After a virtual four-year hiatus from creating comics, there are elements of the indy comic schtick I had forgotten about, or had relegated to the dungeon of my mind. I prefer to think (like most) that making indy comics is all about sitting at my drawing board, listening to rock music, with an assortment of pens and pencils close at hand.
Often with no shirt on!
Oh, and I get to Twitter like ALL day, like Rob Liefeld and Gail Simone!
Yeah, something like that.
Here's the reality - I have a full time job well beyond the normal 40-hour work week. When I come home I've got a wonderful family to greet me and for me to lead. The dog needs walking. House stuff needs doing. I spend some time with God, and I have a ministry that I work on at least 1-2 hours a day via email.
So let's figure, conservatively, I have now accounted for about 15 hours of my day. Add seven for sleeping, and I've got two hours left each day. Well, that's plenty, isn't it? It is if you can bypass TV (which I largely do) and gaming (which I have entirely).
Now let's get into the reality of how that time gets spent.
To get the book finished, I had to learn Illustrator to letter the pages and, once they were done, I had to re-letter the pages thanks to some very good advice I received. Then the pages needed to be prepped in Acrobat into a nice neat PDF file complete with crop marks. News flash: I have NO IDEA now to do this stuff. So, much of my time is taken up learning about computer programs and pre-flight lingo, and not pencil and ink stuff.
Now that the book's out, we need to get the word out, so I'm working with my Public Relations Manager (that's me) to write the press releases and get it out there and gather the reviews. Fortunately, I've gotten some help from my friend Paul Castiglia in this department, but I still need to ensure that the right things are said and that the book is marketed in the best way possible, so people will give it a shot. Interviews and questionnaires become the norm for a time, hosting chat sessions... no, no paparazzi.
The website needs to be built and updated and maintained by my Web Development Director (that's me). Last night we ran into some hitches getting the preview pages of Colossians onto the site, so we had to call tech support (me and Google). Books need to be delivered to local shops via courier (me) and copies need to move through our mailroom (me). Trading cards are being designed (me) and on the job training with the Adobe Suite is ongoing. T-shirt designs too!
Comic shows are coming up, so sketch cards are being prepared by my production team (me). The shows need to be booked (by me) and paid for (me again) and staffed (okay, fortunately I always seem to have a comrade more than willing to join me on these adventures).
The script for issue 2 needs a couple of final pages due to a change made in issue 3, and, by the way, the script for issue 3 is also underway. And since I've written three issues for three different artists, the style and the pace for each is quite different.
Recently, my church discovered, "Hey, Joe can draw!" And suddenly I've got lots of requests to help develop Sunday School posters and church fliers. I also get requests to work on other books ("Just a page or seven") that are tough to say no to.
And, when all that's done, I can do some inking for issue 2.
Not that I'm complaining, mind you. All that stuff above that I get to do (well, MOST of it) I really enjoy. I enjoy learning and stretching and growing. I enjoy doodling and tweaking and interacting with fans and creative people. The whole process is endlessly fascinating to me. I just wish there were more hours in the day, or more Joe's to get it all done.
Some would say "My plate is too full." I say, "I'm at all all you can eat buffet!"
And that is a glimpse into the life of an indy comic creator.
And no, I haven't even begun to Tweet.
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Back with a Vengeance
Has it really been three years since I wrote anything here? Where does the time go?
Fact is, it's been a long, strange trip for me, as my career got back on track, my spiritual walk became a little less clumsy, and I spent some time learning and prioritizing from an entirely new perspective. As I look back, the last few posts were from an especially dark time in my life. But you know what happens? We get better.
I also got involved with a blog/podcast about comic books themselves at Good Versus Evil, where we're been reviewing, promoting and schmoozing. And while I love comics, and I love talking about comics, what I had forgotten was how much I enjoy being a part of the scene, and making comics.
Therefore, at long last, in the past few weeks I've returned to finally visit an old friend, and finally have some closure on a project that has been near and dear to my heart since I was a kid. It has stayed nearly completed, except for the lettering, for about three or four years. I finally stopped beating myself up over it, boned up on my Illustrator and Photoshop skills, and put the finishing touches on...
Colossians draws from some of my favorite comic and sci-fi influences, as well as my experience with Megazeen and years and years of scribbling down stories in notebooks. I got to work with some of my good friends and Megazeen accomplices who really got on board to make this happen - Kneon Transitt, Jeff Slemons and Mark Melton, among others. In that sense, Colossians is very much the child of Megazeen, the natural progression, as we move beyond the anthology format and into a full-fledged comic book series.
This first return to blogging is little more than a plug for this cool little book. If you're still out there and listening, check out the website, www.colossianscomic.com, and when you're ready, go to "Buy Stuff" and get your copy while they last.
In the days to come, I'll be talking about the creative dynamic that made this a reality (expanding on the editorial you can read in the book), the contents of the series, and begin to hint at what's in store for the next few issues. We're digging in our heels for the long haul.
In so many ways, Colossians feels like I've come home.
Fact is, it's been a long, strange trip for me, as my career got back on track, my spiritual walk became a little less clumsy, and I spent some time learning and prioritizing from an entirely new perspective. As I look back, the last few posts were from an especially dark time in my life. But you know what happens? We get better.
I also got involved with a blog/podcast about comic books themselves at Good Versus Evil, where we're been reviewing, promoting and schmoozing. And while I love comics, and I love talking about comics, what I had forgotten was how much I enjoy being a part of the scene, and making comics.
Therefore, at long last, in the past few weeks I've returned to finally visit an old friend, and finally have some closure on a project that has been near and dear to my heart since I was a kid. It has stayed nearly completed, except for the lettering, for about three or four years. I finally stopped beating myself up over it, boned up on my Illustrator and Photoshop skills, and put the finishing touches on...
Colossians draws from some of my favorite comic and sci-fi influences, as well as my experience with Megazeen and years and years of scribbling down stories in notebooks. I got to work with some of my good friends and Megazeen accomplices who really got on board to make this happen - Kneon Transitt, Jeff Slemons and Mark Melton, among others. In that sense, Colossians is very much the child of Megazeen, the natural progression, as we move beyond the anthology format and into a full-fledged comic book series.
This first return to blogging is little more than a plug for this cool little book. If you're still out there and listening, check out the website, www.colossianscomic.com, and when you're ready, go to "Buy Stuff" and get your copy while they last.
In the days to come, I'll be talking about the creative dynamic that made this a reality (expanding on the editorial you can read in the book), the contents of the series, and begin to hint at what's in store for the next few issues. We're digging in our heels for the long haul.
In so many ways, Colossians feels like I've come home.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Fasting from Facebook
A reading from the letter of Joe to the Facebookers
And so, Joe was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted by the devil. And when he fasted for 7 days and 7 nights (from Facebook) he was afterward hungered.
And when the tempter came to him, he said unto Joe, check thine homepage, for witty piths doth emerge there, and thy friends have taken many quizzes and offered you many virtual drinks to imbibe. Surely thou art curious.
But Joe answered and said, It is written, "For the fool will speak folly, and his heart will work iniquity, to practice profaneness, and to utter error against Yahweh, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and to cause the drink of the thirsty to fail." (Isaiah 32:6)
So then the devil taketh him to his flatscreen monitor and sayeth unto him, if thou art a Jesus Freak, at least change thy update on Facebook and share thy inner thoughts with some witty banter, for surely they will benefit from your wisdom.
And Joe said unto him, It is written, "Don't be wise in your own eyes. Fear Yahweh, and depart from evil." (Proverbs 3:7)
Again, the devil took Joe before his monitor and showeth him all the games as far as the eye could see, from Mafia Wars to Pirates, from Vampires to Superhero City, and he said unto him, all these dollars and pesos and plunder and blood I can make real, and you must check in anyway before you lose your Energy Boosts and some scab comes and taketh away your health and money.
And Joe said, Get thee behind me Satan, for it is written, "The love of money (or points or whatever) is the root of all kinds of evil." (1 Tim 6:10)
Then the devil left him, to wait for a more opportune time to tempt him. And the angels came
and ministered unto him.
And he had a very satisfying week, enjoying the company of his wife and children, praying, and accomplishing projects at work.
And so, Joe was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted by the devil. And when he fasted for 7 days and 7 nights (from Facebook) he was afterward hungered.
And when the tempter came to him, he said unto Joe, check thine homepage, for witty piths doth emerge there, and thy friends have taken many quizzes and offered you many virtual drinks to imbibe. Surely thou art curious.
But Joe answered and said, It is written, "For the fool will speak folly, and his heart will work iniquity, to practice profaneness, and to utter error against Yahweh, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and to cause the drink of the thirsty to fail." (Isaiah 32:6)
So then the devil taketh him to his flatscreen monitor and sayeth unto him, if thou art a Jesus Freak, at least change thy update on Facebook and share thy inner thoughts with some witty banter, for surely they will benefit from your wisdom.
And Joe said unto him, It is written, "Don't be wise in your own eyes. Fear Yahweh, and depart from evil." (Proverbs 3:7)
Again, the devil took Joe before his monitor and showeth him all the games as far as the eye could see, from Mafia Wars to Pirates, from Vampires to Superhero City, and he said unto him, all these dollars and pesos and plunder and blood I can make real, and you must check in anyway before you lose your Energy Boosts and some scab comes and taketh away your health and money.
And Joe said, Get thee behind me Satan, for it is written, "The love of money (or points or whatever) is the root of all kinds of evil." (1 Tim 6:10)
Then the devil left him, to wait for a more opportune time to tempt him. And the angels came
and ministered unto him.
And he had a very satisfying week, enjoying the company of his wife and children, praying, and accomplishing projects at work.
Friday, May 1, 2009
FREE COMIC BOOK DAY
Once again, will be at New Moon Comics in Little Falls NJ on Saturday, May 2, doing sketches with Jesus Marquez and Inkboy. This year we're raising cash for Team Lemonade to help in the fight against MS.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Years Go By
The long gap between blogging has been largely due to my beng in a place in life where I know I need to listen more and talk less. I think it's far healthier than yapping about increasingly irrelevant stuff and pretending I'm more important than I am. There's plenty of bloggers like that. Feel free to visit them if that's your cup o' tea.
A couple months ago I discovered Facebook, which has (1) sucked away many hours of my life by assessing things like "The Top 5 Cartoons You Grew Up On" and (2) enabled me to touch base with many friends from high school and college that I'd not heard from in as much as 15-20 years. The latter of the two has been surprisingly rewarding and a lot of fun. It's helped me in refocusing on the importance of friendships.
I am stunned and saddened, however, at the number of friends I've reunited with that once had the Christian walk as the center of their lives, but now have allowed it to dwindle.
The times we spent attending Christian concerts is now referred to as "lame" and the zeal of their youth "naive." They place blame on the busy pace of life, or disenchantment with friends and family, as reasons they don't go to church. Sometims they say that they haven't found a church that "feels right" - and yet haven't tried to attend a church service in years. Sometimes they say the church, or organized religion, is "corrupt."
The bottom line is that church life, the Christian walk, no longer fit in as a convenient part of their life, and they cut it out.
I guess the part that has me confused is how you can love Jesus, and understand the sacrifice He made, and then not give it the all-consuming attention that that belief demands in your life.
Being a Christian is not convenient. It is not easy. To the world it appears foolish, and makes us out to look life freaks. It does not protect us from cancer or heartbreak, it does not promise happiness and success. Following Jesus requires bold, unwavering faith. It requires us to take risks, and sacrifice personal, material and physical comforts. It requires us to love those who are difficult to love, and to spend time with imperfect people just like us.
That's not a sales pitch by any stretch. In fact, it would appear as something that should be avoided at all costs. I think that's just what my friends have bumped into over the years. When things got tougher, it was easier to take the broad road. When people didn't act right it was easier to blame them than to make personal adjustments to accomodate. When life got busy it was easier to bump church down on the priority list. When choices had to be made, rather than take a stand it was easier to listen to the secular catch phrases, like
"I don't believe in organized religion"
"shove it down our throats"
"seperation of church and state"
"I'm a spritiual person"
"there are many paths to truth"
"I can be a Christian without going to church"
All lies, slapped on a dusty bible like a bumper sticker, that might look noble and wise, but in fact is a justification for laziness and lack of commitment. It's akin to a New Year's resolution to work out at a gym. It's easy to know what's right. It's easy to make that decision. It's hard to get up a month later at 5AM to hit the gym for an hour when it's snowy and cold out.
My prayer today is that my broken heart for these people will be healed, that they might rediscover the joy of their salvation and return to the cross. If you fall into the above camp I welcome the discussion.
I'm off to mow the lawn. Have a great day.
A couple months ago I discovered Facebook, which has (1) sucked away many hours of my life by assessing things like "The Top 5 Cartoons You Grew Up On" and (2) enabled me to touch base with many friends from high school and college that I'd not heard from in as much as 15-20 years. The latter of the two has been surprisingly rewarding and a lot of fun. It's helped me in refocusing on the importance of friendships.
I am stunned and saddened, however, at the number of friends I've reunited with that once had the Christian walk as the center of their lives, but now have allowed it to dwindle.
The times we spent attending Christian concerts is now referred to as "lame" and the zeal of their youth "naive." They place blame on the busy pace of life, or disenchantment with friends and family, as reasons they don't go to church. Sometims they say that they haven't found a church that "feels right" - and yet haven't tried to attend a church service in years. Sometimes they say the church, or organized religion, is "corrupt."
The bottom line is that church life, the Christian walk, no longer fit in as a convenient part of their life, and they cut it out.
I guess the part that has me confused is how you can love Jesus, and understand the sacrifice He made, and then not give it the all-consuming attention that that belief demands in your life.
Being a Christian is not convenient. It is not easy. To the world it appears foolish, and makes us out to look life freaks. It does not protect us from cancer or heartbreak, it does not promise happiness and success. Following Jesus requires bold, unwavering faith. It requires us to take risks, and sacrifice personal, material and physical comforts. It requires us to love those who are difficult to love, and to spend time with imperfect people just like us.
That's not a sales pitch by any stretch. In fact, it would appear as something that should be avoided at all costs. I think that's just what my friends have bumped into over the years. When things got tougher, it was easier to take the broad road. When people didn't act right it was easier to blame them than to make personal adjustments to accomodate. When life got busy it was easier to bump church down on the priority list. When choices had to be made, rather than take a stand it was easier to listen to the secular catch phrases, like
"I don't believe in organized religion"
"shove it down our throats"
"seperation of church and state"
"I'm a spritiual person"
"there are many paths to truth"
"I can be a Christian without going to church"
All lies, slapped on a dusty bible like a bumper sticker, that might look noble and wise, but in fact is a justification for laziness and lack of commitment. It's akin to a New Year's resolution to work out at a gym. It's easy to know what's right. It's easy to make that decision. It's hard to get up a month later at 5AM to hit the gym for an hour when it's snowy and cold out.
My prayer today is that my broken heart for these people will be healed, that they might rediscover the joy of their salvation and return to the cross. If you fall into the above camp I welcome the discussion.
I'm off to mow the lawn. Have a great day.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Comics Jam War
A little trip down Memory Lane for me, to the most FUN experience i've had in my comic-makin' career.
On April Fool's Day 2006 the Megazeen crew participated in a contest called the Comics Jam War. We were sponsored by New Moon Comics in Little Falls NJ, where we set up camp for the day. On hand were Tom Hall (writer), Jesus Marquez (penciler), Keith Betancourt (Inkboy) and me (co-writer, letterer and thumbnails/layouts).
The contest went like this: at noontime the theme of a comic story would be revealed by the contest director. Each team then had twelve hours to produce eight fully rendered black-and-white comic pages.
At noontime sharp, the image of the above comic appeared on the website. That's all we had to go on.
It took about five minutes to agree on what could be happeneing on the splash page, so we could get Jesus penciling away while we banged out the rest of the story. I remember it took him two and a half hours to pencil the first page, leaving Inkboy to do nothing but shop the store during that time, and then another two hours for page two. This is still a pretty respectable pace for anyone to keep - but it left us with a mere 8 hours to do the remaining 6 pages, which had to include all inks and lettering. Yikes.
By the time he finished the remaining page we had literally fifteen minutes to finish it - I grabbed an exacto knife, sliced it in half, and let Inkboy lay inks on the top panel while I fairly mangld the bottom. Then we quickly scanned the last composite page, and I lettered it while the other pages were being emailed one by one at the stroke of midnight.
Out of over 100 contestants, we came in Third and made the collected book. Happily, another Megazeen guy, Ben Avery, took First place, so we represented well.
If you're interested in seeing a VERY funny comic that still cracks me up to this day (if I DO say so myself), I managed to scoop up a small supply of the books and I've got 'em on sale here.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
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