How Do You Juggle All the Variables in Making Comics?
Self-Publishing Comics Involves Many Moving Pieces
As evidenced by my MIA SubStack posts, the past few weeks have been frantic, but not in entirely bad ways. On the bad side, our daughter’s school was overrun by norovirus, and it hit half of our household pretty hard. I was somehow spared but fell into the role of caretaker and comforter for a few days. I was dealing with a sinus infection that I’m sure was a product of cruise crud after spending a week on Star Trek Cruise. Yeah, it’s a rough life. I know. But I was mildly miserable for three or four days after returning. Thankfully, now, we’re all in the clear and feeling fine, finally.
For anyone who ever considered Star Trek the Cruise, I can’t recommend it highly enough. Fantastic, comprehensive programming that included the stars of all generations of Star Trek in all phases. It was fun and nostalgic and often moving. For an Original Series kid like me, a lot of it hit me right in the heart. A lot of what guides my personal compass to this day originated from the humanistic morality and just plain good intentions of Captain James T. Kirk, First Officer Spock, and Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy, as envisioned by Gene Roddenberry, and it was a phenomenal experience to share space with others who likewise benefited from Trek in their own ways. So awesome…
But we’re back to normal schedules and responsibilities once again, and that means making more comics! Back to the theme of finishing projects in 2024, I just finishing lettering the final pages of a 58-page graphic novella I call Nosejob, a body horror tale told around the hunt for the last rhinoceros on Earth. It’s a tale told in two issues, both fully illustrated by the amazing Oscar Pinto. I’m launching this one on Kickstarter this coming Sunday, March 17, at 6:00 p.m. Central time.
Nosejob is a two-part comic book story of the last rhinoceros in the world and the race between warring factions to protect, destroy, and mystically duplicate her. Will her horn become a payday for the poachers? Will it be saved by the radical environmentalists? Or will the coveted horn meet some insanely bizarre fate at the hands of a mysterious mystic?
Think John Carpenter’s The Thing, but if the people being transformed into monstrosities all deserved it by the very nature of the behaviors that led them to that point. It’s THAT crazy and awesome.
The Kickstarter for Last Ride of the 4 Horsemen: Conquest graphic novel was a great success, and we’ve been working to fulfill it since returning. The hardcovers arrived soon after returned, and we’ve been signing, sketching and packaging those for the past week. They’re all in the mail to backers now, and I’m excited they’re going to good homes.
The problem is that the softcovers haven’t been printed from an order I placed with our printer on February 10. That’s more than a month ago as of today, which is…inexcusable. To make matters worse, nobody at the printing company bothered to contact me about the paper issue they claim is the holdup. And nobody responded to my inquiries for five days after I started messaging them. I finally got a callback a few days ago and was told I had to select different printing parameters (paper and ink) and submit an updated cover file. I did those things and still have yet to receive a revised proof or any answers to other questions I have around this order. It’s enormously frustrating.
This situation is just an illustration of how, in a multi-level task like creating a comic, even when I do everything right and on time, things can still go wrong despite my best efforts. Of course, anyone who’s ever worked on a complex project that relies on multiple responsible parties to make it happen knows that it just takes one bad apple to put the whole thing in jeopardy. So, what do you do to mitigate these potential fails in an otherwise successful undertaking?
First and foremost, maintain redundancy in those responsible positions. In the case of printers, that means having other backup printers at the ready, which is likely what I’ll have to do in this situation, if I don’t get confirmation that the order is actually printing by tomorrow. At this point, that’s likely to take less time than waiting on whatever fubared scenario is transpiring at my first choice of printer but yielding no resolution. It’s been 31 days, dude. Come on.
I typically have four comics projects in some phase of production/publication at any given time. Of course, between Amanda and I, that’s a lot of plates to keep spinning, but we’ve been doing this for more than 14 years, and we know what we’re doing. I maintain dynamic task lists on a daily basis, and my day-to-day immersion in those projects ensures I know where I am with each without even checking. I live it and breathe it and make sure what needs to happen is happening. We take seriously you as readers and supporters of our books, and that, honestly, is motivation enough to get it done and get it done right, even in the face of unprofessional others (e.g., printers) who make the least effort to assist us when problems do crop up.
I’ll let you know when and how I get this printer thing sorted.
Enjoy the rest of your week!
Kevin