Hi Gang!
Since this is the first day of October, I decided to challenge myself by making a Monster Face every day of this month until Halloween! I’ve never done anything like this before so wish me luck!
For DAY 1, I decided on a Frankenstein-like fellow, I hope you like him!
The full racks of free comics at Rubber Chicken Comics, before the crowds! (Photo courtesy of Jay Pillarella)
Being a huge comic book/strip fan all my life, I’ve always tried to attend Free Comic Book Day – an event that happens in Comic Shops across the globe every the first Saturday in May for the last 12 years. This year was extra special though because it was the first one where I did a store appearance as a comic book creator.
Jay Pillarella owner of Rubber Chicken Comics in Bellingham, MA generously invited me to join in on his festivities this year. And what festivities he had! His Free Comic Book Day celebration has become a mini comic convention with artists, face-painting, and a multitude of costumed folks setting up inside and outside of his store!
The fan turnout was incredible, with lines quickly forming just to reach the racks full of free comic books! But as the morning progressed those full racks were quickly emptied by lines of eager readers. The fan makeup was great to see too, male and female of all ages, happy and very enthusiastic about celebrating the day. Some even came dressed as their favorite characters!
I got to meet lots of nice people, parents and their children‚ many who bought copies of The Graveyard Gang comic book. Those who did not still had nice things to say, one mother in particular said (as I recall) while looking through an issue, ‘What a cool book you’ve made and this is something that your family – your kids and grandkids(!) ‚ will have this forever!’ A nice sentiment. Most were surprised to find out they had a comic book creator living in their vicinity! I even saw some folks I know from the commuter rail I take to Boston (Hi Jen!), during that ride is where I do most of the drawing for my comic!
Some more folks I met:
New fan of The Graveyard Gang, Al Mega came in with his family. Al has his own comic book endeavor called Comic Crusaders. Check out his Facebook page where he’s always posting great comic art – ComicCrusaders
I shared a table with an amazing local artist Norman Lee. Norman, a super nice guy, is an inker currently working for Marvel Comics and had worked on a slew of comics for DC, Darkhorse and many other companies. He inks with pen and brush and I got to see some of his originals up close and his detail work is amazing! It’s no wonder that he’s kept busy by Marvel! Check out his art at Comic Art House
I met comic creator John Yuskaitis at last year’s Rhode Island Comic Con and he had a table at Rubber Chicken Comics on FCBD as well. John’s comic is called BOOTS AND PUP which is an all-ages comic about 2 alien pals. It was great to see John again and take shop about being an indie, all-ages comic creator. Check out his work at BOOTS AND PUP
And of course Jay and his crew were great to talk to, a super nice bunch!
The crowds were so huge that by early afternoon the racks were cleaned out of comics! Jay even resorted to using some of his back stock to keep them filled as people kept coming! What a great day for Comic Books!
And as if the day couldn’t get better, that evening I got this email from a nine-year-old fan:
Dear Mr. Rich,
I bought your comic at Rubber Chicken Comics today at Free Comic Book Day and you signed it for me. I like your book, and my favorite character is Lope the Wolf Kid.
I have a question for you:
Is it easy to make comics and get them sold?
Sincerely,
Nathan
(image which Nathan’s included)
Please write back (this is my Dad’s email address)
And this was my reply‚
Dear Nathan,
It was so nice to hear from you and thank you very much for your kind words about The Graveyard Gang!
As for your question, no it’s not easy, it takes a lot of hard work to make a comic book, especially by yourself. You have to practice drawing everyday. But if you use your imagination to think up interesting characters and exciting stories it is very fun to bring it all together and have a book you did all by yourself.
We are lucky that today in 2014 we can make a comic book and get it out online and in stores on our own. Before if you made a comic you would have to send it to a publisher (like Marvel Comics) and hope they would like it enough to print it. So right now I’m saving my money to pay to get the next 2 issues of The Graveyard Gang printed so I can sell them to fans and comic shops.
I’m glad to hear you like Lope too, he’s a special character (I like how you put Lope’s picture in your email). Issues #6-7 (which I’m working on now) is a 2 part story that’s going to explain a lot about Lope, like where he came from and where he lives now with his new family.
Thanks again for your interest,
Rich
Receiving that email from Nathan was a great way to end my first Free Comic Book Day appearance.
In closing, I want to thank Jay and his amazing friends so very much for including me and being so thoughtful and helpful. I want to thank all the great artists I met and talked shop with. I want to thank all the amazing fans who flooded the store with their excitement and enthusiasm for comic books. A special thanks to all the parents, like Nathan’s and his twin brother Graham’s dad Patrick, for bringing all the kids to the party, helping to foster a new generation of comic book readers.
Oh and one last thing, follow Nathan’s lead and drop me a line, whether it’s a comment on my posts on this site or drop me an email at thegraveyardgang.comic@gmail.com, don’t be shy!
I’ve been meaning to write up this blog talking about my first experience having a booth at a comic convention. Time slips by pretty quick but finally here’s my thoughts and some cool things that happened.
This was my first public appearance as a comic book creator and the first time I sold print editions of issue #1 and issue #2 of THE GRAVEYARD GANG!
On Saturday, day 1 of the Con, I was a bit nervous finding the venue, since it was originally to be held in the Hynes Auditorium (right across from where I work, which was postponed due to the Boston Bombing) and now I had to find The Seaport World Trade Center on the other end of Boston. But finding it and cheap parking worked out perfectly. Setting up went well too, my ‘vision’ for my booth worked perfectly. I had a vertical back banner on a retractable stand (get one they’re awesome!), front banner which I attached with tape, black table cloth, two table standup which showed the covers of the 2 issues I had for sale, my comics, t-shirts, business cards, post cards, and bookmarks. I was selling issue #1 which was 24 full color pages for $5.00 and issue #2 which was 28 full color pages for $6.00 but if customers bought both they got them for $10.00. My t-shirts I was selling for $20.00. Kudos to my wife for handling the printing of all my signs and items!
I did something different than what most artists/creators do at Cons. While most stay behind their table (usually sitting/drawing, not a thing wrong with that) me, along with my two daughters, stood in front of my table, greeting people as they walked by, offering freebies – business cards, postcards, and bookmarks (tip: the bookmarks seemed most popular by far!). Now me and my comic are unknown to most people, so it was interesting to see who gravitated towards my booth, who asked about it, and who actually bought my comic book.
My first comic sale was to a little girl named Olivia, who attended the Con with her father Nick. They hailed from Milford, MA and he had actually been looking for me since he read about me in the local paper article that was published way back in March (this was in buildup for the Con’s original date in April).
This sale was followed by others and I found that my biggest demographic was families with children, followed by girls/women. Boys/men from 13-30 were not interested, I’m guessing because of the lack of sex and violence (HA!). All in all I sold 47 copies (more #1s than #2s) and 1 t-shirt. I was so grateful to all who bought my merchandise, I hope to hear from them again!
Another big deal that happened during the Con was I got my comic to be sold in some local comic book shops! Jay, owner of Rubber Chicken Comics in Bellingham, MA came by and offered to sell my comics at his store, which was awesome, thanks Jay! I also talked with Bob, owner of Comicazi in Somerville, MA and he’s now selling my comic in his store, thanks Bob! Mike, owner of Modern Myths in Northampton, MA will have The Graveyard Gang on his shelves soon, thanks Mike! I’ll be doing a signing there as well this Saturday Sept. 14th as part of their weekend anniversary celebration! More news on my comic in comic shops coming soon!
Here’s some random thoughts/happenings:
– I got interviewed live for an upcoming podcast, I’ll let you know when it’s available for listening!
– Speaking of podcasts, Matthew who runs the website First Comic News gave me and my comic are shout out on his Boston Comic Con podcast which you can listen to here http://www.firstcomicsnews.com/?p=79089 Thanks Matthew!
– A guy did buy my comic because he was looking for something light and fun!
– More than one person thought my comic was already a cartoon show and one kind woman made a ‘prediction’ that it would one day be a cartoon on TV! Fingers are crossed!!
– A big ‘thank you’ to Jim and all the folks who ran the Con, they were helpful and patient with all my questions! A great experience, I look forward to next year’s Con!
Well that’s my wrap-up of my first Con experience, I want to thank everyone who stopped by to say ‘hi’ and I hope to see and hear from you again soon!
I’ve been catching up on my (huge!) backlog of reading and I’d like to share my thoughts on some really awesome comics you may not read or know about but should. Most of my reviews will fall under either all-ages or horror (maybe both!) This one is an all-ages comic that happens to have some creepy stuff in it as well.
So first up is Little Guardians: The Harvest – Book 1 illustrated by Lee Cherolis and written by Ed Cho. This is the first printed collection of their webomic which can be found at http://www.littleguardianscomic.com/
Little Guardians takes place in a fantasy world and focuses on the simple folk of Yowza Village. The village is protected from the many evil demons and monsters that plague their land by the Guardian Tane. He fights the supernatural threats with his own mystical weapons and his spirit animal, a horse.
The Harvest starts with a Prologue which begins with 2 births, Thane’s child and Yunda, the local shop keeper’s baby. The village doctor, Marburger, seeing the Guardian’s wife (who dies in childbirth) has given birth to a daughter (a seeming taboo for the family line of Guardians) switches the baby with Yunda’s newborn son. The only one who knows that he did this is his nurse Hazeldella, who is the chronicler of the story.
Next is Chapter 1 – The Zucchini Festival where the story jumps to see the children older (10-12ish). Idem, the boy, being raised by Tane is training to be the next village guardian, with only so-so results. Subira, the girl, is now living a ‘Cinderella-like’ life being the overworked daughter of a shop keeper. We see how Subira’s inherited skills of the Guardian line manifest themselves despite ignorance of her abilities and how Idem’s lack of these gifts get him into trouble. I don’t want to spoil the story but it ends with an attack on the village and it left me wanting to read more!
Cherolis and Cho have created a well-planned, intriguing fantasy world which we only get to see a small piece of in this first book. There is a looming supernatural threat to the land that may be too much for even the Guardian Tane. The characters are so much fun and you immediately care about them, especially Subira and Idem. You root for them as they struggle with their switched destinies.
As a added bonus, Book 1 includes excerpts from ‘A Study of Supernatural Creatures’ by ‘Sir Thistlewhite III.’ Here you can read observations about the strange creatures that populate this fantasy world like the Tornado Fist and the Cage Bear. Lots of cool monsters and a further testament to the creators vivid imaginations.
The writing by Cho is engaging, giving each character their own ‘voice’. I know I’ve described the serious plot but Cho gives us plenty of humorous dialogue and banter. It makes reading this comic a fun, breezy read.
I love Cherolis’s art in this! His black and white anime-ish art is enhanced by his expert use of grey tones. The layouts are clear and easy to follow and his characters are distinct. He gives his ‘actors’ great facial expressions that go from amusing to serious.
Together they have created a comic they can be very proud of and one that I hope is recognized and read by many young and old. There are so many comics out there now but I hope you discover this one and give it a try. Again their website is http://www.littleguardianscomic.com/ where you can read the comic online or go to their store and buy this Book 1 in print. I can’t wait for Book 2!
Hey Gang! Just a short break to catch up on things and finish up my vertical banner art for the Boston Comic Con. I’m real sorry for the delay – what WILL Presto do?? – but I don’t want to rush the art for the final stretch of the adventure! Posting will resume on April 23!
And after this 12 page adventure is over get ready for my next 12 pager – a homage to the great H.P. Lovecraft!
