Broken Frontier

If you’re the new guy, and you probably are, you really should go read the first two parts of this column before you dig in. I write comic books, continuity is in my blood.
Serendipity One
Serendipity Two

IT’S TOO LATE FOR SOME…
Owner/operator/pimp-to-the-stars, Frederik Hautain (he makes me call him Mr. Hot when we’re on the street), pulled me aside a few months ago and asked me if I would write a few articles giving advice on self-publishing. I agreed and proceeded to dance around the subject and mostly use the column to entertain myself and talk to the Readers in the audience. But I’m going to rectify that right now. I’m taking a couple paragraphs to fulfill Mr. Hot’s edict and give you my most sage Indy Publishing advice based on years of experience.

Don’t Do It.

The following was posted to the home page of Drive Comics in between my last column and this one.

“THE SYMBIOTES has come to an end, but DRIVE COMICS lives on...
We at Drive comics are sad to announce that our only currently running title, The Symbiotes, has met an early demise. We have stopped production and will not be shipping issue 5 or any other issues in the foreseeable future.”

In comparison to this latest announcement, I refer you to their production diary from about a year ago. I’ve grabbed a few choice quotes-

“George worked day and night (literally- just ask his wife) to get the first issue finished by the late February deadline we had set up. This date had to be met in order to get into Diamond Comic Distributors’ May edition of Previews magazine so that we could get our orders from the comic shops and print in June so that we’d be able to launch at the San Diego Comic-Con International convention in July.”

Yep. You have to have your book FINISHED in February if you want the book to be in PREVIEWS and in stores by July. As a new publisher, the “5-month cycle” should be your production mantra. Having your book completed before solicitation will open up all kinds of avenues for you and make your life 100 times easier.
Oh! Did you notice the bit about working day and night? Yeah. Fun times. Fun times.

“The miniature comics (being color-proofed by the printer) went out to 6500 comic book retail stores as inserts into the May edition of Previews magazine.”

Yes. Drive Comics spent a lot of money sending out a full color mini-comic insert with every PREVIEW catalogue in May. A lot of money. Scads of money. More money than you want to know. More money than any Indy company ever should spend on a single promotion. A mistake on their part but it shows incredible effort.

“I honestly didn't know how many issues of the first issue to expect to sell (thank God for the direct market) but other indy comic creators have responded with "congratulations" when I told them what our orders through Diamond were for issue 1, so I guess we did good. We also sold a few hundred at both Comic-Con and Wizard World Chicago, which is good. I would say that about 60-70% of people who stopped by our booth and took a look bought a copy, which is absolutely phenomenal.”

You know what this means? It means they got their asses kicked. Probably sold about 2500 books through Diamond. Didn’t even come close to covering the cost of the single promotion much less printing and A&E. That ‘few hundred’ they sold at San Diego and Chicago? That *might* have covered the cost of the booth. Nothing more.

These guys were good. Lots of talent, interesting concept and they didn’t even get to finish their story. If you want to be a publisher, go take a look at the Drive Comics website and then…

Don’t do it.

LESS DOOM MORE BOOM…

I hate being the bearer of bad news. But if you hear enough of these horror stories, hopefully you’ll learn something and not repeat the same mistakes. Indy/Self-publishing really is a fool’s game. If you can’t find someone else to publish your book then it’s probably not good enough to be published. Shop your work around and let someone else gamble their money. At first, you’ll probably end up doing a lot of work for free but, eventually, you’ll start seeing honest paying gigs. When you deserve the money, you’ll get it.

I need a shower.

FOR THE READERS IN THE CROWD…

Boring stuff finally out of the way. Sorry about all that shop talk. Unfortunately, it’s necessary. Someone has to keep reminding these fools that you don’t want Indy comics.

Oh, c’mon. Don’t get mad at me for stating the truth. There’s perfect proof of it mentioned above. Drive Comics had a good, imaginative product and they died a horrible death. No audience.

But you’re here so I believe you when you say you want to change. Like an abused house-wife, I believe.

And if you’ve been following my simple three step process, really following, then maybe it will stick this time. Maybe you’ll buy some of these products instead of the extra 5 copies of CRISIS OF IDENTITY.

APPROBATION COMICS
Smart marketing-monkey, Bart Thompson, sent the following email in response to my request for new things to look at.
“Hey!  We're doing an anthology comic called Myriad and we'd love for you to do a mini-review/comment about it for Serendipity part three!!!
Bart A.  Thompson
Approbation Comics”
Consider it commented. I’ll reserve the reviews for the audience. Everyone go look.

GALACTIC CHIMP
Monkeys, Apes, gorillas, chimps… primates in general have been a long time staple of the comic book community. It’s nice to see the tradition translating nicely to digital media. Anwar Madrigal does some pretty amazing things with photoshop and Phillip Vargas writes a fun story. Go look and then beg these guys to put this in print.

UNITED FANZINE ORGANIZATION
I would be truly remiss in my duties if I didn’t mention the United Fanzine Organization (UFO for short). There’s an entire underground network of writers, artists, and hobbyists who make digest and mini-comics for trade and for sale through the web and at conventions. Some of the best and brightest of this underground network belong to the UFO. If you’re looking for truly original work or if you’re looking for a way to hone your skills and get some helpful advice, look no further. (warning: turn on your pop-up blocker.)

MAD YAK PRESS
Patrick Neighly has been putting out some really great books over the past two years. Incredible production values, great artwork, tight storytelling, it’s all here at a great price. I suggest you buy everything he’s published but, if you just have to sample something first, try GREAT APE. It’s an Ape in a comic, can you go wrong? I submit you cannot!
Patrick writes most of the books from Mad Yak. He deserves your attention.

VIPER COMICS
If you hang around Broken Frontier or any other internet website, you’ve probably heard of Viper Comics. Their Indy hit, DEAD@17, has just finished up its third (and final?), four issue installment. I wouldn’t mention them here as they’ve got all the praise and attention they need but, President Jesse Garza is just so damn nice that I can’t help myself. Incidentally, DEAD@17 may have been the break out hit for Viper but, for my money, the real gem is DAISY KUTTER. Coincidentally, the DAISY KUTTER trade is now available at the Viper Comics website!

And finally, this from Dana:
“May I suggest checking out God the Dyslexic Dog for the next [Serendipity] article.
I've really liked this comic by a father and son team. The penciler/inker, Alex
Nino has worked for Marvel and DC: GOD THE DYSLEXIC DOG
Also there's  AUTUMN by Tony Kovac.
Anyway, just tossing some ideas out there.

P.S. I like 15 Minutes. Hope it's getting a trade too. SLG is one of my fave comics publishers.”

Dana is going to Heaven for that P.S. comment.

END OF THE ROAD…

Thanks to those of you who dropped by for a read. Hope you’ve been entertained and picked up a thing or two. Thanks to Mr. Hot for… well, for not pimp-slapping me too bad when I delivered this purging of my brain pan to his doorstep. Thanks to those of you who wrote in with your suggestions. I love having cool things fall into my lap.

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David Hedgecock is co-founder of Ape Entertainment, a very foolish company. His own comic, A DIFFERENT PACE, is now in stores and he did have offers from other publishers to print it before he chose to do it himself.