D.J. Coffman - Sequential Artist, Thinker

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.