Broken Frontier

“The best laid plans of mice and men, oft go astray” Steinbeck said in his novel, Of Mice and Men, which drew its very name from this line.

The fact of the matter is, when I approached Frederik Hautain, our editor-in-chief here at the Frontier back at the end of last year about the possibility of doing a column weekly on Broken Frontier, I had a pretty clear vision of where my life was and where it would be going in the near future. There was actually a planned calming, a settling of several things which would give me the downtime in order to focus and do that column. I figured a year’s worth…minimum.

Of course, since then, that plan and every piece of it has changed dramatically.

My arrangement with Kandora meant writing for them, thus breaking into comics, but also focusing only on writing the two projects, Savage World and Monarch of Manhattan for the time being.

My Youth Center was also going to calmly settle and we would focus for a year on infrastructure development, not program expansion.

I was looking forward to a year of relative calm.

“The best laid plans of mice and men, oft go astray.”

Since then, as was recently announced, Savage World and Monarch of Manhattan have switched publishers. Along with this switch meant a larger investment of my time and energy in working on promoting and traffic managing the books, plus the opportunity to develop them elsewhere simultaneously in various formats.

In addition, I was now free to develop other properties, and was offered the very kind invitation at Astral Zone 4 to essentially indulge my creative energies as I wished! How can a guy not accept that kind of offer? With AZ4 now starting to take off (we celebrated our largest new subscriber month just in May, with the debut of SoulStar and a very positive rush of feedback!) there are many opportunities presenting themselves to expand the site into a professional level writing community.

In addition, there are several other things on the creative, writing and artistic front that seem to be flowering open with possibilities!

Add on top of that, my agency has had two huge program opportunities jump out in front of us, and I and my Board of Directors agree, despite our plan, we would have been foolish to pass on them.

We just launched a new Theatre Company filled with talented young actors, directors and writers. The Company has produced a number of hot-topic plays dealing with issues critical to youth and our world today, including school violence and tolerance. This group already has a local celebrity status, and some of their members are putting the finishing touches on a slick locally produced short-film to enter into local film-festivals to see how far it will go! Its going to be an honor to work with this young collection of artistic talents, some of whom, I have no doubt will make their marks in Broadway, and Hollywood. (Of course, I’ll have a few movie pitches to make to them when they get there…)

Another program will launch in the fall, which, while not as glamorous, will make a huge difference in the lives of dozens of youth and families every year.

So, while I may still have time on a periodic basis to write a feature or column, the weekly deadline, and the additional work time to research, setup interviews, etc. is becoming more and more challenging. Hence, a two week hiatus, and this week, I missed my deadline again!

So, unfortunately, as I am a man who believes in either meeting my commitments, or strategically re-organizing to remain realistic, I have to admit, with sadness, that OTB right now, in its current format is something I just cannot maintain. Rather than jerk around those who look for this column, and someone I respect like Frederik, I need to be up front and say…it’s time.

I will be continuing to think and act “Outside the Box” myself, but doing so from the end of a creator, focusing on bringing new readers into comics, putting out quality material that pushes the envelope of comics and seeking to go after the ‘educated consumer’. I don’t want fans going to my stuff because it has a ‘hot’ idea in right now, or it uses cheap gimmicks to promote, or hook interest like rip-off names or multiple covers. I don’t want someone buying my books because of some hyped “Sold Out” blurb plastered on it.

I want people to buy my books because they know they are getting a quality product, on time, for a good value, every time. I want them to get their money’s worth and genuinely WANT to read the next issue, not just fill in their collection.

I want to give new creators a fair chance, and ensure the people I work with, artists, publishers, studios, etc. are people with integrity, honor, ethics and professional standards. Above all, I want to make sure everyone that does work with me, or for me, gets paid, on time and in fair amounts!

So, the future lies ahead and with it the unknown, but with an open heart and an open mind, it shall indeed be an adventure.

Thanks to…

Frederik Hautain for giving me this space every week with a really cheap rent, Brian Augustyn, Ken Choi, Ian Feller, Adam Fortier and Nancy Grasmick for their interviews, Brian Thomer and Will Norris for all their hard work in doing the SWAP YA and OUT OF THE ASHES columns, Mike and Angela Bullock for bringing me into the BF community. Above all, thanks to all those who read this missive, commented on it, emailed me about it and seemed to actually think I had something worthwhile to say.

You can still reach me through my personal email at cesaprod@aol.com or through my BF address chucksellner@brokenfrontier.com. I look forward to continuing the journey with all of you.

- C. Edward Sellner
Signing Off…