D.J. Coffman - Sequential Artist, Thinker

I’ve been wanting to update the djcoffman.com page for a long time, and have a place to write about stuff in my life that wasn’t necessarily ART ART ART all the time. A place where I could post sketches or other art I’ve been doing, and maybe even talk about the process, the business and just life in general.

The Year so far

This year has been incredibly CRAZY for me. I turned 30. Which is supposed to be some sort of milestone, but just felt like another year for me. I started off diving right into self publishing and self distributing Yirmumah Monthly , a full color book all by myself, (because I’m crazy). I didn’t really know where the year would take me, just that I was focusing like a laserbeam on the daily webcomic and the books, and that went really well.

In March or April we paid off our house here and were actually OFFICIAL homeowners, free and clear. Unfortunately, we still needed a bigger place, but we were willing to stay cramped here for some time while we save and figure things out. We built a tiki gazeebo in the back yard to celebrate.

I decided to switch formats for my daily webcomic in July, to be a more “story driven” thing instead of gags. I entitled it ORIGIN and the first two chapters would be about my Dad and Mom. Pretty much my idea was to sort of tell my own life story through an embellished lense, afterall most of my stories about my childhood that I tell my friends they seem entertained by them, I figured i should go ahead and share them with the world.

Then, around June, I saw a link for something called “THE COMIC BOOK CHALLENGE” , being put on by NBC and Platinum Studios. I had heard of Platinum before because the owner had been the publisher of Malibu Comics back in day which helped launch Image Comics. Plus, editor Lee Nordling was famous to me for writing the book “Your Career In The Comics” which helped me out a lot showing me the bleak realities of newspaper syndication. (that’s another story)

On a whim, I entered the contest. What the heck. I joked with my wife that I might be flying to San Diego in a month if I was picked and I figured I have literally about a 1000 ideas “on the back burner” and in sketchbooks, so I sent in a more recent one I was going to make into a webcomic sooner or later called “HERO BY NIGHT”. Well, long story short, I got picked in the top 50 for that… then spent my Yirmumah “bankroll” (about 1200 bucks) getting me out there last minute, it was a risk of the money, but maybe a chance I wouldn’t have again.

Longer story short, I got picked in the top 3, then the public picked me to win it. Then when I got home, there was a crazy media rush, talking to newspapers, doing online interviews, I had made several newspapers in this area one with my big fat face on the cover, people in my little town treated me like I was famous which was VERY weird and scary. Afterall, I didn’t want crazy people thinking I had won the lottery and then rob my house or something. (and yeah, people at the post office were coming in and asking where I lived) — but mostly people were just happy for me, recognizing me from the paper and saying “Hey, you’re that guy with the comic book contract…” — and being in the same sentences of “producers of Men in Black” , people just thought I was going to have a blockbuster movie overnight or something….

But I knew the HARD WORK was just beginning. I had basically won a bunch of HARD WORK. Hard work that I’m more than happy to do, but I knew I had to now go and make a KICK ASS STORY.

What a strange turn of events for me. For years, back in the 90s I tried to “break into” the mainstream comics, and then finally settled on the outskirts working for several writers and independent companies you’ve likely never heard of. Not that I gave up on comic books, but the more you work around the field, the realities sink in. I met so many bitter, jaded, lying bastiches, crooked publishers, people with knives in their backs, heard SO many tales of woe and anguish, watched people LOSE everything chasing this dream of COMIC BOOKS. I drew a pretty bitter tongue in cheek comic about the state of comics HERE. I had resigned myself from those goals, and decided to focus on webcomics and publishing my own books and selling them through my site. I sort of let go of the idea of ever drawing “super heroes” or doing something nostalgic or in that mainstream feel.

But now, here I am… I get to draw and write a super hero book. MY super hero book. It’s a trip. And one that’s far from over yet.

Let’s test post some art here. I want to post something newer that I’ve done, This is for a “one sheet” for my current project I’m doing with Platinum Studios called HERO BY NIGHT. Basically a one sheet, i think, is a basic plot info sheet that movie, tv and other media type people would look at to get the jist of what the project is about.

The book is scheduled to be in the Previews ordering catalog in January 2007, issue one would hit stores in March of 2007. There’s also a webcomic coming soon.

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