Don't forget that Murray and myself are both on Myspace and we'd love to have you all as friends. Well, actually, I don't know if Murray is as enthused as I am about having you guys as friends. Murray spends most his time on Myspace looking up the girls.
At any rate, hit us both up on the 'Space and we'll have a good time sending useless surveys and chain letters to each other. :)
Wednesdays with Dave Kellett . . .
On Wednesday I had the extreme pleasure of having a phone conversation with Dave Kellett. I've been talking about Dave a lot these past couple weeks because not only is he a great cartoonist, but he's also expressing disinterest with his syndicate. The same syndicate that offered my a web-only contract which I turned down.
Dave and I talked for a little less than hour (actually, I did most of the talking; I tend to get pretty windy when talking about comics). We talked about United, the current state of webcomics, and the direction comics may or may not be taking in the next few years. While we both feel that there're a lot of unknowns in the comic strip biz these days, we both agreed that it's an exciting time for comic strips. There's sort of a revolution going on right now, and the revolution is being controlled by the cartoonists and the fans - which is exactly whose hands you'd want a revolution to be in.
Thanks again, Dave, for a wonderful conversation! Hopefully we can have a chat again really soon.
One of My Many Heroes: Jeff Smith . . .
I discovered the Bone comic books when I was in junior high school, and pretty soon I feel in love with the story and characters. All my buddies thought I was weird because, instead of reading Spider-Man, Batman, and Superman, I was reading comic books about three, cartoony white things called "Bones". Nothing like the word "Bone" to get a pubescent, teenaged male fighting fits of laughter.
Anyway, there's a videogame being created based on Jeff Smith characters, and the game developer has a wonderful video interview with the man himself. What makes the interview even more awesome is that Jeff lives in Columbus, Ohio, which is only forty-five minutes north of where I live. My wife travel there frequently for the shopping and the dining. Also, the interview features Hocking Hills State Park where Jeff drew his artistic inspiration for much of the valley that is featured in the Bone books. Hocking Hills State Park, or Old Man's Cave as we call it, is one of my wife's and my favorite summertime destinations.
So, if you're Jeff Smith fan, you gotta check out this video. Even if you're not a fan it's always fun to see a comic genius at work.
. . . .
Hope everyone's week went well. Enjoy the weekend and drop me a line in the message board.
It's true - Murray's on Myspace. You can check out his profile by clicking here. Make sure to add him to your friends list, but ignore him when he starts talking about politics.
Dave Kellett and Fleen . . .
Dave Kellett has fielded several questions from Fleen readers concerning web-only and newspaper syndication. The first of what will apparently be a handful of question-and-answer posts has already been published online, and you can read it by clicking here.
If you have any interest in newspaper syndication at all, you should check out the post. Kellett offers some keen insight and logical opinions on the state of syndication. Pretty interesting stuff, I must say.
Speaking of syndicates, King Features has dropped some big news. Up until now, King Features was the only major syndicate that didn't offer an online comic strip subscription service similar to Universal Press and United Features. Well, that's no longer the case.
King Features has started a new web-based, comic strip subscription website called DailyINK. Fifteen bucks a year gives you access to all the comics King Features syndicates, a year's worth of archives for each strip, plus some extra goodies. To see why King has decided to launch this site click here. It's a bit of an eye-opener.
I'd love to hear what you guys have to say about this issue. Feel free to leave your thoughts and/or comments on this forum thread on the Viper message board.
. . . .
Hope everyone's week is going swimmingly. Leave me a note in the message board if you think you're man enough.
Being retired for two whole days gave me a lot of time to think about the direction I wanted to take the strip. I feel refueled and ready to go.
I spent my retirement working on this week's comics and spending time with my wife, who returned home from Michigan on Saturday. We celebrated her arrival home by taking a trip to Wal-Mart where we purchased groceries for the week. I made sure to get several pictures of the frozen food aisle, and a nice lady took a picture of my bride and I in front of the self check-out area.
We returned home an hour later exhausted but refreshed. Retirement was a good thing, and I'm glad I took the break from comics for two days. As I said earlier, the break gave me time to finish up this week's comics.
I hope you guys had a great weekend. Feel free to share your experiences on the message board. :)
The news of my "retirement" is beginning to make its way onto the blogs of all the appropriate sites. Digital Strips is the first website to spread the news - news that will certainly effect the landscape of webcomics forever . . . . At least until I come back on Monday.
My wife will return home tomorrow during the day. That is a good thing. It gets very lonely around here when she's away.
Tricia, when you return, I think we should go to Cold Stone Creamery and get some birthday cake ice cream with cookie dough bits mixed in. To celebrate, you know? To celebrate us.
Last Day to Pre-Order . . .
Today is the last day you can pre-order You'll Have That Vol. 1 to ensure that you'll get the book on May 10. If you wanna be cool like the rest of us and have a book the day it comes out, make sure to get to your local comic shop and give them this order code:
MAR06 3473
All the cool kids are doing it. You don't want to be a loser do you?
Webcomics Drama . . .
If any of you guys follow webcomics and webcomic-relatednews, you'll notice that there's a lot of drama in webcomics. There's name-calling, whining, complaining, and playa-hating. It's like high school, really. But I've noticed that a lot of the webcomics that are involved in a lot of drama are actually some of the more popular strips on the internet. So, I've decided to start a little drama of my own in hopes of getting a little more publicity. Here goes:
I'm quitting YHT. There. I said it. I'm done. I'm burnt out by all the naysaying and frustrations of making a living at drawing webcartoons. It's near impossible and I have better things to do with my life. Like play videogames and eat fattening food.
So this is it, people. Today - Friday, March 24th, 2006 - is the last You'll Have That comic strip you'll ever see . . . until Monday, March 27th, 2006. That's when I'm estimating that I'll be out of this funk and I'll be ready to update my comic again. And then I'll probably quit again, and then return again, and on and on and on . . . I'll literally be the Michael Jordan/Ross Perot of webcomics. (Yes, that was a Ross Perot joke fourteen years after his run for presidency.)
Before I go, I just want to apologize for letting you guys down. You've been great fans. I'm sorry you won't get to see any new content between now and Monday, but I've never updated on the weekend, anyway.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to spend my two days of retirement from comics drawing comics.
. . . .
Hope you guys are geared up for a great weekend. Stop by the message boards and give me a shout. :)
Today will be an actual blog post instead of me just updating you on the status of the website. Rejoice, my young friends! Things are finally starting to get normal again!
YHT Made a Top Ten List . . .
I don't know who this cat is, but I like him. Why? Because I'm number 4 on his Webcomics Top Ten List. You can ch-ch-check it out here.
Unfortunately, someone left a blog comment for the GeekCaster asking what the deal was with my comic not being updated since December. It would appear that this link showed up during the server switch, so there's probably people out there who think I'm flake.
People out there who think I'm a flake, please give me a second chance. We had a server change, and it jacked up the comic archives. I draw this comic five days a week and I've never missed a day in the year-and-a-half that I've been working with Viper.
My Wife Left Me . . .
. . . to visit her family in Port Huron this week. She left Monday morning and she won't be returning until Saturday. I think this is the longest we've been apart from each other since being married, and it kinda sucks. I've been doing my best to keep occupied, but it gets awfully quiet around here. Even with music on and cats running around.
One of the things I did to pass the time was watch a crap ton of movies. So here's some movie reviews for you crazy cats in the order that they were viewed.
Movie Reviews . . .
Here's the flicks I watched over the weekend:
Melinda and Melinda - I rented this movie because Will Ferrell is in it, and I love Will Ferrell. It wasn't until the opening credits began that I realized it was a Woody Allen movie. So, this movie is the first official Woody Allen movie I've ever seen. Craziness.
Anyway, the movie was pretty good. The concept was outstanding: the story of a woman told from both a tragic and comedic viewpoint simultaneously. I found myself enjoying the comedy parts more than the tragic parts, however. Maybe it's because I really like Will Ferrell - I don't know.
It wasn't the greatest movie I've ever seen, but it's definitely worth a rental.
Wallace and Gromit and the Curse of the Were-Rabbit - This is one of those movies that makes me wish I was a full-time cartoonist. The bonus features contain a tour of the Aardman studios, and I was like, "Ohhh, I wish I had a studio!"
This movie was great. Very funny, and it amazed me how there was so much "adult" humor thrown in - you had to be really quick to catch it. I'm probably gonna have to own this one on DVD.
V for Vendetta - I've never read the comic books. I just want to get that out there.
That being said, this movie was rad. Hugo Weaving is awesome. Go see it immediately.
Transporter 2 - Another totally rad movie. When I watched this movie and its predecessor, it made me want to get in my car and drive really fast. I don't think dramatic driving stunts would be very awesome in a 4-cylinder Volkswagen Golf. Oh well.
If you like action and awesome car chases, you need to see these movies. Outstanding.
The Island - This was another very good movie. It has a very different "vibe" which I get from a lot of movies based in the future. It was kind of a dismal feeling. Not like in Back to the Future II where the future was painted as awesome with hoverboards and flying cars floating around. The Island paints a bleak future; maybe because we're seeing it from the viewpoint of clones who's bodies are harvested for the sake of their "owners".
At any rate, it's a good movie.
. . . .
I hope everyone is having a good week. Stop by the forums and drop us a note. I'd love to hear from you peeps.
Over the weekend the Viper site switched servers and, as a result, several things are jacked up. Including the program I use to upload comics to the site. The blog is finally working, but the upload program won't be ready until late tonight or tomorrow.
Just to let y'all know, I realize that Monday's comic isn't up yet. This week's comics are done, but the program I use to upload the strips to the website is not working properly. I'm not sure if it has anything to do with Viper's server change this weekend or not.
At any rate, the problem is being investigated as I write this. Keep checking back throughout the day, and I apologize for the inconvenience.
Not much to blog about today. My weekend has officially started, and for that I am happy.
The best part of the weekend is when you walk out the door for the first time after clocking out of of work. That's when you realize that you have an entire weekend lying before you awaiting to fill you with happiness. By Sunday you're wondering what happened to Friday.
Oh well.
I'm not sure what I'll do this weekend. I know I've gotta work on some comics, and there's some other comic-related ventures that need attending to. I'm going to a football game tomorrow with my wife and parents, and Sunday I plan on cleaning my office out. I still have a bunch of DVDs from Christmas that I haven't watched yet. I'd really like to watch the Lord of the Rings movies, but those flicks are freakin' long. It's hard to find time for 'em.
Hope you guys have a great weekend. Leave a message in the forums, drop me a line, or hit me up on Myspace. We'll chitty chat about something.
The bonus strips for the first YHT book are finally complete, and I gotta say I'm liking them a lot better now that they're scanned and all the little details have been added in Photoshop. I really think you guys are gonna dig this little story I have to tell. Truth is, I have a ton of little stories I wanna tell. Even big ones. Maybe Viper will let me publish a YHT graphic novel one day . . . . hmmmmm . . . .
Clarification on Syndication . . .
I've been getting some very supportive letters and comments from you peeps, and it makes me feel awesome and guilty at the same time. I don't want anyone to think I'm terribly bummed out about the situation with comics.com. Because I'm not. Working with those people was a huge headache, and I'm glad I don't have that on my plate at the moment.
I've got so much awesome stuff getting ready to happen, that I really don't think about what happened with United all that much. It's neat to think that one of the big dawgs wanted me, but I'm happy with the decision I made. If I wasn't, I'd say the comics you're seeing now would be a lot crappier.
So, anyway, thanks for all your notes and well-wishes! I really appreciate them! But don't worry. I'm not bummed out or anything. :)
Seinfeld as Inspiration . . .
My wife bought me seasons 6 and 7 of Seinfeld this Christmas, and I've just now gotten around to watching them. If you guys are at all interested in any type of writing, you need to pick up these DVDs and scope out the extra content. The stuff these guys did when writing episodes is absolutely awesome. I've been stealing all kinds of stuff from their methods. In fact, I've written an entire storyline using some of the methods Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld discuss in some of the documentaries. I wonder when we'll see this storyline . . .
. . . .
Hope you guys are having a great week. Two days left and then the weekend. Can't wait.
If any of you are interested in hearing me go into detail about my experience with United, make sure to check this forum thread later this evening. I've been asked several questions and I'm gonna answer them all tonight when I get a little time.
Alright. So today I'm gonna talk about some heavy junk that's been on my mind for the past couple days. But first, read this interview with Dave Kellett, creator of the comic strip Sheldon and member of Blank Label Comics. Here's Part One and Part Two of the interview over at Fleen.
Now that you've *hopefully* read Dave's wonderful interview, I'll let you know how this is pertinent to YHT:
At the end of July last year I received an e-mail from United Features Syndicate (home to Peanuts, Dilbert, Get Fuzzy, and Frazz) about possibly moving You'll Have That over to comics.com. As you may or may not know, comics.com is owned and operated by UFS, and the syndicate uses the website as a sort of "training ground" for new comic strips. With the idea that being on comics.com could possibly be a stepping stone toward being syndicated in newspapers, I told the representative at UFS that I was interested.
Now, UFS had contacted me before about migrating to comics.com shortly after YHT launched with Viper. That was back in early January 2005. At the time I asked if it would be possible for me to stay with Viper yet also be affiliated with United. The representative told me he'd look into it, and I never heard from the dude again. That is until he contacted me again in July letting me know that UFS just wanted YHT without any ties with Viper.
A few days after expressing interest in comics.com, I received a phone call from the contract department at United. The lady was very nice and she told me that she was going to e-mail me the contract which was only a "couple of pages". It ended up being eleven pages long. I realize that an eleven page contract is still pretty slim, but when someone says "a couple pages" I'm thinking two to three pages max.
At any rate, for the next five months I went back and forth between United Features and my lawyer concerning the crappy contract (and believe me, it was crappy!). The more we talked about the contract, what was expected of me, and what I was to earn the more I fell out of love with the idea of going over to comics.com.
Finally, at the beginning of January of this year, I told UFS that I wasn't interested in taking YHT over to their website. There were several reasons for my decision - too many to list here - but to sum up I really didn't feel that I would have gained anything with the move.
Ever since then, however, I've always wondered if maybe I had shot myself in the foot. It hasn't kept me awake at night or anything, but sometimes I think about it. And then I read Dave Kellett's interview at Fleen and it totally bolstered my decision to turn down United.
I wrote Dave an e-mail telling him my story about United, and thanking him for being so frank in his interview. He replied back with some very wise words that really made me think. Check it out:
. . . there are many paths to the same mountain. The goal, in the end, is to make our livings from our cartooning. And our vision for that, in part based on what we knew for the majority of our life, was that that took syndication. And maybe that's no longer so . . . maybe it's not true at all, in fact.
That last line knocked me on my butt, people. I think that cartoonists from my generation have grown up with the stigma that to be a successful, professional cartoonist you must be published in newspapers. But the times have changed. Newspapers are ever so slowly dropping in circulation. Comics pages are being trimmed down to make room for more advertising. People who read the newspapers aren't that selective and they don't care if they read the same stale Blondie comic strips year in and year out.
The idea that I will possibly never be syndicated in a newspaper isn't so much discouraging as it is heartbreaking. I still think that YHT will be very successful, and I honestly believe that I will one day make my living drawing this cartoon. But the likelihood of that happening with newspapers is a lot lower than it was ten to fifteen years ago.
Here's a crappy, hypothetical analogy to sum up how I feel on the subject: It's like if you were to tell a basketball player that he'd be better off financially if he stayed on the public courts in the city park rather than go out for the NBA. For whatever reason the NBA isn't what it used to be, and a lot of ball players are making money by staying in the streets. Sure, that player will probably be very happy and successful in the long run, but he'll never get to experience his childhood dream of putting on an NBA jersey, walking out onto the ball court, and hearing all those fans chant his name.
Oh well . . .
Before I sign off for the evening I want to make a few things clear:
1) I love being a part of Viper Comics. My wanting to move over to UFS had nothing to do with any feelings of desention with the Viper Crew. In fact, I would hope that Viper would feel proud that I turned down one of the biggest newspaper syndicates in the United States in order to stay with the team. Jessie and Jim have worked their butts off for me, and I can't begin to tell them how appreciative I am. I've also made some great friends and met some awesome people (yes, PJ, even you!). Viper has been a great home for YHT and it'll be a great home for a long time to come.
If you guys want to pick my brain about anything concerning the syndication deal, feel free to e-mail me or start a forum thread. I'm an open book and I'd be more than happy to go into detail about my reasons for turning down UFS.
2) This is Monday's blog. I know it's Sunday night, but I gotta work in the morning and then take my car to the dealer (which is in Columbus) right after work. So I'm gonna be gone pretty much all day tomorrow. Which sucks because I'm still scrambling to get the bonus strips for the book done, but now my day is shot. Dang "check engine" light . . .
The Bonus Strips . . .
I'm kinda disappointed with the bonus strips. I enjoy the story, but I haven't been happy with the way they're turning out artistically. I think I'm gonna write the bonus story for YHT Vol. 2 in the next few weeks and start working on it piece by piece instead of waiting until four weeks before it's due.
Since I'm not exactly in love with the Vol. 1 bonus strips, I might sell them. I haven't decided yet. I'm gonna let my wife see the strips first to make sure she doesn't want to hold onto them. Personally, I'm not in love with them, but they might be sentimental to her. I'll let you guys know.
. . . .
Hope everyone had a great weekend. My long weekend is coming up on Friday, and I couldn't be more excited.
I never thought I'd have to say this. At least not so soon. But to the people who have sent me e-mails the past few days - I will reply to you ASAP. It's been a busy week. I had to work overtime on Wednesday and Thursday, plus I'm scrambling to get the extra material for the YHT book finished before the weekend is over. Almost done, though. There's a light at the end of the tunnel.
Today is my day off and I've been running errands all day. Went to the barber and had my ears lowered this morning, then stopped by the comic book shop to pick up my copy of Previews (You'll Have That Vol. 1 MAR06 3473). After that I came home and called the car dealer where I bought my car. The check engine light came on the other day, and I want to get my car in before the warranty expires (exactly ten days from now). Trish came home at around 1:30 on her lunch break, and her laptop computer wouldn't turn on. The battery was dead and her power supply was crapped out. So I went to RadioShack to pick up a new one, but they didn't have one that would support the computer. So I came back home, jumped on Dell.com, and ordered the power supply.
Now I'm back to drawing comics again. :)
. . . .
Hope everyone's week went well. Leave a note in the forums if you get some free time.
Today will be a quick blog as I'm on my way out the door.
I wanted to comment quickly on the death of Dana Reeve. Both Christopher and Dana were too young to pass away, which makes their deaths unexpected and shocking. But, forgive me, I feel that Ms. Reeve's death is somewhat bittersweet. Much like the deaths of June Carter and Johnny Cash.
If my wife were to die I hope I die shortly after. That way we wouldn't have to be apart for very long.
Okay. That's all I wanted to say about that. :) I hope everybody's week is going well. Stop by the forums and leave me a message.
We love violence in this country. We eat it up. We pour it into a bowl, dump sugar on top, and add milk. It's the greatest thing since sliced bread.
One of my very guilty pleasures is watching the police videos on Spike TV. The half-hour shows where there's nothing but car chases and crackheads. I especially love it when some crackhead steals a car, drives like an idiot endangering lives, then bails the vehicle in the middle of the highway. The cops catch him, he resists arrest, and then the cops have to beat the crap out of him. There's nothing like watching silly crackheads try to evade justice.
The best car chase I ever saw was a crackhead on a motorcycle. He was on the highway and he was flying up down exit ramps trying to evade the cops. He would exit the highway and shoot straight across the road to the on-ramp which would take him right back onto the highway. Finally, the dude takes an exit and when he tries to cross the road to the on-ramp he T-bones a bus. Now this is all being filmed by a helicopter, so the helicopter is hovering above the accident, and you see this dude laying on the ground and his appendages are bent in directions they shouldn't be bending. There's blood on the ground and the motorcycle is off to the side all shattered. When the police finally catch up, they jump out of the car and start beating this dude. I mean, they're giving this guy haymakers and stuff. The commentator is saying, "The criminal is resisting arrest", and I'm like, "He's not going anywhere! He was on a motorcycle and he hit a bus! His arm was bent like this. It shouldn't bend like that!"
The only thing I don't like about the police videos programs is you end up seeing the same car chases multiple times. There's three car chases that you're almost always gonna see:
- The one where the dude steals the 7-Up truck and drives recklessly through a suburb. The 7-Up is spilling out of the sides of the trailer when he takes turns too fast. At the end, the dude bails out of the truck and climbs a tree. That's when we get a good look at this guy and we see that he's a full-fledged "mullet-teer".
- The one where the guy steals the bus and drives for hours with a chainlink fence dangling from the back. Sparks are flying everywhere and the commentator keeps talking about how dangerous that is. Finally, the bus gets stuck in a cul de sac, but the driver won't get out. I think the police end up shooting him.
- If you watch a lot of police videos, this last car chase you've seen at least a quarter million times. Everyone knows it and loves it. Some dude steals a tank from the San Diego armory and goes for a joyride around town. He drives through a suburban neighborhood tearing up cars, trucks, and splits a Winnebago in half. Then he decides to do some highway driving. The cops are flipping out because they have nothing to stop this guy with. Finally, the tank driver decides to jump the median into oncoming traffic, but the tank gets stuck on the median. Cops jump on top of the tank, open the hatch, and shoot the dude. Craziness.
. . . .
Remember to head to your comic shop and pre-order You'll Have That Vol. 1. Order extra in case you don't want to share it with your siblings and/or co-workers.
A lot of people have been asking me about pre-ordering You'll Have That Vol. 1 online. As of right now, the only way to order the book online is to wait until the book is released on May 10 and order the book from the Viper Shop.
However, I have talked to the owner of a reputable comic shop about pre-ordering the book online from his store, and he's going to get back to me by Monday. He's going to punch some numbers to see if ordering a single book at $4.95 would be cost efficient for the customer due to shipping charges. I'll let you know as soon as he gets back to me.
Pre-Ordering at Bookstores . . .
One of my readers tried to order the book from Barnes and Noble and was told he needed the book's ISBN. If you'd like to order from Barnes and Noble, or any other bookstore, just give them this number:
ISBN: 0-9777883-1-8
Let me know what happens. :)
. . . .
I hope everyone is having a great day. The weekend is almost here for most of you. As for me, I go back to the dungeon today. *sigh*
Just a reminder that You'll Have That Vol. 1 is available for pre-order now from your favorite comic book shop. $4.95. 64 pages. 116 comic strips. Sounds totally delicious to me.
If you guys forget to order the book today, don't worry. I'll only be reminding you cats everyday until the book comes out. Let's make this the best selling Viper book ever.
Here's a few easy things you guys can do to help get the word out about the book and the website:
- Pre-order the book. This is very important. The more pre-orders we get, the more popular YHT and Viper gets, and that means more trust from comic shops and distributors in the quality indie content that we're cranking out. It's a win - win situation for everyone.
- Post bulletins about the YHT book and site on your Myspace friends list. I'm sure all your friends will totally appreciate getting a bulletin that directs them to high quality laughy laughs instead of an annoying chain mail that tells them if they don't forward it they obviously don't love Jesus.
- Tell your "real" friends about YHT. All of 'em. Use your "instant messengers" and "cellular phones" with the "text messaging" to help get the word out. Next time you're at the mall and you're trying to impress that guy/gal in front of the Sbarro, whip out your Sidekick and tap out a quick message to all your friends to read YHT. You'll look totally cool and the person across the way will be totally oblivious to what you're writing. For all he/she knows, you're receiving a very important message from P. Diddy.
These are just some quick ideas. Be creative, people. Be creative. But let's get YHT to the top of the Billboard charts. I can only do that with you guys . . . and a band.
YHT Book of the Month . . .
The YHT Book of the Month for March is You Shall Know Our Velocity! by Dave Eggers. To read all about it and participate in discussion, visit this forum thread. :)
. . . .
Hope you guys are having a great week. Remember to pre-order the book. If you love me you'll do it.
