Just got back from SERENITY

It was a great time. I'd seen it during the second round of preview screenings, but it was amazing to see it again with another audience for whom it was all new. Don't let people spoiler it; those people eat babies.

Leaving the theater, there was a swirl of good feeling among the crowd. People had seen the culmination of something they loved. I too am a fan of the too-short series. But the the thing I noticed most clearly was this: As people streamed out of the theater toward the theater exit and then the building exit, all the talk was of how great things were, small things they liked, big things they liked even better. The only people not walking were little cliques of snipers, already working up their arguments as to why this is a worse movie than Movie X. They stood in little clusters in the hallway, and the people talking of their love for FIREFLY and now SERENITY flowed easily around them; soon the naysayers could not be heard, and their complaints? Can't recall now.

I am a leaf on the wind.

Search me...

Savatage, lamchop, freakwater, talkingheads, nick lowe, pink floyd, men at work, the ramones, david bowie, kramer, frank zappa, john hiatt, laurie anderson, old 97's, adrian belew, the fugs, radiohead, brian eno, david byrne, eleni mandell, slobberbone, shoe money, iron maiden, the police.

In addition, kenny rogers, ray charles, willie nelson, johnny cash, the pet shop boys, tom tom club, britney spears, missy elliot, dave atell, patton oswalt, david cross, richard pryor, the sex pistols, go-go's, madonna, usher, electric light orchestra, J Michael Straszynski, jabba the hutt, coca cola, toyota camry, empire state building, the hague, mariannas trench, wes anderson, mickey mouse, abraham lincoln, dick cheney, tortillas, iced tea, bombay sapphire, doctor doom.

In conclusion, slavery, debit cards, hummer, dwarf, sequoia, Nevada, poker, corn, Missippi River, tornado, National Geographic, golf clubs, frigate birds, Blondie, Lawrence welk, Cuba, the moon, fraternities, stone phillips, biscuit, Pennzoil, Rome, pollution, Nascar, wildebeest.

Popcorn, chicken mcnuggets? Weapons-grade-plutonium and crayola.

Sexy moms. Viagra.

Bye!

Mustn't...PANIC!!!

Had one of those heart attack scenarios where one of my precious notebooks seemed to have up and disappeared. Over the years, I've come to realize it takes two people to lose something: the person who lost it and the person that person tries to blame it on. I was getting ready to start throttling the 2nd shift student workers at my day job until the book popped out of someone's ear. The 2nd shift has a history of meddling on1st shift's desks and that's the last place I was sure I saw the book. But I did the right thing and double-checked everywhere I'd been and taken helpful suggestions from Carter and Jer, and it turned up. Good thing, too--I've been scripting the Not Zoo Force half of the third ZOO FORCE book in it and it ws shaping up nicely. When I get a Captain Cat line right, I feel like laminating it. Not even food stains could stop him then.

Anyways, my point is that this is why I work with the greatest collaborators in comics--they are patient with the flaky writer and the flaky writer is most grateful.

Tawannawangaaa!!!

A forum called "Creator's Conference"?

That sounds inviting.... look, a thread called "Grass Roots", all about what small publishers and creators are doing or have done to rise above grass-roots and be "visible over the weeds".

Look at all these interesting things my FELLOW COMICS CREATORS have done to promote themselves and bring the comics community together!

I think I'd like to post something and share some of OUR experiences in this venture. I'm sure they would like to know the different angles we've tried: sending a bottle of "Doom Wine" (along with one of our catalogs) to Patton Oswalt (and receiving a kind thank-you card back), coordinating a reading at a well-known local bookstore in conjunction with being a guest at a world-wide book conference sponsored by the University of Iowa, having one of our books named a finalist in the ForeWord "best graphic novel" category, placing a red-n-white checkered cushy mat out front of our table at WizardWorld to make people linger and relax with our books in their hands. A giant red pen people can't resist using to triple our list of newsletter email addresses.
Wouldn't people like to hear these things?

Well, they can't yet.

When I ask at the great iron door with my best C-3P0 politeness (and really looking the part in my little profile-photo) I am asked for my papers. My "creator credits".

Certainly. Four big books. Lots of graphic design work. See?

"Right. Come back at Xmas."

So. Does this mean, "Come back on December 26th and see if there is room for me."? Or maybe, "Will I turn into a real creator by then?"?

After a while Bib Fortuna comes to the door and tells me, "Warren is restricting creator-level access at this time... nee Jabba no barghaaa!"

But the sign over the door reads:
This section is viewable by all visitors to The Engine, but can only be posted to by comics creators.
For the purposes of the section, "comics creator" is given to mean a published or contracted-to-publish creator. I will also take this to mean a webcomics creator publishing on a paysite or working ad-supported, on a case-by-case basis. Which I know sounds kind of snooty, but, right now, I'm looking for a separation between hobbyist creators and the people who are risking significant chunks of their lives on this stupid game...
By "comics," therefore, I mean comics, graphic novels, manga, OEL, BD and any other contortion of the intended meaning. I was discovering manga and BD while some of you comickers were still twinkles in a tentacle-beast's eye, and it's all bloody comics as far as I'm concerned...

"Published" and not "hobbyist".

Well, that's me. That's John, that's Carter, that's Will, Ian, all of us. That is Candle Light Press. Eleven books and counting, available wherever books are sold.

After the door slams shut, I leave a post-it on it.

"Thanks for clarifying. You, however, are both welcome to visit our place anytime. No Restrictions."

So are all of you. You don't even have to worry about fitting my definition of you and my rules for your entry before I contradict that definition and those rules and lock you out with a sneer anyway. 'Cause I wouldn't dream of doing that to someone.

Come on in, everyone. Glad to have ya!

Archives work now

because...um...they didn't for a bit there.

--John

Pardon Our Dust

We swapped hosting providers today and all the pictures dropped out of the blog posts. We'll reassemble, but it'll be a few days.

--John

Begun the class wars have

I spend most of my spare time making comics. From morning to night until my hands hurt and I get crazy. I don't have the name recognition of a lot of people. That's fine. My books hardly sell at all. Still okay. I'm not in this for your stupid job, man. I'm not trying to put anyone out of work. I am an artist and I do this to express myself. If fame and adulation come with it, fine. My goal isn't to have my picture on a periodical or to have a legion of fans to follow me around at a convention. I am the music industry equivalent of a garage band. I want to be a true-to-myself artist and not some candified whore. I see the vast wasteland of commercial comics and it make me want to hurl. There are spots of cool, but it it's a sea of inflated self-promotion and vanity. There are muck raking dimwits that run the show while living legends are forgotten. Worse still is the latest salvo on artistic integrity. Diamond this week pretty much sank the self-publishing industry. "Make better comics," they chirp. To make matters worse, there is a growing movement to catagorize people like me as "hobbyists". I guess if the only thing that you earn from your work is the satisfaction of a completed work, you are on the same level as a stamp collector (nothing against them). To make matters worse, the people behind this movement are just a breath away from where I am at. It's like watching people on the third class deck of the Titanic fight over who is to get on a life boat, not realizing that the first and second class are already off the ship. Well, if this makes me a 'hobbyist', then so be it. I like stamps better anyway...

New CLP Website Online!

We've been huddled up the last day or so refabbing the Candle Light Press website. Go have a look!

What the?

I am failing to form words around what is happening along the Gulf.
All I can say is donate what you can and pray for the victims.

www.redcross.org

(John note--Carter wrote this, but the email posting thing isn't quite working right)