Broken Frontier

If I expect you good folks to spend your hard earned internet minutes staring at the other side of my particular screen, I should first and foremost let you know just who the heck I am, and why I think anything I have to say might be worth reading. Of course, ultimately it will be each of you who WILL decide if there is anything worth reading in here so as to keep inflicting the weekly dose.

First, I'm a lifelong fan of comics, not just reading them, but the concept of them. I wrote and drew my first Superman comic at the tender age of like 5! Oh yeah, it was horrible, but come on... 5 years old? (It remains to be seen if it was the peak of my genius and if things have been going all downhill since!)

Throughout my teen years I did the typical fanboy thing and would whip out portfolios once in a while to send in and then get the inevitable rejection letter. I look back at some of the stuff I drew back then and have the typical years later, professional response: MY GOD, WHAT WAS I THINKING?

But my creative efforts always took a back seat to other things in life, namely my ministry and outreach work. That was the first pinnacle I had to climb and conquer. It was and, yes fans, still remains my number one passion! Since then I have climbed to my own personal peak in that business: operating an Agency I founded and shaped from the ground up into a premiere, successful community-based program.

That being said however, about three years back I realized something: I REALLY wanted to create comics. I then decided I would someday do just that! Simple as that, no try out, no attempt, just would. That may sound like ego, its not, its just focus. As those who know me know that I kind of have this thing with focus. But I knew that it would take time, so I approached it the same way I did my other career.

I began devouring everything I could not just on how to make comics, but good comics. I read every news, marketing, and publishing piece I could find, followed trends and studied comics for small things like scripting style, art techniques, etc. etc. Curiously, once I decided I would be a professional someday, I stopped submitting. I realized I needed to learn first, to improve, to hone my skills. I got my writing to where I felt it was ready and then began. I slowly made connections in the industry. I was able to get my stuff looked at and got critical feedback from some people who knew what they were doing! Not to mention plenty who pretended they knew, and a few who seem to think they invented it and don't have a clue. Finally I felt like, okay, I'm getting there.

Like everyone else starting in this industry, and sometimes even after having been in it awhile, I have hit a lot of bumps in the road, been snowed a time or two by folks who were not very up front and honest, been manipulated a few times, etc. Then I found my niche! I have now been working in various ways in the industry for over a year and half, behind the scenes, riding the winds, while laying the steady foundation for a longer term future (at least, that's the plan!).

That's finally coming to pass with the debut of Kandora Publishing where I will be officially making my writing debut with two books I am creating and writing.

So, why should anyone listen to me? Not saying you should, just saying if you read it, you might like it, if you like it, you can keep doing it. More importantly, the purpose of this column is not just for me to mouth off. Okay, stop cheering okay? It’s for all of us to pitch in. I want this column to be about what is working and not working in the industry, I want it to focus on new and creative ideas being developed, innovations and marketing that will be setting trends. I also want to focus on some of the industry's problems, but not in order to whine or come up with vague empty promises, but solid solutions. And, WOW, here's a concept, I want those new ideas to be shared in an open forum, not vaguely hinted at hidden treasures of new ideas, concepts and marketing that will revolutionarize the market only to end up as empty and anti-climactic as Geraldo's mobster vault!

Me? I'll call 'em as I see 'em, and most likely people here will think of me much as they do in my other career, either love me or hate me. But, everything will always be voiced in respect, and I want to hear how you all call 'em too, whether you're a fan, retailer, comics suit, or creator, let this be where all of us think and write "Outside the Box." See ya next week!

Next Week: Kandora Kan!
A look at one new publisher who is bucking the trend and offering the best per page value on the market for monthlies on an ongoing basis! What are the pluses and minuses? I'm going to interview the men behind Kandora: Ken Choi, Tom Lee, Ian Feller and Brian Augustyn! I may even chime in!