Argg....Power supply on my computer has died, possibly taking my hard drive with it...won't know till i take it in tomorrow.
Fuck a duck, that will blow a good two weeks worth of work away if it did kill the drive.

Muties came in, Looks ok. Bit of a problem with the printing, cheep ass job. On some of the pages it looks like the K plate is faded badly...should have gone with my guts on that. Marvel back & trap specs say C-40% Y-60% M-60% K-100%. I tend to go for a much darker fill myself but i followed their specs...if i had done my usual 80-80-80-100 it would have almost not been a problem at all...but as it is the blacks look grayed out on most of the book..."crab crab crab"
Well other wise i am very happy with it, read through it tonight...i think the stories rhythm came through well.

Now if i can just get past this frustration induced mental block and get Helpless done, so i can get the other 6 pending things backlogged on me done....I'll be able to relax....

.....hmmmm, Sandra wants to go to a sunny beach somewhere like in Cuba....I'll have to draw the whole time but that would be nice just about now.

Just finished doing a set of illustrations for an art show i should have had up on the first (Muties went long and i blew that date), but all in all I'm happy with the way it's all worked out, may be a bit slow but it's all on the screen.

There are 7 new prints to go up, I'll post thumbs of them later, really happy with them.

Also 'Helpless' i looking good...can't wait to get Dream life & Stone Dream done for Pin City. I'm using one of the show prints for the cover of that...

....this doing my own shit, it' so much more fun than anything else. :)

Also the contributors work for Pin City is looking so nice, short bits (2-5pgs) by Alexandre Cloutier-Turcotte, Bernie Mireault & David Abu & Francine Grant, Carlos Santos & Mr Swiz, Tim Moerman (2), and my self. A number of one page strips & jams by myself and other Montreal artists, some nice art stuff, an interview with Rick Trembles that I'm just sending off the last questions for. A 15 page story by new guy, Guy Leshinski titled 'The Mouse' (sweet!). Jane Tremblay's Evil Empress - some strips and the first half of her zine 'the rise of the Evil Empress, very funny political humor/satire/slapstick. A 10 pager by the Mavreas brothers, looking very retro cool Buck Rogersy, as yet untitled. And at least one ten pager called "Stone Dream", by me, my memory of the day my father died when i was 8. Also working on trying to get the first 10 pages of 'Dream Life' my graphic novel done for 1, but given the girth of content thats come together for 1, i think i might just hold that one back for the next book. That or swap it for stone dream....we will see.

can't wait to get this puppy put together.

gotta go frame hunting tomorrow....

A responce to the Question
"Graphic Novels In Bookstores: How To Meet The Challenge?"
as posted on the Tartsvill message boards today.


Television, the drug of the Nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation

Books, text driven books, have a hard time surviving in todays eye candy driven market,
they have to work very hard for every reader.
Literacy of any kind in the non-soundbite sense,
is Not exactly in it’s heyday in north american culture.
TV, Movies, Music....*Web is popular, but hard to make a real buck at.
Magazines are dying a slow and vapid jibering death as anything resembling content.

For the older crowd i think the answer is TV/Movies/Web.

I strike Movies of my list cus’ really so far most comic derived movies have not helped boost related comics sales/mass-market attention over all that much.

Ghosts world is an exception to the rule: Note it’s also the only one to directly involve the Creator, rather than a publisher, ?.

-CULT OF THE PERSONA-

Not the only game in town but you might mistake it for that, and it’s good for the smart creators pocket book, but i’d only ever take it in the smallest doses.

(...i don’t remember just now, Did MIB Involve/help Lowell Cunningham?)

So that leaves TV.

I don’t think shows based on books would help
unless the connection between was handled in a more seamless way.

And in that event,
TV would dominate the relationship
and ultimately be able to take or leave comics as trend dictates.

So i think the answer is...the Opra Book club

HAHAHAHAHA!

wait, no.......i’m serious!

Thing is, the Publishers or Artists are going to have to step up and offer it cu’s Opra don’t read no comic that i know of.

Seems to really be into ‘modern fiction’ from what i’ve seen in the shops.

Also “Kelly's Book Club” seems to have helped the books she picked.....
.......i’ve never seen this show, sounds kind of frightening.

Generally getting on the road and doing the talk show circuit.
Maybe opra would never go for it, doesnít mean no one will.

Which also means taking the help of marketing sharks and press writers.

At the same time, the publisher ships the books with “file under” classifications and full information packages on the book, the medium, and the press activity.

There is follow up and shmoozing involved, lots of letter writing (e-mail has made this more example, thought it’s a lot of work to maintain a good press contact list, Writers, reviewers, Tv producers.....etc & etc...100’s....they all come and go quite often), lots of research involved.

Shipping out large numbers of review copies to reviewers that are VERY carefully selected, contact is generally made first to ascertain interest. Ideally a relationship develops between the publisher or agent and the reviewers, Again lots of shmoozing/though in a professional manner is better.

The source of this bit of info has an advantage at this with a commanding but yet seductive purring phone voice. She’s also an accomplished writer and extremely sharp minded, which makes the letter writing work well for her....it can be a nack as much as a skill learned.

So in short Publishers and Artists probably need SMART and savvy marketing agents, the desire or willingness to go hock their shit...and not fuck up too much doing it.

Also as has been mentioned in depth (here),
intelligent packaging & design that does not assault or otherwise alienate the readers.

A lot of the alt publishers are wise to this already.

For the younger market it gets messier, but also more options,
Gaming and very carefully conceived licensing....
...and again involves SMART & savvy marketing agents.
Or Publishers & Authors who think like one
and have the energy for all that.... it’s a lot a work.

As for the question of what to call them?
Graphic novels? comic novels? ???
Why not just call it a book or novel
or story and have done with it?

bound volumes containing information, fiction or non fiction,
fantasy or whatever.
Stores don’t know where to put em’?
Tell them!
over and over
till they feel stupid for miss-shelving them...


...oh but don’t forget to smile doing it.


*
E-commerce: A big, juicy, maybe. Recent evets like Tops over-so-fast-it-wasn't-a-problem crisis seems to indicate a true potential. But other recent events say....ah, well, maybe.
Webmarketing: At the very least an excellent and relatively low cost marketing tool, for the moment anyway. It makes all the before mentioned a lot more doable.