D.J. Coffman - Sequential Artist, Thinker

Skipped the gym this morning. I’m feeling a little sort and ill.

Talked a lot on the phone yesterday with our pal Jorge Vega. You know, the guy who won the 2nd Comic Book Challenge with Gunplay? It’s an exciting time for him, as his winning book is now available for preorder through comic shops across the globe. (go on, click that link and preorder his book, it’s good stuff!)  — But Jorge was a bit befuddled by the timing of how things work with the distributor– I mean, we’re literally asking YOU, the people out there to preorder a book now that’s not going to ship to you or be in your shop until April. And we’re mostly doing that online, where society is use to “click and get it now” fast, fast, fast. And preorder numbers for ANY indy usually rely on good people and fans going in and preordering, because many shops can’t take many risks on new indy comics. They just don’t  have the shelf space or the budget.

So yeah, you stare at this conundrum of the direct market system. Jorge wonders why we even deal with it AT ALL. Why not skip it? I gave several reasons why not to, but I won’t get into them, because they are mostly perceptual and political and social reasons. I mean, YES, if you have a system in place where you are ready to ship things out yourself, stock your own merchandise and have an ad/promotional engine going…. DO IT!

For Hero By Night, even though we haven’t been in the top selling books in the country yet, being spread around the country in these shops with new people discovering the book has been good for us. It’s one of the reasons we’ve garnered a lot of great reviews. I guess we’re like a “sleeper hit” right now. And yet, YES, the whole preorder system is half-nutty to me. It seems the better way to get preorders wouldn’t be to lobby my readers to go buy at shops (which I wish they WILL) but to lobby instead directly to the people who are making the comic orders… the retailers. But we’re back to point A, again. Wherein, the retailers don’t have enough budgets to carry tons of indy books. They try the things they hear buzz on, or word of mouth on.  It’s not an easy system.

God bless webcomics, man. After thinking about all this Diamond stuff, and how backward the system seems in today’s day and age— and this wasn’t my first dealing with them either, and I do actually LIKE Diamond, mind  you, but after thinking about all these issues, I’m reminded of why when I put my own book out, I decided to do it direct to the readers online at Yirmumah.net. It went over pretty well, but YES, it was taxing. I always thought to myself though, if a BIG company caught onto this model somehow? But there are mutliple problems then there too… the more people, the more budgets go up…the more time and other resources… it doesn’t really become WORTH it to a big company to do any kind of POD or direct ship deal. They want to sell the 20k deals, the 100k deals, not the 4 figure deals. Understandable.

My prediction has always been that I believe the “web” will replace the monthly comic book editions. Which is ironic, because right now we’re doing the print editions. People said I was crazy 5 years ago. But you see that Marvel and DC have seen the writing on the wall. And just about everyone I’ve talked to, and I’ve talked to some very important people who know their stuff, they make their money off the bigger trade collections.  And hey, no one will argue… when I handed people the HBN hardcover, their eyes lit up and they usually say “Wow!”– the same people just saw monthly print comics as “Oh, neat.”  — From an “oh, neat” to a “Wow!” — hah.

I sometimes wonder if people like myself, Jorge and a few others… are we just thinking too fast. Are we TOO innovative? Is there such a thing? I often wonder if I drive the people at my publisher, Platinum Studios, a bit crazy with my business ideas and suggestions, consulting… My paranoid mind thinks that they must sometimes sit back and think… “This dude is insane. Who would want to do ALL THAT?” — But hey, I like sharing ideas and helping other creators and publishers.

I’m rambling… but I’m sore and feeling a bit ill, so I’m procrastinating from going over to draw for a bit by clearing my head here… back again to those haunting thoughts…

If we could bend time and space… and somehow fold in today’s technology with the late 1930s hustle and bustle of creators from back then… what would COMICS look like? How can that not be an inspiring and motivating thought. You think they’d just use the internet, email, blogs, online stores, just to talk to their friends or put up previews, or start flame wars on forums under pen names? — I don’t think so. I think a lot of those POOR guys from the tenement buildings would be finding innovative ways to distribute their comics. I also don’t believe comics would cost so much… heck I think those guys would have found a way to make all comics FREE, and be backed by big companies… remember the MUSCLE BUILDING ads and X-ray specs?  They were pretty much DOING all of that back then.  Go read a book like Kavalier and Clay, or “Tales to Astonish” or The Comic Book Makers…. and see how those guys wheeled and dealed… and worked their friggin asses off.  Sometimes it was only TWO GUYS doing all the work. They’d draw 5 or 6 different stories, all with different pen names, and then sell themselves as a “studio” that could produce ANYTHING a big company wanted to put out.

Why did they work like that? Some say it was desperation– I think now it might be the fact that those guys were full of so many ideas, so much innovation… they couldn’t contain themselves. And they all built what we have now. No. Wait… they built something else that’s been sort of a bit decayed and destroyed.  They built a “house of ideas” — no, They built a mansion of ideas that’s now a bit dilapidated. Wait– even better. They moved out of the poor neighborhoods… built a mansion, retired. For many years people leased it, rented it, sometimes there were uproarious frat parties there, a few families came in and took care of it– but now it’s been abandoned. Punks come in and party, piss on the floors. Homeless drifters wander in and out– developers stop by to evaluate and access the situation– every now and then the door gets kicked in by the DEA looking to bust crackheads. Either way you slice it, that house that they built, is in a sad state of disrepair.

Some see that old dilapidated mansion as just a LOSS. Why even try to rebuild it? Tear it down. Don’t dump more money into it. It’s too hard. We don’t have the right guys for the job. — but then there are guys out there who see that old building and what it could become again. They get out their hammer and nails…and gumption. And they get to work. Board by board… brick by brick.

I’m going to go get my hammer.

Guess what? Hero By Night Ongoing #3 is available for PREORDER today. I want to do a big push this month to get our preorder numbers UP UP UP. So please, pretty please, go to your local comic shop and ask them to preorder it. OR if you want to preorder online, I found a great site where you can do that. Click here, or on the cover below.

Just a little something from something…

Sucky day today so far. My wife is sick– probably caught something at the gym. Our physical trainer was sick on Friday, and kinda sniffling a bit while I was there Monday. Suck! — I’m ok so far, but my wife is down and out. Gotta go run and get her some OJ (the juice, not the murderer) and some chicken soup and dayquil here soon.

I think drinking so much coffee actually does infuse your system with antioxidants that ward off viruses somehow. I rarely get sick, knock on wood!– Late last night though, my right arm, tricep area started to get sore. Woke up at 5am with it hurting pretty bad. It appears as though I strained a muscle that is never ever used and it just gave me the big EFH-U! It hurts– it sucks, but oh well I guess.

I’m going to go pick things up for my wife… send out awesome vibes to the universe so positive things come back to me today, and then I’m gonna go draw some awesome pictures for people that I owe.

Oh… and… Go Obama!

So I did the gym thing this morning. I didn’t puss out. Actually, with the time to think about it over the weekend it became like “why not?”– I’d give it a shot and see if I could maintain a schedule. The system they have there is pretty damn easy, but I’m gym-tarded so I had to have this meeting with the physical trainer to show me all the machines and how to adjust them. I’m sure it’s in my head, but I can swear she gave me a look sometimes like “Is this guy from another planet?”– I told her a few times I was “gym-tarded”— this 9am stuff isn’t gonna fly though, I can see why people get into the gyms super early now to get their workout done and not have to rush to get to work. So, my wife will be glad to hear that even though I feel gym-tarded, it wasn’t bad, and I’m sure I’ll come up with my own system.

Right now my arms kinda feel like jello, which I totally expected. My upper body strength is PUNY.  I have REALLY STRONG fingers though! So watch out for my 1 inch finger punch, fools! — but yeah, after my arms feel like that, it’s really hard for me to draw, but i gotta muscle through it. Wow, a clever unexpected pun there.

Okay– workwise…. Free Comic Book Day stuff for HBN is almost done. I’m really happy with it– it’s sort of a mini recap of Jack’s story so far, with him narrating it in his own journal and his own thoughts. I thought it would be a great time for Jack to launch his own journal, like David Day had his own journals. And the contrast of how the two think, it’s just so much fun to write out. David Day was that old, strategic thinker– battle hardened, military trained, everything for a reason… and Jack is introspective, inspired, and complains a lot, but it’s about things we ALL deal with today. Even though I know the character in and out, it was really fun watching his own inner dialogue come out on the page. I can’t say much more without ruining the end of issue 3. This FCBD story takes place between issue 3 and 4. Issue 4 is a nice jumping on point for new readers too, so having the FCBD version out around that time will be perfect I think.

That’s that… today I have to do a little cleanup work on some FCBD pages, and a couple commissions I’ve been promising people, one is Freedom Fighter for the Trivia winner, and the other is TOP SECRET for a fella I know and love.

- We were nominated for a GEEKIE webcomic award by webcomicgeek blog. They had previously written a nice review of of the Hero By Night Journals. I know this ain’t no Eisner, but hey, why the heck shouldn’t it be!? We’re in good company on the list there.

Wishlist… I see that “The Artist Within” book on amazon— featuring photos of various artists in their studios, including my hero.  That’s gonna be a must have when I have some funny money. Right now the well is pretty damn dry.

Whew. I’ve felt like a nervous wreck for a couple days at brief moments in time, for various reasons, none of which that I care to touch upon. But now, I’m feeling great!

I came up with a GREAT plan, that has me feeling very confident. Sometimes those types of plans defy other types of business logic, but the one BIG thing I’ve learned since being around the comic business for so long is, it defies all logic anyways. So in order to be successful with your plans, you best have one that leaves some people thinking it will never work. Because, when it does… you’ve left them thinking you’re a genius or a madman.

On the LIFE side– Yeah, I’m gonna get up and do the gym thing tomorrow. I’m at least going to try to get over any kind of weird privacy or social thing I have going on– FORCE myself to go in. It’s honestly the ONLY way I’m going to get any REAL exercise , because I’m not disciplined in that regard, too may distractions at home with work, etc… when I’m at home, all I want to do is work usually in the office and stay obsessed with work to pay the bills and keep my family alive! So my wife will be happy to  hear these things I imagine.

And that’s that.  Go read HeroByNight.com

So it’s been an interesting week after my 32nd birthday. Lots going on, too much to think about let alone be able to talk about, but some things are on my mind professionally, etc. I’m in between my work on the Free Comic Book Hero By Night stuff, and starting up on issue 3 of the series, so I’ve had time to work up new business plans and just generally think more about business and the future and help out friends and encourage other creators. I love it… sometimes I get scared shitless for brief moments, but most of the time I feel that we’re ALL really onto something BIG. Webcomics+Comic Books+Hollywood+New Media— it’s all exciting to think about.

The other day, our friend Scott Rosenberg emailed us (us being Jason Embury and myself) asking for some help in the blogging realm of things. He had a previous blog setup for him, but it was not efficient and not really a blog, it was actually setup on a pHp bulletin board forum system, and he had a lot of spam coming in, and it was just generally complicated for him to login and actually DO this blogging thing. Not that we’ve been ragging on him about it, but as friends we generally want him to have a BETTER blog. And it’s not that he’s webtarded either, but this guy is just so busy in his job that he’s never had time to get in and learn all this stuff, installing Wordpress, setting up Mysql databases, I know it all sounds complicated and technical, because I was there once too! But it goes without saying, between Jason and myself, well definitly myself, I know all that stuff like the back of my hand and it can be done quickly— within a few hours, using our WONDER TWIN powers, Jason and I built him a respectable CEO blog over here, check it out.

I forgot to mention, he also happens to be our BOSS in a way, head of Platinum Studios and all that, but that’s not why we did it– and I don’t think that’s why Scott asked us– we would have done it for any friend of ours who needed help, and Jason and I both sort of virtually high five and point at each other and say– WE’RE AWESOME! And it just feels good, you know?

One the business side of things, Platinum Studios is just awesome. Awesome to deal with, awesome people inside… from the personal assistants (go Shev!), to the graphic artists (Nicollette, Tony, Zach) and to the folks in charge on all levels. I wish i could give them all shout outs. I only know about business from a DIY point of view, and it’s been a learning experience talking with BIG GUNS about much bigger things. It’s true– there’s no doubt about it, the comic book publishing side of things is NOT a money maker, not for any publisher really, but here’s Platinum Studios in this awesome position where they are in the heart of new media, film, tv, directors— BIG deals.

I’ve been talking to Scott a lot this week about new plans, or kicking ideas around– it’s interesting to meditate on what I can do on our my as a sort crack unit, grassroots, social object, webcomics, comic book producer, covering smaller costs. Say, I can probably do sales direct to my fans on back issue stock, make $3k in a month, and put that back into the overall HBN machine for promotion, etc… sort of a all-in-one promotion/advertising/micro-merchandise budget—- but a plan like that won’t work on their level of business, because their ad guy or sponsor guy isn’t hustling after the smaller money, he’s going for deals with BIG companies. 6 figure deals…. stuff we can’t do on that level. There are webcomics guys out there who say, HEY, you CAN do it yourself, don’t sign up with a company like Platinum, etc etc— but that’s not true. The truth is, Hero By Night is just beginning, it can’t really command some 6 figure sponsorship deal on its own through their ad guy, they can sell package deals and work with bigger companies. So yes— there are GOOD things that can happen on their end, and I also believe where the boat has been missed is on the small deals. Maybe this is the REAL key here somewhere. For creators signed up with Platinum to be able to micro-manage their own brands at some point. I’m trying to find a NEW way of accomplishing all this with what we have here, and I think I’ve come up with some interesting plans.

Why do I do this though? I could just rest on my laurels like other creators, collect a check or page rate and let that be that and move on to the next thing. I think I do it because I CARE. Not just in my own stake in the company with HBN, but how this could work for other creators or brands inside their character library. They have this HUGE library built up of properties that only get pitched around Hollywood, and that’s fine– it’s totally worked for them. But I’m sort of taking their slogan to a new level in my head…. “Comics fueling media everywhere…” — so to me, there HAS to be “comics”– they’re a public company right now, soon to be traded and all that (I don’t know how any of that stock stuff works) and right now, I feel SUPER happy that HBN is their flagship title out there—

While the sales aren’t stellar right now, (no comic really is these days!) the book is changing minds about Platinum out there in the comics community. It’s garnering great reviews over and over again, and I think it can grow into something special. It’s not that I think we can revolutionize the comics world with one title, I think it’s that I KNOW we can. And I’m not going to rest on my laurels.

Ok, off to draw and loosen up a bit here.

Late late start today. I’m sorry internet. It won’t happen again, sir!

So the wife and I went to the gym this morning to do the initial screening thing. Turns out my home scale is WAY off, which made me feel so much better. My wife is always shocked or disgusted that my blood pressure is perfect, and generally I’m about average for my age in all the little tests.

My one big problem is my back, it’s “tight” as the instructor said, and they gave me tips on stretches and stuff to loosen that up, she warned that if I let it go, it only gets tighter with age too. I pictured myself at 50 looking like a statue, stiff as a board. I don’t notice the stiffness unless it’s an excercise that is requiring me to, and it’s not that it hurts, but it just won’t bend or move! I finally figured out what it kind of feels like, put a small barrel around your waste and try to do a sit up. It ain’t happening.  I attribute this to the fact that when i was 19, and unloading trucks at UPS overnight, i got pinned down, right into the back by a BIG metal like axle. Trapped in the truck, I had to wait for someone to walk by to see me pinned, yelling for help wouldn’t matter much as you couldn’t hear anything with all the noise. Of course UPS made me sit in an office an hour after my shift until the supervisor asked if I was okay, I could have been crippled— they sent me home without an accident report. How awesome of them!– the next morning? I woke up and could not move! I was in so much pain, I couldn’t walk, I had to lunge myself out the side of the bed, and crawl to the phone, pull it down off the mantle and call my friend to get me to the UPS company doctor pronto. Hey, what do you know? He said I was fine and probably just pulled something. They did no x-rays, nothin, just simple, move this way and that, where does it hurt, etc…

I haven’t had back problems chronically or anything since, but every now and then if I’m doing heavy work or moving things, i’ll feel it creeping in and I remember that day, lunging myself out of bed, cringing in pain. It’s never been THAT bad again, but close a few times. So, back the gym…  I think it’s possible that all these years my body or mind has kind of protected myself from any further back injuries by remaining “tight”, self defense mechanism. Makes sense. But ironically, having a tight back like that can increase the risk of more back injuries, etc. So I was encouraged to hear that I can regain some of that back by stretching, etc, working out slowly to build up.

But here’s the rub. That whole gym thing? I just don’t feel comfortable in the main packed area. I’m a friggin hermit. I think I’d gladly exert myself in private. I don’t even care that I have feeble upper body strength and they’ll probably laugh when they see that I can’t lift something that the 70 year old guy next to me can. I couldn’t do ONE pushup today. Not one. I can do modified pushups, and YES, I can do that stuff at home. Anyways– I have an appointment with the physical trainer on Monday morning at 9:30am. She’ll give me a workout plan that I’m supposed to do for 4 weeks, then we change it up. Fine. But I’m just not “feeling” the big room with a bunch of sweaty strangers. I might try to FORCE myself to do it, just because. But i have a whole weekend to talk myself out of it now. I don’t know if I can change my routine here.

On the plus side of health? I have been eating better, and staying away from excess crap. Fried foods, carbs, sugars… MEH. No soda. In fact, i think it’s CRAZY to drink that stuff now. I don’t crave them at all. Every now and then, I’ll have a bite of chocolate, just for energy boost, but its few and far between. If I DO have a coke, it’s a cherry coke zero, but thats even rare– My main main problem with diet is, I forget to eat. I know what to do… I just forget to do it, or do it at the proper times. It’s hard when I’m a workaholic like that– i get up, wake up and go right to work all day– multitasking. Sometimes I’ll have some oatmeal in the morning with coffee, but I am just NEVER hungry in the morning, so you have to sort of force yourself to do it. Same with lunch. I’ve been having some turkey sandwiches for lunch here and there, and that is RARE. And the weirdest thing? There are weekends where i just say “F*ck it” and eat whatever I want… football playoffs, etc.. pizza night— then I check the scale on monday, I lost weight. It’s insane. But see, I think it’s just a mix of that eating more, more often in smaller doses and bumping up your metabolism.

So now, it’s water… drink more water. I know they say if you’re hungry at night, have a glass of water, because most humans don’t know that they are actually THIRSTY and not hungry. So I’ll try that too. But food is more delicious after a long day of thinking and working. To sit down and watch Chuck or something else and have a snack and relax.

Oh well…. today was a HEALTH bloggy talk. Back to the ol’ drawing board for me.

My wife and I are joining a gym tomorrow. I’m not sure that I’m ready for the change in schedule, or an extra bill right now, but overall I think it would be good for our health. So tomorrow morning we go in for like an analysis and all that jazz. Actually it’s only 45 bucks a month for a family membership, so I guess that’s not bad at all. I don’t like the idea of running off to a gym in the morning and messing my routine up. I guess I can check emails and web stuff from the iphone so it won’t be too bad.

The thought of REAL exercise, like ON PURPOSE… it’s not appealing to me at this very moment. It’s not that I’m lazy– maybe just that my time feels set in my routine… so I’ll be screwing everything around. I’m sure I can figure it out though.

Also, there’s that paranoid voice inside that some actually FAT guy is going to laugh at me when I can’t stay on a machine as long as he can. At least I probably have a cooler job though.

Tomorrow… my future failed attempt at gym membership begins.

I got my mind on the comics and the comics on my mind…

What else is new? So– my little promotional zip code list is growing. Not sure when I will have the time to sit down and contact some shops directly, but I have another BONUS awesome idea to add on now– my goal is to send some of my passionate webcomic readers into comic book shops as new customers there. Some people are questioning my sanity I think, do I really want this added workload? But honestly, it’s kinda nerdy fun to me. I like looking through data. Quick example, if I have a list of 25 people, their zipcodes, etc (which I currently do), and I’ve also been pasting in the small notes people leave with the messages. Say 5 of them say they’ve never been to a comic shop before but are willing to do so… these are the guys I will likely hit first on a priority list. And when contacting their local retailer, I can maybe work something up special with them, perhaps they can suggest titles in house that my readers would like in their shop? INvincible? Anything Kirkman? Some Image titles I’m not up on right now…  — and I won’t leave out the people who know where their local shop is either– if they know where it is, but haven’t gone there, same deal. The goal is to get more online readers into shops. Is it worth it– I think so.

Almost every day I think to myself, what would those old guys have done with all this stuff? The internet… print on demand. It’s that kind of thinking that helped make services like Comixpress.com pop up. But forget services for creators– what can we do now for the whole system?

Anyways– off to work here.

Today there’s a new Hero By Night comic page up. It’s one of those splash type page, epic shots, introducing the new HBN in his suit. Go see.

Groggy this morning, with a tinge of grumpy. Dog has been getting up to pee around 3:30am - which I don’t mind because at least he knows he doesn’t really want to pee in the house. I think it’s been 3 days now with no accidents.

I’ve been keeping my head down here, chisseling away at the Free Comic Book Day edition of Hero By Night, trying to get that wrapped up so I can jump into issue 3’s production. I’m pretty excited about this coming year and building the HBN brand as we go. We’ve got some conventions coming up, etc. Definitely Wizard World L.A. for really sure in March, where Jason and I are listed as guests on the main page. I haven’t heard all the details, but Platinum Studios is planning a Comic Book Challenge shindig there, where Donald Faison will be introducing Jorge Vega’s Gunplay. That’s going to, I think, be good timing for promoting the next Comic Book Challenge as well. I know one thing, Jorge and I can be like a powerhouse promotional team for CBC, kinda like a mildly retarded version of the WonderTwins. ACTIVATE!

I must come off pretty harsh sometimes, even though I don’t mean things the way they’re written. I spoke with one of the big bosses from Platinum Studios yesterday on the phone, Brian Altounian, who I think thought I was a little unhappy about some small things, which I assure him was quite the contrary, I am super happy. I guess that could be summed up with the feeling that I want to help THEM too, so if I see something I could do quick and fast, promotion, advertising– I offer to do it, because I know they’re dealing with other things that take priority. My goodness, they’re a public company now! I told Scott Rosenberg on the phone, I didn’t envy him, and the day to day stuff they have to go through. If my cellphone rang every two minutes, let alone TWO cellphones ringing every two minutes, I think I’d go Barbarian. We joke that corporations have meetings about meetings. Then follow up with another meeting. But I gotta say, the thing about all of my “bosses” is, when they call, and they say they “love you”, it’s not a Hollywood “we love you, babe”, it’s sincere and you can feel it. It’s more like a family sort of love for each other, even though we don’t talk every single day. They know I’ve got their backs, and I know they’ve got mine. I have a fierce sense of loyalty when it comes to business stuff or this whole comic book business.

Sure there are things that I think can be done better or more efficiently, but that’s on all sides, including my own. I grill myself over certain things while creating here, that most people would find ridiculous. I don’t get to see the day to day tedious things they have to deal with, or the work that numerous people put in there, and I never want to belittle that– and they don’t get to see the crazy hours Jason and I put into all this stuff, but we love it– So, again, I feel lucky that I found these guys out there who think a lot of the same ways I do. Virtual high fives to Platinum Studios. Boy do I want to see them blow up really big, for a lot of reasons. Money? Sure, that’s always nice, but there’s a much bigger reason in the back of my head. If you know me, and know everything that’s gone on, what I’m about, you know exactly what it is.