D.J. Coffman - Sequential Artist, Thinker

Head still spinning here, crunching numbers around and trying to figure out a bajillion things. Pittsburgh Comicon day one tomorrow, then we’re having a get-together at my place. Some food, drinks, probably comic talk and geek talk galore. I’m trying to pick a beer to have on hand besides Guinness.

I had two emails out of the blue begging me to update the “How to make money with your webcomics” blog I use to write. I haven’t updated it since 2006! Basically.. well, you know, I have a family to feed here. So giving away tons of info on how I’m making money, probably wasn’t the best idea, although I love doing it. The truth is, just because I’m doing it or have done it, doesn’t mean it will work for other people. It’s not a cookie cutter way to jump out and start rolling in money. It’s HARD work. I think ulimately those blogs were meant to INSPIRE webcomic artists out there, who many just believed it wasn’t possible to do. They’d never make money like PvP or Penny Arcade, but I believe they could! In fact, that disbelief that they couldn’t was probably the thing keeping them from doing it. Sorry, I don’t mean to go all TONY ROBBINS of WEBCOMICS on the subject. — When it came to me starting to deal with rights issues and working with what’s not a public corporation, well I decided that I’d just lead by example and focus on my own work.

Niches. Niches are where it’s at, and I wrote about this ages and ages ago… There was a reason I knew nothing about poker but I decided to help Franky Bones start his “poker webcomic” Life’s a Bluff. - immense opportunities abound in those fields because they have people who LIVE those things, those niches. And some of those niches are BIGGER than video games and pop culture, and will last longer in my opinion. In the back of my mind somewhere, I want to start the UKE-CLUB comics again, because one day, Ukulele will rule the universe. — With the Yirmumah stuff, we didn’t really have a niche, as much as a lifestyle. Mockery of pop culture and things that were dumb. Things normal joes from a place like Fayette-Nam could relate to. But the key to that sort of humor strip is making the joke remembered forever. The micro-embedding of topics into ones brain, where they see something as simple as a BRICK, and instead of thinking “oh, there’s a brick.” they think…..”YIRMUMAH! BRICK O’ SILENCE!” — Cartoonists do this without even knowing it, but the ones who become aware they are doing it are way ahead of the game. Look, a cute Llama… I guarantee 10 years from now, even though my comic hasn’t been running, an old Yirmumah fan who sees a Llama will think of YIRMUMAH. It’s just how it is. MIND CONTROL!!!! Hey, we have to build our armies anyway we can to fight the man!

So yes… with Hero By Night, I probably picked a niche that’s way too overdone in comic BOOKS, but not so much in Webcomics. If anything, it was looked down upon on the webcomic side. For a simple reason- remember, “webcomics=the new small press” — or “indy press” - and over in the indy press, there’s a lot of mostly NON-SUPERHERO flavor and variety. They groan about men in tights and some even downright think superhero comics are THE ENEMY! I was borderline THAT at one time I think. Maybe I just think it’s more of a challenge to take on. When someone says it can’t be done, I either say “I already DID it” — or “WATCH ME DO IT RIGHT NOW!” — And guess what? Hero By Night IS the #1 Superhero Webcomic right now. There are others… but they’re not the best. I don’t say that to gloat about it– on the other hand, I’m very humbled by it. I only wish having more readers than Batman’s monthly comic book translated over to comic book sales… but there’s a big “direct market” wedge in between, stopping that from happening. I have the solutions, just never the power or cash it would take to FIX that. Maybe soon though. At least I’ve got a bead on this now. My finger is on the trigger. My eye on the ball. Anyways, I’m rambling…

I was talking to my Dad last night about when we moved to California when I was about 12, and I was kinda shocked what he said. You see the Volkswagen plant closed here and went to Mexico back then. He knew there were no jobs here for him to support his 3 kids at the time (myself and younger brother and sister) — We moved out and he worked for Marriott setting up stagecraft type deals and i guess movie sets. He said he made probably about 18-20 bucks an hour. But I asked if he had a job lined up before he moved…. he shocked me by saying, nope. He had 4000 bucks in cash left and my Uncle living out in Palm Springs and nothing really waiting for him– but he did it anyway and was able to find a job fast. He also told me he only made probably 2000 a month before his heart attack situation out there. My stepmom did resumes or clerical stuff and didn’t make much more. But we always lived in nice houses and good neighborhoods out there, always somehow had what it seemed to me, nice things And we got by. Now as a grown man with 3 kids of my own, I don’t think I have the balls to have did what he did back then. I’m in a much better situation here though than he was at the time. I feel very very fortunate right now.

FLOBOTS! - I usually don’t listen to hip-hop or rap, but Flo-Bots reminds me of CAKE+BUSTAH+Beasties - It makes me want to dawn an american flag kerchief and go all TURK 182 on the guv’ment. Just sayin. Check em out: http://www.flobots.com/media/default.aspx