Broken Frontier

Hey cats and kittens.  I thought I’d share the spotlight a bit with a few of my friends, and let them give you a bit of advice, because, well, nobody I know did it the same way.  This week, I’m proud to present Benito Cereno.  Writer of Tales from the Bully Pulpit, creator of Hector Plasm (seen in Invincible AND Western Tales of Terror) Benito is on his way up.  The fact that he has Kirkman’s phone number on speed dial MIGHT have something to do with it, but I bet it’s probably more due to that he’s one of the smartest and most talented writers in comics today.

- Josh

For some reason, asking me to write a column on how I got started in comics feels like asking a bird standing on the edge of its mother's nest for the first time, tiny infant feathers trembling in the breeze, to write a column on experiences in flying. Nonetheless, at this stage in my "career," I'll accept any form of ego-stroking offered my way, and so when Josh asked me if I would write this column on account of my sheer awesomeness, I said, "Why, yes, lepton, I will." That said, let's begin.

Let's skip the pleasantries and cut right to the chase here. Despite AOL's best marketing attempts to tell you otherwise, the internet is only good for two things: achieving your maximum boner potential and breaking into comics. I can personally attest to one of these two things. Which one, I won't say, but I'll be writing about the second one. Because let's face it: if it weren't for the internet, you wouldn't be reading this column right now -- simply because if it weren't for the internet, I wouldn't have any comics published at all, and no one, let alone Josh Fialkov, would be asking me to write this column.

On the internet, aspiring pros have formed communities where they show each other art and/or team up and/or insult other people's religious or political affiliations. Perhaps the first major community of this sort was the old Wizard School art board.
Upon its demise, the members of that board fragmented into various other new communities, including Penciljack, Digital Webbing, Tidal Wave, the (late) ComixMatrix, and many others I don't care to remember. It was at Penciljack that I first began to develop friendships and relationships with other people who were attempting to break into comics. Lots of people who are now published pros used to be (or still are) active members at such boards: Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, Cory Walker, EJ Su, Khary Randolph, Danimation, Mark Brooks, Skottie Young, other people who I'm sure do good work. Oh yeah, and me. It was at these boards that I made connections with the artists I work with, such as Nate Bellegarde, Graeme MacDonald, and Ron Riley. Graeme and Ron are both Canadian. I've never met them. Yet, the mighty power of the Internet was able to make Tales from the Bully Pulpit a reality, and now scientists are well on their way to a cure for cholera.

It was on the internet that I first established a connection with Robert Kirkman, who deigned to publish my stories in the back of his book Invincible for so many months, which kicked off this whole crazy game to start with. It was through message boards that I met Josh Fialkov, who asked me to write stories for his anthology books, and then forced me to write this column. It was and is on the internet that I am able to read about the experiences of established pros far (slightly) more famous than myself and learn from their horrible mistakes. It is on the internet that I am able to connect with a vocal minority of fans, see what they want, and then know to do the exact opposite. It's a buzzing, fascinating, burgeoning community. And with the right amount of talent and networking skills, it could be your ticket in.

In short, the internet: not just for bootleg Vi4gr4 anymore.