Walt n' Sped Comix #1 is now available from TORC Press! It's an 8 Page Black and White comic with a Color cover for $1.50 plus a buck S&H. It's available either through our online store at www.torcpress.com/store.html or by sending a check or money order for the proper amount to: TORC Press, c/o Joseph Morris, 330 S 5th St SW, Clay City, IL 62824.
As usual, I'm putting the cart before the horse here. I mean, who's gonna wanna order the book without finding out what it's about, right?
Well, Walt n' Sped Comix is a cute, silly, slapsticky, All Ages book featuring several of my "Funny Animal" characters. There's Walt, a tall, overalls wearing, talking, orange cat who equates fishing with a religious experience, and Sped, a psychotic, perpetually grinning, naked, little dog who likes hot sauce and mass destruction. Joining this offbeat cast is the returning Frimpy, the world's most unluckiest cartoon character, and the newcomer, Penny Platypus, who serves as yet another new member of the ever growing Platypus family. In this installment, our heroes attempt to build a rocket car with ridiculous results. It's fun.
Other than that, I plan on doing one issue of Walt n' Sped a year. It's a fun book, but it's not really where my focus is at right now.
I'll be working on rigging up a Preview Page for the book later this week.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Saturday Equals New MONSTER KING!
"Was that Real or a Dream?"
Pages 17 and 18 of Monster King are now available for viewing over at www.torcpress.com/monsterking.html. Being the boss and editor and head writer over here at TORC Press, it falls to me to occasionally point out when something of Great Significance happens in the TORCverse. Key Moments. Things You Should Pay Attention to. So allow me to get out my Big Red Neon Arrow and point it directly at Monster King Pages 17 and 18. They may not seem like much now, but these pages set the tone for the TORCverse (most specifically the continuing Ballad of Clown and Penguin) in 2011. Just saying.
Also, if you haven't been there in awhile, and you're tired of the nonsense with Myspace (and who can blame you) and since it'll be a Cold Day in Hell before I get back on Facebook (screw that noise), we are now putting NEWS updates up over on the slightly redesigned (but still Simplistic) Main Site at www.torcpress.com. Also, a Carbon Copy of this blog is published over at http://torcpress.blogspot.com/, so there's that.
Pages 17 and 18 of Monster King are now available for viewing over at www.torcpress.com/monsterking.html. Being the boss and editor and head writer over here at TORC Press, it falls to me to occasionally point out when something of Great Significance happens in the TORCverse. Key Moments. Things You Should Pay Attention to. So allow me to get out my Big Red Neon Arrow and point it directly at Monster King Pages 17 and 18. They may not seem like much now, but these pages set the tone for the TORCverse (most specifically the continuing Ballad of Clown and Penguin) in 2011. Just saying.
Also, if you haven't been there in awhile, and you're tired of the nonsense with Myspace (and who can blame you) and since it'll be a Cold Day in Hell before I get back on Facebook (screw that noise), we are now putting NEWS updates up over on the slightly redesigned (but still Simplistic) Main Site at www.torcpress.com. Also, a Carbon Copy of this blog is published over at http://torcpress.blogspot.com/, so there's that.
Monday, November 22, 2010
The 24 Hour Comic
Got up at 5:30am, loaded some Green Teas into a cooler I borrowed from Bro, dropped the dog off at Ma and Pa's place, loaded up on Candy Bars at the gas station, and badda bing badda boom I was off for Comic Quest in Evansville, IN for the 24 Hour Comic Book Challenge.
For those of you that are unaware of the nature of the 24 Hour Comic Challenge, allow me to explain. Created by Scott McCloud of "Understanding Comics" fame, the concept behind the 24 Hour Comic is to create, write, pencil, ink, and letter an entire comic book in 24 Consecutive Hours. For those of you that don't create comics on a regular basis, it takes a lot longer than 24 Hours to make a comic. I'm Superultra Fast, and I need about 144 Nonconsecutive Hours to make a comic. All in all, it's an exercise in Speed, Creativity, Endurance, and Dedication. I had never made a 24 Hour Comic before, but my buddy and frequent partner-in-crime, Clint Bassinger of Cosmic Moustache Comics had made a couple and wanted to do it again in order to clean a few concepts our of his brain. We made arrangements with Comic Quest to host the event, put the word out with other local creators, and we were off to the races.
Unsurprisingly, Clint and I were the only fools foolish enough to undergo this Herculean task. Other members of the Creator's Alliance stopped by over the course of the day, but only Clint and I gutted it out for the 24 straight hours.
Interestingly, both Clint and I decided to cheat a little. Clint walked in with character designs and a full script. I had a Cactus Joe story I wanted to tell, and had a vague concept for it in my head. So neither of us took the clean slate approach.
The Game began at 8:30am on Saturday. Clint started by drawing thumbnails of his entire book. I just barralled into the pencils. My pencil rate was initially somewhere in the neighborhood of 4 Pages per Hour. I vaguely remember taking a lunch break around 1pm with over half my pages penciled. Made the mistake of eating at Long John Silvers. Stomach was utterly disrupted for remainder of the Game. Also, they got my order wrong. Got my pencils done at some point, can't remember when. Started slowing down. Started taking little breaks every two pages. Read the stack of comics I purchased. "Batman: The Return" and "Batman Inc." are AWESOME!!!!
Inking began. Clint's still pencilling. Ordered a pizza from Papa Johns. Bigger mistake. Stomach's too upset from lunch to enjoy greazy pizza. Ugh. Making great time on Inks. About two pages an hour, which is fast even for me. Clint's not sure if he's gonna make it in time. I tell him he needs to cut corners and not spend so much time adding greytones and heavy blacks with his ink wash. Call Bro at Midnight for Moral Support and to find out how the UFC PPV went. Good to hear Bro, but the UFC card was apparently a disappointment, with Lyoto Machida losing to Rampage in a crummy split decision. Resumed inking. Getting slower, losing focus. Clint's playing odd Mix CDs on his little CD player. Doing okay.
Then. At 4am. I. Hit. The. Wall.
THUD!
With pages 19 through 24 left to Ink, I ran completely out of gas. I thought it over and decided discretion was the better part of valor, and laid down on the floor and went to sleep for two hours. Woke up in the middle of the dream feeling crummy but lucid and resumed the Game at 6am with two and a half hours on the clock. Drank my last Green Tea and ate a big bag of M&Ms. Clint was almost caught up to me by now, having inking his comic up to page 19 as well. Worked diligently for the remaining two hours and finished Page 24 (the only truly embarrassingly bad page) at 8:20am on Sunday. GAME OVER. Our Hero Wins! Ten minutes later, Clint wrapped up his last page as well. There were bands and parades and celebrations and dancing girls and monkeys and elephants and dancing girls. No wait. There was none of that. Just two dudes waiting to be let out of an empty comic shop. We waited till 9am, and when no one came to let us out, we locked up and left through the back. I was gonna get a hotel, but my emergency nap gave me enough juice for the 2 hour drive home. So home I went.
My 24 Hour Comic is Called "Dicks for Hire", and is the humorously surreal adventures of Cactus Joe, Pengy Penguin, and another classic TORCverse character starting a Detective Agency. It will be available sometime in 2011.
For those of you that are unaware of the nature of the 24 Hour Comic Challenge, allow me to explain. Created by Scott McCloud of "Understanding Comics" fame, the concept behind the 24 Hour Comic is to create, write, pencil, ink, and letter an entire comic book in 24 Consecutive Hours. For those of you that don't create comics on a regular basis, it takes a lot longer than 24 Hours to make a comic. I'm Superultra Fast, and I need about 144 Nonconsecutive Hours to make a comic. All in all, it's an exercise in Speed, Creativity, Endurance, and Dedication. I had never made a 24 Hour Comic before, but my buddy and frequent partner-in-crime, Clint Bassinger of Cosmic Moustache Comics had made a couple and wanted to do it again in order to clean a few concepts our of his brain. We made arrangements with Comic Quest to host the event, put the word out with other local creators, and we were off to the races.
Unsurprisingly, Clint and I were the only fools foolish enough to undergo this Herculean task. Other members of the Creator's Alliance stopped by over the course of the day, but only Clint and I gutted it out for the 24 straight hours.
Interestingly, both Clint and I decided to cheat a little. Clint walked in with character designs and a full script. I had a Cactus Joe story I wanted to tell, and had a vague concept for it in my head. So neither of us took the clean slate approach.
The Game began at 8:30am on Saturday. Clint started by drawing thumbnails of his entire book. I just barralled into the pencils. My pencil rate was initially somewhere in the neighborhood of 4 Pages per Hour. I vaguely remember taking a lunch break around 1pm with over half my pages penciled. Made the mistake of eating at Long John Silvers. Stomach was utterly disrupted for remainder of the Game. Also, they got my order wrong. Got my pencils done at some point, can't remember when. Started slowing down. Started taking little breaks every two pages. Read the stack of comics I purchased. "Batman: The Return" and "Batman Inc." are AWESOME!!!!
Inking began. Clint's still pencilling. Ordered a pizza from Papa Johns. Bigger mistake. Stomach's too upset from lunch to enjoy greazy pizza. Ugh. Making great time on Inks. About two pages an hour, which is fast even for me. Clint's not sure if he's gonna make it in time. I tell him he needs to cut corners and not spend so much time adding greytones and heavy blacks with his ink wash. Call Bro at Midnight for Moral Support and to find out how the UFC PPV went. Good to hear Bro, but the UFC card was apparently a disappointment, with Lyoto Machida losing to Rampage in a crummy split decision. Resumed inking. Getting slower, losing focus. Clint's playing odd Mix CDs on his little CD player. Doing okay.
Then. At 4am. I. Hit. The. Wall.
THUD!
With pages 19 through 24 left to Ink, I ran completely out of gas. I thought it over and decided discretion was the better part of valor, and laid down on the floor and went to sleep for two hours. Woke up in the middle of the dream feeling crummy but lucid and resumed the Game at 6am with two and a half hours on the clock. Drank my last Green Tea and ate a big bag of M&Ms. Clint was almost caught up to me by now, having inking his comic up to page 19 as well. Worked diligently for the remaining two hours and finished Page 24 (the only truly embarrassingly bad page) at 8:20am on Sunday. GAME OVER. Our Hero Wins! Ten minutes later, Clint wrapped up his last page as well. There were bands and parades and celebrations and dancing girls and monkeys and elephants and dancing girls. No wait. There was none of that. Just two dudes waiting to be let out of an empty comic shop. We waited till 9am, and when no one came to let us out, we locked up and left through the back. I was gonna get a hotel, but my emergency nap gave me enough juice for the 2 hour drive home. So home I went.
My 24 Hour Comic is Called "Dicks for Hire", and is the humorously surreal adventures of Cactus Joe, Pengy Penguin, and another classic TORCverse character starting a Detective Agency. It will be available sometime in 2011.
Friday, November 19, 2010
New MONSTER KING and other Junk
"What the Hell? Another Underground Cavern? REALLY?!"
What a rotten week this has been. Just a continuous beatdown of almost epic proportions. I've even got a great/terrible story from this week, but I haven't had a free second to blog about it, cause I've been running around on nonstop full tilt boogie mode. Go here. Do this. Go there. Do that. It's like being trapped in the lame version of "Grand Theft Auto 25: Boredomland". Anyway, in the midst of this chaos, I still managed to post two new pages of my online comic, MONSTER KING, which are now available for your viewing leisure at www.torcpress.com/mk3.html or you can start with the new index at www.torcpress.com/monsterking.html. Admittedly, this is a slow week, as the Clown reacts to (literally) falling for this year's running gag, and Pengy discovers some Cave Paintings. Yep.
Speaking of running around like a chicken with its head cut off, tomorrow I am off to my "local" comic shop, Comic Quest in Evansville, IN, to participate in the store's ad hoc 24 Hour Comic Day. I will be attempting a 24 Hour Comic Book, but I will be cheating a little bit and using pre-existing characters and a pre-concieved plot. So there's that.
Oh yeah, also, don't forget that SDF: Pulp 5 is now available over in the online store at www.torcpress.com/store.html. It's got Cactus Joe fighting a cool monster and a Cosmico Rex strip. Check it out.
Also, like most people, I am not a fan of the "New" Myspace. Bleh.
What a rotten week this has been. Just a continuous beatdown of almost epic proportions. I've even got a great/terrible story from this week, but I haven't had a free second to blog about it, cause I've been running around on nonstop full tilt boogie mode. Go here. Do this. Go there. Do that. It's like being trapped in the lame version of "Grand Theft Auto 25: Boredomland". Anyway, in the midst of this chaos, I still managed to post two new pages of my online comic, MONSTER KING, which are now available for your viewing leisure at www.torcpress.com/mk3.html or you can start with the new index at www.torcpress.com/monsterking.html. Admittedly, this is a slow week, as the Clown reacts to (literally) falling for this year's running gag, and Pengy discovers some Cave Paintings. Yep.
Speaking of running around like a chicken with its head cut off, tomorrow I am off to my "local" comic shop, Comic Quest in Evansville, IN, to participate in the store's ad hoc 24 Hour Comic Day. I will be attempting a 24 Hour Comic Book, but I will be cheating a little bit and using pre-existing characters and a pre-concieved plot. So there's that.
Oh yeah, also, don't forget that SDF: Pulp 5 is now available over in the online store at www.torcpress.com/store.html. It's got Cactus Joe fighting a cool monster and a Cosmico Rex strip. Check it out.
Also, like most people, I am not a fan of the "New" Myspace. Bleh.
Monday, November 15, 2010
SDF: Pulp Issue 5 Now Available
As promised, it's Monday, and we've got a new book up and ready to go in the online store. "SDF: Pulp" #5 is now available from TORC Press. It's 8 Pages in BWG for $2.50 plus $1.50 S&H and be acquired directly from our online store at www.torcpress.com/store.html, or through snail mail by sending a check or money order for the proper amount to: TORC Press, c/o Joseph Morris, 330 S 5th St SW, Clay City, IL 62824.
Wait. You wanna hear what it's about first? Oh, okay. Sheesh. As usual, SDF: Pulp features two strips in each issue. The lead strip of issue 5, Cactus Joe battles a twisted version of a monster from Greek Mythology, the horrifying Scylla. To make matters even more complicated, the fight takes place in the middle of an underwater cave. And the Clown's not that great of a swimmer. In the back up strip, Bad Jack takes a one issue vacation to recover from his fight with Dr. Dendull, which means that Cosmico Rex gets to steal the spotlight. In a swinging space age strip, Rex does battle with a group of vicious Space Poachers.
Anyway, there's a preview page from the book at www.torcpress.com/previewpage1.html up as well, so check that out. Also, don't forget, we've got two new pages of MONSTER KING available, which can be viewed at the new Monster King Index Page at www.torcpress.com/monsterking.html, which also contains a recap section.
And that's that. Got a busy week this week. Got a wrestling match to go to on Wednesday, Yoga on Thursday, and then Saturday and Sunday I'll be at Comic Quest in Evansville attempting the dreaded 24 Hour Comic Book Challenge. Woo.
Wait. You wanna hear what it's about first? Oh, okay. Sheesh. As usual, SDF: Pulp features two strips in each issue. The lead strip of issue 5, Cactus Joe battles a twisted version of a monster from Greek Mythology, the horrifying Scylla. To make matters even more complicated, the fight takes place in the middle of an underwater cave. And the Clown's not that great of a swimmer. In the back up strip, Bad Jack takes a one issue vacation to recover from his fight with Dr. Dendull, which means that Cosmico Rex gets to steal the spotlight. In a swinging space age strip, Rex does battle with a group of vicious Space Poachers.
Anyway, there's a preview page from the book at www.torcpress.com/previewpage1.html up as well, so check that out. Also, don't forget, we've got two new pages of MONSTER KING available, which can be viewed at the new Monster King Index Page at www.torcpress.com/monsterking.html, which also contains a recap section.
And that's that. Got a busy week this week. Got a wrestling match to go to on Wednesday, Yoga on Thursday, and then Saturday and Sunday I'll be at Comic Quest in Evansville attempting the dreaded 24 Hour Comic Book Challenge. Woo.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
New Monster King Dudes
"Aw man...Not Again!!!"
It's Saturday, so you know what that means, it's MONSTER KING time! As forewarned, we've cleaned up shop, so we're starting over at Page 13. If you missed anything (and if you did, shame on you), then we've got a new Index Page at www.torcpress.com/monsterking.html that not only has a painfully wordy recap, but there's links to the two new pages all ready to go. This week, Cactus Joe unleashes a powerful new attack, and then promptly falls for a running gag that's troubled him all year.
Other than that, I'm doing the worst job ever of cleaning my house. Oh, and a new book comes out Monday. Later.
It's Saturday, so you know what that means, it's MONSTER KING time! As forewarned, we've cleaned up shop, so we're starting over at Page 13. If you missed anything (and if you did, shame on you), then we've got a new Index Page at www.torcpress.com/monsterking.html that not only has a painfully wordy recap, but there's links to the two new pages all ready to go. This week, Cactus Joe unleashes a powerful new attack, and then promptly falls for a running gag that's troubled him all year.
Other than that, I'm doing the worst job ever of cleaning my house. Oh, and a new book comes out Monday. Later.
New Monster King Dudes
"Aw man...Not Again!!!"
It's Saturday, so you know what that means, it's MONSTER KING time! As forewarned, we've cleaned up shop, so we're starting over at Page 13. If you missed anything (and if you did, shame on you), then we've got a new Index Page at www.torcpress.com/monsterking.html that not only has a painfully wordy recap, but there's links to the two new pages all ready to go. This week, Cactus Joe unleashes a powerful new attack, and then promptly falls for a running gag that's troubled him all year.
Other than that, I'm doing the worst job ever of cleaning my house. Oh, and a new book comes out Monday. Later.
It's Saturday, so you know what that means, it's MONSTER KING time! As forewarned, we've cleaned up shop, so we're starting over at Page 13. If you missed anything (and if you did, shame on you), then we've got a new Index Page at www.torcpress.com/monsterking.html that not only has a painfully wordy recap, but there's links to the two new pages all ready to go. This week, Cactus Joe unleashes a powerful new attack, and then promptly falls for a running gag that's troubled him all year.
Other than that, I'm doing the worst job ever of cleaning my house. Oh, and a new book comes out Monday. Later.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
The Post Mortem
Well, with Convention Season all wrapped up, let's see how things went.
STAPLE: The only bad thing about this show is the travel expenses. Between the airfare, cabfare, hotel, and food costs, I will probably never make a profit at this show. Yet, I'm still signed up for next year. Why? Because the audience at STAPLE is great. They're receptive and open to trying new comics, and you don't gotta pull teeth to make a sale. The boost to my ego alone is worth the trip. Also, I like Texas Chili. The lower price books sold the best (which is supposed to be the point of the lower priced books in the first place), so Gulatta! was probably our overall best seller. HFSAC performed admirably as well.
SPACE: I love SPACE. Again, we lose out on travel expenses, but I love the show because it's all Indy guys, and all the Indy guys are usually pretty cool to each other. I've made more "connections" with other pros at this show than at any other show I've worked. I also tend to spend more on Small Press and Mini Comics at this show than any other, so there's that. We did very good at this show, with HFSAC selling extremely well.
Free Comic Book Day at Comic Quest in Evansville, IN: FCBD at my "local" comic shop went swimmingly. Free table, virtually no travel expense (a little bit of gas money was all), and best of all, we actually sold some comics. The lower priced books performed the best, with Gulatta! and SDF: Pulp selling very well. HFSAC still managed to hold its own, too.
Chicago Comicon: Our most expensive table, but also our best payday. We saved on travel costs by crashing with some of Bro's friends (also got at least one free meal out of the deal as well), so that was good. This was the first show where I brought along some new stuff, like the TORC Press Logo shirt, the TORC Press Poster, and some original, framed paintings. We moved some t-shirts, but that was it. Groan. Still, the comics did their job, with HFSAC selling very well (we had at least two or three people buy the whole series in one felled swoop), and SDFP did good too. I believe we introduced "Death Nouveau: Ep 2" at this show, and it sold very nicely. Strangely, Gulatta! underperformed at this show for some reason. If it wasn't for the super expensive table, this would have been our best show of the year, despite the fact that I thought we were utterly doomed on Friday. That day totally sucked. Saturday rocked, though.
Nashville Comicon: Table prices were higher, but we got to stay the night for free with my cousin (Hey, Katie!), so it worked out okay. Foot traffic was spotty, but we still sold fairly well. This was the ONLY show where someone bought one of my paintings, and it was my first sale of the show no less! That was awesome. HFSAC, SDFP, and DNEP2 all sold nicely. Again, Gulatta underperformed. Also, again, we managed to sell all the issues of HFSAC to at least one or two people. Crazy.
GMX: The good news: Cheap table and free room and board (Hi again, Kaite!). The Bad News: Ssssslllllloooooowwwww foot traffic and a largely unreceptive audience. Having said that, there were a handful of people that tried us out, which was nice, and best of all, there were actually a few people that bought a full run of HFSAC, which blew my mind. Still, there is nothing in this world worse than working a convention by yourself and having no one to talk to and making no sales for four hours straight. That was rough.
Mid-Ohio Con: On the bright side, I split my table with Clint, so the overall cost was mitigated somewhat. On the other and, we were stuck in the absolute worst spot in the whole con. Holy crap, talk about terrible table positioning. Still, we did okay. Gulatta and the other all ages books redeemed themselves, selling very admirably (lot of families at the show, thankfully). HFSAC continued its job of being our flagship title, and SDFP did okay. In truth, I sold more comics to my comrades-in-arms (other Creator's Common guys) than I did to the regular folk. That was odd.
Next Year: I'm already signed up for STAPLE and SPACE, which are both in March of next year. That'll be a rough month. I've got a heads up on some really cool smaller shows that I might try to work as well. I'll probably work Chicago if for no other reason to give Bro an excuse to hang with Brad and Jen. I should try to work at least one Nashville show next year in order to hang with Katie and my nephew Jack. Also, I've heard a lot of good things about Dragon Con, but I'm not sure if I'm in the mood to travel to Atlanta, GA. Also, Clint and I talked about the possibility of splitting a table at some of the new Wizard shows that will debut next year.
I've got new plans of attack. New stuff I'm gonna try. New shows to go to. Buckle up, baby, cause we're going for a ride.
STAPLE: The only bad thing about this show is the travel expenses. Between the airfare, cabfare, hotel, and food costs, I will probably never make a profit at this show. Yet, I'm still signed up for next year. Why? Because the audience at STAPLE is great. They're receptive and open to trying new comics, and you don't gotta pull teeth to make a sale. The boost to my ego alone is worth the trip. Also, I like Texas Chili. The lower price books sold the best (which is supposed to be the point of the lower priced books in the first place), so Gulatta! was probably our overall best seller. HFSAC performed admirably as well.
SPACE: I love SPACE. Again, we lose out on travel expenses, but I love the show because it's all Indy guys, and all the Indy guys are usually pretty cool to each other. I've made more "connections" with other pros at this show than at any other show I've worked. I also tend to spend more on Small Press and Mini Comics at this show than any other, so there's that. We did very good at this show, with HFSAC selling extremely well.
Free Comic Book Day at Comic Quest in Evansville, IN: FCBD at my "local" comic shop went swimmingly. Free table, virtually no travel expense (a little bit of gas money was all), and best of all, we actually sold some comics. The lower priced books performed the best, with Gulatta! and SDF: Pulp selling very well. HFSAC still managed to hold its own, too.
Chicago Comicon: Our most expensive table, but also our best payday. We saved on travel costs by crashing with some of Bro's friends (also got at least one free meal out of the deal as well), so that was good. This was the first show where I brought along some new stuff, like the TORC Press Logo shirt, the TORC Press Poster, and some original, framed paintings. We moved some t-shirts, but that was it. Groan. Still, the comics did their job, with HFSAC selling very well (we had at least two or three people buy the whole series in one felled swoop), and SDFP did good too. I believe we introduced "Death Nouveau: Ep 2" at this show, and it sold very nicely. Strangely, Gulatta! underperformed at this show for some reason. If it wasn't for the super expensive table, this would have been our best show of the year, despite the fact that I thought we were utterly doomed on Friday. That day totally sucked. Saturday rocked, though.
Nashville Comicon: Table prices were higher, but we got to stay the night for free with my cousin (Hey, Katie!), so it worked out okay. Foot traffic was spotty, but we still sold fairly well. This was the ONLY show where someone bought one of my paintings, and it was my first sale of the show no less! That was awesome. HFSAC, SDFP, and DNEP2 all sold nicely. Again, Gulatta underperformed. Also, again, we managed to sell all the issues of HFSAC to at least one or two people. Crazy.
GMX: The good news: Cheap table and free room and board (Hi again, Kaite!). The Bad News: Ssssslllllloooooowwwww foot traffic and a largely unreceptive audience. Having said that, there were a handful of people that tried us out, which was nice, and best of all, there were actually a few people that bought a full run of HFSAC, which blew my mind. Still, there is nothing in this world worse than working a convention by yourself and having no one to talk to and making no sales for four hours straight. That was rough.
Mid-Ohio Con: On the bright side, I split my table with Clint, so the overall cost was mitigated somewhat. On the other and, we were stuck in the absolute worst spot in the whole con. Holy crap, talk about terrible table positioning. Still, we did okay. Gulatta and the other all ages books redeemed themselves, selling very admirably (lot of families at the show, thankfully). HFSAC continued its job of being our flagship title, and SDFP did okay. In truth, I sold more comics to my comrades-in-arms (other Creator's Common guys) than I did to the regular folk. That was odd.
Next Year: I'm already signed up for STAPLE and SPACE, which are both in March of next year. That'll be a rough month. I've got a heads up on some really cool smaller shows that I might try to work as well. I'll probably work Chicago if for no other reason to give Bro an excuse to hang with Brad and Jen. I should try to work at least one Nashville show next year in order to hang with Katie and my nephew Jack. Also, I've heard a lot of good things about Dragon Con, but I'm not sure if I'm in the mood to travel to Atlanta, GA. Also, Clint and I talked about the possibility of splitting a table at some of the new Wizard shows that will debut next year.
I've got new plans of attack. New stuff I'm gonna try. New shows to go to. Buckle up, baby, cause we're going for a ride.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Back from Mid-Ohio
I'm back from Columbus, safe and more or less sound. I'd like to thank everyone that came out and supported TORC Press at Mid-Ohio Con, especially since it seemed like getting people to try something new at this show was like pulling teeth. Woof. Still, we did okay, especially when you factor in how absolutely horrible our table positioning was. When I got to the show, I went looking for my table, and I couldn't find it. I was like, "Where's table 005? The numbers end at 010." Then I noticed there was another, tiny, secret, hidden row on the other side of the aisle, facing the wall. My immediate response was, "We're doomed," (in my best C-3PO voice), but we did okay. Part of what helped was that I split a table with Clint Basinger of Cosmic Moustache fame. Not only did that cut back on my expenses, but it gave me someone to talk to over the weekend (as opposed to GMX where I was not only in a crummy spot with an unresponsive audience, but I also had no one to jabber with). Perhaps the most frustrating part of the show was that a really good table was open and never claimed the next aisle over, but there was nothing we could do to acquire it. Well, I suppose we could have gone all pirate and just taken the table as our own, but that would be rude to all the over poor schmucks stuck in our aisle. But like I said, we did okay, so it's no biggie.
Anyway, that's it for me and Conventions for the year. I've already got a heads up on several conventions for next year, and I've got new plans on how to tackle next year's conventions and hopefully make some extra scratch. It's all a learning process, really. In the meantime, a new book will go live in the online store next week (well, sorta new, I've been selling it on the Convention Circuit for a couple of months now), HFSAC 9 is at the printers, HFSAC 10 is in production, SDFP 6 is ready to go to the printers in a week or two, SDFP7 is written, and I've got 6 weeks worth of material for MONSTER KING ready to go. Whew.
In the meantime, it's back to the Sawmill with me. Yee-haw.
Anyway, that's it for me and Conventions for the year. I've already got a heads up on several conventions for next year, and I've got new plans on how to tackle next year's conventions and hopefully make some extra scratch. It's all a learning process, really. In the meantime, a new book will go live in the online store next week (well, sorta new, I've been selling it on the Convention Circuit for a couple of months now), HFSAC 9 is at the printers, HFSAC 10 is in production, SDFP 6 is ready to go to the printers in a week or two, SDFP7 is written, and I've got 6 weeks worth of material for MONSTER KING ready to go. Whew.
In the meantime, it's back to the Sawmill with me. Yee-haw.
Friday, November 5, 2010
Mid-Ohio and MONSTER KING
Alrighty, I'm a leaving for Mid-Ohio Con in just a few short hours. If I can get out of my PJs. Anyway, it's Saturday and Sunday and details on the show are up over at http://midohiocon.blogspot.com/. Groan. 6 hour drive. Groan.
While I'm gone check out Pages 11-12 of my online comic, MONSTER KING, which are now available for viewing over at www.torcpress.com/mk11.html. Hassan i Phantom unleashes his deadly wooden Marionettes! Also, these are the last pages I'll be putting up before things "reset" with pages 13-14. So enjoy em while the enjoyin' is good.
Also, once again, TORC Press is no longer on Facebook. Screw that noise.
Other than that, hope everyone has a nice weekend in this dismal month.
While I'm gone check out Pages 11-12 of my online comic, MONSTER KING, which are now available for viewing over at www.torcpress.com/mk11.html. Hassan i Phantom unleashes his deadly wooden Marionettes! Also, these are the last pages I'll be putting up before things "reset" with pages 13-14. So enjoy em while the enjoyin' is good.
Also, once again, TORC Press is no longer on Facebook. Screw that noise.
Other than that, hope everyone has a nice weekend in this dismal month.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
I Hate Facebook with an Endless Passion
I never liked Facebook. In fact, I think Facebook is the dumbest idea in history. Well, the only things dumber than Facebook are Twitter and People who actually voted for Tea Party candidates. Anyway, despite the fact that I hate Facebook, I am a business. I am TORC Press. I need to use every avenue I can use to promote my work and keep my tiny readership up to date on what's going down with my stuff. So I got me a Facebook. I'd put little TORC Press updates on it. Big whoop. So, I try to log into my Facebook account last night, and guess what? I can't. Facebook tells me that I'm a Security Threat, and that I MAY NOT BE REAL. In order to prove my validity as a human being, I have to give Facebook my cellphone number. I ain't giving out my blankety blankin' number to no stupid computer, and I sure as shootin' ain't giving it out to stupid, worthless, boring Facebook.
Now, never freakin' mind that I've been SPAMMED by Nonexistent People TWICE already on Facebook. Never freakin' mind that all I've done on Facebook is post little updates on my crap and respond to other people's posts on my wall. Oh no. I'm the one that's not real. Me. Joseph Morris. The one and only Bizarre Human Comix Machine. The Blue Collar Scumbag. The Straight Edge Psychedelic Astronaut. The Actual American Original. The man who can do more with a bottle of India Ink than Hollywood can do with Millions of Dollars (Sidenote: I've decided that "Skyline" is a blatant rip-off of the following films: Godzilla (American version no less), Independence Day, The Matrix, and Cloverfield. Not a single original idea anywhere to be found.). But I'm not real. Oh no.
Well, screw you Facebook. I never liked you, and if I could sign into my account I would deactivate you right freakin' now. Since I can't, then let me just say to the two people reading this (Hi, Mark!), that TORC PRESS/Joseph Morris WILL NO LONGER BE USING FACEBOOK AS A RESOURCE. All updates will be made either here on the Myspace/Blogspot Blog, or directly on the website (I'm thinking about adding a news section soon).
Once again, Screw You Facebook.
Now, never freakin' mind that I've been SPAMMED by Nonexistent People TWICE already on Facebook. Never freakin' mind that all I've done on Facebook is post little updates on my crap and respond to other people's posts on my wall. Oh no. I'm the one that's not real. Me. Joseph Morris. The one and only Bizarre Human Comix Machine. The Blue Collar Scumbag. The Straight Edge Psychedelic Astronaut. The Actual American Original. The man who can do more with a bottle of India Ink than Hollywood can do with Millions of Dollars (Sidenote: I've decided that "Skyline" is a blatant rip-off of the following films: Godzilla (American version no less), Independence Day, The Matrix, and Cloverfield. Not a single original idea anywhere to be found.). But I'm not real. Oh no.
Well, screw you Facebook. I never liked you, and if I could sign into my account I would deactivate you right freakin' now. Since I can't, then let me just say to the two people reading this (Hi, Mark!), that TORC PRESS/Joseph Morris WILL NO LONGER BE USING FACEBOOK AS A RESOURCE. All updates will be made either here on the Myspace/Blogspot Blog, or directly on the website (I'm thinking about adding a news section soon).
Once again, Screw You Facebook.
Monday, November 1, 2010
November Dawn
Alrighty. New Day. New Week. New Month. New Game. Let's Play.
First off, my last convention of the year is this weekend. Mid-Ohio Con in Columbus, OH is this weekend. I'll be there both days shamelessly hawking my wares to anyone stupid enough to get close to my table. I'm sharing a table with my semi-frequent partner in crime, Clint Bassinger of Cosmic Moustache Comics. So there's that.
If you haven't been to the main site at www.torcpress.com in a week or two, we've got some new stuff up. There's my latest book, Gulatta! v2.2, which is available, and there's a one page preview up on the main site as well. In addition, we're up to page 10 of my free, online comic Monster King.
Other than that, I just sent HFSAC 9 to the Printers. It should be available in December, unless something stupid happens. Work has begun on issue 10 (and by work, I mean I've got four pages pencilled and one page inked...). The material for the first full issue of Monster King is also done. Just a matter of slowly unveiling the pages. Speaking of which, pages 11-12 will be going up early this week, because, obviously, I'll be on the road this weekend. "SDF: Pulp" #5 will be available for sale in a few weeks (give or take), and "SDF: Pulp" #6 is completed and will be sent to the Printers when I think I can afford it. SDFP 7 is scripted, but I'm short on Bristol right now, so I'll start work on that one when I've got the pencils for HFSAC 10 and MK2 done.
Woof. I am groggy today. I blame the Nyquil.
First off, my last convention of the year is this weekend. Mid-Ohio Con in Columbus, OH is this weekend. I'll be there both days shamelessly hawking my wares to anyone stupid enough to get close to my table. I'm sharing a table with my semi-frequent partner in crime, Clint Bassinger of Cosmic Moustache Comics. So there's that.
If you haven't been to the main site at www.torcpress.com in a week or two, we've got some new stuff up. There's my latest book, Gulatta! v2.2, which is available, and there's a one page preview up on the main site as well. In addition, we're up to page 10 of my free, online comic Monster King.
Other than that, I just sent HFSAC 9 to the Printers. It should be available in December, unless something stupid happens. Work has begun on issue 10 (and by work, I mean I've got four pages pencilled and one page inked...). The material for the first full issue of Monster King is also done. Just a matter of slowly unveiling the pages. Speaking of which, pages 11-12 will be going up early this week, because, obviously, I'll be on the road this weekend. "SDF: Pulp" #5 will be available for sale in a few weeks (give or take), and "SDF: Pulp" #6 is completed and will be sent to the Printers when I think I can afford it. SDFP 7 is scripted, but I'm short on Bristol right now, so I'll start work on that one when I've got the pencils for HFSAC 10 and MK2 done.
Woof. I am groggy today. I blame the Nyquil.
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