HAPPY NEW YEAR!

A happy New Year to you all...hopefully you will all go out and have way too much to drink tonight.

Things have been slow going here but it will pick up with CBM#6 out on Monday with the first look at self-publishing. CBM#7 is the week after that looking at writing a query letter to comic companies. Fun and exciting stuff indeed.

Six out of the ten stories for the Anthology are now actually done, so it is nice on this end to see the book near completion. Hopefully with CBM#8 or so I'll get to show off some more preview artwork.

Bored this holiday season? You can check out some of the other articles I did for Newsarama this past week:
Talking Sentinels with Rich Bernatovech
Gigantic Graphic Novels release Teenagers From Mars TPB
It Came From The Quarter Bin: The Star Brand #12

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!

First Thoughts On The Mini...

I've mentioned a bit about the Wise Intelligence regular series while not really going into it much. This is because the Comic Book Maker column and this blog (at the moment) is more focused on the creation of the 'Wise Intelligence Anthology'.

However the Wise Intelligence series will be a big part of my submissions package to comic companies and I'll take a brief moment to talk about it now. With the submissions I'll be pitching WI as 4 issues - the WIA one-shot and a 3 issue WI series. That's not to say that I don't want to continue on with WI after a mini, but I figure it's easier to pitch a mini to a company at first, then try to pitch a series. If they want a series, then that's great...they can have as many issues as they want.

My artist on the series is an amazing guy named David Lafuente. He's a Spanish artist who will take over the entire comic world with his incredible artwork...a great fit for the series. Hopefully David will like to stay on and do many a arc with me. We'll see.

David's first story was a nice little 2-pager that will actually be seen this summer in PunchThroat's Ragtag (issue 3) Anthology. He's now hard at work on the first five pages and character designs. Here's a design he came up with for the Anthology cover. Thoughts?

Two Questions

Mark from forcewerks productions asked two questions over on the Newsarama message boards that went something like this:

Why just do B&W/greyscale for an anthology?
What is the target shelf date?

For the first question I see it as the only way to go. When I think indy comics I think Strangers In Paradise. Box Office Poison. Bone. Adolecent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters. I like the feel, I love the black and white, I love what it brings to the comic book.

Seeing the pencils of Dave Lafuente, who is doing the regular series I keep mentioning but haven't really talked about yet, I just couldn't see coloring in his work. The inking is so clean and fresh, and it truly bring a great indy feel. I'll save the coloring for a bigger book...a superhero book...things like that. But color for this book...it just wouldn't seem right.

As for a target date...there is none and that is still far off in the horizon. I'm putting together submissions packages now so we'll see if anyone wants to publish. Hopefully...the book comes SOON.

Maybe tomorrow I'll come back and explain more on how the regular series fits into the entire pitch overall and clue you in on how this one-shot leads into that. And for those interested, go check out forcewerks and then mosey on over to their BABE Force comic website. They have a trailer for a webfilm that just looks great...

CBM #5 Posted Today!

This was intended to be a slow down week for me. I was going to take this week off from CBM and work on some other articles and the next two columns. Holidays really take their toll and I knew I could use the extra time.

I then decided to instead showcase some of the artwork from the series. I figure I might do this two more times throughout these articles showcasing the rest of the artwork.

I rearranged the columns so next week is the first look at self-publishing. Knowing nothing about it, it really was great doing some digging into easy steps to self-publish. Of course I share this next week.

I'm eager to hear thoughts of what you out there might think of what you are reading. Always feel free to hit a brother up at: comicbookmaker@hotmail.com .

You can read this week's column by clicking the link on the righthand toolbar.

BIO: Phil Juliano

I first met Phil down in Bethesda at SPX 2004. From the first second I stopped at the table Phil and I just hit it off and I found myself going back to his table at least a dozen times to just sit around, B.S., and watch him as he was just starting his 'Spence' comic strips (an idea he had on the ride down and which he still continues to crank out today). When I came forth with this idea for the Anthology, I asked Phil who said yes right away. Thank God he did...his artwork came out fantastic. So...here is the bio and some preview art from his story "P@#$Y For My Father".


Phil Juliano is a native of Central New York. In between archeological excavations in the Holy Land and African hunting safaris, Phil has contributed artwork for such little known titles as Retribution and Six Pack Stories. He is half of the creative team known and published as Luchador Enterprises. He is currently working on a new cartoon strip that will be his vehicle to wild success and stardom.




You can also check out Phil's company website by following the link on the right.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL! Stay tuned on Monday for CBM #5 which will be showing alot more preview art from the Anthology!

Ryan

Holiday Slowdown

A lack of blogging this week thanks to working many a nights, trying to finish off a slew of articles, and spend time with the family...they deserve a night or two I guess.

With no interviews to post with this week's column, I'm going to take the rest of the week off...off from Wise Intelligence that is. I'm still working with David Lafuente on the regular series (I'm getting way ahead of myself...more on that later) and trying to wrangle in the artwork from the artists.

Next week's column has changed and I'm going to in turn preview some of the art from the series before launching into my first thoughts of self-publishing and writing queries/submissions to publishers.

Lots to come...lots to come...have a happy holiday everyone!

Ryan

CBM #4 Up Today

Sorry this will be so short but just wanted to point that CBM #4 is out today over on Newsarama, you can read it by clicking the link on the right toolbar.

It's just more into how I landed Captain Jack and Cerebus into the comic. Fun stuff.

Working hard on CBM #5 and #6, it's pretty tough during this holiday season...DAMN YOU SANTA!

BIO: Howie Noeldechen

Up rather late after watching a great documentary at my friend's house, so I thought I'd grab a beer and do some late night 'surfing'. Also figured I'd post the first of eleven bios here on the blog. These bios will appear somewhat in the Wise Intelligence Anthology comic, but I'm sure they'll be edited at some length because of space. So this will be a chance to read a full bio...as written by the artist themselves.

I first met Howie at WizardWorld: Philly this year and loved the hell out of his self-published book 'Mr. Scootles'. He agreed to do a story for this book before there was a book, back when it was just me writing a story and Howie just saying, "Alright...I guess...you are a SCHMUCK...but I'll draw for you." He did an amazing job on his story and I'll include a small look at his pencils below. I'd love to show the whole piece, but since it is only two pages long...it is sort of hard to just show everything.

Without further adieu:



Howard C. Noeldechen, also known as H.C.Noel,was born in New York but shuffled around as a young child to Williamsport,PA where he discovered the emotion known as embarrassment. He would later refine this emotion at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York where he graduated with honors, despite not being in the final show for his class. He greatly admires his father and he desperately aims to make him proud. Sadly, as a goal, he has chosen to be a dreadful cartoonist. His mother, a far more talented serious artist, lives far away in Texas and has not seen her son during Christmas for several years. Mr. Noeldechen is an Uncle and has several cartoon projects which appear on his website, www.hcnoel.com. Every Tuesday a new episode of his comic, The Salesman, appears entirely for free! His sequential art series,
Mr. Scootles, has been kindly reviewed in Wizard Edge and Newsarama.com and has several followers. He is currently working on Book Four, which he hopes will please many.



Tune in on MONDAY for the next installment of Comic Book Maker!

The Comic Itself...

Someone wrote in and asked how the actual comic was going. I'm pleased to say that many of the stories have come in and are now being lettered. Out of the ten stories, only two are still being worked on, with one new artist just coming onboard two weeks ago (the amazing Reilly Brown) after an artist had to drop out.

It's been a rough process thus far because I never really realized just how much time and energy an artist has to go through to get things done. Writing may be hard, but it is nothing compared to what the artists are going through.

Sometime over the weekend I'm going to post the first artist bio: HC Noel. Do a bio, some of his comics, and a sneak peak at his story. I'm rapidly working on the 5th and 6th columns...and stay tuned next week for how Cerebus and Captain Jack came to be in the comic...rather...the process of how I get them in!

Interview: Chris Staros

For this week’s CBM I also interviewed Chris Staros from Top Shelf Comix. Chris had some great things to say about the submissions process at Top Shelf, so here is the interview in its entirety:

RYAN MCLELLAND: When it comes to submissions, what are you looking for?

CHRIS STAROS: Primarily graphic novel and comic book concepts that are artistically unique, with a story rich in subtext and heart. And even though we tend to publish things that are often cartoon-y in nature, we're a very inclusive publisher -- one that embraces all forms of comics. Our goal has always been to be one of the forces that helps unify the camps and re-introduce comics as a literary art form to the world at large. So if it's an amazing submission, we're gonna take notice.

RM: What is Top Shelf's favorite genre and what do you NOT want to publish (other then superhero which I know you rarely publish)?

CS: We're basically a genre-less publisher, focusing more on a diverse mix of material that one might more readily find in media like literature or film. It's not that we won't do genre books, as we have, but we tend to shy away from them unless they are really unique in some way.

RM: At Top Shelf how many titles do you produce a year, and how likely is Top Shelf to produce a new comic series instead of an original graphic novel?

CS: In 2004, we published 30 items: 16 graphic novels, 8 comic books, 3 magazine issues, 1 prose novel, 1 book of illustrated poetry, and 1 music CD. It was an extremely busy year for Top Shelf, and Brett and I desperately need a rest!

As for doing a comic book series rather than a graphic novel, we typically prefer for a story to begin and end within a single bound volume, so that's one reason why we lean towards graphic novels and stand-alone comics. But, for 2005, we have a huge exception to that rule with a daring -- for us, mind you! -- full-color, five-issue, mainstream miniseries by Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele, entitled The Surrogates. It's a real winner and I can't wait to see the industry's reaction to it. So, never say never I guess.


RM: What advice would you have for readers/creators who are looking to get their comics published? Do you like artists who are already established and have tried self-publishing or does it not matter -- meaning if the stuff is GREAT then you'll take a look?

CS: Publishers are looking to discover new talent, for sure, but they often look for people who've already proven themselves in some way. In other words, if a cartoonist is already out there promoting their minicomics or self-published books on the convention circuit, then there's a much better chance that they'll get noticed and picked up by a publisher.

We get an average of 500-700 blind submissions a year, and more often than not, they tend to be the very early works of the submitters. And since you really don't evolve as a cartoonist until you let something go and start to work on the next story, it tends to be that the cartoonists that are on the circuit, putting out minicomics and constantly refining their craft, are the ones more likely to quickly get to a level that would interest a publisher.

If you're a cartoonist, start small and get your stuff out there in any way that you can. In a year you'll be embarrassed about what you put out before, and that means you're on the right track. The key is to have the confidence to get your work out there, and the humility to know the next thing you'll do will be a lot better.

Interview: Alex Robinson

For this week's column I talked to Alex Robinson about his book Box Office Poison and indy publishers in general. Alex is such an extremely talented storyteller that it boggles my mind everytime I get to talk with him. So here is the full interview I had with Alex:



RYAN MCLELLAND: How hard of a pitch was BOP? How long did you struggle trying to work everything out and how many times were you rejected before getting picked up by Antarctic?

ALEX ROBINSON: Actually, looking back it wasn't that much of a struggle. The market was a lot healthier back then, with three or four big distributors operating instead of just one. I graduated from college in 1993 and started putting out mini-comics on a more or less quarterly basis, and I did about eight issues before Antarctic picked up the series.

I'm not sure how many times I was rejected. I did eight issues, as I said, and I would send each issue out to as many publishers as I could think of, which was probably around ten or fifteen. Of course, most of the time I never got a formal rejection, they just wouldn't reply. I did get some form letters, and a few polite but encouraging responses. I would also send the comics to cartoonists I liked for feedback.

RM: In a world chock full of superhero comics, how did readers first 'receive' a story about a book clerk, his 'fat' artist friend, and the rest of BOP's crew? What kind of support did you get, from both fans and the press?

AR:Well, I didn't really think the book would have much success with the mainstream, superhero market, but the alternative, black and white ghetto had plenty of "slice of life" and autobiographical comics, so I thought I had a shot at it. In that context, I wasn't doing anything revolutionary.

It's sort of ironic, in a way, because it was when WIZARD did a feature on BOX OFFICE POISON that it really took off--it saved the book, actually, since sales had been steadily declining since the first issue. I think it was a good "alternative" book for people who were getting tired of superheroes but might be too intimidated by the more experimental or esoteric indy stuff. My stuff is pretty linear and straightforward storytelling, so I can see how a superhero fan trying to see what else is out there could get into it.

So I wound up getting praised by WIZARD and trashed by THE COMICS JOURNAL, which wasn't the way I imagined my career going but I'm happy with it.

RM: What advice would you give young writers and artists out there looking to be published by the smaller publishers?

AR: Only do it if you really, really like drawing comics. There is almost no money to be made, so even if you do "make it" and get published, 95% of the time you have to keep your day job.
As far as nuts and bolts stuff:

1) Don't give your stuff to publishers at a convention. Publishers tend to be handed a lot of mini-comics and submissions at shows so it's very easy for your stuff to get lost in a pile of photocopies. So...

2) Send you submissions through the mail. If you want to encourage a response, include a self-addressed stamped envelope.

3) Know what kind of books publishers publish before you waste everyone's time. Don't go to Drawn and Quarterly with your gritty, edgy superhero story. Don't go to Marvel with your downbeat story about a guy getting over his recent break up. Of course, ideally every publisher is interested in a good story no matter what genre it's in, but in the real world, people tend to publish books that are like the ones they already publish.

4) Keep at it. When I was in my early years of bitter struggle, Dave Sim told me that if you have fun doing what you're doing and you keep doing it, eventually publishers will catch on. I think this is true.

Thanks for the interview Alex! More to come tomorrow so come on back around!

CBM #3 Up Today!

CBM #3 is up today! Big thanks to Alex Robinson and Chris Staros of Top Shelf for their interviews. I'll be posting Alex's full interview tomorrow here and Chris's interview later on in the week.



As all can see from the above picture, two (hopefully) familiar characters will be guest starring in one of the stories. The first is Cerebus who will play a very small role in the story. For those who don't know who Cerebus is, the character was created by Dave Sim and was the title character in a 300 issue mini-series just recently completed. The other character is Captain Jack, the main character from animator Mike Kazaleh's 'The Adventures of Captain Jack' published by Fantagraphics in the late eighties. The two take part in a story titled 'Spirit Animal' which features Servo (also featured above in the picture) being schooled in the art of women. The above art is done by 'Spirit Animal' artist Scott Kellogg. How this all came to be will be featured in CBM #4.

As the columns are starting to catch up to the present, I will be getting more into submitting and self-publishing in the next couple weeks. Submitting is the easy part, it's self-publishing that I have no clue with. No better way to learn then to just toss yourself into the fire.

Also this week I'll start previewing some prelim art from one of the stories while introducing a biography of that particular artist. I'm not sure who that will be yet, but I'm sure I'll figure it out by Friday.

There is also a small piece on Fantastic Four: Foes up that I wrote for Newsarama. I do lots of stories on writer Robert Kirkman and I can tell you that the man is a class act and his books are just phenom. If you aren't reading Invincible, well, shame on you. Kirkman's books are wonderfully written and this latest miniseries looks to keep his streak going.

Lots to come! Tune in tomorrow for the interview with Box Office Poison's Alex Robinson.

Friday!

Lots to come next week. With CBM#3 we'll also see full interviews here with Alex Robinson and Chris Staros posted throughout the week.

I'd write lots more but, as always, I have to get to work on some other stuff so I have tomorrow free. It's my birthday and I just want to relax. ;)

Someone on the Newsarama boards asked about a good place to find comic scripts and formatting. 'Letterpunk' was kind enough to respond so I'm going to repost his answer here:

There's a new(ish) website for comic writing, etc.

Scriptic Studios

They have a lot of resource stuff, as well as weekly articles related to writing.

There are also a handful of books which contain full, or partial scripts by many pros. You can find references to them at Digital Webbing, Comicraft, and ScrypticStudios sites.


Have a GREAT weekend all and stay tuned next week!!!

Short Stories

High school was all about one-sheets...a blocked out piece of paper on both sides that I would do my bad cartoons on. The point was to make people laugh and I would always try my hardest to knock out a comic that people could pass around school and read. That's what they used to do...someone would read the comic and pass it on to the next person...sometime later the comic would finally get back to me...usually people would laugh or point and make fun of my work.

College was harder. College was the weekly strip in the college paper that was only 3 blocks. You read comics in the newspaper and think "Eh, that wasn't very good or funny." but you never know how hard it is until you try. I did it for all of 3 semesters when I realized that doing 3 block comics wasn't for me and so I went back to doing bootleg issues of my favorite characters 'Chris and Vernbugg' (I say bootleg because I'd draw them, photocopy them, then stick them with the college papers).

When I decided to make this comic a one-shot with 10 different stories I knew that I needed to write stories that would either captivate the audience or make them laugh. I chose to try and make people laugh rather then glue them into their seats. Lucky enough I have a plethora of material from the past couple years as, if I'm out drinking, something stupid usually happens to me. So most of the stories in the anthology do, in some way, come from something in my life.

Pacing is key. It's amazing how only doing 12 blocks can fail if you don't set up the pacing correctly. In trying to write a short 2 page story I first started with my old format. Grab a piece of paper, draw 6 blocks on each side, then start my plotting that way. Make sure it looks good on a page (even if it is just my stick figures), make sure the transition is smooth from page one to two, and make sure the ending wraps it up all nicely.

So I included two samples from back in the day. One is a Chris and Vernbugg circa 1992, with the two trying to form their own cool posse (only one of the two pages was scanned ...so you only get half the story). And secondly is a very badly browned 'TSC Blues' comic strip from my days at 'The Signal' at Trenton State College (now The College of New Jersey).





Tomorrow I'm going to go over a bit of what was said on the message boards last week about where to find good places to find scripts and such. Alot of people put some great info up, I'm just going to repost the links here one after another.

NEXT WEEK: Big news for CBM #3. Well, it is a BIG deal to me. I'm sure most will just read it and say "Dude, THAT was your big news??? You need help." But maybe one person will think it cool.

Link of the week: Check out Culture Shock Comics, doing their own anthology Quixotica: http://www.cultureshockcomics.com

Q&A

Kossori over on the Newsarama board has these questions about the Comic Book Maker column and the Wise Intelligence book:

But I have one concern.
Was all this done previously and is being posted post-production?
Or is it occuring at the same time?
Wouldn't your having such a high-profile column on self-publishing be a great incentive for a publisher to pick up a book that will be getting free press at Newsarama?

The answer to this is that these columns are in fact a few weeks behind. When column one hit I had a great many people writing to me and asking if they could do a story, but by this time, all the stories had artists. I'm currently working on columns five and six, which doesn't really put me that far ahead.

Right now I'm still working with all the artists who are in a variety of phases. Four stories completed, five are being worked on, and the last one...well...I won't talk about that right now. The fact of the matter is that in a few short weeks the column will be happening in real time with the book.

Which goes to the last question...I have no clue what a publisher wants. When I get to doing queries for the book (which will be covered in one of the columns) I don't plan on saying "HEY! THIS IS MY BOOK AS FEATURED IN THE ARTICLES OVER ON NEWSARAMA FOR ALL TO SEE!". I plan on peddling my book as just another indy book. I really don't think I tons of name recognition...I honestly don't think Top Shelf is going to get my submission and think, "Hey! Ryan McLelland! Open that up and give him a call. See when he can do lunch." I'm very much hoping that if the book is picked up by anyone, it is because of its merits.

That and some of the surprises. More on the big surprise in next week's column.

It's all an experiment folks. I'm just hoping that what I do might help those who need help, might prompt those who want to do, and is just a tad fun along the way.

Tomorrow: A look at some of MY bad artwork via high school and college years. No worries...only two samples...because I HATE when people mock me. And my artwork...it is VERY easy to mock.

CBM #2 ...Actually up TODAY!

Welcome to all who surfed over today from Newsarama!!!

In wanting to learn a bit about making an anthology I contacted Ape Entertainment's Mike Hall. Mike is the Managing Editor at Ape, the company that produces the anthology 'Ape Omnibus'. The Omnibus works a little differently as if you put your story together and then pay to put it in the anthology, the story makes it in. If there is a profit, you reap the fortunes later. Here's the interview I did with Mike.



RYAN MCLELLAND: So how has your anthology been received thus far? Was the first issue a decent seller?

MIKE HALL: We won't have the Diamond figures in for issue #2 of Ape OMNIBUS for a few weeks, but the sales on issue #1 were definitely satisfying. The reviews have been very positive, it performed just as well as our other books in its initial solicitation, and it continues to sell well at conventions. Of course, we're always hoping to increase our sales with each new book we release, so we've tried to position #2 to outsell #1 by dropping the cover price while keeping the same page count. We wouldn't have done that if we didn't have faith in the book's ongoing sales potential.

RM: I know you do something a little different, as those who want to be in the omnibus pay and then they make profit later...how has that worked out thus far?

MH: The pay-to-play plan works out pretty well. It enables us to feature the kinds of stories that aren't generally seen in mainstream books without any one financier taking a huge risk on whether or not the market will support such an eclectic book. This publishing model isn't anything new; it's been around in the small press for decades. We're just trying to take it out of Artist's Alley and into comic book stores. Thus far, it's working!

RM: How do you target buyers for such an anthology?

MH: Targeting buyers for an anthology is a tricky proposition, especially when you mix genres with the same reckless abandon that we at Ape Entertainment pride ourselves on. The fact that Ape OMNIBUS bears a "Mature Readers" label actually helps us, since it alerts the older readership--generally the readership that likes a broader variety of genres--that we're setting our sights on them. We like making books for kids, and we've got a superb kids' book scheduled for next summer, but the target audience for Ape OMNIBUS is definitely an older crowd looking for a change of pace.

RM: Is there any genre within the anthology that you have had better responses to from fans?

MH: Thus far the most enthusiastic responses regarding the stories we've run in Ape OMNIBUS have been in praise of our comedy and fantasy features. As an editor, I couldn't be happier...comedy and fantasy are two genres that just don't get enough attention on the modern spinner rack, and we're reaching the audiences who enjoy that stuff. We've got more comedy and fantasy features in the chute, too, so we'll keep reaching that audience while continuing to reach the horror, sci-fi, superhero, and crime audiences as well. Everyone wins!

2nd Column Up Today

Welcome to all who have navigated over here from Newsarama. Today the 2nd Comic Book Maker column is up and also is an interview I recently did last week with Reggie Hudlin on the new Black Panther series. Both links can be found (shortly) over on the right of this page.

Read over some of the stuff posted in the last week, including an interview with Steve Purcell!

I talked with Ed Dukeshire from Digital Webbing for this most recent column and, while nearly all of what he said is found in the column, I wanted to post the very, very short interview here also. I'll be continuing to post full interviews as columns come out.

Without further delay:

RYAN MCLELLAND: About how many postings do you get in your talent search classifieds a month?

ED DUKESHIRE: Roughly 200-300 per month. A high percentage of those are ads seeking pencillers.

RM: Do you often here about projects coming to fruition thanks to DW's classifieds?

ED: Absolutely... I hear about talent search gigs all the time. I've actually had a couple pros ask me to remove their ads after a day or two because response to their ads is too much for their email to handle. The forums here also generate enough traffic so creators hook up in there too. Dan Taylor (Hero Happy Hour) found Chris Fason through Digital Webbing. A few dozen writers find artists and colorist for Digital Webbing Presents stories all the time.

You can all visit Digital Webbing at http://www.digitalwebbing.com.

Coming up this week: How to write REALLY short stories (or at least the way I do it) and a talk with Mike Hall, the Managing Editor of Ape Comics, about what goes into publishing an anthology.

Under The Gun...

Working hard to finish up the article/interview I did with Reggie Hudlin so it can be posted on Newsarama on Monday, so with my military drill weekend tomorrow (FUN!) I'll be saving any new info for Monday.

So Monday is the second column and I'll be expanding that column here by posting full interviews and such. Check back Monday and everyone have a great weekend!

Ryan

The Art Team

I just wanted to quickly thank everyone that has been e-mailing in saying they enjoyed the column and can't wait to see how this project goes along.

Some artists even asked if they could help by pencilling some stories! I was amazed how many out there would be willing to help out! These columns are quite a few weeks behind and I'm sorry to say that each story in fact already has an artist attached. I say 'sorry' only because I'm getting these e-mails full of great artwork and I'm just amazed!

Well...there is always the three issue miniseries to come (if the Anthology is successful enough to warrant it, of course).

To come on Friday: The art of writing ten different stories featuring characters no one has heard of!