I’m really close to being done with the next story I’ll be posting at the Web Comics Nation page for Red Flags. The story is called “High Noon” and it’s another twisted tale written by James Hitchcock with art by John Moore. (more…)
I’m a pretty avid reader of The Comics Reporter so it was kind of neat to see my name show up on the site after I emailed Tom about a recent entry he’d made. It was a little disappointing to see I didn’t merit a hyperlink since I added our URL to my email to Tom, but it was nice to see that he thought my comment had merit since I really respect Mr. Spurgeon’s excellent writing about comics. Maybe next time he mentions my name it’s in regard to my actual comics work (I sent him a review copy of Red Flags #1 but never saw him post a review of it), but for now I’ll settle with it being about my deep insights into the comics field.
On a related note, I was once again searching the Internet for mentions of our comics since the other day I found a review I didn’t know existed when I came across another mention of my name from a while ago of which I was previously unaware. It seems a comment I made at the Comics Worth Reading blog was picked up by the author of the SLG LiveJournal:
“As much as people complain about “event fatigue” I haven’t seen enough people add up the numbers and realize that what DC and Marvel are doing with their massive flood of new titles, variant covers, crossovers, events and reprints is what they’ve always done- try to flood the market to prevent other publishers from gaining a toe-hold (while also maximizing short-term profits for their investors of course).”
-Joe Williams, Comics Worth Reading Blog (in comments)
Just like with The Comics Reporter, it was especially nice since SLG is a very fine small publisher that has continually put out material that no one else was doing- something which we’re trying to do with Red Flag.
I try to keep current of what’s going on in comics and so I spent a fair amount of times reading news sites and blogs and often can’t help myself from commenting on whatever the topic du jour is. Sometimes I feel so far out in the wilderness here in rural SW Michigan without a really good comic shop close by and not a lot of money to buy them with anyway that it’s sort of important for me to know what’s happening in the field, what the latest trends are, etc. I also have heard often that part of getting paying work in comics and gaining a readership is to get your name and work out there in front of people which is hard when you don’t know anyone in the field and can’t afford to attend conventions and aren’t really part of any particular “scene.” One way to do so is to be active on forums and blogs but I haven’t noticed it working for me and in fact, I was just complaining to Jim about it this very week so it’s especially gratifying to find both of these examples of people responding positively to my opinions about comics in the same week.
I know this kind of sounds like Sally Field’s “You like me, you really, really like me!” speech at the Oscars but I’ve been a bit down about things lately which hasn’t been helped (and maybe even been made worse) by the Arctic temperatures and lack of sunlight in Michigan in January so I’ll take what I can get. Hopefully, it’s a small sign that some of my hard work over the last bit is starting to finally pay some (small) dividends.
About every month or so I take a couple minutes to search the internet for new mention of our comics to see if any of the hundreds of hours I’ve spent trying to get someone to notice what I’m doing has paid off. Usually it results in the same old hits but this morning I found a new review of Red Flags #1. I don’t see a date for when this was posted so I don’t know how long it’s been up. It sorts of echoes what most people have said so far, that Jim Hitchcock’s stories are compelling little yarns exploring dark terrain with twist(ed) endings in the vein of “a sort of modern Tales From the Crypt” but the art is lacking in backgrounds/depth/polish. I wish I could muster more disagreement but I agree with all my bad reviews- in fact, I would probably judge the results more harshly (if you doubt this, ask my wife or Jim). Unlike some artists, I can take a hit and hopefully people can see an improvement with my newest story, The Copy Editors.
At our WebComicsNation page I’ve just added a story by Slovenian artist Matjaz Bertoncelj. Bertoncelj is a former editor of the very respected Stripburger comic anthology and has published numerous comics in Europe. Not too many people in North America have been lucky to read his work… until now. We proudly present to you- Malleus Maleficarum (”The Witch Hammer”).
After an unfortunate delay, I’ve finally returned to posting stories that will appear in the comics anthology Red Flags at our page on Web Comics Nation. This time up it’s a gruesome little tale called POV. With a twisted and troubling script from James Hitchcock and some graphic and gruesome art by James Tingley, we think our fans will enjoy this next offering.
Sometimes the difference between life and death depends on your point of view…
