Not Again!

I posted earlier about how awesomely excited I was for the Dark Knight movie. Now it looks like Nolan and the rest are going out of their way to totally screw with me. Why, you ask?

Besides the fact that this new version of the new awesome poster for TDK is clearly brought to us through the benefits of Photoshop, it is still a clearly awesome addition to the collection. The Joker image is taken from another poster he's in, though truth be told: I kind of like this one better.

So why am I being screwed over? Well, I got a chance to snag the new trailer for TDK this morning before WB shut it down, and I have to admit: even without the surround sound and awesome picture quality, I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that this movie is going to be anything short of fucking spectacular. This upsets me, because I cannot allow myself to have this high an element of expectations for a movie, lest I set myself up for a very real and potential letdown. How could this movie let me down? I have no goddamn idea, and that worries me, too. In fact, nearly every aspect of this movie is worrying me, because I am too colossally excited for it. I'm afraid, because of the expectations they raised with "Begins," and the totally classy take they seem to have on the characters and story, that the idea of this movie may just be cooler than the movie itself, which is something I don't think I could handle.

Come May 2nd, when everyone goes to see Iron Man, you'll know what I'm talking about. And on Sunday, you can watch it online, and you'll feel what I feel. Until then, look at this other poster.

Augh!

Sometimes I think of my baby in Michigan...

All right, I have to ask:

Do we really attract that much interest in Michigan? If so... why? I'm not complaining! My mind is just blown!

Sold Out

Check this out! This is what you'd see if you ordered it online... If you COULD! They sold out of 'em, and now I need to send more copies! Which is just goddamn awesome! More on this later! Gotta go!

Epitome

OK, quick kind of rundown: the storerunner of Midtown Comics dug Horsemen and ordered twenty copies (as you know, if you read the blog). We needed a publishing name in order to be indexed on their site (which is cool, btw), so we originally went with our first pick: Basement Comics.

Sadly, Basement Comics publishes one comic, and has been for about ten years. So we had to drop that. After some sole searching, we decided to go with Epitome Comics, which I think works pretty appropriately. It's always funnier, of course, when you pronounce it "Ep-i-tome." Anyway, thought I should mention it. If we go with another publisher, obviously that'll be the end of Epitome.

If you'd like to pick up a copy of Horsemen from an actual comic shop, I know for a fact that Funnybooks has one copy left, in the indy shelf. As for that, who knows how many copies Midtown has. If you're interested, drop them a line at 1-800-411-3341, or 1-212-302-8192 and ask for Horsemen today!

VGL

Back in Christmas, I got my lady two tickets to see Video Games Live in New York City. Of course, they weren't playing in December. They played Saturday night, around 8 p.m.! So only a few hours ago, my girlfriend Tiff finally got to cash in her Christmas present. Got to say-- it was pretty awesome.

For those unfamiliar, it's basically a live orchestra playing select tunes from classic and contemporary video games. It's pretty much as kickass as you'd imagine it. Great light show, decent M-Cing, and amazing music. At one point I sat back and watched the audience totally captivated in the moment, transfixed on what is essentially the legitimization of something they covet and respect above most, if not all else. It was really a great experience.

Two encores, including music from FFVII and finally, Castlevania. Awesome, awesome shit. Sephirolth's theme was fucking awesome. No Silent Hill music for Tiffany, but I think she had a great time, besides.

Oh, and it's pronounced "Video Games LIVE" (as in "A-live").

Holy Fucking Shit

I cannot wait for this goddamn movie. I hate everyone involved, because I have to wait to see it.

Tales from Comic Con, Part II

As I said in the last post, I wanted to talk about the following (and my last) day of the New York Comic Con!

We hit the floor almost immediately. The line was inside this year, and folded over. It ran much better than in previous years. My buddies Jason and Lisa stood in line with me, until I got a call requiring my attendance on the show floor. It was at this time that Stan Lee appeared on the line and shook hands with Jason and proceeded on his way. Missed opportunity to meet Stan Lee #1!

Walked around the floor for a bit, quite familiar with the expereince from the previous day. I had a sketchbook ready for sketches, knowing full well I'd probably not get any. This was, as it turned out, more or less for naught as nobody was offering sketches for less than $50.

Along the way, I saw 1/3rd of Newsarama's famous vid-casting trio, Pete (from Pulp Secret's Alex, Justin, and Pete). Pete was interviewing Jim Valentino (co-Image founder and creator of Shadowhawk), who had just signed Tiffany's copy of Who Is Shadowhawk #1. After the interview, I approached Pete and introduced myself, shared my opinion about One More Day, and offered him a copy of Horsemen. Pete was cool, and reminded me of pretty much most of my friends who dig comic books. The dude could totally assimilate with my comic-loving friends in Richmond, whom I affectionately refer to as "The Lone Gunmen." One of 'em writes for I-Mockery!

I hit up a few panels, as well. Nothing really of note, though. I went to the Quick Stop Entertainment panel, the last panel of the day. After a vid-cast of Zack and Miri Make a Porno, and a cartoon preview of Strange Brew, I ultimately decided it was a complete waste of time. I also inadvertently offended someone, which I really didn't mean to do, and it kind of left a bad taste in my mouth for the rest of the day.

Earlier, we hit up the Stan Lee panel, and I used my press pass to get to the front of the room. Stan was led past us and through the rear, where my girlfriend Tiffany and friends Keenan and Danielle all met Stan and shook his hand. Missed opportunity to meet Stan Lee #2!

My buddy Keenan and I bought a pair of Kendo sticks to spar with the Jedis with lightsabers, and after we started beating on each other, we were promptly asked to stop by a "Jedi" in dreds. Apparently we weren't using ballet and going slow enough for them to feel comfortable with us sparring. This is true, because we usually beat the living hell out of each other when given the opportunity. I had hoped to have a big swordfight erupt in the Con and spread throughout the floor, but it stopped before it really even began. Still, got a cool Kendo stick out of the deal.

Talked to a guy named Vincent Ferrante, writer and creator of a book called "The Witch Hunter." He was a really cool guy who gave me some really great advice about getting noticed and possibly picked up. We also half-seriously chatted about crossing over characters.

I went back to Archadia Studios Press to talk about Horsemen. Chatted with the editor, who seemed interested in the book. Liked the art, liked the dialog, and took a copy. He mentioned that he (like apparently most of them) won't be looking at proposals for new books until late August, early September. We'll see around then if I get a call. I shot him an email this past Monday reminding him who I was and what I sent him, as per his request.

A few points of interest:

• Met a Ghostbuster (who interestingly enough, did not come with the other three Ghostbusters who were also in attendance).
• Met the only Royal Guard there and got a pic before he left.
• Learned about a new zombie board game which could be fun, but could also be stupid and boring.
• Haggled over the price of one of those microbe dolls for Tiffany. She got "Sore Throat."
• Got a LOT of free shit from this year's Con.
  

All in all, a good time and a great experience. I'm hoping next year will be all the better. Definitely going to try to get that Professional Creator status again. Could not stress enough how helpful that was. Also, I think I like Fridays more than Saturdays, at the Con.

Comic Misconceptions

As some of you may know, I'm attending Montclair State University's teacher certification program. During an exercise, one of the three people in the group mentioned a professor I never had here uses comics and graphic novels in his lessons, and the girl said, "Guys over the age of twenty who read comics are pedophiles. That's just my opinion."

I didn't realize this opinion was still in the mainstream. Obviously it's amplified, but still... it's disheartening.

Tales from Comic Con, Part I

The New York Comic Con, 2008 was a wonderful experience. I mean this in the traditional definition, although I did actually have a nice time. There were so many goddamned people, and not enough clothing to go around, if you catch my drift. But honestly, it was a really good experience for me, and more importantly, a great exposure opportunity for Horsemen. Here's why:

Friday the 18th marked the first time we went to the NYCC on a Friday. As a "Professional Creator," I got to be there majorly early (a great big thanks goes to Mike and CU Studios) and, ostensibly, hobnob with "fellow creators," like myself. In actuality, I wound up being there with a seemingly large amount of other folk, who made no attempt to mask their nerd-dom and beg for sketches and autographs for their several longboxes of comics. I, myself, stood on line for about an hour to try to meet Stan Lee. I failed, and they gave me an Alex Ross ticket, which I utilized shortly before he left the Con for the day.

Some more notable experiences on Friday included meeting Alex Ross (and giving him a copy of Horsemen, for the hell of it), and meeting a shit-ton of indy publishers. I spoke with maybe ten or eleven different indy publishers, and wound up actually giving about five comics as proposals to five different groups. A few in question: Harris Comics, Oni Press, Monolith Publishing, and several others I just can't recall off the top of my head. All of them volunteered to look at the book themselves, and enjoyed the read. One publishing group, which was comprised of simply two dudes who hired artists to draw their respective books, laughed aloud and pointed at moments in the book that caused them mirth. I was more than a little proud, particularly of my artist Mike for conjuring such effective imagery in the best way possible.

Met David Peterson (writer/artist/creator of Mouse Guard), who was very kind. Even gave me a free sketch for my trouble. The publishing group putting Mouse Guard up, ASP, will return in this blog.

Also talked to Gahl, runner of the famous Midtown Comics in Midtown, New York. He liked the book, and offered to sell twenty (20) copies from the store, in store and online! I was blown away by his generosity.

Talked to Scott Ramsoomair of VGCats, and he was really a class act. For those keeping score, VGCats once featured us on their main page when we were a teeny weeny little webcomic. One look at the first issue, and Scott remembered (or pretended to remember) us on the spot, and gratiously accepted a copy. Even if he was just humoring me, it was a really awesome gesture, and VGCats will always hold a special place in my mind when remembering my creative endeavors.

I walked around the floor from about eleven (11) in the morning till about eight (8) o'clock at night when the Con closed. My whole fucking body ached and hurt like nobody's business.

A few other random points of interest about Friday's Con experience:

• Tom DeFalco (creator of Marvel's Spider-Girl) is kind of a dick. Surprising, considering he was instrumental in the Clone Saga. /sarcasm
• Met Erik Larsen in line buying an overpriced hot dog. Mentioned my proposal and behaved aloof and inconvenienced. I thanked him for the advice I mentioned in an earlier blog, and he let his shields down long enough to extend appeciation and promptly ignore me again.
• Dark Horse is NOT interested in proposals at conventions.
• Saw some scenes from WALL-E. Cannot fucking wait!
• Some dude bought X-Men #1 in NM condition for the sole purpose of the chance of having it signed by Stan Lee. They did not meet.
• My lady Tiff and our friend Danielle volunteered for the Con that day, and apparently had a blast doing it.
• When handed my business card, Alex Ross signed it and gave it back to me.
  

Stay tuned for a report on Saturday. Plenty of news, none of it pertaining to Horsemen directly, though. Still, should be a fun read. It's fun to write, anyway.

Music's Monarch

You know what sucks? The goddamn announcer for the NY Times radio station. I swear to God, if I hear, "Leonard Bernstein" one more time in that, "I make two hundred thousand dollars a year to play random classical music and sound like I sustain myself on white wine and exotic cheeses," tone of voice, I'm going down there and beating the opera-loving hell out of him. He manages to invoke at least four, "Leonard Bernsteins" every half hour.

Yes. He's talented. Let it go, you uptight son of a bastard.

ComiXPress Store

The book is now officially available for sale through ComiXpress.com. Here's the direct link to the store, and here's a link to ComiXpress, itself. Go ahead and pick it up, if you haven't already!

Now what?

I experienced the quickest consideration/rejection ever. Less than 24 hours, we got reviewed, critiqued, and rejected. The guys over there are very polite and extremely professional. Hopefully they haven't seen the last of us.

Playing with Others

Saturday, May 3 is Free Comic Book Day. It's a celebration of comic books, and an attempt to bring them into a more mainstream mindset. My own retailer usually makes a big thing of it, with a tent and creators signing and giving away books.

I'd love to participate, and I've been offered a spot to have a table and our own stuff. My question is, does anyone have any ideas for what we might be able to offer, in such short order? I have one or two ideas, but I thought I'd gauge the audience for some suggestions. Thanks, folks!

Issue 2 and Shipping Costs

Mike and I have officially begun work on the second issue of Horsemen. We're also working to really up production and distribution of the book itself, through Facebook and a proposal to a certain indie comic company. Tiffany whipped up a great Basement Comics logo for the new front covers, which should add a little something to the overall look of the book from now on.

We're thinking of going with Ka-Blam publishing for the new issues (including reprints of the original first issue). All new prints will have the following changes done to them:

• A set cover price will be printed on the cover.
• The Basement Comics logo will be seen.
• The issue number will be more appropriate.
• The names of the creative individuals involved with the issue will be seen on the front cover.

Two of them should have been fixed in the first run of prints, but you can thank me for fucking that up. With the help of mighty Photoshop, we will remedy the other details.

On another note entirely, I thought I'd put in shipping costs so people knew how much the book would be:

• If you want Priority shipping, it costs exactly $4.25 to send in the United States, along with one issue.
• If you don't care when you get it, it costs about $3.00 to send in the United States
• If you don't live in the United States, you have to get Priority shipping, and it's an additional $6 to ship an issue overseas (or to Canada).

I'm sorry for the price hike, but that's how much I'm spending out-of-pocket each time I send an issue. I usually wouldn't care, but the book has already cost me quite a bit. It's worth it, to get the story out there and have it enjoyed, but I do need to at least try to recoup my losses, to say nothing of making a profit.

Thank you all, to those who've joined the Facebook group, checked out the site, and/or picked up an issue. If you haven't yet, go ahead and get one! It's 32 uninterrupted pages with only one ad, and it's on the back cover! So pick one up!

After issue 2 is finished, and we hear back from our hopeful publishing saviors, we'll start thinking about t-shirts, buttons, and so forth.

What we're really seriously looking at right now are dolls.... Interested?

Facebookin'

Hey all! In an effort to try and boost promotion of the book, I caved and made a Facebook Fan Group. If you're on Facebook and have nothing better to do for a second, why not stop by? Be a fan, drop a comment, maybe peruse the galleries, or just tell your friends the book is cool. Here's the link:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Horsemen/12805216637