Buy The Standard at ComixTribe!
November 25, 2011
At the official website of ComixTribe, the publisher of The Standard, a new shop has been opened, where you can buy ComixTribe’s complete line of titles, including The Red Ten, Epic, Runners, Scam, Tears of the Dragon and, of course, The Standard. To celebrate this store opening, and to tie into the Black Friday sales, ComixTribe is currently doing a 25% off everything sale.
MORE INFO ON SHOP.COMIXTRIBE.COM AND THEIR 25% OFF SALE.
If you haven’t yet bought The Standard, now is the perfect chance – your own physical copy of the comic mailed to your door, at 25% off the marked price! I’d also highly recommend getting the ComixTribe bundle deal. It’s a great offer, and you’ll be getting a superb lineup of quality comics. Our bindle deal went down a storm at New York Comic Con: time to find out why.
New York Comic Con Report: Day 3
October 27, 2011
I got up even earlier on Saturday, setting my alarm for the scary time of 6am, and was down at the Javits Center by around 8:30am. I think that’s as much a testament to how slow I am in the mornings as it is to my earliness. Even at this time, however, the queue outside the building dwarved even the big line from the day before. I could tell that Saturday at New York Comic Con was going to be crazy.
Joe arrived early with a fresh shipment of stock, which was appreciated, as we were starting to run down. Indeed, by Friday night we’d sold all the stock of Red Ten and Scam we had, which I suppose is a good problem to have! With the increased Saturday traffic, we managed to get a lot more people at our table and looking at our stuff, but we were still having some trouble really hooking people and closing the deal. Joe and I couldn’t help but throw Glengarry Glenn Ross references at each other: “Coffee is for closers!” “A.I.D.A.!” It was also really interesting observing how master pitcher Tyler would alter and adjust his pitch for each book depending on who he was talking to. To read about his technique, and more notes from New York Comic Con, be sure to check out Tyler’s awesome ComixTribe column here.
One great moment of the day came from meeting Stephen Blaha, who I’ve known for years as Superferret on Superhero Hype. He bought copies of The Standard #1 and #2, and we chatted for a bit about forum and RPG stuff. One of the great things about travelling to comic cons in America in recent years has been being able to meet these people I’ve known for ages through message boards, but finally being able to put a face and a voice to the username.
I took a minute to do a bit of shopping. Well, I say “took a minute”, but with how insanely packed the show floor was on Saturday, a brief journey to nearby stalls that would have only taken a few minutes before all of a sudden required a commitment of quite a bit of time. From the Midtown Comics booth, I picked up a few gifts for friends back home, the first volume of the Starman Omnibus for myself, and a copy of Voodoo Heart, a collection of short stories by Scott Snyder. This was the prose novel that first brought Snyder to the attention of the comics world, and though it’s not readily available in the UK, I was keen to pick it up and check it out. Plus, I could add it to my hefty pile of signing material for Scott Snyder, as I already had samples from just about every other project he’s worked on.
Scott Snyder has quickly become one of my favorite comic writers, and he was one of the people I was most excited to meet. I had been periodically checking his Artist’s Alley table over the first couple of days of the con, but he never seemed to be there. And on Saturday, he’d left a note at his table saying he wouldn’t have time to be there much, and the best place to find him would be at his designated signings. The first one was at the DC Comics booth. Foolishly, I headed over to that one – clutching my pile of Snyder books - a mere few minutes before the signing was scheduled to start. The line was already massive. And, in a bit of a dick move, the guy about 3 people in front of me let me and a few others wait and talk amongst ourselves for several minutes before turning around, shouting “SURPRISE!” and flashing his I AM THE LAST PERSON IN THIS QUEUE sign, saying no one would be seen after him. So, that was a near miss.
I only had one panel to attend today, which was the DC Dark/Edge panel. I’m not reading many of the Edge comics, but for me, the Dark titles have been the highlight of the DC relaunch, and so I was really excited to find out more about what was coming up from them. I was lucky enough to get a seat in the front row for this one, which was an added bonus. Before the panel started, I spotted Joshua Hale Fialkov milling around, so I ran over to say hello. He kindly agreed to sign my copies of Tumor and Echoes, as well as I, Vampire #1. When you read how screwed up the protagonists in his books are, you may be surprised to learn that Mr. Fialkov is a warm, personable guy, and we chatted a little bit about the British NHS and the history of the I, Vampire franchise. I must say, getting the Fialkov books signed would be a big weight off my shoulders. No, I mean literally: I would no longer need to carry around two hardcover graphic novels in my satchel bag each day.
I spotted someone else before the panel started: Scott Snyder! Perhaps a bit rudely, I shouted, “Oy, Scott!” to get his attention. You can take the Glaswegian out of Glasgow, but you can’t take the Glasgow out of the Glaswegian, it would seem. I asked him if he had any plans to be at his Artist’s Alley table that day, as I’d just missed him at his DC signing. He said he’d be at a signing at Midtown Comics later in the day, but if I just had a few things he could sign them now. I told him I had a big pile, so it would probably be better waiting for the Midtown Comics signing. He complimented my (Swamp Thing!) shirt and asked me my name, and I was left very happy at having met Scott Snyder, who came across as just as friendly as he does online and in interviews.
A blurry photo of an Animal Man #3 page by Travel Foreman that you’ve probably already seen in hi-res.
The panel itself was great fun, as we got treated to glimpses of art – cover and interior – for a whole range of quality titles. Scott Snyder gave us a teaser of a villain who shows up in the next issue of Swamp Thing who sounds really great, and an ideal foe for Swamp Thing. Apparently it’s a guy with control over decay, who can find any small piece of decay in someone – even a bit of rot in a tooth – and make it grow and spread throughout that person’s whole body. Plus, he’s allergic to chlorofill, so has to wear an oxygen mask at all times. Sounded really cool. Some problems with dodgy mics up on the stage caused some delays, though, so by the time we’d gotten through everyone and their books there wasn’t much time for questions.. But still, a really fun panel.
Learning my lesson from the last attempt, I headed straight from the panel to join the queue for Scott Snyder’s Midtown Comics signing, a good 20 minutes early. The queue was still sizable, and with the way it stretched out across the con floor, we were causing a bit of a fire hazard, and we constantly had people having to break through the line to get past us. But I did get talking to people in the line, so the time went by quickly enough. However, my heart sank when I neared the front of the line, and the moderator informed us we could only get 3 items maximum signed. I looked down with sadness at my pile of 10 books, and with great difficulty, chose 3 titles – American Vampire #1, Batman #1, Swamp Thing #1 - for Scott to sign.
When I got to the table, Scott not only recognised me, but remembered my name. That amazed me, as I was hopeless at remembering the names of even the handful of repeat visitors at the ComixTribe table, so given how many fans Scott must have met, that was quite a skill. Living up to his reputation as the nicest guy in comics, Scott recalled that I’d had a big pile of comics I wanted signed, and said I could leave the rest of my stuff with him, and he’d sign it all at the end. This was a really nice gesture that was very much appreciated. I gave him copies of The Standard #1 and #2 as well, thanked him again, and made my exit with my three signed comics, happy at meeting one of my fave writers twice.
Returning to the ComixTribe booth for a little while, I was pleased to meet Cesar Feliciano, the artist of The Red Ten, who had stopped by our table to help out for the day. He also drew up a great artist edition cover of The Standard #1, which I was very pleased with!
Heading back to the Midtown Comics booth, a little after the end of the signing, I figured Scott would have left my comics behind the table for me to collect. But to my surprise, he was actually waiting on the floor for me to come back to give them to me himself! Again, the guy’s a total class act. He rummaged through his backpack, and produced my pile of books – Voodoo Heart, Severed #1, Severed #3, Swamp Thing #2, Detective Comics #871, Detective Comics #875, Detective Comics #879 and another copy of Batman #1 – all signed. In a funny moment, he almost accidentally gave me a copy of Batman #2 a week before its release, and had to take it back upon realising his mistake. To be honest, I kinda regret not really saying anything to him but “Thanks” a few times when I could have been asking all kinds of questions about what lies in store in the future for some of my favorite books – I’d had a question all prepared about his future plans for The Joker that totally slipped from my brain – but I was just too chuffed for anything to come to mind. Scott told me he’d read my comics, we said goodbye, and I left VERY happy, having met one of my fave writers thrice!
Perhaps I was energised by my shamanic encounter with Super-Snyder, but whatever the cause, when I returned to the ComixTribe booth, all of a sudden I found that I’d at last got into a proper selling rhythm. Things started to take a real upswing where, after a quiet stretch, I picked a random person passing by through the crowd, pointed at them, and shouted, “YOU!” I asked them to come over to the table, and we ended up selling them a ComixTribe package. But the real turning point was a seemingly small detail, where I found that moving from sitting behind my table to standing in front of it made a huge difference. Perhaps it was a body language thing, where I was now more closely connected to the passing trade, but for whatever reason, all of a sudden I was much more successful in grabbing people’s attention and bringing them over to the table. And we started getting a much higher ratio of people actually buying something once we’d attracted them to the table.
Tyler, Joe, me (in a pose oddly like a Vegas showgirl) and Cesar.
Something that I discovered was a real boon to my salesmanship was my Scottish accent. Tpically, I hate my voice, and I have come to accept that in America a lot of people just won’t understand a word I’m saying. But it seemed to really work a charm in getting people interested in our comics. I joked that it was because people couldn’t hear me when I said, “Hey, want to check out some cool comics?” As a result, they’d come closer and get me to repeat myself, by which point I’d reeled them in and had them in position to get a closer look at my comics. Whatever the cause, people seemed more interested because I was Scottish, and I started playing up that Scottishness more in my pitching, starting to make a bigger deal of showing people the pages of The Standard #1 featuring The Frying Scotsman – which always seemed to get a laugh. Even more shockingly, my accent seemed to get me some kind of sex appeal! Apparently my grating Glaswegian brogue sounds exotic to New Yorker ears, and it seemed like the number of women we sold books to surged on the Saturday. I was getting the flirty body language and everything – is this what it feels like to be a “playa”? At one point, I gave the whole ComixTribe pitch to one young lady, and when I was done, I asked her if she was interested in any comics, but she say, “No, I just wanted to hear you talk for a bit.” Oh my!
In a way it was a bit infuriating, business really getting going once the con was more than half over. But better late than never! After being absent for much of the first couple of days, and underwhelming in my selling to the point of practically being a cooler while I was around, I was relieved that I’d found an approach to selling that worked for me, and helped me to start pulling my weight at the table more. I even earned the nickname “The Sellin’ Scotsman” from Tyler, which was nice. I was really pleased to start seeing copies of The Standard shifting en masse, and I managed to sell people on the other titles on the ComixTribe lineup as well.
Towards the end of the con day, I took a walk down to Artist’s Alley, and met Greg Capullo. I’ve been a big fan of his work on Batman, but my main incentive for introducing myself was my knowledge that Capullo is the hero of Jonathan Rector, my friend and artist of The Standard. I got Greg to sign two copies of Batman #1 - one for myself and one for Jon – and gave him copies of The Standard, explaining how much the artist was a fan of his work. So perhaps Greg Capullo is now a fan of your work too, Jon!
I’m pleased to report we were selling comics right up to closing time, and a little beyond. Saturday was a huge success for ComixTribe, and the best day of NYCC thus far. My one disappointment of the day was not getting into the after-hours Black Dynamite panel. Infuriatingly, there was a Dragonball Z panel in the same room immediately after it, so I arrived to a massive queue, populated mostly by young anime fans who quite clearly had no interest in Black Dynamite. I was in line with a couple of other Black Dynamite fans, and once it became clear that we weren’t going to get into the panel, things started getting nasty. These other guys started getting into a confrontation with one of the NYCC volunteers, who didn’t help the situation much by replying with, “Well, if you wanted into this panel you should have been queueing from Avengers this afternoon.” In my repressed British way, I wasn’t up for getting into a fight when it was quite clear that no amount of shouting would get me a seat in this panel, so I told the increasingly flustered NYCC rep that I appreciated it wasn’t his fault, and dejectedly left the Javits Center.
After grabbing a quick Subway for dinner (so much for making the most of New York’s cuisine) I met up with Joe, and we headed out to the Indy Comics After-Party, an invite-only event at Blaggards Pub we had managed to score invitations to. However, we didn’t see anyone there that we knew or recognised, and with a live band playing, the music was even louder than at Tempest a couple of nights earlier, so loud neither of us could hear a word the other was saying. After a while, Joe and I gave up and headed out, relocating to the quieter, nicer Twins Bar and talking about politics and other subjects for a bit. Oooh, I’m such a party animal!
Of course, Spider-Man loves NY.
Overall, Saturday was an amazing day. I got to meet some great comics people, ComixTribe and The Standard really started to gain momentum, and the whole day was just good fun. I was already starting to feel sad that the con – and my time in New York – would soon be over.
New York Comic Con Report: Day 1
October 24, 2011
For ages, it seems like it’s been looming as something exciting and a little bit scary in the distance. From Monday October 10th to Monday October 17th, 2011, I would be visiting New York City. Tyler James, publisher of ComixTribe, had invited me out to the New York Comic Con to represent The Standard, and I jumped at the chance. Having missed out on getting tickets for San Diego Comic Con earlier in the year, I had the funds to pull the trip off, and so I decided to build a vacation to the Big Apple around my first experience as a pro at a major con. And somehow, it managed to sneak up on me, and all of a sudden I was in New York City, with the con itself right around the corner.
It had been fun seeing New York City, but with the arrival of Thursday it was time to get down to business: New York Comic Con was upon us. After another 6:30am rise and a hearty breakfast to set me up for the day, I headed down on the brief walk to the Javits Convention Center. I had scoped the place out on my first day in NYC, and it had seemed pretty barren, an empty vessel waiting for a sense of purpose. But what a difference a few days make. Now, the Javits Center was getting ready for New York Comic Con!
Once I arrived, I discovered that Tyler James and Joe Mulvey – my booth partners, who would be bringing the tables, chairs and our supply of comics – had been held up in that notorious New York traffic. And since we needed Tyler, who’d booked the booth, to get our exhibitor passes, I had to just sit around in the foyer for a while. But eventually, the rest of the gang arrived, and while Joe seeked out a parking place outside, I got to meet the mighty Tyler James, glorious leader of ComixTribe, for the first time. I always get a kick meeting people I’ve talked to online in person, and so far I’ve been fortunate in that I’ve not had an experience of someone I thought was alright over MSN or Skype turning out to be a weirdo in person (probably because I’M the one who’s the weirdo in person), and Tyler was no exception, turning out to be as smart and cool in the real world as the virtual one.
There was a brief scare where it seemed like our passes had been lost, or accidentally given to someone else, but thankfully it was resolved before too long, and we were kitted out with the Willy Wonka’s Golden Ticket that is a Comic-Con exhibitor pass. Meeting up with Joe and his friend outside, we went through the arduous task of dragging our heavy bundles of stock and equipment from the car park to our booth on the show floor. An interesting aside: over the course of the week, I only noticed that the escalator from the foyer up to the show floor had stopped working on two occasions. The first was on this day, meaning we had to haul all our stuff up it like it was a regular flight of stairs. The second was on Sunday, when we had to haul all our stuff back down it again. Typical.
Another problem emerged once we located our corner booth just near Artist’s Alley. Namely, that it wasn’t a corner booth. We were located quite inconveniently next to what I can only call a massive China exhibit. If that sounds vague, it’s because that’s the impression they gave. It was this collection of 8 connected booths that ran in a big line next to where our booth was, all with the words CHINA written on top of them, but each with its own hazey subtitle, like “Skyworks Technologies” or “Guangzhou Daley Media Co” or something similarly uninformative. And these booths were typically partitioned off, and often empty. And I don’t just mean no con-goers stopped by – though people rarely did – I mean that even the exhibitors themselves were barely there. It must have been an expensive bit of real estate, but obviously these guys must have had a lot of money to throw around to book all that space then not really use it. And the problem with these massive booths was that they jutted right out onto the floor, far beyond the reach of our table, meaning anyone walking past them was automatically cast at a distance away from our table, breaking that essential passing trade connection. On the plus side, I pointed out, we were at a good place to catch people headed to the nearby bathroom.
I have to say, it was really exciting setting up the ComixTribe booth. Sure, I got a little thrill laying out my comics at my table for the Glasgow Comic Fair, but this was on a whole other level. Organising not just The Standard, but the rest of ComixTribe’s diverse lineup, reminded me of the stellar company I keep being a part of ComixTribe. The absolute best thing about The Standard being published through ComixTribe is that I get to be a part of such a fantastic roster of talent, and an incredible lineup of titles. I had already read and loved Runners, Tears of the Dragon and Epic, but once the booth was set up, I was able to sit down and read Joe Mulvey’s Scam, and The Red Ten by Tyler James and Cesar Feliciano. Both are just great comics, which I highly recommend checking out if you possibly can. Here’s the thing that helped me a lot while pitching all the ComixTribe titles over the weekend: I didn’t have to be dishonest in my shilling. My enthusiasm and passion for each of these comics and their quality was absolutely genuine.
With the booth ready, we all headed out to a local deli for lunch. And, like the sophisticated artistic souls we are, we spent the entire meal sharing puke, shit and fart stories. Classy, my kinda people. Afterwards, we headed back to the convention center, and I took the time to have a look around the show floor. The layout was actually quite a lot like San Diego, only with less TV and movie booths, and more of a central focus on comics. I also noted that Marvel had situated itself far away from the rest of the comics booth, instead settling down right in the middle of the video game section. This struck me as a bit isolationist, and because it was so far off my beaten track, I actually never visited the Marvel booth save for passing by it on my way into the show floor in the mornings. I’d say the trifecta of the DC Comics booth, the Image booth and the Midtown Comics booth felt more like the central hub of the show floor, with the well-furnished Archaia booth situated well in amongst them.
After a while, the doors opened to the public (at least, those with 4-day VIP passes), and the first day of selling began. In all honesty, business was a little slow on this first day. We did have a steady flow of eyes on our table, but we had our quiet periods. My problem was that I couldn’t get my salesmanship down. My pitch for The Standard was overlong and clunky, and I could practically see eyes glazing over as I launched into it. I just didn’t seem to have a good knack for it, and was grateful that the affable Joe and the super-efficient selling machine that was Tyler were there to take my slack.
Shifting from my exhibitor hat to my fan hat, I took a wander around Artist’s Alley. The first familiar face I got to meet was Mikel Janin, the talented rising star artist of Justice League Dark. He very kindly agreed to sign my copy of Justice League Dark #1, and we parted on what I thought was a good note. But then I realised, to my horror, that I had given Mikel my sharpie pen, and forgotten to take it back. Now, those who know me from work will know that I am paranoid about ensuring nobody takes it from me, and I will stand and watch people use the pens they borrow fro me to make sure they give them back when they’re done. So I launched into this awkward moment where I had to go back to this gifted artist I admire, and politely ask him to give me my pen back. Thankfully, my subsequent friendly Twitter chat with Mikel would suggest this faux pas was not too disastrous.
The next folks on my list were Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt, the esteemed writer/artist team on cracking Western series The Sixth Gun. Long-time followers of this blog will know I’ve devoted a lot of time to promoting this comic, reviewing the first graphic novel collection and several other subsequent issues and bestowing superlative but well-deserved praise. I tried my best to convey this praise to the team in person, telling them that The Sixth Gun had so much content packed into each issue that every individual comic was a rewarding read in itself, and that this most definitely wasn’t a comic for trade-waiters. I then gave them a trade to sign.
But perhaps most exciting of all for me on this day was the chance to meet Jason Aaron. Regular readers may know that I have gushed about The Sixth Gun, but they’ll also know that I’ve lavished numerous dissertation-length odes of devotion to the seminal Verigo crime series Scalped, a title I’ve not been in shy in saying I’d rank as definitely the best comic on shelves today, and well on its way into entering the canon of the all-time greats. Considering all this, getting to meet Scalped writer Jason Aaron was one of the things I was most excited about going into the New York Comic Con. And I’m pleased to say he didn’t disappoint. This is something that has struck me about all the folks in comics I’ve been fortunate enough to meet over the past couple of years: they’re all nice guys. It must be really deflating to meet one of your heroes, and they’re a jerk. But the comics creators I’ve had the chance to talk to have all been friendly, and keen to chat with their fans, and Jason Aaron was no exception.
At first, Jason bamboozled me a bit: when I produced Scalped #25 and told him that, after much painful deliberation, I had decided this was my favorite single issue of the series, he asked me the dreaded question, “Why is this one your favorite?” I garbled at him in incomprehensible Glaswegian for a while as I struggled to come up with a good answer (I failed), and then I introduced myself as the writer of the Studying Scalped columns he had kindly linked to on his blog. It was great that Jason knew who I was enough to thank me for the columns I’d written. I also told him I was the guy who’d asked him to bring along Scalped #3, #15 and #16 to the con, and he responded by producing them from his backpack. Getting these elusive comics given to me by the writer himself! I was ready to pay double the cover price or more, but Jason amazingly said I could just take them for free! What a classy guy. With these issues in my collection, I was now the proud owner of every Scalped single issue save for issue #1. I tried to fire a couple of quickfire Scalped questions at Jason before leaving. Will there be any Scalped deluxe hardcovers in future? Probably not. Will there be any Scalped retrospective panels at San Diego 2012 or next year’s NYCC? Again, probably not, but Jason did mention I could take part in some kind of series of closing interviews at the end of the series, which would be amazing. I gave Jason copies of The Standard #1 and #2, then gushed some more about how Scalped was one of the greatest comics of all time, before finally making my exit.
In terms of stuff I bought, I was able to grab almost all the issues of Zot! my friend Jamie Fairlie was missing from his collection, and I picked up two T-shirts from DC’s Graphitti Designs booth: a Swamp Thing T-shirt, and something I’ve wanted for a long time: a grey Batman with a black Batman logo. That’s right, none of that “black T-shirt with the black bat logo inside a yellow circle” movie bullshit for me, I’m a comics purist, baby! And a nerd.
Back at the ComixTribe booth, Steve – the friendly fan from Jim Hanley’s – stopped by to say hello. He had read and enjoyed The Standard #1 after buying it at the signing, so was here to get his hands on The Standard #2. I have to say, this happened a few times over the course of the con, and it was the biggest compliment. When someone buys and reads the first issue one day, and takes the time to come back the next day, tell you they loved it, and buy issue #2? That’s quite possibly the most rewarding thing about writing these comics. It’s a great feeling. Steve also ended up buying the rest of ComixTribe’s lineup too, which was great. Perhaps our first convert of NYCC. Thanks, Steve!
Once the NYCC preview night wrapped up, I stopped back at my hotel to make a quick change and drop off my heavy satchel bag (this bag, filled with books I wanted signed, was the bane of much of my travels during the con), before heading down to Tempest Bar for ComixTribe’s Drink & Draw event. Food was provided in the form of giant pizzas brought in from a nearby pizzeria. Yes, that’s right, pizza again. And these ones were MASSIVE, dwarving even the oversized slices from Pronto Pizza. Quite possibly the biggest pizza I’ve seen in my life.
Drink & Draw started off quiet, but once it got going we ended up with a good crowd of comic creators at the event. Now, I say “quiet”, but what I actually mean is that deafeningly loud music was banging away at all times, and it seemed like the louder I tried to speak, the louder the music got. See, I just don’t get this. I see a bar as a place meant for socialising, so while ambient music is fine, what’s the point of cranking up the volume so loud you can barely communicate? And remember, I was trying to make myself understood to a bunch of New Yorkers with a thick Scottish accent as it was, so I was already fighting an uphill battle.
I did get to have a few good conversations, though. In particular, I got to have some lengthy chats with Rich Douek, regular ComixTribe commenter, and writer of an intriguing title called Gutter Magic that I was able to get my hands on at NYCC. And I also got one of Tyler’s friends to draw up an image for one of the artist edition covers of The Standard, which was greatly appreciated.
After hanging out for a few hours, I took my leave, feeling a little sick from the watered-down Coke and oversized pizza. But it was a good kind of sick. The New York Comic Con was off to a great start. And it was only going to get better.
ComixTribe Unveils New York Comic Con Plans
August 1, 2011
Via Tyler James at ComixTribe:
Great news! ComixTribe will be in full force at this year’s New York Comic Con, the east coast’s largest comic book and pop culture event. NYCC will be a coming out party of sorts for ComixTribe, and we’ve got plenty in store for the show. We’ve reserved a corner booth on the outskirts of the small press section of the show. It’s a great location, lending itself to plenty of foot traffic.
At the ComixTribe Booth
Holding down the fort at the show will be a number of familiar ComixTribers. CT publisher and co-founder Tyler James will be there the entire weekend. He’ll be joined in the booth by creator and New York native Joe Mulvey, who will be debuting his first creator-owned book at the show. And we’re thrilled to announce that John Lees, writer of our Creator Owned Zone column and author of The Standard is coming all the way from Glasgow to be at the show. We may feature some additional guests in the booth throughout the weekend, so stay tuned to the ComixTribe site for more details.
ComixTribe Programming
In keeping with the ComixTribe mission statement of creators helping creators make better comics, we’ve submitted proposals for two panels:
Help Wanted! How to Find Great Collaborators to Make Comics
Comics have always been a collaborative medium. But for the aspiring creator, finding collaborators can seem like a daunting challenge. In this informative panel, a number of up-and-coming independent comic creators reveal the secrets of finding great collaborators (artists, writers, colorists, letterers, editors, etc.) to bring comic ideas to life. If you’re a writer in need of an artist, or a penciller looking for a scribe, this is a panel you won’t want to miss.
The panel will answer such questions as: When are you ready to find collaborators? Where do you go to find great people to work with? And what are reasonable expectations for indie collaborations? Panelists will also discuss the pros and cons of common collaborative work arrangements, such as work-for-hire, co-creating, back-end payments, etc. It’s no secret that finding great collaborators is only a small part of the challenge of creating comics.
The panelists will also address the keys to maintaining strong working relationships throughout the duration of your book’s development. You’ll hear from a diverse group of hard-working independent creators who have overcome a number of obstacles (financial, geographic, self-doubt, etc.) to put together strong creative teams and make comics. Moderated by Tyler James (Epic, Tears of the Dragon), you’ll hear from writers John Lees (The Standard) and Richard Douek (Gutter Magic), and artist/writer team Jonathan Moore and Joey Esposito (Footprints) on what it takes to make successful collaborations work. If you’re ready to stop thinking about making comics and start putting a team in place to actually create them, you can’t miss this talk. This panel is sponsored by ComixTribe.com: Creators helping creators make better comics.
Why Aren’t More People Reading Comics?
Comics are great. You know it, I know it, and the 100,000 other people attending New York Comic Con know it. Comic properties continue to tear up the charts on both the big and small screen, and comic conventions are huge draws from coast to coast. So why aren’t more people actually reading comics? And what exactly do non-comic readers know about our beloved medium anyway? Comic creator Joe Mulvey (SCAM) decided to interview a group of non-comic book readers to find out.
In this very unscientific, often hilarious, and incredibly informative study, Joe conducted initial interviews with a number of individuals, finding out their preconceptions of comics, knowledge of the medium, and consumption preferences of other media (books, tv, film, video games.) Joe then supplied each test subject with a stack of personalized comic book and graphic novel recommendations, which they agreed to read. Two weeks later, Joe conducted a follow-up interview, to find out what they now thought about comics. In this panel, Joe will share the surprising results of this study, results that offer great hope for the future of our favorite medium, and incredible insight for creators, publishers, and retailers interested in growing comics readership. This panel is sponsored by ComixTribe.com: Creators helping creators make better comics.
We will find out by the end of August whether or not our panels have been accepted. Stay tuned to ComixTribe for more details on this programming as we have it.
NYCC Debut Books and Exclusive Merchandise
Of course, we’ll be debuting a bunch of brand new product at the show. The full list of products is still being determined, but expect:
- EPIC #1 NYCC Exclusive
- The Red Ten #1 – with special variant cover by CP Wilson III (Stuff of Legend)
- The Standard NYCC Collected Edition
- Runners #1
- SCAM
We’ll also have on hand copies of Tears of the Dragon – Volume 1, the Over graphic novel, a limited number of ComixTribe t-shirts, and we’re working on printing some special creator resources as well. In the coming months, we’ll be releasing a “ComixTribe Takes Manhattan” digital preview book of all of the great product we’ll have at the show.
To make sure you get the preview, be sure to subscribe to our mailing list. We’ll be mailing out some special ComixTribe discounts to mailing list subscribers, and you’ll be the first to hear about other events and programming and special offers from ComixTribe.
ComixTribe Meet-Up
We’re also planning on organizing a special event/meet-up, most liking in conjunction with our good friends at The Webcomic Alliance for one of the nights post-show. Details are still being ironed out, but we’re committed to pull together an opportunity for creators to netork and unwind in the Big Apple.
Attending the show? Let us know!
If you’re going to be at the show, whether you’re a comics pro, aspiring creator, or just a fan, definitely let us know, either in the comments below, on our Facebook Page, or Tweeting us at our Twitter account @ComixTribe. We want to connect with as many of you as possible.
And if you are a creator attending the show, either in artist alley, small press, or walking the floor, we’d like to publicize your appearance here on the site. Let us know who you are, what you do, anything special you’re debuting or offering at the show, and where people can find you, and we’ll include you in our upcoming NYCC Creator Spotlight Series. Send me an email at tyler.james@comixtribe.com with the details, and we’ll get you highlighted on our site.
ComixTribe has big plans for the New York Comic Con, many of which we will be unveiling over the coming weeks. It’s going to be a ton of work, but a lot of fun. We can’t wait.
