Written by Pat Mills, and drawn by Kevin O’Neill. This is the cover of the collected volume 1, from Titan Books. I believe the original Nemesis shorts ran in the 2000 A.D. anthology. The duo would go on to create the mind-blowing and mean spirited superhero parody, Marshal Law, which I’ll feature here at some point.

I feel frustrated. Enormously lucky, sure, but frustrated. We’ve done this wonderful thing we’re crazy-proud about. But if the whole economic system was just a couple of degrees to the left, everything would have been different. I mean, just to give you an idea about narrow the margins are between what we are and what we could be, if we were selling 6K instead of 4K, we could have done those 44 issues. The difference between breaking even and actually being able to do it in comics is insane. It’s like being kept under ice, clawing.

And this, from earlier in the piece:

There’s a difference between making only a little money and starving. We’re very much in the latter. Jamie’s lucky to get a couple of hundred dollars from an issue. While he didn’t tell me about this until after it was all done, there were three occasions when Jamie was seriously considering throwing in the towel. The problem is that Image’s deal is a back-end one. Will we make some money off the trade? Maybe. And that’s a big maybe.

That was in response to the “why not wait for the trade paperback income?” question. Since all profits from creator-owned Image comics are on the back-end, that means the creative team has to wait about three months or more from when they actually write/draw the book to see it get published, and get paid. If there’s any payment (remember, with the Image deal, they get to recoup their $2500 fee from the book’s profits first, then the creators get paid…or in many cases, are actually in the hole). Waiting for the TPB of your first arc to come out means a good 6-9 month wait before seeing any payment from that.

And this is for a series that had quite a lot of buzz, and was selling in the 4K range. One look at Diamond’s sales figures will show you that most Image books don’t even do those numbers.

Depressed yet?

The take away: you’d best be in this for the love, not the money.

Young Dara was a voracious fantasy novel reader, and would try any and all fantasy comics he could find as well. Unfortunately, there were (and sill are) very few good ones. Nevertheless, although I don’t remember a thing about this series by writer Gordon (Warlock 5) Derry, I do remember the very colorful, stylized airbrushed artwork by Kleinbergen.

Published by Aircel comics, 1987.

This cover is by Stan Woch & Tim Truman, and the series was published by Eclipse Comics. It went on to last 50 issues, which is a very healthy run. Moonstone Comics is currently publishing some black-and-white Airboy anthologies, but they’re nowhere near the quality and scope of this color series. Anyway, I’ll be visiting Airboy many more times in this feature, as it always had some great, action-packed covers.

Border Worlds was published in 1986 by Kitchen Sink press. It was a very complex, mature science fiction tale, illustrated in a dark, gritty manner by Simpson. I remember really digging it, and would like to re-read it one of these days, if I ever find the time.

We’ll kick off the feature with the wrap-around cover to Justice Machine #2:

This is by Mike Gustovich, published by Comico, February 1987.

This issue holds a special place in my heart, as it was my first ever indie (i.e. not Marvel or DC) comic purchase. It occurred when I stumbled across my first comic book shop, the now-defunct The Wizard of Comics on Indianola Ave. in Columbs, OH. I had been picking up comics on a regular basis from the spinner racks of neighborhood mom-and-pop stores for a few years by this point (mainly Marvel, with an occasional foray into the world of DC, usually a Green Lantern book), but discovering a comic shop really blew my mind. The selection and variety of comics I’d never heard of before, from unfamiliar publishers, was a jolt to my system. I think I gravitated towards this particular issue because the cover firmly established it as a colorful superhero adventure, which was in my comfort zone at the time. But flipping through the book, I was greeted with a double-page splash, and characters that bickered with each other, and occasionally cussed. Needless to say, I was intrigued, and started collecting Justice Machine.

The house ads for other Comico titles in each issue eventually led me to Matt Wagner’s Grendel, and Bill Willingham’s Elementals. And of course visiting a comic shop on a regular basis led me to expand my reading from Marvel/DC to the indie powehouses of the time, including Dark Horse, Eclipse, First, and more.

Cover for Invincible #7 Hardcover – artist Ryan Ottley shares his steps in creating a cover that features dozens of characters. It all starts with a digital sketch on a Wacom Cintiq tablet.

Script for The Sixth Gun – Writer Cullen Bunn goes into detail on his process for breaking down the story for an issue of his creator-owned series The Sixth Gun, from initial scene breakdowns all the way through final script. Two things I found interesting: his process and mine are fairly similar (though I’ve been trying to streamline mine), and he also shares some other methods he’s tried in the past and abandoned.

“Television is all about character, and I think horror is all about character. Sam Raimi told me, ‘You have to create characters that people love and then punish them.’”

Tangentially, I did watch the first episode of the show last week. And although it’s got a great hook as the premise (a family and crew go searching in the Amazon for a missing nature host with a secret involving dark magic) it didn’t grab me enough to invest in watching the show on a regular basis. Part of the turn-off factor for me was the found footage/mocumentary style of filming the show, with multiple handheld cameras. While it does match well with the structure of the show’s narrative, and is a style that can be used to great effect, I find it best suited for a standalone movie. Watching that week after week on a serial show would get annoying.

Which brings me to the other reason the show didn’t resonate with me: most of the characters are annoying. Perry states:

“A huge part of developing ‘The River’ was trying to figure out who the nine people are. The trick is everybody has a duel agenda.”

It’s a trick they managed, as they did a good job of coming up with 9 fairly distinct personalities and motivations (no easy task), but unfortunately none of them are likeable. Also, constant reaction shots of 9 different characters giving 9 different emotional (and secretive) responses to the same event got tiring in the first episode, so I can’t imagine watching a whole season of that. And finally, there was the complete lack of humor, which I believe helps to humanize your characters. Sure, at its heart The River is a “horror” show, but if Raimi’s guideline is to first “create characters that people love,” they can’t all be angst-ridden, secretive manipulators.

I know it’s not quite fair to judge the whole show by just a single episode, so obviously your mileage may vary. But going back to the original reason I started this post (before it meandered into a TV show review), I like that simple bit from Raimi on how he approaches horror.

First up, in the General Catagory:

PANEL: Pulp – volume 17 of our twice yearly anthology series, edited by yours truly (along with Sean McGurr and Tony Goins) and featuring the talents of the writers and artists of the PANEL Collective. I also have a short story in it with my pal Andy Bennett on art, called “Malika, Jungle Queen,” my more modern take on the classic “jungle girl” pulp adventure. Copies of the book are available for purchase here.

The Ineffables: All of Creation, is by PANELista Craig Bogart, who is also a past nominee and winner.

Next, in the Mini-comic / Short Story Category, is fellow PANELista Brent Bowman for his story from PANEL: Pulp, “Noor Jama, Somali Pirate”

Brent also happens to be my artistic partner on the Persia Blues series of graphic novels we’re doing for NBM Publishing.

You can check out the full list of finalists here.

Congrats to all!

“How do I survive?

First of all, let me say that I feel I am poor, but not deprived. I’m not going to yammer on about how I have it rough and scrape out a living, because I made a choice to work in comics, and I feel I’m very lucky that I’ve been able to make it work financially for this long. I’m very grateful. There are things I wish I had (like a house), but I don’t feel like I’m staring into the financial abyss. I live in a decent apartment in a decent part of a small city (Halifax). I like buying things like comics and sushi. I have a car. But there are choices I make that allow me to live cheaply. I do not buy new clothes. I rarely go to the movies. As much as I like buying comics, I voraciously use the library to read everything I might want to only read once. I do not have a cellphone (shock, horror!). I know, so behind the times. But I work at home, and a home phone is cheaper. I split my rent and expenses with my boyfriend, and before we moved in together, I lived with a roommate. It is sooooooo much easier to make your dollar last when you aren’t spending $800-900 on rent. I cook at home a lot, which is much cheaper than dining out. We do not have cable. My car is 10 years old, and I bought it outright used, so I didn’t pay interest on car payments. Spending over $20 is a big deal.”

Friends with Boys, by Faith Erin Hicks

I found her account to be honest and refreshing. One of my pet peeves is the endless array of books and essays that proclaim “follow your bliss” and extol the near-magical process by which the Universe will make your dream come true, without ever getting into the nitty gritty of, you know, reality. Sure, in order to truly pursue your dream, you need to let go of your fears and the lessons you’ve been taught your whole life about “this is how things are done.” But almost all “inspirational” accounts end there.

They don’t talk about the harsh reality of working a freelance job without any safety nets. They don’t discuss financial planning. They don’t present the importance of business and legal acumen. They don’t talk about the emotional toll of some of the sacrifices that you need to make (less free time for family and friends, more anxiety, etc.) on your path towards your goal. And I think that does a huge disservice to the creative audience. It breeds the sort of unprepared, clueless dreamer destined to fail.

A little reality goes a long way.

Anyway, there’s a lot more at the link, so do check it out if you’re interested in this sort of thing.