Broken Frontier

After submitting the files to Ronin Studios, quite a few months went by with no word on our story’s future. Michael Kasinger (the story’s penciller) and I often posted messages on the Ronin forum enquiring about the Fablewood anthology in which Tiki’s Phayrie was slated to appear.

A few months back word finally came through regarding which stories made it and which didn’t. Sadly, Tiki’s Phayrie was on the second list. Months of work, a team effort by nine creators, seemed to have been for nothing…

I became depressed. Sure, I had other irons in the fire, but Tiki’s Phayrie was my first real comics work; a project that I was sure would herald my arrival as a professional comic book writer. I was bitterly disappointed that the hard work of Michael and the rest of the art team seemed to have been wasted.

As the bitter truth of rejection set in I came to a decision. So what if we didn’t make it? If The Powers That Be on Fablewood decided that Tiki’s Phayrie did not cut the mustard, well that was their choice. I was (and still am) incredibly proud of my first completed comic and there was no way I was going to let the story languish unseen on my computer’s hard drive!

Michael and I discussed the possibility of self-publishing the story as a mini comic through Ka-Blam or Café Press. I considered breaking a promise to myself and to my wife that I wouldn’t invest our money into comic publishing.

Now, here is a lesson to all you hopeful creators out there; never burn your bridges! I may have been upset that Ronin and Ape Entertainment knocked back Tiki’s Phayrie, but I remained in contact with William Ward from Ronin and maintained my appreciation of the opportunity that Ronin originally provided me; without them Tiki’s Phayrie would never have been a completed comic story.

About one month ago I received a surprise email from William with the subject line ‘Print Place for TF’ (sic). As you can imagine, I opened the email immediately! So begins the second life of Tiki’s Phayrie.

William put me in touch with the guys over at UK based publisher Future Quake Press and a few quick emails later, I found myself a place to publish Tiki’s Phayrie!

In the week of the 23rd of April the latest edition of Manga Quake went to press featuring our story. The black and white book (apologies to our coloring team!) is due to debut next weekend at the Bristol International Comic Expo in the United Kingdom. The same convention featuring Brian K Vaughan, Kurt Busiek, Allan Heinberg, Dave Gibbons and Ian Churchill is the site of my comics writing debut!

So, how good does it feel? I feel unreal! This is the culmination of a dream that began when I was about 10 years old. At that time I wrote my first novel and since then I have burned with a passion to see my work in print. Now, it has finally happened.

Unlike many aspiring comic book writers out there I have no desire to write Spider-Man, The Avengers, the JLA or Batman. I appreciate work for hire opportunities to write for existing and new indy properties, but what really drives me is the desire to tell my own stories; to hold up a comic and proudly boast ‘this is mine!’.

With that reality just around the corner I have come to fulfill, perhaps in only a small way, one of my life ambitions. Tiki’s Phayrie is not the beginning (I have been writing creatively for more than 28 years; primary school included!), but it is a beginning. With perhaps the hairs on my little toe in the door, I hope that Tiki’s Phayrie creates new opportunities for me to tell many more stories.

Sadly, none of the creative team will become rich from the publishing of Tiki’s Phayrie; our little 10 page story is unlikely to be a cash cow. Like many small press endeavours there will be no money changing hands after the book is published. There are other rewards that come from having your work in print and I hope that they will flow to the rest of the creative team, especially to Michael Kasinger who I believe is a truly talented artist. As much as I enjoyed his work on Tiki’s Phayrie, the pencils were done more than one year ago and in the ensuing 12 + months Michael’s style has grown and developed. I truly believe he has a bright career in comics ahead of him. I hope that in some small way, Tiki’s Phayrie contributes to his future successes.

So I have made it. As of next weekend I will be a published comic book writer. I have taken the first small step on my writer’s journey.

Next: The Oyvengers.