Feedback?

Today's Webcomic:

Skull Mob.  Issue 1.  Page 14.  www.torcpress.com

So, not long ago I started this new thing I'm doing.  Monday through Friday you can tune in to my website, my blog, my tumblr, or my Deviant Art Page (and I announce stuff on my crappy Facebook), and you can view a brand new comics page.  I haven't missed a beat since I started this new method, and I'm far enough ahead right now that I think I've got all of September covered already.  I've placed online an entire issue of HFSAC, and Skull Mob 1 wraps next week.

What I want to know is, What do you folks out there in computer land think?  Are you enjoying this new approach to TORC Press?  Is it too confusing rotating through 3 different comics all week, or is it cool, and you like the variety?  Is anyone out there even reading this stuff?  Which format are you reading the comic in (website? blog? tumblr?)?

Please, please, please send me any Feedback and Constructive Criticism that you feel is warranted.  You can leave a Note here on the Blog, drop a Comment on my Facebook, or contact me directly at: cactusfnjoe@hotmail.com.

Thank you, and I hope you're enjoying our current Comix Programming.

Oh!  And the Print Edition of HFSAC 18 will be available by Monday at the latest.

HFSAC 18 Wraps

Today's Page is a Good One:

The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club.  Issue 18.  Page 16.  www.torcpress.com

That concludes Issue 18 of HFSAC.  Issue 19 starts on Monday.  Sometime in-between I plan on making the Print Edition available online.  This page also features the return of Levitone, who first made his presence felt way back in HFSAC 5-6.  I like this page.

Jack Kirby Day

Thanks to Tom Scioli's website (seriously, if you're not checking out http://www.ambarb.com/ at least once a week, then you're missing out) I discovered that it's Jack Kirby's birthday.  Jack Kirby is the King of Comics.  He's been gone for awhile now, but I don't like to say he was the King of Comics, because that would imply that there has been someone who took his throne.  There has never been, and there will never be a successor to Our King.  Sometimes I get sad seeing people walk around Cons wearing t-shirts that bear Kirby artwork, and I wonder if the person wearing it has ever even heard of Jack Kirby.  I oftentimes feel people are ignorant of who Kirby even was, blinded by the incessant hoopla surrounding that modern day P. T. Barnham, Stan Lee.  But Kirby won't be lost to history.  Most of his work has been collected in fancy collections, there's lotsa books on the King, and a pretty snazzy Wikipedia entry.  Plus, there's lots of guys like me that will toss Jack Kirby's name out there every chance we get.  The King will never die.

So, without further ado, here's my Top 10 Why I Love Jack Kirby List:

10.  He fought in World War II.  He's a Comics Legend AND a War Hero.  Not a lotta guys you can say that about.

9.  He was a 5' tall Fighting Machine.  The stories I've heard about Kirby's life paint him as not only a kindly family man, but also as a rough and tumble brawler who wasn't afraid of nothing.  I like that.

8.  Y'know that Avengers movie that came out a year ago, and everyone's still talking about how awesome it was?  That movie doesn't exist without Jack Kirby.  Kirby had a hand in the creation of every character in that movie (well, except Black Widow and Hawkeye, but they came out of Iron Man's comic, which was started by Kirby, so...).  Kirby also created the original Avengers comics.  And the plot of the movie was somewhat inspired by Kirby's first Avengers comic.

7.  Speaking of things that don't exist with Kirby, THERE IS NO MARVEL COMICS WITHOUT JACK KIRBY.  PERIOD.  Jack "co-created" virtually every worthwhile comic and character in Marvel's stable.  Captain America, the Red Skull, Thor, Loki, Mr. Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, the Thing, the modern Human Torch, Dr. Doom, All the other major Fantastic Four villains, Ant Man, the original X-Men, Magneto, the Black Panther, the Inhumans, the Watcher, the Celestials, and probably a bunch more that I can't think of cause I'm really tired.  Without Kirby, there is no Marvel Universe.

6.  The Eternals.  Issue 7.  Page 31. 

5.  In the 60s, Kirby gave us the Marvel Universe, but in the 70s he went nuts and it was AWESOME.  I love Kamandi.  I love the Demon.  I love the Eternals.  I love Devil Dinosaur.  I would like to build a small alter in my house so I can worship OMAC.  Most insanely beautiful comics ever made by anyone (Honorable mention also goes to The Losers, 2001, Machine Man, and the Sandman revival).

4.  Comics handle the Cosmic better than any other medium, and Jack Kirby basically invented the genre.  I love Cosmic Comics, and I love that I'm at a point in my career where I get to create the kinds of Cosmic style comics I love.

3.  Jack Kirby was the Best Comic Book Artist Ever.  There were better illustrators, better draftsmen, better self-promoters (Kirby was terrible at self-promotion), and better pin-up artists.  But no one before or since has drawn comics and told stories in the comic medium with the skill, passion, or power that the King could.  Also, best costume designer ever.  Also, also, best Monster Maker ever.  Also, best Fight Scene Choreographer ever.  He was the King, man.

2.  The 4th World is my All Time Favorite Comic Book.  New Gods.  Mister Miracle.  The Forever People.  Kirby's Unfinished Masterpiece.  I could ramble for days about how much I love these comics.  I could talk about "Glory Boat" or "The Pact" or virtually any Mister Miracle story or Darkseid or all of that cool stuff he created in the space of a few issues.  Man, I am glad those comics exist.

1.  Jack Kirby created (NOT co-created, this one's not even in dispute) the Silver Surfer and Galactus.  The Silver Surfer was the reason I started reading comics, and ultimately the reason I wanted to start making comics.  Although the character was taken from Kirby by Stan Lee (another reason for my animosity towards Lee...), Kirby still contributed some of the best Surfer stories ever.  Without Jack Kirby, there is no TORC Press, and without TORC Press there is no Joseph Morris. 

Thank you Jack, for everything.

SDF 5 Wraps

Last Page of SDF 5:

www.torcpress.com

It's nice to finally wrap up this long, rambling story.  Originally, I was gonna cancel this book and give Octopus Jones his own stand alone series, but I've had some ideas since then, so this series will continue on.  I'm gonna try some new stuff next issue, which will be a stand alone issue, and we'll see how that goes.  In the meantime, SDF will be on a two week break.  Hopefully I can get the print editions of Issues 4 & 5 available in that time.

K-9 Redesign

Today's Webcomic:

Skull Mob.  Issue 1.  Page 13.  www.torcpress.com

So, you might be asking yourself why I would draw Renee K-9 one way at the beginning of the comic, and a different way here on Page 13 towards the end. 

Unlike a lot of comic artists, I honestly haven't spent a lot of time obsessing over the female form.  Some comic guys, it seems like all they are capable of drawing are sexy or cute or beautiful women.  Me?  I dunno, I just never focused on it.  I'm okay at drawing women, but I've concentrated primarily on improving my chops as a story teller and fight choreographer first (I also have a buddy who claims I draw the best facial expressions.  Not sure if I agree, but I am decent at it).  When I do draw women, I tend to stick to a pretty basic "Barbie Mold".  I tend to draw my women simplistic and pretty.  It's something that's bugged me about my art for a long time, but I could never really figure out what to do about it. 

For some reason, after reading the recent "Glory" reboot and seeing the myriad of ways Ross Campbell drew women of all shapes and sizes, something finally clicked in my, and I've been getting a little better at drawing women that aren't just stick figures (I want to stress: A LITTLE better).  Renee K-9 was an experiment in drawing a female character that was decidedly Un-Feminine.  So, I made her intentionally dog-like and monstrous.

There was just one problem.  I didn't like drawing her.  Turns out I don't want my women to look Un-womanly and monstrous.  Apparently my artistic side is shallow after all.

So, when Xipe Topec dragged Renee off for Surgery, I took the opportunity to give her a makeover.  The S&M outfit goes hand in hand with the look of the Vermin Angels (blatantly based on Clive Barker's Cenobites from the "Hellraiser" series, who in turn were inspired by S&M culture, which, by the by, I am totally NOT into, but I like the way it looks on a comic page...).  I basically just simplified and cutified the face, and kept the oversized, paw-like hands.

Cause, here's the thing, Comics are a lot like animation.  You've got to draw the same things over and over and over and over and over again.  And if you don't enjoy drawing something, then you're not gonna enjoy drawing it over and over and over again.  So, that's also why Renee got a little facelift.

Whoopskerdoodle

Today's Edition of HFSAC:

The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club.  Issue 18.  Page 15.  www.torcpress.com.

Not a lot to say about this page, just a classic "Three's Company"-esque misunderstanding that will lead to a brutal battle.  Run-No-No-Run breaks the 4th Wall and gives away the big reveal on the next page (Thursday's Page, in webcomic terms).  Other than that, I really like Panel 6.  It's a good looking panel.  The colors look good, the inking looks good.  Good panel.  Very cool.

Peacock

I'm a tired old man today, I say.  Here's the latest webcomic:

Skull Mob.  Issue 1.  Page 12.  www.torcpress.com

The idea for the Peacock was a pretty simple one.  If Cactus Joe is the TORCverse's Superman, and Death Moth is Batman, then it would make sense for Death Moth to have a Joker that he would have to deal with.  But Death Moth already had a nemesis in Dr. Dendull, and to further complicate matters, Dr. Dendull used to be Doc Silver, who used to the Death Moth's partner (back when DM was a human superhero called Gold Hawk).  So I had the idea, what if Death Moth was forced to work side by side with his original "Joker" from back in the Good Ole Superhero Days.  What would that be like?  And so, Peacock was born.

There were two major inspirations for the character of Peacock.  The first was the version of the Joker that appears in Frank Miller's "Dark Knight Returns" and Grant Morrison's "Arkham Asylum".  This version of the Joker, to me anyway, always seemed like he was attracted to Batman.  He was like some lovesick puppy who only knew how to express his love for the Dark Knight by viciously slaughtering hundreds of people.  It's the only way he knows he can get the attentions of his beloved, which kinda defines just how sick and twisted the Joker is inside.  In DKReturns, there's even a scene where the Joker kidnaps and humiliates Batman's ex-lover Selena Kyle (an elderly Catwoman), as if to say, "I'm the only one for you, not her!"  In the original script for "Arkham Asylum", Grant Morrison wanted to have the Joker in a dress.  (Hell, while we're on the subject, in the movie "The Dark Knight", the Joker uses the old romantic line from... uh, that one Tom Cruise movie that I can't remember the name of... on Batman, "You complete me."  As if to allude to the strangely (one sided) flirtatious nature of their relationship)

The other major influence on the character is Mr. 2 Bon Clay from Eichiro Oda's brilliant Japanese Manga "One Piece".  Mr. 2 Bon Clay is a Ballet dancing, Karate Kicking Transvestite Pirate Captain who is one of the most colorful and entertaining characters in the series.  A hyperactive weirdo, Mr. 2 starts out as a villain, but evolves into a very heroic and self-sacrificing character.  I'm hoping to bring a little of that evolution to the character of the Peacock.

As for the design, like most of my designs, he just popped up fully formed in my mind, and I just sketched him once or twice to tweek the design and work out the bugs.  He kinda looks like the bastard child of Killboy and Peyote Pete, y'know?

Joke Characters

Thursday is the Longest Day of the Week, so here's today's webcomic to help pass the time:

The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club.  Issue 18.  Page 14.  www.torcpress.com

If you look closely at the big bottom panel, you might notice the return of El Panda and Duck Amok, a pair of joke characters that I would randomly insert into every issue of the original HFSAC.  I first created the characters for a comic I never actually produced back during my Xerox Comics days, before I started working Conventions.  Back when my Studio was in my parent's basement.  When I created these two crudely drawn characters, I think I wanted to try to build an actual strip around them, but there was nothing there to build.  El Panda isn't a very interesting character, and Duck Amok just yells "I CRAVE SODA!" all the time.  Not exactly prime comic strip material.  So they became these oddball joke characters.  They first started appearing in the old "Super Duper Fun Comix", graduated to the original version of "SDF", and eventually ended up in the original HFSAC.

Interesting side note, I painted these two on the ceiling in my dining room.

One Long Night

Today's Webcomic:

SDF.  Issue 5.  Page 15.  www.torcpress.com

We are just about to the end of SDF Issue 5, which just about brings us to the end of the a very, very long story arc.  The first five issues of SDF all take place within the span of one 24 hour period.  I'm not sure when I started the series, but I'm pretty sure I had issue one our at SPACE last year, which means it took 2 years for One Day to elapse.  That's screwy.

What's really crazy is how many times I've changed up what I'm gonna do next with this series.  Originally, I had a whole different series of issues planned.  Then I was gonna cancel the whole series.  Now I'm not.  Next week will be the final page of this issue, then we're gonna take a couple weeks off, then bring SDF back with Issue 6.  SDF will move to a two pages a week format, so it can keep up with HFSAC and Skull Mob, and Issue 6 will be a stand alone issue.  So no more long days for awhile anyway.

The Other Handy Thing About Webcomics

Today's Webcomic:

Skull Mob.  Issue 1.  Page 11.  www.torcpress.com.

Most of today's page is explained over on the NOTES Section on the Main Page, so I won't rehash it here.  This is a Flashback to what I like to call "TORCverse Year Zero", which is the time period before my first comic "Pulp Horrorshow" volume 1, back when the TORCverse was a Silver Age style Superhero Universe.  Before everything went wrong.

A few Rants ago, I talked about how the thing I liked most about Webcomics was the Potential Work Ethic they generate.  The other thing I really like is the Potential Dedication they generate.  What I mean by that is that it has, traditionally, been very hard for me to stay focused on a book.  I mean, I've created 100 comics, and the longest run on any book I've ever had is 16 Issues.  I get a lot of ideas, and new ideas trump old ideas, and I wander off, abandoning my old concepts in favor of what's shiny and new.  By Dedicating myself to working on HFSAC, SDF, and Skull Mob, I will hopefully put a stop to that.

The other thing that gets in my way, is when I have a bad show.  A Bad Convention tends to shake me up a little, and this year I have had the 2 Worst Conventions of my Life, C2E2 and Wizard World Chicago (maybe Chicago just doesn't like me... that may explain my yearly rejection letter from the CAKE Convention in Chicago...).  A bad convention will cause me to doubt what I'm doing.  I'll either lose interest in my current projects (assuming they are bad, due to crowd reaction), or I will get depressed and consider quitting comics entirely (a silly thought, really.  I AM COMICS).  Either way, I bad show can wreck whatever projects I'm currently working on.  But even though I suffered two of the worst defeats of my career to date this year, I am forging ahead with my Webcomics, because I have dedicated myself to them, and I've got a Schedule to keep.

And I really like having that Schedule.  It makes it more like working at the Sawmill.  Every single day I gotta get up and work at the Sawmill, regardless of how I feel or what might be wrong with me (I have a motto, "If I ain't pukin', then I'm workin'.").  That's the way I've always felt that the Comics should be like for me, but without a set schedule or quota for the week, it was hard to focus properly.  Now, with the webcomics, it's all about making sure I have a page good to go for the next day.

And I like that.

100 Experience Points

Today's Strip:

The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club.  Issue 18.  Page 13.  www.torcpress.com

Best Page Ever.

No Clever Title Comes to Mind

Today's webcomic:

Skull Mob.  Issue 1.  Page 10.  www.torcpress.com

The only thing I've got to say about this page is that the new character's name is Peacock.  I'll talk more about him on Tuesday and Thursday of next week.

Gellatanous Blob

No Rants or Behind the Scenes stuff today.  I just wanna bask in the sheer, unadulterated Glory of today's page.

The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club.  Issue 18.  Page 12.  www.torcpress.com

An E-Mail I Got This Morning

First off, today's Webcomic:

SDF.  Issue 5.  Page 14.  www.torcpress.com

Since I don't really have anything today to say about today's page, let's talk about an e-mail I got this morning.

I normally don't re-post things (well, besides my webcomics I suppose...), but the timing on this was pretty surprising, so I figured why not?  Before I hit the PASTE button, though, I need to talk a little about Conventions.

For most of my Comics Career (such as it is), the Convention Scene has been my lifeblood.  The average person has no idea how difficult it is to promote a book.  When I'm at Cons, people ask me, "Well, can I buy this in my Comic Book Shop?"  And I don't have thirty minutes to thoroughly explain that the only way I can get my comic into a comic shop is if Diamond, the only comic book distributor of note in North America, agrees to carry my book, and then my book, which no one has ever heard of before, is ordered by retailers in quantities of something like 2000 units.  I think the best selling TORC Press comic OF ALL TIME has sold something like, 120 units, maybe?  I also would have to explain that Diamond gets a 60% discount when they purchase my comics from me to put in comic shops.  Using HFSAC 18 as an example, I make my comics for around $2.05.  I sell the new HFSAC for $3.50, which means if I sell the book direct to the reader, I make a whopping $1.45 in profit.  If I sold to Diamond under my current system, I would Lose about 90 cents an issue.  In order to work through Diamond, I would need to work with a "For Real" Printer, which require several Thousand Unit minimums on their comics, which keeps the Unit Price incredibly low, but means that every single time I want to make a book I would need thousands of dollars, which is hard to save up when you work in a sawmill and have bills to pay.  Nowadays, Dave Sim can't make the Diamond Model work, so I don't hold out a lot of hope that a Nobody like me could make it work.  Another option is selling your book through "Indy Friendly" Comic Shops.  Now, this is a cool option, because it's awesome that there are Indy Friendly shops out there in the first place.  The only downside is that A) almost universally the store takes a 50/50 cut AFTER the book sells, and doesn't recoup shipping, which means I would lose 5 cents an issue plus the cost of shipping, and B) As cool as it is that there are Indy Friendly shops out there, I've seen the Indy racks at most of these places.  It's a sad lonely place with comics that have sat around collecting dust for a decade or more.

(We could now start a whole debate about, "Hey, Joseph, why not just charge more for your books?", but if you know me you already know why.  1) I'm a bad businessman.  2) I believe in giving people a really good deal on a comic, and I don't believe in overcharging people for something just to make a buck.)

The internet doesn't work either.  SDF has been online for over a year now and there have been ZERO unique online orders for the comic.  Not a single person who wasn't already a TORC Press Reader has decided to financially support the book.  None.

So, Conventions were the only answer when it comes to promotion.  They weren't profitable, of course.  Small Conventions have cheap tables, but the low foot traffic usually equals poor sales.  Big Conventions tables are so expensive that it was impossible to make your Table Money back (let alone Hotel, Gas, and Food, those Losses are written off before I even leave the house), but the higher foot traffic used to mean higher sales (or at least it did, until C2E2 and Wizard World Chicago proved me wrong).

But Conventions have become hostile environments for Small Press Publishers lately.  The crowds don't like us, for some reason.  And now, it appears that Conventions have turned against each other.

Before I hit the PASTE button, I want to state I have worked the MCBA Springcon, and it is a Really Great Show.  The Tables are FREE to Small Press, and they serve us Free Steak one night.  And they're friendly and cool and pretty organized.  Unlike Wizard World that Jacks Up Table Prices every year while openly promoting a comics community that is openly hostile to Small Press Work.  So maybe I'm a little biased.

WIZARD STRIKES AGAIN

Seems the "New Wizard" is Same as the old Wizard

Twin Cities, Minneapolis, Saint Paul, MN (August 12, 2013) - The New York based Wizard World convention organization has once again decided to reach out and attempt to bully a long standing regional convention group. This time it's the Twin Cities based (Minneapolis/Saint Paul, MN) all volunteer, not for profit Midwest Comic Book Association that is Wizards target.

Oddly enough the MCBA, an all volunteer, not for profit group was initially excited to hear the rumors that Wizard was coming to town. For 25 years they've been dedicated to providing promotions, service and support to the comic book industry and the creators/retailers who make their living in it. They viewed Wizards arrival and high industry profile as an opportunity to grow the community and looked forward to working with them in a support capacity as well. The more the merrier. Unbeknownst to the MCBA, Wizard evidently has other plans.

Every year for the past 25 years the MCBA has sponsored two public events. One is the SpringCon show, a two day show traditionally held in May and a one day show called FallCon in October. So out of all of the dates available to Wizard, they choose to schedule their premier event in the Twin Cities on May 3 & 4, 2014. Just two weeks ahead of the weekend SpringCon which is held May 17 & 18, 2014). Seems like the "new Wizard" is just like the old Wizard.

Recently, Nick Postiglione, one of the lead MCBA volunteers recently spoke with Peter Katz, Senior VP of Business Affairs& Development for Wizard who informed him "we had no idea that we were scheduling so close to the MCBAs event" and further continued that the proposed space (the Minneapolis Convention Center) "Only had the first weekend in May available to us". The MCBA SpringCon dates for 2014 have been posted for quite some time on numerous industry websites and the MCBA website as well. In addition, one quick phone call inquiry to a space rental employee about space availability at the Minneapolis Convention Center put the lie to his availability statement. Evidently, the first week in May was specifically and strategically chosen.

Another interesting tidbit casually mentioned by Postiglione "About a year ago, we were approached by Wizard to see if we were for sale or absorption" he continued "I told them that given the fundamental structural differences in our respective organizations, that probably wouldn't be possible. But we'd be happy to help their efforts in establishing a presence here. I just had no idea that they actually intended to land right on top of us. It's an unfortunate situation, a huge disappointment for many of our volunteers, and ultimately a missed opportunity for the various communities we serve as well."

There you have it. A group that has donated over 30 tons of food to the food shelves, over $100,000.00 to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, the MN Lupus Foundation and the MN Literacy council, as well as promoting retailer and creator events and other regional events is about to be bullied about by the corporate Wizard World convention machine. Again, seems like the "new Wizard" is just like the old Wizard.

Most people in the comic book world are acutely aware of Wizards history of predatory convention and comic book industry practices. Wizards will claim it is not so and that the "new Wizard" is a "much different organization" than that of years past. This is simply not true. This situation perpetrated by Wizard is a willful and purposeful attempt to corner a market and squash the local competition regardless of the negative effects it would have on the regional community and highlights, once again, Wizards self serving, predatory instincts.

To be sure, we live and work in a free market system based on competitive principles. Competition generally serves us well. But, given the unique nature of the comic book industry, the situation is definitely unique and traditionally acts as such. It's a multi layered community composed of many different, and ever evolving, wildly diverse creative and financial elements. Minneapolis St. Paul is the 15th largest media market in the United States and should easily be able to handle two events of this type. However, that's not in question here. What is in question is Wizards ethics.

It's all about timing and making a proactive choice to help build a community or deciding to simply show up, bully the locals and pillage what others have built. The question is obvious "Is there a difference between having the right to do something as opposed to doing what's right?" Evidently everyone, except Wizard, knows the answer to that question is "Yes!"

While this issue may or may not be concerned with your specific geographical area or affect the way your participate in the world of comic books right now, make no mistake, it is your community here that is under assault and this is your call to action! Vote with your dollars and your heart when choosing what events to support and attend. Please e-mail or call Peter Katz at Wizard and let him know where you stand regarding this type of predatory market behavior. Your community needs you to be heard!

Based on what the MCBA has stated in public, if Wizard did the right thing regarding their event dates, they would welcome them with open supportive arms and continue to help build a bigger, better, healthier comic book community for all of us.

FW - The Super Anti Wizard Guy

Handmaidens

Not a lot of time this morning, so, first off, here's today's webcomic:

Skull Mob.  Issue 1.  Page 9.  www.torcpress.com

For quite awhile, when Xipe Topec has shown up, he's had these two Handmaidens that flank him.  You can see them do some nasty stuff in "Death Moth" #1-2, and they pop up wearing Bird Masks in the aliceislost back-up strip in "SDF" #2.  They also have a cameo in TORC 100.  The Vermin Angel on the Right Hand Side (the one wearing the "Flame" body) had an actual debut in an issue of "SDF: Pulp" (#2, maybe?) that kinda gave her a bit of an origin.  The other one I just randomly drew in one day.

As far as Dust and Flame go, they just popped into my head as potential subordinates of the Death Moth.  The both have Moth-themed names and outfits, and they have the alternate Ice and Fire motif that I'm a fan of (sorta like Los Super Hip Bros in HFSAC).  Dust doesn't actually have Ice Powers, for the record, I just liked the look I gave her.  Flame does have Fire Powers, and there's some other cool stuff she can do, which we will get to next issue.

Now all we need to find out is who is in that last Coffin...

That's not Cantaloupe

Enough whinin'.  Here's today's Webcomic:

The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club.  Issue 18.  Page 11.  www.torcpress.com

There's not much to say about this page that I didn't already cover in the NOTES section on the Main Site.  Again, this page is there for plot exposition and to introduce the antagonists.  Pretty simple.  I guess the only thing worth mentioning not covered elsewhere is the weird, fleshy thing that Skarr is holding.  Kinda looks like cantaloupe to me.  It's not cantaloupe.  It took some experimenting to get the colors the way I wanted them on that piece of fleshy nastiness.  That's one thing about using colored inks and coloring everything by hand, you can't just hit the "Undo" Button if you screw up.  You gotta make do.

My Failure is Complete

This has not been a good year for our Hero on the Convention Circuit.  It started with a rough, slow, and low turn out micro-show on the Kentucky/Tennessee border.  The weather was bad, the foot traffic was bad, and it seemed like every geek in the tri-county area showed up wearing a costume, and people in costume NEVER buy comics.  It was two days of Hell, watching as the Vendor across the aisle from me sold "Mystery Boxes" (literally sealed boxes with no actual description of the contents) for $10, while my $1.50 books sat around and collected dust.  Watching people walk out with two armloads of those boxes, while not even giving my table a second look was the first time I heard the MESSAGE, but I tried to ignore it.

Along came Wizard World St. Louis.  The MESSAGE hit me square in the face on Friday, but things picked up on Saturday and Sunday, and I came out of the show a little poorer, but not feeling to bad.

SPACE went well, so I was feeling pretty okay.

Then along came C2E2.  A lot went wrong with C2E2.  I split my table with two other guys, so there were three of us crammed together desperately trying to catch people's attention.  The aisleway was huge, so it was easy to avoid us.  And we were, somehow, in the most sparsely foot trafficked area of the entire show.  Also, the show made me buy my physical table, which is just low class.  With all of that going on, it was easy to ignore the MESSAGE, but it was there, waiting for me to hear it.

Flash forward a few months to Wizard World Chicago.  Thursday was abysmal, but Thursday is always kinda pointless.  Friday was bad, though, worse than any Friday I've ever encountered (and I've been through some bad ones).  I tried not to take it personally, but when you're at a Convention for 8 hours, and you're watching people race past you, not even thinking about stopping to check anything out, it's hard not to take it personally after awhile.  I talked to a couple of friends I've made on the Circuit, and they felt the same about how the day went.  No matter, I thought, Saturday is always the best day.

Saturday was Hell on Earth.  Almost a perfect repeat of Friday, I watched in mounting horror as people raced past, not stopping to look or even glance at my table.  My first sale (and damn near only sale) came at 2:45 in the afternoon.  I've never had that happen on a Saturday.  It didn't get better as the day progressed.  When the show wrapped, I realized something utterly terrible.  I had lost.  Completely and totally lost.  And I heard the MESSAGE, which I will now attempt to explain to the best of my ability.

There are two parts to the MESSAGE, and they are as follows:

1) In general, people do not want to read small press comics any more.  I'm not sure why this is.  Perhaps it is because we are not "Approved" by the masses, or maybe it's just because we're not making comics with Batman in them.  Either way, people don't want comics.  They want prints.  They want to spend $5-20 dollars on a print, then they want to walk over to the table located directly across from me and spend $6-30 on a protective covering for the Art Print they just bought.  So, in summary, people would rather spend between $11 and $50 bucks for a $0.50 piece of paper and a $0.50 piece of plastic, than they would for a $2 to $5 comics experience.  This is the TRUTH.  I have witnessed it over and over for the last year, and I know it to be fact.

2) I have failed completely and utterly as a salesman, a businessman, and a comic book publisher.

2a) I have failed as a comic book publisher for this simple reason.  I work the same shows year in and year out, and yet every year I go back to a show, and I almost never have anyone who comes up to my table and goes, "I read one of your books last year.  I really enjoyed it.  I want to read more."  I have been working Wizard World Chicago on and off for 10 years, and no one knows who I am.  My books don't make an impression.  My work doesn't stand out.  No one remembers who I am because in all honesty, despite my best efforts, despite all of my hard work, it is time for me to accept that I am just not that good.  The people have spoken.

2b) I have failed as a salesman.  I'll admit, I'm pretty burnt out at this stage.  The Cons shouldn't be this much work.  I shouldn't have to stand up and blather and pitch and try to drag people to my table.  And I'm so tired of it, man.  Maybe I didn't try hard enough at Chicago.  But watching people ignore you and turn their nose up at your hard work is demoralizing, and I just hit a point where I couldn't put a fake smile on my face and keep up the charade anymore. 

2c) I have failed as a businessman.  I shoulda sold out long ago.  I should be doing prints of Spiderman and Batman and Star Wars and Dr. Who and Adventure Time and Regular Show.  I should be ripping people off and stealing their characters and ideas.  The comics should be a side business, because I've know for awhile that comics don't sell, but a print of a recognizable character will.  It doesn't even need to look very good.  Every show I've been to for the last couple of years has reinforced this notion, and I have been a fool to try to ignore it.  My refusal to sell out has sealed my fate. 

So, here I sit on a Sunday morning in my hotel room in Elk Grove, IL.  I am tired and burnt out and the only reason I don't feel worse is because just behind me, playing around on a Kindle, is my lovely girlfriend, who has kindly dealt with the emotional roller coaster ride I've been on for the last four days.  What conclusions have I come to?  Well, I'm done with big Cons.  Hell, I'm virtually done with Cons.  I plan on continuing to work SPACE because I love that show, and I might work the Minnesota Spring Con next year if they'll have me.  I've already bought a table at Wizard World Nashville, so I'll finish up my year there, and probably do as well as I did in Chicago (it would be virtually impossible to do worse).  I'll try to work one or two smaller shows a year that focus on comics.  Other than that, I'm done with the road, and I think the road is done with me.

For the handful of TORC Press Readers out there, despite the tone of this particular blog, I am not done making comics.  I love making comics.  It is the most fun thing in the world, and I'm not stopping anytime soon.  If you like my comics, that's awesome, and I hope I can continue to entertain you with all of the bizarre stuff that comes out of my brain.  I am committed to my plan to produce online versions of HFSAC and Skull Mob and SDF, and the website will continue to update on time, Monday through Friday.  I will also continue to produce print versions of my online comics, because I like print comics better than online ones.  I know from experience that I won't sell many books online, but that's not the point.  The point is to have fun and create cool stories.

So, what am I going to do today?  Welp, I'm not gonna waste my time and energy getting my heart broken at Wizard World Chicago anymore, that's for sure.  If people wanna buy prints, let em buy prints I say.  And if people feel cool dressing up in costume and pretending to be a hero or villain or whatever and posing for photos, that's cool too.  Live and let live.  I just don't want to be part of that world anymore.  Instead, I'm gonna take my girlfriend out to her favorite restaurant, and we're gonna catch a movie, and have a nice day out together that doesn't involve swirling emotions and guys dressed up in cheap Wolverine costumes.

And I'm okay with that.

War and Skull Mob

Today's Webcomic:

Skull Mob.  Issue 1.  Page 8.  www.torcpress.com

Welp, it's Day Two of WWChicago.  Last night did not go well for our hero (or his lady.  Poor Mei got sick halfway through), so I am just gonna go in today and try my best and we'll see how it goes.  On the bright side, it almost literally can't go any worse today than it did yesterday.

So, let's talk about the Skull Mob, since we've finally got around to a page that puts the title of the comic into perspective. 

The Skull Mob first popped up, almost by accident, in "Monster King" #3.  Originally, it was a small group of quirky, pulpy geek heroes that ran around with Cactus Joe.  The group had two inspirations, firstly, they were inspired by one of the best comics to out in the past few years, "The Bulletproof Coffin", and secondly by the "Batman the Brave & the Bold" cartoon, which showed Batman as a member of multiple superhero teams and partnering up with various oddball characters.  I thought, if Batman can be a member of 3 or 4 different teams at the same time, why can't Clown & Penguin. 

After MK3, the Skull Mob spontaneously (and inexplicably) morphed and grew into a massive, Avengers/JLA style team.  Suddenly, just about every character I had ever created was now a member of the Skull Mob.  The Skull Mob became an army so large, that it was divided into various divisions consisting of 5 members (some divisions had more, but in general there were 5 per division).  I'm trying to remember how many divisions there were... 7 maybe?  Which would put the roster at around 35 members (it was actually bigger than that, there were at least two divisions that had more than 5 members).  Let's see if I can remember the groups...

Division 1- Butterfly Mob- Leader:  Clown & Penguin.  Members: Broken Tea Cup, Rakka the Witch Doctor, Johny Eraser, Kolby Koala, and Mike the Butcher.

Division 2- Mask Mob- Leader:  El Exclamation Point! Members:  Agent D, Kingfisher, Dr. Z, and Armageddon Clock.

Division 3- Shadow Mob- Leader: Bad Jack (before he was the Death Moth).  Members:  Beelzebub Joan, The Puzzelor, Spookshow, and Mr. Hex.

Division 4 (almost forgot this one)- Colorful Mob- Leader: Cosmico Rex.  Members:  Run-No-No-Run, Stop-Go-Go-Stop, aliceislost, and Riddle Bug.

Division 5- Eyenigma- Leader: King Dark.  Members:  Phantom Butterfly, The Masked Platypus, Creepshow, and Sparrow Girl.

Division 6- Anarchy Mob- Leader: Akuma Boy.  Members:  Namo Redrum, Medusa Tina, Lady Luna, Mini-Toro, Shinobi Crow, and Johny Payday.

Division 7-  Halloween Mob- Leader:  Halloween M@n.  Members:  Doomharvest, Asylum, Candy Cane, and Zombie Chick.

Division 8- Pig Mob- Leader:  Johm Smythe.  Members: Gemini Aqualung, Shirac, Xavier Mystery, and CutUp.

Anyway, in the short time they were around in Monster King, the Skull Mob declared war on the evils of the TORCverse, and actually succeeded in wiping out most of the Bad Guys I had created over the years.  Then they went to war with Ortex.

I never actually showed the Battle at Ortex Tower, but if you've read "Pulp Horrorshow" v. 3 and "Death Moth" (there's also some hints of it in TORC 100), you should have a pretty good overview of how things went.  The Skull Mob was outgunned by the sheer power of the Ortex Corporation, and to make matters worse, Akuma Boy's Anarchy Mob betrayed the Skull Mob and attacked the group from behind.  The entire team was slaughtered.  With some exceptions.  The Clown's group wasn't at the battle, because he and his allies were on the other side of the Universe on the quest for Omnichronus.  Run-No-No-Run and Stop-Go-Go-Stop left Earth on the Space Whale, Watoosi, and set out across the Galaxy having adventures.  aliceislost simply wandered off.

Other than that, Spookshow and the Puzzelor have both been seen in SDF.  Spookshow is a ghost, so it's possible he was "killed" and simply reconstituted his ecoplasmic body later.  The Puzzelor is a living enigma, so it is unknown how he survived the battle.  King Dark's body, which is made of Living Darkness, was destroyed during the battle, but a small sliver escaped, and hid inside a corpse until King Dark was strong enough to reemerge.  Agent D's body was never found.  Her status is unknown.  Also, the Masked Platypus's body was not found, although he was confirmed killed at the battle.

Obviously, Akuma Boy and his Anarchy Mob survived the battle (since they were on the winning side), although Lady Luna recently died fighting a rejuvenated King Dark.

The only other survivor of the battle was Bad Jack.  Jack's body was destroyed, but his Vermin Angels masters reclaimed his soul and put it inside the body of the Death Moth.

Now the Vermin Angels have decided to create a new Skull Mob led by the Death Moth under their auspices.  And that's my new comic.  Ta-Da!

On the Road

Today's Webcomic:

The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club.  Issue 18.  Page 10.  www.torcpress.com

One of the things I'm trying to get used to is giving the bad guys (or in this case, unwitting bad guy) a tiny bit of an introduction.  Not much, because I personally don't care.  But just a little bit to strenghten the narrative.  I like how a green skinned alien is a super greedy gold hoarder.  I mean, what does he even need gold for?

I'll be hitting the road for Wizard World Chicago soon.  I will be there all 4 days, doing my thing. 

Rollin' Up Chi-Town Way

Today's Webcomic:

SDF.  Issue 5.  Page 13.  www.torcpress.com

I'm always amazed at what kind of horrible, disturbing form that the nefarious Dr. Dendull will take next.  My girlfriend is not gonna like this page.

Welp, tomorrow is the first day of the 2013 edition of Wizard World Chicago.  WWC is a Con I've been working longer than any other show (although I skipped 2 years, so I think, officially, I have been to SPACE more times).  WWC was the first show I ever worked, and although it can be a bit of roller coaster ride, it's still a show I consider to be one of my key shows of the year  (I think WWC, SPACE, and the Nashville show (now also under the Wizard brand) are the three shows I've worked the most consistently over my comics career).  Hopefully foot traffic and reception are good.  We shall see.

Anyway, if you're at the show, and you're a fan or a friend, drop by and chat me up.  I'll be happy to talk your ear off, especially if you say the words "Jack Kirby's 4th World".

Xipe Topec

Today's new edition of Skull Mob:

Skull Mob.  Issue 1.  Page 7.  www.torcpress.com

The man in the chair is called Xipe Topec.  The character is another in a long line of characters inspired by the various works of Clive Barker, who has been probably one of the most significant influences on my work.  Specifically, Xipe was inspired by an action figure from the Todd McFarlane/Clive Barker "Tortured Souls" series.  I loved those action figures, because it was cool to have these little 3-D models of these horribly mutilated monsters that I could stare at and study.

Xipe Topec has made a handful of appearances to date.  He first appeared in "Pulp Horrorshow" vol. 2 #2.  In his first appearance he was simply the unnamed leader of the mysterious and monstrous Vermin Angels.  I don't think he popped up again until "SDF: Pulp", where he made little cameos throughout the series.  It was in this series that we first see him in his "I'm pretending to be feeble and sit in this chair in my crappy pin-strip suit" mode.  It was also the first time we hear his name, which was supposed to be "Xipe Totec", which means "Skin Flayer", but due to a Josephian error, he became Xipe Topec, which probably means nothing.  I kinda liked the name, and stuck with it.  Xipe would reemerge with the series "Death Moth", where it is revealed that he was responsible for both of Bad Jack's resurrections.  He also appears in the 3rd of the recent aliceislost strips.  On several occasions he is referred to as "Mr. Dodo" or "Dodo", and in aliceislost we see why, as Xipe wears a Purple Dodo mask and refers to his location as "The Land of Lost Birds".  His handmaidens, who I think first popped up in Death Moth (we'll talk about them more in a page or two), can be seen wearing Robin (the bird, not Batman's sidekick) and Blue Jay masks.  Xipe recently made a little cameo in TORC 100, where he is seen sending Death Moth to Neptune against his will.

Xipe Topec is the Leader of the Vermin Angels, which are a group of Fallen Angels that fell down from the Highest Dimension of Heaven and crash landed in the Negative Energy Dimension, aka the 6th Dimension, aka the Outer Abyssal Rim, aka Not-Really Hell but Might as Well Be.  Unlike the Demons of Hell that serve only Corruption, the Vermin Angels serve the cause of Justice, in their own, horrible, violent way. 

Xipe Topec is kinda like the devil in a way.  He offers Lost Souls a second chance, only to enslave them into an eternity of service to his cause.  The Vermin Angels aren't working towards Redemption, if anything, they're working to prevent further Damnation.

Most of the time, Xipe Topec wears a cheap, powder blue suit, and can be seen holding a cane and sitting on an old, splintery, worn out wooden throne.  This is Xipe Topec's idea of a joke, much like his unusual nickname, "Mr. Dodo".  The only hint of his true nature is his horribly mutilated skin and the rows of fangs peaking out from behind his ravaged lips.  When Xipe Topec's authority is challenged, he has no problem revealing his true nature.  Which we'll see later on.  But most of the time, Xipe is content to look like a used car salesman. 

Xipe Topec is the exact opposite of "The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club's" Omnichronus.  If Omnichronus is a representation of a god that cares about those beneath it, then Xipe is a representation of a god that doesn't give a damn about the safety and well being of those below it.  Xipe demands that those below him serve him unquestioningly, and do so until they are no longer of use to him.  He's not a good guy, and more importantly, he doesn't want to be one.  Xipe has a job to do, and it's far more important than a petty little thing like the lives of others.

Character Page

A little bit of character interaction:

The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club.  Issue 18.  Page 9.  www.torcpress.com

Because I like to run things into the ground, here's a breakdown of the page, panel by panel:

Panel 1:  What I like about this panel is that Tea Cup and PlatOmega have only known each other for a very short time and they're already drinking buddies.  I like that.  One of the running themes of HFSAC has been friendship, and what ended the Original HFSAC was the deterioration of the friendship between Cactus Joe and El Exclamation Point!  In one of Electric Cherry's early appearances, she hits on the Clown.  For a time she was gonna be a possible love interest for the Clown, but then Tei Harlequin came along.  So, never one to squander an opportunity, turns out that Tea Cup and Electric Cherry get along quite well.  We'll see how that develops.

Panel 2:  The thing to remember about Eyemo and Eyemii (pronounced Eye-Moe and Eye-Mee), is that they used to be regular Harbingers.  Harbingers have no personalities of their own.  So, now that they're Arch-Harbingers, they've got personalities of their own.  But they're not really used to it yet.  Poor Eyemo obviously has the hots for Eyemii, but he doesn't really know how to hit on her.  And Eyemii has no idea that she is being hit upon.  It's a bit sad, really.

Panel 3:  Man, I am glad to have Los Super Hip Bros back again.  The two years they were gone were not as much fun.  Anyway, PSYCHEDELIC DANCE PARTY!  EVERYONE DANCE!  (I'm not kidding, get up from your computer and start dancing!  Life is too damn short!)

Panel 4:  Notice how Tei Harlequin refers to Darkwatcher as "Professor".  Just a tiny hint to the nature of their previous relationship. 

Panel 5:  Throw away panel, but I agree with the Clown's sentiment.  It's nice to be off having kooky adventures again.

Backwards Dialogue

Today's Strip:

Skull Mob.  Issue 1.  Page 6.  www.torcpress.com

Two Notes on this particular page:

First off, in the large panel, the Death Moth says "Tinmad."  This is Damnit spelled backwards.  Bad Jack has always been a rather straightforward character, largely driven by his quest for revenge against Dr. Dendull.  The only real quirk I ever gave the character is his tendency to occasionally say words backwards when he is angry, upset, or surprised.  The reason for this bizarre quirk dates back to when I wanted to give all of my characters a connection to "Alice in Wonderland".  Bad Jack (back when he was a zombie superhero, before he was a moth-man) was going to be the White Knight, and according to the lyric in the classic song "White Rabbit", the White Knight is talking backwards, so suddenly Jack developed this strange habit.  If you read just about any comic he appears in, even the early appearances in "SDF: Pulp", you'll find him occasionally slipping and saying something in reverse.  The best example is when he yells "IED!", he's actually trying to yell "DIE!".

Secondly, this page represents one of my infamous counting mistakes.  I'm actually working quite a ways ahead with both Skull Mob and HFSAC, so much so that Issue 1 of both books is actually done.  Unfortunately, at some point in the process, this page got temporarily lost.  When I was assembling the print edition of Skull Mob #1, I found myself going, where's the page with the Giant Teeth?  (Which, incidentally, is an odd thing to say to oneself)  After digging around my Art Pile, I found the lost page, scanned it, numbered it "6a" (since I had misnumbered Page 7 as Page 6), and renumbered the whole book.  So, long story short, Skull Mob #1 is actually 17 pages instead of 16.  Whoops.

Anyway, that's it for me this week.  Next week is Wizard World Chicago, which will give me my first opportunity to update the strip while on the road. 

3 Dimensional Language

Today's webcomic:

The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club.  Issue 18.  Page 8.  www.torcpress.com

So, on Panel 2, Omnichronus speaks.  That big, glowing cube is his dialogue.  Allow me to explain.

Omnichronus is a 9th Dimensional Being.  We are 3 Dimensional Beings.  Omnichronus is a creature that is so far beyond our level of comprehension, that I don't even really know how to properly describe the gulf between us.  I guess from an evolutionary standpoint, we would be single celled organisms, and he would be a blue whale.  The version of Omnichronus we see on pages 7 and 8 isn't actually the real Omnichronus either.  This version is actually a 3 Dimensional Avatar sent into lower dimensional space to act as a proxy for the real Omnichronus that is still over in the 9th Dimension.  If you have a copy of "Clown & Penguin" #2, there's a really cool shot of what Omnichronus looks like in all of his glory.

Back in "The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club" #13, back when the Clown & Penguin were still trying to find/figure out what Omnichronus was, our heroes found themselves transported inside a strange, translucent cube that was covered in alien writing on all sides.  This was the word of Omnichronus that had somehow slipped though the barrier and had manifested in our reality. 

You see, Omnichronus is so big, so advanced, so beyond our comprehension, that his words are not just sounds passing through air, they are fully realized 3 Dimensional Monoliths that vibrate through spacetime for minutes or hours or days, depending on the importance. 

And yes, I am aware that not a single sentence in that entire diatribe made any sense at all.  It's Comix baby, it's the coolest.