple the spine. I folded each interior staple prong by

hand and I was making minicomics!

Wizard magazine and pen-pals were the rage back then, so I would market myself via those. I would snail mail copies to any comic reader’s address I could find. I would trade comics with other creators and share war stories and new ways to make comics.

So I guess, from all that, I learned:

It’s okay to fail in print, as long as you’re telling your story and you continue to improve with each effort.

Comics are rough, time-consuming, and costly, but it’s a fun labor of love if your heart’s really in it.

Get your comics into as many hands as pos-sible, no matter if you have to discount them, trade them, or give them away for free as loss leaders.

Interact, share, and trade with other creators. Though we are friendly competition, we’re all allies in the same struggle of self-expression. Together we are all stronger.

SP!: DID YOU HAVE ANY FORMAL ART TRAINING OR WAS IT ALL ON-THE-JOB LEARNING?

BAT: I took a lot of art classes in school, but mostly, I was self-taught. The minicomics I did were mostly on-the-job learning, as most of my formal art training had nothing to do with comic art, but I’m sure a lot of the basics helped. For a while after high school, I con-sidered going to art school. I remember the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art was a place I really wanted to go, but I didn’t have the money and I didn’t find any grants or loans. Savannah Arts Academy was another strong potential option, but again, money along with timing (as far as jobs, girlfriends, life ties) blocked that.

SP!: WHAT WAS THE BIGGEST MISTAKE YOU MADE IN YOUR EARLY VENTURES INTO THE COMIC BOOK WORLD AND WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM THAT?

BAT: What mistakes haven’t I made? Haha! With my first published comic book, Vampires Unlimited: Shades of Things to Come #1, I learned that comics takes a TON more money than you originally anticipated. Also, it takes a while to grow your audience, so make sure that you have the money on hand for the first three issues, because the Diamond check for the previous issue will not take care of the printing of the next issue.

With VU: SOTTC and Myriad, I learned not to solicit a comic until you have at least three issues finished to provide a cushion, but it’s better to have the whole mini-series finished before soliciting the first issue. People have a lot of bad things to say about Diamond, but they’ve been nothing but patient and great to me. As long as you have a quality product and you show them that you are doing everything in your power to get the word out, Diamond will give you a lot of slack. Or maybe I’ve just been REALLY lucky with my reps.

SP!: CAN YOU TELL US WHERE WE CAN SEE AND PURCHASE YOUR WORK ONLINE?

BAT: My personal page: http://alexthompson-writer.com/

Approbation Comics: http://www.approba-tioncomics.com/

To order most of my comics:  http://ApprobationComics.indyplanet.com/

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/B.-Alex-Thompson/e/B00ICB1ZIK

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ApproBAT

G o o g l e + :   h t t p s : / / p l u s . g o o g l e .com/u/0/102430122078139365518/about

Chaos Campus FB: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Chaos-Campus-Sorority-Girls-vs-Zombies/152520981458040

Southern Hospitality FB: https://www.face-book.com/southernhospitalityapprobation

Blood, Shells, & Roses FB: https://www.face-book.com/bloodshellsandroses

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Looking Beyond the Sales of a Single Show

By Jennifer Vanderbeek

If you’ve ever done a convention, book fair, or other in-person event, sales are often at the forefront of your mind. After all, it’s expensive to go to these shows and it’s natural to think in terms of how many books need to be sold to cover the hotel, the printing costs, the gas to get there, and so on and so forth. The dedicated hobbyist aside, this is a business for most of us and business requires attention to the bottom line. Of course, we want to end an event in the black instead of the red!

On an art fair site I subscribe to, it was once said that an appearance at a given event is not just about the time you’re there; it’s about the impression you leave, the orders you get from that area the next holiday season, and who remembers you at your next appearance. While it makes sense in the abstract, I have recently experienced it in person at Ancient City Con in Jacksonville, Florida.

Ancient City Con (ACC) was the first show I took What to Feed Your Raiding Party to and we’ve always left the event happy with our sales and the people we’ve talked to. It’s also a show I’d hate to miss, as it represents ‘Raiding Party’s “anniversary” and is a good benchmark for how far we’ve come from one year to the next. This year was our third time at ACC and something very strange happened: we sold books on Friday. And not just after work got out and the traffic picked up; we broke the ice within the first 15 minutes of the dealer room opening and sales were steady for the entirety of the show.

But it wasn’t just the early sales that were surprising, it was that at least two of the buyers made sure to mention that they’d seen us the previous two years and had thought about or meant to get the book, but didn’t. Both also mentioned that they were making sure to buy the book then so they wouldn’t forget to pick it up this year. Could they have ordered it online? Of course, but they didn’t, because they still weren’t sure until they saw it one more time in person.

If I had a dollar for every person who picked up a bookmark and said they’d order online, or who promised to come back before the

event closed, but didn’t, it would amount to a nice, tidy sum. The truth is, many people say that when they’re looking for a polite way of leaving your table without making a purchase. Few actually mean it. It’s the white lie of the dealer room and we all know it well. The truth is that they’re not sure of you and your work and need a little more convincing—not through a harder sales pitch, but through a bit of social proof.

Artists who license their work for manufacturers to put on products frequently exhibit at large trade shows. On a recent podcast on the subject, some artists said they were told by buyers that they (the buyers) waited until they saw an artist exhibiting several years in a row—sometimes as many as five—before they were willing to even look at their portfolio. Why? Because it shows the artist is willing to stick with it and is not a flash in the pan or a one-hit wonder. The same goes for convention attendees.

When someone walks into a comic shop, a bookstore, or even goes shopping online, the purchase is shrouded in anonymity. The buyer and seller are removed by any number of people and processes cre-ating a buffer between creator and consumer. In face-to-face sales, that buffer is obliterated and in its place is a transaction that requires a sense of trust. Just like those art buyers, convention or fair attendees want that same sense of connection and commitment. Unfortunately for us, it’s nothing we can give them explicitly.

There’s an element of social proof I’ve noticed: if a group of attend-ees approaches my table together, I know that if they all love the concept of the book equally, there’s a better chance of one of them buying. If, however, one or more are disinterested or itching to head elsewhere, chances are better than good that the interested friends will be pulled away before they buy. I’ve also had an attendee bring a friend to the table, excited about my book, but if their friend isn’t as impressed, an otherwise sure sale falls flat, thanks to a friend’s apathy.

In other cases, the social proof is less blatant. Repetition can certainly

Repetition Sells

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wear down someone’s hesitancy. In that case, all you can do is show up, give each appearance your best shot, and try to add something to the conversation each time. I’ve found that being able to get on a convention’s guest list serves as an unofficial endorsement from the powers that be—as well as good advertising before the convention.

Outside of events, it comes down to websites and social media. Sharing items of interest (not just sales pitches) via Facebook, Twitter, or Google+ is a way to find a common ground with followers. That common ground—if genuine and respected, not exploited—makes your followers that much more comfortable buying from you. After all, we like to support those we feel a certain kinship with, so as cre-ators, we need to open ourselves up to those extended relation-ships. Social media provides us a wonderful chance to do just that—at whatever level we are each comfortable with.

So, if your next show yields fewer sales than you’d hoped for or expected, don’t write the event off just yet. While we need to manage expenses, we can’t overlook the investment we’re making into future sales by showing up and showing what we have to offer. It may take two, three, or even five times before you’ve earned their trust and their business, but if you pick your events carefully and have confi-dence and enthusiasm about your work, you’ll likely win out in the end.

Jennifer Vanderbeek is the author and illustrator of What to Feed Your Raiding Party, the comic book cookbook for gamers. She writes and draws from her home in Thomasville, Georgia.

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